X61s Anniversary Edition / Reserve Edition

[mark001316]

Does anyone remember these? I have just came across my old one . Bought around 2011 and loved and used . Went in storage when I moved and just found it again . To my surprise it booted up after about 9 hours of charging the battery . Loaded to good old Vista and I seen pictures that I thought were long gone . Backed them up and tried the Think Vantage button . Rescue and recovery still there . I thought what ths hell. Pressed it and OMG still had the recovery partition on it . Now sitting with a fresh factory preload of vintage 2007 Vista. Even the splash screen pops up with the priority phone number for support .
I know 5000 were made and sold around the world so guess I have a survivor . Anyone else on here still have one ?
My question is do I put it back in a box in storage or time for some collector to have it ?
Even the leather bound case smells like the day it went into storage . Original labels are still like new on the palm rest and the antenna still slides up and down the way it was designed to

[ZaZ]

My question is do I put it back in a box in storage or time for some collector to have it ?

To what end? Information being imperfect, makes predicting the future successfully a low probability outcome.

[Medessec]

That's awesome that you have one! I'm not really sure of anyone else, even on here... who actually has one, the Reserve Editions are very rare. You could absolutely hang onto it and store it, keep it as a nice asset that you can appreciate in the long term or sell in a pinch if you need the money. I wouldn't be too sure if it'll appreciate considerably or explode in value... as nice as the thought would be. That's awesome you have everything pretty much left alone, totally original as well. Can't help but envy it...!

[kfzhu1229]

I know the existance of these things, but I have never had the luck to come across one.
I HAVE however, come across the ultra rare original 8 cell battery for these, with the flat bottom!
I saw on a reddit post that these reserve edition X61s would only work with the non bottom protruding batteries, or else the leather casing won't latch!
So that means, the commonly used 22 and 22++ standard X61 cylindrical batteries will NOT fit on these!
I imagine the 4 cell X61s prismatic battery will fit on these however. I acquired one of those too (42T5247)!
Now that I got a standard X61s, I will be working on the 8 cell flat bottom battery soon (42T5260). I will be sharing my experiences rebuilding that when it's done right!

[dr_st]

The Reserve Edition indeed looks AWESOME.
It is also the ultimate triumph of aesthetics over function.

A tailor-made leather case, special antenna, a custom-designed battery, for a computer that otherwise feels and functions exactly like it's "non-reserve" counterpart.
It's an exclusive model designed for a fashion runway, not every day use. With that said, it is still VERY unique, and owning one is more of a statement than any other Thinkpad.

Of all the Anniversary Editions (10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th), I think only the Thinkpad 25 had a truly distinguishing functional feature - the one-off return of the classic keyboard. And it's no wonder that Lenovo has no interest on continuing that specific trend. Too much work. Much easier slapping an "anniversary" sticker on a regular X1 and and calling it a day.

[Medessec]

I ended up buying this unit from him!

Pic of the unit

Mark was fantastic to do business with, and a swell guy who apparently had some experience with IBM working directly with the older Thinkpads in their actual design process. Super fascinating!

The unit has definitely seen use, but that makes it pretty much perfect for me as I plan on having it out and about at little conventions and retro-PC/gaming sessions or gatherings, I don't plan on tucking it in a box to hide away (at least, for now. lol). It's in fantastic shape despite the apparent use it's seen, I'll have to seek out some leather treatment options to freshen up the leather and bring out it's color, hopefully dampen down the scuffing and abrasions too.

I've already upgraded it's RAM to 8GB and swapped an Intel 7260 AC into it. I did flash Middleton's BIOS onto it, but not before making a backup ROM of the original BIOS flash. I also swapped a 250GB SanDisk SSD into it, and I've put Windows 10 LTSC onto it for now... I may reel it back to Windows 7 if Windows 10 is a bit too hard on it. The XGA screen does have that flaw at the top with the pixels that aren't working anymore, it's definitely not the end of the world but it's quite annoying to see when you power up the machine versus how well the rest of it is functioning. I might look into replacing the display.

One question I did have for those maybe a bit more familiar, I did ask mark and he said he's looking into it as well...

This laptop has a sticker showing "DEMO" on the bottom next to the Type No., and this particular Reserve Edition doesn't have a Serial No. etching in the leather by the USB ports... anyone have any more information on why this may be? The laptop and leather casing seems to match on everything else with a Reserve Edition.

[kfzhu1229]

Meanwhile I managed to secure that Reserve Edition 8 cell battery, and managed to open mine up, recell it, and tested it fully working on a X61s. I've detailed it with loads of pics on a reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comme ... ffee_with/
Even on an X61s, it is quite the novelty for me to see the laptop in its slimmest configuration possible, without any bottom protrusions making it thicker. The rear cylindrical protrusion is also of a completely different shape vs a normal 8 cell.

[Gonzaleitor]

Meanwhile I managed to secure that Reserve Edition 8 cell battery, and managed to open mine up, recell it, and tested it fully working on a X61s. I've detailed it with loads of pics on a reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comme ... ffee_with/
Even on an X61s, it is quite the novelty for me to see the laptop in its slimmest configuration possible, without any bottom protrusions making it thicker. The rear cylindrical protrusion is also of a completely different shape vs a normal 8 cell.

Nice work! You should make a youtube video with the process, it would be very interesting!