T43 vs. T42

Hi, I know this has been asked many times, I was wondering what are the differences between T43 and T42 besides the processor? Do they use the same screen?

chris

 

Here's a link to a bunch of reviews for the T43

http://www.notebookreview.com/revie...ductFamilyID=528&reviewSiteID=0&lastBrandID=9

and here's a review I wrote where I covered the differences between the T43 and T notebooks of old

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2285

the screens are the same.

 

The biggest difference is DDR2 memory (T43) vs. DDR memory (T42). Finger print reader on more T43's than T42's. The idea that T42 owners feel inferior for having the old model.

 

I in no way feel inferior. All that fan noise must be affecting your thinking.

 

The difference is that T42 is a better laptop.

 

Well, the main differences, in my opinion:

-Processor: as you noted, the T43 uses a 533MHz FSB Pentium M rather than the 400MHz FSB versions used in the T42. They have higher power consumption and heat production, and marginally better performance.

-Chipset: the T43 uses the newer Sonoma chipset, rather than the Intel 855 chipset of the T42. This means higher power consumption and heat production, again, as well as support for PCI-E video cards, GMA 900 integrated graphics, DDR2 RAM, and the new Expresscard PCMCIA standard.

-RAM: the T43 uses DDR2 RAM rather than DDR RAM, which means cheaper modules, lower memory power consumption, and somewhat better memory performance than the T42.

-Video card: the T43 (non -p models, as I don't know so much about those) can have either GMA 900 graphics, which are about on par with the Mobility 7500 in low-end T42 models, or a 64MB Mobility X300, which has lesser performance than the 64MB Mobility 9600 in some T42 models.

-Hard drive: although the Sonoma chipset supports SATA drives, the T43 still uses IDE drives that connect through an adapter, which can cause errors on startup with different drives. T42 models just use a regular IDE interface, so you can upgrade the drive without having problems.

So that's all of the main hardware differences. As a result of all of that, T43's get lesser battery life than a similar T42 and produce more heat, which causes the fan to run more often. Although I wouldn't say the T43 fan is any louder than the T42 fan, the fact that it runs constantly is quite annoying. It can, however, be controlled now.

There. That was probably more than you wanted to know, and you probably figured out most of it for yourself anyways, but I was bored. Hope it helps.

Oh, and try to ignore Karl Gruber. He's just feeling bad that dr_st's laptop is, in fact, superior to his (and mine *tear*).

Ultimately, though, both are great choices, and if you're trying to decide between the two, (all else being equal) I'd let price be the deciding factor.

 

Excellent summary, Trippytiger. And this:

is exactly what I think too.

 

Untrue, I have a T42 and T43. According to PCmagzine.com the battery life on the T43 is better than that of the T42. I've already posted a link confirming this fact.

You've pushed me too far. I'm going get my digital camera and post a photo of both my T42 and T43.

 

Oh, my... yes, you have that one review that shows the T43 getting better battery life than the T42, but there are plenty of other reviews claiming otherwise.

Go ahead and take pictures of your laptops - especially try to get the right hand side, as I think that tends to be under-represented in photos. I fail to see what that will accomplish, though.

EDIT: Would you mind showing me that link of yours again? I went and looked at PCMagazine.com's reviews of both the T42 and T43, and it appears that while the T43 was tested with a 9-cell battery, the T42 was tested with a 6-cell (not explicitly stated anywhere, but the 0.5lb difference in the stated weight between the two laptops is indicative).