IBM R30 - made by Acer? And a few questions.

[manfred]

I bought a laptop - IBM R30. It should be noted that previously possessed 770X model with a Pentium II, Sold it and for the same money I bought the R30 with PIII 1Ghz so I think it is still beneficial transaction.
I have read on this forum, it is generally a very bad model, manufactured by Acer. Is this true?

Secondly, I read that it is overheating. Someone had such problems? What is the general opinion on this model?

And last: Has anyone tried to replace the HDD and for what? I do not know how to possibly buy it.

[ajkula66]

Acer had built quite a few older Low-end ThinkPads: I series, R30/31/32/40/e and G40/41.

I don't have any memorable experiences to share regarding R30/31/32...although I owned all of them at one time or another...

[underclocker]

The R30 kicked off the ThinkPad R-series line of "value" machines.

I purchased dozens for a company where I worked and I owned a few personally. No heat issues ever.

While they didn't have the qualtiy feel of a T-series machine, they were capable and great values. Other than an occasional failed hard drive, which could happen to any machine, they were durable and long-lasting.

From the R30 on, I've been an R-series fan and I still have two R60's.

A standard 2.5" IDE laptop drive is used. Replacement is simple, just search for the R30 Hardware Maintenance Manual (HMM).

[manfred]

And is it something wrong with the computer if I go to "My computer", Properties and it shows that processor is of course PIII 1ghz but it goes ~700mhz. Is that SpeedStep or a computer crash? Thanks for answers

[RealBlackStuff]

You'll only get the full speed (1GHz) if both the AC adapter AND a working battery are installed.

[manfred]

oh great. So I will have to work on 700 mhz :<

[pianowizard]

Acer had built quite a few older Low-end ThinkPads: I series, R30/31/32/40/e and G40/41.

The 15" G41 that I had was awesome. I also had an R32, which was nothing special and I sold it within several days.

[manfred]

I've recently found this: http://allegro.pl/100-ibm-r30-1-6ghz-80 ... 98208.html

Is it possible that R30 had a 1,6 Ghz processor? Cause this one claims to have 1,6 and graphics: Intel 82830M 64MB.

[RealBlackStuff]

That's all a blatant lie, the pictures there are of an R31, on which the largest CPU was 1.26GHz PIII or 1.33GHz Celeron.
All had Intel GPU with probably 16MB, but with dynamic expansion (taking from regular RAM) probably up to 64MB.

[ajkula66]

RBS is correct. Take a look at R31's thinkwiki page:

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:R31

Not much of an improvement over your current R30, at least in my opinion.

If you like the build of R series, R40 (not R40e) is a decent machine that can be had for a pittance nowadays. R50/p and above are quite serious and capable laptops for daily use and remain relevant if one is on a tight budget.

pianowizard wrote:

The 15" G41 that I had was awesome.

Agreed. There is something to be said about the sheer raw horsepower of P4 HT CPUs...and these units were actually very well-built in my opinion. The ultimate ugly-duckling-ThinkPads.

If and when I bump into another top-shelf G41, it's getting an IPS transplant and not going anywhere afterwards...

[dr_st]

If and when I bump into another top-shelf G41, it's getting an IPS transplant and not going anywhere afterwards...

Hah! A G41. I challenge you to find a G50(!), and put a high-end CD/C2D and an IPS screen into it. Now that will be a true collectible!

[manfred]

Laptop finally arrived. There is no problem with the speed of the processor - it is 996 mhz.

I have a question about WIFI card. I do not want to risk and buy the miniPCI card, I wonder about the USB and PCMCIA. Which is better? Is USB 1.1 will not slow down the Internet? Is here a simple PCMCIA? (Whether they will fit)

I tested the USB adapter and the internet comes a little slow - CPU fault?

[lead_org]

it was made by Acer-Wistron, which is the production arm of the Acer business and it was spun off as Wistron a while ago.

Wistron produced most of the X series laptops (not sure whether the X100e, X120e, X121e are produced by them or not) and the current X1 and X220 are also produced by them. ThinkPad S30 was produced by them too.

[RealBlackStuff]

You can't go wrong with the Netgear WG511 series PCMCIA cards.
They come in 802.11-G and G/N variants.
But a miniPCI Intel 2200BG with IBM P/N or FRU will also work fine, if your R30 has antenna cables.
You'd probably lose the modem, but who cares?

[ajkula66]

lead_org wrote:

Wistron produced most of the X series laptops (not sure whether the X100e, X120e, X121e are produced by them or not) and the current X1 and X220 are also produced by them. ThinkPad S30 was produced by them too.

I wouldn't be so sure about S30. All the S30/31 units that I've ever seen were built by IBM's Japan division.

manfred wrote:

I tested the USB adapter and the internet comes a little slow - CPU fault?

Not really. It's the USB 1.1 that is slowing you down more than CPU. PCMCIA card is the way to go if your R30 doesn't have internal wireless.

[manfred]

And where can I check if there are antenna cables ?

[ajkula66]

What's the 7-character model number (from the sticker on the bottom) of your R30?

[manfred]

Type: 2656-62g

[RealBlackStuff]

Your machine does not have wifi antennas.
Get a PCMCIA card.+

ThinkPad R30 (2656-62G)
PIII 1.0GHz (256KB), 128MB RAM, 30.0GB HDD, 14.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 8x-3.3x DVD, Modem(CDC), Ethernet, Li-Ion battery, Win98

[manfred]

Thanks a lot. This forum is great....

And one more question: on what parameters of the PCMCIA card I need to pay attention?

[lead_org]

yeap, you are right George.... i confused the S30 with the iSeries ThinkPad. The iSeries was the one that was manufactured by Wistron.

[RealBlackStuff]

Read my earlier post about Netgear...

[manfred]

And is there someone who works on pIII 1ghz laptop? How is the Internet speed? Mine is a bit slow, I don't know if it's an OS problem, Browser or CPU?

[RealBlackStuff]

Lots of very similar T23 (PIII, 1.00, 1.13 and 1.20GHz) with 2x512MB RAM still in circulation.
Majority T23s without built-in wifi, using PCMCIA wifi cards (mostly 802.11G, but also N), some T23s with built-in wifi.
They are all happy.
If yours is slow, it's probably your ISP, slow HD, poor OS, and/or Norton/Symantec/McAfee AV.

[dr_st]

Wistron produced most of the X series laptops (not sure whether the X100e, X120e, X121e are produced by them or not) and the current X1 and X220 are also produced by them

Interesting. Is there a list of which machines were produced by Wistron? Or at least a way to know whether a specific machine was produced by them or not?

[manfred]

And what OS would You recommend to this machine?

[RealBlackStuff]

If it can take 512MB RAM, look for Windows XP-FLP.
You have to 'dig deep' in the web to find it.
(Don't expect help here with getting it.)

[lead_org]

Interesting. Is there a list of which machines were produced by Wistron? Or at least a way to know whether a specific machine was produced by them or not?

not officially, but there are some blueprints of ThinkPads with Wistron printed on them that is circulating on the web, also X1, X220, X200 that i got all have Wistron factory mentioned on the shipping address.

Also, Wistron factory is located near Shanghai, so if your laptop is shipped from Shanghai then there is a good chance that the Laptop is made by Wistron.

W700ds, W701ds (i am not sure about the W700/W701) are also made by Wistron, as the W700ds & W701ds have Wistron listed.

If your laptop is shipped through Hong Kong, then it is not a Wistron produced machine.

[ThinkRob]

not officially, but there are some blueprints of ThinkPads with Wistron printed on them that is circulating on the web, also X1, X220, X200 that i got all have Wistron factory mentioned on the shipping address.

I believe that all "true" X series from the X30 onwards were made by Wistron. I know that they did a bit more than just assembly for a couple of the X series (possibly all of them.)

[manfred]

And someone earlier said that there is the way to upgrade Video memory by RAM. How to do this? Or is it auto?

In Everest program it shows 2x8mb.