The Lenovo Thinkpad T430 was launched in 2012, with ~2.17 kg of “almost armored” matte black case, 2 x 1600MHz DDR3 RAM slots, mSATA, 3rd Generation Intel Core processors in sockets, Intel HD graphics 4000, eGPU as an option…
An excellent portable workstation at the time, and even nowadays, a very decent low cost option, and with the right upgrades, a very good overall laptop. To get a bit more performance and customize it a bit, here are two cost free advices.
TPFanControl
If your T430 is heating up too much for your comfort and peace of mind, or the fan noise is preventing you from focusing, then TPFanControl is the right application to tackle both of these issues.
The application gives direct temperature visualization through a small tray icon with colorful thresholds and values, and a control and monitoring console with temperature and fan speed.
The application has several modes:
- Bios – the fan reacts according to the BIOS settings
- Smart – customized temperature thresholds set in the “TPFancontrol.ini”
- Manual – direct user input
For the Thinkpad T430 version 0.63 is recommended.
The application is available here.
Custom boot logo
To setup a custom boot image that you will see for 2 seconds every time you turn on the T430, at the risk of wiping out the BIOS and destroying the computer, follow the these steps.
The first step is to find an image and make sure it matches the following conditions:
- Maximum file size 32kB
- Format 16 Color Bitmap (.BMP)(the only one that worked out for me)
- Maximum image resolution 235x235px ( feel free to try other sizes up to 640x480px)
- Save the image with the name LOGO1.BMP, and once again with the name LOGO2.BMP
The next step, involves navigating to Lenovo’s website, selecting the Lenovo T430, entering the “Drivers & Software” tab, selecting “BIOS/UEFI“, downloading the “BIOS Update Utility“, and running it. Take note of the install path.
Copy the LOGO1.BMP and LOGO2.BMP files, to the install path, and run “WINUPTP.EXE“. Make sure the computer is connected to the power adapter and with the battery mounted.
If successful the result is the following.
