Customer Reviews
Avoid this cheap junk... 
2006-02-24
In all the years I have used laptops for work, I have never been motivated to actually buy my own personal laptop in addition -- until now. My company got me an IBM Thinkpad, and it's a piece of junk. It's so bad, I actually forked over $1800 of my own money to get a Dell. The Dell is lightyears beyond the IBM in every way. The IBM is less than a year old, and has already had the motherboard replaced under warranty. Everything about it screams "cheap", from the lousy keyboard, to the nearly non-functional touch pad (it constantly jumps around, causing you to lose just-typed text). I wouldn't buy one of these for $100. Remember, I warned you.
IBM-Lenovo 2005-11-05
I have owned over 4 laptops now and the IBM thinkpad is by far the cheapest and most unreliable laptop. The computer has been unuseable every 4 months. First the battery. Then the power source. Then the harddrive. And now the motherboard, which by-the-way, has to be sent in to be replaced. It will take approximately 2 weeks to get all that back to me. I suggest a Mac or Toshiba. Their parts are not made in China, Mexico, and Malaysia like IBM-Lenovo's parts. I should have never taken the advice of PC magazine. THey do not rate on reliability.
Great machine, but fan is always on and makes a lot of noise 2005-02-22
It is a very good notebook. Slim but durable.
My only problem with it is that the fan is always on.
Since I work at home, the noise level is simply too loud.
I'm returning it.
Great Laptop 
2004-12-12
Even though IBM sold their pc division shortly after I purchased this machine, I would purchase it still. It is pretty close to the perfect laptop in almost every respect.
It's lightweight yet durable - a machine that is meant to travel. The speed is really good. The screen is really nice, bright and crisp. I picked the 14.1" version of the laptop because I wanted the smallest full featured machine possible and I was not disappointed.
The fingerprint reader is great and easy to use. I have it set up to require a fingerprint scan at boot up for security and from there it will log me into windows as well. I even have different fingers set-up to allow different Windows privileges (admin vs restricted user).
There are a lot of nice little features in this machine that make a big difference. I'm a big fan of the mouse pointer in the on the keyboard and would not know what to do with out it. The extra scroll button for the mouse is really handy as well as the keyboard light built into the screen. The keyboard is comfortable and well laid out.
The software that comes with the machine is very good, especially if you are moving from network to network. For the most part it does a great job of figuring out what environment you are working and configures itself appropriately.
About the only drawback to the machine is the price, but what you pay extra you get back in less aggravation and a better experience with a machine that (if you are like me) use every day.
Just what I wanted 2008-04-02
This is a great little laptop. My wife has a Dell widescreen and it is just too bulky and heavy for what I wanted. I wanted a lightweight laptop that had a nubby pointing device. My old laptop (Compaq Armada) has a nubby and I love it. The T42 has both the nubby and the touch pad--both of which are fully configurable. I turned the tap option off on the touch pad because it drives me crazy.
The only thing I would change on this laptop is add some more USB 2 ports. This laptop only has two of them on the left-hand side. In the back of the laptop it has a standard parallel port for a printer. They could have easily not have up that on and instead added four more USB ports. I also like it because it has 2 PC-Card (PCMCIA)slots. Most laptops have express card slots. I am sure express card is good, but all of my cards for laptops happen to be PCMCIA.
I would definitely consider buying another ThinkPad.
IBM THINKPAD T43 
2008-04-01
In my other reviews I can't say enough good things about the IBM ThinkPad. The T43 is an awesome machine. Very tough and smooth. The screen is very plush and worth the money. I've used Dell,HP,Gateway,Compaq,Sony and pretty much every kind there is, but I've always had a love for the ThinkPad. The touchpad, the reconizable red pointer, and scroll button are so convenient. Much more durable than the Dell. The material use is much better quality than the Dell,or HP. No issues with this at all. The only down side is that it runs Windows. But that can be changed. T43 is worth the price. You pay for quality. I've dropped my ThinkPad many times and no cracks or anything. My old Dell on the other hand is a different story. Also doesn't get as hot as the HP.
IBM T41 2007-09-25
The seller ended up not having the T42 in stock, so I opted to have him substitute a T41. For 100 less MHZ, he gave me a gig of extra ram, so its about even. Fast DHL shipping was also included in the deal!! I rate the seller very high for customer service and courteousness!! I would definitely buy from him again. The laptop came with a decent battery and was practically blemish free. If I didn't know it was refurbished, I would have suspected it was new.
Love it! 2007-09-09
I've had the laptop for at least 2 years and its awesome. I've never had any problems with it and it works great. It's going to be some time before I have to buy a new one.
The Perfect Laptop 2006-07-25
I've owned my T42 for about 8 months now. This thing is wonderful. I've dropped it more than once and carry it all over the place in my backpack (on my bike), and use it day in and day out. This thing works just as good as the day I got it. Pretty fast for a laptop, I have no complaints about the speed. The wireless abilities are great. I'd fully recomend this laptop to anyone who is smart enough to realize a little bit of extra money up front will save you a lot of money in the long run.
