How long can a ThinkPad last?

[bobdsmith]

Depends...Your battery is going to die, no matter what, parts can deteriorate due to usage, abuse. I buy replacement parts on eBay every time they come up, so my machine right now has had its keyboard (assorted liquids to the point of requiring replacement), palmrest (fan area cracked, pcmcia slot hinge broke), motherboard (desert dust), ram (always need more), display (shattered), and hard disk cover (cracked randomly when screwing it out) replaced. What I've seen from heavy usage though, is a little bit weakened hinges and monitor bright spots. If you dont trash the thing like I do, I've seen 8 year old laptops still in use, and I expect my machine to pull a few more years as well.

Course, my ThinkPad survived a car accident that totaled 4 cars, I doubt yours will.

[jthomas_null]

I still use a 600X (about 9 years old now) several times a week. Battery + hard drive have been replaced, other than that it's flawless.

[Performa636CD]

My R51 died recently, I believe due to a screw falling out and allowing the case to flex and damaging the motherboard and/or the HDD. It was about 4.5 years old and I believe if that screw didn't fall out (or I immediately replaced it), it would have lasted another 4.5 years.

[qviri]

I've never replaced a Thinkpad because it failed beyond repair, only because I wanted more power or a different form factor. Granted, I like to upgrade the RAM and the hard drive - the latter probably the most likely to fail in a well put-together notebook.

My first X21, eight years old this month, still runs more than fine. Apart from cosmetic plastic cracks, somewhat loose hinges (but you can still set the screen at pretty much any angle; for comparison, a friend's "Vista-capable" Acer has completely shot hinges), and a small display issue (repairable, I just never bothered), it does like a champ. The battery goes over two hours (though it reports less due to shoddy third-party electronics) and it is more than capable of Windows 2000 with RAM upgraded to 256 MB. With a modern browser (Opera), it can do most of the popular websites/web apps without hiccups. I'm planning on trying a careful install of XP Pro on it; if not, I'll just install a remote desktop client and connect to VMs running on more powerful machines and it'll be good for another couple of years at least.

The X31 that may soon be returning to me is still a dream XP machine; I'd love to try Windows 7 on it some day. Again, over two hours on battery, down from the original three and a bit, and more than satisfactory cosmetics.

[archer6]

I still have the very first ThinkPad I purchased.

It's a ThinkPad 560 that I got in May of 1996. Even with a totally dead battery it runs great with the A/C adapter and has all the original parts. Even looks like new as I'm so darn picky and a bit OCD...ha..ha..
Mine is the model with a 12.1" TFT 800x600 display. It has a Pentium 100 MHz processor, massive 8MB of ram, and a 810mb hdd... how funny. It even came with an external floppy drive.

So that makes it 13 years old and _that_ is why I love ThinkPads! They are super sturdy, stable, well made and reliable nearly beyond measure.

Cheers...

[Kaervak]

Well, my T23 is seven years old was purchased used as non working. I'm the fourth owner. It started out as a corporate owned laptop, then went to a reseller, then was purchased by it's previous owner from eBay as a refurb/off lease, then by me. When I got it, it had the classic loose inductors issue. A little bit of patience and soldering work and it runs without issue to this day. I actually did a tear down last night and resoldered the inductors a bit better since the original job wasn't all that "professional" looking. The only real issue on my T23 is the LCD. The backlight that I replaced isn't even two years old and it's already showing red tint when it's cold. The panel itself has quite a few scratches so a replacement at some point is needed. Almost all of the keys on the keyboard are shiny and there are a couple parts that could be replaced. Otherwise the system is bulletproof and until recently was my daily/only system (it's been replaced by a T43).

Originally I was planning on selling off my T23 to offset some of the cost of m T43, but I'm going to keep it around since having a "spare" system is rather handy. Properly maintained both my thinkpads should outlast me.

[Kopsis]

I have a 600E that was showing signs of hard use when I picked it up cheap on Ebay in 2000. My wife used it daily until 2003 at which point I replaced the HD (to get more capacity ... the old one still works today) and turned it into my home web/email server. It ran 24/7 for four years without so much as a minute of down-time until I retired it at the end of 2007. Since then it has moved to the lab at work where it serves as a serial terminal for embedded system development. The battery is toast and the backlight takes a minute to "warm up" when you first power on (both could be fixed pretty easily if I cared) but aside from that it's still running strong

[emeraldgirl08]

Course, my ThinkPad survived a car accident that totaled 4 cars, I doubt yours will.

Wow

That is almost an ultimate compliment for a Thinkpad!

[sqmaster1234]

My ThinkPads never get thrown out or sold, ans usually last (not an everyday driver) for 10+ years. 770z is in mechanically pristine condition, with a 2 HOUR battery life. It honestly runs cooler, longer and more reliably than my EeePC. Depending on whether you use it as a carry-around work computer, or a desktop replacement, I'd say an well-treated thinkpad can last 15+ years in the hands of a light, responsible user. I know mine will

[VipFreak]

I'm in it with my x61 tablet for the long haul at this point.

My X31 that I recently got is ~5-6 years old, and the internals seem to be functioning as good as any modern laptop (better than some), but there are a few cosmetic flaws (the screen's in fairly bad condition, but nothing that isn't useable, just like scuzz and a little bright mark in one place), because I'm fairly hard on it, the screen latches and monitor closing sensor thing broke off, but i've fixed the monitor closing thing (with a toothpick bit, and duct tape), and I use a little strip of duct tape to keep it closed otherwise.

Yeah, my x31 is/was great. It's a bit slow now that I have my x61 (obviously), but I still like it just as much as my x61. It has a lot of cosmetic problems too. I want to prevent them from happening on my x61, but I don't know if it will happen other. Maybe I should just buy an extra palm rest and replacement keyboard now. lol

[Performa636CD]

My R51 died recently, I believe due to a screw falling out and allowing the case to flex and damaging the motherboard and/or the HDD. It was about 4.5 years old and I believe if that screw didn't fall out (or I immediately replaced it), it would have lasted another 4.5 years.

Just as an update: I got my R51 fixed after sending it in to get reballed (the GPU was messed up after all).

[Terrahawk]

My X31 is 6 years old now, and I think I'm the third owner. It looks to be in excellent condition with no cracks anywhere. I was going to upgrade to a X60s or X61s but now that I have figured out what has been slowing down IE8, I'll probably keep it for a while longer. I may even upgrade the original hard drive

[epr02]

Bought t20 Dec. 2000 worked till the monitor began to fade in March 2009. Still works but need to tap the rear corner to get the monitor to light up. Not sure what is causing that though? Something must be loose. Upgraded to a new T61 for half the price of a T500 with near same specs minus bus speed and SATA II. I tried to wait for a thinkpad 15" QX9300 to come out, but we'll see. Maybe a T510s...w quad support...

[ryan1212]

My T40 is still in near perfect condition. I have only upgraded the wireless card and ram. I would expect 5 years as a reasonable life span performance wise, but can last 7+ years if taken care of.

It has had one motherboard replacement due to the GPU problem. (First lasted almost 5 years),
I have replaced the palmrest with a used from Ebay since it cracked, and the right click button died, otherwise everything is stock.

If treated properly I think this machine would go another 1-2 years.

The 6 cell battery has 440 cycles, still lasts 45 minutes with normal usage.

This is why I am replacing it with a T400 My T40 has been incredibly reliable, so I am replacing it with the closest model. Lets hope it lives up to my high thinkpad expectations.

[dr_st]

This is why I am replacing it with a T400 My T40 has been incredibly reliable, so I am replacing it with the closest model. Lets hope it lives up to my high thinkpad expectations.

I'd go for the T400s instead. With T400 there is a risk of being disappointed with the extra thickness, weight and the larger footprint with the 6-cell battery (not to mention 9-cell)...

[paul*robertson]

I still use my 600x daily for web browsing and office apps. I only replaced the original HDD today, the old one was a bit slow. Apart from that, it works perfectly.

[donzoomik]

I bought my first Thinkpad in 2006, a used 1,5-year old T42.
By the time i replaced with X60 about a year later, it had seen some really heavy abouse (military service). I gave it to my sister, who has used it ever since. But i got most of the internals changed before warranty ended due to some long-term problems (fan, motherboard, hinges). It should be nearly 5 years old by now and running just fine.

[dr_st]

My T42 is almost 4.5 years old now. Incidentally, I also gave it to my sister when I decided to get a T60.

The following things have been replaced under warranty (both after 2-2.5 years of use):

* SXGA+ IPS LCD (for minor pressure mark)
* Optical drive (for refusing to read/write certain disks)

The following things have been replaced within the past two months outside of warranty:

* Fan (failed completely)
* Hard drive (failed completely)

Machine still going strong with no defects in the core components (*knocks on wood*).

[qviri]

The X31 that may soon be returning to me is still a dream XP machine; I'd love to try Windows 7 on it some day. Again, over two hours on battery, down from the original three and a bit, and more than satisfactory cosmetics.

With Windows 7 and Chrome, this thing is flying! No Aero, of course, but for work and internet, more than fine.

Also, the battery pretty easily exceeds three hours on my good one (38-40 Whr full charge).

[ajkula66]

Right now I'm in the middle of restoring the second A31p that I've ever owned that has returned to me after a couple of years on the lam...

A tremendous amount of neglect and abuse that this poor thing was subjected to over the last two years (after moving from owner # 2 to owner # 3) would've most definitely killed a lesser machine. This ThinkPad has obviously been used as a plate, tray, drink holder, ashtray and what not. Being dead serious here. BT button has been pulled out from the clear plate-now that's a first in my experience... Once pristine IPS LCD has half a zillion pressure marks on it, and has to be replaced. But the darn thing still runs as good as it did on day # 1 some six years ago...talk about resilience...

[zhenya]

I am in charge of a small/medium size business's IT systems. Over the past several years I've been moving our fleet of laptops to Thinkpads, from a mishmash of different manufacturers (mostly Dells). While there are many reasons that I'm inclined to purchase Thinkpads, it is interesting to note that laptops have a very long lifespan at this company. Much of our core software still runs on DOS, so laptops rarely get taken out of service. Despite the fact that these laptops see international travel and duty in not the kindest of locations, I'd say that most of our laptops have a lifespan on the order of 10 years. I just recently replaced the laptops in a number of our field kits with X31's that I purchased identically from ebay. Despite being already 5-6 years old, these are nice machines. I used one of them for most of the year as a test bed for Windows 7, and other than the graphic card limitations, this would make for a nice netbook alternative. I expect these to last a long time yet, especially considering that the laptops that I replaced were 15 years old!! I believe the reason we get such a lifespan out of these is that we purchase 5 year extended warranties on all machines, and repair anything that comes up immediately. Also, most of our users are fairly technically oriented and we give them a good deal of control and freedom with their laptops, which tends to build a sense of ownership and responsibility.

Something else I'm realizing is that due to the consistency of design in the Thinkpad line, users are somewhat less anxious to upgrade. We are typically on a 3 year rotation, and I am just starting to roll over the first 3 year cycle since changing to Thinkpads. Whereas most of my Dell users start hounding me about a new computer some time after 2 years, I'm finding that many of the Thinkpad users would be content to stay with their existing machines beyond 3 years. With Dell and most other manufacturers there is always the feeling of a 3 year old laptop being outdated. With a Thinkpad, other than the internals, a 6 year old model (ie. the X31) is not particularly much different than a new one, and has a bit of a feeling of 'wearing in' rather than 'wearing out'. Apparently cosmetics play a bigger role in perceptions than I would have anticipated. This is an unexpected side effect that I never expected, but it's most welcome!

[schen]

Something else I'm realizing is that due to the consistency of design in the Thinkpad line, users are somewhat less anxious to upgrade. We are typically on a 3 year rotation, and I am just starting to roll over the first 3 year cycle since changing to Thinkpads. Whereas most of my Dell users start hounding me about a new computer some time after 2 years, I'm finding that many of the Thinkpad users would be content to stay with their existing machines beyond 3 years. With Dell and most other manufacturers there is always the feeling of a 3 year old laptop being outdated. With a Thinkpad, other than the internals, a 6 year old model (ie. the X31) is not particularly much different than a new one, and has a bit of a feeling of 'wearing in' rather than 'wearing out'. Apparently cosmetics play a bigger role in perceptions than I would have anticipated. This is an unexpected side effect that I never expected, but it's most welcome!

Over 15 years or so of using and buying ThinkPads I've come to be firmly convinced of the above. From a personal standpoint, I've always been impressed with the build quality of ThinkPads, but it's really been from the standpoint of a manager for desktop support where I learned to fully appreciate them. I always felt that spending the extra money ($4000+ on T20s) was worth it for their ruggedness and stability relative to what else was available on the market. At one institution, I moved from "consumer" ThinkPads (380s) to the "enterprise" machines (T2x & X2x). At the next job, I was finally able to (after much resistence) to move from a mish-mash of Toshibas, Dells and Compaqs to IBM T40s & R50s.

These days, I'm a classroom teacher and only work on them as a "self-sustaining" hobby, but still love them for their combination of ruggedness, ability to be worked on, and accessibility of information (as witnessed by this forum). After a number of years, I now work in a school who has a bunch of teachers who have a used one at home, as well as a school issued one at work! I take on all comers, so I regularly work on my co-worker's misc machines of various manufacturers and always marvel that they are so much less machines, whether they be Acers, HPs, Sonys or Dells! Of course, there have been ThinkPads that I've been less than impressed such as, all of the contracted models, but overall, even my children's very old (A21m) TPs are holding up very well.

[DK6400Brian]

Well, my ThinkPad 365XD manufactored in 1996 had an overhaul a week ago. It needed some attention.
Bought a sparepart machine, stripped the LCD and cable, and replaced the original. Both are TFT 800x600.

Also bought an IBM 1GB IDE SSD from eBay and replaced the HD. Works without a sound.
The NiMH battery holds charge for more than 1½ hour, when playing CD's.

RAM is maxed out to 72 MB. (8 MB onboard, 64 MB stick)
The POST shows memorycount in 6 figures, starting with 0 (zero)...like this 073728 KB.
Perhaps a 128 MB EDO 144pin SO-DIMM stick will work.
The 365XD is a Pentium 120 MHz, running NT 4.0 Workstation.

I have a 720C from 1993 or 94, that worked the last time it was plugged in.
I have two 700C's. I think something fried inside them. Some coolingplates fell off while disassembling both of them.
Now none of them shows anything on the TFT's. It's a future project

But my oldest working IBM pre-ThinkPad is the IBM P70-386, running Windows 3.11. The model dates back to 1988. I think this machine is a year or two younger.

[Nigellus]

It depends on what you mean by "last." I got my 600E used in 2001. Prior to that it belonged to a Wall Street trading firm. At that point, the machine was not more than two years old. In 2003 I had to replace the battery. In 2006, I replaced a scratched LCD (it otherwise still works) and hinges which had become loose. At the same time, I replaced the CMOS battery and the hibernation switch which fell apart when I opened the machine. In '07 or '08 I replaced the original HDD because I wanted more space. The original works just fine though and I slide it in when I want to play my DOS games with proper sound (for some reason, DOS sound doesn't work properly on my new install and no one has been able to tell me why, but it's software, not hardware). Finally, in 2009, my "new" LCD started to die, but was managing to hold on until a coworker flung my machine onto the floor requiring me to replace the LCD yet again (but even my cracked LCD still worked, I just had a big black spot near the bottom). My original floppy and cd drives still work. This 600E is still my primary out-of-the-house computer.

In 1997, I bought a used 755Cs. It also still works. I've never replaced anything in it and it still works. It does, however, need a new CMOS battery and a new regular battery.

[yves]

dear Thinkpaders

I use my X31 since 2003 : no problems

T41P (from bill morrow) : faillure because of the gpu flaw problem . Only 2 years of service

X40 : I carry it with me every days - work perfectly

T60P : work day and night since 2006

A20P : I never switched it off since 2001

A31P : STILL WORKING

T61 : use it every day since 2009

etc

[ParatoOptimal]

Last only 5 years!?!???? Please! I hope that isn't true. I'm buying laptops that are 4 to 7 years old. Cosmetically there are some marks but they function fine. I upgrade the RAM and HDDs. I don't know how long an LCD lasts but mine are working fine. I know optical drives have a limited life time but they're easily replaced and I have an external for back-up.

I still have an IBM Pentium laptop, an ancient Toshiba Techra, the original Apple laptop that sold for $10,000 and friends have Dells and Toshibas over 10 years old. Out of all of those, only one Toshiba had the solder that connects the power connector to the motherboard fail.

Take good care of your rifle son and it will take good care of you.

[hunterman223]

I believe they'll last forever. My R40 is 7 years old, came with XP Pro, and still runs fast. Surprisingly enough, it can run windows 7 decently, if you can find video drivers. It gives no indication of impending failure, and runs like it's new. I have even received a few comments about it's like-new appearance. Earlier this year i replaced a hard drive and installed windows 2000 on a HP Pavillion N6190, born in 1999. 11 Years old, running like a champ, sporting a 700mhz Pentium 3. If HP can make a computer that lasts for 11 years, IBM can make one to last for at least that. Just my $0.02.

[Nigellus]

Update:

My 600E, after 10 good years of heavy use, is still working like it did when I bought it; actually, a little better (though it needs a new AC adapter again--I'm making due with creative use of rubber bands).

However, through no fault of my ThinkPad, I feel it is time for an upgrade, and am currently in the market for a comparable machine that is more modern. I have no doubt that my next ThinkPad will be similarly long-lived.

[ozzymud]

I've never replaced a Thinkpad because it failed beyond repair, only because I wanted more power

I'd second that for many models... I have bought 2 "dead" 701C's (486DX75) from ebay... both actually worked though... in one the battery had leaked causing damage to the connectors(replaced top board now), but that was the previous owners fault for storing it a LONG time with the battery in it... The 2nd one, I have no clue why they said it was dead, plugged it in and it booted.

I have also puchased several of the 760 series from eBay... ALL are now in good working condition with good batteries, CD or Floppy, 4GB CF "hard disk" (on a CF2IDE adapter). The run Debian SID Linux with X windows and are internet capable... albeit pretty slow

So yea... these are too old to be worthwhile, but they just don't seem to die. Going through these forums, there are a lot of issues with certain models, but nothing is unfixable and parts for even the oldest models are still plentiful

My 5yo loves his DOS based 760XL... he's currently in love with Apogee games

[Nigellus]

I'd second that for many models... I have bought 2 "dead" 701C's (486DX75) from ebay... both actually worked though... in one the battery had leaked causing damage to the connectors(replaced top board now), but that was the previous owners fault for storing it a LONG time with the battery in it...

Yeah.... I did that to mine. Fortunately, once I got the crud off everything, it still worked when I plugged it in. I loved that machine... my first ThinkPad

The 2nd one, I have no clue why they said it was dead, plugged it in and it booted.

Did it boot to DOS? It's hard to believe that there are walking, talking adults out there who don't really remember what DOS looks like. The could have mistaken a DOS screen for an error screen and declared the machine "dead."

Some kid (17 year old) at my work actually thought my 600E was crashing because I have it shut down Windows and exit to DOS before I turn the machine off. He'd never seen a DOS command line before.