Manufactured in UK

[salamisami]

Hello all, after casually browsing a local second hand site, an "old laptop for sale" offer caught my eye. 10 euros for a used thinkpad t21 Manufactured in UK. I contacted the seller, but it was unfortunately already sold a day before.

Now I got kind of excited about the idea of acquiring a Thinkpad that was actually made in the old IBM plant in Scotland, and I've been trying to find other thinkpads made in UK, but to no avail. Also, I'm particularly interested in the X-series, since they're much nicer to carry around than T-models.

Which were the last Thinkpads to be manufactured in UK? Perhaps x40? That would be perfect, since a Pentium M would still be a decent mobile CPU, and I'd assume x40s could be found in better conditions than older models.

Last: Where could these UK-made Thinkpads actually be bought? I'm guessing my best luck would be checking Thinkpad sale offers from UK on Ebay?

[rkawakami]

I would say that eBay sellers or forum members from most of the EU countries would have the best chance of sourcing a UK-built Thinkpad. Besides the "Manufactured in the UK" label, how can you tell where the system was built? I believe that the first two characters of the serial number indicate the factory, although I don't know if a code list exists (was told this information by a Lenovo source several years ago). I just tried Googling to see if I could find such a list, but no-go.

If you do locate another UK system and can get the serial number, maybe we can compare it with systems that other forum members in Europe own and we can crowd-source a list of manufacturing locations. Based on my own systems purchased off eBay here in the USA, here's a quick list of the first two characters of the serial numbers and the models that had them (I'll see if I can fill out the "Made in" locations this weekend when I'm planning to clean my home office):

SN  Fact  MadeIn    Models
55  ....  Korea     X22 (w/UK keyboard)
78  ....  Mexico    560, 560Z, 600, 600E, 600X, A22p, A31p, T21, T22, T23, Transnote
78  ....  Japan     600E
97  ....  ?????     Transnote
99  ....  China     A31p, R50, T23, T41, X31, T40, T42, R51
FX  ....  Korea     X22, X24
KP  ....  Mexico    A31p, T23, T30
L3  ICI2  China     X60, X300, X301, Z61p, Z60m, T400, T60, T43, T61, R61i
L3  T     China     X300, X301
L3  H     China     X60
LK  ....  ?????     X61t, T400, T500, R61
LP  ....  ?????     R60
LR  CS10  China     Z60m, Z61t, SL510
LV  KS    China     X41, X41t, X60, X60s, X61, X61s, X200s, R52
MJ  MJ    Mexico    T410
ML  ....  ?????     M58 (tower), SL500
PB  T     China     T420, X131e
R8  T     China     T410, T420, X301
R9  KS    China     X200s

edit: Some serial number code/machine combinations supplied by RealBlackStuff from his inventory. I've noticed on the label of the two T420 systems I have here at work, a "Factory ID:" code. This has been added to the table, as column "Fact", as it might be a more precise indicator of the manufacturing site.

edit2: I'm updating this information as I'm cleaning out my office so some things may change today (1/10/15).

[ajkula66]

Which were the last Thinkpads to be manufactured in UK? Perhaps x40? That would be perfect, since a Pentium M would still be a decent mobile CPU, and I'd assume x40s could be found in better conditions than older models.

You'd have to dig through the forum *really* deep, but several years ago there was a T42 or T42p offered for sale that was built in the U.K. No idea on the X-series, though. The only British-built ThinkPad I've ever seen on this continent was an A30p, but that was a long, long time ago...

Last: Where could these UK-made Thinkpads actually be bought? I'm guessing my best luck would be checking Thinkpad sale offers from UK on Ebay?

I'd venture the same guess...

[Dekks]

I've got a T21 that's a 55 with a Greenock Made in Scotland Label. I've seen 600 series machines with Greenock labels on Youtube too.

[FryPpy]

My 0.2c
Thinkpad T20 2647-21G - bought here in Russia (but not by myself) with Ru keyboard - "Manufactured by IBM UK Ltd. Greenock...."
SN 55-26.. - same on MTM label and in BIOS.
Pretty sure this one haven't been deeply serviced before i have put hands on it.

Other IBM Thinkpads i have (i don't know their history). Only can write SN and production plant for statistics.
T23 - UK - 55-WN.. - with 02K5537 (Swedish or Finnish keyboard)
T30 - Mexico - 78-F6..
A31p - UK - KB-MM.. - from Germany with German Keboard
X31 - China for IBM USA - 99-NK.. - bought here in Russia with Ru keyboard (but i don't know history)
X32 - China for Lenovo (05/09 - is the X32 was build by Lenovo like X41 and T43&?) - L3-B2.. From UK with UK keyboard????
X41t - China for Lenovo - LV-F9
T43p - China for Lenovo - L3-XG

Conclusions and guesses
SN starting with Lx (x - any letter or digit) - made in China for Lenovo


Plants are supplying Thinkpads to nearby areas e.x.
UK - for EU
Mexico for both Americas, USA for USA (and IMHO mainly for government and other federal structures)
China, TW and Japan for Asia. May be some plants become more active in different time frames.

Sometimes when one plant have troubles other begin exporting to this region (how this X32 from China arrived in UK market?)

Ooooppps Necroposter