From a T43...

[cosmical]

Alright, I don't think I'm as computer-literate as you guys, so bear with me...

A bit of backstory:
I bought an absolutely wonderful T43 for college last August - I don't remember the exact specs, but it had about 1GB of RAM, 2Ghz, 40MB of memory (which I've been told is much too little nowadays). But it was great.

Anyway, I fell off my bike last Friday, and besides scraping up myself I cracked the bottom of my Thinkpad (it was in a case) and apparently the hard drive is now close to dead. Instead of searching around for a computer guy/buying new parts that might or might not fix it, I've decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one.

I bought this one on eBay, because it was cheaper than from Lenovo/IBM, from a reputable buyer, and guaranteed to be new and all that. I can't seem to find T43s from someone like that/the same person, so my question (finally): are other Thinkpads in the same price range, and are they much different from T43s?

I suppose I have some other questions to go with that: should I be buying from eBay? What kind of basic requirements should I have (in terms of RAM and memory and speed)? I've seen a lot of T60s and am considering one, but I really don't know much about them.

I only really save word documents, a few pictures, and play one or two videogames on here, as well as copious web surfing (yay college procrastination). As I said, my old Thinkpad was awesome and I'd like to get one as close to it as possible.

Thanks for any and all help, and I hope I don't come off sounding too stupid.

[richk]

I always tell people to buy machines on eBay, becaues I sell machines there. (just kidding) You can buy junk or get great bargins. The most important thing to look for is the sellers feedback. Read the comments and see if the products are delivered quickly and as advertised. If all that is wrong with your machine is a cracked case and a disk drive, though, it might be worth fixing. Some sellers will look at your old machine and even offer a trade-in, if it is fixable. The T60s are more expensive, but have some technical advantages, but if you do mostly web surfung and word, a T43 should be fine. It is also possible that somebody could get the data from your old machine to a different one. The only one that is really similar to the T43 is the R52. It has a very similar motherboard and video, but it is thicker and heavier, but cheaper. T42 is a little older, but still nice machines (I use one myself) If you want to talk about particulars, send me a private message.

[Johan]

First of all: Welcome to the forum!

Second: It is a little unclear (to me!) what exactly you mean by "I've decided to bite the bullet and buy a new one. " Do you mean buy a new harddisk to replace the dead - you are you saying that you consider buying a new laptop??

In either case, first go to Warranty Lookup and insert the model number (4-digit) and the serial-number (7-to-8 digit), found at the bottom of your T43. Then, see if your damaged T43 perhaps is still under warranty? If you are really, really lucky, it may be (even!) covered by ThinkPlus warranty service plan, incl. Accidental Protection (a warranty-extension), which means that it is covered in case of such an accident you describe.

But: Do you entirely rule out having it (the laptop) repaired? If you read on this forum, you will find a wealth of people who have dropped etc. etc. their ThinkPads, with no permanent damage! Again... you may be lucky that it is only the HDD that's gone...

If you decide to go for a new ThinkPad (and of course stay with ThinkPad's if you now know that you like them, too!), then you may check the Marketplace of this (outstanding!) forum, or go to eBay. If you want a creme-de-la-creme ThinkPad (= instant and eternal happiness!), you should get a 15" with the famous FlexView/IPS display... believe me, this is as good as it gets! On Sunday evening, a friend of this forum won a 1.8 GHz 15" T42 FlexView/IPS on eBay (and even having 1.5 year of remaining warranty) for only $416 + shipping, so watch out! ThinkPad's go cheap at eBay; a few minutes ago I saw a T43 being sniped for $395 - this one (note that it is said being a T42, which is wrong - according to the model number it is a T43, check for yourself, this one). As I type this, yet another T42 is approaching end-of-auction at eBay; don't know how high it will go... see for yourself, here.

Update: The T42 just went for $315 + shipping which surely is cheap (depending upon the condition, of course, and whether if there is any remaining warranty etc.). Note the last-second bidder who won... yet a sniper in auction, again!

A lot of ThinkPad's seems to go every week on eBay. Note: If you bid there, wait until some 5 (or max. 10!) seconds before end-of-auction with submitting your bid... that's the way to win (see for yourself the "bidding history"; the last-second snipers always win!). Don't bid very much earlier, doing this will only put other bidders (more!) alert, and start or escalate a bidding-war, and that you surely won't want!

What T4x (or T6x?) to get? Depending on your use... some are happy with T42's (incl. I!), whereas others are happy with T43's (although some of the latter have been reported to be somewhat noisy, but this to some extent can be cured). T6x's come cheap these days, e.g. have a look at the present sale at Lenovo Outlet... new T6x's comes from below $700!! Read on this forum about people's experience with the various ThinkPads. Of course, your budget will set a limit.

In any case: Good luck with either having repaired your broken ThinkPad, or getting a "new" one!

Best regards,

Johan