[WTB] T460 w/ i7 + WWAN OR T490 - Health Care Edition

[madicetea]

Hello wonderful people

After spending a week looking at why the WiFi card in my x250 had suddenly failed, I've localised the issue to the antenna cables or perhaps a short in that region of the motherboard.
I'm not sure I want to spend much more trying to fix it, considering I have a workaround USB adapter which works for using the machine temporarily, and I've always wanted to have more RAM to use with VMs.

I also lost interest in having 3 SSD bays, as I don't actively use three operating systems anymore. It was a chore to maintain, especially after I was no longer a carefree student.
I instead bought myself a 2.5" 4TB SSD recently, and as much of an investment as that was, it's working now and it's more space than I have ever had combined when I had three drive bays.

I then spent another week comparing other features via PSREFs and review sites for the X and T 5th generation - 9th generation machines, and decided that if I wanted to make any good use of the single stick of 16GB DDR3-L memory I already have invested in, the T460 was the sweet spot. (Else I would be looking at T480 machines, or perhaps T490-Health Care Edition [HCE] machines for their battery bridge and security features, respectively.)

[Actually, if anyone has a T490-HCE machine they can legally sell, I would be interested in negotiating with you about it.
But from what I could tell, these are not sold on the open market, let alone I've never seen one being sold on the secondary market either.]

Hence, after some time I decided I wanted a T460. I then thought about what I really needed from it:

I have six (6) major requirements for this computer.

- (1) T460 motherboard with i7-6600 CPU
- (2) (WiFi + ) WWAN Antenna(es) installed, preferably also with a 4G or 5G-ready Mobile Broadband Card
- (3) English (US) Keyboard [this is non-negotiable except in certain super-exceptional cases]
- (4) 16GB RAM (1x16GB DDR3-L)
- (5) preferably with a FHD IPS screen (or better)
- (6) preferably with 85% or better battery life in both battery-bridge batteries, priority to the internal battery being in good condition + preferably the external battery is a large-cell (6-cell, 9-cell, etc.)

If 1 AND 2 AND 3, and two of the three in 4 - 6 are not something your machine has, please do not waste your time or mine. I will not consider that machine.
(However, again, this is for a T460. If you have the T490-HCE, please let me know and we'll talk further about it, regardless of the specs it has.)

Please do not up-sell extras to me such as docking station, SSD, extra RAM, USB adapters, programs you wish to pre-install, etc. I will be providing my own OS and SSD anyways, and I already have what RAM I need to get myself started, unless yours also happens to have a single stick of 16GB DDR3-L RAM (see requirement #3 above). I will insist on not receiving these, or at least, not accepting a markup in price because of these.

My budget is still not fully decided, but I've found the T460 i7 I want for 300$ US (including shipping CONUS) and I found the WWAN on an i5 machine for 200$ (again, including CONUS shipping), so I'll be happy if anyone can find this sort of "all-in-one / goldilocks" T460 for within $450 (including shipping CONUS). For the T490-Health Care Edition, I don't have much in the way of a price to measure against, so I'm OK with anyone who's selling a legitimate (non-stolen) computer within reason -- probably something we should talk about if you are claiming to have one of these.

I hope others have as happy of a time hunting as I do when I'm looking.

73,

** On shipping:

- I can pickup local to the south-central Central Valley
- In early November, I may be able to pickup local to certain regions within central San Francisco
- I can offer shipping to Gardena, California; San Francisco, California; or, Tualatin, Oregon
- Shipping is a tie-breaker that will be very down the list of requirements, but in case it comes to it, my policy is to accept local pickup first, then those who can ship reasonably using FedEx, followed by those who can ship reasonably using DHL. Everyone else ties after that.

[H-Atkinson]

Im 99% certain the T490 HCE does not have battery bridge, just the internal 3-cell like any old T490. The last Thinkpad to offer it was the T480.

[madicetea]

Im 99% certain the T490 HCE does not have battery bridge, just the internal 3-cell like any old T490. The last Thinkpad to offer it was the T480.

You are correct, but the requirements list was specific to the T460. I'm open to just about anyone with a T490HCE, I just don't know if they even exist for the open market anymore. I'm willing to call up Lenovo to try my luck soon, or perhaps ask some contacts at PII/CDW/SHI soon ... I'm not sure there's anyone on these forums that could legally sell me their second-hand, as I half-suspected due to PII/PHI/etc. laws.

Also, please look up how the English word respectively is meant to be used. Would have saved your breath if you had.

Regards,

[H-Atkinson]

Why specifically a T490 HCE though? Any that you would be able to buy right now are either going to be NOS and thus absurdly priced or illegally obtained, or at best through a loophole or gray area. Your best option is honestly a T480, it has battery bridge and basically the same specs as T490, on top of being far more common and cheaper than a T490 HCE ever will be.

Alternately, if you REALL want a T490 HCE, it probably isn't that hard to just get a T490 and then find the proper palmrest and FPR to convert it to an HCE variant.

[madicetea]

Why specifically a T490 HCE though? Any that you would be able to buy right now are either going to be NOS and thus absurdly priced or illegally obtained, or at best through a loophole or gray area. Your best option is honestly a T480, it has battery bridge and basically the same specs as T490, on top of being far more common and cheaper than a T490 HCE ever will be.

Alternately, if you REALL want a T490 HCE, it probably isn't that hard to just get a T490 and then find the proper palmrest and FPR to convert it to an HCE variant.

Why not specifically a T490HCE -- it does bring certain benefits for those working with medicine or other high-compliance / high-legal requirement environments.

As you seem determined, I will source a T490 (DIY HCE?) from you if you can get the company that creates the palmrest and FPR to sell it to you rather than me.
(You think I haven't already identified the part, hahahaha cute.)
But for me, I think I will ask through a supplier company, as I am not in the position to obtain this computer, like you say, in a legal manner.
(The only alternative that came to mind was government surplus for a government hospital, but for those which obtained them already, they probably don't want to give it up yet either )

P.S. This might be a good time to note that I'm in the middle of negotiating with a seller who I think has the T460 I want, I'll follow up here once I've bought it finally and am sure that the machine is the correct one.

[H-Atkinson]

Not sure what the aggressive tone is about, but yeah, finding the FRUs for those parts is trivial, Lenovo lists them all under the machine type page in the parts lookup section.

If you think you have a legal way to obtain one, go right ahead, but you are undoubtedly going to overpay for it. And as for the "advantages" offered by the HCE, there really is nothing unless you need an anti-microbial coating (which can be done retroactively to any laptop anyways) or the big fingerprint reader with the 2FA functions (which you can do with a Smartcard on various other Thinkpads too).

[madicetea]

Not sure what the aggressive tone is about, but yeah, finding the FRUs for those parts is trivial, Lenovo lists them all under the machine type page in the parts lookup section.

Honestly, it's not meant to be strongly aggressive, but I do feel that you haven't contributed that much to this conversation.
Even what you say here is trivial to anyone who's been in this forum long enough - I think every semi-active moderator and admin (and a number of senior posters in their time) in this forum has told me about the FRU parts lists when I was much more the newbie to this field.

If you think you have a legal way to obtain one, go right ahead, but you are undoubtedly going to overpay for it. And as for the "advantages" offered by the HCE, there really is nothing unless you need an anti-microbial coating (which can be done retroactively to any laptop anyways) or the big fingerprint reader with the 2FA functions (which you can do with a Smartcard on various other Thinkpads too).

Overpay for it. Expected -- no one said I can't window shop in the meantime. If it wasn't clear, I'm in no hurry to find this T490 HCE, and by the time I do, maybe I don't want one anymore. What does it matter to you?

Modifications. Sure, anyone can. But what if I was tired of doing so and just wanted the actual thing, already built, for a change? I make a salary, I should be able to see fit how I want to spend it and I don't need you telling me that I might be overpaying for it. I'll decide that after receiving the quotes and judging what I think the purchase is worth to me.

Not sure what the aggressive tone is about

Yes, now that I write this all out, I'm getting more and more annoyed. Please don't respond anymore, like I said in my original post, I really don't appreciate when my time is wasted.
Thanks.

[H-Atkinson]

The fact that you are even asking the question shows its not trivial. There is no longer a legitimate way to obtain a T490 HCE. Period. Short of new-old-stock, any that you are buying will either have been outright stolen, or be gray-market examples. Modifying one is the only realistic way to get one. Even among the NOS units that might pop up for sale, its entirely possible that they are property of hospitals or clinics that have ended up on the market illegitimately.

As for the overpayment thing, you do whatever you want, but as I said earlier, obtaining one legally is borderline impossible. On top of the fact that they are in high demand at the moment with the state of hospitals the world over. Clearly you care about the legality since you even mention that in your original post.

Again, not sure why you're being such an ***, you posted this question over a week ago and got no response. I figured I'd offer you some alternatives and information given that you had received nothing yet. And since you've been such an ***, I'll let you find the MTM page for the T490 HCE yourself.

[madicetea]

The fact that you are even asking the question shows its not trivial. There is no longer a legitimate way to obtain a T490 HCE. Period. Short of new-old-stock, any that you are buying will either have been outright stolen, or be gray-market examples. Modifying one is the only realistic way to get one.

As for the overpayment thing, you do whatever you want, but as I said earlier, obtaining one legally is borderline impossible. On top of the fact that they are in high demand at the moment with the state of hospitals the world over. Clearly you care about the legality since you even mention that in your original post.

Again, not sure why you're being such an ***, you posted this question over a week ago and got no response. I figured I'd offer you some alternatives and information given that you had received nothing yet. And since you've been such an ***, I'll let you find the MTM page for the T490 HCE yourself.

"I laugh in your face and your father smells of bunny rabbits." - some line in Monty Python I know I'm misquoting and don't give two cares about right now

No seriously, I have that MTM page, so you can stop 'being helpful' now. I've never been so apt to want to block someone on this forum, normally they are better mannered than yourself.

As for legality -- if, a supplier company such as SHI, Progressive Industries, or CDW is willing to sell one to me, either as myself the individual, or myself, an employee of the company I work for; and I pay my good money I legally obtained from my salary for it, then it is legal.

Or, consider the following two links, direct from Lenovo themselves:
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/ ... 20qhs0d000 (United States store, seems backordered for a while - but certainly not out of distribution / NOS)
https://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops/th ... TT490020QH (Canadian store, in-stock, buy it today!)

So overpriced? Maybe. But illegal? If Lenovo can't sell their own machine, I don't think anyone can.

Yes, I asked the question wondering if there was an alternative, I agree that the lack of the response shows me that the T460 request was difficult (like I said, I ended up hunting one out myself and am waiting forever for FedEx to destroy it in delivering it) and the T490 HCE request is downright impossible. Today, we all learned that. Or at least, I hope we did.

So no, I don't think modifying one is the only (or even a realistic) way to get one, and again, I politely ask you to please cease your posting.
I can't say that your contributions have been appreciated, and your latest response shows that you recognise it. So. Just. Stop.

Have a good day. // Good bye.

[madicetea]

Again, not sure why you're being such an ***, you posted this question over a week ago and got no response. I figured I'd offer you some alternatives and information given that you had received nothing yet.
And since you've been such an ***, I'll let you find the MTM page for the T490 HCE yourself.

Please note (form staff / all members interested in this thread) I am locking this post.
I doubt there will be any useful conversation further from it, and I don't want to take this guy's abuse any longer.

Anyone with useful conversation may DM me, anyone harassing me in DMs, I will find the first forum staff willing to take the time to listen to me to have you blocked.

With sincere regards,

[dr_st]

@madicetea
I went through this thread from the beginning, and I must say it is unclear to me why you took H-Atkinson's replies with such hostility and perceived them as harassment.

Is it because H-Atkinson missed your word "respectively" and did not realize your battery bridge comment was pertaining to T480, not T490? Well, shoot, I missed that too, even after you emphasized it. It happens to all of us from time to time when reading long posts, and has nothing to do with our command of the English language.

Even if one does not have a 100% accurate answer to OP's question, but can contribute something on-topic, it is encouraged. The forums are for open discussion and exchange of information / ideas.

Best of luck in your search, and don't take things so personally.