I will jump in to say, that sd card slot is actually an expresscard slot with an sd card adapter in it, which in some models was held in by a screw from the top. This laptop can be used with expresscard egpu setups, and some have shown experimental success in getting thunderbolt egpus to work. In finding a thunderbolt model, I suggest making sure there is a thunderbolt sign over the port, as some i7 igpu models have been reported not to have it. Also, there are 1080p kits available for this and the t430, and up until around a year ago there were 1440p kits only for the t430s, but now there are some for both.
T430s is an incredible machine, I must say. After upgrading it with an SSD right away, I used it as my main workhorse for eight (!!) years in all kinds of conditions without a single failure. Replaced it with a T490s just a couple of months ago, the main reason being just regular wear. Things started to get loose a bit after eight years of everyday (ab)use, but it's still going strong and enjoys its second-hand life!
I've had this laptop with an SSD for eight years, and it is still going strong. Wrote a bunch of books and did all kinds of business work with it. Still remarkably fast for its age. Probably the best bang for your buck out of a used laptop if you go searching on eBay.
Boot time of ~20 seconds with only a mechanical drive would lead me to believe an SSD would be unstoppable. I've read with some kits, you can also swap out the display pannels. So there is still a fair bit of tinkering to be done here.
They’re liked by the diehard Thinkpad crowd. One RAM stick is soldered so cant be replaced, so you don’t get the dual speed from a larger stick completely in the second slot, the displays are mediocre by today’s standards, and the CPU and GPU are becoming dated. But for a daily (non-gaming heavy) daily driver, it’s hard to beat the keyboard. However the keyboard is NOT the much loved “classic” one and there are people who’ve jammed those in these to get the real trackpoint buttons back - however Lenovo firmware locks certain hardware and a flash of the machine firmware to “free” it from these limitations is needed for certain keyboards, lcd panels, etc. They’re a tinkerer’s fun, but starting to get long in the tooth along that path. The tinkerers were hot and heavy about two years ago. Sadly these are near the end for the really good keyboards from Lenovo, and that means they’re a touch expensive (even the “s” which isn’t as valued for tinkering as the non-“s” with socketed CPU and easier mods) and will probably remain so until folks have to eventually move on. Lenovo’s attempt at a classic keyboard machine revival was met with jeers - the machine was expensive and had numerous flaws most classic Thinkpad fans disliked more than just buying and putting up with the much less adequate Carbon keyboards and everything soldered modern Lenovo world. At least Lenovo isn’t just another Apple clone. And these oldsters are still fun but slowly becoming too slow for heavy lifting. Hard to compete with laptops and even 2 in ones, brand new, with AMD Ryzen on board - for well less than $1000, nicely equipped. $1000 gets a screamer. Intel is in big trouble right now if AMD can keep up with demand AND figure out how to get Thunderbolt 4 on to their laptop motherboards.
I have Manjaro Linux with a (500 gb SSD and 16 gb of ram with i5) and I can boot up to login screen in 6-7 seconds with power adapter attached (this is because with adapter you get full CPU speed).
Superlative video! I bought my T430s pre-owned in July 2012 for $450, from an IT pro. It still had almost 3 years left on the warranty. Mine is the i5, 1600x900, 16 gb, 256 SSD, backlit keyboard. It's still running flawlessly Feature that I love are the physical volume, mute and mic buttons...not found on later Lenovo Thinkpads, which operate using the Fn keys. I'm not a PC gamer, do light Photoshop/Lightroom/Video Editing. It's pretty quick for those tasks. I've used my T430s for an average of 5 hours a day for the last 8½ years and it's never let me down. Perhaps I will purchase a 3rd or 4th gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon in the future for road warrior duty, whenever we can do that again. Pre-owned Thinkpads are the best bang out there.
T420s/T430s is by far my favorite Thinkpad. For the maximum performance and battery life, I would go for this configuration: CPU: i7 3520M GPU: integrated RAM: 16GB DDR3L 2133Mhz with Ivyrain Screen: LP-FHD from T490 with FHD converter Battery: 44Wh + 32Wh Storage: 500GB mSATA + 2*1TB 860 QVO Especially with LP FHD mod, the raw power consumption will drop to 4-5W when idling or 10-15W when doing light tasks, which means 5-10h of battery life.
@@LaptopRetrospective Oh ok I didn't realize that. I see these models priced around $250--$350 on ebay refurbished! Been eyeballing them for some time,
Hello, A nice video, again ! :) As I have said on another of my comments on your channel, I'll never like the keyboards of this series of laptops (T430, T430s, T530, W530 and so on). Less keys and the infamous grey indications to access the secondary functions of them that are hardly visible. But I'll be fair, I must admit that the comfort is still there, firm, travel long enough, it can also be a pleasure to use. For the rest of the machine, it's very good, same as the T420s. I own the two in my collection and the T420s is still my daily in my bedroom (I should say my nighty in fact ! :D). The quality of the chassis, its relative thinness (for the machines of this era) and the upgradability - after all, it's an ultrabook and this type of laptop is not known to be upgradable are very nice). As you said, there is an mSATA slot for an SSD, that can give the opportunity to have an additional hard drive for storage). We could regret that the mSATA port is only SATA II (the 2.5" one is SATA III) and on modern systems (Windows 10 or 11 if we tinker a little to install it), they require a little more that SATA II speeds. But if we want to stick to the original systems (7 or 8), then no problem. I have an mSATA drive in the T420s with Windows 10 but it's the 1803 and it's still light so no problem. On the T430s, I also have Windows 10 but in its 22H2 flavour and I used a SAMSUNG 850 EVO, so on the SATA III drive. The two machines are still perfectly usable for light to moderate browsing, for multimedia (listen to music, watch some movies in HD or FHD). I also use them from time to time to to some light photo editing, I've never met problems. My point of view about the keyboard is strictly personal but I think we can objectively talk about the life of the battery/batteries. It's nice to use the ODD bay to have a second battery but even with that, in real life usage, it's difficult to have more than 5 or 6 hours of battery life. It was correct in 2013, today and supposing that we still have good batteries, it's probably too little and the ratio weight/battery life/performance is not really good. For me the T431s is better, mainly because it's lighter (and as my unit has FHD IPS screen, it's more comfortable for 2024 daily use). Yes, there is an FHD mod on the T430s (and also on the T420s) but it's not like the P n' P system in the T431s and so on and I suspect it'll be more and more difficult to find the electronic card that permits the mod in the years to come). Nevertheless, for me again, those laptops (T420s, T430s and T431s - the T431s more than the others) are worth to be part of a collection. And they can be useful from time to time for light tasks. Oh, I put that here even if it's not directly related to the T430s but close enough : I upgraded everything on my T420 and the last thing I did was to install a 2720QM I found in a Toshiba laptop, to replace the 2640M that itself was used to replace the original i3 - a 2310M. Well, the laptop no longer boots with the 65 W adapter. The 90 W one is now required. Not a surprise but last time, I plugged the laptop on the first adapter I found in my junk, I was barely awake and I didn't pay attention to the wattage... I should have because I had to search a 90 W adapter (I have, as you can imagine, a cupboard full of them) very early in the morning, always nice to do that at 5.30 AM ! :D W.
I remember when buying the T420 second hand that I not just skipped the T430 line for its new style keyboard but also for its price. It's a pretty darn good laptop nonetheless, those who have one surely appreciate the long lasting battery life and duribility. Your T430s is in pretty good shape also, I am somewhat jealous since my T420 has old stickers and stuff up on the top cover.
@@LaptopRetrospective My battery life is awful...at the most, 1:15. It's extremely rare that I use mine away from an outlet. I do have an extra battery. Only issue is that it's not hot-swappable. I'll end up buying a pre-owned T470s or 3rd/4th gen X1 Carbon for a road notebook. For under $500 those are brilliant. However, they don't have the physical volume/mic/and mute buttons. Those are incredible features not seen on today's notebooks.
You maybe surprised to know that you have a smart card reader on the left side under that hard drive slot. and that sd card reader is actually an adapter that you can remove as well by pushing it inside.
Yes, another person pointed out the Express Card slot that was camouflaged. 😂 Thanks for the tip on the smart card reader, do you know by chance if it was optional or featured on all of these?
@@LaptopRetrospective That's actually pretty accurate to use the word camo here Though it's pretty unusable because it's located at an unusable place inside that cover. That too fixed with a screw!
Great Video. I am luckly owning one of the I5 Models. I have installed 16 GB of Memory and 2 SSD as I replace the DVD Burner with the Harddrive Bay. I am using it as a Hackintosh to test. Currently I am running Catalina on it but might change to Mojave: Tumbs Up and Greetings from Germany :-)
That's awesome Marcus, how has your Hackintosh experience been with this machine? That is one project I'd like to try one day. By the way, thanks for supporting the channel for over a year!
That's awesome, what sort of work do you do with it? It would be great to hear from a long term user for those that might want to consider purchasing one.
@@LaptopRetrospective Software development and system administration mostly backend in remote servers. Nothing heavy ran in my machine. It was a bit slow with Chrome, VSCode and Slack running but totally usable.
My T530 and T430 both came with backlit keyboards but the keys were very smooth and slippery-didn't like them at all. Discovered there were OEM keyboards with tactile keys that solved the slipping problem. Bought two on eBay, installed them easily, and have been very happy with them. They don't feature back-lighting but I regard that as gimmicky and prefer the ThinkLight anyway. One of these days when I feel motivated I will replace at least one with a classic (best) keyboard.
Oh. Neat. Yesterday I looked at a few pictures that were in fact a simple T430, not the "s" variant, and it threw me off track, assuming it is a simple T430. Shame on me, and the lazy people uploading the wrong pictures. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll burry myself into my backyard. Edit: My X230 has a 3380M. I'd miss it's power from a T430s.
@@LaptopRetrospective I'll do. :) Actually.. I've got a massive pile of SAS Hard drives for free. I'd rather burry myself in testing RAID configurations ;) Also, I edited my comment, check it out. I think you'll not find an other X230 like mine. Literally couldn't find another mainboard for sale with that CPU. I'm quite proud of that machine, I got it for a very decent proce.
Hey, had fun over on Twitter trying to guess this model :P I remember having to choose between the T430s and the T430 I ended up getting when shopping for a cheap used ThinkPad. I always found this machine quite conflicting; like it feels "jack of all trades, master of none". It's not as upgradeable as the T430 with standard parts (though that dual RAM slots below are much, MUCH more comfortable than accessing a RAM slot below and the other underneath the keyboard), has one less USB 2.0 port and the sacrifices in weight are not enough to outweigh the low battery life, nor a strong argument compared to the X1. Then to make matters worse, the T431s came later, with U-series chips and, while objectively and justifiably loathed, nailed all the ideas for a slim, light, ThinkPad if you didn't have the dough for a X1 (I will still hate that it only has two USB 3.0 ports, though lol). While I do get that you can have choice and diversity, having such a saturated line-up IMO doesn't do anything. I know it's a pain in the back to have the T430 in a backpack, but for all I can do (change CPUs up to a Quad-Core plus the Thermal Solutions, put SSDs, the T420 keyboard hack works best there, try an experimental 1080p panel (I think Sebi's Tech told me about this)) I think it's a reasonable trade-off. If you can forfeit a drive, the size, and get all the upgradeability sans CPU, and still get it for cheap, I think that instead of this or the X1, the X230 fills anyone's needs. Now, granted, many of the 30 series ThinkPads are sold out or not widely available on eBay or refurbishers because the Pandemic has kind of stalled equipment updates in some companies, so be wary of price increases (I was watching how the X220s and X230s prices shot up from ~USD125 to >USD200...)
The 30 series I think had the most different models of any generation, I think they were really trying to feel out what were the best choices moving forward.
There are something that I'd like to point out: T431s is by far one of the worst Thinkpads out there: You don't gain much better battery life with IVB-U models, but you have a shrinked battery, therefore the battery life is quite bad. Since it has the x440 clunkpad and half-soldered RAM, it basically has the problems of both x40 and IVB platform. The only great thing about T431s is its built-in eDP connector, so you don't need any adapter board to get a FHD screen working. T4x0s has always been in an awkward position since x1 carbon came out, especially these days (T14s, for instance, is basically an x1 carbon without 4-lane TB3 port), but it still has its own niche. Almost every T4x0s has got the same or similar mainboard design as the x-series counterparts, so basically, t4x0s is for those who wants the portability and also a bigger screen real estate. In terms of T430s, i7 3520M still provides ordinary performance nowadays, but I expect IVB will become obsolete in next 2-3 years with new sunny cove cores getting introduced and Microsoft cutting support for legacy hardware. Until that time, I think T450/480(s) will take the place of T430(s) in the TP community.
Granted it was a long time ago since I looked at the T431s, but I'd take one of these every time over one of those. I suspect your prediction about the x50 series to be spot on, especially with them just starting to enter the used market in large numbers due to the warranties being up.
@@yingxiangyao5323 Indeed T440p and T450 are the next ones up as the sweet spot, just like the T420 and T430 before them. Ivy Bridge has already been dropped by Apple, so Microsoft will surely do so soon, leaving Linux as the most viable option. On the other hand, Whiskey and beyond have already surpassed Ivy, we can't underestimate U-series chips as much as we want to do. Being an M chip is no guarantee for anything IMO.
@@LaptopRetrospective It's no surprising, the 30 series was the first time they diverted from many IBM-related design choices, so there was no other choice than to throw some ideas into the wall and see what stuck. A shame most choices were condensed in the T431s, but then again, the ThinkPad community is vocal, so we can thank them for preventing such deviation in a rapid manner.
I love the T430S (and the T430 for that matter). If you run Linux you are (in my opinion) better off without the Nvidia chip. Battery performance when running on Nvidia is terrible, and the mini displayport socket isn't wired up to the Intel graphics chip. This means that you can't walk round with your laptop on battery and then connect it to an external monitor (this is a disaster for me, when working in an office). So the nice thing about the T430S is that you can easily identify a non-Nvidia model in a photo on eBay by looking for the little Thunderbolt lightning logo next to the appropriate port on the back. Why do I mention Linux? Because the support for Nvidia Optimus (which allows applications to choose which graphics chip to use) isn't well supported on versions of the Nvidia drivers that are old enough to support this particular Nvidia chip, and that situation isn't likely to improve. By contrast, when buying a T430 you're dependent on the seller knowing how to tell you whether or not the motherboard has the Nvidia chip on it. If you're handy with a service manual and a screwdriver though, you can replace the motherboard in the T430 with a non-Nvidia model (I did this recently, paying just £23 for a NOS motherboard). It's a reasonably involved process though, which the Thunderbolt equipped T430S model allows you to avoid. Screen replacement (with a 1080p IPS display) is advised though. The viewing angle on the 1600x900 displays is pretty ropey. It's definitely usable if you're using it for text, but whenever I want to watch video I really appreciate the 1080p IPS screen.
Quick question, I was thinking about buying a 3rd party replacement battery. Did yours require you to remove the battery whitelist or did it work right away?
Chargers are common and easy to get, hard drive missing isn't a big deal since it lets you pick the SSD size you want. You might want to price out what a new battery will cost you in your region to decide if it's a good deal or not.
I don’t know much about stuff like mids, lows, and highs but I can tell they don’t have any bass. They are like free earphones you would find being given out on airplanes. Vocals sound okay
Great question, here are some of the differences: T431s has: -Intel 3rd Gen U series CPU options. -Only one RAM slot -M.2 cards instead of mPCI-E -No nVidia GPU option -No 1366x768 Option -No ThinkLight -The buttonless trackpad from the x40 line -No Ultrabay
@@LaptopRetrospective Good points. I don't think the single slot of RAM is that much of an issue since it already has 4GBs soldered on, so you should still get dual channel. Ànd you can easily change out the trackpad with the one from the x50 line (worth it). The screen makes it better, and I've seen evidence that it can take higher resolution screens quite easily. I more curious, though:how do they compare in use?
whats a good laptop for trading stocks? thinking of the Lenovo Legion 5 with ryzen 7 4800H, gpu 1650ti, but I'm concerned that the graphics card isn't powerful enough. what's the most important 2 things to look for in a trading laptop? is it CPU power and amount of RAM or CPU power and graphics card capability? currently the ryzen 5 4600H with 1650ti gpu, 16GB RAM ddr4 3200mhz is underpowered too slow and freezes when I have multiple charts open. your guidance is appreciated
I know nothing about the system requirements but I doubt a super strong GPU is needed. I'd suggest doing some reading on the hardware you actually need and we can go from there. I suspect what you describe would be overkill.
Hello I buy one thinkkpad t430s core i7 Is second hand Hard disk is HDD 500gb Windows 10 Is very very very slow in starting or after You think if i change the hard disk for ssd it will be okay ? Plz answer Thank you
@@LaptopRetrospective It's a different design from the T4 non-s, but it's the same design as the X3 with only the size being different. Pick any port on the X3 and the same port is at the same place on the T4s. Battery is in the same place, and same style. Chamfered edges in the same places.
I am happy with my T430, year 2021 and beyond! Thinkpad T430 CPU i7 3630QM 4C/8T FAN CPU 45 TDP CPU´s Screen IPS 1080p iGPU Intel HD 4000 eGPU EVGA GTX970 on ExpressCard RAM 16GB DDR3 Kingstom SSD mSATA Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD SATA Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD SATA Samsung 860 EVO 500GB (on Caddy) Windows 10 Pro
Watching this from my T450s, the sexier younger brother of the t430s. I recently bought a t430 for a friend who was going through a rough patch and needed a laptop for work. He is loving that machine. Refurbished Thinkpads should be a democratic right.
Thanks for being awesome and helping out your friend. A ThinkPad is a good choice, a little bit of reliability for those that truly need it. Wear your Hero Medal with pride. *Pins on TrackPoint*
Lenovo 430s is the best laptop i have had to date only had it about a year for it to error - up on me with a rouge file PXE;/ & Some other file has halted the whole laptop,i tried every single Diagnostic and also tried the Creation Tool ( to then find out you cannot copy any USBs to fix your 430s as i found out on REDDIT SITE'S) why it's now getting a SSD-Drive for a mere 65 quid. I bought another Lenovo from a second-hand Pawn Shop for £120 and Being The C50-04 Lenovo Workstation i even tried to copy files on ISO to recover my great 430s,to then ran Diagnostic tool and found 3 - error's why the SSD - Drive i should have plaved - in my Lenovo 430s when i bought it on marketplace for £170 ''as a lot of big company's mainly Government agency's to military use Lenovo's cos they are so well made an work well on adding many extra's,i wish i could put my 1-Tb from the W/Station on a cable as it has i-core -5 + 8 Gig's Of RAM - Good Amount Of Port's To Carbon Body Is So Light To Take Anywhere As The Battery Was Bought New before I Got It ''why i want the SSD'' It will work so well with a new O-S & SSD...GREAT SUB...MANY THANK'S The Lenovo 430s is the first Laptop iv'e seen with RAM you can place x2 under the keyboard + under the Laptop and people have maxed there's out to 32RAM + new ssd + new chip,as many have already compared a old Thinkpad to Apple Like quickness + reliability and to be honest it's so true as i waited for a thinkpad for some time and clocked this for a mere £170 for a 430s. I have 2 old drive's from a HP + The other from a old Sony but you simply cannot just add another Hitachi Drive,as im now formatting another 300gig SATA Hard Drive to then try that method on a wing and a prayer and might save me the bother ''it's a minefield in my bios with Legacy to UEFI Setting's'' until i found the 3 error's on the diagnostic in BIOS i found. Now i have to try finding a way to FORMT a different Hitachi Drive that Lenovo have placed in the Thinkpad 430s ....TRIAL + ERROR + GOOD LEARNING CURVE ....WOW
I have a Lenovo T430 .. G. Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB,..204 pines SAMSUNG 860 PRO SSD Core i7 3540 2-4 3000GHz - 3700GHz... 512KB..Turbo 35w It is a beastly machine
Given what Roblox lists in their system requirements: Graphics Card: Roblox requires DirectX 9 minimum and Shader Model 2.0. For the best performance we recommend either a computer less than 5 years old with a dedicated video card, or a laptop less than 3 years old with an integrated video card. I'd say, probably not.
@@LaptopRetrospective Actually I'm an avid Roblox player! It's such a fun game and it runs okay on my X230. At medium settings w/ 12 GB of RAM + i5-3320M (it ran fine with 8 GB also) it can pull some decent framerates and for games like Piggy, Bloxburg, Sharkbite, its fine. But it is to be said the Roblox games can have some terrible optimization, like sharkbite and bloxburg run choppier than Piggy would. If it has at least an HD 4000 and more than a i5-3320M paired with more or equal to 8 GB of RAM, it should be just fine for most games. Edit: Also to be said is that if you are looking for a machine to play roblox on, I would look for something more powerful like a T440P w/ the Nvidia graphics. But if you are strapped for cash then a T430 or X230 should be fine. I don't know much about the X220 or T420 but I do have an Elitebook 8460p with HD 3000 and i5-2540M and it is near unplayable.
I will jump in to say, that sd card slot is actually an expresscard slot with an sd card adapter in it, which in some models was held in by a screw from the top. This laptop can be used with expresscard egpu setups, and some have shown experimental success in getting thunderbolt egpus to work. In finding a thunderbolt model, I suggest making sure there is a thunderbolt sign over the port, as some i7 igpu models have been reported not to have it. Also, there are 1080p kits available for this and the t430, and up until around a year ago there were 1440p kits only for the t430s, but now there are some for both.
Thanks for that information! I've pinned this comment.
T430s is an incredible machine, I must say. After upgrading it with an SSD right away, I used it as my main workhorse for eight (!!) years in all kinds of conditions without a single failure. Replaced it with a T490s just a couple of months ago, the main reason being just regular wear. Things started to get loose a bit after eight years of everyday (ab)use, but it's still going strong and enjoys its second-hand life!
That's awesome, thanks for sharing your experience.
I've had this laptop with an SSD for eight years, and it is still going strong. Wrote a bunch of books and did all kinds of business work with it. Still remarkably fast for its age. Probably the best bang for your buck out of a used laptop if you go searching on eBay.
That's awesome you've been able to do so much with it. I agree that it would be a solid choice even in 2020.
Bought one a few months ago. i7. 16 Gig. I’m happy every time I use it. I appreciate all the care in its design. Thanks for this excellent vid.
Thanks Stuart. Glad you enjoyed the video and you like your computer.
Interesting machine. My uncle has one of these and loves it. I bet with an SSD upgrade this machine would be EPIC.
Boot time of ~20 seconds with only a mechanical drive would lead me to believe an SSD would be unstoppable. I've read with some kits, you can also swap out the display pannels. So there is still a fair bit of tinkering to be done here.
They’re liked by the diehard Thinkpad crowd. One RAM stick is soldered so cant be replaced, so you don’t get the dual speed from a larger stick completely in the second slot, the displays are mediocre by today’s standards, and the CPU and GPU are becoming dated. But for a daily (non-gaming heavy) daily driver, it’s hard to beat the keyboard. However the keyboard is NOT the much loved “classic” one and there are people who’ve jammed those in these to get the real trackpoint buttons back - however Lenovo firmware locks certain hardware and a flash of the machine firmware to “free” it from these limitations is needed for certain keyboards, lcd panels, etc.
They’re a tinkerer’s fun, but starting to get long in the tooth along that path. The tinkerers were hot and heavy about two years ago.
Sadly these are near the end for the really good keyboards from Lenovo, and that means they’re a touch expensive (even the “s” which isn’t as valued for tinkering as the non-“s” with socketed CPU and easier mods) and will probably remain so until folks have to eventually move on.
Lenovo’s attempt at a classic keyboard machine revival was met with jeers - the machine was expensive and had numerous flaws most classic Thinkpad fans disliked more than just buying and putting up with the much less adequate Carbon keyboards and everything soldered modern Lenovo world.
At least Lenovo isn’t just another Apple clone. And these oldsters are still fun but slowly becoming too slow for heavy lifting.
Hard to compete with laptops and even 2 in ones, brand new, with AMD Ryzen on board - for well less than $1000, nicely equipped. $1000 gets a screamer. Intel is in big trouble right now if AMD can keep up with demand AND figure out how to get Thunderbolt 4 on to their laptop motherboards.
Yep, valid points here. I've heard great things about the T14.
I have Manjaro Linux with a (500 gb SSD and 16 gb of ram with i5) and I can boot up to login screen in 6-7 seconds with power adapter attached (this is because with adapter you get full CPU speed).
That's awesome and good point on the adapter needed for full CPU speed.
Superlative video! I bought my T430s pre-owned in July 2012 for $450, from an IT pro. It still had almost 3 years left on the warranty.
Mine is the i5, 1600x900, 16 gb, 256 SSD, backlit keyboard. It's still running flawlessly
Feature that I love are the physical volume, mute and mic buttons...not found on later Lenovo Thinkpads, which operate using the Fn keys.
I'm not a PC gamer, do light Photoshop/Lightroom/Video Editing. It's pretty quick for those tasks. I've used my T430s for an average of 5 hours a day for the last 8½ years and it's never let me down.
Perhaps I will purchase a 3rd or 4th gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon in the future for road warrior duty, whenever we can do that again. Pre-owned Thinkpads are the best bang out there.
You'll love that generation of Carbon.
@@LaptopRetrospective 3rd or 4th generation of the X1 Carbon?
Haven't touched the 4th gen yet but did a video on the 3rd and it was great. I imagine the 4th is as well if not better.
I'm using this laptop until now. I'm loving it, also runs Windows 10 Pro pretty well for me.
Yep, should handle 10 no problem.
T420s/T430s is by far my favorite Thinkpad. For the maximum performance and battery life, I would go for this configuration:
CPU: i7 3520M
GPU: integrated
RAM: 16GB DDR3L 2133Mhz with Ivyrain
Screen: LP-FHD from T490 with FHD converter
Battery: 44Wh + 32Wh
Storage: 500GB mSATA + 2*1TB 860 QVO
Especially with LP FHD mod, the raw power consumption will drop to 4-5W when idling or 10-15W when doing light tasks, which means 5-10h of battery life.
Excellent suggestions! Thanks again for supporting the channel the last two years as well.
Im sorry, but how come theres no mention of using an SSD drive instead? Wouldn't that increase the performance better than a SATA drive?
The 860 QVO is an SSD I believe.
@@LaptopRetrospective Oh ok I didn't realize that. I see these models priced around $250--$350 on ebay refurbished! Been eyeballing them for some time,
No worries. I hope you find one to your liking.
Hello,
A nice video, again ! :) As I have said on another of my comments on your channel, I'll never like the keyboards of this series of laptops (T430, T430s, T530, W530 and so on). Less keys and the infamous grey indications to access the secondary functions of them that are hardly visible. But I'll be fair, I must admit that the comfort is still there, firm, travel long enough, it can also be a pleasure to use. For the rest of the machine, it's very good, same as the T420s. I own the two in my collection and the T420s is still my daily in my bedroom (I should say my nighty in fact ! :D). The quality of the chassis, its relative thinness (for the machines of this era) and the upgradability - after all, it's an ultrabook and this type of laptop is not known to be upgradable are very nice). As you said, there is an mSATA slot for an SSD, that can give the opportunity to have an additional hard drive for storage). We could regret that the mSATA port is only SATA II (the 2.5" one is SATA III) and on modern systems (Windows 10 or 11 if we tinker a little to install it), they require a little more that SATA II speeds. But if we want to stick to the original systems (7 or 8), then no problem.
I have an mSATA drive in the T420s with Windows 10 but it's the 1803 and it's still light so no problem. On the T430s, I also have Windows 10 but in its 22H2 flavour and I used a SAMSUNG 850 EVO, so on the SATA III drive. The two machines are still perfectly usable for light to moderate browsing, for multimedia (listen to music, watch some movies in HD or FHD). I also use them from time to time to to some light photo editing, I've never met problems. My point of view about the keyboard is strictly personal but I think we can objectively talk about the life of the battery/batteries. It's nice to use the ODD bay to have a second battery but even with that, in real life usage, it's difficult to have more than 5 or 6 hours of battery life. It was correct in 2013, today and supposing that we still have good batteries, it's probably too little and the ratio weight/battery life/performance is not really good. For me the T431s is better, mainly because it's lighter (and as my unit has FHD IPS screen, it's more comfortable for 2024 daily use). Yes, there is an FHD mod on the T430s (and also on the T420s) but it's not like the P n' P system in the T431s and so on and I suspect it'll be more and more difficult to find the electronic card that permits the mod in the years to come).
Nevertheless, for me again, those laptops (T420s, T430s and T431s - the T431s more than the others) are worth to be part of a collection. And they can be useful from time to time for light tasks. Oh, I put that here even if it's not directly related to the T430s but close enough : I upgraded everything on my T420 and the last thing I did was to install a 2720QM I found in a Toshiba laptop, to replace the 2640M that itself was used to replace the original i3 - a 2310M. Well, the laptop no longer boots with the 65 W adapter. The 90 W one is now required. Not a surprise but last time, I plugged the laptop on the first adapter I found in my junk, I was barely awake and I didn't pay attention to the wattage... I should have because I had to search a 90 W adapter (I have, as you can imagine, a cupboard full of them) very early in the morning, always nice to do that at 5.30 AM ! :D
W.
I remember when buying the T420 second hand that I not just skipped the T430 line for its new style keyboard but also for its price.
It's a pretty darn good laptop nonetheless, those who have one surely appreciate the long lasting battery life and duribility.
Your T430s is in pretty good shape also, I am somewhat jealous since my T420 has old stickers and stuff up on the top cover.
It's pretty good if you don't mind the battery life.
@@LaptopRetrospective My battery life is awful...at the most, 1:15. It's extremely rare that I use mine away from an outlet. I do have an extra battery. Only issue is that it's not hot-swappable.
I'll end up buying a pre-owned T470s or 3rd/4th gen X1 Carbon for a road notebook. For under $500 those are brilliant. However, they don't have the physical volume/mic/and mute buttons. Those are incredible features not seen on today's notebooks.
The T470s is great if you want swappable batteries.
Thank you for the info...
You're welcome!
You maybe surprised to know that you have a smart card reader on the left side under that hard drive slot.
and that sd card reader is actually an adapter that you can remove as well by pushing it inside.
Yes, another person pointed out the Express Card slot that was camouflaged. 😂 Thanks for the tip on the smart card reader, do you know by chance if it was optional or featured on all of these?
@@LaptopRetrospective That's actually pretty accurate to use the word camo here
Though it's pretty unusable because it's located at an unusable place inside that cover. That too fixed with a screw!
@@LaptopRetrospective by the way, I have no idea if it's optional or not.
This one ejects just fine, so I presume the screw is missing.
Great Video. I am luckly owning one of the I5 Models. I have installed 16 GB of Memory and 2 SSD as I replace the DVD Burner with the Harddrive Bay. I am using it as a Hackintosh to test. Currently I am running Catalina on it but might change to Mojave: Tumbs Up and Greetings from Germany :-)
That's awesome Marcus, how has your Hackintosh experience been with this machine? That is one project I'd like to try one day. By the way, thanks for supporting the channel for over a year!
You should do a video on the T430u, the X131e Chromebook, or maybe even the new ThinkPad Z laptops.
I'd love to do all three but I'd need access to the machines first. Hopefully one day soon though.
I have a Backlit i7 Thunderbolt model, pretty good! used it as my work laptop for all of 2018 and 2019.
That's awesome, what sort of work do you do with it? It would be great to hear from a long term user for those that might want to consider purchasing one.
@@LaptopRetrospective Software development and system administration mostly backend in remote servers. Nothing heavy ran in my machine. It was a bit slow with Chrome, VSCode and Slack running but totally usable.
Thanks for sharing!
My T530 and T430 both came with backlit keyboards but the keys were very smooth and slippery-didn't like them at all. Discovered there were OEM keyboards with tactile keys that solved the slipping problem. Bought two on eBay, installed them easily, and have been very happy with them. They don't feature back-lighting but I regard that as gimmicky and prefer the ThinkLight anyway. One of these days when I feel motivated I will replace at least one with a classic (best) keyboard.
Interesting find. Thanks for sharing.
Oh. Neat. Yesterday I looked at a few pictures that were in fact a simple T430, not the "s" variant, and it threw me off track, assuming it is a simple T430. Shame on me, and the lazy people uploading the wrong pictures.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll burry myself into my backyard.
Edit: My X230 has a 3380M. I'd miss it's power from a T430s.
Ahh, be fair to yourself, this one isn't as easy to spot as some others. Safe the energy you'd use for burying yourself to immerse in ThinkPads.
@@LaptopRetrospective I'll do. :) Actually.. I've got a massive pile of SAS Hard drives for free. I'd rather burry myself in testing RAID configurations ;) Also, I edited my comment, check it out. I think you'll not find an other X230 like mine. Literally couldn't find another mainboard for sale with that CPU. I'm quite proud of that machine, I got it for a very decent proce.
There was a third option for CPU, the i5 3210, thats what my machine had. Also, it came with an Intel SSD.
Interesting, that CPU must have been a regional option.
I still have this laptop on me and im still using it till now for school, i wonder what kind of gpu can work with this?
I'd suggest reading some articles on eGPU.io
Hey, had fun over on Twitter trying to guess this model :P
I remember having to choose between the T430s and the T430 I ended up getting when shopping for a cheap used ThinkPad.
I always found this machine quite conflicting; like it feels "jack of all trades, master of none". It's not as upgradeable as the T430 with standard parts (though that dual RAM slots below are much, MUCH more comfortable than accessing a RAM slot below and the other underneath the keyboard), has one less USB 2.0 port and the sacrifices in weight are not enough to outweigh the low battery life, nor a strong argument compared to the X1.
Then to make matters worse, the T431s came later, with U-series chips and, while objectively and justifiably loathed, nailed all the ideas for a slim, light, ThinkPad if you didn't have the dough for a X1 (I will still hate that it only has two USB 3.0 ports, though lol). While I do get that you can have choice and diversity, having such a saturated line-up IMO doesn't do anything.
I know it's a pain in the back to have the T430 in a backpack, but for all I can do (change CPUs up to a Quad-Core plus the Thermal Solutions, put SSDs, the T420 keyboard hack works best there, try an experimental 1080p panel (I think Sebi's Tech told me about this)) I think it's a reasonable trade-off.
If you can forfeit a drive, the size, and get all the upgradeability sans CPU, and still get it for cheap, I think that instead of this or the X1, the X230 fills anyone's needs.
Now, granted, many of the 30 series ThinkPads are sold out or not widely available on eBay or refurbishers because the Pandemic has kind of stalled equipment updates in some companies, so be wary of price increases (I was watching how the X220s and X230s prices shot up from ~USD125 to >USD200...)
The 30 series I think had the most different models of any generation, I think they were really trying to feel out what were the best choices moving forward.
There are something that I'd like to point out:
T431s is by far one of the worst Thinkpads out there: You don't gain much better battery life with IVB-U models, but you have a shrinked battery, therefore the battery life is quite bad. Since it has the x440 clunkpad and half-soldered RAM, it basically has the problems of both x40 and IVB platform. The only great thing about T431s is its built-in eDP connector, so you don't need any adapter board to get a FHD screen working.
T4x0s has always been in an awkward position since x1 carbon came out, especially these days (T14s, for instance, is basically an x1 carbon without 4-lane TB3 port), but it still has its own niche. Almost every T4x0s has got the same or similar mainboard design as the x-series counterparts, so basically, t4x0s is for those who wants the portability and also a bigger screen real estate.
In terms of T430s, i7 3520M still provides ordinary performance nowadays, but I expect IVB will become obsolete in next 2-3 years with new sunny cove cores getting introduced and Microsoft cutting support for legacy hardware. Until that time, I think T450/480(s) will take the place of T430(s) in the TP community.
Granted it was a long time ago since I looked at the T431s, but I'd take one of these every time over one of those. I suspect your prediction about the x50 series to be spot on, especially with them just starting to enter the used market in large numbers due to the warranties being up.
@@yingxiangyao5323 Indeed T440p and T450 are the next ones up as the sweet spot, just like the T420 and T430 before them.
Ivy Bridge has already been dropped by Apple, so Microsoft will surely do so soon, leaving Linux as the most viable option.
On the other hand, Whiskey and beyond have already surpassed Ivy, we can't underestimate U-series chips as much as we want to do. Being an M chip is no guarantee for anything IMO.
@@LaptopRetrospective It's no surprising, the 30 series was the first time they diverted from many IBM-related design choices, so there was no other choice than to throw some ideas into the wall and see what stuck. A shame most choices were condensed in the T431s, but then again, the ThinkPad community is vocal, so we can thank them for preventing such deviation in a rapid manner.
I love the T430S (and the T430 for that matter). If you run Linux you are (in my opinion) better off without the Nvidia chip. Battery performance when running on Nvidia is terrible, and the mini displayport socket isn't wired up to the Intel graphics chip. This means that you can't walk round with your laptop on battery and then connect it to an external monitor (this is a disaster for me, when working in an office). So the nice thing about the T430S is that you can easily identify a non-Nvidia model in a photo on eBay by looking for the little Thunderbolt lightning logo next to the appropriate port on the back.
Why do I mention Linux? Because the support for Nvidia Optimus (which allows applications to choose which graphics chip to use) isn't well supported on versions of the Nvidia drivers that are old enough to support this particular Nvidia chip, and that situation isn't likely to improve.
By contrast, when buying a T430 you're dependent on the seller knowing how to tell you whether or not the motherboard has the Nvidia chip on it. If you're handy with a service manual and a screwdriver though, you can replace the motherboard in the T430 with a non-Nvidia model (I did this recently, paying just £23 for a NOS motherboard). It's a reasonably involved process though, which the Thunderbolt equipped T430S model allows you to avoid.
Screen replacement (with a 1080p IPS display) is advised though. The viewing angle on the 1600x900 displays is pretty ropey. It's definitely usable if you're using it for text, but whenever I want to watch video I really appreciate the 1080p IPS screen.
Solid points in Linux and performance vs battery life. Thanks for sharing.
I picked one of these up for free today opened up the hard drive caddy and to my surprise their was an ssd
It was a steal
Wow, I'll say!
Quick question, I was thinking about buying a 3rd party replacement battery. Did yours require you to remove the battery whitelist or did it work right away?
I don't recall that being needed for this model.
I think, that T430u was between T and Carbon
I've got a video on that as well. That machine is pretty unique to the point where I think the s still might be a better fit.
@@LaptopRetrospectiveyes. I see it... Its very similar to todays E series... so yes it is really unique!
I removed the hhd and installed an SSD, and t430 moves much faster,,thank you for your response...
An SSD is the best upgrade you can do for an older laptop. 👍
Hi, somebody have a video or a tutorial of how to change the thermal paste????
Give the maintenance manual in the description a read. Has instructions as well as pictures.
64 usd? good deal? (battery is bad, no charger no hard drive)
Chargers are common and easy to get, hard drive missing isn't a big deal since it lets you pick the SSD size you want. You might want to price out what a new battery will cost you in your region to decide if it's a good deal or not.
@@LaptopRetrospective yeah,
16 usd for charger
i couldnt find a battery but im sure its 50 usd max.
(local)
I'd source the battery before assuming it's available or its price. They won't be as common as other types.
@@LaptopRetrospective oh ok
Is it worth it to upgrade from i5 processor to i7 processor, will this increase speed of operation???
It depends on what you're doing with it. Are you running an SSD?
@@LaptopRetrospective no
Swap out your HDD for an SSD. You'll see a bigger improvement in your base performance for a lot less money.
@@LaptopRetrospective How do I order a SSD for the T-430 pro?
It takes standard 2.5" SATA form factor SSDs.
My t430s has such bad speakers I started to think my speakers are faulty. Are the speakers actually really bad?
ThinkPads aren't known for amazing audio. How bad are we talking?
I don’t know much about stuff like mids, lows, and highs but I can tell they don’t have any bass. They are like free earphones you would find being given out on airplanes. Vocals sound okay
No bass sounds more or less about right. Sound isn't usually high on the priority list of business-class machines.
How does it compare to the T431s?
Great question, here are some of the differences:
T431s has:
-Intel 3rd Gen U series CPU options.
-Only one RAM slot
-M.2 cards instead of mPCI-E
-No nVidia GPU option
-No 1366x768 Option
-No ThinkLight
-The buttonless trackpad from the x40 line
-No Ultrabay
@@LaptopRetrospective Good points. I don't think the single slot of RAM is that much of an issue since it already has 4GBs soldered on, so you should still get dual channel. Ànd you can easily change out the trackpad with the one from the x50 line (worth it). The screen makes it better, and I've seen evidence that it can take higher resolution screens quite easily.
I more curious, though:how do they compare in use?
It's been ages since I looked at the T431s, can't say I recall well enough to compare them from memory.
@@LaptopRetrospective dual battery?
Yes, dual battery is possible on the T430s.
whats a good laptop for trading stocks? thinking of the Lenovo Legion 5 with ryzen 7 4800H, gpu 1650ti, but I'm concerned that the graphics card isn't powerful enough. what's the most important 2 things to look for in a trading laptop? is it CPU power and amount of RAM or CPU power and graphics card capability? currently the ryzen 5 4600H with 1650ti gpu, 16GB RAM ddr4 3200mhz is underpowered too slow and freezes when I have multiple charts open. your guidance is appreciated
I know nothing about the system requirements but I doubt a super strong GPU is needed. I'd suggest doing some reading on the hardware you actually need and we can go from there. I suspect what you describe would be overkill.
Hello
I buy one thinkkpad t430s core i7
Is second hand
Hard disk is HDD 500gb
Windows 10
Is very very very slow in starting or after
You think if i change the hard disk for ssd it will be okay ?
Plz answer
Thank you
Yes, it will make a huge difference.
Am I the only one who thinks of the T4s models as being in the X300 family?
Interesting idea. Never thought of it that way. Curious to hear your rationale.
@@LaptopRetrospective It's a different design from the T4 non-s, but it's the same design as the X3 with only the size being different. Pick any port on the X3 and the same port is at the same place on the T4s. Battery is in the same place, and same style. Chamfered edges in the same places.
Yeah the battery position definitely came to my mind as soon as you mentioned it.
I am happy with my T430, year 2021 and beyond!
Thinkpad T430
CPU i7 3630QM 4C/8T
FAN CPU 45 TDP CPU´s
Screen IPS 1080p
iGPU Intel HD 4000
eGPU EVGA GTX970 on ExpressCard
RAM 16GB DDR3 Kingstom
SSD mSATA Samsung 850 EVO 500GB
SSD SATA Samsung 860 EVO 500GB
SSD SATA Samsung 860 EVO 500GB (on Caddy)
Windows 10 Pro
That's a beautiful setup.
Can it run terraria?
Check your system requirements against the configuration you're looking to use.
Watching this from my T450s, the sexier younger brother of the t430s. I recently bought a t430 for a friend who was going through a rough patch and needed a laptop for work. He is loving that machine. Refurbished Thinkpads should be a democratic right.
Thanks for being awesome and helping out your friend. A ThinkPad is a good choice, a little bit of reliability for those that truly need it. Wear your Hero Medal with pride. *Pins on TrackPoint*
@@LaptopRetrospective they are affordable and easy to repair, and I got mine after watching your channel. Keep the good work.
Thank you, let me know how your collection goes. 😉
Can we run autocad, sketchup, revit, photoshop in it..??? I5 3360M + 1gb nvdia .
Plzz rpl ???
Lenovo 430s is the best laptop i have had to date only had it about a year for it to error - up on me with a rouge file PXE;/ & Some other file has halted the whole laptop,i tried every single Diagnostic and also tried the Creation Tool ( to then find out you cannot copy any USBs to fix your 430s as i found out on REDDIT SITE'S) why it's now getting a SSD-Drive for a mere 65 quid. I bought another Lenovo from a second-hand Pawn Shop for £120 and Being The C50-04 Lenovo Workstation i even tried to copy files on ISO to recover my great 430s,to then ran Diagnostic tool and found 3 - error's why the SSD - Drive i should have plaved - in my Lenovo 430s when i bought it on marketplace for £170 ''as a lot of big company's mainly Government agency's to military use Lenovo's cos they are so well made an work well on adding many extra's,i wish i could put my 1-Tb from the W/Station on a cable as it has i-core -5 + 8 Gig's Of RAM - Good Amount Of Port's To Carbon Body Is So Light To Take Anywhere As The Battery Was Bought New before I Got It ''why i want the SSD'' It will work so well with a new O-S & SSD...GREAT SUB...MANY THANK'S
The Lenovo 430s is the first Laptop iv'e seen with RAM you can place x2 under the keyboard + under the Laptop and people have maxed there's out to 32RAM + new ssd + new chip,as many have already compared a old Thinkpad to Apple Like quickness + reliability and to be honest it's so true as i waited for a thinkpad for some time and clocked this for a mere £170 for a 430s. I have 2 old drive's from a HP + The other from a old Sony but you simply cannot just add another Hitachi Drive,as im now formatting another 300gig SATA Hard Drive to then try that method on a wing and a prayer and might save me the bother ''it's a minefield in my bios with Legacy to UEFI Setting's'' until i found the 3 error's on the diagnostic in BIOS i found. Now i have to try finding a way to FORMT a different Hitachi Drive that Lenovo have placed in the Thinkpad 430s ....TRIAL + ERROR + GOOD LEARNING CURVE ....WOW
I have a Lenovo T430 .. G. Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB,..204 pines
SAMSUNG 860 PRO SSD
Core i7 3540 2-4 3000GHz - 3700GHz... 512KB..Turbo 35w
It is a beastly machine
Very nice!
Next macbook
Not sure I understand.
Lol does it play ROBLOX smoothly?
Given what Roblox lists in their system requirements:
Graphics Card: Roblox requires DirectX 9 minimum and Shader Model 2.0. For the best performance we recommend either a computer less than 5 years old with a dedicated video card, or a laptop less than 3 years old with an integrated video card.
I'd say, probably not.
@@LaptopRetrospective Actually I'm an avid Roblox player! It's such a fun game and it runs okay on my X230. At medium settings w/ 12 GB of RAM + i5-3320M (it ran fine with 8 GB also) it can pull some decent framerates and for games like Piggy, Bloxburg, Sharkbite, its fine. But it is to be said the Roblox games can have some terrible optimization, like sharkbite and bloxburg run choppier than Piggy would. If it has at least an HD 4000 and more than a i5-3320M paired with more or equal to 8 GB of RAM, it should be just fine for most games.
Edit: Also to be said is that if you are looking for a machine to play roblox on, I would look for something more powerful like a T440P w/ the Nvidia graphics. But if you are strapped for cash then a T430 or X230 should be fine. I don't know much about the X220 or T420 but I do have an Elitebook 8460p with HD 3000 and i5-2540M and it is near unplayable.
Thanks for jumping in Jack!
Thanks
I just wanna play jailbreak smoothly LOL. Don't care the graphics just want the smooth fps