/tpg/ - ThinkPad General

Previous thread: IRC: #/tpg/ on irc.rizon.net

Other business laptops are also welcome in /tpg/ (e.g. Dell Latitude/Precision, HP EliteBook/ZBook).
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If you're looking for purchase advice, READ THE BUYERS GUIDE FIRST. Then post, stating budget and requirements (e.g. size and performance).
Don't buy anything OTHER THAN T, X AND W/P SERIES if you want the Real ThinkPad Experience™

Recommended models:
T420 - 14", normal size
X220 - 12.5", ultraportable
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Why ThinkPad? (also applies to other business laptops)
>Used machines are plentiful and cheap.
>Excellent keyboards - tactile feel and quiet.
>Great durability: chassis uses a magnesium rollcage for structural integrity, with high quality plastic body panels.
>Utilitarian design: e.g. indicator LEDs, 7 row keyboard layout on older models.
>Docking stations that easily turns your laptop into a desktop.
>Easy to repair, upgrade and maintain thanks to readily available service manuals for every model. Spare parts are easy and cheap to obtain.
>The best trackpoint (that red thing in the middle of the keyboard). Great for those who type a lot or hate swiping their fingers all over a touchpad.
>Excellent GNU/Linux & *BSD support.
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Used ThinkPad Buyers Guide:
ktgee.net/tpg

New guides by xsauc:
dankpads.com

EPP discount for new ThinkPads (USA & Canada only, usually 15%+ off):
pastebin.com/DujvzEzU

ThinkWiki - Info on ThinkPads and running GNU/Linux on them:
thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

ThinkPad service guides w/ tutorial videos:
lenovoservicetraining.com/

ThinkPad wallpaper collection:
imgur.com/a/NlepZ

Other urls found in this thread:

lmgtfy.com/?q=Does the t420 support 16GB of ram
ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog/2015/09/09/ansi-or-iso-which-keyboard-layout-is-more-ergonomic
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

First for X230

I just got my second Thinkpad in the mail today (IBM T60 this time) and I'm so excited. Only $54, not bad.

>There's far too many screws on these shits I tell ya hwat

Are these trips a lie?

Newbie here.
Are there any thinkpads sold with 6gb ram? 4gb ram isn't enough in some cases, but the ones with 8gb are too expensive. Or would be a dumb decision to buy thinkpad with 4gb and add additional ram to it?

8 and 16 Gb upgrades cost a pittance

ram is cheap just get some on newegg

Does the T420 support 16GB of ram?

>Does the T420 support 16GB of ram?
lmgtfy.com/?q=Does the t420 support 16GB of ram

Lenovo E51-80

Notebook - Intel Core i5 6200 Skylake, 15,6" LED 1920x1080 anti-glare, RAM 8GB, AMD Radeon R5 M330 2GB, SSHD 1TB + 8GB cache for boosting OS, DVD, WiFi, bluetooth 4.0, HD webcam, HDMI, USB 3.0, fingerprints reader , dockable, preinstalled Windows 10 Pro 64bit

for 719€.

Yes or nah.

Pic related happens when I'm compiling shit on my X201. Should I do something about it?

Disable turbo boost, the chip is trying to run as fast as possible,until it maxes out at 95C.

not him but is there a way to change the turbo temp threshold?

Sadly, no, better to disable it on those little notebooks, its a good technology for laptops with beefy coolers, but it runs too damn hot.

Anyone got DP working on t420? I got w7 on it with optimus nvidia shit and it worked great yesterday DP>HDM but today it wont even detect when I plug it in?

Post temps?, my shitty t420 with 2 tabs open and playing RS on it! :(

Any recommendations for a cheap thinkpad? I've been using an HP Stream 11 for about a year now (not my only computer) and I fucking hate it. Lowest price is best.

61C is nothing, you're doin just fine.

How good or bad is the keyboard on T430 compared to previous models? I'm thinking about upgrading my T400 and can't decide between T420/T430.

Read the buyers guide, figure out what size you want / what you'd use it for, then ask

True, while the T420's TN is god awful, the T520's is better, should've clarified that a bit, it's why I put the T520 there, not just because of its 1080p option

I ordered my jap keyboard to the UK from Amazon's japanese site, using tenso I think. It cost quite a bit, but was totally unused

I really really really dislike the tiny ass left shift on the ISO - I want my left pinkie to do no more than slide down from the A button for the Shift button, whether to capitalize letters or if I'm playing games or using keyboard shortcuts in an OS or software
Whereas as far as the Enter key is concerned, both are fine as all I do is move my right pinkie to the right a bit, so I hit both perfectly every time. It is more fun to slam on an ANSI enter key with middle + index finger though after typing a lotta shit. Feels fun man.

I would always and have always prefered ANSI as a whole, to the point where nearly every product i've gotten in the last 20 years I ordered from US to UK for that layout, and the one laptop I had some 8 or 9 years ago that was bought in the UK I was forever unhappy with its keyboard layout.

ultimatehackingkeyboard.com/blog/2015/09/09/ansi-or-iso-which-keyboard-layout-is-more-ergonomic

Funnily enough it seems that quite a few yuropoors prefer merican layout, more so than prefer yurop layout funnily enough

As said, ram is dirt cheap bro

X220 w/ eGPU playing new DOOM on medium giving 60+fps - 75-80 degrees

Same X220 in bed without an eGPU connected streaming a measly 720p 60fps stream - 95 degrees

I really don't understand software at all anyway, but it is still so fucking puzzling to me that a 2520M dual fucking core can easily do near PC levels of gameplay with a 4 year old GPU (im talkin 144fps on a 144hz monitor on competitive games, and 60fps+ on medium at 1080p on pretty much any modern game including bam ham nig) but does completely crap on most emulators despite not going over 30% CPU usage. I get emulators use the CPU more but it's not even under max load, can someone explain that for a complete retard such as myself? Are modern gpus just a scam? Has CPU technology stagnated or something? Are games just very well optimized nowadays?

This eGPU gimmick took me months to fix all these silly driver errors and the confusion having to try so many different versions of Windows 7 and choosing what updates to install and which ones to not as it'd break the eGPU is nothing on the confusion that followed when I actually tested it out and saw its results.
The most graphically intense games run just fine, but the odd old game here or there barely runs

Any yuropoors here?
Where do you get your Chinkpad batteries?

I can only find non-Lenovo chink batteries here in the Netherlands

Going to order X1 carbon. Am I now one of you guys?

>Are games just very well optimized nowadays?
No. The opposite, really.
>Has CPU technology stagnated or something?
Yes.

Most video games have shit optimization, but most of them aren't CPU reliant.

>Same X220 in bed without an eGPU connected streaming a measly 720p 60fps stream - 95 degrees

The video is probably being decoded by the CPU instead of the iGPU/eGPU.

Can I turn a T520 into a Hackintosh?

eGPU is way easier to use in Linux.

do tell more

pls respond

Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: With difficulty.

Just how bad is the screen?

Is it worth it paying almost twice as much for the 2560x1440, 210PPI, 92% sRGB coverage display?

the battery is what you should be worried about

I'm a Europoor too and I can't even get a thinkpad let alone a battery for it

xrandr and xorg support multiple GPUs natively

Fucking Bus 001 Device 003: ID 138a:003c Validity Sensors, Inc. VFS471 Fingerprint Reader REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

So long is it isn't getting above that, I really wouldn't worry, especially if your idle temps are fine.

Emulators work great for me on my X220, but I'm on Linux.

The iGPU is literally right next to the CPU die, on the same board. If one gets hot, so will the other.

On PCSX2 (or you can try any other ps2 emulator) I can play godhand just fine but i can't play shadow the edgehog it lags like fuck (just wanted to try it after seeing vinesauce play it for a laugh in a twitch stream, I swear)

half the games are fine, half the games are unplayable

Of course most emulators run fine, I'm talkin about ps2 and possibly wii/gc emulators specifically, the harder to run ones
on gc I've only tried wind waker so far but it ran perfectly

Ah, sorry. I don't like most modern consoles, so I don't try to emulate them. PSP emulation works great on mine, though.

I think it's time to upgrade (my x201) to 8GB of ram. All these browsers are memory hogs and midori and qupzilla are a shit.

Opinions on the T420?

It's not bad.

Missing too many keys. Aside from that, not so bad.

The consumer plebtop of Thinkpads. Only worth getting if you're destitute and your use case absolutely demands Sandy Bridge's power. If you've got the budget, get a 1080p T520 or an IPS X220. If you can live with lesser specs, get a T410 or T400. If both money and specs are no concern, get a Flexview T60. The T420 is a cheap piece of shit compared to what came before.

What's the best lightweight (under 13 inch) thinkpad for running the Ubuntu 16.04? I've checked out the x220 and I like the look of the specs, but I'm looking for something that's going to be fast and light enough for travel. Storage space doesn't matter as I'll add my own SSD, which I already have.

Basically I'm worried about getting a daily driver computer that's 5+ years old because of how fast things change in the tech world.

X220 with a 4 cell is pretty light. Even lighter if you remove the spinning disk and just use an mSATA SSD.

X230 with the X220 keyboard swap

Where is the bestplace to buy used/refurbished thinkpads?

Ebay, because you can make offers and see an actual pic of it.

is the x200 still worth it? or should i go for an x220, im just looking for something lightwieght/small and good battery life, just need it for basic programming

X230 or an X220?

The keyboard doesn't bother me on either.
Battery life is priority - hence why I'm tending towards X230, but I can't deny the X220 is a nice machine

I have both
The X200 works pretty well with GNU/Linux
The speakers are nicer on the X200 than the X220.

Does anyone here have an mSATA SSD in his X220?
I'm thinking of using one as the boot drive and using the leftover hdd for data. Are SATA2 speeds alright or would it be better to just replace the hdd with a 2.5 SSD (and a bigger mSATA for data)?

X230 if the keyboard is not an issue.

I have my drives set up like that with my X220. 160GB mSATA OS drive and a 500GB spinner.

Is the performance better than an HDD, even with SATA2?

Significantly better.
X220 ~ » systemd-analyze
Startup finished in 4.213s (kernel) + 3.892s (userspace) = 8.105s

Thanks user, I'm gonna start looking for an SSD for my X200 and an mSATA SSD for my X220

I've never had either, what's wrong with the keyboard?

Wrong is subjective, but it has fewer keys, no media buttons, no embedded numpad, and chicklet style keycaps.

if you don't do hibernation with lot of ram you or heavy copy-writing (audio-video merging) you will NOT be able to spot difference

Sounds great, thanks!
Also, checked!

I'd say x230, but just remember that you can't use third party batteries.

X220 tablet vs X230 tablet?

depends on keyboard you want, in 230t you have locked bios, better graphics and can't use chink batteries, that is all the difference

Should I get an x1 carbon or an x260?
Don't feel like I need an i7 or 1TB of storage
My price range is ~$1000

I installed this perfectly functioning T61 screen on my T60, which had the low res 14.1". Now I get this. Did I break the replacement screen or is there something I should know? Bummed as shit right now.

check the cable. perhaps you need a special cable for driving high-res displays, just like the T420

I found no such information.

Ready to just throw this fucking thing away.

So, I decided to sell my old i7-powered x230 with IPS screen and 8GB RAM for $500 (pretty sweet deal, I know), and I got this x220 instead for $100.
Did I do good, Sup Forums?
SSD is obviously mSATA and I'm gonna replace the wifi card (intel 6205) with intel 7260 ac, so I can stream my gaymes from desktop to it.

no

Why?

return it if you can.

because I see it as a downgrade.
The only good thing is the $500 you got.

>no media buttons
what?

>downgrade
b-but I like the new "old" keyboard so far. And the screen consumes much less power, and it doesn't generate so much heat as the old screen. Oh, and these retarded ghosting windows are gone (IPS issue).
The most painful loss is HD4000 iGPU which is now HD3000, it's actually 50% slower. But thankfully I can now replace the wifi card without desoldering BIOS from the motherboard.

I bought a used T61 and I took it from that. When I got it home, it wouldn't start, even though it worked fine when the guy showed it to me. I think I broke it as well while taking it home, which is somewhat impossible considering how well thinkpads are made.

I don't know. The world is against me again.

Just got a T520 for 390 USD, did I do good?

Here's the specs:
>I7-2670QM
>Nvidia NVS4200M
>4GB RAM
>320GB HDD
>1920x1080 Display

fucked up to be honest

Kinda a lot but if the condition is good, that's a good deal.

It's "refurbished" with 12 months of warranty.

did you replace only the screen or screen and cable?

>downgrade
>from chiclet to classic keyboard

No mute button, no pause, play previous, or next.

...

They combined them with the fucking function keys. Disgusting.

>6row keyboard
delete this

no

Have you tried updating the BIOS?

Unrelated, but there's a non-whitelist one floating around.

i don't see dedicated media keys here neither.

Much better location.

Are you comfy /tpg/?

guys i read something about cooper shims

do they really work Sup Forums ?

why dont people just use the penny instead?

hmm how long does battery last ?

while running calc, using wifi, listening to music and having brightness on maximum about 1 hour. With turned down brightness, no wifi and just listening to music and working (text / calc / R) about 2 hours.
It's a 6 cell battery.

Hey, is getting a machine serviced free? I got something with a bum USB port off eBay, found it wasn't registered yet and went and got a replacement. Am I going to get charged? Is the original owner gonna get charged?

not all pennys are made of 100% copper. Pennys made after a certain date are an alloy and so don't conduct heat as well. If you can find a penny before said date you can use it just fine, but I guess people prefer to pay a couple of Dollaridoos for a good copper shim

Checking out craigslist and I see a corporate HQ dumping their computers

"""""
IBM ThinkCentre 9637 - 10
IBM ThinkCentre 9439 - 9
IBM ThinkCentre 7298 - 8
IBM NetVista 8315 - 1
Dell OptiPlex 3020 - 6
Dell OptiPlex 3020 SFF - 35
Dell OptiPlex 3030 Micro - 4
Dell OptiPlex 755 SFF - 4
Dell OptiPlex 745 - 1
Dell Optiplex 390 - 25
Dell OptiPlex 380 - 28
Dell Precision T7400 - 1
Dell Precision T5610 - 1
Dell Precision T5600 - 11
Dell Precision T5500 - 3

Lenova Thinkpad T440 - 46
Lenova ThinkPad T430 - 24
Lenova Thinkpad T420 - 7
Lenova Thinkpad T410 - 16
Lenova Thinkpad 400 - 19
"""""
No listed price, wants an offer.
How much could I get for that shit?
How much should I offer?
What should I look out for?
What if the bios shit's locked?
How much should my offer go down?

I was thinking I could probably sell the T440s for like 200 a piece and it would be a good deal for whoever is buying, not really sure about the other stuff

T440's should be selling for about $350 each one.

that depends if the machine is within the warranty period.
Last time my T430 was serviced for loose hinges i wasn't charged.
And ThinkPads are not registered to an owner, the warranties are tied to the machine S/N. You should check at Lelnovo's site if you're still on warranty.

>has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like