SMOKING !! IBM T41 for $1399.00 with Nylon case

[oaaltone]

Originally posted by: hconnor2
how much does all that extra ram affect your battery life?

If anything, the added RAM will boost battery life, as the machine will have to utilize the swap file on the hard drive much less frequently. (RAM uses FAR less power than a hard drive...)

Originally posted by: mono
Also, has anyone tried the linux wireless drivers linked earlier in the article?

I've tested the drivers with a T40 and the Intel PRO/Wireless card in Red Hat 9 and Knoppix (Debian) successfully. No reason they shouldn't work as well in other Linux distros.

Originally posted by: teKillah
The instll comes on a partition which eats almost 4 GB from your 30 GB drive. Kinda sucks that they dont provide any CD's

Call IBM within 30 days of purchase and they will overnight you recovery CDs at your request, free of charge.

 

[nob]

I believe you can ask a recovery cd anytime within a warraty period, free of charge.
I recall I asked one nearly after two years of purchase.

 

[mono]

Originally posted by: mono
Also, has anyone tried the linux wireless drivers linked earlier in the article?

I've tested the drivers with a T40 and the Intel PRO/Wireless card in Red Hat 9 and Knoppix (Debian) successfully. No reason they shouldn't work as well in other Linux distros.

Originally posted by: teKillah
The instll comes on a partition which eats almost 4 GB from your 30 GB drive. Kinda sucks that they dont provide any CD's

Call IBM within 30 days of purchase and they will overnight you recovery CDs at your request, free of charge.


Good on both counts! I ordered one yesterday. Although this morning, orderstatus said inventory will be replensihed within 2 weeks, as of 10 mins ago it has been updated to configuring/packing! Can't wait to get this sometime between xmas and New Year's hopefully. Keep an eye out for a used 12" Apple powerbook once I get the IBM going!

 

[caliyogi]

hey - i am interested in this laptop - is the max display really only 1024x768 ?? I need a bigger resolution because I do programming and have a bunch of windows open at once... how is the HD performance? i think it's only 4200 RPM instead of 5400 RPM.

also only 30 GB HD... bummer...

thanks!

 

[oaaltone]

Originally posted by: caliyogi
hey - i am interested in this laptop - is the max display really only 1024x768 ?? I need a bigger resolution because I do programming and have a bunch of windows open at once... how is the HD performance? i think it's only 4200 RPM instead of 5400 RPM.

also only 30 GB HD... bummer...

thanks!

Yes, the screen on this particular T41 is XGA -- maximum/native resolution of 1024x768. If you need the extra resolution, go to IBM.com and configure a T41 with the SXGA+ (1400x1050) screen. It will definitely cost more, but if that's what you need...

The stock hard drive is 4200RPM, which I find is fine for normal mobile computing (school work (including programming), web browsing, word processing, email, light gaming, etc.). IBM also offers 5400 and 7200RPM drives in larger capacities as well (or you could buy one and add it yourself.) I've never had need for over 15GB on my laptop, personally. If you're looking for a desktop replacement, you might want to look elsewhere.

 

[RossMAN]

Damn this is still hot but I am still holding out for a bargain Compaq X1000/X1050.

 

[MicroChip911]

IBM THINKPADS 20% OFF FOR X AND T MODELS, 14% FOR OTHERS

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1105312


This was posted a while back.. is this deal still valid?? 20% off for first time buyers (small business)....

Can this be applied to regular thinkexpress deals?


I'm currently looking at the T41 #2379DJU. IBM Web Price
$1,939.00
1.6Ghz, 40GB, SXGA+

After a potential 20% discount.. this deal would be sweeter than the current bundle @1551.00 pre-tax.

 

[oaaltone]

Originally posted by: MicroChip911
This was posted a while back.. is this deal still valid??
Can this be applied to regular thinkexpress deals?

I'm fairly certain IBM has discontinued the 20% discount, but you could give them a call and find out. The 20% discount cannot be applied to the Express program models, as they're already discounted at about 15% off list price. If you ask, you might be able to get 5% off an Express model by ordering over the phone.

 

[Sheepathon]

I want to add ram to this, make it at least 512, maybe 768, what type of ram should i buy and where?

 

[Flair]

You need SODIMM CAS 2.5 PC2700 or better.

 

[tchinhe]

I have a question. Is there any difference in the casing size between the 14.1 inch lcd and 15 inch lcd? And with the 15inch battery life should be a little shorter?

 

[adaddo]

Looks like the deal is over "Link is dead"
...Though I did complete my order at 11:00pm last eve.
Looks like a good deal to me..
Has anyone received theirs yet?
Any further feedback appreciated
I've been using a Dell Inspiron 2600 P3 1000mhz laptop for the past yr,
and was hoping for a notable difference in speed w/ this laptop
Thx Guys

 

[tchinhe]

well I must say this is a nicely built piece. I had one dead pixel in the tast bar area.( it is in light blue/white when I had the screen in black screen saver) smaller than the HP ze4400, 15inch 1024x768 no serial port but it has 2 pc slots. speed wise I have not tried it and compare with my XP 2200+. Both machine uses the same ATI 7500 chip, 256mb DDR. I will check out the boot time tonight.

 

[kctopitz]

I've had mine a couple weeks now and so far i'm very satisfied. The keyboard feels especially sturdy compared to most any other notebook I've tried, and knowing I'm going to be doing a lot of typing on this thing that's especially reassuring. The only complaint I can make is that my DVD/CRRW drive is a bit tricky to close: I push it shut and it doesn't quite latch, popping back out. I may call IBM on it. Anyone know if in cases like that whether they send out a new drive or does it require sending back the whole machine?

I'd be curious to hear from anyone who's installed an additional 256 megs of memory on whether there's a noticeable performance increase. I plan on doing that eventually, as well as upgrading the hard drive, though I think I can wait on that until the prices of the 7200RPM hard drives come down (currently around $250 for an IBM/Hitachi Travelstar 60GB 7200).

Oh yeah, and the ThinkLight is a nice added touch for typing in the dark.

 

[hconnor2]

just received mine and i'm impressed with the ibm build quality.

plusses: build quality and engineering. the machine is easily the highest quality laptop i've ever had my hands on.

minuses: the backlit screen is rather dim by my standards. i'm seriously considering sending it back. has anyone else noticed this.

even if i send it back, my hats off to the original poster. ibm is quality all around.

 

[hconnor2]

i may be receiving the day's genius award. i plugged the machine in and the screen is plenty bright. was just talking to an IT person who thought i got the deal of the year and i'd be crazy to ship it back. nice to have such good choices.

question: did anyone get any productivity software on their machine? no word processor, no excel.

 

[Flair]

IBMs battery management software defaults with a dim screen when using a battery in order to conserve battery life. Hit FN+Home to turn up the brightness or you can change the default to something brighter.

 

[wirelessmouse]

I received mine day after Christmas. I'm surprised at how light it is. Speaking of light, that keyboard light is sheer genius! I've dragged my T41 around all over the place these past few days. I haven't really even discovered all the hardware features yet, much less really worked on it.

I'd like to set up mobile web, but not quite sure how to approach that yet with my MS Wireless Router. I'm still a little intimidated about the configuration.

I'm also keeping my fingers crossed for a deal on MS Office.

Thanks to the OP and all who recommended the T41. Your opinions weighed heavily on my decision to go with IBM instead of Dell (for price) or Toshiba (because everyone I know has a Tecra).

 

[CBuilderX]

Also got in on this deal and thrilled with the T41, Thanks to OP! One note for those upgrading their memory right away: these T41s appear to be pretty picky about which memory is in them. I recently installed a 256MB stick of Kingston PC2700 ValueRam to bring it up to 512MB. Afterwards started getting XP Blue screens with "Page_Fault..." type errors. When I take the KVR stick out its back to running perfectly. There has been some discussions about T40/T41 memory upgrade issues on some of the thinkpad boards with similar type errors when using non-IBM memory for upgrading. General concensus seems to be only use IBM branded or other top quality PC2700 brand memory (stay away from KVR on these). I might try a stick of Kingston PC2700 non-ValueRam next. Anyone else who has successfully upgraded their memory on these T41s please post what you are using. Great Notebook though ... the IBM integration with the power management and centrino wireless technology is superb. Really glad I waited and passed on the Compaq X1000/ Toshiba deals recently.

 

[docinthebox]

I have two sticks of Kingmax 512MB PC2700 SODIMM in my IBM T40 laptop and they work great. I've heard that crucial and simpletech also work fine.

I also swapped out the hard drive for an IBM/Hitachi 08k0939 7200RPM 60GB and performance is great. Quite noticeably faster!

 

[hconnor2]

when you swap out a hard drive, how do you transfer the OS and everything else on the drive? use cd-rom?

 

[docinthebox]

I ghosted the partition to an external USB drive, then swapped out the hard drive for the new one, then restored the image. However, there's a "pre-desktop Access IBM partition" that's about 4GB and hidden that I still have to figure out how to copy, because Ghost does not see it. (Neither does other tools like Partition Magic.) I'd have to spend some time reading this documentation and downloading IBM's own tool for doing this. No hurry though. The laptop works fine without that hidden partition. It's mainly for backup and restore, which I can manage fine with Ghost anyways.

 

[docinthebox]

I think I've figured out why the T40/T41 laptops are selective on memory. I ran cpu-z on my T40 and found out that the bios is running the memory at 2.5-3-3-6 at 133MHz. This means that PC2100 memory that can only run at CL3 **will not work**. If you run your memory at timings tighter than what the memory can do, the system is not completely stable and you can get blue screens from time to time.

This makes the Kingmax 512MB PC2700 SODIMM at Newegg a particularly good choice, because not only is it PC2700 (giving you some leeway in timing if you run it at PC2100 speed), but it's rated at 2-2-4-8, at least according to the description at Newegg.

I don't know of any way to change the memory timing settings on the T40, at least the bios menu doesn't seem to have such an option. If anyone knows of any utility to do this, please let me know.

 

[jbwhite99]

For the person that asked about combining express models and 20% first time buyer discounts, it can't be done. If the screen is dim, try Fn-Home - you can adjust the brightness (at the cost of battery lief). My company is getting me a T40 tomorrow - looking forward to a reformat, etc. over the weekend for use at the factory.

 

[mono]

I've had it for a week and I love the T41. It was a great deal. I was also surprised at the quick delivery. I ordered at 2AM on Sunday before Christmas, and I received it on Wednesday the 24th! Free shipping as well. Still haven't received the Nylon case yet though...

I've wiped the drive, including the Pre-Desktop reinstall partition, but I called IBM and have received the OEM OS reinstall CD kit.

I'm now running XP Pro and a SuSE 9 dual boot config. On SuSE, everything works. DVD, CD Burning, and the Centrino wifi thanks to the linux driver wrappers at linuxant.com. I'm ecstatic about the laptop and figure I'll pick up the 512MB SODIMM linked above at NewEgg once my credit card recovers. Great deal, thanks for the link.