Impressions of a T40 owner...

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Avatar8481

Junior Member
Oct 29, 2001
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Originally posted by: mocca
Originally posted by: Resh
Damn! Why did you have to tell me about that new hard-drive and laptop update in August? Why oh why?

I was soo ready to get a T40p, but now I want to hold off! $hit!

What to do? *stomps off, huffing*

N

If you want the latest technology on a laptop, you will wait forever :) Trust me, I played that game before and I waited for a perfect laptop nearly 1 1/2 years. Fact is there is no perfect laptop. There is always something wrong with it, either the mfg know, can or cannot solve, or small or big problems. There is also always something better, newer, faster, on the corner. If you need a laptop now, just buy it now and then stick with it for three years. The HDD is easy to change so it should not be a problem. The gfx is another story but ATI M9 should be good enough for every games today and in the near future if you don't want to play at 1600x1200 with 4xFSAA.

Mocca


I feel that problem. I wanted to post a follow-up response on my current thinking for comment.

A new T40p with all the fixin's would cost anywhere between 3,100-3,300 depending on vendor and shipping. Given that I already have a desktop to play games on, albeit 2 years old and given that notebooks have 3d power at an enormous marginal premium price it makes more sense to do the following: take the 3,300 I would have spent on a T40p, and though it would have been money well spent break it into two purchases. First an ultraportable with the capacity to surf the web and type (my only non-gaming tasks), for a start a refurbished Latitude X200, depending on load out is 1,500-1,900. That leaves say...1,200 left. Bank that money till the fall and upgrade the desktop for the next-gen games (Half-Life2 et al.) then. Checking today a top drawer Canterwood loadout was 1,600 and components are only getting cheaper.

What do people think about this plan? And more importantly can anybody recommend an ultraportable. I know IBM x31, but that's expensive given the plan, and the Dell X200, but I don't know what the build quality is like though the price is good. Are there more Centrino ultra-portables besides the X31, or can anybody recommend an ultraportabel from the last generation that I could find cheap?

Thanks for the advice and I look forward to heaing people's comments.

Michael
 

Resh

Senior member
Oct 12, 1999
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Avatar8481,

Good plan Michael.

From my point of view, I'm currently completing a project to tur our small backyard into a comfy little relaxation nook (large deck, flower boxes, haning planters, large Weber BBQ, low-voltage mood lighting, candles, and teak furniture) so I want to spend summer evenings outside, but I know if my comp is inside, I'll be inside -- hence the need for powerful lappy.

I want to be able to play some UT2003 and use game voice, work with my digital pics, etc from outside over a wireless link.

While your plan makes a ton of sense, and I'm going to give it more consideration, I don't think it will work out for me.

Why can't IBM just move to the new models NOW????

N
 

davy19

Junior Member
Apr 9, 2002
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Originally posted by: nicowju
I just ran 3DMark2001 at default settings (1024x768x32) and got 4937 3dmarks. Not bad, IMHO, for a laptop. Everything appeared really smooth, too :)


With my dell 600m, 1.3 centrino, 64 mb ati 9000, 512 ram, 4200 30 gb drive, and latest ati drivers I get a score of 6800 in 3dmark2001se, and gbot this laptop for $1400, cannot beat it.
 

mocca

Senior member
May 3, 2003
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With my dell 600m, 1.3 centrino, 64 mb ati 9000, 512 ram, 4200 30 gb drive, and latest ati drivers I get a score of 6800 in 3dmark2001se, and gbot this laptop for $1400, cannot beat it.

That is the differences between the 64MB and 32MB M9. The 32MB M9 use 64-bit while 64MB use 128-bit. The 32MB M9 use less energy and hence the choice of IBM. I would love to get the 64MB version (which you can but will be FireGL instead for IBM T40p) but I don't like the 9cell battery design and 5000 3DM2K1 is suffice for mose of the games and application.

Mocca

 

davy19

Junior Member
Apr 9, 2002
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Originally posted by: davy19
Originally posted by: nicowju
I just ran 3DMark2001 at default settings (1024x768x32) and got 4937 3dmarks. Not bad, IMHO, for a laptop. Everything appeared really smooth, too :)


With my dell 600m, 1.3 centrino, 64 mb ati 9000, 512 ram, 4200 30 gb drive, and latest ati drivers I get a score of 6800 in 3dmark2001se, and gbot this laptop for $1400, cannot beat it.


True but the biggest decideing factor for me on top of perofmance in games is the price

To pay twice as much to me is just absurd, $3000 for a laptop that tehcnology will be outdated in 6 months is not good investment to me.
 

azazello

Member
May 10, 2003
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I finally got my T40 237358U after 1 1/2 weeks of processing and shipping. My impression so far is that it works as advertised. An excellent machine, with a justifiable price (I paid $1800 + $125 for memory and wifi + tax). Remarks:

-The SXGA+ screen has glare from ambient light, but it's not worse than that of any other hi-res LCD (but compared to it, my flat CRT has no glare at all). Many colors are distorted when looking from a steep angle, but I don't think there is a better SXGA+ on the market.

-The Radeon 9000/32M is plenty for modern games. The machine runs a botmatch in Antalus.ut2 in UT2003 with all details set to high on 1280x1024 with no hiccups at all. That's pretty amazing, considering that my desktop machine, with supposedly higher specs, runs slower.

-The battery life approaches 4 hours when used heavily. I suppose this should be impressive, but I've never had to tend to a 1 hour life P4, so my expectations are high.

-The top left side of the laptop does indeed emit high-pitched noises when the laptop is on and being charged. Sometimes the noise is audible when running idle, but usually it is when it's performing some task; for example, sending data over the ethernet port. When accessing the cd/hdd, there is no correlated noise from the cpu side. I was initially convinced that the noise comes from the battery charger and motherboard power supply, but Lothix convinced me that it is not so easily localizable. Maybe it's the external voltage controller circuits for P-M throttling; maybe something else. In any case, it's nothing to warrant a return; I may ask IBM to send me another power brick.

-Build quality is unparalleled where it matters. There are a few places where it is not superb - the screen latches are the flimsiest part, but they are well protected by the screen guard; the plastic frame at the bottom of the screen and in varying places on the chassis may buckle a little, but that is almost unnoticeable and nothing compared to the other (non-IBM-dinosaur) laptops I've seen.

-The top cover keeps fingerprints very well (but is cleanable). It also has the surface properties of a blackboard (i.e. scratch your nails on it and you'll get that feeling). When it gets old and used to it can double as a "tablet" like that =)

-The BIOS setup is full-featured. I have not used the security chip yet and I deleted all software and the recovery partition to install clean. The only IBM-supplied software that I found useful were the drivers for devices that XP does not recognize and the touchpad/joystick drivers, and the keyboard drivers to make some Fn+X keys work. I haven't installed the wifi card yet so I don't know what's useful there.

-Looks like the battery takes close to an hour to recharge (I have the small battery).
 

azazello

Member
May 10, 2003
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-The hard drive is dead silent - there is a whisper when it seeks, is all. No high-pitched noises as described in the other thread. (This drive is a fujitsu 30GB/4500 RPM.) The DVD drive is, it bears repeating, amazing. The only drawback is that the center spindle on which the CD is mounted has so much tension in the springs for its latches that I can imagine breaking or bending the drive rails when setting down a CD without supporting the drive from below.

-All the connectors are rock solid. On the bottom, there is a panel covering one of the DIMM slots, and screws to remove the keyboard and wrist pads to gain access to the miniPCI card and the other memory slot.

-The battery barely rattles. You want to make sure that both latches are fully locked.

-The LCD has no stuck pixels. The LCD cable is about 3cm wide and protected from outside by a thin plastic cover. It sits right next to a 1cm wide metal screen hinge that also protects it.

-The keyboard is certainly not "full-height" as in desktop keyboard full-height, but it is better than almost all other keyboards I've seen, and the key travel is long. The Fn key instead of Ctrl in the corner is irritating. Lack of a Windows key is also irritating to me; it can be reassigned to anything, but I would prefer putting it on the right at the expense of the huge right shift key which I don't use anyway and non-standard extension back/forward keys next to the arrow keys.
 

mocca

Senior member
May 3, 2003
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azazello: Glad to hear that you like your T40. I definitely like my T40 :) Anyway, if you want to reduce the interference noise from the T40, try the following steps I posted here. This should reduce the noise by as much as 80-90%. Welcome to the club :)

Mocca
 

patsun123

Senior member
Feb 26, 2001
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azazello: glad to see you got your laptop in... i ordered the same model# almost a week ago. They were telling me 3-4 weeks to get it but i guess they got a new batch in cuz mine shipped last friday. One question: Did you have to get your extra ram preinstalled, or did you do it yourself... if so was it pretty easy? And which wifi minpci card did u get?
 

azazello

Member
May 10, 2003
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patsun: I did it myself. It was not hard at all; just remember when inserting it into the slot that it accepts the DIMM at a high angle (at least 20 degrees off horizontal), i.e. you have to insert it diagonally and then lower and latch it. The access slot is held by a single small phillips screw (you'll need a precision phillips screwdriver).

I got the cisco wifi card. UPS has been very slow to ship it - I'm supposed to get it tomorrow.
 

sentinel2000

Member
May 13, 2003
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azazello: Have you played games on your 58U? Interested to know how the 1.3/4500/R9500 combination works with something like Splinter Cell? Do you like the resolution of the SXGA+ screen? Did you play games at 1040 or higher?
 

azazello

Member
May 10, 2003
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sentinel: the SXGA screen is nice. I increased the dpi in Windows so that all elements should scale accordingly, and set nice fonts. This makes some icons and applications look ugly, but in general everything is fine. The games I've played so far (UT2003, SimCity 4, Commander Keen 6 :) ) all scream - 3D performance is definitely not lacking. I have not set any game to 1400x1040, but I've played them comfortably at 1280x1024.
 

mocca

Senior member
May 3, 2003
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azazello: Can you hear the electrical interference noise when using battery with "Always On" power setting? If so, what range you can hear (i.e., max distance that you can still hear the noise from your keyboard or the air vent)? With the new AC Adapter, the noise from using battery is more than when using the AC Adapter (ironically, the situation is opposite before I get the 02Ks AC Adapter).

Mocca
 

azazello

Member
May 10, 2003
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mocca: Pretty much the only times that I hear the noise are when I scroll or the system uses the ethernet port (I assume that means full CPU utilization). My ear is about 50cm from the vent when using it like so and I can hear the noise distinctly in a quiet environment. If I remember correctly the noise is quieter but still audible when running off battery.
 

mocca

Senior member
May 3, 2003
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If I use the laptop normally (i.e., sit about a foot or two from my laptop, then I cannot really hear any noise. I can hear the electrical noise only when I put my ear near the air vent or the keyboard (literally about two inches from the air vent or keybaord). Try put your ear near the air vent or keyboard when using the "Always On" power setting under battery. Do you hear the noise? The noise is not loud but still there non the less.

Mocca
 

Shanteli

Senior member
Aug 7, 2000
568
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How are you guys deleting the hidden recovery partition? I don't see it when I try to load up XP from scratch...it keeps on saying 25GB instead of 30GB. Do I have to do a low level format on the hard drive?
 

mocca

Senior member
May 3, 2003
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Originally posted by: Shanteli
How are you guys deleting the hidden recovery partition? I don't see it when I try to load up XP from scratch...it keeps on saying 25GB instead of 30GB. Do I have to do a low level format on the hard drive?

Get into the BIOS (by press the Acess IBM button when the IBM logo appear). Get into the BIOS and Security. Under the predesktop section, disable it and you will get the whole HDD back. Once you disable the predesktop area, you won't get the nice looking predesktop (pre-BIOS I should say) but you still can get into the normal BIOS.

Mocca

 

Shanteli

Senior member
Aug 7, 2000
568
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Thanks mocca. Well now after looking through some stuff for this lappy I am kinda kicking myself cuz I did not order the wifi card with it. I am not too thrilled about removing the keyboard and all. On IBM's site they only list the cisco B, intel B, and IBM B cards....does anyone know if you can order the IBM A/B card? I'm sure I could just call them but I'll check here 1st.
 

mocca

Senior member
May 3, 2003
203
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Originally posted by: Shanteli
Thanks mocca. Well now after looking through some stuff for this lappy I am kinda kicking myself cuz I did not order the wifi card with it. I am not too thrilled about removing the keyboard and all. On IBM's site they only list the cisco B, intel B, and IBM B cards....does anyone know if you can order the IBM A/B card? I'm sure I could just call them but I'll check here 1st.


The Dualband wireless mini-PCI card (a/b) FRU is 26P8506 (for model no. 2373-2Ax, 33x, 44x, 92x, 93x, 9Cx, G1x except xxE, xxJ and 2379-D5x) or 26P8447 (for model no. 2373-2AJ, 33J, 44J, 92J, 93J, 9CJ, G1E, 2AE, 33E, 44E, 92E, 93E, 9CE, G1E). I don't know why there are two FRU but presumably the first one is for the model sell in US while the second one is for the model sell in Japan and Europe (hence J and E after the model number). I also believe that the mini-PCI wireless card are CRU (Customer Replaceale Unit) abiet you have to remove the keyboard and the palmrest to access it. You should call IBM first and ask them if you can put in the card yourself or not (without void the warranty) before doing it.

Mocca
 

Kangaroo802

Member
Apr 24, 2003
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Originally posted by: Shanteli
Thanks mocca. Well now after looking through some stuff for this lappy I am kinda kicking myself cuz I did not order the wifi card with it. I am not too thrilled about removing the keyboard and all. On IBM's site they only list the cisco B, intel B, and IBM B cards....does anyone know if you can order the IBM A/B card? I'm sure I could just call them but I'll check here 1st.

You wont really need 802.11a unless you actually do use 802.11a at work or in your home. Most hot spots and areas will use 802.11b, hopefully soon 802.11g. So you may want to save some $ if you just get a b card. best question to ask yourself is, how often do i run into places with 802.11a.
 

mocca

Senior member
May 3, 2003
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I tend to agree with kangaroo802 about the 802.11b. However, if the price differences of the dual band a/b and the single band b are minimal, say less than $20-30, I would get the dual band one. This way, you don't have to worry about any wireless protocol in the near future. The 802.11g is not standardized as of yet. So I would not get any 802.11g now. Besides, with dualband a/b, it should work as good as 802.11g regardless of what standard the access point use.

Mocca
 

Shanteli

Senior member
Aug 7, 2000
568
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Yeah I would probably only use B if I took my lappy anywhere but I would like to run a faster connection at home. Of course there is no "real" need for A or even G...but still. Well I looked up the prices and the a/b model 26P8506 goes for around 170ish through IBM...and the B's are all around 50. So no...it is not really worth it. Do you guys think that after G gets standardized, that they'll pump out another mini-pci card?
 

OldSpooky

Senior member
Nov 28, 2002
356
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Do you guys think that after G gets standardized, that they'll pump out another mini-pci card?

I read that the IEEE will finalize the 802.11g standard this summer, and I have a feeling that Intel is going to jump onto 802.11g as soon as the standard is official. The official word is "by the end of the year."

http://news.com.com/2100-1039-1001656.html

I got my ThinkPad T40 without the Wireless NIC - I wanted to get an 802.11g miniPCI card sometime and IBM didn't offer one. Hopefully the Intel one will be inexpensive.