New ThinkPadder-just bought a T41 type 2374!!

[iThinkiAmBen]

Yay! This is my first post here. Long story short, I love Macs. Adore them. However, the time came to sell my PowerMac G4, and I had a little extra cash laying around, so i decided to spring for a laptop. Fortunately, the local Craigslist is positively BRIMMING with ThinkPads, so I was steered in the direction of a T41.

So, here it is. I have the model with a 1400x1050 screen, a 1.6GHz processor, 1GB RAM, and the Radeon 9000.

The build quality on these is friggin' AMAZING!!! The best notebook keyboard i've ever used! I soon hope to put 2 gigs of RAM in this thing, and possibly a 7200RPM disk.

Yeah, this is kinda a pointless post, but I'm happy, so there you go.

One last thing- was $450 for this a decent deal, considering it was bought on December 22? It is practically new, just the keyboard is a teeny bit shiny.

Thanks for listening to me, guys!

[sugo]

Does the T41 come with any warranty?
If the machine works perfectly for the next 12 months, then I think it's a good deal.

[pianowizard]

The build quality on these is friggin' AMAZING!!!

Nonetheless, never pick up the machine by the palmrest with one hand. That has ruined thouands of T4* Thinkpads.

Always use both hands, and grab near the display hinges to avoid bending the mobo.

[iThinkiAmBen]

Hehe. I actually did that carrying it down the stairs, thanks for the heads-up.

[sugo]

Nonetheless, never pick up the machine by the palmrest with one hand.

Second that recommendation. There are users who tell you it has not been a problem for them. I can only say I never grab my 3.5 years old T42 by the palmrest/LCD with one hand. It still has the original motherboard.

[God_Of_Death]

nice price. its a good thing yours comes with the sxga screen. 2gigs of ram and a 7200rpm dive will go a long ways.

[gunston]

Congrats !!!

Welcome to the forum

[ThinkPad]

Congrats. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

[Padhead]

I've got a similar machine, but I am looking at some T60's tomorrow. In fact, tonight I bought two brand new, sealed in box, Lenovo branded T60 power supplies from a guy down the street. $22.00 for the pair. Ya gotta luv it!

(This entire thread is probably laughing because I have been driving everyone nuts asking questions about my upcoming T60 purchase.)

Please take Sugo and Pianowizard's advice seriously, I broke my T41 motherboard about two months after I bought it, by grabbing it one-handed by the right palm rest. It was under warranty, and they covered it.

Get yourself a 7200RPM hard drive. It makes a huge difference. I didn't notice a huge difference going from 1.5 GB's RAM to 2 GB's RAM, but the hard-drive upgrade was night and day. They sell the 7200's on here from time to time. In fact, there is a guy selling new Hitachi's on this board now.

The nine cell batteries seem like they last all day on these babies! real nice. I also carry a spare Ultra drive battery.

I can burn DVD's as well! It's a sweet machine. It's either the most quiet T series that I have ever owned or maybe I can hear as well anymore.

[iThinkiAmBen]

Hey everyone, thanks for the welcome! I'll probably stick a 7200RPM disk in her, now that I've read your replies.

Oh yeah fparisi, I am following everyone's advice. I just meant that I had done it once, but now I know!

On another note, my stepmom has a T42. With extended battery. Seeing as all she does is check email on it.....

anyway. how much do the extended batteries cost? Mine only lasts like an hour and 45 minutes. And, finally, how much of a pain is it to install a new hard drive myself?

[God_Of_Death]

i buy my batts from ebay (yea, i know)

i know newegg sells batts for these laptops.

replacing the hd is simple. you don't need to open the laptop to do so. just remove the proper screw and pull the hd caddy gently.

[iThinkiAmBen]

Thanks a lot! Excellent about the hard drive, I was just wondering, because the only laptop I've worked on extensively is an iBook, and they are A LIVING HELL to take apart.

[Padhead]

It looks like the low priced batteries have pretty much pushed out most of the good batteries on ebay. I have been burnt so many times on ebay buying non-OEM laptop batteries that I would have to have my head examined if I were to buy another one.

There's a company that makes some good stuff for the IBM T series. Hi-Capacity is their name. They don't
sell direct, here is their reseller list: http://www.hi-capacity.com/resellers.aspx
Battery Values and DS Miller resellers had the best prices tonight.

If searching on ebay look for auctions in North America only, so some of the good stuff comes up in their limited search returns. There is some good batteries on ebay, but there are so many auctions that it is sometimes hard to find them. Use keywords like genuine IBM, and eliminate "non oem" using the advanced search function.

Never buy a battery from a seller that won't warranty it for a year.

BatteryRefill.com will refill worn-out batteries at a much lower price than buying a new one. And they re-cell them with more dense cells which holds a longer charge. They gaurantee at least 20-40% longer life than a brand new IBM (sony) battery. Batteryrefill.com uses LG brand battery cells, so they are also a good place to buy a "new" battery.
http://www.batteryrefill.com/laptops/ibm/index.phtml

They email a prepaid shipping label to make it easy. It sometimes takes a month to send them in and get them back.

[KristianJ]

On another note, my stepmom has a T42. With extended battery. Seeing as all she does is check email on it.....

Ask her if she's willing to swap batteries...assuming of course that she doesn't unplug the AC adapter all that often. At lease see if you can discharge it for a cycle to see what the battery life is like.

[gunston]

Just do it

[iThinkiAmBen]

On another note, my stepmom has a T42. With extended battery. Seeing as all she does is check email on it.....

Ask her if she's willing to swap batteries...assuming of course that she doesn't unplug the AC adapter all that often. At lease see if you can discharge it for a cycle to see what the battery life is like.

She dies now! cause she won't let me swap... someone took a visit to Grumpytown...

[iThinkiAmBen]

It looks like the low priced batteries have pretty much pushed out most of the good batteries on ebay. I have been burnt so many times on ebay buying non-OEM laptop batteries that I would have to have my head examined if I were to buy another one.

There's a company that makes some good stuff for the IBM T series. Hi-Capacity is their name. They don't
sell direct, here is their reseller list: http://www.hi-capacity.com/resellers.aspx
Battery Values and DS Miller resellers had the best prices tonight.

If searching on ebay look for auctions in North America only, so some of the good stuff comes up in their limited search returns. There is some good batteries on ebay, but there are so many auctions that it is sometimes hard to find them. Use keywords like genuine IBM, and eliminate "non oem" using the advanced search function.

Never buy a battery from a seller that won't warranty it for a year.

BatteryRefill.com will refill worn-out batteries at a much lower price than buying a new one. And they re-cell them with more dense cells which holds a longer charge. They gaurantee at least 20-40% longer life than a brand new IBM (sony) battery. Batteryrefill.com uses LG brand battery cells, so they are also a good place to buy a "new" battery.
http://www.batteryrefill.com/laptops/ibm/index.phtml

They email a prepaid shipping label to make it easy. It sometimes takes a month to send them in and get them back.

Wow, thanks fo the info! I'll probably get a battery as soon as I get some Christmas money...

How long are the normal batts supposed to hold? I can get around two and a half hours in Super Power Saver sometimes.

I'm just used to my old iBook, which gets 5...