Thinkpads Forum

Hi,

I'm new here, and i have a few questions:

I have a T400 with a broken screen and no power supply. It has the following specs:

-Intel P8600
-2Gb Ram
-Intel 5300 ultimate wifi
-SIM card reader
-Ericsson WWAN module
-Bluetooth daughter card
-Fingerprint reader

I need a laptop to take to uni for:

-Light MATLAB or equivalent
-Spice electronics software
-Printed circuit board software
-Akabak (16bit lumped element simulator so it needs WINE under linux or VM in windows)
-C/C++ for audio DSP
-LaTeX text editor

Is it worth repairing the T400? or should i sell the parts and buy something more recent? I will upgrade to an SSD and 8Gb Ram in any case.
I have a desktop for heavy tasks like CAD, games, boudary element calculations...etc

Thanks

Welcome to the forum!

The answer to your question will depend on how much you're willing to spend on repairing that T400.

Do the math, and check whether it makes sense or you could possibly buy a newer machine for the amount that you'd spend fixing - not upgrading - the ThinkPad in question.

I'd argue that a *00 series machine with 8GB RAM and an SSD is still a viable "daily driver" for most people.

Happy ThinkPadding.

So I have some recent experience that might help.

Moved the wife and I from T60's to T400's and passed the T60's on.

The hardware we selected was in perfect shape. Both had 2 gig ram, 160 gig HDs, DVD r/w, BT, FP, screens that were in near perfect condition, chargers and batteries that worked. Both came from ebay, trusted sellers and ran just under $100 each (I was lucky; the average price is north of that).

I upgraded both to 8 gig RAM: $75 each (~35 per 4 gig + tax); upgraded the drives to 250 gig SSD ($100) each. The wife's came with a fresh install of Win7, so no cost there; I had a couple of copies of Win8 kicking around, so no cost there (tho you might need to include that cost as well; education sometimes does get free OS copies).

So I dropped about $200 on upgrades to make each "drivable". So for less than $300 each, we're good for the next 3-4 years.

Lets look at your situation. In addition to the $200 upgrades (memory and disk), you will need a new charger ($10), maybe a new battery ($20), and a new screen ($40-60), plus the effort to install (pay yourself or someone else at least $50), so you're looking at another $150 or a total of $350 to get to a solid working laptop.

What else can be found for $350? A fair amount. And if you part out your current unit you can make some of that back.

I think the T400 will be able to run all the software you mention (my son uses some of the same programs on his), but the question, as ajkula points out, how much effort to expend?

Finally, are there any other issues (hidden) that might go along with the broken bits? Does the broken screen mean there are other abuses which may not be known (and might lead to more spending)?

I love my T400, but I'd be looking for less of a "fixer upper".

Good luck!

Hmmm, I can see what you mean.

If I were to keep the unit, I was planning on :
-Trying to get several broken units and piece them together. This might take a while as finding them cheap is not easy.

-Otherwise, buy a T400 in good condition and use the broken unit as spare parts. (Around 150e in France)

Hopefully RAM prices will come down in February with the release of DDR4.

So for a refurbed T400 with SSD and 8GB of RAM, i'll be looking at 150+100+80 = 330e
And a after a quick look on ebay, there are several refurbed T430 going for 100e more with SSD and at least 4Gb of RAM and i5 3XXX series CPU.

So, I think the maths shows which way to go.

Thanks for the help!