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IBM T40 Questions

S

Seleur

Junior Member
Hey guys. I just bought an IBM Thinkpad T40, 1.6 Ghz Pentium-M, and I have some questions about the best way to use this machine. Basically, with the default setting the computer came with, I noticed that the speed under system properties seems to vary between 299 mhz and 599 mhz. Is this a feature of one of the battery saving modes or such associated with the Pentium-M? I chose the "Maximum Performance" option under the battery maximiser wizard, and rebooted, and my processor speed was then at 1.6 Ghz. Basically, what I'm wondering is whether it's necessary to choose max performance and reboot whenever it's plugged in, and change it to something else and reboot when it's running on batteries, or if this should/could occur automatically? How do you T40 users generally use the notebook in this respect? At first I was a bit alarmed at my low processor speed, but figured it was just because of the default power setting that came with the computer.

Also, is it normal for the CD-RW/DVD drive to be somewhat loud on this machine? This is my first laptop, so perhaps it's like that on every laptop, but compared to what I'm used to from my desktop, it's a bit noisier.

Finally, how durable is this machine? Considering I've never owned a laptop before, I am a bit hesitant to carry it around a lot and stick it on my lap and such as I'm not sure how ruggedly these things are built. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Congratualtion for your pruchase of the best laptop currently available (I'm not exagerrating either consider it is the best performance/size/weight/feature model) 🙂 About the processor speed, the Windows XP doesn't report the speed correctly sometime AFAIK. You need to download the Intel program that can identify the cpu which will usually indicate the maximum cpu speed. I find that other programs report the cpu speed more accurately such as Sandra SiSoft. On my T40 and T40p, sometime the Windows will report 299, 599, 799MHz, and 1.6GHz depending on the power setting. I recommend that you set the power setting to "Portable/Laptop" since it is the most flexible option (unless you prefer full speed or max battery).

The CDRW/DVD does get loud sometime but this is mostly because of the CD or DVD itself, not necessary the drive. You will notice that the CDRW/DVD will get very loud with some CD or DVDs while very quiet (or not so loud) with some CDs or DVDs. The CDRW/DVD in the T40 or T40p is similar to what used in the Sony, Dell, Compaq, and other OEM. The 24x CDRW/DVD in some Sony and Dell models are actually a little bit louder than the one in IBM T40 🙂

The T40 is very durable but you have to be careful not to scratch the top surface though. It is rubberize surface laminated to magnesium alloy so it is durable but easy to be scrubed off if you know what I mean. I used Sony GR, GRX, Dell Inspiron4xxx, I8xxx, Latitude D600 and D800, Compaq n610c, n620c to name a few and IBM T40 is the best constructed laptop so far.

Mocca
 
Thanks for the helpful response. I am glad to hear you are pleased with the T40.

So is it normal then that the speed seems to fluctuate a lot? And I don't need to reboot for the new settings to take effect, right? I will give the portable/laptop a try.

Thanks!
 
ive been running my laptop plugged in alot. should i take out the battery when i do this? i noticed each night the battery drops down a percent and i heard your not supposed to charge it when it's over 95%.

 
IBM says its ok, but you do need to use the battery occassionaly so that when you charge it,
it will charge to 100%...I'd reccomend once a week (to use battery down to 3%) assuming you
are plugged in most of the time.
 
If you use portable/laptop or similar power management schemes, the cpu speed will change depending on the processor load. This is normal for P3m, P4m, and P-M.

Mocca
 
mmm speed step. a very good idea. with the ultra low voltage 900 mhz pentium m's i think the crusoes are done for. 🙁

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