/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 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:

newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834860301
people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/thinkpad/led-backlight.shtml
ebay.com/itm/GENUINE-LENOVO-THINKPAD-T500-SERIES-COMPLETE-14-LCD-LED-SCREEN-DISPLAY-/262817832397?hash=item3d3129ddcd:g:UY4AAOSwo4pYg8PP
cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-3740QM-vs-Intel-Core-i7-3630QM/m2919vs626
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

Please don't bid on this!

>s
don't worry i won't

>*40 series
>s
Literally the worst T-series of all time

that's not the t431s or t430u
at least the t440s is haswell

That's why I want it. Long battery life and the display is broken so I figure I can put a 1080p screen in.

Can anything useful be done with the smart card slot?

the x30 series atleast have trackpoint buttons.

You can read smart cards.

t431s doesn't

But the 40 series also has dedicated trackpoint buttons :^)

I'm an American and I'm going to Europe for uni. I'll be bringing my trusty T430 but I'm worried Euros might mock me. Do Europeans like ThinkPads or do they think it's too American and corporatist?

the x31 series most be rare, it's not even listed on thinkwiki.

in the one click touchpad, you can change it to a x50 touchpad and get psychical buttons

People in Europe(I'm a germanon) generally don't give a fuck about what you have. There might be some Sup Forumsentoomen hidden between all the normies, but nobody's gonna try to shame ya

t431s listings are fairly common actually, probably because it has absolutely nothing going for it. it's just a flat-out worse t440s.

Hey I have a question, people often say bad things about the chicklet keyboard, but why don't they say the same thing about Dell which is similar?

They do, that's one of the reasons why the Dell isn't shilled more often. They like it in spite of the keyboard, not because of. The problem is retards like those posting the OP recommending the 20 series over the 30 are just idiots who are too lazy to swap in the old keyboard.

you can make a smart card (using an ebay bought writer and reader) and use some writable smart cards, and make a logon key so you plug in to do shit, grant admin permission uac, login, etc

is it possible to retrofit a smartcard reader to a t440s?

I was hoping I could put something fun on the bus it uses, but it seems like there is pretty much nothing

Some enterprises and the government use it for security.

Exactly. Don't bid on it.

Alright, I'll keep it simple. What I have is a ThinkPad Edge E545.

I want something better.

This is what I'm mainly looking for:

Decent speed. I don't mean for gaming, this is for school but it must be able to run several programs at a good pace. I have not had any major issues with my current ThinkPad but I don't want an "upgrade" to be a slower laptop that originally shipped with Windows Vista in 2006.

A good screen. I HATE HATE HATE the ThinkPad Edge E545's GODAWFUL screen. The contrast is washed out and it has absolutely dreadful viewing angles, even compared to an average TN screen. I've used TN screens before but this particular one looks ESPECIALLY bad. It is truly my biggest gripe.

Ethernet jack preferred.

Matte finish. Both on the screen and the body. I love my current ThinkPad's look and feel.

Can /tpg/ help me?

t440p

Ok, I found this:

newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834860301

Have you had any experience with refurbished products? I've never bought a refurb of anything before and here's my concern:

It may call itself "certified refurbished" but what does the so-called certification entail? I don't mind it being used but I really would not want it to have a significantly shorter lifespan because original parts got swapped out for some cheap knockoff that fails in a year. I know it isn't new, and I don't care that it isn't. I just want it to LAST like a new laptop would.

...

old

...

dont forget

Alright, have 350 dollarinos to spend. What should I buy? Not going to read that whole guide. I will trust you guys with my purchase.

What's better for web browsing/normalfag use? A faster dual core or a slower quad core?

[spoiler] t9600(2c 2.80 ghz) vs q9100 (4c 2.26gz) [/spoiler]

touchpads are for faggots

soiler
obviously a quadcore is better

T440p

just bought an x220 off ebay wew lads here we go

Keyboards of T431s T440 T440s T440p T450 T450s and T460 have the same FRUs and are interchangeable, yet they aren't interchangeable with T430 nor T470, right?

is this shopped?

where do you guys buy your batteries?

AliExpress for me.

Oh...

nice

on a separate note - does anyone know how to reset the battery percentage on the chip? Like I know you'll be able to swap out the cells with a little bit of talented soldering but how will you prevent the battery from automatically shutting off?

>that guy who sorts by time ending soonest and bids on every one

Hey, /tpg/. I've had my ThinkPad X220T for over a year now, and recently my screen has been randomly picking up touch clicks every so often while I'm typing or idling. Does anyone know why this would be happening?

micro crack on digitizer where wires connect onto glass. Or driver issue.

That thing is so overpriced and disapointing.

I wish I could start a computer company that sells laptops with thinkpad esque keyboards and 4:3 OLED screens. I bet I'd make a fortune considering how weak the competition in the market is.

Seriously do it, a laptop kickstarter powered by Sup Forums

Guys I dont know what to choose between a used t420 with new battery or a t430 with a used battery, this is the only thing that keeps me from getting my first thinkpad

t430 unless you want old style keyboard native, battery u can get 20USD knockoff that works fine. just wont have lenovo power management program readout

anyone know where i could get a wuxga ips 15.4" display for my t61, not a chinese one too.

doesnt 3rd party brand not work because lenovo block that shit?

Where can I buy a 9 cell battery for my W520?

hehehe, i am using a t70 motherboard i finally got.

ebay

EBAY YOU FUKC

What's the best cheapest ThinkPad you can buy as a facebook machine?

Wouldn't these batteries be used and hold less charge than they're treated for?

Not everything being sold on ebay is used. Read the product information.

get a knock off one, doesnt say oem, from a seller with alot of sales and 100% positive feedback, even though it can be rigged, its generally safe. Buying oem has some benefits, but if you dont care about seeing the cycle number in lenovo power manager, its fine. And lenovo stops making new batteries overtime for older models, and the oem ones they continue to sell are old shit. The knock off ones have new lithium cells straight from factory. You can still get fucked if you buy from a sketchy seller, i learned because i saw a 100% feedback seller selling a w530 battery for like 40USD and a 80% positive feedback seller selling one for literally 25USD. Its worth buying from better seller because the thing i received held less than 20 minutes of charge on idle.

The screen on my T500 is super blue tinted
Is there anyway to make it warmer on linux without having to go to full autism with screen calibration hardware?

anyone running a X220/X220T?
wondering what battery life you get out of it, mine's at 63% capacity, get 2-3 hours typically

ur display ccfl backlight is likely getting toward end of life and is massive color shifting. You can only counter this so far with software. And it will get very dim soon if this is the case and may even straight up die. If you give ashit enough to upgrade the current lcd, do a ccfl to led backlight mod people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/thinkpad/led-backlight.shtml OR look for led displays on ebay like this ebay.com/itm/GENUINE-LENOVO-THINKPAD-T500-SERIES-COMPLETE-14-LCD-LED-SCREEN-DISPLAY-/262817832397?hash=item3d3129ddcd:g:UY4AAOSwo4pYg8PP

am, running with 9cell, you can get slice for it i think also, but idc for it. I get 2 hours while playing css at lowest settings, and 4 while shitpost and watching shit and doing word processing.

thanks
I'd like to get the slice, but they're a tad expensive for me
a few extra hours does sound nice though

Yeah that LED mod looks essential.
Just need a softaware fix until I have time to do it though.
Is there anything like that for linux?

redshift

That's what I'm using now.
I was just wondering if there was a better solution, like the RGB sliders have most phones have for color control

trade me your x220/x230 for my t420.

That's a terrible deal, if it was a T430 that's different (better hardware and keyboard mod it)

Why do you want to?

> Medion Akoya
> i3 4010u
> 4gb RAM
> 15.6 inch
> touchscreen
> tablet mode

Is this a good laptop for casual use?
I need a cheap laptop for my mother- MS office and internet browsing mainly

forgot to mention the price- $200

Do you think your mother will appreciate having such a touchscreen, and want to carry around something with as large a screen as that?

If the answer is no, there are cheaper things out there which don't offer those features, though it's worth pointing out she might find a large trackpad more usable, so X200 and X201 are definitely our.

one of her prerequisites was a large screen (she used a 15 inch before), so I've been looking at those only. Now that I think about it though, I can just get her an external monitor for when she needs it. (if ever).

I should probably mention she doesn't normally move it around, yet she dislikes the idea of a desktop.

So here's what I found:
> X220
> i5-2520M
> 4gb RAM
> $170

is this any better?
I also found a x201 tablet for around the same price with a first gen i7, and I believe a better screen.

Got a T520 with a worn touchpad and
>i5-2520m
>4gb RAM
>320GB HDD
for 150 USD

please tell me I didnt fuck up

Wait the x220 is better than the t420?

Doesnt the x220 only have a 768p screen while the t420 is 900p.

T420 usually comes with the 768p screen, but is upgradeable to a 900p screen

I dunno if you can put a 900p screen on an X220

i got an x220 for 80 dollars and put an ssd in it + 8gb of ram

The T430u was alright though
It wasn't good but not bad
T431s is shit though

where do you find them that cheap?
Ebay? Amazon?
I'm from eastern europe so I try to look in local stores that sell refurbished

you did OK my dude

not a chance, faggot

Assuming you want to watch all of the worlstar/YT videos your nigger friends link, then T60/T60p. Maybe a T43p.

You can fix 3rd party battery lockouts with an embedded controller update (not BIOS, just EC). It just takes being technology-literate and a little bit of time.

I would succ your benis and pay $3k easy.

You fucked up user, now go suicide yourself

ebay
came with no drive and 2gb ram but had a 2540m so after putting in the ssd and ram its great

Bought a x201 + shipping -> $150
Changed the keyboard > $40
Changed the battery ->$30
lcd panel broke so I have to get a new one > $70
(use my own oldish ssd in it so I doin't count in)

>$290 for a laptop with a first gen intel core i5 laptop.
I'm not a wise man :(

thanks user, I will look into it!

People generally don't care what laptop are you having.
Stop being retarded and think that you are center of this world, mr.Main character.

what's a good thinkpad for old people

Where are you, the omniscient gurus of /tpg/ when I need you?

This is correct because the T430 uses the same connector as the classic keyboards.

Can I get an i7-3640QM run at sustainable temperatures on a T420?

ITT: new ThinkPads are shit until we can afford them in 2-5 years.

T450 and later don't have this problem.

only gaming laptops are looked down upon in Germany. Don't show up with an AlienWare.

yes.

I've seen a few people mention that swap in the thread, so I assume so.

3630 or 3740? They've got the same TDP. cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-3740QM-vs-Intel-Core-i7-3630QM/m2919vs626

No one normal around the world gives a shit about what laptop you use. Thats a meme by macfag Sup Forumstards projecting their social anxiety

> pic related
> x220
> IPS panel
> i7-2620M
> 8 gb RAM
> 128 gb SSD

> $245

is it too much?

Anyone have a gen5 carbon and downgrade to win7 and have any CPU issues? Looking at updating gen1 finally.

I think you'd get weird looks if you took out a Toughbook, but outside of that no-one gives a shit.

>cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-3740QM-vs-Intel-Core-i7-3630QM/m2919vs626
On the other hand the i7-3612QM has the same TDP of the dual core i5s and i7s (35 W) but it is pretty expensive on ebay ($155 or more).
What is a good price for the i7-3630QM or similar Ivy Bridge i7-3***QMs?

Low voltage i7s are a meme, just downclock the 3630. Bong here, no idea about US pricing.