• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Laptop Sound and Thinkpad T40P Questions

E

esaleris

Member
I have a Thinkpad T40P and I have two questions:

1) What is the best solution for laptop sound? I heard the Extigy creates high CPU usage. Any alternatives or rumors of a Extigy 2 over USB 2.0? I know Creative favors FireWire, but USB 2.0 seems to be catching up in popularity.

2) ThinkPad T40P users have an integrated Dual-Band Wireless A/B Mini-PCI. The manual seems to state that this cannot be replaced, but I find that rather silly because it's a) Mini-PCI and b) designed to be taken out. So why has IBM placed security screws over it and told us not to play with it? I would like to get an a/b/g card sometime.

3) I pulled VGA from the 15-pin D-sub onto an LCD and the text was a bit blurry (ghosting slightly on the right). Is it just my machine or the ThinkPads? I know that the quality cannot be as good, but I had to ask.

Thanks in advance folks; this forum has been extremely helpful and I hope to contribute back whatever I can!
 
1) Best sound solution for any laptops right now is the Creative Lab Extigy. I would not worry about the high CPU usage (it won't be more than 20-25% but I don't know for sure).

2) I think the reason that IBM put the security screw on it is because they don't want a user to mess with it (which is rather wierd if they allow user to change the internal mini-PCI 802.11b wireless card). Anyway, the dual band is as good as 802.11g. The triple-band will be better. If you want to replace the dualband with the triple band in the future, you can always remove the security screw. They are just three TR-7 screws. All you have to do is go out and buy a nice TR-7 screw driver (usually $2-3).

3) I've never try to output my T40p to an external monitor yet. I will try and let you know.

Mocca
 
1) depends on what you're looking for. the extigy is the best multichannel laptop sound solution, but if you're looking for just stereo go for the Echo Indigo which will kick the extigy's ass all over the place. Indigo has actually good quality sound (extigy is shite) and it uses the pcmcia slot so it won't kill yr CPU. Not to mention that it has a mid-powered headphone amp built in. good stuff imo. but seriously, extigy sound quality may be better than what's built in but it is still pretty crappy especially for the price. if you're not an audiophile you may not care tho..

also, any usb based sound solution will eat up cpu cycles- it's just the architecture of the USB bus. I do wonder why there aren't firewire based solutions since those would by less of a cpu hog...

3) check the quality of the cable. bad cable=blurry picture.
 
mocca -

I really appreciate your comments! Thanks for the information about the screws...

Black.Lotus -

I've used the cable for my desktop -> LCD and it is very clean. So I figure its my T40P output to the LCD
 
Mocca -

let us know about the external display. I too will try an hook up this week. That would be a let
down for sure. Yet, I think most systems have tweaks and it helps to know what they are...

Re: Sound card

Also a good write up on Echo Indigo on tom's hardware. Would be nice to have a comparaison
to the Entigy also.
 
Actually, this question applies to all ThinkPad T40 users... So let us know!

How is the quality of your External Monitor Output?

(If you just caught this conversation, mine has a slight ghosting towards the right that you can just "feel" while reading because it is slightly blurry... My LCD is great and the cable is fine - both perform well coming out of an old GeForce card I have in my desktop.)
 
I connnect my T40p to an external LCD using the normal VGA cable and it look fine. I need to switch to 1280x1024 though since my 17" LCD support that res natively. I don't notice blur fonts anymore than normal. BTW, did you notice that the max refresh rate specified for IBM LCD is 50Hz (the internal LCD I meant). This is quite wierd since the Windows setting is for 60Hz and I've never heard of a 50Hz LCD before???

Anyway, my LCD is Cornea MP704 17" 1280x1024. Did you try to set your LCD (i.e., phase, contrast, brightness)?

Mocca
 
Hey guys - I'm happy to say that it was the cable!

For some reason the cable I was using did fine with my GeForce -> LCD. But it was pretty unclear from T40 -> LCD. The new cable is clear for both applications. Thanks so much for your suggestions...
 
Hey again guys!

I have an issue that I hope you guys can shed some light on. I've only recently started punishing my laptop a bit, by loading on games and such. Return to Castle Wolfenstein plays decnetly and so does Medal of Honor.

However, Counter-Strike refuses to work in OpenGL mode: I can start a game just fine - but it is when you spawn that my machine freezes. It loops the initial pistol cock sound indefinitely. And my machine is locked.

When I reboot, the systems log shows something similar to:

The driver ati2dvag for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates.

Have you guys experienced this? Some ATI FAQs said to run SmartGART and play with settings; Is it possible to run SmartGART on the FireGL 9000? SmartGart in the ATI Technologies\ATI Control Panel folder won't start up when I try to run it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top