/tpg/ Thinkpad General

/tpg/ Thinkpad General

ThinkFetish edition

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

xsauc buyers guide:
dankpads.com

EPP discount for new ThinkPads (USA & Canada only, usually 15%+ off):
pastebin.com/ULHCY5ch

Helpful links and resources (Wiki, lookup tools and wallpapers):
pastebin.com/DYjEnVq1

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=jb7p3VkQCOo
ebay.com/itm/IBM-MODEL-M-1391401-Clicky-Keyboard-1984-mechanical-PS-2-/131883595691?hash=item1eb4dff7ab:g:SrcAAOSw-FZXj2UD
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

My t420 memepad just arrived.

Am I part of the senpai now?

Install Gentoo.

The thinklight is so cozy

LENOVO BTFO

youtube.com/watch?v=jb7p3VkQCOo

What is so good about the model m keyboard? Where do you find one?

Is this cheap?
ebay.com/itm/IBM-MODEL-M-1391401-Clicky-Keyboard-1984-mechanical-PS-2-/131883595691?hash=item1eb4dff7ab:g:SrcAAOSw-FZXj2UD

>ps/2
so I can't use this with my x220 chinkpad?

Can i add a fingerprint reader to my t420 without one?

If so, what would i need? Aside from the new palmrest of course, does the palmrest include the reader?

because we really need a bunch of idiots to tell people what they can lookup in thinkwiki in 5 seconds..............

/tpg/ btfo'd

Get a $5 adapter you fuck.

Welcome to the Internet... here you will find that the answer to 90% of all questions asked are on the first page of a google-search and people never bother to read stuff before they ask things.

To be fair they scrapped that design rather quick didn't they? Ofc. you could always wonder why they decided to make it in the first place...

I'm planning to install macOS on my x220. Roast me.

i was planning to do so too, but its alot of work and you need to do hardware mods (changing wifi card) just to get it working and it barely functions properly aswell.

Got mine last week and love it. Hope you enjoy it as much :)

What model is the monitor in OP pic?

Wifi card that works ootb is like 5€, and I'm already investing into a mini pci-e ssd.

still more work than worth it for something that wont run aswell as it would on the hardware it was designed for, why not just run something like linux or even windows 7 on your good thinkpad.

I just want to try it out. Never used a mac. Plus no uni in summer so I'm bored and I don't really need my tp fully operational that much. Is it really so shitty?

i guess thats reasonable, desu thats why i considered it too, just because i dont need a fully functioning tp during summer, but i lost the idea of it shortly after because id have to fuck with the wifi card (mostly because ive already had issues with it in the past so i dont want to fuck it up further.)

>TFW managed to snag extremely good looking x201t for 129 euro.
>as added bonus it comes with the Gobi wwan gps hybrid and the 8 cell.

any anonymous members on here

How does one master the trackpoint ? I'm kind of bad compared to a mouse

Disable trackpad, only use Trackpoint until you git gud
t. Still have track pad disabled

well I still prefer the trackpoint to the trackpad

lenovo=nsa

Should I buy a used t450s or a new t460s? Is the new one worth the extra money?

Anyone have any advise for replacing the speakers on a t420. I did a little bit of googling but I can't find a guide. Just wondering if its worth doing.

Palm rest usually includes the reader. Check pictures and descriptions before buying. It will plug right into your existing wire loom.

Tactile, consistent feedback. Feels good. Got mine for $25 on Craigslist.

It's some sub-1080p 16:10 Thinkvision. Craigslist. $20.

Don't waste your time.

If you want a huge bump in volume, install the Dolby audio driver and adjust as desired. Otherwise you're better off spending your money on headphones

Get an x61, it's only got a track point. Plus it's the best thinkpad

Speakers are broken, its my stepmoms laptop and she spilled wine on it.

My T420 with Mint installed and DP to HD I converter are tomorrow. This is my first Linux machine, any must have programs or anything?

Oh.

They basically drop in. There are service instructions on lenovo's site.

Windows 7 Professional

I only have Win7 Ultimate Edition.

Slightly related question:
How does one go about buying a brand new business laptop?

Ale pompaja to ty nie obrażaj

What model is the best Thinkpad? The most powerful in hardware. A W one?

>best
what size are you interested in? 12"? 14" 15,6"? 17"?
There is no such a thing as the "best" thinkpad

copped an x240 in an x250 outfit for £500
>1080 touch
>i7
>8GB ram
>2tb hdd
>128gb ssd

good deal??

>dual core
>i7
hahaahha, kill yourself

The bigger the better. I need one for my work. My T410 is not good enough.

What are average temps for a t420? Mine has a 2540m in it and I'm reaching temps as high as 97c doing very basic tasks. Mostly work, which is on a remote server, writing on msword07, internet, etc.

Temps typically hover around 75-90c

>the bigger the better
Kek.
"Better" is more like an opinion, not something objective.
14" is the best size for me And it's as fast as w530, unless we are talking about GPU (which is slightly worse)

The average is 50c. Clean you T420 man.

...

how can an i7 be worse than an i5?
i got the i7 model cheaper than any of the i5s i could find

Nah, I dont need a good GPU, I need a good CPU.

14" or 15,6"?

do i have to take shit apart to dust it properly?

Yes, and change the thermal paste.

also, since i'll likely end up repasting the cpu when I add RAM and a SSD, what thermal paste do you guys recommend?

ThinkPad x220t w/ a 256GB Samsung SSD, running Kubuntu and loving it! Everything is snappy.

How long is it gonna be this way?

P70

artic whatever. doesn't matter. whatever you see on newegg or store desu

That's a workstation dude, kind of a heavy loader if you ask me.

>user asked for the most powerful thinkpad you can buy

gobi pls

I think I remember reading somewhere that you can get the GPS function to work without actually having WWAN service.

Thoughts in W550s?

Comparable performance, worse power draw
There are essentially zero reasons to go dual core i7 over dual core i5.

X230 in good conditions, ips and with a 9 cell battery for 300€. Fair price?

Yes.

Should there be this much of a gap between the keyboard and palmrest of my X220?

No, the keyboard seems to be badly attached.

>vape
>epic meal time
>shitty Sup Forums theme
>japanese poster for an american movie

This is it. This is the most cancerous person on Sup Forums

I take back what I said about the theme, it's lainchan, but it's still cancer

Thanks

Hey guise remember to put tpg in the subject line next time

so, I'm running windows 7 on my t400. should I really put a linux distro on here? is that the best option m8os?

My temps are between 37-45 most of the time, that looks wrong imo.

I had no problem finding the thread. Quit bitching.

I recently picked up a T430s. Which would be better for battery life: MSATA SSD with a hard drive in the hard drive bay, or the SSD it came with plus a hard drive in the ultrabay?

msata ssd + ssd

:^)

surprise surprise that they fucked up the op

I turned off the turbo so the CPU stays at 2.6ghz and that has temps at a more stable 77c on average. Anyway, it looks like I'll have to reseat the CPU and put some new paste on there. For now I'll just have to keep an eye on the temps because I still need to work in the meantime.

Repaste.

this, plus ultra-low-life-expectancy ultrabay battery

Sup lads, is a T410 for $100 a good buy?

yes

What are some sweet mods I can do to them?

well, anything you think you can do user. I'm thinking about taking apart my t400 and painting it white

That'd be pretty slick. are there any display mods that can be done? Can I drop in an i7 if I want to? I don't know much about the whole thinkpad meme so I'm trying to educate myself.

i'm not a hardcore memer so I dont know. check the op for link and join the irc

what SSDs do you guy recommend in general for older thinkpads like the t420? Can they make use of SATA III? DO SSDs even get bottlenecked by SATA II? Sorry for noob questions

I'd say get a cheap OE SSD from eBay. Running a $30 128gb LiteOn in my gaming rig rn and it works fine for an OS drive.

I have a W520 and use an msata SSD, here's the deal:

HDD Bay/Ultrabay
>Sata III

MSATA
>Sata II
>Read/Write capped at 300MB/s
>IOPs not capped

Personally, I don't really care too much for the cap on msata, rarely do I hit the 300MB cap, if at all... most of the performance benefit comes from high IOPs I think

Hope that helps

please don't
mac os is only good on macbooks
the operating system itself is piss poor, and borderline unusable
but the combination of mac os + macbook is a good combination because it just werks™
Use mac os in a vm if you want to play with it. Just know that there's no 3d acceleration.

Just ordered an X220. First laptop in over a decade. I'm excited bros.

T420? How do you keep it so cool?

>>japanese poster for an american movie

>the poster is worth more than everything else in the picture combined

Going to pick up the T410 for $100 now. Wish me luck anons. Hopefully I don't get raped

>want to buy another charger to just keep in my bag
>find a dock and genuine 90w charger for $30
Talk me out of it.

No can do. Docks are awesome if you care about using desk peripherals even some of the time while at home.

Just got a box of 8 T61s and 4 docks - everything works except the computers are missing hard drives.

What should I do with them?

cheap ssds and linux
Sell them on ebay

Last year I bought a T61 without charger, with a 320GB HDD for 120€ delivered on ebay. You can make some money out of that box.

This. Hopefully they left you the trays.

Is it really worth it to buy 8 SSDs, install them, and list on eBay? Going to be a slow burn, would rather short them fast. Also only got two chargers :/

Maybe I'll keep two and donate the rest, open to other suggestions

They didn't - which is a bummer, but only a $6 bummer for each.