Thinkpads Forum

I'm a big fan of the T2x series, did you see this deal: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=46453

I bought a T23 from Eric before and have been very happy with it. It is used daily, just as the T21 and T22 I had before it were.

After increasing ram and adding wireless you will be right at (or just above) your price limit.

That's a tight budget. T2x is probably a good first choice. For a bigger LCD, you can check out the A2x machines or maybe snag an A30. For a smaller LCD, certainly an X20 or X21 can be had, if your luckly you can snag a more desireable X22.

I would actually wait until you could muster another $100 and try to find an R5x on eBay, I've seen some very decent units go for $250 or less. I'm talking a T40 or T41 equivalent - Pentium M 1.5 or 1.6GHz, 256-512MB RAM, 40-60GB drive, USB 2.0, WiFi, etc. Some even have remaining warranty.

Best of luck.

T21 is available for $120.

Check here http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=46453

Sandy

How about this T20 on eBay.

If you come up with about $100.00 more i can sell you my A22P with UXGA screen,60 gig,256ram,24x cd-rom,4 port usb card,ect.....

My suggestion would be to follow the T2x on Ebay and pay particular attention to auctions that end during the week during working hours (ideal is 2:00 PM or thereabouts) and that have bad/no pictures.

Just yesterday I saw a T21 with minor problems (boot difficulties after installing a new HDD) at an auction ending at 2:00 PM (Ebay 300135803616). It was sold for EUR 64.10. The same evening, in an auction ending at 9:23 PM (Ebay 230155478823) another T21 was sold for EUR 162.00. It was described as fully functional, but otherwise no significant difference.

I bought one T21 from a friend for EUR 100. It has display problems (backlight), probably the LCD cable which I'm going to replace. I bought another T21 (without HDD, caddy/cover, optical disk drive or AC power supply) for EUR 63.00. It was described as defective and it was claimed it would not boot. When I got it, I found that the previous owner had had a problem with the on/off button and replaced the keyboard with one from a T23. I played with the keyboard and reseated it several times. Now the T21 is in perfect running order.

This just goes to show that you can get real bargains if you look hard enough and are willing and able to take some risk and do some repairs yourself.

Well...(jain ) Others would argue that a T2* is so cheap anyways that it's simply not worth the time and possibly the money to mess around with it forever. If OP's dad is a little patient (and maybe saves another 50-100 bucks), his money will buy him something nice and fully functional. I sold an R30 for $200 nor long ago.

Edit: That is, a while ago. In Europe. It was cheap anyways...

Others would argue that a T2* is so cheap anyways that it's simply not worth the time and possibly the money to mess around with it forever.

Very true. All a question of how you define "cheap" and what you want to use the computer for. In my case, this is just a hobby and I like to play around with Thinkpads, so cheap is very cheap indeed and I don't mind the repairs (at least if the cases are not broken, since that can't really be fixed).

But as you indicate, everything is relative.

P.S. Are you German, that you wrote "jain"? That's pretty colloquial and not something a foreigner would normally know.

Just found a good one for you:

X20 for $75 shipped.