Thinkpads Forum

i am resurecting the thread to save space, but this ones a good find, i may put in for this one, Bidding begins at 175$

he said he is the original owner and it was used 5 times
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V ... 0147235390

I wish I can take it

About a month ago I saw a Transnote on eBay here in Australia that was listed twice with starting bid $300 Australian...no bids on either occasion. I'd half entertained popping a bid on to see what the Transnote fuss is about, but decided against it since I had more pressing financial matters to deal with.

$370 is too expensive for this dinosaur. I've seen much cheaper ones with minor issues on eBay.

pianowizard wrote:$370 is too expensive for this dinosaur. I've seen much cheaper ones with minor issues on eBay.

Is it? I may have to start looking for one, then. Nothing like a piece of unique and clever IBM hardware to carry around to job interviews...

Being a most unusual machine that Transnote is, it has its fans and buffs, but most of them already have at least one of them, and are not looking to get another...hence the difficulty with the possible sale...from a today's point of view, if you look at it as a laptop, which is what most buyers do, it's next to useless. So you have to have an acquired taste for this piece of IBM's history, spare cash and nothing more important to do with it and be willing to deal with the machine's age and imperfections...all together make for a pretty tall order indeed.

Personally, someone would have to have a gun pointed at me to get more than $200 for a mint one. Are they worth more? Possibly. But I have to see one yet actually sell for any amount of money. All I've seen have been asking prices without buyers..

And as much I would like to have one, there are several ThinkPads that preceed the Transnote on my list...I guess this is the case with most people...unless someone completely clueless offers me one for a ridiculous amount....

Just my opinion, obviously.

Idk, i was looking around on this Thread and found that in march a Transnote floated by here and sold for 450$

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... =transnote


Somebody here might be in thought of grabing one of these. and might find it worth the cost.

they just dont pop up very often

And what makes you think it has been sold?

why not... it`s not that big of a deal but its a rare item so i thought i would let it be known

I paid $350 for my current transnote because it was (and still is) in mint condition, but prices are falling now as more and more people move on to more powerful systems and good examples become more and more scarce. I'm lucky in that I still run Windows 2000 and Office 2003, so the most demanding tasks my t-note ever has is the occasional MAME session and watching DVDs - the 600Mhz processor and 320MB of RAM are more than adequate for that. My sole gripe is that it was made before USB 2.0 came out.

Currently, nice ones are running $200-$300, models with issues have been seen to go for under $100 now.

Thanks for the Info, i will keep that in mind as i am looking to get on for the reason of it being so Unique that i would love to have one for display. even with issues.

RESURECTION of an old thread

i found another one for 350$ but has a 175$ auction start. this one is in mint condition and he said it was used 5 times and he is the original owner

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0147235390

Interesting. I don't like that there are no pictures of the actual machine, and there's no mention of the CMOS and sub-battery condition - they're most likely dead by now.

jamerslong wrote:RESURECTION of an old thread

i found another one for 350$ but has a 175$ auction start. this one is in mint condition and he said it was used 5 times and he is the original owner

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0147235390

I do like that it ships to U.S. only, that way I will not be tempted.

Very good point about the batteries...these will run you an arm and a leg these days...

I asked Him about the batteries

he said "The battery life should be fine. I've only used it a few times with battery power, so unless it's diminished some with age it should be like new. Thanks for your interest."

so much for that

but it seems there is a bidder and his bid history shows that he is a frequent ibm scrounger. now who could it be
the BIN is no more

I saw his reply on the auction site, but his replies are all "should" and "ought to be." The impression he's giving is that he hasn't looked at or turned on the machine in 5 years, and can't be bothered now. (I['m the one that asked about pictures of the actual machine).

The TransNote I'm writing on now was in the exact same shape - brand new, used literally ONCE before being shelved and forgotten by the insurance company that bought it. The CMOS and sub-batteries were dead as disco, and the main battery was at 75% capacity despite having 2 charge cycles on it. Replacing the yellow and green batteries should be about $50 + shipping with some shopping around (I bought the yellow from IBM, the green from a company called Index Computers). The main battery might be another $50 or more, rebuilding it will be $75 or so (and the battery I had rebuilt last November will no longer charge.)

Unless the seller steps up his game, I'd consider this a $200 machine, max, and even then only for someone knowledgable about t-notes.

i agree, it sounds like he hasent even tested it. and he dosent care to, hes gonna have a rude awakening from the person that buys it.


and for thos who have a transnote of who buy this one can get this
sub battery for the Transcribamabob.... 19.99 starting bid

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0154893115

!EDIT! i sent him another message to as himn to do a run over of the laptop to check the batteries... and ensure the whole thing functions so i will update tomorrow when i hear good word

EXTRACT: "i know i asked about the battery, but you will have an angry customer if theres issues with the batteries. could you power it up and let it charge? this will let us know (theres alot of people peeping this on the forum) if the CMOS battery is dead, how long the main battery holds and then one last thing, Unplug it from A\C and use the Transcribe to make sure the transcribes battery works. a friend said he bought one that was used ONCE! and stored for the remaining years. ALL batteries had to be replaced and they are expensive. it cost him 50$ for the CMOS and sub battery and 150$ for a new main battery as they are hard to find. Thanks ahead of time"

i dont understand why people just slap things on e-bay and expect alot of money from people when they have NO information posted about it

i paid 100$ shipped for my T20 and all he said was used looks good, works good, new battery.

he could have kissed my butt if he was asking anything more for it without a more in depth description. i think he just needed some fast cash imo. it had a crack in the corner of it but i didnt complain for 100$.

jamerslong wrote:Idk, i was looking around on this Thread and found that in march a Transnote floated by here and sold for 450$

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... =transnote


Somebody here might be in thought of grabing one of these. and might find it worth the cost.

they just dont pop up very often

Yeah it was me, but I didn't buy it, unfortunately I didn't have the money, and was only able to offer a trade. I still want one though.