BOUGHT a T2x Laptop & Questions

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NTL1991 · #1 Post by **NTL1991** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:17 pm

Well, after losing my vpr Matrix laptop (P4M 1.7Ghz, 512MB) and I think Im missing out on my mobile computing expierence... So now Im looking for either a T22 or T23 Laptop... Are they dependable laptops? I know they dont have wireless, can I install a mini-pci card and antennas or do I have to stick with a PCMCIA card? Also, If I get the T22 with a 900Mhz P3M, can I swap it out with a 1.0Ghz P3M (are they the same freq.?)

Is this a wise choice? I know that I will be downgrading, but I just want a laptop and I heard that a ThinkPad is the way to go...

Thanks,

Nick

mysbca · #2 Post by **mysbca** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:28 pm

Yes, the T22 and T23 are dependable. Some T23s come with built-in wireless -b. The T23 can also accept up to 1GB of PC133 memory; T22 maxes out at 512MB of PC100 memory.

For not much more money, brainpicker has/had a couple of nice T40s for sale.
You get a faster and lower power P-M processor, faster memory, faster USB ports, slightly lighter and thinner case, among other things.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=18525

NTL1991 · #3 Post by **NTL1991** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 8:05 pm

I am looking to spend about $350... I can get a T22 refurb for that at TigerDirect.com or I could get T23 for that on eBay... Im just trying to end my auctions so I can get some money to buy one because 200 isnt enough... I keep on getting outbid

Nick

betabill · #4 Post by **betabill** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 10:18 pm

Get the T-23, then up the ram to 1gig and the HD to 40-60 gig @ 5400 rpm. This constitutes a large improvement over the earlier T2x series.

Thinkpads are tough and very reliable. Thats why end-of-lease refurbs are so plentiful. I have re-asssembled 3 T2x series notepads in the past 6 months, I guess I'm hooked on them.

Temetka · #5 Post by **Temetka** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 10:44 pm

I would get the T23. Mine is pretty a pretty good reference point:

1.2GHz Pentium 3M
768MB PC133 SCDRAM (Max: 1GB)
60GB 5400 RPM Fujitsu HD w/ 16MB Cache
T30 Battery (pick one up, they hokd about 20% more than the stock battery)
DVD/CD-RW
Zip 250
Floppy
Ultrabay battery

The LCD on mine tops at 1024x768 but you can ones that go up to 1400 x 1050. I will be upgrading mine soon.

The built in wireless stops at 11MBs (802.11a iThink). I do believe you can get a 3rd party card that goes upto 54MBs / sec (802.11b or g).

I love my T23. It's as solidly built as my Powerbook G3 (Apple can build some amazing laptops when they want to). This machine is also extremely light. The keyboard is the standard IBM legendary KB that is raved about in nearly every review. Having switched to to OS X years ago, this machine is my tie to the windows world. While not top of the line it still performs rather admiriably. I get so many questions from people who see it running. A lot of them are carrying Dells or Toshiba's. Most of the Compaq owners have Armada's which are pretty good machines by themselves.

A lot of these machines are coming off lease right now (Mine came from good ol' Uncle Sam via E-Bay). Some great deals are to be had.

I should state that in the 6 months or so that I have had this machine, Windows has never crashed on me. Nor have I had any performance related problems due to windows habit of corrupting itself like a cancer (SP2 seems to have fixed a lot).

My point:

If you are debating between the T22 and T23 go for the T23. Faster bus, better video, better cpu, better everything. The price difference is negligable between the two, but the performance gap is not. The T23 is IMO much faster. I credit the improved bus and video as the main factors followed closely by the CPU.

ttan98 · #6 Post by **ttan98** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 4:19 am

I have both T22 and T23. The price between these 2 models is about $100-$120 the most. I will go for the T23, the latter will compare favorbly with the modern laptop, also it has a better IDE thereby fully utilise the latest hard disk if you will upgrade in future.

My T23 runs at 1.2 G, it is quite fast with a new 5400rpm drive.....

BruisedQuasar · #7 Post by **BruisedQuasar** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:12 pm

[quote="NTL1991"]I am looking to spend about $350... I can get a T22 refurb for that at TigerDirect.com or I could get T23 for that on eBay... Nick[/quot

You may want to consider getting a refurbished T-23. Some users have said here that they got one direct for less than Tiger sells them.

I was a regular Tigerdirect customer before Tiger was an online seller. Recently, I noticed a major change has occured. For the first time I am also hearing complaints about Tiger from my friends, complaints about arrogant policies and arrogant sales-customer service staff. Anytime a company goes to sales people also serving as customer service that signals a serious change in customer service. Before you buy anything over $25 from Tiger be sure to read the terms and policies carefully.

So long as you have no problems, Tiger seems OK. but customer service is no service now and exchange and return policies have changed for the worse.

Of Course, ebay buys are always a crapshoot, since eBay is customer BEWARE!

BruisedQuasar · #8 Post by **BruisedQuasar** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:19 pm

ttan98 wrote:My T23 runs at 1.2 G, it is quite fast with a new 5400rpm drive.....

Are there 5400 Hard Drives that fit right into the hard drive bay without modifications or is it better to get one for the ultrabay and kept the existing HD?

I have a full copy of Windows 2000 Pro (SP2). I take it even IBM drives come empty?

Website · #9 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:21 pm

I too recommend the T23. I have a T30, T23 and a T21. I actually prefer the T30 the most, but given your price range, I would definately recommend the T23.

I was lucky on both my T23 and T30. I picked up my T23 loaded for $280 including shipping off of eBay (Yes, eBay and it was a nice machine...go figure). I picked up the loaded T30 here in the For Sale Forum, for $365 including shipping. These deals are not your standard everyday prices, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time...that and because I wasn't in a hurry I was just checking periodically and lucked out.

dsvochak · #10 Post by **dsvochak** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:48 pm

I keep posting the link to this thread http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=
this time I'll quote from it too:

lilserenity wrote:

T20: Pentium IIIm 650, 700 and 750MHz - 100MHz Bus
T21: Pentium IIIm 750, 800, 850MHz - 100MHz Bus
T22: Pentium IIIm 800, 900, 1GHz - 100MHz Bus

- 512MB max memory and 256KB L2 cache

T23: Pentium IIIm 866, 1000, 1133, 1200MHz - 133MHz Bus (bear in mind the 1133MHz and 1200MHz PIIIm Tualatins are on par with a Pentium 4 1.6Ghz....)

- 1024MB max memory and 512KB L2 cache

I've got an 800Mhz T21 and 1.13 & 1.2 T23's. The T23's are significantly faster than the T21, and appear to be "...on par with a Pentium 4 1.6Ghz" so if you go that route it might not be much of a "downgrade".

You may want to check with Absolute-Raleigh to see what they have available.

Are there 5400 Hard Drives that fit right into the hard drive bay without modifications

Any standard size drive is a direct replacement. I'm using Hitachi 5k100's

betabill · #11 Post by **betabill** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 2:53 pm

I put a new 60 gig 5K100 in my T23 26472GU and it really made a big difference in real-time performance. Only issue I havent sorted out yet is a barely audible 1000hz whine that stops when I move the mouse or scroll the screen.

dsvochak · #12 Post by **dsvochak** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 3:01 pm

barely audible 1000hz whine

Mine are dead silent. The only thing I hear is the fan when it kicks on. You might want to try the Hitachi Feature Tool http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm (about halfway down the page) and play with the acoustic setting to see what happens. I've got mine at Max Performance and still don't have any noise.

NTL1991 · #13 Post by **NTL1991** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 5:30 pm

So I guess I should go with the T23... Is it really comparable with the P4 1.6Ghz? If it was than the t23 would be perfect... I will check around more (and not on eBay) to see the prices. I have like 5 more things selling so that should bring in about 100 to add to my paypal...

Thanks for all your help,

Nick

stuartf · #14 Post by **stuartf** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:52 pm

I am also looking for a T23 to take to China with me (actually for my wife, I have a new T43). Ideally I would get one with a CDrw/DVD and XP, but so far I can only find one or the other. The CDRW/DVD models are loaded with Win 2000, while the XP models have the DVD.

Surely, there are some out there that combine both, but if I had to settle for one or the other, which is the easiest/cheapest to upgrade. Am I foolish wanting the XP OS??

NTL1991 · #15 Post by **NTL1991** » Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:31 pm

I just won a T21 on eBay for $260 (I lied, I did go back and look)

Specs:

IBM ThinkPad T21
Pentium III-M 800Mhz
256MB RAM
30GB Hard Drive
CD-RW Drive
Battery/ AC Adapter

Not bad to just lounge around the couch and surf the inet... Or to take on a couple flights I have coming up...

Now how about the battery. It says it has 62 Cycles on it. Is that alot? I know I will have to buy a new one eventually, but do you recommend the UltraBay Battery Pack?

Thanks,
(A New ThinkPad Owner)

Nick Lester

dsvochak · #16 Post by **dsvochak** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:45 am

1. See this thread for a recent discussion of batteries/charging:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=19088
One thing not mentioned in that thread is when using 2 batteries the Ultrabay battery will always discharge first.

2. You may want to consider an Ultrabay 2000 floppy drive. The T21 will not boot from USB (T23 will). If you ever need to boot from something other than the hard drive you will either need a bootable CD or the Ultrabay floppy drive. There are usually a lot of them on eBay. Just search for Ultrabay 2000 Floppy Drive".

3. For stuartf, you can usually find combo drives on eBay for less than copies of XP. As best I can recall, W2K recognizes the drive when it's plugged into the ultrabay. Beyond that, all I will say is I prefer XP to W2K.

ice · #17 Post by **ice** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 1:04 pm

NTL1991 wrote:I know they dont have wireless, can I install a mini-pci card and antennas or do I have to stick with a PCMCIA card?

My T23 was not wifi ready. There was modem card in mini-pci but I installed wlan card there. I bought Intel Pro wireless 2915ABG card and two short antennas. Photo where an other antenna and card are installed already. It's working very well!

betabill · #18 Post by **betabill** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:37 pm

ICE
I'm glad to hear that they make a "G" combo card, btw where did you route the antenna?

NTL1991 · #19 Post by **NTL1991** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:58 pm

Well, I'm gunna reinstall 2000 Pro when I get it. I like XP Better, But I think it will improve proformance and I kinda like the clean look of 2000 Pro...

As for the Floppy Drive, There is a place in the same state as me that sells on eBay (Thinkpads-R-Us) and I can get one there. There only like 8.95 plus 2 dollar shipping since I live so near. I was thinking about the travel bezel, but that would defeat the purpose if I got a Ultra Bay 2000 Battery...

Nick

BTW, I like now having a company that still exists and is popular. My vprMatrix (Best Buy Brand) Laptop was sold in parts because they are so expensive to fix because they dont make them anymore and they are not popular... With the TSeries you can get parts like the Palm Rest Bezel, Keyboard, LCD relatively cheap...

xnjselfdestructx · #20 Post by **xnjselfdestructx** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:24 pm

1.2GHz Pentium 3M
768MB PC133 SCDRAM (Max: 1GB)
60GB 5400 RPM Fujitsu HD w/ 16MB Cache
T30 Battery (pick one up, they hokd about 20% more than the stock battery)
DVD/CD-RW
Zip 250
Floppy
Ultrabay battery

What is that a refrence to. And where do i find it. I wanna see all my system specs

dsvochak · #21 Post by **dsvochak** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 11:40 pm

I wanna see all my system specs

Go here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/
and either choose "detect my system" or enter the product number (found on the bottom of the machine as "Type"on the sticker that contains the serial number. Either 2647-XXX or 2648-XXX). This will take you to a gigantic amount of information regarding support, downloads & drivers, manuals, etc.

Temetka · #22 Post by **Temetka** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:47 am

xnjselfdestructx wrote:1.2GHz Pentium 3M
768MB PC133 SCDRAM (Max: 1GB)
60GB 5400 RPM Fujitsu HD w/ 16MB Cache
T30 Battery (pick one up, they hokd about 20% more than the stock battery)
DVD/CD-RW
Zip 250
Floppy
Ultrabay battery

What is that a refrence to. And where do i find it. I wanna see all my system specs

Those are my specs. I just upped the ram tro a full gig, made a good performance jump.

NTL1991 · #23 Post by **NTL1991** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 9:56 pm

OK. I got my laptop and I LOVE It, so after I set it all up with a fresh copy of Windows 2000 Pro and all my software like Office, Streets and Trips, and Some games, I installed Mobile Meter and I get these Temps. Are these normal for a T21?

Freq: 800Mhz
Temp: 65c
Charge Rate: 16.04w
HDD 0: 42.0c

Nick

briank · #24 Post by **briank** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 8:20 am

betabill wrote:I put a new 60 gig 5K100 in my T23 26472GU and it really made a big difference in real-time performance. Only issue I havent sorted out yet is a barely audible 1000hz whine that stops when I move the mouse or scroll the screen.

My T22 has the exact same problem. A faint whine that is affected by activity such as browser scrolling or when the hard drive is accessed. Yes, that is the main thing that seems to affect it. It momemtarily stops when the hard drive light goes on.

I just replaced the hard drive in it from an old IBM 4200rpm 20GB to a new 40GB 5400rpm Hitachi. The noise didn't change at all, so it leads me to believe its not the hard drive.

Its not the CPU fan either (I think). I can hear when that comes on.

Its faint enough that its not a big deal, but I would like to fix it if possible.

covertash · #25 Post by **covertash** » Mon May 01, 2006 10:09 pm

briank wrote:
betabill wrote:I put a new 60 gig 5K100 in my T23 26472GU and it really made a big difference in real-time performance. Only issue I havent sorted out yet is a barely audible 1000hz whine that stops when I move the mouse or scroll the screen.
My T22 has the exact same problem. A faint whine that is affected by activity such as browser scrolling or when the hard drive is accessed. Yes, that is the main thing that seems to affect it. It momemtarily stops when the hard drive light goes on.

I just replaced the hard drive in it from an old IBM 4200rpm 20GB to a new 40GB 5400rpm Hitachi. The noise didn't change at all, so it leads me to believe its not the hard drive.

Its not the CPU fan either (I think). I can hear when that comes on.

Its faint enough that its not a big deal, but I would like to fix it if possible.

Sorry to revive an old thread. But the whining might be one of your capacitors. Doesn't necessarily affect the system, but perhaps just your sanity.

silverfast · #26 Post by **silverfast** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:49 pm

Hmm, speaking of max. memory size in T23... are they all able to support 1024MB? I heard that some of T23s are 512MB only and most likely it's about 2647 ones. Correct me if i'm wrong :)

Website · #27 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Thu May 04, 2006 8:51 pm

According to tawbook.pdf, all of the the T23s accept 1GB ram.

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