T42 vs T43

aamsel

Senior member
Jan 24, 2000
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Wanting the "true" comparison of these two cards ??
I did benchmarks of a T42 and T43 with these two cards, and found the X300 slightly faster at 3dmark05, slower at 3dmark03 and 3dmark01.


Thanks!

Andrew
Austin, TX
 

fbrdphreak

Lifer
Apr 17, 2004
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Pretty much what those of us who read specs would have imagined. The 9600 & X300 (desktop) have the same physical specs:

Core/Mem: 325/400
Pixel/Texture/Vertex Pipelines: 4/1/2
128-bit memory

So says AT

The X300 has a slightly newer core, which won't do much. Now in the mobile varieties, clock speeds are usually changed and VRAM amt can vary. But a 64MB 9600 will be about equal to a 64MB X300, barring different driver optimizations. IMO, the 9600 has better potential. The mobile drivers seem to be more mature and it was designed as a higher end component, compared to the baseline X300. If anybody wants to game with a Thinkpad, the 9600 is a better choice over the X300.
 

aamsel

Senior member
Jan 24, 2000
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It makes for a tough decision, since the T43 has slightly faster memory (DDR-2) a newer Sonoma CPU and PCI-Express with the X300, where the T42 has DDR, the Dothan and the 9600.
I don't plan to game, so with pricing being what it currently is, I may still have to go for a T43.

Thanks,
Andrew
Austin, TX
 

fbrdphreak

Lifer
Apr 17, 2004
17,555
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The other thing to consider is that the T43's get worse battery life. Personally, I would find a good deal on a T42 with the video card you want in it & the screen you want; then add memory, swap HDD's, and even the CPU if you want.
I bet you take a T42 and run it on a 133MHz FSB (*4=533MHz), voila you have a Sonoma minus the DDR2. DDR2 offers meager performance increases for a relatively high cost increase.
Right now the smart money is on the T42, but if you love technology as much as I do the T43 is still enticing.
 

WackyDan

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2004
4,794
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Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
The other thing to consider is that the T43's get worse battery life. Personally, I would find a good deal on a T42 with the video card you want in it & the screen you want; then add memory, swap HDD's, and even the CPU if you want.
I bet you take a T42 and run it on a 133MHz FSB (*4=533MHz), voila you have a Sonoma minus the DDR2. DDR2 offers meager performance increases for a relatively high cost increase.
Right now the smart money is on the T42, but if you love technology as much as I do the T43 is still enticing.


Already posted in the SFF forum, but IBM boosted the amp/hour rating of their 6cel and 9cel batteries. All T43's will ship with the updated batteries and should get fairly equal run time when compared to the t42 with the older/less amp/hour batteries.

T42's will still ship with the older batteries for some time.