Laptop Recommendations?

[Chopstick]

Marc, can you give me the specs of your RAM? The info on the Lenovo website is not very detailed and my machien is not here yet. It's probably pretty safe for me to order the same specs you have.

Teunis, you are happy with the cheap caddy you got? What size is the bay? 9.5 or 12.7mm? Our local retailer here only has SilverStone TS08/09 in the aforementioned two sizes, respectively

[Teunis]

Yes I'm totally satisfied with the caddy, it's a 12.7 mm one.
Several sites have info what is needed and I believe the T540 is still the same fit.
The UK Amazon site offers them for £8.90.

I never bothered to transplant the cover of the DVD tray.

[Chopstick]

So, I searched around a bit and it appears that up to the T530 the thickness is 12.7mm and as of the T540 it is 9.5mm... which would make sense, since the T540 is supposed to be about 5mm thinner.
I may be ordering this one then: http://www.ebay.com/itm/301192201700
Unfortunately the 9.5mm ones are mostly only availble in white - who on Earth would ever buy a white laptop that almost looks like a Mac...

[Teunis]

Just as well you checked for the size
As the whole device disappears inside the laptop the colour is irrelevant.

With most of these you can take the outside cover off your DVD drive and attach it to the caddy so there is no visual clue on the outside.

[marco07]

Marc, can you give me the specs of your RAM? The info on the Lenovo website is not very detailed and my machien is not here yet. It's probably pretty safe for me to order the same specs you have.

Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L 1600 MHz (PC3-12800) CL11

[Chopstick]

Thanks, Marco. DDR3L means the voltage is 1.35V, right?

Teunis, I didn't realize that you can use the bezel (?) piece of the DVD drive; I was under the impession that the bezel it came with was glued on or something - but I think I will just go to a comuter shop and have a look at it myself - then this will become much clearer.
Or I can just paint it myself ;-)

[marco07]

Here is a better specs from my order invoice:
Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3/DDR3L 1600 MHz (PC3-12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Memory for Mac CT2C8G3S160BM

[SteveRiley]

In summary, the culprit was that t540p default boot mode is set to "Both", legacy & UEFi, however, the trick is that legacy is picked first unless manually set otherwise.

I totally forgot about this firmware setting! Yes, I know that ThinkPads allow you to choose UEFI, legacy, or both. If you choose both, you can select which order the system try -- UEFI then legacy, or legacy then UEFI. I've forgotten by now which is the default.

Anyway, glad you got it working!

I'm not sure if this will affect me anyway, but it wont hurt to set the boot mode to UEFI, even if I wipe Windows off the disk.

I run my T520 and X1 in UEFI only boot mode. No legacy emulation junk for me

[MoonRise]

I totally forgot about this firmware setting! Yes, I know that ThinkPads allow you to choose UEFI, legacy, or both. If you choose both, you can select which order the system try -- UEFI then legacy, or legacy then UEFI. I've forgotten by now which is the default.

Got bit by this one too though it never would go to UEFI like it should have and so kept failing boot. Was about to reformat and start over when the installer showed the existing partitions that stated weren't there. Hunted for about an hour when it hit me about this setting and just set it to UEFI only and BINGO!, solved! Horrible setting.

[Chopstick]

So I know what to do about the UEFI setting now ;-) Thanks!

Regarding the caddy, I had a look at it at my local retailer here, and indeed the way it works is that the original DVD clips to the front. However, the things they are selling look really flimsy, so that I will be ordering one that looks a bit more sturdy.
(Teunis, yours doesn't look nearly as flimsy as the one they were trying to sell me.)

[Chopstick]

Yes I'm totally satisfied with the caddy, it's a 12.7 mm one.
Several sites have info what is needed and I believe the T540 is still the same fit.
The UK Amazon site offers them for £8.90.

I never bothered to transplant the cover of the DVD tray.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5176[/ATTACH]

So, Teunis, with the caddy you have, how do you secure the HDD inside the caddy? Some advertise that you screw it in, but others don't seem to even have holes for screws... and how important would that be anyway? (If it is squeezed in with some rubber nobs, it is probably safer in terms of suppressing vibriation than if it is screwed in, unless there is a vibraitonal resonance with something in the HDD, which is unlikely, I think.)

[Teunis]

The HDD in my caddie is 'just' held in place by a rubber strip opposite the connectors, the whole construction is quite solid.
Once in the laptop there's no chance of the HDD coming out.


Originally I checked amazon.co.uk and judging by the stickers they were exactly the same make.
I just checked on the US site and the majority of caddies are the same make, just cheaper

One example:
http://www.amazon.com/DBPOWER-Seller...ords=hdd+caddy

This site includes a nice zoom picture that shows how the rubber strip is put in. (picture 4 on the right hand side)

[MepisReign]

Hello,
Be careful regarding the System76, please review this topic from another forum
http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=35793

I would go with Lenovo any day of the week, I'm a proud owner of 2 oldies, a T400 and a T61, when one of those die I will go with Lenovo again.

Bashing on my friends and forum-mates opinions is not intended.

All the Best

MR

[Chopstick]

Thanks for the info, Teunis - this rubber stick technique makes a lot of sense! I would actually prefer this over screws.
Unfortunately Amazon US does not ship electronics to Canada (I know, it is not obvious, and I suspect it has legal/taxation reasons).
We also pay more, although not as much as you...

[Teunis]

But then, having the same queen et al. you can also get it from the UK

Pretty sure there'll be a local reseller of this Chinese stuff.