Thinking about a Thinkpad T23....

[asm1]

Hi Folks


I think I can get a hold of a T23, with a bit of fettling I would like it as a service point for my old machines. I've Various things: Amiga 1200's, Atari STE ATARI STFM, a couple of Acorn Archimedes and an Atari Falcon 030.

What I need - Hardware Floppy controller ? I see the drives on ebay. I like using a utility called omniflop to write real 3.5 disks, but that stopped working properly with anything above XP. It HATES USB drives, the controller is not capable.
I have a Tower with A Proper Floppy controller (Core 2 Quad CPU) but it has long past xp... and that would be difficult to restore so I thought about a cheap P3 era laptop, did research and here I am.

I also have a Syquest 1.0 GB Parallel Drive and Various Zip drives so it would be a bonus if these could be made to work as well.

It will 100% be an XP/2k machine. Wifi Would be nice, purely for networking/file transfer from my main laptop although it is not an absolute.

I'm In the UK

I do apologise if this is the wrong place, it is late and I am tired, but I wanted to put my question up.

Thanks

[RealBlackStuff]

Welcome to the forum.

I have a few T23 machines for sale, incl. wifi, floppy, zip, CD/DVD and hard drives.
Going out for the night, will reply tomorrow.

[RealBlackStuff]

Just realizing that shipping to UK might be prohibitive, what with Customs charging duty over both laptop AND shipping!
Shipping alone will be between $75 and $90.
And the T23 will be at least the same, if not more, depending on specs.
So PM me if still interested.

[sdfox7]

I wish you luck in finding the right T23.

As mentioned in another thread, I took delivery of a pristine T23 on 9/9.

I was attracted to the T23 instead of the T30 because performance is not much worse than the T30. However, there were well-known issues that plagued the T30. Namely failing RAM slots, the battery-guzzling Mobile Pentium 4-M, and a thicker/heavier design than the T23 to accommodate cooling for the Pentium 4.

The T23 was more desirable to me. It's the only T2x to come with the Tualatin processor, two USB ports instead of one, and capability to upgrade to 1GB RAM, all desirable characteristics to me. Like the T30, it retains all the legacy ports (RS232 serial, RJ11 modem) unlike my newer T40/T41.

[kfzhu1229]

If you don't mind the dock, keep in mind that a T4x will do all that - with a mini dock and external floppy drive, but T4x do still have floppy controllers built into the motherboard.
I got mini dock and charger for less than cad $50 and external floppy drive (Ultraslimbay factor) at next to nothing
I do have a T22 and T23 to spare - but my shipping costs to UK aren't any better

[sdfox7]

If you don't mind the dock, keep in mind that a T4x will do all that - with a mini dock and external floppy drive, but T4x do still have floppy controllers built into the motherboard.
I got mini dock and charger for less than cad $50 and external floppy drive (Ultraslimbay factor) at next to nothing
I do have a T22 and T23 to spare - but my shipping costs to UK aren't any better

You're certainly correct. However, the T23 seems to have been built with much more durability than the T4x series. I also own a T40 and T41. The T40 failed earlier this year due to chassis flex. I expect the same to eventually happen with the T41. Since I don't use the T41 that often, it could still last many more years. The thinness of the T4x chassis is a liability that IBM didn't know about at the time.

[dr_st]

You're certainly correct. However, the T23 seems to have been built with much more durability than the T4x series. I also own a T40 and T41. The T40 failed earlier this year due to chassis flex. I expect the same to eventually happen with the T41. Since I don't use the T41 that often, it could still last many more years. The thinness of the T4x chassis is a liability that IBM didn't know about at the time.

It's remarkably easy to use a T4x system without subjecting it too any chassis flex. Just don't lift it by the base. The problem is not the flex per-se, but the fragility of the lead-free solder of that era. The flex just magnifies the problem.

The T23 is not without its charm. But the middle trackpoint button being below the other two is a big no-no if you want to use it for scrolling as most of us do - very un-ergonomic.

[kfzhu1229]

You're certainly correct. However, the T23 seems to have been built with much more durability than the T4x series. I also own a T40 and T41. The T40 failed earlier this year due to chassis flex. I expect the same to eventually happen with the T41. Since I don't use the T41 that often, it could still last many more years. The thinness of the T4x chassis is a liability that IBM didn't know about at the time.

Aww I am sorry about that. As a matter of fact, I do have a T43 with failed IDE port/controller, so I am using the Ultrabay SATA drive instead, and so far things are still well, other than the longer POST time that is. I feel like the 15" does a bit better in this aspect, with slightly thicker body and plastic that are a bit less prone to cracking.

The T23 is not without its charm. But the middle trackpoint button being below the other two is a big no-no if you want to use it for scrolling as most of us do - very un-ergonomic.

An A30/p solves that very problem with the blue button in the middle, with the same generation of specs and a better GPU, display, speakers and keyboard. For my A30p, I am taking extreme care and added thermal pad on top of the GPU to hopefully make it last longer. So far under normal usage, the GPU temps are fine.
The problem with those machines, whether you consider it as an upside or downside, is the fact that they don't come with a trackpad and most ppl today don't know how to use Trackpoint (and yes, I prefer Trackpoint any time). The upside would be the fact that no one else would touch your computer, and downside is that ppl hate using your laptop, despite its excellent keyboard.

[dr_st]

The problem with those machines, whether you consider it as an upside or downside, is the fact that they don't come with a trackpad and most ppl today don't know how to use Trackpoint (and yes, I prefer Trackpoint any time). The upside would be the fact that no one else would touch your computer, and downside is that ppl hate using your laptop, despite its excellent keyboard.

That happens to all my machines, as I always key the touchpad disabled in the BIOS.

[kfzhu1229]

The only use for the touchpad in my T43 machines is multi-touch scrolling, so that ppl can shut up about false-thinking this computer's touchpad is lame and don't support multi-touch and stuff. I don't appreciate how Apple uses large touchpads in their MacBooks and iMacs instead of a touchscreen, as that means more hand travel from keyboard to pointing device, instead of instant access like trackpoint.

[axur-delmeria]

That happens to all my machines, as I always key the touchpad disabled in the BIOS.

I keep mine enabled in the BIOS, but disabled in Windows and Linux. The reason is that Tpmiddle doesn't work with the touchpad disabled in BIOS, as it uses a function in the Synaptics software to enable middle click+scroll.