/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).

>New to /tpg/ or looking for purchasing advice? (hint: use the advice request template, it makes life easier)
pastebin.com/nBqTEbHn

>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 HP Elitebook (2570p, 8770W), Dell Latitude (E6440 and older) or ThinkPad T, X, W SERIES if you want the Real Business Experience™

>Recommended models and mod guide:
pastebin.com/jVSuE175

>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/JVwVGVTW

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

Other urls found in this thread:

www3.lenovo.com/jp/ja/forms/wm-edm-opinedu/
ebay.com/itm/322529119017
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

Thank you for making this thread. I asked this in another thread but this is where it's most appropriate
I have a t420 coming and am wondering if getting a msata SSD is worth it. I was planning on getting a cheap 32gb one just to boot from, replacing the regular drive with a SSD and placing the old drive in a caddy. Also does anyone know if replacing the i5 with an i7 is worth the 40 bucks? Or will it be so marginal that I'm better off just keeping the i5?

if you mean the dual-core i7 then no it would not be worth it at all

a quad-core i7 would have a significant performance boost though, but how much performance you need is up to you

and you should abandon the old drive, do not stick an HDD in your laptop they are shit
>noise
>power consumption
>reliability

just get a big SSD

I kinda wanted to keep the old drive just for redundancies but I see what you are saying.

Does the x1 carbon go on sale for more than 33% off? I want to buy a new one but idk when to pull the trigger REEE

i have a thinkpad x220 without a harddrive, is it worth it scavanging an ssd from my desktop for it? (i have two hard drives in there, one's an ssd and one's an hdd)

students and companies get a massive discount, and if you use the lenovo perk code NJ*PERKSEPP then it's really cheap.

what is a faster w510 wireless network card?

do you want a fcuntioning machine or not

Should I bite the bullet anons?

Its completely spec out
>i7
>1tb NVIME SSD
>16gb of ddr4 ram

as long as you aren't paying for it, sure

I don't know which way you mean this, my desktop also has a hdd in it too

...

fuck, replied to the wrong post, mean to reply to

All right, I need some advice and reasoning. Should I purchase a T420 or a T520? I am coming from a pimped out T60 and I use Arch.

How the fuck do they make money? I feel like there's always some sort of sale going on.

>if I buy this month I get a tablet and HDD I can sell to recoup 150 shekels

Pull the trigger on a T470 now or wait for the T480/T25?

My T420s arrives tomorrow but I already have buyers remorse and have decided I'm going to also get an X220 to be truly small.

What do I look for in a good X220?

I currently have the T510, getting the T420s, then X220... so I'll have the whole range of sizes. Should be comfy.

Why T420 is no longer recommended?

My ThinkPad randomly vibrates. It sounds like somebody's doing digging down the road or something. I only recently bought it but don't want to return it (lazy + got one in perfect condition despite being grade B). It's random and I don't believe it's the HDD (which I'm replacing with an SSD soon anyway). What do? I've never had to repair tech before.

What ultraportable laptop do you recommend?

I have T420 and use it as my daily machine, but soon I'll be spending long period of time away from home, and I want something to use as media consumption device, at most I'll be need to play 1080p video files.

Battery life isn't important, small size is important since I want to have only one bag with all my stuff (clothes, toiletries, EDC, etc), and I'll be upgrading the drive to SSD.

I've considered getting PC tablet, but it was to thick, and since X230 specs are too much for what I intend to do.
X220 seems like a good idea, opinions?

Or should I look into surface pro?

I am using the T420 and I like it, it can everything I need (you can play minecraft with it without lags) and is reliable, also you can replace the hd screen with a hd+ screen. I don't shit about the T520 though and dont have any experience with...

T520 is inflated T420, if you plan to use it as stationary machine then W520/T520 is what you looking for if not then T420 is a compromise between large screen size and portability.

Textured or non-textured touchpad?

HP EliteBook 2740p or Lenovo Thinkpad X201t

There is a huge profit margin.
The sale prices are the regular prices, the non-sale periods are reserved for impatient idiots (and corporate buyers with bulk discount).

How's HP EliteBook compatibility with GNU/Linux?

Depends on the model.
I wouldn't expect full support from models never than ivy bridge, although my 840 G2 (Broadwell) works fine with Debian.

What about protective features, and other stuff like fan and power management?

Why does CPU throttles after I added a second RAM?

Is it true that the backlit keyboards have shit texture? I heard that they are smooth instead of rough.

X230,
Intel Core i5-3320M 2.60 GHz,
4GB DDR3,
320GB SATA

...

...

...

Worth $200?

>have T420
Get the X220, It's smaller than suggested and you don't want the digitizer even if you're drawfag.
X230 have better hardware but you probably need it even if you watch X265 1080p since sandy bridge can do that perfectly, and the new keyboard travel distance feels shallow IMO.

I have X220 with battery slice, I use it when I'm on my work days (work for 3 days then take 3 days off) and the battery last without the need to charge it whenever I'm at work, I get around 10-12 hours of it.

Seems fine, maybe you can haggle the price a little.
You need to test it first.

>haggle the price
Can't do that, it's a fixed price refurb sold by a company.

>test it first
They're offering a 20 days money-back option if unsatisfied and a 12 months warranty.

Going to get a T470 with the i5-7200u, 4gb RAM, and 1080p screen
I'm going to put in an SSD I have already and buy a 4GB stick of RAM from Amazon
Any problems with my master plan?

how many ram slots does the T460 have? could I have 2 drives in it?

What will you be using it for?

mostly for work, on the go
occasionally to plug-it to a hdtv and watch a movie
rarely for some light gaming

What kind of work?
>Light gaming
Like what?

Textured like the T60 for that absolutely premium feel

what the hell is this monstrosity? someone's selling this on ebay as an x220.

the X220 is edited in.

it's not though

that's x230 with x220 screen section. Probably someone broke the original screen and was forced to use x220 parts instead.

Looks like someone wanted the X230 hardware but with the X220 keyboard, and now sells the X220 with the X230 keyboard.

>Ordered a T420
>Got a T430
Not sure how to feel about this; what do I do?

Are you retarded?
it's clearly x230

keep it, nice unexpected upgrade :)

does it really matter? the HD 4000 can handle it

Well "light gaming" is ambiguous term.
Anyway go for it but make sure to test it.

this. lids are probably cross compatible
if theyre dumb enough to sell it for x220 prices then go pick it up
you can't install a x230 keyboard on a x220. the pins are different plus have fun with your mismatched keys.
also the bios says its a 3rd gen i5.
unless someone went out of their way to swap the mobo and buy a new chassis but keep the screen
youre retarded

I mean yeah but when you consider people play bf4 at 720p at medium - high depending on your ram or mgstpp on low, its a pretty good assumption to think that it can handle it

My X220's keyboard lights (the power ring, caps lock light etc) randomly stop working, is there anything I can do to stop this? It's driving me mad

How much should I pay for X220?
Core i5, 4GB of Ram, and 500GB HDD.

Hey /tpg/, I got a T400 from a family friend for free. The hard drive was dead as a doornail but that was easily solved by getting a new SSD on the cheap. I also got the Windows XP, Vista and 7 install discs with the computer. I proceeded to install Win 7 but didn't notice until after I was done and installed updates that it was 32-bit. Despite the fact that the computer has 4 gigs of RAM. Who the fuck uses this shit anytime after 2009?

Anyways, is there a way for me to get a legit copy of the 64-bit OS using the product key for the 32-bit version?

Didn't mean to reference that

guys, don't buy x230. I got one and I'm gonna switch to 2570p now
it overheats AF, palmrest is made of cheap plastic, one-key touchpad is unusable and it's too slow to even run chrome
Lenovo should be sued for selling this little piece of shit as a business laptop.

>Windows XP
Care to share it?
Also stick to the 32bit, the 64bit binaries takes too much RAM, and with 4GB you really don't have much to spare.

This has to be bait, right?

I agree about the touchpad, but the rest is simply untrue.

sounds like hell in anus

>t. pajeet

x1 carbon is really cheap from the Japanese site. Probably even cheaper if you have the Japanese corporate perks.
www3.lenovo.com/jp/ja/forms/wm-edm-opinedu/

Are you sure it's DDR4 RAM? Please double check.

i paid 400$ cad for it (refurb) from newegg xd 3 months ago

>I'm gonna switch to 2570p
Don't, just get X220.

>i paid 400$
What?

Can anyone give me the gestalt on X220/x230 screen upgrades?
I know that the simplest is to just upgrade to the IPS panel that was available in it, since it is just plug and play.
I also know that there are some 1080p mods, but they are not as easy to do. I know that there is one that makes the display port on the dock unusable, and then there is the Nitrocaster board, which allows for the use of the dock display port if properly set up from my understanding.
I could of sworn there was some other mod too, but I can't find it now.

How do these higher resolution screen effect battery life? I'm assuming they make it shorter, but by how much?

I probably could share it, but where would I upload the ISO, and why would you want it? Windows XP was already dead in terms of support when I graduated middle school three years ago.

As for the memory, there is only a single 4GB stick in there right now and I have a spare 4GB DDR3 stick lying around. So, in theory I could have 8GB (the maximum supported by the T400), but with the 32-bit OS, I'm limited to 2.46 GB because of the integrated graphics. I am wondering if I could recover the roughly 1 GB of memory reserved by the integrated graphics if I turned on dedicated only in the BIOS. This is not going to be my main machine (I got a T530 running Linux), it was just going to be used to run Windows-specific programs for university that may not work on Linux, as well as the accounting software for my family's small business.

I just got a very nice X60s in mint condition on ebay for $80. I put in a new 128GB ADATA ssd, flashed Libreboot onto the BIOS, installed an Atheros wifi chip, and got the latest Linux-libre lts kernel. Stallman would give it his blessing :)

$400 cad so like 300 USD.

i5 300gb 4gb ram TN panel

I'm white mate. Also, I'm writing this on an X230 now.

I've got a T410 I'm looking to put up on eBay and I'm wondering what might be a good price?

Specs:
i5 540M @ 2.53GHz
8GB DDR2 @ 535MHz (7-7-7-20)
NVIDIA NVS 3100M 256MB
500GB Hitachi HDD
BIOS Whitelist for WiFi

It's got a stock 2 wifi cards: the stock Intel 6200 AGN and an Atheros AR928X.

I have a 2 port USB 3.0 expresscard (GMYLE), a DVD/CDRW Ultra Bay, a spare HDD Ultra Bay caddy, and a stock AC adapter.

I also have a Docking Station Series 3 (no keys).
The battery is 8.7Ah and is stock.

It's good cosmetically minus a small piece of the bottom right corner is broken, but I have the piece and can glue it back.

I just redid the thermal paste with Arctic Silver MX4.

Do you think I could get $300 + shipping for that?

>where would I upload the ISO
MEGA? magnet link?
>why would you want it?
Because certain hardware have drivers for windows XP only, and I need to use it.

Still isn't it expensive?
I got T420 for 225$ with same specs.

yeah its expensive as fuck and i regret it because for the same price if not cheaper i could get x220 tablet with i5, 128gb ssd, 8gb ram and IPS Screen. shit just makes me mad.

but at least i had 2 day shipping :D

o ye and its my first thinkpad so i guess its goiung ot be worth in value more than the $ i paid becuz its first

The issue ktgee list unrealistic prices.
How can T420 be cheaper than X220.

who says that?

hp shills and x220 shills.
And third gen core i shills

i made my friend get T420 and i have a x220

What's your opinion on X220?

There is no longer a reason to get a Sandybridge ThinkPad. Read the fucking recommendation guide.

why not

lmao no

would be lucky to break $100

just start the bidding at $1 + $20 shipping and accept whatever you get for it

but $300 lol, you can get T430's for under $200 easily

>Sandybridge
Why?

yes noob i did that when i got my x220 3 months ago

1)t420 is ivy bridge upgradable
2)sandy bridge is fine for all the work any one throws at it. The performance increase of ivy bridge as compared to sandy bridge while there, still isn't anything ground shattering. Power consumption is better on ivy bridge tho. Sandy bridge has the best performance per price value.

Buy a classic t420 keyboard and replace the existing one with it. Voilá, you have a t420 with t430 internals

Is the T420 good enough for AutoCAD? If not, which is a better pick?

Aren't the keys separated by a middle mouse button?
Also, why the hell haven't you replaced the keyboard with a classic one and x220 palmrest?
Also, who the hell uses bottom keys and touchpad on a thinkpad?

What computer does RMS use?

2) You save like $20 and lose USB 3 by not getting ivybridge

As for 1, lol. No. It's not just upgradable. There is not a single person on this board who has done the upgrade. You know WHY I know that? Because they wouldn't be recommending it. I've done it. You will break everything flashing coreboot and then struggle to get a working distro due to coreboot's compatability issues, and god forbid you need Windows - you'll need to reinstall Windows as Legacy and break compatibility even more. Ivy Bridge on xx20 is a fucking meme, literally NOBODY does it, and there is no reason to when an Ivy Bridge series ThinkPad is ~$20 more.

You guys fail 1st grade english class?

Yes, you might want to invest in more Ram and SSD though.

>USB 3
Anybody really using it?

Should I pull the trigger?

ebay.com/itm/322529119017