How long can a ThinkPad last?

[ozzymud]

The 2nd "dead" machines power button is... difficult... to press... it works FINE, just seems slightly "worn",,, takes a TAD extra oomph to power it on. Prolly just need to clean the contacts or possible repair/replace the switch... but it ain't that bad AT ALL

It arrived sans battery and hard disk, but did have the external floppy... plugged in the floppy, put a dos boot disk in, slid my self rebuilt battery (from 1st 701C) in... and without even thinking the power switch was hard, turned it on... noticed later it needs a tad more pressure then my other 701C.

[Nigellus]

The 2nd "dead" machines power button is... difficult... to press... it works FINE, just seems slightly "worn",,, takes a TAD extra oomph to power it on. Prolly just need to clean the contacts or possible repair/replace the switch... but it ain't that bad AT ALL

It arrived sans battery and hard disk, but did have the external floppy... plugged in the floppy, put a dos boot disk in, slid my self rebuilt battery (from 1st 701C) in... and without even thinking the power switch was hard, turned it on... noticed later it needs a tad more pressure then my other 701C.

I didn't think about that... a lot of people will think their computer is dead if they have even the slightest problem powering up.

For example, you wouldn't believe the number of service calls I've made where I "fixed" the problem by what we call "reseating the power cable" (IT talk for "plugging it in").

[ozzymud]

I would end a "resetting the power cable" problem by asking the customer if they still had the original box the computer came in... yes? Ok, package it back up, send it back, cause your too #%$^#%@$ stupid to own a computer!!!

hehe... ever hear the Dell tech go postal in a phone support call that went EXACTLY like that?

Wonder if that wav file is still floating around...

[Nigellus]

I would end a "resetting the power cable" problem by asking the customer if they still had the original box the computer came in... yes? Ok, package it back up, send it back, cause your too #%$^#%@$ stupid to own a computer!!!

Well, I didn't mind those calls because they still had to pay something like $30/hr for my time plus a $10 fuel surcharge.

[friedrich-eugen]

Hello,

My first Thinkpad 770x was used for about 4 Years handed to a college, is still alive, but - alass - not kicking any more...

My second Thinkpad, an A31P, upgraded in every possible respect (CPU, Memory, HDD,WLAN) has served me from 2002 tiill 2010. It is working still, I intend to test it using Windows 7 and sell it
The third Thinkpad, for my wife, still an A31P, upgrade the same way, bought second hand with ebay, has served from 2003 to 2011. Will be sold, either.
A fourth and fifth Thinkpad, still A31P, upgraded all the same, serve my daughters for their schoolwork since 2006/2007. They use them in combination with Eizo 17" CRT-displays, that are probably clearly over 10 years in service by now. They like them and seem unwilling to give them up (for X60ties in upgraded stile, but no 15" and no IPS-displays9..).

Economically useful time I should probably estimate to be 5 to 7 (max) years, hardware does probably last much longer: The restriction ist set by the hunger (CPU, Graphics, Memory,HD) software shows while development continues. Up to date software does ask for / demand up to date hardware - within some limits.

[ozzymud]

If by up to date software you mean new and needed features, hardware driver support, or just some new app that an older app can't do the job for, then you bet...

Like Flash 10... gotta have the muscle... but for those machines, they can easily be repurposed. Doesn't take much to make an excellent M.A.M.E. machine, a fileserver, router, MythTV frontend, retro gamer, or lots of other stuff. As far as day 2 day usefulness it all depends on the use I don't think anyone can pry the 760XL (P166 @ 104MB RAM) from my 6 year olds grasp... he prolly plays games on it about as much as his Xbox, Wii, 360, PS2, DSi XL or any of the others

As far as software, I'm fine with running like Paint Shop Pro 7... it does ALL I need it to but without the bloat of "updated software"

[cadillacmike68]

I would end a "resetting the power cable" problem by asking the customer if they still had the original box the computer came in... yes? Ok, package it back up, send it back, cause your too #%$^#%@$ stupid to own a computer!!!

hehe... ever hear the Dell tech go postal in a phone support call that went EXACTLY like that?

Wonder if that wav file is still floating around...

That's nothing, WAY BACK in the late 80s, i went on a service call, to fix a machine that "wasn't working"...

I looked at the screen, "Non system disk or disk error". It was a 5.25" floppy boot to an ARCNet based LAN.

I opened the diskette drive door and removed the floppy disk.

As I removed it i noticed that it was upside down.

I flipped it over, re-inserted it and rebooted the machine, which started fine.

Another machine had been "jostled" (their word to me). Um, yeah, the table was nearly broken in 2 and the BNC connector on the ARCnet card was broken off the card. someone had broken the table and knocked the machine to the floor. We had to do some work on that one.

On thinkpads, my two T20 series still work fine - i took the T22 on a few long desert deployments. Those were made in 2001 so 10 years and still going.

The I-series still works, had to have the HDD replaced several years ago, used that opportunity to put W98SE on it. Battery is likely toast though.

My 2GHz T30 fan died - i had it in afghan in 2009, probably got too much fine dust in it. Still looking for a new fan. That one was made in 2003. My other two T30s work fine. One had the 2nd mem slot problem but that's fixed. The other i bought as an IBM refurbished and it's my main machine and it works great, 320GB drive, with 2 250GB secondaries. Just ordered 2 1GB mem modules for it.

The old 760 - i FUBAR'd it trying to clear the power on password which i forgot. looking for help with that one.

700 series with the flip up keyboard and swappable HDD, CD, battery, floppy drive, these were the bada$$ of the laptop world in the 90s.

T20 & T30 series took over that mantle in the early 2000s, I really like the T30, and T22. The T in these stands for Titanium, which is used as a reinforcing metal somewhere in the case.

Never owned a T40 series, but used them at Ft Lee quite a bit. they worked fine, don't know their durability as compared to T20 and T30 series.

Got a T61 for the misses, but that's only 2.7 years old, bought new (with win XP) in Oct 2008. Again durability is an unknown.

The T20/ T30 series can go on forever with some basic maintenance and know how on the part of the owner.

Biggest issue with thinkpads, and this really applies to all laptops, is that the batteris just die. I had 2 T30 batteries die just from having them sit at home while i was in afghan. I bought 1 new one and then promptly lost it so i had to buy another. I'm sure the i-series battery is toast as are the 2 760 batteries. My T20 series batteries both work, but probably only for 10 mins each.

And these older T20 and T30 series batteries are not getting any cheaper.

Mem modules are not an issue for me, i try to buy Kingston with their easy lifetime replacement warranty.

[jdhurst]

>>> Got a T61 for the misses, but that's only 2.7 years old, bought new (with win XP) in Oct 2008. Again durability is an unknown <-- I got my T61p with Vista Business a while back (last T6x available) and it is running fine with Windows 7 Pro now. Hinges have some play, but the machine works perfectly.

>>> Biggest issue with thinkpads, and this really applies to all laptops, is that the batteris just die <--- True, and for all laptops, and for all like devices, because batteries are just active chemistry and nothing more.

... JDH

[ozzymud]

On the battery issue, after sucessfully rebuilding the Ni-MH battery for my 701C, I remembered the same alternative to Li-Ion was offered for the 760's... so I picked up a $5 760 Ni-MH from eBay with the idea of rebuilding it when it came in...

That plan was shot down for the time being as I plugged the battery in, hooked up the charger... and an hour later it actually started charging... got to 100% and actually holds charge (low brightness, CF2IDE for HD, Win95A doing nothing) for almost 2 hours

Ain't ripping that battery apart just quite yet

Currently running it in my "new" 760XD (read 1st modern computer approved by NASA for space )

[rleo25]

i received my T60 on Oct 31 2006, that is nearly 5 years ago, and the whole machine is working in perfect conditions, the case finish looks as if the laptop had arrived some months ago, the screen has no death pixels or color lines and is still very bright. It is running under Win XP and working fine with my business software (All updated versions). The durability of the system is awesome!!! As I see it now I consider in 5 years more it will be still working. My next machine will be the X220 due to arrive tomorrow!

[Likvid]

I bought a T21 back in 2000 from a auction site, used it for 4 years when i bought a brand new T41p and it lasted 2 years before the GPU problems became apparent, luckily i had warranty left so IBM changed the planar board and after that the machine has been great.

After that i put my T41p on steroids, upgraded the CPU to Dothan 2.1GHz, upgraded SDRAM to 2GB and also bought a larger 100GB 7200RPM HDD which was living hell to source new at the time i was looking and eventually found a brand new from China.

2 weeks ago i bought a brand new W510 with FHD screen to replace my T41p and will upgrade it to 16GB and SSD

I always taken care of my things and my old Thinkpads are like mint condition as i never used them much outside my desk, i have changed palmrest and keyboard and other few spares that get polished in the plastics by use.