/tpg/ - ThinkPad General

Previous thread:
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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 IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T, X, and W/P SERIES, HP Elitebook, and Dell Latitude/Precision if you want the Real Business Experience™

Recommended IBM models:
X60, X61, T60, T61, 860, Transnote, PC110

Recommended old models:
X200, W500

Recommended modern models:
X220 - 12", 768x1366, cheap and light
T420 - 14", 900x1600, easy to obtain, ideal size, socketed CPU, Ivy Bridge installable after Coreboot flash
T520 - 15", 1080p, Quadcore-CPUs
W520 - 15", 1080p, Desktop Replacement, 32GB RAM possible, USB 3.0

Last good models:
X230 - 12", USB 3.0, IPS option avaiable, classic keyboard installable
T440p - 14", last ThinkPad to have replacable CPUs, 1080p IPS displays avaiable
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Why ThinkPad?
>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

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

ThinkPad BIOS splash screen collection:
biosimage.booru.org/index.php

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=HMIgppcjY6Q
notebookcheck.net/HP-ZBook-15-G3-Workstation-Review.162600.0.html
youtube.com/watch?v=r_QenfU-0UE
news.lenovo.com/news-releases/happy-25th-birthday-thinkpad.htm
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

Why is it so hard to find a genuine 9 cell in Australia? I want my t430 to last 5 hours goddammit

I'm about to do it Sup Forums

but why would you post a non-thinkpad in the thinkpad general? :^)

Sup Forumsuys i am going to buy a memepad but was wondering if I should go for the w530 (i7 3720qm) or pay almost 2.5 times the price for a new base p50. Also a w520 (i7 2760qm) available for 0.6 the price of the w530. Any Inputs?.

I have a X200 and I remember talks of a Japan-exclusive mechanical keyboard replacement compatible with such models.

is it true? what's the fru?

what do you need it for?

youtube.com/watch?v=HMIgppcjY6Q

yeah you can play meltyblood on the street like a fucking autist weaboo

on a fucking T440p

Who's /excited/ here for tomorrow?

Programming, working (I am an accountant so low on the heavy side) and playing old games. But was wondering if the old w520 and w530 are still good to 5/6 years is a long time while the p50 is expensive but better and up to date.

THIS IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Is the T61 compatible with coreboot?

>unholy union between IBM & Lenovo
>or rather, a classic keyboard stuck on an Ideapad

just get an IBM if you want an IBM. or even an early Lenovo.

but it comes with the RGB sticker I guess.

I would go for the W530 if you find it 1080p the P50 is good but you´ll get about what? like 20% more in general, just about 10% better CPU, i would buy the P50 if my job had very thigh deadlines so i can justify the cost, in that case the P50 would pay itself. The integrated graphics are better on the w530 then w520, also the quadro card is better, that should be good for old games and games like dark souls on low settings.

tl;dr W530 is still great and much cheaper than the P50

It's not even a "classic" keyboard. It's a T420 keyboard with a backlight.

I just got an x230 from eBay, and it's estimated to only half about 3 hours of battery life at full charge. Is that normal?

yes, its used user, download HWmonitor and check the wear level, that is the % of dead cell on your battery.

Well, 54% wear on the battery. Not too pissed about it, only spent $100 on the laptop itself. Where's the best place to reliably buy batteries?

Thanks user just to.add.more info the w530 carries 32gb of ram and includes the dock with i7 3720qm but what came to my attention is the graphic card k1000m while the w520 (which is 0.5 of the price but just 4gb ram) the quadro 2000m. would you still go for the w530?.

Yes, it would still be better, you´ll also will use nvidia optimus so most of the time you´ll use the integrated graphics, HD4000 improves HD3000 by a lot, make sure you´ll get one with the 1080p which is much better than the 900p, of course if you care about the screen

Got a new keyboard for my new-to-me X200. Feels fantastic.

Con't

My friend is selling his memepad. Worth $180?

>T420
>Good overall condition, minimal scratches
>i5-2520m
>Intel HD 3000
>8GB ram
>120GB SSD + 320GB HDD
>1600x900 (AUO unfortunately)
>Original lenovo battery (22% wear) and charger.
>No fingerprint reader
>6205 wifi card

I think that's a solid price, that screen will burn your retinas though.

Going to college soon, would like quad core is t520 the way to go? Are ones in, 1080p easy to get or do I have to do it myself?

I bought an 900p panel (N140FGE-LA2) for T420 and it's green-ish. Where can I look for icc profiles?

...

How much you paying for the W530?

The RetroPad will be revealed in about 6 hours, but noone seems to care.

650~

Just bought a t430 for 110 USD shipped
Has a 9 cell but idk how good it will be.
Anyone know where to get the slice battery for under 50$?

>modern thinkpad but with a six-year-old keyboard
>retro

uh huh.
and what GPU it comes with?

k1000m it also includes the dock and comes with 32gbram although the touchpad doesn't look too good but that is normal for a 5yo laptop. I was wondering if there was a way to clean/restore it besides replacing it. i believe that i can close the deal at 570 or so. Not sure about the battery

Nice. I'm looking at a similar deal, i7 3840qm, k2000m and 8gb ram for 400$.

I believe there is usually a sticker on top of the trackpads to give it a bumpy feeling. If the sticker is wearing off, you can always peel it off with a box cutter and apply a new one. Or you can use it without the sticker

Where's the best listing site to pick up cheap memepads?

EBay looks pretty good, but I want to know if there is there a dodgy chinese listing site instead

Is there any point to having a dock for a thinkpad aside from extra ports?

It makes it really easy to switch between your desktop config and your laptop. You just drop the laptop into the dock instead of fumbling around with cables for your screens and keyboard and mouse and lan etc.

So...
What is the best thinkpad for gaming?

p50 + eGPU
or the cheaper option
qc t430 + eGPU

why not just p51? quadro 2200 or even 1200 is good enough for medium quality video settings in most modern games

fully specced p71

that's why I wrote eGPU
>gayming on dGPU
nice

if i want to be able to play gays only at home i would buy a desktop
>inb4 carrying around eGPU

It'd be nice if the keyboard could be a drop-in replacement for a current T470.

HP Zbook 15 G3
Xeon E3-1505M v5
32GB ECC DDR4 RAM
512GB SSD Samsung pcie
1TB HDD
Quadro M2000M

Did I do well Sup Forums?

Anyone can share me a good link to buy a big(mAh) and cheap battery for the x220? Need it for work and i'm poor right now :/
So much thanks.

where can i get new trackpads?

Xeon? Wth, send me a link, never saw such a beast.

get a T70

I wish :(

if it fits you man
I'd go for a T470 though

...

>that gay branding
holy fuck user

>Win 10
How much though? That looks like it's expensive. /tpg/ is all about those cheap gems.

Useless for a laptop and battery safe

Buy a T111111

Will it be good and will they make a UK edition?

I have T420 Core i5 2520m, iGPU Intel HD 3000 running manjaro, when using mpv to play 1080p BD H.264 video files, I get very high temps ~80 C, with this mpv config
framedrop=no
vo=opengl
hwdec=no
What do I do to get lower temps when playing those files? I've cleaned the heat sink and reapplied the thermal paste.
Using the vo=xv drops the temps to ~70C

Nothing for me, I opened one at work and claimed it. Market price is around €4000. notebookcheck.net/HP-ZBook-15-G3-Workstation-Review.162600.0.html

Got myself a brand new T440p, i5 1080p.
I should have expected the battery life to be not that great, but man only 2 hours :(

>lowered brightness
>night light on
>powersaving mode on
And it gives me an estimate of 5hrs
Anything else I can do to reduce battery consumption?

Hey fellas, I'm not a programmer/coder, I just do music production and shit.

I want to change the PCIE latency, but I can't find anywhere that'll actually explain how it's done. I checked my BIOS and couldn't see anything that would let me do so. Every forum seems to be a variation on "Oh, yea, changing it will X.".

Help me obiwan Sup Forumsenobi, you're my only hope.

It’s a mobile quad core, why would it be useless? Battery life isn’t too good on mobile workstations anyways, but that’s not a problem for me.

You have been on the page for like a week already just decide already

where can I buy a cheap i7-3632qm?

Replying a little late, but what's this about an AUO screen on the T420? Are they just shitty non-lenovo replacement screens?
Been looking into buying a 1600x900 T420 and don't wanna make a mistake like buying a screen even worse than the original.

buy sound equipment with asio drivers

youtube.com/watch?v=r_QenfU-0UE

>took apart my monitor at midnight to unplug the fan because it's too loud.

Should I leave it unplugged or replace the fan with something quieter?

Mine with a quad core pulls seven hours on a 9cell, barely.

Assuming Windows, set the power plan to "balanced" and go into advanced settings to turn on anything related to power saving. Make sure to adjust minimum processor state so your CPU can downclock to 0.8ghz.

Also, get hwinfo and check the wear level of your battery. The 6cell that came with mine was half dead and that got about two hours.

Alright, people, I just purchased my first thinkpad, and it will be here tomorrow.

It's a T410. What should I prepare for?

Which fan should I replace it with? I want the quietest fan I can put in there so would a 5 blade design or a 9 blade design be quieter?

(Thinkpad related because it is a business display)

I'm buying a T430 that has a 500gb HDD but I'll also add an SSD. What slot/port SSD do I need? M.2? Or that other thing?

news.lenovo.com/news-releases/happy-25th-birthday-thinkpad.htm

I wasn't paraphrasing when I said brand new,
with these settings I can get maybe 4 hours if I don't do gpu intensive stuff,
15 minutes of youtube easily suck an hour worth of charge.
Maybe I'll get a 9 cell battery for good measure.

x201 here.
any realiable ways to ublock bios supervisor?

found some info on google, but it leads me mostly to some proprietary hardware key reader.

is libreboot any solution? i need to turn vt-x

Shitty unless you throw an SSD in it.

Do you have the dGPU? I can throttle down to about 8W on the CPU on mine.

>16:9

got x230, i5-3320M, 4GB RAM, 128GB ssd, for $200. gotta say best buy i've ever had for laptop.
the only downside is the jap layout. never used to small backspace and space

Holy fuck, dude. They cost as much as the laptop :/

forgot pic

And it'll take it from "old laggy laptop" to "why do people spend a grand on a new one". It's a colossal difference.

Alright, cool. I'll probably purchase one. Any other recommendations?

Yeah, where are the settings?

Those keyboard buttons look like shit. Are they actually comfy?

stop using a shitty distro for one

>fell for the 16:10 meme.
>Doesn't look too much different.
>Scaling is fucked in some websites

they're comfy until you need to press backspace or space. my muscle memory keeps mistaking chink button for what i think it is.
i use extension keyboard tho

hwinfo, check battery health. If it's atrocious and you actually take it outside the house, you might need a new one. I went from a dying 6cell to a fresh 9cell and it tripled my battery life.

How is it shitty?
And the issue still exist when using debian as well.

clean out your filthy virgin machine and repaste it then idiot

Why does it look like your keyboard is bulging outwards?

lads, my £50 t61 turned up. put Mint on it (inb4 retard, never used linux so need a crutch to learn), tried to scavenge some RAM from the office but no DDR2 in stock.

Will it take an SSD?

idk looks fine to me. maybe lighting

I have a T460s that I got from work, pretty good

>clean out
see this

if it's over heating after you repasted you chimped out with the amount you used

I was thinking of maybe moving on to 12" laptops now that I use my desktop PC more and more. Which 12" models take full HD IPS and can have a decent battery life?

macbook

It's over heating ONLY when playing 1080p BD video files.