Please give advice on purchasing a used IBM Thinkpad T60p in 2018

[Thinkpad4by3]

You see the MTM on the to of the forum page, use that to look up the model number on the bottom. Otherwise, burn Ubuntu to a CD. Boot it and you will find it has a LgeCD version. Just use Ubuntus control panel to find the resolution.

[ajkula66]

IME, Clonezilla will display just about any resolution imaginable out of the box, no finagling with settings required

[Thinkpad4by3]

Archlinux USB works too.

[Self_Propelled_Crane]

Archlinux USB works too.

Isn't Archlinux for experts? I've only used (as in used for word processing and email) Linux Mint and the vanilla Ubuntu distros, and that was on a university library PC. XD

[Thinkpad4by3]

It is quite complex on what it can do but it is simple enough to right click the desktop and click display properties .

[Self_Propelled_Crane]

I don't think I have the luxury of time to set everything up (I've heard Archlinux doesn't come out of the box ready to work ASAP and that I have to spend time using the command line terminal) just to go to Archlinux's desktop then click display properties. I just want to determine the screen resolution, then haggle for the price. XD

Would pressing F10 in the T60 bios screen work? Or does the T60-series not have Lenovo Bios Diagnostic feature?

[Cigarguy]

I agree. For a $40ish (or less) laptop don't scrutinize it to the same level and time as a new car. At the very minimum check that the battery, if it comes with one works, A/C plug-in works and boot to BIOS.

Most times I go a step further and boot into Parted Magic via USB. Parted Magic boots in about 1 minute, simple and provide some useful system information tool. The time that it takes to boots to Parted Magic is good indication of what works or don't work. Once in Parted Magic, I'll verify screen resolution, RAM and CPU. All of this takes 5 to 10 minutes. As with anything Linux, Parted Magic is not the only solution there are similar Linux diagnostic distros that works great out of the box and are very simple to use.

[wujstefan]

Will take a shot tomorrow in the evening; got both fx570m, nvs140m and X3100 units on-hand.

[madicetea]

I don't know if those screensavers were made to work with the GPU well?

I tried these screensavers on my T61p with NVIDIA Quadro FX570M and it would not render the Plasma screensaver and was slooow in the rendering for WispSS.

Hope this helps you somehow.

P.S. This is getting dangerously close to not related to the original topic - this discussion could probably best be continued in a separate forum post. I recant this statement with further clarification that has been provided to me.

[madicetea]

You are welcome. Glad to be of assistance.

I do not necessarily disagree with your analysis that this could be seen as related to the T601p -- I'm sorry for being dense and not realizing that this is why you asked about the performance in your question.

I hope wujstefan's experience could be shared as well.

When I finish patching up my T61, I'll try the Intel Integrated Graphics as well. With any luck, perhaps I can record a short side-by-side video for you.

Regards.

[wujstefan]

I need some more time now; got two of those units prepared for the test, while the third one will consume some more time.

[madicetea]

I need some more time now; got two of those units prepared for the test, while the third one will consume some more time.

Ah, take your time. Thanks for responding.

[RealBlackStuff]

Don't want to be obnoxious here, but why use a screensaver?
If you walk away from your machine, you shouldn't ask it to keep working, it deserves a break as well!
My suggestion: After x minutes of non-use, let the screen go off, no saver.
You are not using it, so I guess you are also not supposed to be there, so who cares what's on the screen?

[Thinkpad4by3]

But my IBM 5151(actually a PGS Max-12) monitor is going to get burn-in!

I always let my machines go to sleep when left alone, I wojt put a screensaver on them because RBS is right. nVidia chips have enough problems, why work then for nothing?

[wujstefan]

Drop me in which exactly
I'm almost done preparing the machines. This, however, eats LOTS of time, really. And my wife is a hard negotiator when it comes to time-stealing thinkpad tinkering

[wujstefan]

Testing is not time consuming - preparing those machines, however, is They stand on my shelf with no hard drives (well, 1 of them lacks it now), so this is my time bottleneck.

[wujstefan]

Now everything runs smoothly on each machine.

Up to my surprise nvs140m eats 50% overclock on stock voltage. Fx570m 14,1 standard screen overclocks by 15%, and 15,4 does not want to overclock and produces issues without voltage control. Got only one 15,4 board to test though.

[128MB]

T60P is usable in 2018 with ssd and dual core and max ram but takes a while to load a site like youtube and 720p can be choppy at times and dont forget they run hot without mods.

I bought one because i just wanted one, and im trying to get the max out of it before it dies

If i'd known before i would have got a T430 and mod it with the classic keyboard. which can be easily had for €150.