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™ >Other business laptops are also welcome in /tpg/ (Dell Latitude/Precision, HP EliteBook/ZBook).
Recommended IBM models: X60, X61, T60, T61, 860, Transnote, PC110
Recommended freedom models: xx00 series, IBM xx0 series Checklibreboot.orgfor details.
Recommended modern models: X220 - 12", 768p, cheap and light T420 - 14", 900p, widely avaiable, socketed CPU, Ivy Bridge installable w/ Coreboot W520 - 15", 1080p, Desktop Replacement, 32GB RAM on quadcore models, USB 3.0
T440p, T540p, W540 - last ThinkPads to have replacable CPUs, IPS displays avaiable, chiclet
P-series - reminiscent to old build quality, top-of-the-line specs, better than most current mobile workstations, but very expensive
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 (most models), upgrade & maintain thanks to readily available service manuals for every model, spare parts easy & cheap to obtain >The best TrackPoint, great for those who type a lot or hate swiping their fingers all over a touchpad >Excellent GNU/Linux & *BSD support
Hey /tpg/, user from yesterday who was planning on dual booting. Just installed xubuntu on my X220 alongside Windows and its going good, got compton going to get rid of the shitty screen tearing.
But the speed and trackpoint settings are a little wonky still and there isnt enough for me to working with in settings. Trackpad works fine but scrolling is too fast with it, and theres no scroll speed setting. Furthermore, I maxed on sensitivity and acceleration for the clit but its still too damn slow to use. Anyone with experience with Ubuntu got any ideas how to fix these issues? I'd like to use the clit mouse but as it stands its pretty unusable.
And I guess any other package/software recs for a fresh xubuntu install. I'm looking for a program like speccy for Linux, primarily to display system temps. I know I found a few in the past but not any that were quite as good, so if anyone knows a good alternative let me know
Carter Moore
I've successfully installed a 1920x1080 IPS display on my T430. Works like a charm with a Chinese eDP/LVDS converter board.
THANK YOU BASED CHAIRMAN XI THANK YOU BASED CHINA
Dominic Russell
Anyway, I think it would be possible to do with T420 and T430 - Having newer hardware, better design, corebootable, no big MUH BORDARS around screen... Sounds like perfect laptop.
>TFW Thinkpad isn't the same thing as it was before.
Really, newer models are just black-colored apple laptops. If you want to have a great design & generally use something that's a real thinkpad? The last one is T430. With Ivy Bridge. And you can't even upgrade it anymore to something better. The last chance is to wait for some more powerful single-boards and then fit them inside T60/T420...
TL;DR IBM selling off ThinkPads to Lenovo was one of the worst things in the history of computing
Brody Johnson
Are there any performance drops or hardware-related issues like not-fitting parts? I think it could be one of the best upgrades I could do for T430.
Isaac Lee
fuck you beat me to it, congrats tho
will report on my t420 when the goddamned panel shows up. i'll post side to side comparisons with the oem & alienware tns while the bezel is off
Jeremiah Watson
Nice tablet in the background. It's one of the newer ones, isn't it?
Charles Baker
adapter is designed to lay on the under-keyboard ram slot. some chink site has these cradles for sale, but nothing on ebay as of yet
Lincoln Flores
where to get m8
Jaxson Stewart
>It's one of the newer ones, isn't it?
>classic keyboard >no touchpad What do you think buddy
Nolan Moore
Is the main difference between W520 and T520 that the W has a dedicated graphics card?
Liam King
The red lines painted on mouse buttons made a fool out of me. Don't tell me you can't mod the touchpad out of new models if you put your mind to it.
Mason Baker
I think you should rather compare W520 to T420 and then to X220.
Landon Murphy
>Are there any performance drops or hardware-related issues like not-fitting parts? So far, no performance drops, but I haven't done any testing. That said, I do have a discrete GPU, so it can probably handle the higher resolution without a problem. Maybe I'll test it out with just the integrated GPU enabled and see how it goes.
There were no hardware issues at all. I taped the converter board behind the screen so it wasn't loose in there, and everything fit in nicely. I used a B140HAN01.3 screen.
Good luck man. It shouldn't be difficult to get it set up, assuming it works. Hopefully you can share some results with us soon.
It's an X200 tablet.
Taobao. Unfortunately, there aren't many listings and it's hard to find one compatible for the non-S T420/T430 models. Also, because these are Chinese vendors, there is some additional risk. The first time I ordered, they cancelled it because it was no longer available. Then I couldn't find anybody else selling them for a few weeks. The second seller I bought from shipped it promptly, but I was praying they didn't send me a defective or non-compatible converter board.
Liam Peterson
Also, if you're going to search for it on Taobao, just search for "T420 T430 ips fhd" (no quotes) and you might find some listings. Just make sure they aren't for the T420s/T430s models.
Isaiah Cruz
Why are the "S" models disliked? small batteries?
Christian Ward
They're not bad but yeah smaller batteries is one of them slightly worse cpu (also non socketed) that's basically it. they aren't bad laptops but people we want to rice out our stuff basically.
Adrian Parker
Sorry, I meant if you have a T420/T430 you should avoid the T420s/T430s converter boards. Some anons said they are not compatible. I can't confirm, so I just avoided those altogether since I have a T430.
But if you have a T420s/T430s, then definitely get the ones listed for those models.
Anthony Myers
I just bought a T550 i5-5200U for the equivalent of 1070 USD. I'm a thinkpad noob, did I dun goofed? Is it at least a good machine?
Noah Carter
>did I dun goofed?
Yes, unless the rest of the specs are very, very good. You can easily get a used T550 for under $1000, unless you go through Lenovo or some reseller.
Eli Gonzalez
I don't own any of those (yet) but my workplace has some underwhelming SL410's I was looking at.
I fell for the applebook meme because of the screen but a stinkpad with a nice display would be so much better.
Hunter Green
It came with a 960 GB SSD, 8 RAM, and I got 8 compatible laying around. It should work for regular desktop use right?
Lucas Long
Are the t420s eDP boards back in production as well? I want my FHD dammit
Anyone use a dock with their thinkpad? I'm thinking of dropping my desktop entirely and just using my T420s with the dock connected to monitor and keyboard.
Kayden Sullivan
I do all that with an x201 lately >8-core tower machine collecting dust
Jacob Turner
-core tower machine collecting dust I feel bad.
Matthew Perez
>It came with a 960 GB SSD
Well, that would probably do it.
David Allen
Any good way of getting blank keycaps besides sanding it down?
Julian Perry
I would for the portability as I have an advanced dock with native PCIe but I need my desktop for rendering.
Nolan Murphy
Fuck
Besides I need a norwegian keyboard. And it comes from a business, and have only been used for one year.
Here I am deperately trying to justify my purchase, what do you care :|
Carson Russell
Do modern thinkpads even have those matte gray magnesium rollcages built-in or is that gone too?
Jaxon White
If you pro-rate it over 4-5 years, it's not that bad. I've bought ebay stuff and it frequently will be dirty/rough/damaged in shipping. If the laptop is nearly pristine I wouldn't get too upset.
I would also add that some anons will spend $500-800 on upgrades and ricing. It's a cheap hobby compared to cars :3
Ian Parker
Yeah, that looks like the same one. On Taobao they're going for around $30-50. But at least on eBay you are likely dealing with someone who can speak some English.
Charles Robinson
I don't think so.
Noah Jenkins
Is it normal for a charger to burn when you touch it and for the cable to get hot?
Jeremiah Cruz
Got my T470 today and love it. its my first thinkpad, i regret not getting an ssd drive but i might add it in later when i have the money. Any tips for a newbie?
Robert Foster
I read that it's a bad idea to upgrade the T430 CPU to a 45W one if you have the model with the dGPU because heat dissipation issues. Do you guys think if I disable the dGPU in the BIOS I would be able to use a 45W CPU with no problems? I'm worried about motherboard failure more than anything, getting it toasted because of it or something.
Lucas Moore
OK be honest, which one of you packed this?
Caleb Peterson
Even taped the webcam baka... Somehow its still in like new condition.
Joshua Anderson
Could I flash the BIOS on my T420 from a Windows on the Go LiveUSB?
Blake Jones
Pop em off and soak em in some kind of solvent?
Andrew Torres
You gonna replace the keyboard and palmrest?
Henry Richardson
Haven't decided yet. The key feel is really nice on the x230 and something I haven't heard mentioned, the trackpoint buttons feel night and day better on the new model. Still, gonna miss the layout. Luckily I have both types now to enjoy.
Parker Adams
Sadly solevant won't work, not without fucking the plastics
Colton Taylor
Does anyone have the schematics for the t430 that includes details on the leds for the indicator lights and thinklight?
I'm thinking of hardware ricing them
Easton Garcia
Looking for this, and the diagram for the T420. Some led hardware mods were posted a couple threads ago, and I forgot to save them.
Nathan Bailey
Are the 2018 thinkpads going to have ryzen APUs?
Cooper Thomas
Not in The, X or W series. Atleast, not expected. E series likely will.
Logan Smith
Opinions on P51? Please respond. I'm thinking about buying one with the m2200 graphics, 8gigs ram, and 256 SSD. It's not particulaily powerfull for the price, but it has a 90 WH battery and the trackpad.
Chase White
Crucial SSDs any good? I looking to get some for a T400 and T500. I usually order RAM from them.
Gavin Mitchell
hey /tpg/, i can buy an "ideapad 110" for $175, should i do it?
i already looked at the buying guide and didn't see anything on it.
Sebastian Evans
no dude
Colton Allen
Crucial makes good shit for cheap. Not too performance, but still SSD performance. Nope. Only ThinkPad from T X and W series are engineered by ex-IBM employees. Ideapad is entirely Lenovo China, and a POS line of machines.
Nathaniel Long
I'll be starting grad school next summer and I need a new laptop. I need a 2in1 specifically since I will be taking a lot of notes on powerpoints and pdfs. It'll be my only computer since I expect to be moving around the country for clinical rotations. Would an X1 Yoga be a good purchase or should I get something cheaper and a separate tablet for note taking?
Angel Edwards
My Crucial is 3 years old and still doing fine.
Eli Robinson
If you are planning to change to a m2 nvme, You will need a ssd adapter. I think this is the part 01HY319 but I'm not so sure. If someone knows if it's correct, correct me pls.
Dominic Ortiz
I'm jumping in and asking a full retard question and fully deserve being lambasted.
A PI3 isn't going to be strong enough for the arcade machine I want to run, would getting a thinkpad be the next step up in terms of cheap machinery? Looking to be able to emulate up to PS2 at the very most.
Michael Brown
You can get some cheap used i5 T4xx for 150 bucks or less.
Lucas Fisher
Wouldn't the integrated graphics pose a problem for trying to emulate PS2/arcade games?
Dylan Clark
Should I be a fucking nerd and buy IBM-branded palm rest and lid for my X61? Only like $15.
Carter Harris
I need help, i finally persuaded my mum to ditch her macbook for a real laptop, she's elderly so preferably something that doesn't burn the house down and can be replaced rather cheaply.
Angel Powell
T4xx up to 440 has socketed processors. A t440p is probably the best performance.
Zachary Gray
...
Grayson Lewis
t520 with a 1366x768 screen, elderly people love pixels the size of a bus
then get one with a dgpu, or the dgpu version motherboard alone
Jason Ross
do it.
Jeremiah Gomez
Should be fine, running it without the dGPU means you're only getting the heat output you'd get from a non dGPU model.
Jaxson Flores
first off their are to different designs, they are physically different. One for T430/20 the other for the T430s/20s
the 's' boards work perfectly the non 's' boards have heavy PVM flicker due to having no electrical shielding, because both motherboards are different, the non s board happens to be next to the DC jack and causes issues.
In addition, there is going to be a 4K mod coming soon that works perfectly without any modified hardware.
Crucial is solid. T400 & T500 don't need bleeding edge SSD.
A thinkpad is not an ideapad You're like comparing a GMC truck to a Cadillac Cimarron
Hunter Barnes
I need a cheap librebootable thinkpad that doesnt need hardware changes and x60 seems to be it
problem is i cant find it for a good price
im from spain. where can i find a x60? what price should i be looking for?
Daniel Barnes
also, is x60S and x61 librebootable or only x60?
Michael Barnes
>A thinkpad is not an ideapad >You're like comparing a GMC truck to a Cadillac Cimarron
not only did i not know what an ideapad was before i asked in this thread, i don't know what those cars are either. that's why i came to you guys so you could tell me what to do
Matthew Ward
X60s is librebootable, but not X61
I'd say regular X60 in the US, you can hunt down for $40 if you are patient, maybe $60 if you wanted clean one... but of course you guys over in Europe might have to pay a little more. If you pay more than $100 USD you're overpaying though. As for the X60s, they are a little uncommon and I couldn't say what they go for, but if you are patient they will show up. Regular X60 is still smol though, so don't worry too much about it.
How about- Ideal: 35 Euro Pretty good: 50 Euro Maximum: 80 Euro
As for where to find them, don't know. eBay maybe. Maybe try to look for offices or schools that are getting rid of old computers.
Brody Sullivan
>15.6" HD (1366 x 768)
Nathan Moore
Need to buy a new HDD for my x230, but I am forced to get a 2.5" 7mm sized drive. Do I go with Seagate? It's significantly cheaper than WD options. Also is SSHD a mememe?
Jace Mitchell
>x230t Hey sexy ;)
Gabriel Foster
Hey /tpg/,
I just picked up an X200 from some guy on Craigslist for $60 and it came with LibreBoot on there. From what I understand that is a very good thing, but also I have literally no idea what I'm doing (first time really using Linux).
So here's my issue. I'm trying to get the minimal install of Ubuntu (i.e. mini.iso) on there, but if I put mini.iso on a pen drive using Rufus, then when I press "u" then nothing happens (screen flashes, then back at regular boot, same as if no USB is plugged in). However, the puzzling part is if I use a Debian .iso or Xubuntu .iso using the exact same steps, everything works fine. (the former changes the menu to be Debian themed and I can boot into installer, the latter boots straight to the LiveCD). Does anyone know why this isn't working (or, how I can install Xubuntu without the bloat)?
Owen Cooper
>is SSHD a mememe? no, its a youyouyou
Blake Brown
>when I press "u" what do you mean? and what exactly happens? does it boot off the usb drive or from disk? did you hit the ThinkVintage button?
Aiden Thomas
>In addition, there is going to be a 4K mod coming soon that works perfectly without any modified hardware. Explain further.
Leo Martin
Like in the opening LibreBoot menu, I have a bunch of options. The one corresponding to "u" is "Search ISOLINUX menu (USB)" which I assume is the right thing since it works for Debian and Xubuntu.
Nothing happens. My disk currently has Win7 on it (from old laptop) so if LibreBoot tries to boot it obviously won't succeed. It doesn't boot off USB drive or disk when the USB has mini.iso on it, but if the USB has Xubuntu it will boot from USB and if it has Debian on it it will go into a new menu that is Debian-themed but with similar options.
I don't know what the ThinkVantage button even does haha should I hit it?
The "S" probably stands for Slim or Small or something, because the S are always slimmer. No fuckin clue re: E
Caleb King
Couldn't figure out this issue but just in case someone in like 3 years is reading an archived version of this post, I just ended up giving up and installing Xubuntu Core from unit193.net.
John Reyes
What do you guys think of the E570
Connor Moore
E is supposed to be economy I think. Nowadays they call it edge
Ethan Russell
We talk about IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads, Dell Latitudes/Precisions, HP Elitebooks/Probooks and maybe MacBooks.
Ideapads are not talked about here because they are consumer trash, not a business laptop
They are not a thinkpad Clean your eyes if you can't tell the difference
4K might be a bit much tho, didn't care for it on the X1 Carbon 3
Just buy a T470. But whatever, E series don't have the magnesium frame, so less durability.
You're probably looking at it because it has gaymer graphics card.
S stood for slim, or slimmer model, it uses a different motherboard than the standard X60. E were for economy, and they were cheaper, less featured models of laptops.
They are now edge series.
I've yet to use an SSHD but the 5400RPM drive turns me away from them. Plus finding out the SSD size on them can be a pain. Not all are 128GB :(
Cooper Taylor
>t420 dropped about 3 feet from a counter >only thing that broke was the CPU fan >still cools but makes a loud sound like its hitting the side constantly
How difficult of an operation would it be to replace the fan? I almost want to just permanently fix a cooler to the side of it rather than attempt to take it apart because I'm not great at these things.
Josiah Fisher
Why not send it to the repair shop? Buy the fan online so they don't rip you off and just ask them to take it apart and replace the fan.
Chase Robinson
Just order a new fan or fan+heatsink and do it yourself, it's very easy to replace on the T420.
Xavier Bell
You will probably have to unfuck the frame because it was bent.
Had some person send me their MSI laptop because it got ran over in a backpack
Other then being a bit ugly, the screen had some pressure marks and the fans sounded nasty.
Evan Rogers
>norwegian keyboard Just get chink rune stickers to put over english keys, Varg.
Gavin Bell
Protip: the VGA port on Thinkpads is screwed in by those hex things.
Juan Nguyen
That's all vga ports everywhere Did you really break that board, user?
Brody Howard
redpill me on a new T430 battery, Sup Forumstards
Liam Turner
>x220 docked >eGPU via expresscard >mSATA SSD
feels good mayne
Christian Powell
I'm missing the screw for the hard drive cover (on a T500 if it matters.) What's the size to get? I checked the maintenance manual, it doesn't say.
And I ask this knowing I can just buy a replacement cover & screw from eBay for under $2 shipped.
Cameron Taylor
Yes senpai. What are the chances that the board still works after having its VGA port ripped off?
I'm have expecting that I'll have to buy a new mobo anyway, because the reason I took it out was because my fan had a sudden death, and I've been hearing that usually when fans die they'll make it known with horrendous sounds, which mine didn't make. So I'm thinking that power isn't going to the fan anymore. I was compiling Firefox 57 and I had the laptop on my bed. When I got up to put it on my lap I noticed there wasn't any hot air coming from the vent. I rebooted of course I got a Fan Error.
