WTB: IBM ThinkPad S30

[ThinkPad560X]

Im looking for a IBM ThinkPad iS30 to add to my collection and to try out. Let me know if anyone has one that wants to sell. I always use PayPal for my online buys.

I found alot on japan auction sites but can't decode most of the langa and one site I had to insert funds before you bid. Theres lots of them on there sites, just can't find a simailer ebay like one thats in english.


mod edit: added WTB to thread title and changed it to "S30" since that's the proper model name

[erik]

what's your budget?

i know where you might be able to buy my old one but it's not cheap.

[ThinkPad560X]

how much is your old one. I bought all my ThinkPads on ebay for part/Repair around for $75-$150

[erik]

probably around 4~8X that.

i don't own it anymore so the price isn't for me to set or negotiate.   i just know what i was quoted to buy it back if i really wanted it.

good luck in your quest.

[ThinkPad560X]

I actually found some on japan sites for around $100-$150 thats not counting Shipping. Is there any Japan ebay where I don't have to insert money in order to bid? the 3 sites I looked on required a fund insert before you bid. Im sure you know how ebay works, you bid and try to win. mostly for me I look for the Buy It Now or unless the item is rare and have to bid, witch for me is bad since my internet is really slow. I'm surprised I don't see any S30s on ebay as theres alot of HongKong/China sellers on there.

Heres one site I found alot on. http://www.japanauctioncenter.com/?gcli ... 2godShjYLA

[pianowizard]

I wouldn't pay more than $200 (including shipping) for an S30 or S31. It's an overrated model, IMO. It looks nice in photos but ugly in person. I especially hated the design of the battery.

[ThinkPad560X]

Deleted

[ajkula66]

ThinkPad560X wrote:

I think that they were made with the cheap plastic that some of the i series were made with.

No, they were not. Although I have my gripes with S30/31 generation, cheap build is NOT one of them.

[ThinkPad560X]

where did you buy your S30 at? off ebay?

[ajkula66]

I bought it on this forum, and sold it on eBay.

[ThinkPad560X]

Is the seller selling it for $150? My max would probably be $200 as its a old laptop now. may even go to $250 at the highest

[ajkula66]

AFAIK, that unit is not for sale. Given the market of the country in which the current owner resides, he could easily get a lot more without having to ship the machine back to U.S.

S30/31 have somewhat of a cult following, and unless you snatch one off feebay or from someone who's clueless on what they own, you're not likely to find a decent one that fits your budget.

My $0.02 only...

Happy hunting.

[ThinkPad560X]

Well I almost won a ThinkPad S30 but someone outbid me on it. Thats why I don't like bidding. Just Buy It Now. Price was $102 went to $105.

Its specs: Pentium III 600MHz, 20GB HDD, 256MB RAM, Windows 2000 Pro, Item Cond like new, comes with manual and accessories

[pianowizard]

Well I almost won a ThinkPad S30 but someone outbid me on it. Thats why I don't like bidding. Just Buy It Now. Price was $102 went to $105.

That's a really good price! How much was shipping?

Did you bid pretty early, or did you bid within the last few seconds? Next time you bid, decide on the absolute highest price that you are willing to pay for the item, and place that bid in the last several seconds of the auction. This is called sniping, and it's useful because you don't give your opponents any time to change their mind and raise their bids. And it MUST be done during the last several seconds, not minutes or even tens of seconds. In fact, I hate "pseudo-snipers" who bid several minutes before an auction ends -- see http://67.214.227.38/~thinkpad/forum/vi ... 58&t=47395

[ThinkPad560X]

There was 20h left on it. Like I said this site sells alot of them, really easy to find on here like a T20 on ebay.
http://www.japanauctioncenter.com/

On here you can't keep on bidding, you have to insert money before you bid or if you want to bid higher.

But yeah this is the cheapest place I can find alot of ThinkPad S30s. And I don't see any buy it Now options on this site like ebay has.

The shipping is standard international, so it would be like around maybe $30-$50 depending what you pick for shipping.

While on the site just right click on the site and click translate with live search so you can read the site although the buttons on the site still read in japan.

To be honest I don't like buying anything off a foreign site. Once in awail I buy a SSD from hongkong on ebay but thats about it. I've looked on ebay for a month a never saw a ThinkPad S30 for sale on there, just battery and AC Adapters for it.
by the way there is a 701C for sale on ebay with Buy It Now for $129.95 with Windows 95.

[ThinkPad560X]

Anyway, anyone let me know if you have a ThinkPad S30 for sale or know one, so we can pass it around with our memebers and sell them again to another memeber for a first time S30 user.

Also is the ThinkPad S30 a i Series? It says under ThinkWiki ThinkPad iS30, iS31
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:S31

[sparta.rising]

I agree with pianowizard, if you are willing to pay $250, you should have bid $250. That way if the price goes over, you don't have any regrets. I use www.justsnipe.com as my snipe service. Its free and will bid with 8 seconds remaining. Some pay-for-snipe sites will give you 3 seconds, but I don't use it often enough to pay. But I have been outsniped by someone getting it at 3 seconds remaining.

Its a good technique for eBay, but its really exploiting a flaw in the eBay system. You post for 7 days, you dont get any bids till the last hour. A real auction shouldn't reward snipers. You see on other sites that every bid extends the ending time by X hours. Much fairer. But if you bid your max, you can somewhat avoid the problems with the snipe system.

Sorry to go offtopic of your S30 search, best of luck finding one.

[ThinkPad560X]

don't mind, When I sell anything on ebay, I usally put it down for a day because its not worth it for 7 days, since you don't get any bids. When I bid, I have my big collection of ThinkPads and IBM desktops. What I do is have one on the ebay page list viewing the item with the timer, and my trusted fastest thinkPad, witch is the SL500 that is on the bid page to increase the bid if so, and just keep refreshing the desktop page to see if the bid went up. thats how I usally do it. and when there like 5sec left refresh both and put in my bid. It pays to own more that one computer really. I like Buy It Now items tho, I know im getting the item now.

[ThinkPad560X]

Well I asked a ebay seller if he has a ThinkPad S30 and he said he will check as he has alot of them and some he said had asian keyboard writing on them. hopefully he has a S30 or a S31.

Also if the ThinkPad S30 is considered a i Series I may try looking on ebay under i Series to find one.

[erik]

the s30 came in both a standard and i-Series.   the difference is in the upper control buttons on the keyboard.   a standard has volume up/down/mute where the i-Series has multimedia buttons.

the s31 was only a configuration change in OS and HDD options.   they're still marked "s30" with a 2639 machine type.

[pianowizard]

Like I said this site sells alot of them, really easy to find on here like a T20 on ebay.
http://www.japanauctioncenter.com/

Since S30's are so easily available on that site, definitely don't spend more than $200 on one. And like I said, there's a pretty high chance you would be disappointed with it once you see it in person.

I've looked on ebay for a month a never saw a ThinkPad S30 for sale on there

A month is not enough! I waited for close to a year before finding mine on eBay. I got it in Aug 2008 for $270 shipped. That was a decent price then, even though this particular unit was only 7.5 out of 10 cosmetically.

the s30 came in both a standard and i-Series. the difference is in the upper control buttons on the keyboard.

That's most interesting! So, it's the same thing that IBM Japan did with the 240Z, the i Series of which I am selling. Was the i Series S30 also called S30?

[erik]

And like I said, there's a pretty high chance you would be disappointed with it once you see it in person.

in all fairness, it's best to let the OP decide this for himself.   it's a great little system, IMHO, and ahead of its time for a nine-year-old design.   relative to stuff today it's not as impressive but is when put into perspective.

i still miss my s30 but am not pining to get another.   had they made flush 3-cell or Li-polymer batteries without the kickstand, i'd have kept it as a netbook.   that alone would have dropped a ton of weight and size from the system.

That's most interesting! So, it's the same thing that IBM Japan did with the 240Z, the i Series of which I am selling. Was the i Series S30 also called S30?

they had LCD plates that said "iSeries s30".

[ThinkPad560X]

Does anyone know where I can find a ThinkPad S30 mainboard? I figure it will be alot easier to find the casing and keyboard and put it together than to find a full one. It will give me a project to do and this is what I did with my 701C. I did find one on a USA site but it was around $400 and im not spending that much just for the board. PCHUB.com is the best place for ThinkPad parts. but no S30 series parts.

[BillMorrow]

i own two S30's..
one with the piano finish and one with the traditional thinkpad finish..

the piano one appears to have been a prototype or demo unit that was sent to the USA with a USA keyboard and no M/T and s/n sticker on the bottom, for an IBM official..
it is about as perfect an example as there is..

the other is an ordinary model in that it has the S/N amd MT sticker on the bottom and has a japanese keyboard.. and is the painted surface.. which i think is rare also, but i have done no research on this..
maybe someone can chjime in here..

these two sit in a showcase with a few other old thinkpads..
701C and 860.. and a transnote that needs a cmos battery and some further work but is also in near perfect physical condition..

i would sell some of these but not for the numbers mentioned above..
its just not worth it to me to give them away..

personally i think the S30 to be a classic and opinions to the contrary are, like my opinion, just that.. opinions.. which, like some unmentionable body part, everyone has one..
no ones is any better than anyone elses..

if you think an S30 is obsolete, well it is but so is the 701 and to be honest, so am i..

speaking about 701's i have a supply of NOS keyboards and mainboards and a BUNCH of 701's ranging in condition from near perfect and complete to really sad.. about a dozen..
and some unobtainable parts like a 64meg memory part and a 133mhz mainboard..

'nuff for now..

[ThinkPad560X]

Do you have the power board side for the 701C and do you have a S30 mainboard laying around? And I don't blame you for wanting to sell the 701 or S30. All my ThinkPads I own, listed below my posts I plan to keep. I bought all of them dirt cheap that were damaged and restored them to like new condition even got the new Intel/Windows stickers for them. I'm just trying to find a S30 or just the S30 mainboard since the parts are easy to find if you have the FRU numbers, Keyboard, base, LCD ect. this is what I did to get the 701C since it was hard to find.

I like to keep my collection that came with the IBM ThinkPad logo on it. my only Lenovo ThinkPad I own is the SL500 witch is still pretty good, solid. Don't like the glossy top tho, too fancey for me, As some ThinkPad S30s did come with the gloss top.

[BillMorrow]

Do you have the power board side for the 701C

i have a bunch of 701C's in varying states from junker to decent, none of which have been booted up for years..
i assume those that are complete will have a power board..
i'm not inclined to disassembling one at this time but i could be convinced to verify one is working and sell it for parts.. no guarantee other than it worked just before wrappiong in bubble wrap and inserting into priority mail box..
cost..? needs to be enough to induce me to spend a couple of hours doing all that..

and do you have a S30 mainboard laying around?

nope..

And I don't blame you for wanting to sell the 701 or S30. All my ThinkPads I own, listed below my posts I plan to keep.

i assume you meant to say NOT wanting to sell......

its not that i don't want to sell off some or all of this collection its just that it takes a certain amount of inducement to get me to do so..
and given current economic conditions i am thinking a few gold coins buried in the pasture in a coffee can are better insurance than a nice collection of antique thinkpads..

i might swap some of this collection for other computer gear.. T60's, 2TB HDD's.. you know, stuff that would be useful in setting up a failsafe home network and security system..

I bought all of them dirt cheap that were damaged and restored them to like new condition even got the new Intel/Windows stickers for them. I'm just trying to find a S30 or just the S30 mainboard since the parts are easy to find if you have the FRU numbers, Keyboard, base, LCD ect. this is what I did to get the 701C since it was hard to find.

I like to keep my collection that came with the IBM ThinkPad logo on it. my only Lenovo ThinkPad I own is the SL500 witch is still pretty good, solid. Don't like the glossy top tho, too fancey for me, As some ThinkPad S30s did come with the gloss top.

looks like a nice collection..
you need to add a power PC thinkpad 860 and a 755CDV at the very least..
and guess who has one of each of those rare 'pads..?

and also a 700C or 720C which i do not have..
and the 770Z was the Pièce de résistance of the 770 series..
did you know the ultrabad HDD could be hot swapped when running Win2000..?

i think i have a 770Z in the collection that is still in storage..
AND a 770 that i originally sold new and was given back to me by the owner just prior to his passing away..

[ThinkPad560X]

Yeah let me know if you have a parts repair 701C, I still need a few parts for mine, like the entire Screen & mainboard base. I have the mainboard and keyboard and keyboard top palmrest.
And let me know if you ever want to sell one of the ThinkPad S30s. Someday I may even sell back to you. I take care off my ThinkPads. I have a ThinkPad X21. It looks as if I just opened it out of the box. not one scuff wear on it And I just use it at my desk. Its actualy sitting next to me now on the dock, wish it handled more RAM tho.

For my collection of ThinkPads, they all work and run Windows. I even once in awail go online on my 755CD although seeing some of the website are too big for it lower than 800x600 dislpay. Running Windows ME. Didn't want to push it to Windows 2000 Pro, not sure if it could run it. but my 560X is running Windows XP Home Edition. Pentium I 233MHz, 160MB RAM Max. Its also my first ThinkPad.

[mesament]

I also have one of those weird american S30s with the piano finish and english keyboard. It has a newer battery purchased from IBM and it is very nice condition. Just like Bill I won't sell it for 200 or 250, but will sell it for a fair price considering how rare it is.
Let me know if you are interested, just PM me.

Steve

[michelle13]

Hey guys,
Does anyone here have by any chance the ThinkPad s30/s31 recovery cd?
Or even the hidden recovery partition, and willing to share it?
I will be more then happy to pay for it…
I've been looking for them it seems like no one bothered to keep them