Other business laptops are also welcome in /tpg/ (e.g. Dell Latitude/Precision, HP EliteBook/ZBook). ---- 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 ---- 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. ---- Used ThinkPad Buyers Guide: ktgee.net/tpg
bunch of oldschool thinkpad wallpapers, stock themes for xp, etc
Gavin James
>buying from a manufacturer that ships their laptops with superfish bios malware
Carter Bennett
Only on consumer plebtops Thinkpads are clean
Josiah Perry
I'm looking at a T420 for $110 from a craigslist seller. Looked at the guides for local buying and this seems like a good deal. I plan to use this thing for notetaking, browsing, and toting around for errands. My media/gaming needs are taken care of by my desktop. The configuration for the T420 is in the picture.
Any advice you guys can give from experience? Anything the guides left out?
Carter Rivera
definitely a good deal. i paid 120 for a t420 with only 4gb ram and no fingerprint reader, so your find is definitely better (although i believe both are better deals than average) screen is trash, but supposedly upgrading to 1600x900 isn't too bad i use mine for similar stuff, and imo it's perfect once you install linux
Ian Butler
It's been an honour to be part of /tpg/
It's time to move on from my machines T61p 1920x1200 panel X220 with IPS X220 tablet T420s with Alienware panel and eGPU rig
Recently came into a solid job and I'm long overdue for an upgrade. Looking into the Dell XPS 15. Shit key travel and no more track point but ive been starting to enjoy my T420s track pad anyways (sticker off)
Justin James
My aunt gave me two of her old Thinkpad T20s, how do I manage to install Linux Mint on them? I've found a way to boot from the USB, but the machine hangs forever and it doesn't end up working. Also Windows 98 is installed on it and I can't access the internet.
Tyler Brown
The only logical jump from ThinkPads with Dell is the Latitude or Precision line. XPS is consumer shit, seriously, no matter how they package it.
Get a Latitude or step up to a Precision if you must, but avoid the XPS like the fucking plague, seriously.
Cameron Morales
You can't use typical Linux distros because they require CPU features those old Pentium III machines didn't have. There's also the problem with memory support as well and they'll be USB 1.1 machines (which will work fine with a USB 2.0 stick just realize things will take 8x longer or more to transfer and that means the installation itself will take over an hour if even that fast).
You have to find some Linux distro that still offers some PAE support (or the other way around, I honestly can't remember at this moment) but modern distros within the past 4 years or so simply aren't going to work - it's not just a 32 bit vs 64 bit thing (obviously that P3 is a 32 bit processor), it's more than that.
Go grab an old Ubuntu 12.04 LTS ISO or something of that time period, maybe even 10.10 if necessary, those will work just fine.
Jack Smith
Anyone use linux with 600x?
Angel White
What Thinkpad would you recommend for watching anime on?
Levi Nelson
Preferably one that actually works, aside from that what the fuck do I care.
Brayden Harris
I bought a w541 with k2000m because i got a good deal. it is forced into using the intel graphics unless the dock is bought.
are there any ways to get around this? or just buy the dock...
Nathaniel Jackson
>modest upgrades
Camden Nguyen
You upgraded to a non-vapefaggot?
Grayson Gutierrez
No I'm still a mega vapefag
I did switch from Quit That Grit to Blue Dot Vapors though
Cooper Butler
Consider suicide, and wear your fedora while you do it
Liam Jones
I only have baseball caps user :(
Jose Williams
So I just got my T420 today, and the mic light doesn't turn on when I press that, should I be concerned that it's broken? IT's not a huge concern, I could just get the guy to refund some of the money.
Also, what is that thinkvantage button? I press it and nothing happens, so now I'm worried that it might be that area that might be broken.
Kevin Watson
Can't mute the mic if it isn't on The ThinkVantage button is to enter the bios
Elijah Collins
Is there a Lenovo partition on your hard drive? If the computer was wiped and a vanilla version of the OS was installed, you may not have the Thinkvantage partition which contains recovery images and all the Lenovo drivers (you can still download all this crap off Lenovo's website if you really want it)
Jordan Bailey
press the thinkvantage button during bootup to get to some other boot options / bios
Austin Flores
Thanks bros, I'll give the mic thing a shot.
Is there a way to set the thinkvantage button to open my email directly? (on windows)
Jose Clark
How are the thinkpad x130e? there is one on craigslist near me for a decent price but idk if i can justify spending it
Samuel Young
If they're asking more than $25 for it, they're asking for entirely too much.
Gabriel Murphy
My taskbar in Win10 moves to the right of the screen a few milimeters, the time/date gets cut off by the corner of the screen. I've been keeping the taskbar unlocked now and dragging it back every time I see this bug. Has this happened to any of you guys?
Next time it happens I'll try to get a pic.
Lucas Bailey
So the mic button still won't activate. I tried it on Discord, mic setup, and vocaroo. Should I panic?
Angel Foster
>got my W520 today >check if it's eligible for battery recall >it isn't That's 0 for 5 now :(
Sweet machine otherwise, well worth the higher cost of admission over the T420. This screen is gorgeous, the specs are awesome, and it feels much higher quality overall. If you're looking into getting a T420, definitely consider saving up a little more money for a T520 or W520.
Kevin King
Do you guys think that the P50s would be a good purchase? I'm new to Sup Forums so give me as much info as you can
Isaiah Anderson
is the t520 quadro more powerful than the t420
Joshua Turner
just search for eligible batteries on ebay if you really want one.
Dylan Sanders
I was watching 13 hours and
Jace Taylor
No, it's the same card to my knowledge. The better cooling of the T520 will certainly help keep things comfortable while using it, though.
Christopher Collins
Are there any aftermarket heat sinks for the t420
Brody Edwards
Not that I know of. Cheap chink knockoffs maybe, but nothing that would be an improvement over stock.
Jeremiah Green
Thanks user.
Angel Sanders
install the "lenovo on screen display" it's at the lenovo support software for your thinkpad
Carson Cook
I think the T430 heatsink is compatible and better
Juan Brooks
>Thinkpad logo isn't upside down
get fucked Jim you fucking chiclet dicksucker newfag
Robert Rivera
Will that fix the volume mute toggle button?
Brandon Martin
It's not the same.
Quadro is way above NVS. NVS isn't much higher than Intel HD.
William Allen
Different user here with a fresh T420
What are the essential Lenovo support softwares?
I went to the website and it's a huge fucking list
Do I really have to get all of it?
Owen Sanders
yes, this will fix your mute light button.
James Moore
>I think the T430 heatsink is compatible and better
good thinking user.
Found one on eBay for $6 shipped. I have a quad core T420. I'll see if it fits and do some before and after comparisons if it does.
Jaxon Allen
The T520 has an NVS card, it's one of the only distinctions between it and the W520.
You only really need the Power Manager. Thinkvantage System Update is useful if you don't feel like manually downloading all your drivers individually, but otherwise is unessential and becomes useless once you've settled in.
Caleb Williams
I asked out of all the software which ones should I get, not where should I get them
Thanks user
Does it improve battery life in any way? I'm only getting 3 hours no matter what I do, maybe my battery is just toast
Matthew Martin
same new T520 fag again, just wondering what sort of thinkpad branded things, e.g. ultrabay, mice, keyboards (T520 specific or not) i can buy? i already own the mini dock or whatever the fuck it's called. also looking for replacement keys for that. thanks /tpg/
John Anderson
give it to me str8 Sup Forums x200 yayor nay
Cooper Adams
just bought a 4gb i7 t520 for $199, how'd I do?
Adam Campbell
anyone know if you can put the 1440p screen from the t460s in a t440p?
Asher Williams
Pretty jelly desu Used Chinkpads are expensive as shit here in civilized Yurop, compared to Freedomland prices
Juan Rodriguez
How much ram can I shove into a T420, and does it take DDR2 or DDR3?
Dylan Stewart
Thanks man, you rock.
Nathaniel Phillips
>How much ram can I shove into a T420, and does it take DDR2 or DDR3?
16g ddr3
Wyatt Parker
>X220 in dock 30C ambient >60C operating temp >turn on air-conditioning, 24C ambient >51C >take out of dock >44C Has anyone found any hacks to improve cooling while docked?
No obvious babbys-first-screwdriver shit like putting the fan to disengaged or replacing thermal paste.
Wyatt Garcia
I know 16:10 is nice but it's a little geriatric these days
At least get an x201, but even that's getting slow
Bentley Nelson
>or replacing thermal paste. Well if you haven't done that how do you expect it to be cool?
Parker Peterson
try one of these lol
Carter Phillips
Use a port replicator instead.
Ayden King
Get an Ultrabase instead, doesn't block the exhaust
Juan Howard
A good lightweight/thin/good battery life, used thinkpad or latitude nootebokok?
Jayden Russell
I need the 6 USB ports on the back.
And I do have the Ultrabase, and I hate that it raises the laptop so much.
Austin Cook
Because it's obvious enough that everyone, myself included, has already done it. Yet it's the first thing everyone suggests.
Daniel Lopez
Based on the amount of people in these threads who in fact haven't, no, it's not obvious.
Christopher Johnson
>I need the 6 USB ports on the back. Get a USB hub then
Charles Adams
Would it be possible to put a Thinkpad T43 motherboard into a Thinkpad R51? Mine's the Mobility Radeon 7500 version (15" 1024x768 screen iirc).
Austin Reed
Is there a retard friendly guide to flashing the bios to the oleh's mod bios? Also how to check if battery is eligible for that recall without using windows and without using that form?
Jack Harris
the port replicator blocks the heatsink in the exact same way, user.
Charles Bell
Are brand new thinkpads a meme?
Robert Brooks
Never thought I could love a ratio as much as I do.
David Reyes
I heard the T420 screen was bad but I didn't realize it was working at mcdonalds and somebody decided to smear shit over every inch of the bathroom bad
Nathan Watson
yep it's a damn shame
Luke Miller
And to think people paid over 1k for these machines
Cameron Jones
because muricans are a bunch of consumists.
Liam Clark
Same problem with my x230 and 4338 dock I got at the end of last week but my temps are less bad but they did go up about 10 degrees. Just fucking around shitposting it's running 55-60C.
Going to remove the plastic bit at the back and see if that helps. There's a YT video that more or less shows how it's done.
Dylan Collins
no, you can get them fairly cheap with corporate discounts:
