initial T42 review, more to come

hello everybody,

i monitored these boards for a while before purchasing a laptop for school and decided on the t42 which i just got in today...

specs- 40 gb hd (5400 rpm), 32 graphics card, 1.7 Pentium M, 512 Ram, 15' standard res...those are the biggies i guess

here are some initial thoughts-

Screen- i opted for the 15' non-Flexview, with res. at 1024x764 or whatever that standard res is...i love this for my eyes because i had sxga on a dell and thought it was too small after years of using 800x600. anyway, the screen is not amazing but it gets the job done...dvds look fine to me..no ghosting or anything, but maybe that is just with flexview, i got the 32 mb graphics card and things look crisp and clear as far as i'm concerned...the only problem is a slight white illumination across the bottom of the screen, not as bad as my dell was, but enough to let you know its there on a black screen, i know laptops have this prob a lot, and its unnoticeable when you get past boot up, but ill deal with it

build- solid as a rock...so much better built than my dell that i sent back

keyboard/trackpoint- ive never worked on a laptop as perfectly designed ergonomically as this one, its great, ive had no slip-ups due to misplaced keys yet and the trackpoint offers great control

shipping- ordered on the 24th and everything was here by the 29th, kudos to ibm

experience ordering and through one tech support call- no wait and no mangled english accents, good so far

ill keep updating this thread, but if anybody has any t42 questions, feel free to ask

list of cons so far: almost unnoticeable illumination, but i have 3 year at home so i can always fix that, and they dont send you back-up discs with XP on it, you have to call.

any t42 questions, feel free to ask

-mark

 

Just for fun, you should run the SuperPi benchmark test on it.:

http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2657&SearchTerms=let's,measure

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Fujitsu S6210: 1.6Ghz PM ~ 768MB RAM ~ 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
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i ran the Pi test to 2 million....and i got 2 minutes and 10 seconds...of course i have no idea what this means....is it a good time for my specs....1.7 processor, 40 gig 5400 rpm, 512 Ram, IBM thinkpad t42?


oh yeah, one more question, can you upgrade a hard drive to a 60 gig 7200 rpm down the line if i happen to fill up this 40 gig at college quicker than i estimate?

 

Look at this thread to see what times others are getting:

http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2657&SearchTerms=let's,measure

You can upgrade to a 60gig 7200rpm harddrive in the future. Right now you can get one for $180 from www.zipzoomfly.com

*******************************************************
Fujitsu S6210: 1.6Ghz PM ~ 768MB RAM ~ 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
*******************************************************

 

is your t42 silent ?

 

Dom-

I've had my t42 for a week now and ive kept it on for extended periods and its been completely silent...my hard drive is 5400rpm 40 gig and Ram is 512 ....are you looking to buy one? i went through a long process trying to pick out a notebook and i'm very happy with IBM service and quality so far...

anyway, the fan kicks on once in a while, but is very quiet and most of the time the machine is just silent...not much else to say, any questions, let me know

-mark

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by red yeti
i monitored these boards for a while before purchasing a laptop for school and decided on the t42 which i just got in today...

any t42 questions, feel free to ask

-mark
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

Thanks for the info Mark! I am doing exactly what you did- lurking around, reading everything that I can concerning the right laptop for school.

<blockquote id='quote'>quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>oh yeah, one more question, can you upgrade a hard drive to a 60 gig 7200 rpm down the line if i happen to fill up this 40 gig at college quicker than i estimate?<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>
Jiminy Crickets!! How much data do you plan to store lad?!?!?! I'm in pre-med and have figured that I'll need 40g at the MOST.

 

He probably plans to keep the laptop for a while and doesnt want to run out of space. I know thats what I was thinking when I bought mine.

*******************************************************
Fujitsu S6210: 1.6Ghz PM ~ 768MB RAM ~ 60GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
*******************************************************

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by red yeti

 

hey folks,

regarding the hard drive, this was a huge point of contention for me, i do plan on getting through 4 years of college with this (maybe even more) and you'd be suprised, with the ibm partition or whatever they use and after you configure your computer with all the stuff you use youre down to about 30 gigs, obviously that will suffice for a LONG TIME, but you know how us college kids love our digital cameras and mp3s and such...anyway i'm very happy with the machine, has worked great so far

-only thing is it is taking me some time to adjust to the CONS of an LCD screen after using my desktop for years..oh well

-mark

 

How much did it cost you, I'm interested in one of those things.