It's me again but now I have a T43 :)

[c4warrior]

Hello and thank you all so much for all your help with getting me up to speed with these wonderful machines when I bought my first one (T42). I've already switched to a T43 (Thank you John) and I'm looking forward to finding things to do to it. I'm already working on getting the materials to move forward with my SATA project (Thanks to Mike) but I had some other stuff on my mind.


Has anyone ever changed out the speakers? I searched the forums and found someone that asked about it about 5 years ago but never got a response. I mean changing them out with something better or some kind of mod, etc, not just replacing with the stock speakers.

Also, if you have any other mods that I don't know about I'd love to hear about them. What I'm aware of so far:
-Bios
-SXGA
-SATA
-Ultrabay adapters
-I saw the fan drill a hole mod, but I'm still not sure about this one. Looks hit or miss and either the noise doesn't bother me or mine doesn't have it. I hear air and it seems about the norm for a laptop.

Any help or input is greatly appreciated!

[sarbin]

welcome back, with your new machine.

not sure there's much you can do about the speakers, other than get a good set of earphones.
kidding aside, the best on-board speakers i've had were in my a31p, though my t60p comes pretty close. it's relative, though. nothing comes close to good in-ear monitors, imho.

re: the t43 fan, if yours develops the noise, you'll know it. i've got a t43 with a noisy fan, but haven't done anything about it as i don't use it much anymore. my t43p (qxga) has a nice quiet fan.

about other mods, other than upping the cpu, i'm not sure. i've kinda moved on from the t4x as a daily driver. question for George or others... was there ever a 14" uxga panel on a t43? i thought i read a thread somewhere, but my memory is fuzzy.

[ajkula66]

sarbin wrote:

question for George or others... was there ever a 14" uxga panel on a t43? i thought i read a thread somewhere, but my memory is fuzzy.

You called, old chum?

Yes and no...

There was never a 14" UXGA T4x offered from the factory.

However, pianowizard has modded his T42 with a Dell 14" UXGA LCD, and there's a thread on that mod here in the T4x section I believe...

[c4warrior]

welcome back, with your new machine.

not sure there's much you can do about the speakers, other than get a good set of earphones.
kidding aside, the best on-board speakers i've had were in my a31p, though my t60p comes pretty close. it's relative, though. nothing comes close to good in-ear monitors, imho.

re: the t43 fan, if yours develops the noise, you'll know it. i've got a t43 with a noisy fan, but haven't done anything about it as i don't use it much anymore. my t43p (qxga) has a nice quiet fan.

about other mods, other than upping the cpu, i'm not sure. i've kinda moved on from the t4x as a daily driver. question for George or others... was there ever a 14" uxga panel on a t43? i thought i read a thread somewhere, but my memory is fuzzy.

Thanks!

The speaker upgrade isn't necessary by any means, I just really enjoy tricking out computers. Consider me the kid with the new G.I. Joe doll with the Kung-fu grip that wants to buy all the vehicles and weapons to go with his toy. I'm that guy.

Sounds like my fan isn't doing it yet so that's good.

I forgot about checking on CPU upgrades but I'm 98% sure it's the same case as the T42 just with the higher FSB output, so the biggest upgrade would be the 780? I think. I'm fuzzy on those. 2.26 isn't bad but I doubt very seriously I'll find one at a price I'm willing to pay right now

[c4warrior]

pianowizard has modded his T42 with a Dell 14" UXGA LCD, and there's a thread on that mod here in the T4x section I believe...

That's awesome. That will be something for the future... way future. I just got this SXGA+ so I need to enjoy it for a while and blow money on other things first... unless I happen to stumble over a UXGA.

[ajkula66]

It all depends on what you really want...

My T43p has a 780 in it, along with V3200 GPU, it's definitely a powerhouse that will kick many low-to-mid-end T60s especially when it comes to graphics performance, but push it hard and make your eggs-over-easy on both CPU and GPU.

On the other hand, my wife's T43 has actually been downgraded from PM 760 to PM 750 because she wanted it as quiet as possible. For a T43 with ATi graphics, that one is likely as quiet and cool as they come. Yours can probably be the same way, although it will always be a pinch warmer since it's a 14" unit.

As for performance: you will notice a difference between 750 and 780. You will not notice a difference between 770 and 780.

If I were to build the optimum T43, I'd likely use a 750 or 760 in it.

My experiences only...

[c4warrior]

Makes sense. There is a 780 for sale I found (supposedly brand new) for $85 which is cheaper than the 770s I found for $99ish. The heat worries me a bit... I've been checking out all the mods with the copper brackets that are reported to drop 5c off the max temps and thinking of engineering a few things to test and see what I can do with the heat situation. Until then, I believe I'll stay with this 750 (unless of course an amazing deal comes along).

I wish I could upgrade the GPU but then again, even if I could, the heat issue would arise.

So for now it looks like I'll try and mod some new speakers, mod the board for sata, and play with crafting heat sinks or something.

[ajkula66]

Those CPU prices are atrocious.

If you ever decide to go for a 780 drop me a PM.

Honestly, unless you're doing something really GPU intensive, X300 is a fine card. If you need something for top-end gaming, no T4x will do. Come to think of it, no ThinkPad will do. That's why people buy Alienware...

Playing with heatsinks on T43/p is always a good idea...

[c4warrior]

I was an alienware fanboy way back when. I don't like them much anymore. I do play world of warcraft but I'm not expecting my machine to be the dream computer for gaming, I have an amazing desktop for that. I just want to play with upgrades because I can and it's fun.

Do you have any suggested sites for modded sinks? I've seen one that used a piece for each the gpu and south bridge... I want to say... and then another that went from the south bridge to the pcmcia which was a neat idea but I think I'm looking for something different.

I almost forgot to ask, that reminded me. Have you ever done the blocking of the holes in the pcmcia to direct the airflow?

I'm not very experienced on the dothan prices, actually not experienced at all so I was just peaking around. PM incomming in 5.... 4....

[c4warrior]

I just found an old thread underclocker made about the Intel T43 fan assembly being better than the ATI fan assmebly. Anyone tried this and have results one way or the other?

[c4warrior]

So the 26R8197 fan swappers are divided in to three groups, it seems.

1- tried the swap and says it won't fit (I know it fits, not sure what went on there but I have a 14" T43 and it fits.)
2- didn't swap because of the lack of copper (plating, enough said)
3- those that swapped and then disappeared (Underclocker got back with me and confirmed he swapped but never did any measurements)

So maybe I'll just order one to play with myself.

[c4warrior]

So running World of Warcraft and a movie at the time, the GPU wouldn't go above 64c and the CPU is at 54c. Soooo that's boring. Still going to try the intel board fan assembly (after I mod it) and some other things I guess while I wait to find a deal on a P M780.

[sarbin]

what kind of 'deal' are you looking for on a 780? i may have one available.

[hiram]

...my wife's T43 has actually been downgraded from PM 760 to PM 750 because she wanted it as quiet as possible. For a T43 with ATi graphics, that one is likely as quiet and cool as they come.
If I were to build the optimum T43, I'd likely use a 750 or 760 in it.

What you have written here interests me a lot. I take it this means the CPU has been replaced. I wonder, can the same thing be achieved via software? Over/Underclocking software or changed BIOS settings?

Also, a general question to anyone about my T43p. My system displays tell me I have 256MB of video memory, yet the IBM website details for my model say it should be 128MB. And as far as I can tell, there is no info on the ATI/AMD website about my graphics chip supporting any more than 128MB. Could this be an after-market upgrade? I bought it used.

[sarbin]

Also, a general question to anyone about my T43p. My system displays tell me I have 256MB of video memory, yet the IBM website details for my model say it should be 128MB. And as far as I can tell, there is no info on the ATI/AMD website about my graphics chip supporting any more than 128MB. Could this be an after-market upgrade? I bought it used.

i believe it's an ati feature called 'hypermemory'. a bit of system memory that the gpu subsystem uses. wikipedia says it's used as a frame buffer. my ati radeon x300 equipped t43 reports 128mb of vram, but only has 64mb on-board. interesting, though, that unlike yours, my v3200 equipped t43p reports 128mb.

three questions... what os are you running? what ati driver version? where are you seeing the vram report?

[hiram]

Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3
http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/1571/lst.gif

[sarbin]

thanks.
i'm running a much older driver (v6.x), which may account for the difference. my t43p is a bit of a museum piece so i don't mess with its config much.

[c4warrior]

what kind of 'deal' are you looking for on a 780? i may have one available.

Well, the lowest I've found so far is $60 and I've been told that's too high. So I guess by deal I'm looking for a parts laptop with one in it that works or a price that is less than $60. Hard to say what price I'm looking for but the answer would be "The lowest I can find!".

[sarbin]

looks like current ebay prices are $65-70. think i've seen them go for $75-85 here previously.

[c4warrior]

looks like current ebay prices are $65-70. think i've seen them go for $75-85 here previously.

Yeah, I'm going to hold out for lower than that. It's not a rush for me and it's not something that I *need* so I can wait on a deal.

[sarbin]

considering the smaller case of your 14.1" t43, have you considered additional heat of the 780, even with a fan swap? i can confirm that my t43 and t43p are real heaters! and they're both 15" models.

[c4warrior]

considering the smaller case of your 14.1" t43, have you considered additional heat of the 780, even with a fan swap? i can confirm that my t43 and t43p are real heaters! and they're both 15" models.

That is part of the fun. Gives me a reason to mod.

[sarbin]

well... have fun!

i'm enamored with both my t43 and t43p, both 15" and ips/flexview. the t43 is a rarity as it's a not-for-sale company demo model. the t43p is a rarity being pianowizard's famed qxga mod machine. picked up both here on the forum. thinking back on it, i've found 6 machines here.

i loves me some high pixel density ips/flexviews!

[c4warrior]

well... have fun!

i'm enamored with both my t43 and t43p, both 15" and ips/flexview. the t43 is a rarity as it's a not-for-sale company demo model. the t43p is a rarity being pianowizard's famed qxga mod machine. picked up both here on the forum. thinking back on it, i've found 6 machines here.

i loves me some high pixel density ips/flexviews!

Nice history there. Mine was the first to run TTAV134's bios mod. Maybe when we're dead and gone our T43s will be in a museum.

I'm nuts for this thing already... I've set up a work space for mods and such and I'm just waiting on parts. I don't know what it is... I have two vaios sitting around, three desktops... nothing has been as interesting to me as this T43.