Previous Thread: If you're looking for purchase advice, state your 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™ E and L Series for plebs A series is now T/X approved for economy
>>Other business laptops are welcome in /tpg/ (Dell Latitude/Precision, HP EliteBook/ZBook).
Why ThinkPad? >>Used machines are plentiful and cheap >>Excellent keyboards - tactile feel and quiet >>Great durability: recommended models has a chassis that uses a magnesium rollcage for structural integrity, with high quality plastic body panels >>Utilitarian design: 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 >>TrackPoint the original and best Pointing stick, great for those who type a lot or hate swiping their fingers all over a touchpad >>Excellent GNU/Linux & *BSD support
Hey folks, just bought a i5 4GB X220 for just under $250. I know its not the greatest deal but its in superb condition. Planning on putting an SSD in it and probably upgrading the ram too, should I bother upgrading to an i7? Also how'd I do?
Hunter Roberts
it's a bad deal but who cares, if you're happy with it and get to save hours of ebay research fuck it.
Brody Brooks
$250 CAD* including shipping.
Cooper Powell
Forgot to mention it was CAD with shipping.
Kevin Hughes
Is $240 for an i5 3320m, IPS X230, 4GB RAM, a 180GB SSD a good deal?
Caleb Reyes
I think you can go quite a bit lower, but depending on the condition, it's not horrible. I bought mine with some cosmetic damage for 130$. Though it had 8GB of RAM
Nicholas Butler
Can you find scissor switches for keyboards easily or am I better with buying a whole new keyboard and cannibalize it? I need pieces for two different keyboards, one I could buy for like 10 euros but it seems like a waste.
Liam Roberts
>X230 Ugh, fuck that model.
Parker Ward
Why
Dominic Long
I think it's quite good. Small and light, enough power and battery, screen is fine. What are the downsides in your opinion? Also, much more plentiful and cheaper in online markets than X220 for some reason.
Isaac Garcia
You'll have to buy a new keyboard, but you ought to go with Core 2 Duo in any Thinkpad so you can ditch intel.
Lucas Morales
OK well this is just an online reseller in the country I'm living in I'm going to see if the electronics market is open tomorrow and see if they have any X230's there
Luke Robinson
I paid 150€ for a X230 but with 320GB hdd
Sebastian Diaz
Just got my first Thinkpad, it's a T420 for €170.
Kevin Wood
Not gonna lie to you mate, pretty shit deal imo. For reference, I got an i7, thinkpad X220T, with a 180GB SSD and 4GB ram for $200.
Also, you can't upgrade the CPU on the X series thinkpads, but the i7 is not worth the extra battery drain over the i5 anyway. Definitely get an SSD and more ram for it though
Ryder Hernandez
Got an x230 a while ago, and noticed how shit the build quality of the lid (especially the top part) of this laptop is compared to older models. My x220T doesn't have this problem, but all the non tablet 20 and 30 series laptops do.
Why do you guys shill for 20 series thinkpads when the lid is so flimsy?
David Perry
>postage >40€ AH AHAH WTF
William Ward
I know the keyboard is different from X220 and I haven't used that one, but honestly the keyboard on this one feels great. It's the touchpad that's more of an issue IMO, but it works fine for anything other than playing games.
Kayden Mitchell
Noticed this flimsiness too, but I assumed that it was just because the unit I got was sold as having a lot of cosmetic damage (didn't bother me). Interesting to hear that it's a general issue.
Benjamin Morgan
Touchpads don't matter because any sane person will just disable that. But the X230 has an abhorrent keyboard.
Oliver Collins
My T420 has a weird issue where whenever you're viewing a particularly dark page, the screen starts to automatically start slowly dimming. It looks like shit, and when you switch to a bright page, the contrast is jarring. I've looked all over the intel control panel, but I can't find a fix.
Julian Reyes
Keep looking, it’s somewhere in the intel control panel. It has some dumb name.
Mason Torres
I just seemed to fix it. It was under Power -> on Battery (despite me being plugged into AC) -- > Display power saving technology.
Could've sworn that I have tried this previously, but whatever.
Connor Ward
I keep hearing my x220T's fan running. I'm a little scared. Could I be overworking my CPU or is it just my autismo noticing every single small noise with the combo of me not having used a laptop in forever?
pic related is speccy with no other processes running other than the default. task manager says cpu is at 1-2%.
>inb4 genstall intoo
Nathan Hernandez
by the way, i don't usually even do gaming or anything, just stuff like pic related. a few waterfox tabs, explorer tabs, and such.
does everything look alright? temps and all?
Tyler Parker
Is that who I think it is?
Kevin Perry
I'm looking for an used thinkpad, but i have no knowledge about them, except that it's Sup Forums's certified toaster. I'm mainly looking for a low maintenance laptop. Can someone school me, pelase?
Hunter Garcia
jesus. that's a bad deal desu,
Jaxson Morris
Temps are fine, but if you never have then it might be a good idea to repaste anyway, and clean the fan while you're at it.
Carter Price
Why do I get excited over upgrading shitty old laptops?
Parker Rivera
Not him. I got a T430 for 170€ (145€+25€), compared to American standard that's a bad deal but in Europe it 's a decent one, most "2nd hand" shops sell T430 for 230€+. I suppose it's nearly the same for the T420 so it's not that bad, in fact it's good enough.
Today I got a T400 for 77€ (67€+10€), in the same context it's an excellent deal since they negotiate between 90€ to 180€. Plus it had more RAM, a better HD and a battery that last 5 to 7hours. In my book that's the best possible deal for a T400 in Europe.
I might buy another T400 even cheaper, but less powerful for my dad. Literally, buying all the old laptops for family.
Brody Anderson
you fucked up user that might be acceptable if it were already IPS and SSD upgraded
got my T430 for 150€ with 9cell, 900p, 8GB & 500 HDD last year
Julian Miller
friendly reminder
Levi Nelson
Need a workstation, am gravitating towards the precision M6600. Windows is necessary since I will be using it for work (mostly solidworks). Looking to spend about 300 out the door with shipping, might install an ssd in the mSATA slot later on.
Thoughts? I use my T400 for work currently and it just isn't keeping up anymore.
Nathan Gomez
...
Jayden Wilson
yfw dell doesn't have whitelisting, supports socketed cpu and mxm gpu with high gamut igzo panels
Hudson Collins
Hey guys, you don't have to help if you can't or don't want to, but I recently got this weird line across my screen after dropping it. Is there a way to fix this without paying $70+ dollars for a new IPS screen? Thanks in advance.
Chase Powell
Ah, PS. Its an x220.
Robert Bell
I found a T430 in almost mint conditionfor 150 eur as well, albeit without battery.
It now has a quad core, FHD IPS display, classic keyboard, coreboot and neutralized me. Amazing machine.
Nicholas Kelly
Why are there so many models? Like wtf
Henry Brown
T420 i5/4gb, runs out in 1h30m. £100ish, worth it?
Kayden Lee
Seems like a decent deal. Not the best, but pretty good. I would only say it's worth it if it comes with an SSD.
Ethan Rogers
Hey guys, new to thinkpads here. Recently my trusty 13.3 inch Late 2013 Macbook Pro has been having issues with the battery and linux compatibility. I like to find a Thinkpad up to maybe $600 to replace it. I'm looking for good Linux compatibility and specs equivalent to or better than my Macbook. I will be using this for programming and watching Youtube and occasionally twitch, so ideally I want a 1080p screen. I don't care for retina because it's a pain to get everything in linux scaled for high-dpi. Also the freer, the better. It seems like only older thinkpads can be librebooted though, so it's not a huge deal. Here's a preemptive thanks for your help!
bought a t420 from exact same supplier about a week ago - the knockoff power cable they bundle in is shit warning you, its got some problems with the grounding so if you touch the side of the screen while its plugged in you'll feel the electrical current and some minor pain
buy a proper power supply from lenovo if you have the cash
pic related my order
Julian Long
>bought a t420 from exact same supplier about a week ago - the knockoff power cable they bundle in is shit warning you, its got some problems with the grounding so if you touch the side of the screen while its plugged in you'll feel the electrical current and some minor pain thinkcucks will fucking defend this
Angel Bennett
Pretty expensive, no issues with burn-ins or anything?
Brayden Taylor
He's talking about some chink charger, has nothing to do with thinkpads in general. If you're stupid enough to use a knockoff charger in the first place then you might as well get zapped
Daniel James
none so far. there was some ghosting right after mounting, bt those faded away quickly. the display is almost perfect.
Blake Butler
What are your needs?
Isaiah Robinson
Aight I'll look around for a good deal, thanks user
Jason Hill
How was the display swap? What about the keyboard one? Did you have to file some parts?
Christian Russell
i bought my panel on ebay. beware of fake or "compatible" panels. they will send you a shitty clone. you can find original panels which are not that expensive really. The sometimes list it as a replacement screen for , not under the B140HAN1.3 codename. look deep into all the listings.
also, there used to be a seller on taobao who would sell the convertor with the panel for fairly cheap.
Jace Perez
>What about the keyboard one? Did you have to file some parts? Yes, you can not avoid modifying the keyboard on T430, even though thinkwiki says otherwise. Palmrest from T420 does NOT fit the T430.
>How was the display swap? Nothing complicated baout it. My first convertor was not working when I received it, so i had to buy a new one. I will try to reverse-engineer the board, but i am just learning pcb design, so I do not have hopes of actually finishing it. If i ever finish it, i will release it as open hardware so people can etch their own.
Christopher Jones
>all this autism instead of just buying a laptop with a decent screen The absolute state of thinksoys
James Bailey
>still using the soy meme
Jaxon Allen
Sup Forums recommends m4800's but i'm guessing 700's and 600's are fine too
My x220T also runs at those temps with waterfox and other things on, you are fine,
Christian Rodriguez
lads
can a non nvidia T61 drive a 21:9 screen? I was looking at getting a port replicator and using a DVI-HDMI converter but im concerned it doesn't have the balls to run such resolutions.
Leo Richardson
That's what you want to think
Andrew Diaz
Thanks for the heads up, I'll wait for a good one. I was stupid enough to pay the ebay price for the converter so I might as well try to save a few bucks on the panel
Installed a chink 1080p IPS kit into my T420. It has worked, no flickering.
I accidently damaged the paper on the back of the panel though which seems to have effected the back lighting.
It's a big improvement on the alienware panel I was using.
Aaron Brooks
I made it about three threads back and whoevers making OPs obviously agree to this list. :)
Whats wrong about it, eh?
I think it stops about 2K res, theres a chance it doesn't support the 21:9 format.
>unfastened screw so remove it or glue it?
I liked them. Massive GPU upgrade support.
Wyatt Baker
>so remove it or glue it? But it will only take 5-10 business days to send it back to Lenovo so they can do it for me!
Cooper Hughes
What's the best option for a laptop out of these three Sup Forums?
My main computer is a MacBook but I need a windows PC for a few courses (web programming etc.) I'm doing at university.
Carson Peterson
If it's not going to be your main machine you might as well get the cheapest one desu
Carson Gutierrez
Basically a simple unix box for CS assignments and watching videos in bed, and the occasional 2d game, and (usually) small price tag.. Not a necessity but 64-bit would be nice.
Josiah Carter
core 2 is intel retard
Ian Morales
...
Oliver Hernandez
>Windows Don't you dare buy any of those.
Thomas Long
>never owned a ThinkPad before >want to buy a t420 >go to ebay >every listing under $100 is NO HDD NO HDD COVER NO HDD CADDY NO CHARGER Why? Why are people like this?
Benjamin Jones
Nah I bought an X230 for $190AUD. Comes with 8GB RAM, 180GB SSD, i5.
Andrew Wood
sorry, i don't speak weaboo
Ryan Foster
>want to spend less than $100 on a computer >omigahd why is it all junk
Jesus fucking Christ, ThinkPad buyers really are absolute tramps.
Ian Hernandez
Yeah, that's fine. Trash laptop is fine for trash OS.
Connor Jenkins
What do you mean? Won't this thing run gentoo just fine?
