The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Ibm T43 - $299, Cheap?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by vi3tscorpian, Mar 16, 2009.

  1. vi3tscorpian

    vi3tscorpian Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    46
    Messages:
    330
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    vi3tscorpian, Mar 16, 2009
    #1
  2. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

    Reputations:
    4,018
    Messages:
    6,046
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    206
    A Pentium M will outperform an Atom, clock for clock. The T43 is almost the same as the T42 which I own; and with 2GB of RAM, it can run Vista fairly well. I would definitely recommend that laptop over a netbook, provided that you do not need many hours of battery life.
     
    Bog, Mar 16, 2009
    #2
  3. vi3tscorpian

    vi3tscorpian Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    46
    Messages:
    330
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    yay! thanks Bog. i will definitely go for the T43.
     
    vi3tscorpian, Mar 16, 2009
    #3
  4. t30power

    t30power Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    190
    Messages:
    778
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It's a nice machine although it is only 512M on RAM and low resolution XGA (1024x768). At thinkpads.com from time to time nice T42 or T43's come with more memory and generally the price a little bit lower.
     
    t30power, Mar 16, 2009
    #4
  5. terrace

    terrace Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    88
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I might just pick one of these goldies.
     
    terrace, Mar 16, 2009
    #5
  6. Snakecharmed

    Snakecharmed Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    298
    Messages:
    289
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It's fast enough for most tasks. Upgrading the memory is no big deal and inexpensive. Upgrading the hard drive on the T43 has the potential to be a colossal pain in the rear. Other than that, it compares favorably in every other performance category against the S10.
     
    Snakecharmed, Mar 16, 2009
    #6
  7. bridge86

    bridge86 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    129
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    A Pentium M with 2GB of ram is not enough to run Vista. I used to own a Dell which had a 1.86Ghz Pentium M(Dothan) and 2GB of RAM and it horribly slow for Vista..
     
    bridge86, Mar 17, 2009
    #7
  8. vancamp

    vancamp Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    3
    Messages:
    58
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    16
    This bears repeating. The hard drive can be upgraded, but there were restrictions in the BIOS regarding what drives could be used. I believe it was related to the interface... a SATA-to-PATA bridge (it doesn't take SATA drives, so you would be limited in expansion in any case). I went through some pain to find the process to upgrade my wife's T43 to a 100GB 7200RPM drive.
     
    vancamp, Mar 17, 2009
    #8
  9. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

    Reputations:
    826
    Messages:
    3,240
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    The T4x is a great series of notebooks (in my opinion one of the best). I used a T40 for 5 years and loved it.

    It will perform at least as well as a netbook, probably far better, and the overall usability and typing experience is beyond compare.

    The only concern would be the older PATA hard drive (most new drives are SATA) and that the T43 tended to run hotter than the other T4x models.
     
    jonlumpkin, Mar 17, 2009
    #9
  10. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

    Reputations:
    4,018
    Messages:
    6,046
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Based on my experience with the T42 in my signature, it runs everything perfectly, although not as snappy as my Core 2 Duo based Dell. Boot times and resume times from hibernation do suck, but otherwise performance is more than satisfactory for everyday applications such Office 07, FF, GIMP, IM, Live Mail, or taking notes with OneNote. It even has Vista drivers and the video driver for the 9600 actually runs Aero very smoothly. So while you say, "no you can't, it's not enough," I can tell you that, based on real-world experience, "yes it is enough."
     
    Bog, Mar 17, 2009
    #10
  11. StealthTH

    StealthTH Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    281
    Messages:
    680
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    This was the same experience with my T42...ran vista pretty well. Specs in sig.
     
    StealthTH, Mar 17, 2009
    #11
  12. vi3tscorpian

    vi3tscorpian Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    46
    Messages:
    330
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    is the T43 outter shell as sturdy as the thinkpad x301's?

    thanks
     
    vi3tscorpian, Mar 17, 2009
    #12
  13. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

    Reputations:
    826
    Messages:
    3,240
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    The outer shell is very sturdy. The concern with the T4x series is internal flex. The T43 predates the rollcage, and motherboard flex was an issue (caused the GPU to become detached from the mainboard). This is generally only a problem if you hold it in an unbalanced manner (e.g. with one hand by the front right palmrest), but it is something to be aware of.
     
    jonlumpkin, Mar 17, 2009
    #13