Thinkpads Forum

So I took my T42p to my local IBM authorized warranty person who runs a store that sells and supports lots of out of warranty thinkpads.

Anyways, was talking with him, and asked him how much my T42p goes for? He mentioned that he gets his T4x's for around $300, and just smiled when I asked him where.

anyways, anyone have an idea where?

Im going to guess employee discount but probaly wrong. One of my patients at work gave me his user name and password. Told me I can get the same prices he gets. I've never used it but price sure do look better with it.

no, this isn't an employee discount per say. (Speaking as an off and on (summers), and mostly likely future (have some groups in Research interested in me once I defend my disertation) IBM employee.

You can get barebones T4x for ~$300-400 in ebay, I have seen some with warranty upto 2008 Sep.

gator wrote:You can get barebones T4x for ~$300-400 in ebay, I have seen some with warranty upto 2008 Sep.

Even last summer when I picked up 3 T40s for various family members, I didn't pay over $435 for any of them, and they weren't even bare. They all had A/C adapters, Combo drives, 512mb of RAM and at least 40Gb HDDs. One came without a wireless card, but it was cheap to pick one up. I can't imagine that they wouldn't be less, almost a full year down the road.

Key words here are out of warranty since we all know the issues that T4 series are prone to...

My wife who is a T4 buff if I've ever known one has gone through I believe 7 or 8 within the last year and a half, and only one has been paid over $500, but that one was a dead mint T41 with BT and 1.5G RAM...we've been lucky to have only one that crapped out about two weeks after we've sold it. The guy wasn't too happy about it, but was versed well enough to know that any T40 may be a ticking time bomb so he didn't raise hell...

Given all the horror stories you bump into everywhere, warranty is worth probably half the price of a good machine...or as much as it would run you to replace a MB....

On the other hand, the very fact that you can buy a decent T40 for less than $350 shipped these days, killed the value of most of its older brothers and sisters...I just can't decide for myself whether this is good or bad...but the machines that I'm after for myself seem to hold their prices pretty [censored] well (high-end A31P, or T42P)...

And the point of this was...someone remind me!

I am pretty big T41P fan myself. It would seem to be the sweet spot hardware wise in the T4x lineup. The T43 has too many issues w/ it and the T42 is only different in that it shipped with Dothan. The T41p has the great GPU, can run Dothan and is superior to the T40 series. All in all, the best of the line IMO.

Oh sure, T41Ps are very nice, but...correct me if I'm wrong, they didn't come with 15" UXGA, did they? And that's my whole thing-I've owned every machine that IBM ever made with UXGA screen sans T42P, and am severely addicted to those....to each his own, obviously...

I'd love to pick up a lower-priced T41P for my wife, but that's not happening...I've missed 2 that were fairly cheap because I was broke at that point (isn't that always the case?) and now they're back to the price range that I refuse to go into for a machine of that type...

I prefer the 14.1" screen. It uses less battery, and is easier to carry.

As you said, to each his own.

I, like George, am very partial to the UXGA resolution having just recently (April) picked up a T43p with a 15" FV LCD. I am spoiled with this UXGA. I looked at a SXGA T60 that I picked up for a client. After looking for a half hour I deceided that I must have the UXGA. Searched and found this T43p.

Brad

never used a t43p but my t42p is great and with 2 gigs of ram and that fire gl card it sure rocks. it surfs around the internet so fast................

Brad just reminded me with his post that I've never had a T43P...so that makes two UXGA machines that I've missed on so far...and the addiction is still there, along with loss of eyesight...

In my case, there's a little more to the picture than meets the eye...we've had a couple of R50Ps at work and I've absolutely hated the keyboard, which is generally my biggest complaint when it comes to newer ThinkPads...

Back to original topic, if anyone finds a link for getting a T42P for 2-3-4 bills, I'll take a dozen along with a recommendation for a good divorce lawyer...

BTW this is being typed on an A22P that once belonged to me, and now belongs to a friend of my wife's family. Just installed a Seagate 7200rpm, loaded a ton of software, and this baby still flies...in P3 terms, that is...

ajkula66 wrote:we've had a couple of R50Ps at work and I've absolutely hated the keyboard

Hey, if you guys are thinking about getting rid of these R50p's, I am VERY interested in buying one from you! Please let me know!

Regarding whether 14.1" SXGA+ or 15.0" UXGA is better: If someone wants to get a mobile computer, I'd recommend the former, but if it's meant to be a desktop replacement, I'd recommend the latter.

Unfortunately for our friend pianowizard Verizon donates used computer equipment to specific organizations (schools and such I believe) and I doubt that he's going to qualify for that list anytime soon...

Pardon my ignorance, but why do you consider R50P to be stronger than T42P?

ajkula66 wrote:Pardon my ignorance, but why do you consider R50P to be stronger than T42P?

Because I have a QXGA (2048x1536) LCD designed for the R50p, so I'd like to buy an R50p and replace its 1600x1200 LCD with it. I'd like to see what it's like to have 170.7 pixels per inch! I've read that the T4*p's could use that QXGA LCD but with some minor issues.

pianowizard wrote: Because I have a QXGA (2048x1536) LCD designed for the R50p, so I'd like to buy an R50p and replace its 1600x1200 LCD with it. I'd like to see what it's like to have 170.7 pixels per inch! I've read that the T4*p's could use that QXGA LCD but with some minor issues.

Wow! How did you manage to snag that? I am jealous already! Please do let me know how it is, I'ld love to see some pics.

gator wrote:I am jealous already! Please do let me know how it is, I'ld love to see some pics.

Well, don't get jealous prematurely LOL! The 15.4" WUXGA Dell that I use everyday at work has 147 DPI and I know that's pretty much the highest density that I can tolerate. The 15.0" QXGA's 170.7 DPI would almost certainly be useless -- just imagine four XGA screens squeezed into one screen!!! But of course, I will post some pics. After seeing these pics, you'll probably just make fun of me LOL!

pianowizard wrote:Well, don't get jealous prematurely LOL!

I am jealous because that LCD panel is so rare. I can barely tolerate UXGA myself, nothing more for me! Good luck finding an R50p, I'll wait for the pics - the first QXGA screen (and proabaly the only one) on this forum.

Maybe you ought to get a T221 (+the converter box, ofcouse) and use it under vista