Thinkpads Forum

On eBay I could actually get a backup for about $100-$200. A year ago a good used X60s cost me $285 and I made a killing!

Is it the X201? I'd like an X201 but the price is still a little high.

The X200 - which isn't that far off from the X201 - isn't too expensive these days. It's the wonderful process of depreciation, which affects computers in the best possible way.

The useful life of a computer far exceeds the marketable life of a computer. Take advantage of that.

The answer is the average three year corporate lease/life cycle for laptops. After three years, the market is flooded with all models of business grade laptops. These have already been nearly fully (or fully) depreciated by the leasing companies. They are just wholesaled to resellers who put them up on eBay in the hope of turning a little profit.

X60's were introduced in 2006 and sold through 2007. The market is flooded with off-lease X60's. For that matter, T60's, too.

a year is a long time in computer world. it is even longer in laptop land.

I LIKE my X60s and think that maybe I should get a backup, just in case.

Same for my T60.

naw investing in backup is not a good idea, these things depreciate so fast by the time your laptop is likely to break, you will be able to get something much nicer at that time. while these are good for the price, the screens and such things could be so much better.

underclocker wrote:The answer is the average three year corporate lease/life cycle for laptops. After three years, the market is flooded with all models of business grade laptops. These have already been nearly fully (or fully) depreciated by the leasing companies. They are just wholesaled to resellers who put them up on eBay in the hope of turning a little profit.

X60's were introduced in 2006 and sold through 2007. The market is flooded with off-lease X60's. For that matter, T60's, too.

it seems like it really depreciated this time around with the x60's. I also think the popularity of netbooks have to add to this depreciation

The point being that an X60s is an EXCELLENT deal right now if you need a machine like that.

It's absolutely the best portable laptop you can get for that price right now.

The only problem is that an x60s which has been kicked around a typical corporate user's bag is going to be well knackered - despite being a superbly built laptop originally.

The only person who will trash a computer faster than a corporate user will be my 17 year old son

I have bought ex corporate HP laptops in the past - solidly built machines but nevertheless totally worn out.

I see various x60s units on Ebay here (UK) around the GBP 300 (USD 450) mark, and some of these are as-new. I bought a never-used one for GBP900, just months after they went no-longer-made but selling at GBP 1300, and I bought a now very rare never-used-one the other week for GBP 300, from here: http://fadedgenes.net

The 1st one was a x60s 1704 with GPRS/3G (Vodafone locked but easy to unlock with DC Unlocker) and the other is a 1704 without the GPRS/3G but with a French keyboard which was modified for the UK.

peter-h wrote:The only problem is that an x60s which has been kicked around a typical corporate user's bag is going to be well knackered - despite being a superbly built laptop originally.

The only person who will trash a computer faster than a corporate user will be my 17 year old son

I have bought ex corporate HP laptops in the past - solidly built machines but nevertheless totally worn out.

I see various x60s units on Ebay here (UK) around the GBP 300 (USD 450) mark, and some of these are as-new. I bought a never-used one for GBP900, just months after they went no-longer-made but selling at GBP 1300, and I bought a now very rare never-used-one the other week for GBP 300, from here: http://fadedgenes.net

The 1st one was a x60s 1704 with GPRS/3G (Vodafone locked but easy to unlock with DC Unlocker) and the other is a 1704 without the GPRS/3G but with a French keyboard which was modified for the UK.

Depends. I bought a 9.5/10 X60s with Core 2 Duo and in-warranty for $200 almost six months ago from eBay. Definitely off-lease too.

peter-h wrote:The only person who will trash a computer faster than a corporate user will be my 17 year old son

I have bought ex corporate HP laptops in the past - solidly built machines but nevertheless totally worn out.

That's also my experience. I have bought 4 or 5 laptops off eBay that were described as having been used "in a corporate environment". They were some of the most beat-up laptops I have ever seen.

More anecdotal evidence: I got an off-lease x60 ultralight with Ultrabase for $135 CAN (yes, not a typo, and those are indeed Canadian dollars which we the rest of you know as american pennies) in April 2010 and sold it last week for $275 for the same reason - depreciation.

I was using it as a media center but when the WD Live TV Hub came out last week with a 1Tb drive built, I knew it was time to pull the trigger. Sold the unit and was at Best Buy 20 minutes later picking up the WD unit.

My X24 was purchased off-lease and it was clean and in good shape when I bought it.


Just sayin'.

Additionally, it's not always relevant what the condition of an off-lease laptop is; what really matters is the condition of the laptop you buy. The market's being flooded will bring down prices of privately-owned computers as well.

it's all subject to the luck of the draw. i bought a supposedly ibm-refurbished x32 off ebay (as a backup to my much beloved x31) and wasn't wowed at all.

it had a ton of wear to the corners and edges, gum residue on the bottom, and was missing a screw cover on the right cover edge. the keyboard was new, the lcd might have been replaced but it had a yellowish cast to it.

i did a lot of research before buying it as there were multiple units to be had - a previous buyer had mentioned that they got one in great condition but great can be subjective.

j-dawg wrote:My X24 was purchased off-lease and it was clean and in good shape when I bought it.


Just sayin'.

Additionally, it's not always relevant what the condition of an off-lease laptop is; what really matters is the condition of the laptop you buy. The market's being flooded will bring down prices of privately-owned computers as well.

True dat. I just wanted to point out that while most off-lease computers can be kinda beat, there are some gems out there, and you can get lucky.

On top of that, parts are cheap (sometimes) and cleaning is worthwhile. It's not hard to get a dirty, creaky computer back into shape, but you have to be willing to put in a few hours and a few dollars. As I've found with cars, bikes, and computers, the best deals are slightly broken things - a quick stop to the junkyard, the bike shop, or eBay, and you can have a clean, functional device for much less green than if you'd bought it so.

http://worthmonkey.com/
might be a good tool for getting a feel on prices.

Woodenspoon wrote:http://worthmonkey.com/
might be a good tool for getting a feel on prices.

that's a great website

Lol yea i've been watching auctions this last week again. The sellers that are reasonable don't have a high reserve or one at all, and it gets snapped up around 200 dollars. The ones that can't let go start off at 250-300+ or whatever insanity ..all zero bids lol

X60s to many non-Thinkpad enthusiasts as a underpowered laptop, as many people consider the CPU used in these machines to be outdated and too slow for Windows 7. This is a good thing, as this enables many of us to snap these machines up next to nothing.

lead_org wrote:X60s to many non-Thinkpad enthusiasts as a underpowered laptop, as many people consider the CPU used in these machines to be outdated and too slow for Windows 7. This is a good thing, as this enables many of us to snap these machines up next to nothing.

Exactly. Whoever considers a 1.66 GHZ Core Duo an underpowered CPU probably has no idea what they are talking about.

yea its certainly not under powered, win 7 runs pretty [censored] well on it.
but the screen is dim, and the laptop is heavy.
there are netbook type pcs with better screens now, and more harddrive space by default. also the macbook airs pretty much put it to shame, but you can't get those at this price.

Woodenspoon wrote:but the screen is dim, and the laptop is heavy.

Also, the 1024x768 resolution further reduces the appeal of the X60s.

I think used Lenovos are a pretty good investment since the core hardware is usually very robust and long lived. if you have the time, inclination, experience and money to invest you can make a very nice rig for a small investment. Easiest moves are a new 7200RPM hard drive, more memory if needed and a copy of OEM Builders Windows 7 (32bit or 64 bit depending on memory). Why;

1. A 7200 RPM HDD is a very cheap upgrade with much bang for the buck nowadays. Also, the HDD is usually the first thing to go on a corporate laptop. Dump the old drive an get a faster more robust new one.
2. If the laptop has 2-3 GBs of memory and all you do is office work, web browsing and light photo editing then get Windows 7 32 bit. Make sure the system can run Win 7 first, however, by checking the IG, CPU and chipset against the MS specs. Anything Lenovo from the last three years or so should be fine. If you do heavier lifting and have a "good CPU" think about 64 bit and moving to 4GB of memory. Why not more? Most "corporate rigs" hitting the market right now are capped at 4GB total memory. 64bit is the OS of the future so tend towards it if economically feasible.

Advanced stuff:

1. The only other thing that could prove troublesome is the cooling fan. 3+ years old, at this time (12/2010) means I'd replace the cooling fan. I'd also upgrade the CPU if I was in there and could get a sportier mode,l that fits, cheap.

The mobo, PSU and assorted parts Lenovos uses are all solid from my experience so cheap upgrades are doable and warranted. That Win 7 OS dick can be used again, at least for now, on the next upgrade.

the X60s is heavy? it is not that heavy. Regarding Macbook Air beating the X60s in speed, well lets just say one is only made recently the other is made 4+ years ago, and that is considered a long time in computer industry.

@Merc, you can't change the CPU as it is soldered to the motherboard, the only way to change it, is to swap out the motherboard.

lead_org wrote: @Merc, you can't change the CPU as it is soldered to the motherboard, the only way to change it, is to swap out the motherboard.

Yikes, my R61e changed out with a screwdriver. Why would they ever solder a CPU in? Thanks for the info!!!

Because the smaller units need to squeeze every last drop of space they can. Almost no one upgrades their cpu so why increase the space of the laptop for no good reason. Its why they don't let you switch video cards either.

As for replacing things like fans, that is another reason most won't bother, and the cost of the fan...huge chunk of the cost of the laptop by this time really. Whats the cheapest price you've found a new fan?

this is a common practice in the ultraportable laptops. This is usually done for the following reasons:

1. Increase the manufacturability and easy of assembly of laptops.
2. Decrease weight of the laptop.
3. Decrease the thickness of laptop.
4. Pressure users to opt for higher spec CPU during the initial purchase customization, which increases profit margin for the laptop company.
5. Decrease the likelihood of users frying the motherboard and its associated components due to unauthorized CPU upgrades.

These are the 5 major reasons why CPU are soldered to the motherboard. The fruit company's laptop all uses this sort of CPU attachment process, mostly due to reason no. 1 and 4 (and maybe no. 5 too).

Lenovo uses this sort of CPU attachment process only in the X series, which means it is probably done for reason no. 2 and 3.

lead_org wrote:this is a common practice in the ultraportable laptops. This is usually done for the following reasons:

1. Increase the manufacturability and easy of assembly of laptops.
2. Decrease weight of the laptop.
3. Decrease the thickness of laptop.
4. Pressure users to opt for higher spec CPU during the initial purchase customization, which increases profit margin for the laptop company.
5. Decrease the likelihood of users frying the motherboard and its associated components due to unauthorized CPU upgrades.

These are the 5 major reasons why CPU are soldered to the motherboard. The fruit company's laptop all uses this sort of CPU attachment process, mostly due to reason no. 1 and 4 (and maybe no. 5 too).

Lenovo uses this sort of CPU attachment process only in the X series, which means it is probably done for reason no. 2 and 3.

Ahh, didn't realize it was an ultraportable

Woodenspoon wrote:naw investing in backup is not a good idea, these things depreciate so fast by the time your laptop is likely to break, you will be able to get something much nicer at that time. while these are good for the price, the screens and such things could be so much better.

Two words: aspect ratio.

Call me nuts and irrational, but I just can't live with these newfangled widescreen laptops. Sure, I have a widescreen LCD TV at home.... for watching widescreen content! My laptop is for work, and I'm just used to 4:3 screens.

...and don't get me started on glossy screens

pianowizard wrote:Also, the 1024x768 resolution further reduces the appeal of the X60s.

I recently bought a used x200s, which cost much more than an x61 that I also considered. The x200s has better screen resolution and can address 4GB RAM.

RAM is worth having, 'nuff said. I would take an x61 over an x60. I believe that there was only one x60 model that had a Core 2 Duo (i.e. 64 bit) CPU.

I also read that there are heat problems with the x60 and x61. True?

I would take an x60 or x61 over a 32-bit Atom netbook with a 10.1" screen. But if the netbook were 11.6" and could use 4GB RAM (e.g. AMD's latest, newer Atom CPU), the choice resolves to battery life, weight, price, and OS.