/tpg/: ThinkPad General

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 IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T, X, and W/P SERIES, HP Elitebook (2570p, 8770W, 2170p), and Dell Latitude/Precision (E6430, E6440, E7440) 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:

ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-W520-Laptop-i7-Quad-8-threads-2-3GHz-8GB-1TB-Windows-7-Pro-/382197105966?hash=item58fcb9052e:g:jakAAOSw4I1ZlL74
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

Does anyone else like the smell of ThinkPads? All of them have this interesting dry scent. I like sniffing my X200 Tablet stylus, it retains the scent amazingly well.

I bought an unused X230 that was out of factory packaging and just stored for years. It still had it's new smell remarkably, and yes, I did love sniffing it. I still haven't even used it yet months after buying it because I just want to keep it wrapped up to smell.

Arctic Silver 5 or MX-4 for a quad core thinkpad?

Either the one that cools better or the one that's cheaper. I'm a fan of MX-4 though, both should be able to get the job done.
Yeah, their scent is pretty nice. Did you Libreboot your X200t yet?

Where do Italianons buy their ThinkPad? I usually look at subito.it but there's not a lot of offers.

I bought one from a chainsmoker once, at first it was kinda irritating but now I absolutely love the smell of old cigarettes. I don't know why, but I kinda want all my computers to smell like this now (There's no drugs left in there, it's just the smell)

I just posted about the X230 but I also have an old vintage one from 1994, also from a heavy smoker. The smell of it is just, warm. I don't know what's nice about it but its just really comforting smelling. They smell like high quality cigarettes, maybe even cigars.

Hello, i have buy a thinkpad, i have see the Thinkpad E560, i can't find X230, or something like, new

nani sore

How noticeable is the difference between i5-3210M and the 3320M on T430?

Anybody from germany in this thread? My laptop is broken, and though it is serviceable (ideapad u330p), I want a thinkpad now. I checked the buyers guide, but ebay is pretty shit here in my opinion. Any other buying options in germany?

I can find a X230 like new ?

xx20/xx30 = T420/T430 ?

Holy shit /tpg/, you're ruining my life.
I've been lurking around this general for a week or so, reading every single post.
I need a laptop for uni (never had a ThinkPad before), so I thought to get something cheapo to play around with and learn stuff, so if I to break it I wouldn't mind. I was originally going for an x230, but after reading all these post I'm really reconsidering other models. A part of me would really like to stick to the older models to have the comfy setup, but newer and better performing models are really tempting. Also I'm not sure anymore about the X series, as I'm a big guy and would probably find myself uncomfortable with a little machine. I really like long battery life tho.
I'm not really a collector, so I don't think that after the purchase I would follow the meme of buying 7 other models. Maybe just one more.
Purposes would be to discover the GNU/Linux world, coding for uni and rarely playing some flash games or some comp TF2 at lowest settings.
Help me out please. Also I'm so there's not the US super deals everywhere factor, offer is limited here.

Just get a T420, flash coreboot and install an Ivy Bridge Quad Core so you can have the better iGPU HD4000 which should be enough for TF2.

Why flash coreboot ?

throw them out and install a quad core, they're both shit.
es gibt leider nur ebay und ebay Kleinanzeigen, FeelsBadMan. andere wie zB shpock sind ein witz. einmal alle paar wochen gibt es aber ein paar gute deals, zB ein T520 für 100€, ein W701ds was für 150€ als startgebot losging und später warscheinlich für mehr als 800€ wegging und vier X200t's für jeweils 65€.

Echt nichts anderes? Das ist ja mal echt bitter...

I have an x220, how do I do all this

naja so isses halt, man muss damit klarkommen. wenn du wirklich dringend einen brauchst könntest du dir auch einen von den anderen empfehlungen holen. vielleicht sollte man ja noch die besten einkaufsmöglichkeiten innen OP reinnehmen, ich schau mal.
get out Mee
www.coreboot.org has all the info you'd need. it's pretty much just flashing a new bios onto the bios through a beaglebone black or a raspberry pi. you'd need some patience and some soldering skills for that.

hab vor zwei wochen ein t430 auf ebay gekauft für 230€ war in optisch neuwertigen zustand es ist also nicht unmöglich

So dringend ist es nicht, ich werde noch ein wenig ebay beobachten und das Beste hoffen

How's the x40? How much is it worth?

pick one

How about a T440p?

It's the last great thinkpad.

Pro's:
-Durable as fuck design - final Thinkpad before they switched to the Ultrabook paradigm
-Last t-series to have a socketed CPU (maybe even last Thinkpad - not sure)
-Thinklight
-Upgradeable to 1080p screen

Cons:
-Buttonless touchpad
-Chiclet keyboard

Re touchpad: Just get a t450 touchpad and stick it in. No problem
Re keyboard: The problem with the new keyboard is the layout, not the keys. Well, if you never got used to the old layout, you won't miss anything with the new one, right? Also, new keyboard can have a backlight, which is great.

Why have a socket CPU? It means more longevity for your thinkpad. In 5 years, you can pick up an i7-4900MQ for peanuts and drop it in. It will give the laptop a little more relevance.

If you really want something even cheaper, then I agree with - get a T420. I don't know anything about coreboot though.

t. x230t owner that was strongly considering t440p

It's the smell of refurbished plastic.

>not corebootable
major point
>not upgradeable to classic keyboard
if you browse this general you should be used to the classic one
>implying i7-4900MQ will run in it
it'll run hot as fuck
>implying i7-4900MQ will be worth peanuts in 5 years
i7-26XXQM, i7-27XXQM, i7-36XXQM and i7-37XXQM are still expensive

I want to buy a thinkpad for my mom, all she wants it that it be 15 inches or less and for it to have a CD drive. Any reccomendations? Just typical mom shit, browsing facebook etc

T520 or T530 should be ayt.

Hello /tpg/ I'm looking for a new decent "gaming" laptop and have decided for a thinkpad. Budget is around $400, is this a good deal?

ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-W520-Laptop-i7-Quad-8-threads-2-3GHz-8GB-1TB-Windows-7-Pro-/382197105966?hash=item58fcb9052e:g:jakAAOSw4I1ZlL74

Why get out ?

Thanks for the suggestion.
Considering , wouldn't a t430 be better?

I would personally recommend the T420s, T520 (doesn't have USB 3.0 though) and the T530.
Gaming on a ThinkPad is a meme, please don't. the iGPU (HD3000) is shit and the NVIDIA optimus graphics arent made for gaming. you'd be wasting your money. and you'd enrage the ThinkPad community.
it depends. if you don't care about lenovos proprietary bios, you don't mind the chiclet keyboard, yes, get a T440p. only things you should be aware of is that it'll be a lot more expensive than other ThinkPads, especially the T420 and T430 and that getting a quad-core CPU for a reasonable price is insanely hard and it'll run quite hot. the 1080p screen is a plus point too.

>i just got tricked into picking up my thinkpad and smelling it

Daily reminder

Is there a big difference between dual and Quad-Core?

a thinkpad is not for gaming. it's a business laptop. get some ASUS or MSI thing (ASUS laptops tend to be thicker and run cooler, MSI thinner but run hotter)

>not corebootable
Personally, the speed is a moot point for me, as I like my 3-second keypress prompts anyway

Don't give a shit about 'libre' software.

>if you browse this general you should be used to the classic one
He just said it will be his first thinkpad.

>i7-26XXQM, i7-27XXQM, i7-36XXQM and i7-37XXQM are still expensive

5 years from now will be 9 years from series release. You should be comparing this to a Core 2 Quad Q9000, which is all of ~$20 USD right now.

>Considering , wouldn't a t430 be better?

Ah yes, silly me. You are correct - a t430 will give you one cpu gen better (if you do get Ivy Bridge), and also USB3.0, which is nothing to shake a stick at, imo. There is also the option to install the classic thinkpad keyboard if you want to.

x61s with L7300, 4GB of ram for 60€
yea or nay?

Uhh what is this about?

or frankenpad for 130€

pls halppppppppppp

soft rim top tier
classic dome close behind
soft dome sucks

I want to replace my dvd drive with my hdd and install an ssd in place - can someone reccomend an ssd (not over the top, somewhere between 256 - 512gb) and the best bang for buck hard drive bay I can put into my dvd drive slot?

And what can you tell me about your x230t?
Has it served you well?

Can't go wrong with a Samsung 850 EVO and a WD.

Anyone here excited for the A275 and A475

They will be X and T series Thinkpads that will use AMD cpus, which marks the first time that lenovo/ibm will have ever offered a flagship level thinkpad with an AMD cpu EVER

How are the AMD mobile CPUs they're gonna use

Upgraded my W500's CPU from a T9400 to a T9900 and when I boot it up I get a black screen on the LCD and an external monitor. Anyone have any idea where I fucked up? When the RAM's removed I still get the beep error and when I leave it on after 20-30 seconds the fan goes crazy on the heat spreader.

think ryzen 5 1500x performance but a little less power consumption and a vega GPU

Would a "lenovo thinkpad x260 cpu i5 6200u ram 8gb Ddr4 ssd samsung 256gb" be a good purchase for €540 shipped?

Just won a 900p x201, I overpaid but idc, they're just so rare in the UK, roast me.
i7 620lm
8gb ram
128gb SSD
1440x900p 12" screen

>X201s
nice
be careful with the screen, i don't even know how i broke mine
i never dropped it or dropped anything on it, it was just like this when i turned it on one day

yea that is a good price you could probably get a broadwell based thinkpad that would have similar performance and functionality but be a bit cheaper

So... do all of Dells newest XPS, Latitude & Precision have coil whine? Or are shills just spreading this information

I dont wanna give 1k+ for a laptop with fucking coil whine.

If any of you have any suggestions, I just need a 15" laptop with i5 / i7 (6 or 7 gen), 8 GB ram and 8hours+ battery life that I can carry around without getting back pains.

Is 194 usd a good deal for a T420 with an i5 2.5ghz, 4gb of ram and a 128gb SSD?

Perhaps a bios whitelist issue, Lenovo blocks all of the c2q on the w500 so they might have blocked that too as it's not in the official support list

>And what can you tell me about your x230t?
>Has it served you well?

It's only been 2 weeks, so it's still early days, but let me tell you - so far, i fucking love it.
Technology purchases should be undertaken completely in the paradigm of *personal* utility. I bought the x230t for:

-Stylus and tabletmode allowing notetaking in university (and is just fucking fun)
-Touchscreen for shits and gigs; enables viable use of Windows 8.1 in place of Keylogger 10
-Legendary ThinkPad durability, modularity, repairability, and abundance of information/support

It has already excelled in all categories; I am one happy camper.

But there are some downsides:
-No ThinkLight
-Speakers so bad that listening feels like drilling your ears with a power-drill
-x220t/x230t screen lid design flaw - lip-handle becomes loose
-Annoyingly large, rear-protuding power plug

All but the last are trivial for me. The plug could cause a problem down the line as I primarily use the unit in bed.

found x220 on craigslist:
500gb HDD
8gb RAM
i7

for $150.

I already have a (non-thinkpad) computer that I'm mostly happy with, but this seems like a bretty good deal and would be a decent upgrade. should I go for it?

I've got an x230t and I love it, my only issue is that the tabs keeping the screen from rotating while closed snapped so my screen is scratched to shit from it coming open in my bag

Scammed

Too good to be true? It's from a Top-rated seller.

Anyone use a usb 3.0 express card on x220/t420? Hate slow ass usb 2.0 speeds

W520 patricians don't have this problem, Satan.

How much did you cop it for? Thinking of getting one to supplement my X220.

it's horrible you dumfuck

I've seen people talk about upgrading their T/W500 with the T9900 no problem. My W500's product ID is 4061-2ZU while the W500 that came with the T9900 was 4062-5GU. I'll look for a BIOS whitelist though.

amazing, go for it

Looking for a notebook for uni (computer engineering). I read some guides and I'm more tempted by the T series because I'd prefer a 14" screen.

I'm not going to game on it since I already have a gaming desktop so I don't really need a powerful GPU.
Good battery life, comfortable keyboard and touchpad and decent display are a plus.
I don't really know what exactly I'll use it for but I guess nothing too CPU intensive (taking notes, coding, browsing, watching movies, etc) so I don't need a really powerful CPU, but I don't want it to lag or reach 100% CPU with some basic multitasking.

An SSD is also a plus but I guess I can add that in every model right?

Any suggestions? Thanks.

ur a fucking nigger faggot get aids and die

nice one you faggot
why so pissed, I only spoke the truth

Why are you mad, I mad the originale post?

should i get a 2570p or a t420?

>my only issue is that the tabs keeping the screen from rotating while closed snapped
Tabs? What tabs? Where are they located?

>How much did you cop it for?
I paid an absurdly high price for mine, but that's purely due to market restrictions in my remote-ass, tiny country.
A quick look on Ebay shows x230t's going for ~$160 USD in the US though. Even with international shipping, that's very cheap. Just watch out for warranty and customs if you do buy internationally.

Personally, I would recommend that you look into the t430 and t440, along with their s and p variants. Use the Thinkpad spreadsheet from Reddit to compare features and upgrade capabilities.

FIgured it out, somehow the inverter or the screen backlight isn't working. Just booted into BIOS by holding a flashlight up to the screen

T420 with coreboot and an ivy bridge.

I want to get a T420 and install an Ivy Bridge CPU in it but it doesn't have any USB 3.0 ports. Are there any good USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapters that wouldn't need external powering that work well? Anyone here who has experience with this? I don't need more than a single port. And are the chinks still working on a working FHD screen mod for T420 and T430?

What's the best Thinkpad I can get that weighs less than three pounds?

any X-Series ThinkPad, if you want something newer and less bulky there's the X1 Carbon line, if you prefer the old solid build quality but you want acceptable specs and a good amount of ports get the X230 or if you're a weirdo there are the X240 and X250.

For the X230 is there any advantage of going for an i7 over an i5 just for general usage, no hoto or video editing, just web browsing, slack HD video streams, dual screen trading through bittrex.

Got an ex company x201 at the moment and its great other than the fact thats its a bit slow - Also can an SSD be retrofitted and would there be any big advabtage to doing this?

>is there any advantage of going for an i7 over an i5 just for general usage
Not at all

T420 does not accept other battery and other wifi card

Yes it does.

Need flash ?

SPI flash = bios flash ?

"All xx30 models will not take an AC network card without doing an SPI flash of a modified BIOS.
All pre-xx30 models will not take an AC network card without a software BIOS flash."

Best place to buy thinkpads besides for ebay and craigslist?

dude are you a bot

W530 (16gb ddr3, i7-3) or T540p (8gb ddr3, i5-4)? Both cost the same from the place I'm getting them.

please can someone give me opinion on x61s with L7300, 4GB of ram for 60€
is it suitable for web browsing, office suite, latex and watching hd movies and listening to music

Any chance I can fix the locking mechanism on a T420? Can I just glue on a small piece of plastic to replace the broken one?

530 for sure

just get another $12 palmrest

The top locking mechanism is missing a piece, part of the nub that gets locked in.

One either side of the keyboard, the stick up into sockets on the screen

Don't forget the arsine keyboard.

Do /tpg/ use the ExpressCard slot? What do you use it for?

let me rephrase my question, i meant to say that I want a laptop that has decent processing power and a decent graphics card for rendering

128GB SSD will be enough for shitposting machine, right?

>Sister T400
>Wants her old backup
>Remove HDD and put it in my desktop
>Use Windows Takeown command on F: because fuck windows folder ownership
>Copy backup , remove HDD put HDD again back in her thinkpad
>Boot to windows, everything is fine
>Install Krita, admin privilege request window is supposed to popup to change language
>Laptop turns off, no warning just black screen, LEDs still on
>Force reset, boot on it again
>Happens again, force reset and try to go to BIOS
>I cant boot to them, after a while i could, return to factory default problem still persists
>Remove HDD and return BIOS to factory defaults again and boot to Linux
>It works with no problems
>Currently reinstalling windows

What the fuck happened.

Is 128GB enough storage for my anime and eroges?

difference to 250 in price is usually quite small
and the benefits are substantial
only morons go for 120gb in this year

I have a T420 and X220, both with the same issue. I've tried a few different distros (Debian, openSUSE, Arch) and I have to configure the nipple settings on each one with the xinput bullcrap to be able to scroll with the middle click. I have no problem setting this up, but every time I restart it defaults and I lose that + my sensitivity settings.

Is there some sort of script I could have run on startup to implement these settings automatically? I've been a mac toddler most of my life and don't really know how to do more advanced stuff like this.

Thanks for taking the time out of discussing mongolian sheep-shearing to help out.

No, get a 256GB SSD.