Thinkpads Forum

I have a very nice S30 in my posession - PIII 600, 256MB RAM, 40GB hard disk, LAN + firewire, working battery, piano finish, Japnese-English keyboard, etc.

I know it's pretty valuable and rare. It works perfectly fine, however, I have absolutely no use for it. It's just been sitting at my desk for several months collecting dust. I have a t42p that I use for most laptop duties but most of the time I just use my desktop(s). So the poor S30 is just quietly wasting away.

I'm thinking of selling it here as I know there are people that can put it to good use. However, it is rather difficult for me to part with it knowing it's so rare and collectable. I'm thinking it's worth around $600 or so in it's present condition so it's a good piece of change.

What do you guys think?

If I had the money for it, I would take it up in a heartbeat. I would like to have an ultra portable machine. Unfortunately, my money needs to go to other expenses right now, so I can't buy it (Unless you were selling it for $100, then i might be able to buy it)

any pics?

I don't think $600 is a decent price.

No matter how rare it is, the performance is way too low...

If you are a collector, keep it.

If you just want to get rid of it, sell it for much lower price.

You've got $300 in a heartbeat from me. Can't do 600 though.

synchromesh wrote:I'm thinking it's worth around $600 or so in it's present condition so it's a good piece of change.

I don't want to burst your bubble, but I doubt very much that anyone would be willing to pay that much for this dinosaur, despite its rarity. But go ahead try $600 for a week anyway. After that, drop $50 per week and see what happens. IMO, it's probably worth around $350.

The S30 is a cool machine, no doubt, but $600 does sound a bit high, even for a nice one like yours. Basic S30s (with 128 MB and 20 GB) sell for low $300s on eBay, so maybe somewhere in the $400-500 range would be about right.

tomh009 wrote:Basic S30s (with 128 MB and 20 GB) sell for low $300s on eBay.

But one needs to be very patient to find one on eBay!

synchromesh wrote:I have a very nice S30 in my posession - PIII 600, 256MB RAM, 40GB hard disk, LAN + firewire, working battery, piano finish, english keyboard, etc.

Pictures please.


Mm... Maybe if we look at some pictures.

pianowizard wrote:But one needs to be very patient to find one on eBay!

Indeed! Patience is very much a virtue on eBay, and even more so if you want to find something at a very good price. (I'm jealous of the X31 my friend bought for $325 ... grrrr!)

tomh009 wrote:Indeed! Patience is very much a virtue on eBay, and even more so if you want to find something at a very good price. (I'm jealous of the X31 my friend bought for $325 ... grrrr!)

Were you around when a bunch of us got mint-condition X31's from Retrobox last year for about $350?

I saw one go as high as $800 on eBay within last few months. $300 is too low, I would definitely consider $500 though. It's fully functional with a fresh install of Windows 2000 Professional. Has 2 USB ports, firewire, 1x PCMCIA, 1xflash card reader, sound, etc.

The reflective piano finish has a few minor scratches (it's hard to keep it in perfect order) but nothing else other than that. It might also need a little cleaning since it's been collecting dust for a while now.

Here are some pics:





Power supply is not pictured but I have it.

Note from Moderator: No warning in the subject line = no images

pianowizard wrote:Were you around when a bunch of us got mint-condition X31's from Retrobox last year for about $350?

No, I wasn't yet ... I did discover the forums last year when I got my X31, but I didn't get hooked until this year. Now I just need to find some excuses to increase my ThinkPad collection (we only have two X31s right now)!

Oh, it's a Japanese-English keyboard. I'm infinitely less interested then!

pianowizard wrote:Oh, it's a Japanese-English keyboard. I'm infinitely less interested then!

I was under the impression that they only came with Japanese or English-Japanese keyboards. Was there a third option I was unaware of?

Either way, this keyboard works fine for me, other than having a few extra useless keys which I just ignored.

synchromesh,

The S30 looks beautiful i strngly belive you should place it on auction on ebay.

You will get a LOT of money for it.

synchromesh wrote:I was under the impression that they only came with Japanese or English-Japanese keyboards. Was there a third option I was unaware of?

When you said it has an English keyboard, I thought you meant an English-only keyboard.

synchromesh wrote:I saw one go as high as $800 on eBay within last few months.

I have seen many (hundreds) 4-year-old laptops selling for over $5K on eBay, to bidders with zero feedback -- these are scammers. An S30 for $800 is possible, but it's also possible it was just a scammer.

pianowizard wrote:

synchromesh wrote:I was under the impression that they only came with Japanese or English-Japanese keyboards. Was there a third option I was unaware of?

When you said it has an English keyboard, I thought you meant an English-only keyboard.

I've never seen one of those. Like I said, I've only heard of 2 options, so this one was E-J one as opposed to just plain Japanese one. Is there a regular English one? Since this was a Japan-only machine it seems unlikely.

The BIOS is in English, btw, so you don't have to learn Japanese to use it.

synchromesh wrote:I've never seen one of those. Like I said, I've only heard of 2 options, so this one was E-J one as opposed to just plain Japanese one. Is there a regular English one? Since this was a Japan-only machine it seems unlikely.

Look at what you wrote in the first sentence of your original post. I have never heard of an English-only keyboard for the S30 either, but thought you had somehow found one.

Alright, fixed in the first post just to avoid confusion in the future. I guess I'll settle of $500 shipped in USA or $525 Europe/Asia for now and we'll see how it goes.

Also battery lasts couple of hours depending on use.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... hlight=s30

James

Yes, I've seen the En keyboard for S30. It seems to be impossible to find but a few of S30 lovers in Korea have got the En ones.

http://ibmmania.com/zb40/data/ibmgallay ... _s30_3.JPG

aslan wrote:Yes, I've seen the En keyboard for S30. It seems to be impossible to find but a few of S30 lovers in Korea have got the En ones.

Cool, thanx for the link. I've never seen one before! I guess you really CAN get a just English keyboard. Good think I fixed the first post then.

synchromesh wrote:I guess you really CAN get a just English keyboard.

"KEYBOARD ASM US for S30/S31: FRU - 02K5917"

James

Ok, started a new clean thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 513#227513

This thread can be locked now.