Classic ThinkPad Thread

[RogerWilco6502]

Heyo!

I thought it would be fun to make a discussion thread for the classic ThinkPads (all IBM models and Lenovo models up until (and not including) the X1.

I have two classic ThinkPads: an X61 and an X40. I need to do a reinstall of the OS on each of them, but they're good laptops. Previously I also owned a T42p, but that laptop is sadly long gone. I'll try and get some photos to post of my ThinkPads soon.

So yeah! What classic ThinkPads do you have?

edit: My X61 is actually an X61s

 

[2984839]

I love ThinkPads, especially from the IBM era.

Currently have:
T23
X60
X201

Used to have:
T42
T43p
T60
T420

The one I use the most is the T23, which still does real work. It's tough as nails and having a real DB-9 serial port is a killer feature*. I often take it with me when visiting client sites for this reason. I also just like it the best.

*yes I know about USB-to-serial cables; they all suck.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

I love ThinkPads, especially from the IBM era.

Currently have:
T23
X60
X201

Used to have:
T42
T43p
T420

The one I use the most is the T23, which still does real work. It's tough as nails and having a real DB-9 serial port is a killer feature*. I often take it with me when visiting client sites for this reason. I also just like it the best.

*yes I know about USB-to-serial cables; they all suck.

That's awesome! Both my X series ThinkPads have serial ports on the docking stations and they have been innumerably useful. I agree about USB to serial cables, btw.

The T23 is an awesome era in ThinkPads. I remember seeing some old (possibly even T23 or similar) ThinkPads floating around, but sadly I think those are gone.

I love ThinkPads about as much as I love Macs, and that's saying something because Macs are my passion!

 

[2984839]

That's awesome! Both my X series ThinkPads have serial ports on the docking stations and they have been innumerably useful. I agree about USB to serial cables, btw.

The T23 is an awesome era in ThinkPads. I remember seeing some old (possibly even T23 or similar) ThinkPads floating around, but sadly I think those are gone.

I love ThinkPads about as much as I love Macs, and that's saying something because Macs are my passion!

Yeah they are hard to find now. I have some replacement parts for it just in case, but it's pretty incredible how well it has held up. The only thing that has failed on me was the original hard drive that died about 2 years ago. I bought an identical one, so hopefully that will last another 17 years too. The battery is an OEM but I think it was a replacement by the previous owner. Still works though and I get about 1.5-2 hours of battery life with the screen dimmed.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Yeah they are hard to find now. I have some replacement parts for it just in case, but it's pretty incredible how well it has held up. The only thing that has failed on me was the original hard drive that died about 2 years ago. I bought an identical one, so hopefully that will last another 17 years too. The battery is an OEM but I think it was a replacement by the previous owner. Still works though and I get about 1.5-2 hours of battery life with the screen dimmed.

That's good that you have parts for it. That's pretty awesome battery life! Neither of my ThinkPads have batteries that are quite that good

 

[GoldfishRT]

Used to love ThinkPads. Don't really have any interest now but I've owned a great many:

385D (my first computer)
T22
T43P
T61P 4:3
X201
T410
X240

They're the only laptops I've consistently owned along with MacBooks. The X240 still lives with my parents and does fine.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Used to love ThinkPads. Don't really have any interest now but I've owned a great many:

385D (my first computer)
T22
T43P
T61P 4:3
X201
T410
X240

They're the only laptops I've consistently owned along with MacBooks. The X240 still lives with my parents and does fine.

Awesome! That's quite a ThinkPad history you have

 

[sracer]

Having worked for IBM for 30 years, I've had ThinkPads from the very beginning. Of all those that I've had, the 760ED was my favorite. It had video in/out with MPEG-2 decoder... I was doing some cutting edge multimedia back in 1995. whoa, that's 25 years ago! Dang, I'm old.


But these days, I have two neo-classic ThinkPads, a T420 and an X230. I picked these up about 4 months ago for $35 a piece on eBay. They're in great shape and after spending about $75 on each to upgrade them to SSDs (and USB-3 for the T420, they already had a decent amount of RAM), they can easily be daily drivers.

The T420 remains on Windows 7 and the X240 is on Win 10.

Before getting these, it had been about 10 years since I last had a ThinkPad. I have forgotten just how superior the TrackPoint is as a pointing device. So much so that when I'm ready, I'm going to ditch my Macbook Air, Pixelbook, and other miscellaneous chromebooks and Windows laptops and replace them all with an X1.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Having worked for IBM for 30 years, I've had ThinkPads from the very beginning. Of all those that I've had, the 760ED was my favorite. It had video in/out with MPEG-2 decoder... I was doing some cutting edge multimedia back in 1995. whoa, that's 25 years ago! Dang, I'm old.


But these days, I have two neo-classic ThinkPads, a T420 and an X230. I picked these up about 4 months ago for $35 a piece on eBay. They're in great shape and after spending about $75 on each to upgrade them to SSDs (and USB-3 for the T420, they already had a decent amount of RAM), they can easily be daily drivers.

The T420 remains on Windows 7 and the X240 is on Win 10.

Before getting these, it had been about 10 years since I last had a ThinkPad. I have forgotten just how superior the TrackPoint is as a pointing device. So much so that when I'm ready, I'm going to ditch my Macbook Air, Pixelbook, and other miscellaneous chromebooks and Windows laptops and replace them all with an X1.

Awesome! I'd love to get a Tx20 and an X230 at some point

 

[RogerWilco6502]

So I want (and need) to rebuild the batteries in my X61 and X40 at some point. Does anyone have experience doing that and if so can anyone give tips?

 

[Tekguy0]

I used to have a T61p and a W500, which I upgraded with a Blu-Ray writer. Awesome machines, but I sold them because a Core 2 Duo is no longer fast enough for my workload, unfortunately.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

I used to have a T61p and a W500, which I upgraded with a Blu-Ray writer. Awesome machines, but I sold them because a Core 2 Duo is no longer fast enough for my workload, unfortunately.

I really want a T61p! I see on your sig you have a T540p. While not "classic," I am still curious how you like it.

 

[Tekguy0]

I really want a T61p! I see on your sig you have a T540p. While not "classic," I am still curious how you like it.

The T61p is excellent, especially with the Hi-res screen option. My T540p fine I guess. It has the newer case design, but it feels low quality. I need to replace the battery, and upgrade the RAM, but I am still deciding if its worth sinking more $ into this system, as I want something thinner and lighter (eyeing a Retina MBP or X1). The keyboard is good, but the trackpad is quite awful (1 button), and never gets gestures right. The display is good, and I like the I/O port selection.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

The T61p is excellent, especially with the Hi-res screen option. My T540p fine I guess. It has the newer case design, but it feels low quality. I need to replace the battery, and upgrade the RAM, but I am still deciding if its worth sinking more $ into this system, as I want something thinner and lighter (eyeing a Retina MBP or X1). The keyboard is good, but the trackpad is quite awful (1 button), and never gets gestures right. The display is good, and I like the I/O port selection.

Ok, cool! I know you can upgrade the T540 quite a bit. There's a common mod where a Tx50 trackpad is put into the Tx40. I've never done it myself but there are a lot of videos on it on YouTube. I think you can upgrade the CPU too if I'm not mistaken. The Tx40p looks really cool as well and I would like one at some point (I am a bit of a collector)

 

[Tekguy0]

Ok, cool! I know you can upgrade the T540 quite a bit. There's a common mod where a Tx50 trackpad is put into the Tx40. I've never done it myself but there are a lot of videos on it on YouTube. I think you can upgrade the CPU too if I'm not mistaken. The Tx40p looks really cool as well and I would like one at some point (I am a bit of a collector)

I did not know about the trackpad mod. I will have to try it, as the Tx50 series trackpad is far better. It does have the last generation of upgradeable mobile CPUs (Haswell 4th gen), so I'm thinking about installing one of the i7-4930MX chips, since this is used almost exclusively at my desk and battery life isn't much of a concern. If you purchase a T540p, make sure to get one with the Intel Wireless AC 7260 card, preferably a quad core and GT 730M, and the 3K IPS panel. The W540 and W541 also have the same design, but with Quadro GPUs and some other nice equipment.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

I did not know about the trackpad mod. I will have to try it, as the Tx50 series trackpad is far better. It does have the last generation of upgradeable mobile CPUs (Haswell 4th gen), so I'm thinking about installing one of the i7-4930MX chips, since this is used almost exclusively at my desk and battery life isn't much of a concern. If you purchase a T540p, make sure to get one with the Intel Wireless AC 7260 card, preferably a quad core and GT 730M, and the 3K IPS panel. The W540 and W541 also have the same design, but with Quadro GPUs and some other nice equipment.

Ok, thanks for the tips! I assume with anything other than the GPU, I could buy upgrades for those items given it's pretty upgradeable?

 

[Tekguy0]

Ok, thanks for the tips! I assume with anything other than the GPU, I could buy upgrades for those items given it's pretty upgradeable?

Yep! The CPU, while a pain to get to, can be upgraded, as can RAM, 2.5" Drive, keyboard, battery, LTE card, battery, and Ultrabay. A lot of these are coming off corporate leases now, so they can be had for cheap.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Yep! The CPU, while a pain to get to, can be upgraded, as can RAM, 2.5" Drive, keyboard, battery, LTE card, battery, and Ultrabay. A lot of these are coming off corporate leases now, so they can be had for cheap.

Ok, thanks! I'll have to keep my eye out for one

 

[amgff84]

Heyo!

I thought it would be fun to make a discussion thread for the classic ThinkPads (all IBM models and Lenovo models up until (and not including) the X1.

I have two classic ThinkPads: an X61 and an X40. I need to do a reinstall of the OS on each of them, but they're good laptops. Previously I also owned a T42p, but that laptop is sadly long gone. I'll try and get some photos to post of my ThinkPads soon.

So yeah! What classic ThinkPads do you have?

edit: My X61 is actually an X61s

Is this THE Roger Wilco with the Galaxy Note II Custom ROMs?

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Is this THE Roger Wilco with the Galaxy Note II Custom ROMs?

I don't own a Galaxy Note II, so most likely not. Sorry to disappoint

 

[RogerWilco6502]

So, I know this isn't a "classic" ThinkPad by any means, but I just got my P53 and I have to say they did something right with the design. When I'm just casually using it, I feel almost no difference between using it and my older ThinkPads. it has the same rough plastic palm rest and rubbery coating on the lid and it even looks quite a bit like older ThinkPads such as the T420 and T430. The TrackPoint also has delightfully encountered little in the way of a design change and the trackpad, though I have it disabled, has discreet buttons, which I like.

 

[RogerWilco6502]

This just barely missed the "classic ThinkPad" classification, but I'm working on getting a T530

 

[sracer]

This just barely missed the "classic ThinkPad" classification, but I'm working on getting a T530

Nice. What about the T530 interests you?

 

[RogerWilco6502]

Nice. What about the T530 interests you?

Thanks! Primarily that its a decently modern T series ThinkPad. I wanted to get one to compliment my P53 and to have as a Linux machine. I was browsing offers and found a T530. Upon looking at it online, it appears to be quite a nice machine.

 

[Tekguy0]

The T530 is a great machine. I have repaired and refurbished several. It is the last "classic" T-series before the Tx40 series design with a chicklet keyboard and many drawbacks including an awful trackpad.