Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

T430-T490, T530-T590 Series
Post Reply
Message
Author
Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#1 Post by Whitieiii » Sun Jan 22, 2017 3:41 pm

Just picked up a T430 i5 with 4 gb of ram for $75 with no OS but comes with battery, HDD, and power cord.... don't know what I will do with it... maybe it will become my travel computer... idk

what OS should I install onto it? don't know if I should put windows 7 or windows 10 on it... I like both of them and can't make my mind up
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

RealBlackStuff
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 23809
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Sun Jan 22, 2017 3:54 pm

W7 till 2020.
After that (or earlier if you like) Linux is all you need!
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#3 Post by Whitieiii » Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:01 pm

RealBlackStuff wrote:W7 till 2020.
After that (or earlier if you like) Linux is all you need!
ok ya! my T440s is running windows 10 and never use half the windows 10 specific things but it was way better than windows 8.1 and was free at the time and I didn't wanna pay for windows 7
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

sktn77a
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2055
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 9:44 am
Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#4 Post by sktn77a » Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:23 pm

There are 2 schools of thought on this. If you like having the latest software and can stomach the user interface, then go for Windows 10. If, like me, you pine for the old days of the Windows 97SE user interface, then use Windows 7 - it's well tested and optimal for the T430.
Keith
(Formerly 600E, T21, T30, T40, T41, 2xT42, 2xT61p, T420, 2x Ideapad K1)
(Currently 4xT430, 2xT460, H520S, M910q, M920q, M70q)

brchan
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1345
Joined: Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:43 am
Location: West Lafayette, Indiana

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#5 Post by brchan » Tue Jan 31, 2017 5:39 pm

As much as I dislike W10, I found W10 to be more productive than 7. The interface finally has virtual desktops built-in, and is much better implemented than most of the 3rd party variants for W7. Windows snapping can also easily be done in 4 quadrants. DPI scaling is also improved.
Current Thinkpads: W530 (functional classic keyboard mod), X301, T61, T60, T43, A31p, T23, 600X, 770
Other: mk5 Toughbook cf-19, mk1 Toughbook cf-53

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#6 Post by Whitieiii » Sun Feb 05, 2017 9:32 am

I decided to install windows 7 on it since I don't need the benefits of windows 10 like DX 12 plus I already have windows 10 on my T440s... I do like windows 7 and 10 unlike some who hate windows 10... I've also installed a backlight keyboard in it as I can't stand the thinklight at all and as it stands I have also installed 6 GB of ram.... the T430 now doesn't need to be changed I got it where I want it
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

agklimit
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 9:09 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#7 Post by agklimit » Sat Mar 11, 2017 3:01 am

I just picked up a really nice (looks almost new) T430 2347 on ebay. Honestly, I wouldn't bother with anything else other than W10 Pro it came with. Not a huge fan of W10, but it works well, and everything (in terms of hardware and all functionality) works just perfectly.

I still use my old trusty T400, but mainly as "media server" into which I remote using RDP (I found that this works fabulously on W10, it's really sometimes hard to tell whether I'm in the host desktop or the remote desktop).

I could whinge about the display (the 1366 variant) or less-than perfect touchpad, but overall it's a dream ThinkPad and it sure leaves some of the brand new laptops (that go for many times the price I paid) looking almost like a joke.

(I was on ebay actually looking for a T530, but this T430 deal was just too good*).

*Price not specified, as I'm in Australia and everything is more expensive here than in many other places - even used stuff on ebay. I know from experience whenever I tell overseas people what I paid for something, they think I'm nuts. :mrgreen:
ThinkPad Yoga 260, ThinkPad T430 2347, ThinkPad T400 2768, ThinkPad T400 2765, ThinkPad R51

Temetka
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2794
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:27 am
Location: Weippe, ID

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#8 Post by Temetka » Sat Mar 18, 2017 3:59 am

I just bought a T430s off e-bay. i5, 4GB, 128GB SSD, 1600x900, etc. $189+shipping. The seller had a ton of them as well as a good feedback history. It should arrive next week.

I'm both looking forward to it and having some buyers remorse. You see I really, really love my X301. But it's CPU is a tad slow for my needs but still serviceable in this day. I'm running BunsenLabs Linux on it right now and it has 6GB of RAM. I do need to reload the OS and dual boot Windows so I can use the ESXi vShpere client and our remote agent for work. God I wish they made and X302. This machine is perfect (almost).

But the T430s is on paper a far superior machine. I'm hoping that when it arrives, I will fall in love with it. If not, up for sale it goes. I know I can get another year, maybe 2 out of this X301 if I need to. But I've always liked the look of the T430s. It's very aesthetically pleasing to my eye and I do want to try out the new keyboard as well. It's a $200 experiment at this point. If I sell it, I'll throw the money at a larger SSD for my X301, some nice beer and call it a day. I'll keep you guys posted on it.
New:
Thinkpad T470 16GB RAM 250GB SSD LinuxMint
Old:
ThinkPad Tablet 16GB 1838-22U
IBM Thinkpad X61T, T61, T43, X41T, T60, T41P, T42, T410, X301, T430s, T450, T460

Tasurinchi
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 2156
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:38 am
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#9 Post by Tasurinchi » Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:27 am

T430s are nice machines. Don't forget you can retrofit a 7 row keyboard rather easily, and of course do the famous FHD Mod!

CPU wise, IMO you should expect a good performance increase compared to the old Core2Duo SU9x000 generation. :wink:
IBM Convertible 5140/L40SX/220/240/240X/2*340CSE/360PE/365XD/380D/380E/380XD/380Z/390/560E/560X/2*570/2*600/600E/750Cs/755C/760CD/760EL/760XD/770E
A20p/A22p/A31/i1600/G40/R50p/R61i/S30/SL510/2*T22/4*T4x/11*T6x/6*T40x/6*T5x0/3*W5x0/W700/3*X2x/4*X3x/3*X4x/5*X6x/3*X6xT/12*X2xx/4*X30x/Z60m/3*Z61x

Temetka
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2794
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:27 am
Location: Weippe, ID

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#10 Post by Temetka » Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:35 pm

Tasurinchi wrote:T430s are nice machines. Don't forget you can retrofit a 7 row keyboard rather easily, and of course do the famous FHD Mod!

CPU wise, IMO you should expect a good performance increase compared to the old Core2Duo SU9x000 generation. :wink:
Thanks, I was already aware of those 2 mods. But the KB mod doesn't provide 100% compatibility AFAIK and my eyes are getting to old to appreciate the FHD mod on a small screen. I'm just going to use it as it is. I'm actually looking forward to trying out the new keyboard.

As far as CPU speed is concerned, that's the primary reason I bought it. That being said my X301 handles everything I need from a portable PC at this point in time. So this is an experiment. If I'm not blown away and or instantly in love with the machine - up for sale it goes. I really love my X301 but I also have to be realistic and understand that it has 1 maybe 2 more years of active duty life left in it before I turn it into a machine to play my old retro games on. Shame they never made a newer version of it with an IPS LCD and a Core i3/i5 CPU. It'd be perfect.
New:
Thinkpad T470 16GB RAM 250GB SSD LinuxMint
Old:
ThinkPad Tablet 16GB 1838-22U
IBM Thinkpad X61T, T61, T43, X41T, T60, T41P, T42, T410, X301, T430s, T450, T460

Tasurinchi
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 2156
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:38 am
Location: Zurich, Switzerland

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#11 Post by Tasurinchi » Tue Mar 21, 2017 2:19 am

Temetka wrote:But the KB mod doesn't provide 100% compatibility AFAIK and my eyes are getting to old to appreciate the FHD mod on a small screen
I did the retrofit to a couple of T430 and X230 and as far as I remember only the CapsLock LED doesn't work.
Temetka wrote:So this is an experiment. If I'm not blown away and or instantly in love with the machine - up for sale it goes.
Design-wise, the T430s cannot compete against the X301, I'm curious to see the outcome of your experiment :wink:
IBM Convertible 5140/L40SX/220/240/240X/2*340CSE/360PE/365XD/380D/380E/380XD/380Z/390/560E/560X/2*570/2*600/600E/750Cs/755C/760CD/760EL/760XD/770E
A20p/A22p/A31/i1600/G40/R50p/R61i/S30/SL510/2*T22/4*T4x/11*T6x/6*T40x/6*T5x0/3*W5x0/W700/3*X2x/4*X3x/3*X4x/5*X6x/3*X6xT/12*X2xx/4*X30x/Z60m/3*Z61x

Temetka
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2794
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:27 am
Location: Weippe, ID

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#12 Post by Temetka » Tue Mar 21, 2017 4:02 am

Tasurinchi wrote:I did the retrofit to a couple of T430 and X230 and as far as I remember only the CapsLock LED doesn't work.

Design-wise, the T430s cannot compete against the X301, I'm curious to see the outcome of your experiment :wink:
No caps lock LED is not a deal breaker but also isn't purely 100% compatible. (splitting hairs here).

Also, AFAIK no Thinkpad equals the X301 in terms of design - which bothers me. It's a wonderful little laptop and I've grown very attached to it.
New:
Thinkpad T470 16GB RAM 250GB SSD LinuxMint
Old:
ThinkPad Tablet 16GB 1838-22U
IBM Thinkpad X61T, T61, T43, X41T, T60, T41P, T42, T410, X301, T430s, T450, T460

dr_st
Admin
Admin
Posts: 9691
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 6:20 am
Location: Israel

Re: Just picked up a Thinkpad T430 for cheap!

#13 Post by dr_st » Tue Mar 21, 2017 5:24 am

The things that don't work retrofitting the classic keyboard are:
* Caps Lock LED
* Fn+F12 (Hibernate)
* Fn+F3 (Screen off / Power Manager)
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad T430-T490 / T530-T590 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 52 guests