Do I have an addiction? (Thinkpad porn inside)

Yossarian22

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 27, 2009
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From left to right:
380Z with French Canadian keyboard layout ($10 off craigslist with HDD, battery, and brick)
T410 (my workhorse with Nvidia Optimus to play teh games)
240 (~$30 + 10 or so for shipping, battery holds a charge, testing with CF to ATA for HDD)


With another 240 on the way, a 240X to be precise.

Do I have an addiction or am I retarded? :D
 
Nah, it's obsession... not quite addiction but close. ;)

They're ThinkPads, they stand alone as far as I'm concerned. Been using them since the first one appeared a very long time ago and have never been disappointed with any of them. Currently on a T60 at this very moment - my Dell Latitude D830 is handling some other duties for the Wife presently. The older Latitudes in the the Dx20 and Dx30 series are my faves, and comparable to ThinkPads in my experience.

Also, the older HP/Compaq business class hardware (pre-"Elitebook" and "Probook" days) were the best of the times, and solid as rocks just like the Latitudes and ThinkPads.

There was this period a few years ago where Dell and HP put out some awesome bulletproof machines for a few years, but since early 2010, with the new revamped business class lines of Latitudes and those Elitebooks/Probooks, I personally think the quality has suffered dramatically.

Must be just me, I suppose. I just recently redid my Latitude extended warranty for 2 more years - it's worth the cost to ensure if anything goes wrong with that machine they'll come out and fix it, or replace it. Unfortunately, if it ever does come to a point where they're forced to replace it, I don't think they'd give me another D830, they'd try to give me some of that new crap they're pushing... again, must be just me, but I don't like the new Latitudes, or anything HP has put out in the past 2 years, not even the Envy series.

I think those T410s were the best ThinkPads for the package in a long time, and I'm not quite too happy about the newer models of those either (meaning ThinkPads). Just a nitpick I suppose but I hate 16:9 screens... 16:10 forever! :D

Where the hell did you find the 240's for only $30? Are there more, would make a nice "Netbook" of sorts instead of spending a big sum of cash on an actual Netbook. I know they're freakin' old but they're very useful, especially with a Linux-from-Scratch build or something similar.
 
Nah, it's obsession... not quite addiction but close. ;)

...

Where the hell did you find the 240's for only $30? Are there more, would make a nice "Netbook" of sorts instead of spending a big sum of cash on an actual Netbook. I know they're freakin' old but they're very useful, especially with a Linux-from-Scratch build or something similar.

I work for a division that used to be apart of IBM but got bought out by Ricoh, so all my co-workers are ex-IBMers and I work on IBM's software. Go figure.

You can usually get 240 on ebay, however the caveat being... 240 indeed does have "smart battery" so replacement can be a pain in the ass. I haven't cracked open these batteries (the 380Z has a 'dumb' battery) but you'd have to replace the cells inside and get an AC adapter. If you screw up the battery replacement, good chance it will go boom.

What I've been really looking for is Thinkpad 7xx or Thinkpad s30.

I'm amazed at the gamut these displays have compared to my T410.
 
psss... I have a 701 in storage (not the W701, the "new kid on the block" but the old original "Butterfly Keyboard" ThinkPad 701. Had it since the day they were released, and I've had many offers on it over the years but, I simply will not part with it. :D

Been a few years since I powered it up but I'm confident if I had it here right now it would work just fine, albeit slow of course. Had a 570 for a while, loved that damned laptop, I swear I did. Did a lot of writing on that one and even though I'm a large guy (6'6" tall), I swear - as is so often heard from ThinkPad owners like us - it simply had the very best keyboard I have ever used on a laptop.

I don't mean ThinkPad keyboards in general, which is a given because they are, overall; I'm saying the 570 was the very best of them all and I've used hundreds of different laptops in my day. I could just bang out a solid 100+ wpm on that awesome little machine and my hands never felt worse for wear with it. Absolutely astonishing what IBM put into the research with laptop keyboards - it has most definitely been a standing point for anyone serious about typing on a laptop.

As I mentioned earlier, I do like the keyboard on my Dell D830 as well, and those older HP machines were very nice as well. I am not a fan of "Chiclet" keyboards, never will be I suppose. I know a lot of companies - including Lenovo - are making some products with those nowadays but they're just not for me, old bastige that I am I suppose.
 
psss... I have a 701 in storage (not the W701, the "new kid on the block" but the old original "Butterfly Keyboard" ThinkPad 701. Had it since the day they were released, and I've had many offers on it over the years but, I simply will not part with it. :D

Pix of this beauty!!!

:)
 
Yah, I'm supposed to make a trip to our storage unit sometime in the next few weeks, will put a note up so I can remember to pull that beauty out into the light once more. Should be interesting to say the least. ;)
 
Not that bad. Some people on Notebookreview have 20 Thinkpads.

I myself use a Latitude. I really don't find the E6410 that bad or as bad as Joe Average says it is. It's magnesium alloy, still feels solid, and the industrial design is second to none. Keyboard is still awesome. And the three button pointing stick, DisplayPort, eSATA, and an SD reader makes it worth it over the D620s and D630s. It also gets about as much battery life on the 6-cell as the D630 did on a 9-cell.

Granted, the latch design is much worse, but that's pretty minor for what I'm getting. Still, would've preferred a T410 (T400s and newer Thinkpads have awesome keyboards)
 
Yah, I don't mind the early Latitudes in the E-series, like the E4300 (had one, loved it, miss the hell out of it nowadays), and the E6400, but once they started cranking out the E4310/6410 models I was disappointed, and yes it's primarily because of the screens but that's my nitpick and I can't get past it. :)

But I do agree with the industrial design viewpoint, 100%. Those E-series models are simply gorgeous top to bottom. And the battery life on the E4300 was awesome when using that Dell Extended Battery Life power profile - I was easily pulling 6 hours with reduced brightness, and then I undervolted the processor as well with great success. Not bad for a real Core 2 Duo laptop (meaning not using the U-series C2D for low voltage operation).

The E4300 I had I got at a pawn shop for $149, they made a price mistake on it and I snatched it up as fast I could before they gave me too much shit about it. Got it home and it still had 380 days on the 2-year onsite warranty so that was pretty much the very best "deal" I've ever had, really - especially considering that when I found it, Dell was still selling that model for $1800+; the E4310 hadn't even been introduced yet. :)

I've owned maybe 15-20 ThinkPads over the years myself, from the original model to the 701, an a21, the 570, several R40's, an x series or two (x30 was the last), this T60 I'm on, and a few others in between. Only ThinkPad series I haven't owned is anything with tablet functionality, oddly, which sucks because I love Tablet PCs, go figure.

Hopefully someday I'll get a good deal on something like the x201, or even a nice Dell Latitude XT/XT2 as well. Sure wouldn't mind having them in my collection.
 
I work for a division that used to be apart of IBM but got bought out by Ricoh, so all my co-workers are ex-IBMers and I work on IBM's software. Go figure.

You can usually get 240 on ebay, however the caveat being... 240 indeed does have "smart battery" so replacement can be a pain in the ass. I haven't cracked open these batteries (the 380Z has a 'dumb' battery) but you'd have to replace the cells inside and get an AC adapter. If you screw up the battery replacement, good chance it will go boom.

What I've been really looking for is Thinkpad 7xx or Thinkpad s30.

I'm amazed at the gamut these displays have compared to my T410.
Funny, there's a 750CE on CL for $10 in my area and it looks to be brand new condition. Only downside is that he doesn't have the laptop power cord, but he does have a working docking station for it with the power cord for that.

Which ThinkPad do you guys think had the best build quality that isn't ancient? I've had x120e and X220 and the Q&A and general build quality on those is really disappointing. Mostly in regards to the monitors, but a couple other nitpicks as well.

I'm looking to buy one right now, so far narrowed it down to X61s due to the weight and acceptable battery life. Anyone have experience with that one?

It's hard finding a used ThinkPad in good condition. All the ones on eBay are listed in excellent condition but the attached pictures -- it looks like they were used for toilet paper replacement
 
I found a Z60 in a pawn shop (the one where I seem to find all my "deals" anymore) for $100 - downside is it's got the BIOS password in place and they don't know what it is, so that's not gonna be a buy for me. There's a guy here in the US that can remove those passwords (the ThinkPads are notorious for being nearly impossible to use if that password is in place and you forget it) but he'd charge about $150 for the job which includes the return shipping.

Seems to be in excellent condition from what I could tell, has an ATI discrete GPU, looks like it even has an EVDO card in it too, and it powers up just fine, but that's about all I could do since that password stops it cold basically during POST. :(

First widescreen ThinkPads, the Z60 series. I remember when they came out and I wanted one big-time but just couldn't afford it, and here I have the opportunity to get one in seemingly good shape but, that password issue is simply a deal breaker.

Damn. :p

As for best build quality, that's kinda tough to lock down since to me ThinkPads are always of the same quality. Having said that, I will admit that there was a short period of time right after IBM officially turned over ThinkPad production to Lenovo and the first model or two off the lines was basically not of the same quality. Lenovo learned a hard lesson with those (can't recall the specific models, but it was pre-Z60 widescreen days), and for a short period there was a big discussion in the ThinkPad owner community of whether or not Lenovo could get the job done and everyone worried their beloved ThinkPads were now headed down the crapper.

Thankfully, Lenovo learned, and fast... because ever since those days I've never had issues with any ThinkPad I've used post-Lenovo takeover and production. They're solid workhorse laptops, and they do live up to the ThinkPad heritage, in my opinion.
 
I feel like I have been misled into to thinking that this thread included pornographic pictures of women. :(
 
I only have a 600e at the moment. I hope to get a 770x.
 
I feel like I have been misled into to thinking that this thread included pornographic pictures of women. :(

Sign up for GenMay, you'll get pornographic pictures of women there. ;)

Funny, there's a 750CE on CL for $10 in my area and it looks to be brand new condition. Only downside is that he doesn't have the laptop power cord, but he does have a working docking station for it with the power cord for that.

Jump on it. All the older Thinkpads, to my knowledge, use a 16vdc something amperage brick rated at somewhere near 65W. So once you have one power brick (like $10 on fleabay) you're set.


I found a Z60 in a pawn shop (the one where I seem to find all my "deals" anymore) for $100 - downside is it's got the BIOS password in place and they don't know what it is, so that's not gonna be a buy for me.

Yeah, interesting thing with all of IBM products is that they have hard BIOS password that is stored in a little flash chip somewhere. I encountered this at work where the guy who shares my office had one of those IBM desktops. I was like "Oh, this should be easy!"

*remove BIOS battery*
*wait a minute*
*reboot*

Hrm... must be non-volatile, then!

Here is a way to remove the non-volatile password.


There also might be a pair of pads you can short... although going around shorting random contacts on your motherboard is probably a bad idea...

Edit: Are you the shitbird (tongue in cheek, no need for mods to get fiesty) bidding on the 240 for parts on Ebay right now? :D
Don't make me go crazy. King Kong ain't got shit on me.
 
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Nah, that's not me, I don't do business on fleaBay anymore, gave that up over 5 years ago. See some good deals from time to time but, I'm not interested in helping them stay in business anymore (or PayPal either, but that's another thread altogether).
 
I've been very happy with my x220t. There is an issue with the Wacom's pen accuracy around the edges but it doesn't really effect my use of the x220t as a note taking device as one doesn't normally write around the edges for note taking
 
I currently have the x220t, an HP tm2, HP tx2, all convertible Tablet PCs and a Toshiba Libretto W100, the dual screen miniature laptop that Toshiba launched last summer.
 
Well I also have a couple of Windows slates, the Asus EP121 and HP Slate 500 and a Asus 1000H netbook. I'm pretty much at my useful limit for mobile devices for now.
 
I found a Z60 in a pawn shop (the one where I seem to find all my "deals" anymore) for $100 - downside is it's got the BIOS password in place and they don't know what it is, so that's not gonna be a buy for me. There's a guy here in the US that can remove those passwords (the ThinkPads are notorious for being nearly impossible to use if that password is in place and you forget it) but he'd charge about $150 for the job which includes the return shipping.

Seems to be in excellent condition from what I could tell, has an ATI discrete GPU, looks like it even has an EVDO card in it too, and it powers up just fine, but that's about all I could do since that password stops it cold basically during POST. :(

First widescreen ThinkPads, the Z60 series. I remember when they came out and I wanted one big-time but just couldn't afford it, and here I have the opportunity to get one in seemingly good shape but, that password issue is simply a deal breaker.

Damn. :p

As for best build quality, that's kinda tough to lock down since to me ThinkPads are always of the same quality. Having said that, I will admit that there was a short period of time right after IBM officially turned over ThinkPad production to Lenovo and the first model or two off the lines was basically not of the same quality. Lenovo learned a hard lesson with those (can't recall the specific models, but it was pre-Z60 widescreen days), and for a short period there was a big discussion in the ThinkPad owner community of whether or not Lenovo could get the job done and everyone worried their beloved ThinkPads were now headed down the crapper.

Thankfully, Lenovo learned, and fast... because ever since those days I've never had issues with any ThinkPad I've used post-Lenovo takeover and production. They're solid workhorse laptops, and they do live up to the ThinkPad heritage, in my opinion.

Lenovo dropped the ODM IBM was using, then ran back on the second year, when they found out their own teams couldn't hack it on their own. Another, unrelated thing, I didn't know ECS was a laptop ODM/OEM, either....
 
I bought an IBM ThinkPad T40 back in 2003. It still works up to this day. However, I received my new Lenovo IdeaPad Y470 today. So far it seems good, but it doesn't have the feel or look of my ThinkPad T40.

Perhaps when this laptop dies and I feel the need to buy another portable toy I will buy another ThinkPad. I like them 'cause they are simply bulletproof. I'm guessing when my Y470 bites the dust, my T40 will still be functional.
 
I still have a T61P 4:3 SXGA+ screen. Built like a tank. Just need to add a SSD.
 
I used to have a ton of thinkpads. Everything from a 701c and 701cs (butterfly keyboard), to the 240x, transnote, x300, t60 with the 15" 1600x1200, etc.

Best laptops there are.

thecrafter: ALL ibm power bricks will work with ALL Ibm thinkpads. Lenovo thinkpads are either ibm or the new lenovo standard.
 
I used to have a ton of thinkpads. Everything from a 701c and 701cs (butterfly keyboard), to the 240x, transnote, x300, t60 with the 15" 1600x1200, etc.

Best laptops there are.

thecrafter: ALL ibm power bricks will work with ALL Ibm thinkpads. Lenovo thinkpads are either ibm or the new lenovo standard.

only now, is Dell even considering doing that. Thankfully, Dell finally ditched the old 3pin power plug in the Latitudes and stuck with the more common Inspiron/Alienware rounded plug (it's also easier to find travel adaptors for the round ones). Sony, I get the feeling they are trying to screw with me. I really do. Same with ASUS.
 
Could be worse, could be a sony ericcson cell phone. every phone has a propriatary charger that only works for that phone, the retention mechanism is a pair of fragile 'arms', and all their chargers look identical
 
Could be worse, could be a sony ericcson cell phone. every phone has a propriatary charger that only works for that phone, the retention mechanism is a pair of fragile 'arms', and all their chargers look identical

and those brainless contact pins.... I'm happy that quite a few manufs have gone with MicroUSB now :)
 
As new owner of a used Thinkpad, I approve of this. I'm thinking of getting a few cheap ones for family members who just need to browse.
 
I'm actually getting into embedded development for low power architectures like ARM, so one of the 240s is going to get gutted and be cut from a 60w old celeron to somewhere in the neighborhood of a 5w draw machine.

If Lenovo made these same exact chassis with Llano, they'd be making a killing.
I think they are but I'm not in the market for a $400 machine with crap screen to use vim, bash, gcc, make in.

240 was at the top of its game.
All three of these oldies (but goodies) work.

But to answer your question, I am doing embedded work and collecting the finest laptops ever made.
 
I have a T23 sitting under my bed....won't power up any more. I haven't taken the time to troubleshoot it. I believe its a 1ghz p3 (it was given to me).

When I got it, I was very impressed. So much so, I bought a T40 or T41 off of ebay. The guy ran low on stock and sent me a T42 instead. I was very pleased with it...

...so much so that I bought my mom an R40 on ebay. That thing really IS a tank.

She was soooo impressed with it...

...you get the picture. I'm sure that's how a lot of people end up with like 30 thinkpads.

I haven't tried any of their newer systems, but the build quality of those older IBMs was awesome. I have an HP NC6400 that I would put on par with the IBMs. Maybe the case doesn't have the "charm" of the old IBM's, but the build quality, keyboard, etc are all equally full of awesome.

My Acer laptop...on the other hand...lol.
 
Its incredible that the original price for my 600e was well over $2000.
 
I am an embedded student right now and I was wondering what older thinkpads you would recommend? I want them to be cheap and of course serial ports and parallel ports are nice for the odd chip that doesn't deal well with the USB byte blasters.
 
I am an embedded student right now and I was wondering what older thinkpads you would recommend? I want them to be cheap and of course serial ports and parallel ports are nice for the odd chip that doesn't deal well with the USB byte blasters.

Do you have a budget? I think the T4x series the most sturdy Thinkpad series.
 
I am an embedded student right now and I was wondering what older thinkpads you would recommend? I want them to be cheap and of course serial ports and parallel ports are nice for the odd chip that doesn't deal well with the USB byte blasters.

Depends on what you're looking for.

Do you plan on gutting the motherboard and replacing it with ARM/something else?
Plan on gutting monitor and making it headless?
Looking for portability?
Looking for simplistic programmability (486 or the rare RISC Thinkpads)?

T40, R40 are somewhat modern and I believe they have parallel and serial ports.
Even going back to the 240 has magnesium chassis.

Depends on what you intend on doing.

This is a good resource:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

Also be prepared that if you buy a Thinkpad from ebay: Battery is probably not included or dead, power supply is not included, HD is not included. There might be some exceptions.

T61s can be had for a song and they're comparable to T400... (C2D vs Core i, but at fraction of the price you can get a T61 model with the high end video card... if that is what desired)
 
Only think to watch out for the T61's is that the nVidia GPUs are a problem spot. Lots of the 2007-8 nVidia GPUs had problems.
 
I always thought the Z series' round look was a nice change of pace from the standard Thinkpad, and is a better widesreen design compared to the T61 widescreens (that weird offset to the right screen). Been hunting for a titanium lid Z61t for a while.
 
I always thought the Z series' round look was a nice change of pace from the standard Thinkpad, and is a better widesreen design compared to the T61 widescreens (that weird offset to the right screen). Been hunting for a titanium lid Z61t for a while.

The Z60 I mentioned earlier in this thread is a Z60m, actually, with the titanium lid too. It's still sitting there at the pawn shop, as expected. I doubt anyone will touch it till they basically drop the price so low they almost have to give it away. Damned shame about that one, because I could sure use it right now but, I can't afford to get it knowing that password is in place and I'd have to outlay even more to get it operational.

I even asked them to contact the person that sold it to ask if the password was known but they won't do it, citing "privacy issues" which is utter BS and we all know it, but whatever.

Physically the machine is in practically new condition, and it does power up but, that's as far as it gets. What a loss... :p
 
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