Base T42 a terrific used laptop buy
Written: Sep 06 '07
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Pros: Thin, light, fast and well made.
Cons: Cheap new machines can be had for same cost.
The Bottom Line: While any T-series ThinkPad is a joy to use, the T42 may just be the best of the lot.
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| lawman67's Full Review: Lenovo ThinkPad T42 (23736uu) PC Notebook |
I’ve written two reviews on the high-end T42p models back when they were cutting edge (top-range model), and when they were discontinued (low-range model), and in both cases came away highly impressed. I owned that low-range (low-range is deceptive, ALL “p” models are high end) T42p for about two years, and recently replaced it with a mid-range T60 (non “p” model).
Recently the time came to buy a decent laptop for my wife to use for both our company bookkeeping and for entertainment (DVD movies and streamed video). She didn’t need anything fancy and actually preferred the regular XGA resolution on my 12” X41 over the SXGA+ on my 14” T60 (icons and text too small). With her preference for lower resolution in mind, I went shopping for a clean used ThinkPad, and ended up buying a very clean T42 model 2373-6UU, which is a 1.7GHz Pentium M, 512MB RAM, 40GB hard drive and Intel b/g wireless. It has the 14” screen at standard XGA resolution with a somewhat antiquated ATI Radeon 7500 video card that has 32MB of dedicated video memory.
Low resolution, contrary to advertising hype, doesn’t mean inferior. Screen resolution is one of those things like food that is more about personal preference than high-end always equaling better. Just as sometimes I’d prefer a good cheeseburger over a fancy gourmet meal, there are many users for whom a lower resolution screen is actually a better choice.
With screen size being equal, higher resolution equates to more information displayed in the same space, but with that information being correspondingly smaller. Take a page of text. On 14” laptop monitors without magnification and the same font size, you will far more lines on a high resolution screen than on a low resolution screen, but each individual letter will be MUCH smaller. If you have good eyesight or are working with extremely detail-intensive graphics, for example, you will want the highest resolution you can get. If you are casually reading your email and don’t need to view multiple documents, then lower resolution (or magnifying your document) is preferable. For a non-technical user who just wants easy-to-read text, a high resolution screen is probably not a very good idea, as evidenced by my wife’s preference between my two laptops.
Okay, so XGA it is. There are also 15” screens available with XGA resolution, but at that point I find the text starting to look jaggy, though for users with poor eyesight the increased font and graphic (including icons) size will be welcome. In my opinion, for users of average eyesight or with corrective lenses, 14” at XGA is about right for casual use.
Next I looked at the functions the computer would be required to perform. Most important for this machine is QuickBooks Professional 2007, which is not a particularly demanding application and runs well on 1GHz or faster computers. The 1.7GHz Pentium-m (equivalent to a 2.4GHz Pentium 4) is more than up to the task. Ditto for Office 2003 Professional and DVD movie playback and streaming video, which benefits greatly from the dedicated video RAM compared to my ThinkPad X41 which uses slower shared system memory for video. That the 1.5GHz X41 with its shared video does a fine job on streaming video told me that the faster T42 would have no problems. A simple RAM upgrade to 1.0 GB ensured that even with Windows XP Professional SP2 and all of the security applications, I have an unused license) installed that this computer would be more than up to everything my wife was likely to ask of it.
So how does the almost 3-year-old T42 compare to a modern laptop? Very well, thank you. While it isn’t up to the very latest games, its more than capable of just about anything else most people would ask of a laptop computer. It is fast, very quiet, extremely sturdy in build and like all ThinkPads, has a keyboard that is far superior to anything on almost any other laptop.
The T42 boots up Windows XP in under a minute, though I’ll admit that it’s a clean install (not factory) without any of the bloatware that typically comes installed on a new computer. Likewise for antivirus I use AVG, which is a free program that has a very low resource requirement and thus doesn’t slow the computer down much, something that cannot be said for Norton or McAfee, which I consider as much an infection as the malware they strive to prevent.
Word launches in seconds the first time, and instantaneously thereafter. QuickBooks 2007 is also faster than it was on the 2GHz Celeron desktop that used to host the company finances. DVD movies play back without any stutters and of course streaming video looks as good as it can on any computer, which in the case of the T42 is limited only by the speed of the network connection, not in any way by the computer’s hardware.
ThinkPads of the T42’s generation came with either Atheros (labeled as IBM) or Intel wireless cards, and mine has the latter. Atheros cards are known for stronger connections and better range, while Intel cards return slightly better battery life and give you the “Centrino” logo on your boot screen. Given the choice I prefer Atheros, but the Intel cards are good enough (My T60 has Intel, my X41 Atheros).
What you have in the 14” T42, at least in this very basic configuration, is a no-frills laptop designed for business use, and thus lacking in the glitzy gimmicks that many consumer-grade laptops feature. You cannot, for instance, listen to CDs without booting up the computer, and there are no flashing blue lights, subwoofers or glossy widescreens. What you do get is a machine of exceptional quality with titanium reinforced lid, a special active protection (motion sensor) to protect the hard drive, and strong metal hinges.
When new, the T42 was a good 30% more expensive than other laptops with similar specifications and more gimmicks. What you got for that price was a machine that almost 3 years later still looks and feels new, a keyboard better than most desktops, and a machine designed for easy maintenance. You can replace almost any part yourself on a ThinkPad T series, including the processor, fan, hard drive, keyboard and video inverter. Such replacements are extremely difficult on almost any other brand, but IBM (now Lenovo) even posts detailed take-down instructions on its website.
My primary computer is the T42’s direct descendant, the T60, which benefits from two generations of improvements in technology. The T60 is a bit thicker on account of some extra bracing in the frame, but overall there is little difference in the dimensions of the two computers. The T60 also is more understated in appearance, loosing the red and blue accents common to all ThinkPads since the early 1990s. Many ThinkPad aficionados dislike the all-black mouse buttons and more understated keyboard on the T60 and consider the T40-series as the last “true” ThinkPad.
Among T40-series, the T42 is by far the best loved. T40 models, while sharing the same design, have issues with their USB ports failing and also are one year too old to offer modern video options. The T41p is almost the equal of the T42p and can be upgraded to identical spec, but lesser models still have weaker video options. The T42 introduced high-end video to the non “p” models, though my base model makes do without the high-end graphics card option. The T42 also added the 15” model, though I strongly prefer the 14”. T43 had better video in the “p” model, but was a step backwards on the regular models, not to mention complaints of loud fans and a strange SATA to PATA bridge in the hard drive connected that negates all of the speed benefits of the fast SATA drive controller while forcing you to use only Lenovo-supplied replacement drives if you want to avoid nagging warnings at startup, negating the cost advantages of PATA drives.
The T42s are faster than all previous T series, and while the T43s are a bit faster, the differences are minor and are offset by poor acoustics and reduced battery life. Those factors all combine to make the T42 series one of the best loved when new and most desirable used. Clean high-end T42p models still fetch close to $800 in like-new condition with warranty, while base configurations like mine still command roughly $400 in the same like-new condition.
For $400 today you can walk into any big-box electronics store and walk out with a brand-new laptop, but I think that a good clean T42 represents a better value for your money. That $400 laptop will be a cheap consumer model. It will weigh roughly 8 lbs, run for perhaps an hour on its battery and will be lucky to last much beyond its 1 year warranty. The used T42 will easily last another 3 to 5 years or more, will weigh about 5 lbs, and run for three or four hours on a new 6 cell battery, or five or six hours on a 9 cell. Most important, you will be using a premium laptop made from premium components instead of a cheap clunker built to a price. It’s the same as comparing a 3-year-old BMW to a new Hyundai, both will get you there, but you’ll enjoy the BMW a lot more.
In conclusion, before you buy that cheap new laptop for college or business, think carefully about what you plan on using it for. Anything that a $400 new laptop can do, a $400 2-year-old T42 can do better.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 400
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 14 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
lawman67
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 in Computer Hardware |
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Member: Andrew F
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 196
Trusted by: 64 members
About Me:
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she doesn't have a lot to say.
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