Thinkpads Forum

I am very very hesitant to post this, because I really love my S30, but I think it's time to part. This thing is a classic, and getting harder to find. Problem is, I have no clue what it is worth but the forum rules clearly say that I must supply a price. I bought mine for $400 less than 3 years ago, and then bought the extended battery and an AC adapter for it. It came with a 30GB hard drive, but I've upgraded it to a 120GB drive that is faster and quieter (uses less power too). So while I did spend almost $500 on it, I do realize that it is now a decade old, netbooks have appeared on the scene (The S30 is essentially a netbook before the netbook phrase existed.), and it is not in the best condition. I would part with my S30, two batteries (one normal, one extended), and new compatible Lenovo AC adapter (which I bought specifically for this unit) for $300 plus shipping. Given what I paid and it's rarity, I think that is fair. The screen resolution (1024x768) and keyboard still knock out any netbook out there, and you get a trackpoint instead of a touchpad. Plus cool japanese keys! Links to high resolution pictures at the end.

A few issues however. When I bought my S30 (on eBay), the lid was very scratched, it wasn't in the best condition. It was the Matte black unit. I carefully followed the lead of some other users here, disassembled my unit and primed and painted the lid glossy black, many coats of Krylon. I did an excellent job (I use spraypaint all the time as a hobbyist.) but it isn't PERFECT. You can see in the pictures. I bought a new sticker to go on top and the thing looks gorgeous, it just pops out at you. But there are a few defects on the paint if you look closely enough. Plus, I don't really like to travel around with my S30 as I don't know how delicate the paint is. Krylon is good stuff, and I follow the directions to the letter, it should be hardened and cured just right. But I don't know if it would scratch off if abused. I use it as a shelf piece now, people that see it ask me what it is and admire it, but I don't like to just toss it in a bag and run with it. It's too special to do that, I feel.

The CF slot is right under the PCMCIA slot. It includes the plastic cover for the PCMCIA slot, but the original unit had a little plastic panel that would spring load out to cover the CF slot as well. This was falling off when I got it, as it is very delicate. I still have this piece, but not the micro spring that used to hold it in place.

The wrist wrests are a bit worn, and you can actually see where the factory stickers were. Some of the lettering has worn through, the previous owner must have been a crazy typist. The space bar sometimes makes a click when you press it. I've considered trying to get a replacement board to make it perfect, but I don't know where to go for that. Don't get me wrong, it feels like a dream to type on this thing compared with most netbooks out there, but it's almost a decade old. I kind of want to keep it and use it as a network admin box, but the S30 came with 802.11b wifi instead of ethernet. I don't think a model was sold that has both. It has a modem, sound, the cf and pcmcia cards, and 2 usb ports, but the firewire and ethernet ports are covered up.

The batteries hold a good charge, but are not new. I would get around 4 hours on it, but I forget if that was the normal or extended battery. That was with everything off, dim screen. I *think* it was with the normal battery, but I'm not going to do an endurance test now just to see. Lets just say that both batteries are good, but not new.

When I got the unit, the administrator password in BIOS was set. The user password is not. Pressing F12 lets you boot from other media, so I've never needed the admin password. I know there is a bit of a complex process one can do to recover the admin password but I've never needed to go through with it. I've updated it to the latest BIOS, which wasn't easy, as I had to hunt it down on the Japanese IBM page, and then dig through a Japanese CGA BIOS upgrade process. But it's up to date and you'll never have to go through that again. The unit can boot from USB CD/DVD drives, and once booted from a USB flash drive. I think you have to do something weird on the USB flash drive to make it emulate a CD to do so, but I just use a real CD-ROM to install an OS.

I bought the unit without a Windows sticker or OS installed, and that is how I am selling it. I've zero'ed the Hard Drive, you will have to partition/format it. (Windows installer should do that.) Windows XP should work on this, but I never used it. I believe it originally came with Windows ME. I used this with different versions of Linux. I should mention that the unit is so rare, that while Linux supports the Lynx EM+ video chipset, it doesn't seem to play nice with those in IBM's, including the 240, the S30/31, or one other series (i series?). There seems to be some way to get it to work but it seemed like more effort than I wanted to put in. I would use it with framebuffer console, and use X with the fbdev device driver, or just use it in terminal mode. As I mentioned, I had this for its rarity, and once the netbooks started to really come out I put this up on display.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I will make certain that every one is answered. Normally I sell things on eBay, but I thought that this item could be better appreciated here. I could send you to my eBay account (user id: tocher), which has 100% feedback over the past decade. Thank you very much.

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***Sold***

I guess no one is interested then. No one care to just comment on my craftmanship?

I kind of want to keep it and use it as a network admin box, but the S30 came with 802.11b wifi instead of ethernet. I don't think a model was sold that has both. It has a modem, sound, the cf and pcmcia cards, and 2 usb ports, but the firewire and ethernet ports are covered up.

Why not get a PCMCIA Ethernet card..very inexpensive. Nice machine and I like the paint job!

but the firewire and ethernet ports are covered up

Did you ever open at least the ethernet cover? Or take the S30 apart and check the motherboard?
The connection(s) might be there!

Yeah, the S30/31 have a minipci socket, and it came with either an 802.11b or ethernet/firewire combo. It's unlocked, but a bit picky. I put a good atheros 802.11b/g chip in it, but it would cut off. My guess is it drawed (drew?) too much power. Either way, I don't think wifi/ethernet/firewire cards exist. The traces on the motherboard exist, but it was probably a special card to interface with that.

I had thought about buying a pc-card ethernet adapter. Its an ugly thing that sticks out the side, but I guess it does not matter if the unit will be used in a stationary manner. They are cheap indeed.

Thanks for the feedback.

This is back for sale, but now at a greatly reduced $200 + shipping.

I had wanted to keep the unit and find some other purpose for it, but it just was never used in the way I expected.

I bought a pcmcia ethernet card for it, but never actually used it or installed an OS. I would be including this with the S30 if you want it.

PM coming