Thinkpads Forum

I have 3 of the 600 series (2 600 & 1E). I have upgraded the memory on the 600E & put a PIII processor in it. But realistically Has it come to a point to treat it like a "beater" drive it into the ground. I realise that it is quality workmanship in its construction and design.

Do I have to join the throw away society? It is difficult to justify spending $2 -300 to keep these units running (should anything else possibly die) when yes it may be a poc but a new low end notebooks are going for around $400. These units will not last as long as the thinkpads and may have a life expectancy of 2 - 3 years. However in terms of performance the processors are at least twice as fast as what I have now, memory is probably 4 times what I have now and hard disk is again 4 - 5 times what I have now. Throw in the possibility of a DVD/cd burner USB 2.0 and a battery life of at least twice I have now.

I have found I do like the track point keyboard sadly not available on PC's I have seen.

Any comments? or rays of hope?

It's a judgement call that depends on your needs. If your current 600-whatever is no longer meeting your needs, and you've come close to maxing it out, then it probably is time for a new (or a more recent second-hand) computer.

There are some folks on this forum whose needs are met by laptops that are considerably older and less powerful than an upgraded PIII 600E. Only you can know if your 600 series machines still meet your needs.

For my needs, the 600X PIII 750MHz 576MB 40GB still does everything I need. I have a docking station that provides upgraded sound, video, and USB ports. And when mobile I use a combo PCMCIA Firewire/USB 2.0 card. I've got a DVD burner that burns at 4x just great. My battery lasts about 1.5 hrs., and with the 2nd battery installed in the bay I can go for 2.5 hrs. That's everything I need.

Phil.

Hey people are still using the 760's at a whopping 120-133mhz...

As for replacement parts, they have really dropped in prices. You can buy a working 600E for less than $100 now, so it would be very easy to repair something on them if something were to fail....you wouldn't be anywhere near the $2-300 mark.

Or you could pick up a nice T40/T41/T42 (or X31, if you prefer portability) for around $500?

If your job requires a lot of typing, and it would be inconvenient to lug around a keyboard to plug into your laptop, you cannot beat a ThinkPad. So long as it can handle the programs you need, it is worth the expense to keep it running. I bought a Gateway M500B1 notebook because it was too good a deal to pass up. I wish I'd saved my money for a few more months and bought a T30 off of eBay. As it is, I am reverting to my 600E because I can't stand typing on the Gateway.

ChefJohn wrote:Do I have to join the throw away society? It is difficult to justify spending $2 -300 to keep these units running (should anything else possibly die)

If I were you, I would sell the two 600's but keep the 600E. Get a used but nice T42 for $500 - $600 and use the 600E as a backup.

I agree with Piano;

Keep the E, just think of what it is going to do in three years time when solid state disks become mainstream!

losmeme wrote:Keep the E, just think of what it is going to do in three years time when solid state disks become mainstream!

Good point, but won't the mainstream solid-state drives be S-ATA only?

As for my own 600E (See my sig) the only thing I'm somehow worried about is heat. (For the CPU and the disk mainly) I'll maybe replace the heatsink with a 600X dito. Also the surface on the inside, around the speakers, is starting to be torn from my hands resting there. But that's no big deal.
700 MHz PIII is just enough for my needs, and I think mine will last for another 2-3 years, at a maximum repair cost of $100-$200

I just laid my 600 to rest after 5-6 years of great service, the mainboard died, and the power supply went as well. I weighed my options, the 600 had a mess of dead pixels, the battery life was all of 15-20 minutes. some keys on the keyboard quit working. it just wasn't worth it anymore, considering I had already replaced the mainboard once. the 300mhz beast still more or less suited my needs, but with a T23 being so cheep. thats what I went after.