Lenovo ThinkPad T42

I finally got my Thinkpad T43p, Model #: 2687-E4U. I am extremely happy with the notebook, being the first notebook that I have ever owned. It took me 3 months to figure out what I wanted, and I finally settled for the Thinkpad. Before that I was looking into Asus Z70v, Asus Z71v, Dell 700m, Dell XPS Gen 2, Dell 6000, HP nw8240, and I acutally purchased the Dell 700m but the keyboard was just too small to type on for home use. I was going to return it back to Dell, but then I decided to keep it because with $449 that I paid for the 700m, I thought the price was too good to return it, and instead I use the 700m when I travel.

I also bought the Dell XPS Gen 2 and returned it because it's too big, bulky and heavy comparing to the Thinkpad. Of couse it's a lot faster in graphic performance with better speakers, screen, with 6 usb connection, 1 DVI port, and tons of bells and whistles that came with it. What I really want is the XPS Gen 2 to go into the thinkpad chassy, and that aint gonna happen as far as techinically and mechanically wise, and also I prefer the simple square boxy generic design over the flashy techniquecolor aerodynamic design. Pretty much the XPS Gen 2 and the T43p is in the same price range, but I opted for the T43p instead, because it suits my needs more than the XPS Gen 2.

How I stumbled upon IBM thinkpad was a total accident. One day I was in the thinkpad forum, and read up about the Thinkpad T model, and the more I read about it, the more I liked it. I realized then IBM was way overpriced, and there's no way that I could afford to buy it, not unless I was gonna plunge down $3000 minimum to buy the model with the specification that I wanted.

So anyway, while reading up on the Thinkpad, I stumbled upon the topic about EPP (Employee Purchase Program) which was constantly mentioned in the forum, and I found that with EPP, you can save up to 35% off from retail price. Since I have relatives that work for IBM, there goes a perfect opportunity to get a Thinkpad.

In the beginning, I was going to buy a preconfigured system, but then I realized for a preconfigured system with the parts that I wanted with EPP would still run me around $2350, and my budget wasn't that high since I already spent some of my money on the Dell 700m. So I decided to buy a fully customized system. I called up IBM and had my system fully customized, and then changed my mind and wanted just to buy the barebone system that comes with the CPU, and bought the wi-fi card and DVD burner from them. The rest I bought the parts elsewhere. Here is what the Configuation breaks down to:

Thinkpad T43p, Model #: 2687E4U, INTEL PENT 760 2.0: $1,011

Product Description: Pentium M 760 2 GHz - 15" TFT
Dimensions (WxDxH)13 in x 10.6 in x 1.4 in
Weight5.7 lbs
LocalizationUnited States
System TypeNotebook
Built-in DevicesStereo speakers, wireless LAN antenna, ThinkLight, Bluetooth antenna
ProcessorIntel Pentium M 760 2 GHz
Cache Memory2 MB - L2 cache
RAM0 MB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR II SDRAM - 533 MHz - PC2-4200
Display15" TFT active matrix UXGA (1600 x 1200)
Graphics ControllerATI MOBILITY FIRE GL V3200 - 128 MB
Audio OutputSound card
TelecomFax / modem - CDC - 56 Kbps
NetworkingNetwork adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth
Input DeviceKeyboard, TrackPoint, UltraNav
PowerAC 110/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
BatteryLithium ion
Manufacturer Warranty3 years warranty

Seagate 100gb 5400rpm HDD: $180

2GB PC2-4200 533MHZ CL4 DDR2 200-PIN NOTEBOOK SODIMM: $210

9 Cell battery: $100

A/B/G Wi-Fi card: $28

DVD Burner: $190 (what a rip off for using IBM parts)

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Grand Total : $1719 OUT THE DOOR


When it comes to built, design, portability, support, and system security, I think IBM is at the top of its game. This notebook is not for gamers nor multimedia entertainment users. Rather it's for professional business users with workstation comes in mind. There is no firewire, which I wish they have, no DVI port, no card reader, only 2 USB ports. What baffles me about this notebook is that it comes with parallel and serial port. I asked myself, these days who uses parallel and serial port? Instead of of parallel and serial port, they ought to add another 2 USB ports, which I find it's more useful. The graphic card as far as performance wise, is equivelant between Radeon X600 and Radeon X700. It's faster than X600 but slower than X700, which is not too bad for gaming, and also there is no wide screen.

I myself is not a gamer, and only use the notebook for autocad, and photoshop, and watch DVD. Therefore this notebook suits me just fine. Here is my impression on the notebook:

Built: The best in its class with magnesium and titanium compound built in the chassy. It's built like a tank.

Design: very plain and simple boxy design, with nothing flashy.

Weight: for a 15" notebook, it's lighter than most notebook outthere. I weighted the notebook with the 9 cell battery, and it came out to be exactly 6 pounds.

Dimension: 13 in x 10.6 in x 1.4 in. Thinner than most 15" notebooks out there, and it's easier to carry around than 15.4" wide notebooks.

DVD Burner: This DVD burner is expensive costs almost twice as much as the typical notebook DVD burner (i.e. Nec, Toshiba, Sony, HP, Asus Burner), and it can only burn at 2x, even thought it said 4x in the spec. The burner does not have dual layer burning capability. In my opinion the Nec-6500A is the best burner out there on the market, as far as speed, accuracy, and productivity, and it's also a dual layer burning capability and also 8x burning which is 3 times as fast as the IBM burner. With the IBM burner I get a coaster every now and then, with the Nec burner I never do. Unfortunately the Thinkpad can only fit 9.5 mm thickness DVD slot (by that I meant the height of the slot), and not the typical 12.7 mm thicknessDVD slot on most notebooks.

LCD Dispay: It's a very beautiful matte finished dispay made by ID Tech (a Japanese company), 15.0"UXGA, with 1600 x 1200 native resolution, 200 brightness, and 400 contrast ratio, 262K color, with 160 degree viewing angle. What I liked about this display is that when I view the screen below it's native resolution for text readability, the text is still clear and with little blurriness and distortion, comparing to other notebook that I have viewed. The color is rich, saturated and vibrant, but almost as good as the Dell 700m display. The 700m is a little brighter and a little more contrast, and color richness, but not by much, and to me the 700m is as good as the Xtra-Brite in the Sony, Toshiba, and Fujitsu notebook. But that is expected because, the 700m and the rest of the Sony, Toshiba, and Fujitsu LCD come with high gloss reflective screen, which will add color richness, intensity, and contrast to it. Look at your photos, with high gloss finish always look more vibrant than matte finish photos, and the same applied for LCD screens.

Noise: it's not as quiet as the Dell 700m, but it's quiet enough for me to accept. I can barely hear the fan when I am in a very quiet environment, and the fan noise is like a very low humming noise which is very acceptable. the only time when the fan comes on full force is when it boots up or when it goes into CPU intensive applications, but other than that , most of the time it run quietly in the background which barely noticable. If I put my ears right on the notebook or next to the fan then i will hear it, with the 700m I could not hear it even with my ears next to it. I only hear it when the fan comes on during booting or CPU intensive applications.

Keypad: The best of its class. I vouch to say that no one makes keyboard like IBM. It's feels firm to the touch, just like a desktop keyboard, and it's very quiet keyboard, with full size keys.

Touchpad: the keys on the touchpad is very good and solid to the touch, and the pad is good but not as good as the Toshiba touchpad. when I move my finger from one end to the other end of the touchpad in the Toshiba, it will coordinate one end to the other end of the LCD screen. in the IBM I would have to do it twice to cover from one end to the other end of the LCD screen.

Speaker system: The speakers are average for general purpose, and it's not geared torward multimedia notebooks, but yet it's loud and clear audio quality with very little base, which most notebooks are, and therefore I am fine with it.

Battery: This notebook with fully charged 9 cell battery lasts me a 5 full hours with the lowest dim setting on the LCD. with wi-fi on I get 4.5 hours.

Navigation Stick: Personally I prefer the stick over touchpad. It gives me more control and accuracy than the touchpad. The navigation stick is very smooth to glide across with terrific control. I love it.

Boot Up Time: It takes 50 seconds to boot up into Windows

Shut Down Time: It takes 45 seconds to complete shut down

Security: The security is top notch on this notebook. Once you set password, no one can hack into it. If you loose your password, there is no way you can use the notebook even if you changed the hard drive still you can't use the notebook, nor can you boot into safe mode or Administrator. That is good because if you notebook got stollen, then there is no way anyone can use it, once you set passwords. Unless there is a very good programmer to bypass it.


In conclusion: What can I say about IBM notebooks that hasn't been said already? It's one of the best notebooks out there on the market a far as built, quality, portability, security, functionality, and support, as long as you don't have gaming and multimedia in mind. I am glad that I bought this notebook, and indeed patience does pay off after 3 months on decision.

This thing is awesome. I have been playing and configuring it for almost a week now and i cant rave enough about it. I waited almost 4 months for it. The news release was on Feb 25 and i purchased it on Feb 28 (but i already knew about this in Dec). Anyway when i opened the box i was impressed with the quality of the box (its one of those really heavy boxes that can withstand quite a bit of abuse. In taking it out you realize how streamlined the initial setup is. IBM takes you through the whole process, which takes several minutes. Windows update was a little longer.

Specs:

CPU: Pentium m 770, 2.13 Sonoma chip.

15 inch screen. uxga 1600-1200 resolution.

Fingerprint reader

Firegl v 3200 gpu.

1043 system memory.

60g 7200rpm hard drive

Accessories:

Mini dock II

Second 9cell battery.


Synopsis:

First thing you notice is the build quality. The chassis is a combination of titanium corbon fiber metal which blows away any other laptop i have owned or used (yes including my alienware area 51). This thing has no flex, it is extremely light, and can be handled like a true mobile laptop should be handled (one handedly).

Body:

This thing is very well build. Port-wise, it sux. Only has two usbs, I parallel port, Svideo out, 1 audio, 1 headphone, 1 VGA, 1modem, 1 Ethernet. It has modular bay that works great. It takes 2 seconds to pop out your DVD rewrite drive and pop in anything you want (hard drive, battery). What sux bigtime is that it doesn't have a firewire port and a couple more usbs. What also impressed me was the placement of the fans. The fans are placed on the side of the laptop(left) this way if i want it on my bed or lap i don't have to worry about it overheating or choking. Did i mention that it doesn't get hot. I'm talking not hot at all Not on the bottom nor on top. this to me is refreshing especially when coming from an alienware laptop that i travel with. The only hot air i can feel is when i place my hand over the fan when I'm using the laptop intensively.

Keyboard:

The keyboard is unbelievable (it took me no time to get used to it plus the trackpoint is invaluable). The mouse pad has five programmable buttons that i set up just like my external mouse. First thing you realize is that the keys are wide apart and fully sized thus the transition between your desktop keyboard and this is very small. On top of the keyboard there is a role of Function keys that does everything you want: turn wireless/bluetooth on/off, increase/decrease volume, Brightness key, keyboard light key (yes it has a light that lights up the keyboard), and various other power buttons(sleep, hibernate, battery power manager, etc). And a last buttom that is totally cool. Its called the Access IBM which does everything from reseting your laptop to factory settings, restores stored info (option to backup whatever you want), driver update (this thing records all the hardware/software on your hard drive and updates all the drivers).

Screen:

The screen is very beautiful. Fonts are bright and clear and multimedia junk play excellently. I just watched a DVD and the screen is excellent. The only thing is that this screen is a wide viewing angle screen so you wont get much privacy (people besides you can see what your dong). I also played game and had no problem with the screen ( i read someplace that it has 20 ms response but i don't know the validity of this but its fine for me since my favorite game on the place is chess ).

The Machine:

This thing is quiet. I read some horror stories of certain machines have a loud fan and getting very hot. My machine does none of these. The fan only gets loud when loading something or when i have full CPU usage, which is rare (in fact even when i have maximum performance running and playing Command and conquer" Generals ( the game I'm currently playing now) the fan does not go on loudly(you have to stick your ear by the fan to hear it).

The lid closes nicely. The way it closes leaves nothing to be desired. The screen goes over the body thus there is no gap between the screen and the keyboard part (no paper or other junk can slip imbetween). When you grasp the laptop with one hand (no matter where you grab it) the body feels very sturdy and no flex (yessssssssssssssssss). The only problem people might find is the 9 cell battery which protrudes from the back (about 1 inch). The 6 cell is flushed with the system but not the 9 cell. Which to me is no problem because i get close to 5 hours on one charge (when playing a game i think i get around 3 hours but haven't really clocked it). But i do know that i get 5 hours when surfing the net and listening to online talk radio and news. Which to me is impressive since i have the power management to maximum performance.

Overall remarks:

What impressed me while running the machine is the speed. This thing restarts and runs excellently. In fact there is very little difference between this and my Pentium 2.66 MHz desktop. I haven't placed this against my game machine (Amd 64 bit 3800 since i have this totally decked out and overclocked). I like the DVD rewrite drive because it players everything i throw at it without being picky. Its also allot more quiet than my desktop drive. The trackpoint rawks. This thing works like a joystick (which works nice in games). Also what i should mention is that this thing is totally configurable. everything can be tailored (and i do mean everything). Also when i bought this thing i was afraid that i wouldn't be able to upgrade it but that was a useless fear. Man to take out the keyboard and get into the body takes literary a few minutes (I'm new at this so it took me longer but once you do it all the other times takes less than one minute). The harddrive and memory modules can be upgraded by your grandmother thats how easy it is (one screw and your done). Did i mention that the screen is also easily upgradeable or replaceable. No work whatsoever (IBM even has movies for doing it).

Concluding specs

Model: 2668H2U

Warranty: 3 years global warranty covering everything including purchased (meaning software bought at IBM). software support. Everything is paid by IBM including shipping (box arrives at your door the next day).

Price: out the door $3,753
Laptop price $3,199 Docking station: $169 2nd battery: $49 Tax $249

Overall I'm very happy and would do it again in a hardbeat(edited im such an idiot{dont do work while typing] i mean heartbeat).

Oops forgot to mention that i called tech support to see how it goes and was happy to get connected within 2 minutes with a person in the great USA (Georgia). Cool

I received my thinkpad 2 days ago, but have been too busy installing software and getting things setup to post until today.

Here are the significant specs:
T42p, 15" UXGA w/Flexview, Pentium-M 1.8 GHz 745, 128MB ATI FireGL T2, DVD-R/CD-RW Multi-Burner, 80GB 5400rpm HDD, 512MB RAM, Intel 802.11b/g Wireless, Windows XP Professional, 3 year warranty.

My Initial Thoughts -

Ordering Process: 5/5
When I asked one of the people working at my university's bookstore if they sold built to order IBMs, he told me that there were a few pre-configured models not listed and that he could print me out a list in case the ones on display didn't have what I wanted. I'm thinking he screwed up, because he ended up giving me an internal document with all of the direct from IBM prices, profit margins per computer, net profits, etcetera. I had actually gotten quoted a higher price than the bookstore earlier that day on the phone directly with IBM, but figured I would try my luck again and try to get them to sell me a notebook at the price they sell them at directly to my bookstore. With a stroke of pure luck, a senior sales supervisor answered the phone when I called was very friendly and helpful. He told me he would give me the best deal he could, and then asked me how much the computer was listed as direct from IBM on the printout from the bookstore. I was looking at a lesser configured SXGA+ model at the time which was listed as $1800 direct from IBM, and sold at $2000. He said he could give me a price of $1700. I was quite surprised, so I asked him how much he could sell me the UXGA model that was priced as $2550 direct from IBM, and sold for $2800 (which was still significantly below retail). He said he would give it to me for $2200. To make this long story short, ordering process was incredible, and after taxes/free shipping this notebook was ~$2400. A very good deal in my opinion.

Shipping: 5/5
I ordered the notebook around 4 PM on the 5th of this month. The website had the ship date pushed back as far as the 27th, and phone support estimated the 19th, but the notebook shipped the 10th from Hong Kong and arrived the 12th. It was very well packed. Overall, I can't imagine anything that could have been improved along the lines of shipping.

Build Quality & Keyboard: 5/5
IBM is known for their superior build quality, and they lived up to their reputation. This notebook has a very clean design and feels practically indestructible. The keyboard is insanely nice. It is very quiet, and has a great feel to it. My only (minor) complaint would have to be the 'Fn' key that I keep hitting out of habit instead of 'Ctrl'. I'm not sure that is specific to this keyboard's layout or not though. Regardless, I'll train myself how to use 'Ctrl' again.

Screen: 5/5
I have to admit I was pretty nervous after ordering the notebook that UXGA would be just too hard to deal with. However, after using it the last few days I have to say I am definitely happy with the 1600x1200 resolution. The screen is crystal clear, and I don't have any problem reading text. I haven't even needed to touch the DPI or font size settings, which I was all but certain I would need to. Having all the extra space to use for web design and general use is great. The viewing angles on this as quite good in my opinion, especially considering it is not widescreen. It isn't quite a Sager 3790 when it comes to viewing angles, but they are very good, both vertically and horizontally.

Speed: X/5
I haven't done any benchmarks, so any comments I make about the performance of this machine are going to be purely my impressions coming from an Athlon 1.4 GHz desktop. I won't bother to make unquantified statements about the speed of this machine, other than to say that it blazes through everything I do with it.

Video: X/5
Again, no benchmarks, and I'm not much of a gamer, although I used to be quite fond of UT, so we'll see how the 128 Fire-GL runs UT2k4 when I get a copy. My testing of the video capabilities have so far been limited to running fullscreen winamp visualizations at 1600x1200 and staring at them in awe and amazement for extended periods of time.

Multi-Burner: X/5
I need to find some blank dvd media that works with this drive, and/or check the firmware. The first two burning attempts came back coasters.

Wireless: 4/5
The internal b/g card on this gets slightly better signal strength with my Linksys WRT54GS than my desktop does sitting 5 feet away with a Linksys WMP54GS. I haven't lost my signal, except when I was having some router problems earlier. I give the wireless a 4/5 because I'm still pissed I couldn't get an internal bluetooth card in this. After reading the thinkpads forum, this model apparently has the antenna built in, I just need to order the the parts and swap out the modem card. Unfortunately the card is 100+ dollars, so we'll see if I end up doing that.

Overall Impression: 4.99/5
A great machine through and through. The build quality and keyboard are in a league of their own, and I am quite fond of the simplistic and clean look the laptop has.