T42 or T43

I recently purchased a sony FS notebook, which i had to return because the screen was giving me headaches. I decided to follow some advice and purchase a IBM notebook, which have matte screens. I looked on the Canadian IBM website and cannot decide between the T42 and the T43. Does anyone know the main differences?

The T42 has:
Pentium M 735
1700Hhz/400Mhz
512 DDR SDRAM, 333Mhz
ATI Mobility RADEON 7500, XGA, 32MB, DDR SDRAM

The T43 has:
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740, 1730MHz/533 Mhz
512MB, 533Mhz, DDR2 SDRAM
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
Graphics type: XGA
Video RAM type: DVMT

Processor is a The T43 is about 300 dollars more, and my uses are not more than word processing, watching newscasts and web browsing. Is the T43 worth the extra cash?

Thanks so much for all the help!

 

Go for the T42. The T43 will do nothing extra for what you want to do, and even with the GMA 900 graphics, it will still run hotter and have worse battery life than the T42.

One problem you may have is with supply issues with T42, so it might take longer to ship, or Lenovo might send you something else (they sent me a T43 instead of the T42 I ordered). It might be worth calling to see what the situation is.

 

I'd second the T43.

 

I'd go with the T42. Better battery life and runs a bit cooler than T43...

 

Do you mean the T42? No one "firsted" the T43, so you can't second it!

 

Same thing really... I'd go for the T42, as it may be a bit less hot and less noisy (due to the fan trying to keep down the heat).

 

I believe Trippy did.

 

T42 if you can't stand 2C increase in temps and a little more fan
noise while roaring at full speed.
T43 if you prefer updated and new technologies, like DDR2,
GMA900 and PCI-Express.

I suggest you go for T43, for it will be convenient and light on
pocket to upgrade the system in future, as the DDR will slowly
be phased out when AMD releases their DDR2 supporting CPUs.

BTW, can anyone confirm whether T43/R52 use SATA or PATA
interface for HDDs?

 

I just love it when people seem to think that "updated new technologies", even if they add zilch to performance and features are worth it, just because they are "new and updated".

GMA900? While it may be one of the best integrated solutions, it is still killed by any dedicated video card from Radeon 9000 and up, and can only keep up with four-year-old solutions, like the Radeon 7500.

PCI-Express? What good is it going to do you if you get a laptop with GMA900, which can never be upgraded to a dedicated PCI-Express card anyway?

DDR2? Slower clock-for-clock than DDR. DDR2-533 barely keeps up with DDR-400, and while it does beat the DDR-333 that T42 uses (which, together with the faster FSB, leads to a small performance boost at the same clock frequencies), it's not tangible, except some CPU-heavy tasks.

It will be a long while for DDR systems to be phased out, since all current top-notch AMD-based CPUs are using DDR, and their laptops too, and while Intel is going to stop producing their Centrino line, the laptops are there, and they are going to be there for a while, and they are going to need replacement parts. You will have no problems with DDR availability for a few years. At some point it may become somewhat more expensive that DDR2, but not enough to justify a decision based on that.

The "little more fan noise" and "little more battery life" seem to me as considerably more important factors for the decision that needs to be made here.

 

"Go for the T42. The T43 will do nothing extra for what you want to do, and even with the GMA 900 graphics, it will still run hotter and have worse battery life than the T42."

Nope...

 

Thanks to everyone who has posted here! Its really useful to people like myself who really don't understand much about computer hardware. IBM Canada has a promotion running on the T43 where $149 (like 130US) buys another 512 of RAM, and extra battery, extra ac adaptor and Microsoft Office. This tips me in favor of T43. But how hot and how loud is it? I don't mind some fan noise, but there seems to be alot of complaints on this forum about loud and irritating fan noise on the T43.
Thanks again to all those who shared their knowledge and advice!

 

Well, that does seem like a good deal. It would be even better if it was the bigger, 9-cell battery. If you need the MS Office license, that is. If not, you can just get the extra RAM cheaper.