In praise of the T30

[FragrantHead]

My T30, on which I am writing this, is now almost 5 years old. During that time it has been used almost daily and usually for long hours at that. It just occurred to me that's the longest any PC has served as my main machine. Some things have gone wrong:

Hard disks upgraded multiple times, though mostly to avail of increased speed and capacity. Same with DVD-Writer module.

Front memory slot failed, a common problem with old T30s, but fixed by putting a 1GB module into the rear slot.

Fan failed recently. Bought a replacement on eBay and replaced it myself.

OK, so there have been a few problems, but nothing so fundamental I couldn't fix it myself - thanks in part to this forum. The keyboard is still absolutely fine, as is the chassis, hinges - unlike so many non-IBM laptops, screen - still bright enough - and of course the motherboard. So kudos to IBM/Lenovo, they seem to know what they're doing alright , and thanks to the members of this forum who helped with advice on the repairs.

[jdhurst]

I have a number of these T30's at a client and they are very durable. They are all 5 years old, all still performing save 1 which was dropped by the user. I need a lid complete (1024x768) hinges and antenna wires. Nice machines. ... JDH

[Harryc]

I bought my first T30 about a month ago. In that short time of use I've become a huge fan. Durable, great looking, still plenty fast enough for general computing...I'd even call it timeless.

[ajkula66]

The last properly built IBM (not Lenovo) ThinkPad, period. In my opinion, that is.

[AlphaKilo470]

Wasn't the T30 one of the last ThinkPads to be built in Mexico?

As for build quality, I'll say it's pretty good. However, I wouldn't call it the last properly built ThinkPad because the T4x and T6x systems are pretty solid themselves.

[ajkula66]

AlphaKilo470 wrote:

However, I wouldn't call it the last properly built ThinkPad because the T4x and T6x systems are pretty solid themselves.

T6x machines have always been built by Lenovo, not IBM. And as pretty as they are, T4x units are anything but solid. They are, by far, the most fragile T series ever, as well as likely the most problematic T series.

[Peter_Peril]

Amen Brothers! Prior to picking my T30; I was totally unfamiliar with the Thinkpad series. I wanted a desktop replacement to manage my office network and internet access on the road. The T30 has met these needs surprisingly well. Sure I wanted the power, glitz and glamor of one this sexy Asus lappie's; but after a week with this thing I was certain that IBM was maligned and misunderstood. While the verdict is still out on this--I know I'll always look for a Thinkpad first. Praise Thinkpad and the TPSCF!

[beekeeper]

One thing that always separates Thinkpads from the rest is the trackpoint mouse, i absolutely hate touch pads and no-one else has anything comparable to the trackpoint.

I know a lot of people use a separate mouse instead of the touchpad because it is useless, but that to me destroys the idea of portablity, if you want a portable computer buy a Thinkpad, not something that needs a flippin mouse plugged in and of course the mouse pad to go with it.

As far as i am concerned portable means just that, no additions.

BK

[RealBlackStuff]

Older Compaq Armada's (like my 7400) also had the trackpoint.

[Peter_Peril]

As far as i am concerned portable means just that, no additions.

Woot! You must be a die hard purist! Won't catch you bringing Toilet Paper on a camping trip!

On a serious note--the Thinkpad redundancy with ultra nav, was and still remains an enigma. A touchpad would have been enough; the addition of the trackpoint seems like overkill; I've yet to use it any serious desktop piloting. Whats more telling is that I still shelled out 2 bucks to replace the trackpoint... even though I hardly use the thing...must be my sense of esthetics.

[Kyocera]

I had a T30 that I used when I did network service calls, I always have thought it was the best machine for that type of hard use. Sturdy and easy to grab and carry around with the LCD open.
Those were the days

[ashleys]

My T30 is now over 5 years old and still going
I now only use it as a hot-spare machine for my desktop but it's fired up regularly (at least twice a week) to keep the software up-to-date and do a weekly backup.

[BikerMike]

...we don't want to praise them too loudly. If the remaining used/good ones get snapped up how will we replace ours?

(4 years on mine - just got replacement fan today)

[FragrantHead]

A touchpad would have been enough...

Sorry mate, you got it wrong . A trackpoint would have been enough!

Oops, I guess we disagree. This is the point of the UltraNav. It's not overkill. That sounds like it's there to provide redundancy in case one pointing device fails. No, it's there to accommodate different user preferences. For example I have the touchpad turned off altogether. My reasons:

Hitting the touchpad with the palm while typing can accidentally reposition the cursor. Trackpoint doesn't have that problem.

You don't run out of space with the trackpoint. Covering the whole screen is never a problem, regardless of sensitivity. This makes it great for games too. It's like a mini joystick.

As far as speed and accuracy goes I find it's a tossup between trackpoint and touchpad. A real mouse will beat either any day.

[MGT]

A touchpad would have been enough...

Sorry mate, you got it wrong . A trackpoint would have been enough!

Oops, I guess we disagree. This is the point of the UltraNav. It's not overkill. That sounds like it's there to provide redundancy in case one pointing device fails. No, it's there to accommodate different user preferences. For example I have the touchpad turned off altogether. My reasons:

Hitting the touchpad with the palm while typing can accidentally reposition the cursor. Trackpoint doesn't have that problem.

You don't run out of space with the trackpoint. Covering the whole screen is never a problem, regardless of sensitivity. This makes it great for games too. It's like a mini joystick.

As far as speed and accuracy goes I find it's a tossup between trackpoint and touchpad. A real mouse will beat either any day.

Don't forget one very big plus point for the TrackPoint—you can keep most of your fingers on the Home Row whilst you use it.

[schen]

Don't forget one very big plus point for the TrackPoint—you can keep most of your fingers on the Home Row whilst you use it.

Exactly! I taught basic user classes when I worked in IT, and now as a teacher, I'm often called on to teach other teachers how to use their machine (thankfully, my school uses the R60). I tell them that if they are willing to spend the time to learn to use the trackpoint, they'll be happier. And in general, I've found that to be true. They usually tell me later that they're glad I told them that.

Personally, I think touchpad are the devil's invention

Oh yeah, I too use a T30 as main home machine and love the ruggedness. And with a 7200rpm HDD, and 1Gb of RAM, it run everything I need!

[loches]

Dunno. I had a T30 for years, sold it and upgraded to the T42, and I absolutely loved that machine. Thinner, lighter, extremely well-designed, and while it wasn't as durable as the T30, it was -far- more durable than any other notebook I encountered its size.

That said, I loved my T30 like a son while I had it.

[richp]

I bought my T30 over 18 months ago as a factory refurb after someone had leased it I guess, cost me $300 at J&R music world, added 2 one gig sticks as they went on sale at staples, then replaced the CD burner with a DVD burner, went to a 120gig 5200 rpm drive. I use it every day on service calls, it has a real serial port so cisco connections are easy for initial configs as well as some other network devices you need for that initial connection to get it on the network.
I can't count the number of other brands that lasted a couple of months longer than the warranty, broken hinges, dead screens, dead network cards, etc.
I bought my daughter a T42 about 3 years ago, that one has also served well and she takes it to college classes so it has had it's share of abuse. The Thinkpads have always impressed me and when the time comes I'll buy another but what scares me is that lenovo might decided they don't like competing with the TP reputation vs their stuff and might try to sink it. I just hope IBM has some QC people there who can say "NO, you wll not use plastic on those hinges" and make it stick.
The support group here is also excellent, thanks to members I've gotten the restore cd's and used them twice, once for practice and once when I replaced the hard drive, flawless.

[madkat]

Hello!
let me introduce my machine:
I've purchased my T30 several months ago (second hand) - the decision to buy a Thinkpad was based of the experience i've had the last 6-7 years with IBM's (T30, T40, 41, and 43) and other machines (some Dell's)
I've wanted the sturdiness, quality of build, an "feeling" that a thinkpad has.
For it's age of almost five years it doesn't have too many problems - the usual ones only: "fan error" (fixed easily), 2nd ram slot (it will be fixed) and "only-an-hour-lasting-battery" (fixed easily)
bought a pcmcia USB2.0 and it works like a charm with an external 120gb drive and an external DVD-RW - and with the original docking - when i'm at home and need the numpad and a bigger screen
Other than that - i,ve dismatled it the second day after i've bougt it, groomed and cleaned it, and now it works like new

[ZAGNUT]

add me to the list of very happy T30 owners. got mine at the beginning of the year and after ripping it apart, cleaning it, adding the intel wireless card and installing win2k it has become my favorite work machine of all time.

when i got it i could tell it had been pampered as everything was as close to perfect as possible and it has no memory slot problem. in my hands it's being abused as it's place in a hot and sometimes dusty work shop but like a good old tractor it just keeps chugging along.

the keyboard isn't quite as nice as the TP 600 but overall it's just a very nice machine and very pleasing to look at too.


dave

[ronbo613]

I've had my T30 for a couple years, still my road computer. No real issues, just got a USB wireless mouse for it.
Very dependable, durable, straightforward laptop.

[furiousmonkey]

Had my 1400i then the 1300i then the T23, and finally the T30's.

Love them all, but of course the T30 is my main machine now.

Fixed the ram slot, but I am only running two 512 right now in my main one, the other one my girlfriend uses for her business, it has 2 gigs in it! (I thought I should pinch one and put in mine, but she would notice!! )

They are sturdy and easy to take apart, and I really like the hot swapable Ultrabay 2000, especially between my three laptops that share the port.

[thinkxplx]

Add me to the happy owner of T30. I bought it used off ebay 2 years back. It had few months of IBM warranty when i a warranty left. The hard disk died immediately after purchase. IBM replaced it - No questions asked. The dvd-rw died after a few months of use. But other than that the machine is beautiful. Touch wood....It has never failed me even once.

[ziarim]

As much as I love my T30, they weren't without their own set of problems either.
-They are by far the heaviest and thickest T Series ever made, with made lugging around a pain!
-They didn't like like Atheros wifi card and required hacking to get them to work.
-And the memory slot failure was problematic as well. A few slivers of thin cardboards solved it for me, but can you imagine how many T30's might have been tossed in the bin because of that?
-Screen resolution on some models was limited to 1048x768.

[ajkula66]

Never heard of 1048x768, and definitely not on a T30...which was available as XGA (1024x768) and SXGA+ (1400x1050), which is as high as you'll find on any 14" ThinkPad...

Cool typo...and very good observations of "the other side" of T30...

[ziarim]

Never heard of 1048x768,

Well mine has it j/k...yeah meant to type 1024x768.

T30's are nice machines none-the-less, and I am geting some really good use out of mine. Perfomance wise, my T30 (2.0GHz P4M with 1.25GB RAM) running XP is about as fast my T61 (2.4Ghz Core 2Duo, 3GB RAM) running Vista. In some task which require sheer processor muscle, my T61 is clearly faster. But stuff like boot time, logon time etc... my T30 is sometimes faster.

[truk]

You guys are gonna make me cry, I miss my poor thinkpad t30, why'd I hafta kill it...

-A post with my praise...
http://truk.freehostia.com/Blurbs/?p=6

[sjthinkpader]

AlphaKilo470 wrote:

However, I wouldn't call it the last properly built ThinkPad because the T4x and T6x systems are pretty solid themselves.

T6x machines have always been built by Lenovo, not IBM. And as pretty as they are, T4x units are anything but solid. They are, by far, the most fragile T series ever, as well as likely the most problematic T series.

The T4x was still designed at Yamato and RTP. Lots of Japanese tooled parts inside. They are pretty robust save the GPU, which is an ATI screw up.

As robust as the T30s are, they shared nothing forward and backward. With a relatively short series life span, they are much harder to find parts for.