Thinkpads Forum

I have a thinkpad that someone gave me. It is a TP T20. It is stripped, no HD, no RAM, no optical drive, no battery, and a broken screen.
First, if I fix it up will it run any better than my TP600E?
And, is it worth fixing?

Thanks!

~susiejo

T20s start out with a Pentium III at 650Mhz and go up to 750Mhz. Your 600E is a Pentium II at 400Mhz. You will probably see about a 50-70% improvement in "speed", all else being the same (OS, memory, etc). Here's how I see the upgrade/repair costs:

- hard drive: $0 if you re-install the OS on your existing 600E drive; about $30 for a 40GB drive
- memory: $0 if you use the memory out of the 600E in the T20; $33 for 256MB (if you can repeat the buy off of eBay)
- optical drive: $10-$15 for a CDROM or DVD; $25 for a combo CDRW/DVD Ultrabay 2000 (can't use your existing 600E unless you change over the caddy)
- battery: $20-$40 if you get one used off of eBay
- screen: guessing that an 13.3" or 14.1" XGA screen will run about $50

So for a minimum of about $80 or a maximum of around $130, you could have yourself a T20. However... there's a couple of things that I have to mention. T20s seem to be susceptible to both the Blink of Death (BoD) problem and CRC boot errors. Either one of those problems are typically solved by another motherboard, which has no guarantee that it will also eventually go that route.

Yeah, if the screen was good I'd say go for it.

But replacing the screen cost $'s and time, and then as RK said once your done there's no guarantee you're going to have working T20...

Advice: Sell your 600e on ebay..You'll get about $80-100.. Take the $130 or so you would have to pump into the T20..

Pool that money and buy a T23...

BillD wrote:Yeah, if the screen was good I'd say go for it.

But replacing the screen cost $'s and time, and then as RK said once your done there's no guarantee you're going to have working T20...

Advice: Sell your 600e on ebay..You'll get about $80-100.. Take the $130 or so you would have to pump into the T20..

Pool that money and buy a T23...

She can actually use the T20 as it is with the ram from the 600E and connect it to an external monitor to see if it already has the BoD or CRC problem, at no additional expense. If it turns out that it boots up with either error, then I would just skip it and use the 600E.

Thanks rkawakami for the break down and for letting me know that some components of my 600e can be used in the T20.

Thanks BillD for the suggestion about the T23. I've always been a 600E kinda person so I don't know much about the others.
Is the T23 a good one?

Thanks tfflivemb2 for the suggestion about the external monitor, I will definitely try that.

Thanks to all!!!

~susiejo

SUSIEJO wrote:Thanks rkawakami for the break down and for letting me know that some components of my 600e can be used in the T20.

Thanks BillD for the suggestion about the T23. I've always been a 600E kinda person so I don't know much about the others.
Is the T23 a good one?

Thanks tfflivemb2 for the suggestion about the external monitor, I will definitely try that.

Thanks to all!!!

~susiejo

I have had and still do have many 600's, there are a great little machine!!

But IMHO T23's can be had for a nice price now, and for the price stepping up to a T23 from a 600e( or T20) will be big leap in performance and speed...

Don't get me wrong the T23 won't do what the new machines of today can do, like run Vista or graphic intensive programs. But it is a nice machine.

Hey Bill,

There's no need to quote an entire message on a forum. It's right there above your note.