Thinkpad you've never had?

[Medessec]

I got a failed W700 bottom section(no screen), but with the digitizer palmrest. I got a screen around the same time and soon wound up with a W700 that would power on but wouldn't post. I was between a motherboard and a video card, and thankfully only the video card was the problem.

Getting parts and putting them together is quite a bit more satisfying in the end. But the more laptop you get in a purchase, the more money you generally save.

[Hagony]

Well i have been using the thinkpads in my school, but at that moment didn't realized that it was any different from a normal laptop. Now i have got my eyes on the thinkpad 2013 twist. But cant spend my money on it yet, i got a plan for a new car yet. But soon after that, ill be going for the twist.

[pianowizard]

Well i have been using the thinkpads in my school, but at that moment didn't realized that it was any different from a normal laptop.

Thinkpads *were* special, but most of the current and upcoming Thinkpads aren't so different from "normal" laptops.

[Medessec]

Indeed- but it still depends. However the first Thinkpad I experienced really was the 760E, and it sort of characterized in my mind what an old laptop was. It wasn't until I saw a bunhc of other old laptops from different makers that I realized... Thinkpads were really something.

[600X]

I really want to own a S30 one day. I've had one in my hands once and it was a dream.

[PowerPC]

I'd like to collect a number of models, the ones difficult to get will be the PC110 (somewhat 'easy', they appear sometimes at Yahoo Auctions) and the 850 (not the 860 because of it supporting only the previous AIX version, compared to the 850). A few months ago there was one being sold in the forum, but I wasn't here yet. It probably will take years until another one is available for sale, and it *will* be expensive.

All the other ones can be, as a last resource, assembled *now* from parts widely available at high prices. I'm not complaining about the prices, they are the very reason why these parts are available, but it would take much longer to have enough money to buy everything. For the next months, I'm going to concentrate on maxing out an A31p and frankenpadding my T60.

And of course everyone wants a W701ds. Everything else I want has IBM branding, but I wouldn't mind owning one.

[ajkula66]

For the next months, I'm going to concentrate on maxing out an A31p and frankenpadding my T60.

Be mindful of A31p's (vint)age when maxing it out. It's easy to kill them - especially nowadays - if you go CPU-happy with something like 2.6 GHz.

They do *not* have good ventilation. The inadequate cooling was their downfall from day one.

[PowerPC]

Be mindful of A31p's (vint)age when maxing it out. It's easy to kill them - especially nowadays - if you go CPU-happy with something like 2.6 GHz.

They do *not* have good ventilation. The inadequate cooling was their downfall from day one.

[/quote]

Note taken. I read the threads here an in several other places, I'm going to install a 2.4GHz CPU.

When I said maxing out, I was thinking on peripherals. Numpad, camera, those nice extras that make the A31p the best IBM machine (Lenovo's is, of course, the W701ds).

Sometime in the future my T60 will be too slow (even with one of the NOS Frankenpad boards I bought from TuuS, still in the customs). I was thinking originally to try to fit something more modern inside a T60, but an A31p provides more space (Numpad in one Ultrabay, HD in another, and the case is thicker). And the monitor housing is thicker, maybe there is space to squeeze one of those secondary W70xds panels).

[RealBlackStuff]

Check this out for old/new development: new T50 motherboards with i3 CPU, to be put in a T43/p
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=110787

[PowerPC]

Check this out for old/new development: new T50 motherboards with i3 CPU, to be put in a T43/p
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=110787

I'm always the last one to know about these things.

Better late than never. On my way to buy a shell in good cosmetic state.

[LegendaryKA8]

I think as far as ThinkPad goes, the W701ds would have been my holy grail. Unfortunately the current crop of Lenovo hardware hasn't whet my appetite.

Don't get me wrong. I love my classic ThinkPads, but I needed something with some serious punch and I went in a different direction. I say 'would have been' as I've just picked up a Dell Precision M6700. Screen is decent even though it is 16:9, and there's an IPS solution I can upgrade to. Ivy Bridge quad-core CPU, Kepler workstation GPU, and with the micro-SATA slot up to four internal storage devices. Moreover, Dell kept away from the chiclet keyboards with this generation of hardware and the build quality is pretty decent. It pains me to say it, but it took me going outside of the ThinkPad line to find a new system that has the features I've come to expect from the tried and true classic hardware.

So, with the gripe over and everything said... I think I'd pick up another 4:3 Flexview T60p to replace the one I had a while back. Might even consider frankensteining some newer hardware into it. That would be a pretty nice all-rounder. Either that or getting my T500 back up to snuff. Decisions, decisions..

Edit, as I didn't see the above link: Really, now... someone's about to make Sandy Bridge boards that'll fit in the T60 chassis? Manage a halfway decent discrete GPU for that and that's going to -really- get my attention. Consider my interest piqued...

[Thinkpaddict]

Yes, the 240Z (I had a 240X) are very nice machines, small form factor, very powerful for the time, and still usable. I used mine up until 2 years ago for general purpose (web browsing, email, etc), as well as a cheap on-vehicle GPS before dedicated GPS devices were really affordable.

The 240X I had was a very nice machine, but the finish is not up to more modern standards (the cover is basic plastic which does scratch easily, much like the 540). I think the zenith as far as build / fit / finish is concerned was reached around the time the X24 / T23 came out. Perhaps even the T4x line, although I perceive them as not as good perhaps because they are a little flimsier due to the thinner chassis (never pick up a T4x with one hand, remember that warning in the forum?)

Personally, I would like to get my hands on a mint 701. If for nothing else, for the mythical butterfly keyboard. Also one of the 600 series.

On a more practical vein, I'd like to procure several X200/X201 series Thinkpads to run legacy Windows XP software. Possibly even additional X61 units (I have one now which I'm very happy with) for the same purpose.

The one Thinkpad I've added recently to my collection which I'm most pleased with is a mint T23. The T23 was my second Thinkpad (after an X31 which was returned to IBM due to BSOD issues related to the graphics card), and my favorite in many ways still today. Great form factor, and a very beautiful machine (Ohhhh,,, those sweet angled edges... )

[Thinkpaddict]

Check this out for old/new development: new T50 motherboards with i3 CPU, to be put in a T43/p
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=110787

This is nice! If that mobo is reliable, I will need to get a mint T43 body in eBay to give it a try.

[Temetka]

240x and a T61 widescreen model would have been the only other 2 Thinkpad's I would have wanted to get my hands on.

For years I kept to the T4x series with an X41T thrown in. I loved those machines. Nice size, good weight, nice battery life, and of course Thinkpad quality. I have friends who have had G and A series machines and I just wasn't impressed enough to actually want one. Sure they are great machines, and my friends really enjoyed them - but for me they didn't didn't get my motor running. Same with the T30's.

I did own a T23. Now that machine I loved. I had the internal wifi, SXGA+ screen, T30 battery, ultrabay battery and a fast hard drive and max ram. Man that machine rocked. I really loved that it had a built in 9-pin serial port. At the time I was in college working on a degree in information security and that serial port came in very handy for talking to our cisco routers and switches in the labs. One my lab partners would often borrow my T23 because in his words, it was the best machine in the lab. This was about 4 years ago. That was also when I had my T41p. My Thinkpad's impressed him so much he ran out and bought himself a widescreen T60. I got him into Thinkpads and he taught me Linux. Well, actually I was already proficient in Linux but with his tutoring I went from an intermediate level user to setting up LAMP servers, doing PEN testing and so on. Man college was a blast.

Sorry for going a bit OT there, but when I talk about my Thinkpads of yore, I tend to get a bit nostalgic.

Thinkpads rock.

[RealBlackStuff]

@Temetka:
If you still love a T23 with internal wifi and SXGA+, I have a very nice one for sale.
If interested, PM me with an offer I cannot refuse...

[Temetka]

@Temetka:
If you still love a T23 with internal wifi and SXGA+, I have a very nice one for sale.
If interested, PM me with an offer I cannot refuse...

It shall live in my memories. While I did love the T23, I have no desire to own another one. It won't be used for anything, so why bother? Between work and my family I don't have much time to dink around with old gear. Also I have gotten into tablets and spending a portion of my free time reading e-books.

I no longer collect Thinkpads or computers in general. I did a purge of about 90% of my computer related stuff. I got rid of about 10 laptops, a few old G3 and older towers + peripherals, boxes of cables and miscellaneous parts, and so on. I kept my Macintosh SEFD and it's bag, mouse and keyboard as well. I have an old Dell P3 something laptop and a PowerBook 5300 that are about to go away as well.

I've found that if I don't use them, than I am generally upgrading and only playing with them. Not only was this using up funds, it was taking away family time. So it went. Now I am down to my X61T and a Dell E6500. Once I finish wiping my data off the E6500 and copying over what I do need, then it will be sold here. My wife and kids have their own laptops. We also have 3 android tablets and 2 printers. So were good on tech.

[Medessec]

To me- abandoning everything with my Thinkpad collection would be a sad day... but I have it all planned out when it needs to happen, considering that I'm in college, and an unanticipated cost(extra semester, array of parking tickets) is inevitable.

First to go would be my vintage Thinkpads, 760 and 770, since those can be picked up from recycle centers for a penny a piece. The G41 would be next(considering if it even could sell), followed by the T30 and 701. After that I'd be making a horrible decision between my W700 and T43p, probably the W700 because it's worth more. And that'd clean me out other than my X60T, which I actually use a lot, so at that point I'd just be broke.

I'm not a wicked all-out collector like some people on here... who have like, all the 3-series and 7-series vintage Thinkpads. Doesn't take you much browsing on this forum to find someone who has a massive collection. But I keep the Thinkpads that really do speak to me. Although, I'd love to start a legitimate collection someday, but that's saved for another point in my life.