Are there any recognised faults with the T43.

[paul*robertson]

Hi,
I'm contemplating replacing my aged (and slow) 600x with a T43. Are there any recognised faults, or issues i should be aware of. It will be a second (non media) laptop for general browsing, office and other donkey work.

[Harryc]

1.) 2010 error on boot with non-IBM option hard drive
2.) Noisy fan on non-Intel models
3.) Occasional reports of loose GPU on ATI models
4.) Occasional reports of loose or defective South Bridge

[killer]

Supporting what Harryc says, choose a machine with Intel chips. The 15" screen T43s are very reliable. In 4 years I have had only one fault with my 1871-FWG. The HDD failed just before the warranty expired, so it was replaced free of charge.
I hope this helps.

[paul*robertson]

Supporting what Harryc says, choose a machine with Intel chips. The 15" screen T43s are very reliable. In 4 years I have had only one fault with my 1871-FWG. The HDD failed just before the warranty expired, so it was replaced free of charge.
I hope this helps.

I'd really prefer the 14 inch screen.
Is it a laptop that runs hot, or gets overly warm.

[ajkula66]

Intel-based machines do not run hot in my experience.

However, 14" LCDs on these are XGA only, and can't be upgraded.

Just as a FYI, since this might not be a big deal for many people.

[smidgley]

In my experience, the loose or defective South Bridge chip problem is becoming more than occasional. I have four or five T43 ThinkPads with that problem here now and most of the used replacement motherboards (from different vendors) are having the same problems.

I have had several hundred of the T4x series, with probably 75% being T43 units, but I'm done with them now.

[underclocker]

I can't add much, but I will say that the Intel GPU'd T43's have been the most reliable T4x's in my experience.

However, at this point, at least in the U.S. market, T43's, T60's and R60's are so close in price, that unless the budget is very tight or you just love the T4x design, then I'd suggest an Intel GPU T60 or R60.

I've owned several of each and the only weakness I have found is with the magnesium sub-frame on the T60. Whether 14" or 15" (and 15" is worse), the subframe area above the far left of the heatsink/fan almost always is broken. In that area, the subframe is only about 1/2 centimeter wide and maybe a couple of millimeters thick. It just can not handle the stress from opening and closing the LCD assembly. The good news is that even when they're cracked, there is often no noticeable play in the LCD assembly. You have to take off the palmrest, keyboard and keyboard bezel just to see if it's cracked.

As far as the R60's, they are bricks.

[rkawakami]

As far as the R60's, they are bricks.

"Bricks"?? Is that good or bad . "Brick" implies to me that they are inert and non-functional; aka, a "paperweight". Maybe, "tank" is a better adjective if the R60 is able to endure a lot of abuse and keeps running and running. I say this as I'm sorta in the market for a cheap Ultrabay Enhanced machine so that I have a test-bed for those types of optical drives.

[RealBlackStuff]

I'd say R60 is more like a rock as in rock-solid!

[ajkula66]

My personal experience with ( a couple of hundreds ) T43/p machines has been outstanding, all in all. Maybe I was just lucky.

To this day, here's what I have to report, failure-wise:

The T43/p units that died while in my care...

a) One 14" T43p, that has died out of the blue. Went to sleep and never awoke. Ez Serv swapped the motherboard under warranty.

b) One 15" T43, loose/bad/whatever Southbridge. New planar.

c) One 15" T43p, GPU problem. New planar.

The machines that were mine but developed problems after being sold:

One 14" T43 that I sold about a year ago has recently lost sound, but the current owner is OK with a PCMCIA sound card.

One T43p (still missed dearly) that I sold to a forum member two years ago developed a loose Southbridge last year and had motherboard replaced some 7,000 miles away under the extended warranty that I had originally purchased here...not bad...

None of these machines had Intel integrated graphics.

Now, if I were to go into bad CCFLs, dust and pressure marks on IPS screens, dead pixels etc. there would be a lot more than this. But these are not necessarily T43/p issues. They happen on all other ThinkPads as well.

With all of that said, T6x/R6x can be had for pittance nowadays, at least in the U.S. and for most people would present a very tempting alternative to a T43/p.

As of now, I'm staying with both of my T43/p units (see signature) which are on exact opposite sides of the spectrum...

My experiences only...

[ZaZ]

I've had two R60s, a 14" and a 15". Both have been excellent laptops. Though they're a bit thicker and heavier than the T60, I don't think most people would notice a difference unless you're overly sensitive to those things.