T430 Owner's Thread

The adapter referenced above won't work since it is DisplayPort, not Mini DisplayPort. Lenovo switched to mini DisplayPort on the new ThinkPads.

You are going to have to shop around, but you need an active converter typically powered by USB.

See Monoprice Mini DisplayPort | Thunderbolt + USB to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

or

Mini DisplayPort to DVI Single-Link - Active Converter | USB Powered | StarTech.com

 

I just want to confirm that the T430 does indeed only allow for 7mm SATA drives. 9.5mm form factor drives will simply not fit into the slot. I would guess that the vertical combination of the two USB 3.0 ports and the mini Displayport connection only allow a 7mm drive.

I just totally voided my Crucial C300 256GB SSD warranty just to stuff it into the slot

 

I noticed yesterday that the fan on my T430 is running most of the time. Even when System is idle (CPU usage < 10%), running on battery or AC power. The laptop is very cool. Is it the same for everybody or just mine?

I don't think any dust got inside because it is brand new. The fan is not exactly loud for me, but I use skype alot and the noise is too loud for people on the other side of call.


Here are my specs:
Intel Core i5-3210M Processor (3M Cache, 2.50GHz)
Genuine Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)
14.0" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
Intel HD Graphics 4000
4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
Keyboard Backlit - US English
UltraNav with Fingerprint Reader
720p HD Camera with Microphone
500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
DVD Recordable
Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader
9 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70++
90W AC Adapter - US (2pin)
Bluetooth 4.0 with Antenna
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

 

Use tpfancontrol to control the speed of the fans. I use it on my thinkpad t420 and the only time the fan turns on is when it gets to 55C. It should work on the T430.

 

I do not like using third-part software to control things like the processor or the fan. It basically messes up with it even if you do not observe that. I know people will jump on me now not liking this statement. However, I would like to say that if those third-part software are so good like that, then it is either Lenovo does not know about them or they like to leave the machine fan on all the time and make customers unhappy or some other reason!

 

Mine just showed up today. /Sigh... I wish my x220 hadn't been sitting on my desk right next to me when I fired it up lol!

Quick Impressions:

Screen - Duh

Keyboard - At first it seemed like it was going to be too thick in the key travel, but after a couple of minutes it is pretty quick. Going back and forth between the classic and chiclet, I still prefer the tactile sensation of the classic - but this keyboard is pretty smooth and my accuracy is the same.

Weight - Not too shabby, have a 6 cell in my x220 and 9 cell in the 430. Don't see any major issues.

Trackpad - Worlds of difference from my x220. Two finger scrolling is responsive and smooth... LOVE two physical buttons instead of clicking the trackpad edge. I missed having a real palmrest.

Build Quality - Solid. Some minor gaps between screen and base when the lid is closed, flex under/over the DVD caddy, but overall feels very sturdy.

Sound - Meh, slight better than my x220 - but I wasn't expecting miracles.

To do - install mSATA, reformat/reinstall - then some benches.

My specs are listed on Page one, maxed out except ram and HD basically.

 

Good observations. Can you elaborate more on the display? I am getting mine next week and I am so concerned about the display but at the same time I would prefer to just keep it instead of the hassle of returning and ordering a different thing.

 

Have three devices on my desk: Thinkpad x220 (IPS), MBP 13" (Mid 2009, glossy), and the Thinkpad T430.

Viewing angles is the first difference, IPS is pretty much unlimited, and the MBP is consistent side to side and decent when moving the screen up and down. I find that I need to keep the T430 screen tilted back to keep the colors from washing out. Side to side is ok, but not comparable to the x220 or MBP.

Color reproduction is the second, the IPS has awesome contrast and whites are white. MBP has nice vibrant colors, contrast is not totally realistic but - makes videos look nice. The T430 - from about 1 1/2" away I can barely see the grid pattern on the screen, but it is there. The color reproduction is dull, whites are dull, and blacks have that white glow. But overall the screen is pretty serviceable.

I watched a few HD trailers and browsed the web a bit. Text is clear enough, image quality is sharp enough (taking into consideration the grid pattern), not blowing my mind, not making my eyes bleed - so as expected. Still need to mess with the profile settings, see if I can get the washed out/dullness toned down a bit.

 

You could improve colors with the Intel Display driver a bit. Lower Gama to 0.9 and increase saturation to 15-20. That looks maybe a bit nicer.

 

This is exactly what I have done on all of my displays. It makes colors look so much more vibrant.

 

Yeah, but the default Windows 8 Intel graphics drivers do not include such a frontend...

 

What does Intel say about it?

 

I dunno. I installed the beta drivers (made specifically for Windows 8), but these kept looking up my computer. So I rolled back to the default Windows 8 driver (released back in April). It runs Aero fine, but I haven't tried gaming on it yet.

Windows 8 is still beta software, and Intel isn't that great at supporting beta OSes... Especially when the SSD Toolbox still refuses to install under it.

 

Yea, I know. That was my snarky way of saying it.

 

Thanks for the tip. Will check this out.

Can other T430 owners confirm whether your fan runs (noisy or not) at high speed even under low/no CPU load?

 

Hello All,

I was wondering what kind of battery life anyone with a T430 has been getting. My T430s has dismal battery life (less than 2.5 hrs with normal web browsing, 8/15 brightness) with just the 6 cell so I am considering doing an exchange to a T430.

~Hanry

 

In my case, OpenCL. More VRAM means larger data sets and models, and less traffic to and from main RAM, which is a killer for performance.

 

Disclaimer: I run Ubuntu, not Windows. Nevertheless:

It's normally off or nearly silent. I have a HDD as well as the SSD in the machine so I don't know for sure exactly what sound comes from what device, but under normal load nothing is noisier than a normal HDD.

I seem to get about 4-5 hours web surfing with the screen at 90%. I'm running it disconnected right now just to test this. Only using the internal Intel graphics of course. Average power load seems to hover around 12W.

Edit: I don't know Windows specifically, but this is one area where you really want to make sure you know what is running ont he machine. A lot of power savings comes from having the disk and the CPU go into resting states, and one innocent-looking process that does something every few seconds or a few times a minute can absolutely kill your battery.

 

Is your T430 an Optimus model? If so, does Ubuntu support automatic GPU switching?

 

Thanks for the info. That is a much more reasonable amount of battery life. My battery life was after turning the GPU off and fiddling with the power settings. Much too short to get any kind of work done on the go...

 

Yes, it is. And no, Ubuntu does not support automatic switching (work is happening on it, but it's not ready for use). But, there's a piece of software called Bumblebee that let's you do it explicitly.

Basically, your desktop and everything runs under the integrated graphics, and the NVIDIA card is powered off. When you launch an application (a game or something) with the bumblebee utility, it will power up the NVIDIA card, run the app using the card for output, then power it down again when it exits.

On one hand, you have the hassle of having to explicitly say when you want to use the NVIDIA graphics. On the other, it can be pretty practical; after all, almost all applications actually run fine with the integrated graphics and you may not want the extra power use and heat from having the NVIDIA card kick in.

I haven't set this up on the T430 yet — only had the machine for about two days — but there is no reason to suspect it won't work fine on it.

 

I just received my T430 the other day and I'm already having issues with the touchpad. If I'm using the keyboard, the touchpad pointer locks up and works after about a second of typing. It's really noticeable playing games that use wasd controls as you can't look around while moving. Any suggestions?

 

You normally have a setting where the system ignores the touchpad while the keyboard is in use. It's so you don't accidentally move the mouse around as you type. Look around the touchpad settings and disable that option.

 

I don't see an option under both keyboard and mouse settings.

EDIT: NVM! I didn't press the little plus buttons for the collapsible sections. I fixed it! Thanks for the help!

 

Does the T430 + I7 CPU got a Thunderbolt connector or just the T430s + I7 got one?

In fact don't really get the diff between the "s" and "non s" version tbh.

 

Unfortunately, it does not say that on either the T430 or T430s though the later has it on the i7 versions, so it is a mistake on the specs book. Whether or not, it is available for the T430, I do not know as I am still waiting for mine this week and will update.

Basically, the T430 is a little lighter and slimmer but more expensive than T430. The battery life of the T430s is less than the T430. There are other small non-significant differences but unfortunately, form people experience ion this forum, both have the same mediocre display with disappointing viewing angles.

 

ok thx, I stay tuned.

 

It's quite a bit lighter and is visibly slimmer, that's the main selling points. On the other hand you've got a smaller battery, no option for an NVS 5400M card if that's your fancy and you pay a bit more. Me, I didn't think the differences were worth it, but to each their own.

As for the screen, I find it pretty good. Not great, but not bad at all — clearly better than the screen I've used for the past few years without problem, and clearly better than some of the comments here would lead you to believe. The viewing angle is small, that's really the main drawback. It's no problem when you sit and work with the computer, but it can be a real issue if you try to show things to other people on the screen for instance.

 

I've been considering this laptop for a few weeks but I'm still unsure on the display. I'm not too fussed over viewing angles, but what are the black levels and brightness like? I regularly watch TV and movies on my current laptop so I want a reasonable screen, but by no reason does it need to be "stunning".

 

The brightness is ok, the black levels sucks. Overall contrast ratio is on the lower side. What's your current laptop?

 

Sony Vaio FZ (now dead): Notebookcheck link.
Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 2515 (temporary): Notebookcheck link.

I was very happy with my Vaio but I certainly want something than the Fujitsu - the black levels and are awful and its virtually unusable outdoors.
Cheers.

 

Well, if you believe NotebookCheck, then the T430 will be much much worse than the Vaio and probably slightly better than the Fujitsu.

 

Indeed, that is a worry. I didn't realise my Vaio had such a bright display...

 

Do these views look pretty good to you?

http://joshuamorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1070129.jpg
http://joshuamorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1070130.jpg
http://joshuamorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1070131.jpg

 

Well, if you can live with the following views, then you are a winner!

http://joshuamorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1070129.jpg
http://joshuamorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1070130.jpg
http://joshuamorse.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/P1070131.jpg

 

Welcome to Lenovo ThinkPad 14" business class computing.

 

The straight ahead shot looks pretty good, if rather overexposed. I see no need to tilt my screen away, myself, so I don't find that very relevant.

Yes, I find the screen to be pretty good, but not great. Fine for work and for the occasional game, youtue video or whatnot. I don't use it to watch TV or movies — we have a TV for that — so that is not a consideration for me. If you spend a lot of time doing that you may well want to look into a different computer, and possibly select a glossy screen as that will give you better contrast and more vibrant colors in a dim room.

 

so, a couple times tonight, i've been playing Diablo III and have alt-tabbed to get connected with some friends on TS3, only to have my system lock up completely... Each time I have had to hold the power button down to make it all work.

Anyone else experiencing this?

 

I get about 20 watts at idle on maximum battery life. I find that to be really high. What power consumption do you guys get?

 

fwiw: i installed bumblebee via their official ppa for ubuntu (12.04), and it Just Worked (tm). installed nvidia's drivers as everything, 3d accel worked fine with the "optirun" command. i was expecting a lot of pain, but it was an absolute breeze.

and the best part: my battery life seemed to jump up by an hour or 2, i guess from some power management features being enabled after the install.

the harder part i think will be getting external displays working, since the DP port at least is hardwired to the nvidia card. it's possible to do it alongside bumblebee/optimus i've read though, but requires some funky inverse bumble-bee stuff where a virtual display "exposed" by the intel card is mapped to the nvidia's display buffer.

but there's hope at least. and all-and-all this is one sick little linux workstation. everything else is working splendidly.

 

im using a linux tool called "powertop". im not sure how accurate it is, but i think intel funds it and it's pretty popular. it's reporting 11.2W for me at idle, with 80% brightness

any way to confirm your CPUs are in their lowest power states and that the discrete graphics are switched off? only factors i can think of. except maybe a hard drive... i should also note my numbers are with 2 low wattage SSDs

 

Good to hear. You didn't add any repository for the newest NVIDIA drivers or anything? I didn't think support for the 5400M card was in the main repositories yet.

I've checked, and the VGA port works fine with just the Intel graphics (at least with Optimus disabled in the BIOS) — and that's the one that counts as far as doing presentations and stuff like that. The DP port is a nice extra, but I have yet to run into it in the wild. Every meeting room I've ever been to have provided a VGA connector and nothing else.

I'm getting about 12W or so with just the internal graphics enabled. I expect Optimus (or Bumblebee) should give you similar performance as it shuts down the NVIDIA card when it's not used.

 

Hi, can anyone please tell me if the T430 has a thunderbolt port? This is a very important and is a dealbreaker for me if the T430 does not have it.

 

Only the T430s with the i7 3520M has a thunderbolt port

 

Thanks for the pictures. I think I'm gonna pass... a shame really since I wanted to buy a Thinkpad this time around. The x230 is an alternative I suppose, although they are pretty expensive here in the UK.

 

nope, all i did was add the optimus ppa. I assumed it would bomb initially and that i'd have to go DL the nvidia drivers afterward, but it installed everything and it's working perfectly. with "optirun blah" on I can confirm the proprietary nvidia kernel model gets loaded, then unloads when the application stops running.

hmm, you're right it works perfectly fine for vga (even with optimus). My co-worker with a w520+optimus was having issues and confirmed it was a problem after some research, so i just assumed the t430 suffered from the same issue. but i tried it just now and it was just plug and play, ubuntu set it up as my right-hand display as soon as i plugged it in =D

yup, makes sense

 

Has anyone confirmed if the lenovo t420 9 cell battery will work with the t430?

 

The battery will be detected and used, but not charged.

 

So after one use and charge is gone its basically useless unless I put it in t420 to recharge. I bought my 9 cell off of ebay from some cheap hong kong seller. Do you think those non oem batteries will charge?

 

The 2012 thinkpad lineup has a validation chip that only allows it to charge official lenovo batteries. Supposedly a security feature but it's also somewhat uncompetitive.