Question for the Lenovo vets --R60 value?

Hey guys,

I have a possible chance to pick up an R60 (Type 9462-95U). Core Duo T2400E (I think I have a low-end C2D I got free I can swap out), 512MB RAM (I have the RAM to put it to a gig, also got free), ATI X1300 64MB, standard configuration, which I've found here:

http://www.superwarehouse.com/IBM_ThinkPad_R60_9462_Notebook/946295U/ps/1484337

The guy wants $215. It needs a new keyboard (I can snag one for less than $20) and the battery is shot (though there's a chance it's on the recall list, if so, automatic freebie). I was thinking of offering between $180-200 upon inspection. What do you guys think in terms of value?

I'd probably turn it around again once I've cleaned it up a little, since I really don't need it. I just hate seeing a good ThinkPad go to waste.

 

if you can keep the total price under 250 I would say its worth it. Granted Im not a thinkpad vet past my t400, but I can say that the early core/core 2 series were awesome especially with an ATI card. What is the screen resolution?

 

Haha, GPU power, don't expect to play any newer games, maybe CoD 2, but the X1300 is just a charged up OC'ed X300, which my T43 has, processing power could be pretty good with the C2D though so you could play CoD 2 very good.

 

It seems a bit high given the battery needs to be replaced. If you can get the battery replaced, then the value is higher. You can probably do better on eBay if you can be patient. The GPU has little value as it's barely better than integrated GPUs offered now. Better yet, buy it and swap in a FlexView screen. You'd have a something special.

 

On the screen --at least according to the model type he gave me (posted above) it appears to be a 15" 1024x768 screen. Not ideal. If it was the 1400x1050 display, I wouldn't even be mulling it over, I'd purchase it.

TPKB, I don't look at ThinkPads as gaming machines anyway, more business workhorses. Actually, I don't even look at laptops as gaming machines --I'm kind of old-school, and gaming laptops cost the most, depreciate the fastest, and (as far as the gaming world goes) become obsolete the quickest.

I'm kind of on the fence. It's probably an IBM-built machine (as opposed to Lenovo). I have parts to upgrade it that cost me nothing, and even if it doesn't have restore discs, I can make a copy of them since the T61 XP discs will likely do the job.

OTOH, it still will only have 1GB of RAM when I'm done (based on the parts I have on hand that have cost me nothing), and the display resolution is average. I think I'll hold off for now. Thanks for helping me make up my mind, guys.

 

With that resolution unless you can screen swap for cheap I wouldn't get it. But then again I am a resolution junky.

 

Hi guys, don't want to hijack the thread, but I want to give to my dad a laptop, he is used to Windows XP and the only tasks he does is checking the e-mail and read .pdf files, maybe some Office documents from time to time.

I have a $300 budget, maybe $350, and he likes the Thinkpad kind of laptops, so I was wondering what could be a good option according to his needs?

 

Doesn't sound like that great of a deal. I recently sold my T61p w/ nVidia quadro fx570, 1gb ram, 80gb hard drive, 1400x1050 screen, and a battery that held 96% of its original capacity...no problems, nothing to fix, perfect machine. I also included the original factory restore discs. I sold it for $275.

Some people just want way too much for their old stuff.

 

When the deal to purchase Thinkpads was finalized, the T43 et al was the machine being cranked out, but I think you're right in the sense that the T60, R60, X60 and Z61 are probably the last IBM ThinkPads and a great swan song to got out on.

 

Anyone can help?

 

if you can get it for 200 dollars and there is no sign of it been damaged or dropped and the LCD is still bright with no visible artifacts. Then 200 dollars is not too bad, if you can get it down to 170 dollars would be even better.

On a side note i thought the 2x00E processor was ever made in the T2300 format, and no T2400 had the E designation.

 

Well the designers and engineers for Thinkpad have mostly remained at Lenovo after their take over, so the transition is fluid.

The design changes is a response to change in the need of the customers and lowering of production cost for thinkpads, the price did drop a lot between the T43 to T60 transition, some of the fit and finish did also deteriorate as a result of the change, but the overall robustness have improved significantly with the addition of internal Mg rollcage.

 

What about a Thinkpad Z60t with a Pentium M 750 1.86GHz for $320?

 

You can get a Z61t for 250 dollars AUD in Australia, i don't think it will be that expensive in north america.

I would definitely not get a Z60t for that price, since it is T43.... the Pentium M cpu is getting bit long in the tooth... at that price i would looking at a T60.

 

The Z series was fairly thick too, but the Z60m might be pretty cheap but has all the features of the T61's, card reader, firewire etc.

 

Thanks for the advice lead_org.

So, I'd be better watching a T60 for the same price? The laptop is for my dad, and I don't want to buy it through craiglist or ebay, I have seen a T60 with a Intel Core Duo T1300, 512MB RAM, 40GB HDD and what not for the same price. 90 days warranty through IBM. Is it worth it? I don't want to spend more because my dad rarely uses the PC.

 

Was the Z60 line a premium Thinkpad in it's time?

The one I saw on the IBM factory outlet through ebay is pretty nice, except for the Pentium M processor.

Is there a website that sells refurbished laptops for cheap? I have looked at overstock and they have one or two that fit the bill.

 

no such thing as a T1300 Core Duo, it is a core solo CPU. Check marketplace forum.thinkpads.com, you should get a good deal for your 400 USD.

 

there is website that sells thinkpad cheap, like a T60 for 250 USD, but you would need to buy in 50 units lot. In fact most of the off lease thinkpad refurbishment is done in USA.

 

Yeah, the nomenclature seemed odd to me :-/

I will buy it from a website, since I can't deal with a particular for location issues.

 

Not really... only 512MB RAM? Core Duo is also only a 32-bit CPU, so you would be sort of behind because most every CPU produced nowadays is 64-bit, but you could upgrade to a Core 2. The HDD is quite small and probably only 5400 or maybe 4200RPM, only 90 days warranty too. Probably not a great deal at all. You could probably score a T60p that may have the Flexview screen too, but you say your dad rarely uses the PC, so maybe not a T60p but there are T61's or T60's out there that are just a bit more than that but have a LOT better specs for the money.

The Z series was more of a Lenovo inspired design, albeit still durable, it was made to experiment with how the average consumer would respond to it. By today's ThinkPad standards however the Z series is still a true ThinkPad, just has more smooth curves, and was manufactured with a widescreen as standard, to fit in with consumer laptops of the time.

 

I which I could grab one of those T60p with the flexview screens for 350 or so, but they run at 500 or 600 at the IBM outlet.

 

the T60p is pretty expensive, the cheapest i can find in Australia is around 650 USD and the A1 condition one runs to 900 USD, which is comparable to a second hand W500.........

 

Here is one with a 3 year warranty for $700.

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-THINKPAD-T6...iewItemQQptZLaptops_Nov05?hash=item35a6494bc9

The T60 is somewhat cheap but the core solo is a deal breaker.

 

That's not worth it at all. For a small increase in price you can get a fully functional T42/T43. The repair costs on that unit alone do not justify the price. Certain deficiencies in functionality shouldn't bring the price down much, but the keyboard and battery are major components.

Then don't.

 

I pretty much did it, yes, but the OP got his answer.

Anyways, I guess I'll have to post a new thread.

 

I kind of figured most of the designers didn't quit when Lenovo took over. I don't know about Australia, but here in the US, the big price drops started during the T60s reign. When they were first released they were priced much like the T43, about $1,500 for a typical configuration. By the time the T61 came along a year and a half later it was probably around a $1,000. Now I'd probably say it's probably $800-900 for a average T series notebook. If you know how to work the coupons or do the outlet, you can do much better. When I got my own R60 I went with it because at the time it was about $400 less expensive and I didn't need the extra robustness the T60 offered.

I myself didn't notice much difference between the T43 and T60 in terms of fit and finish. The T60 is in fact a better machine in most ways in my opinion. The keyboards were not quite as good and it's a bit thicker, but at least your GPU isn't coming undone from the motherboard.

My point being when Lenovo took over the operations, the T43 et al was in full swing and the T60, R60, X60 and Z61 were already on the drawing board, making them the last of the IBM ThinkPads. By the time Lenovo was really in charge of decision making, ThinkPads went widescreen and price points dropped precipitously.

Lenovo has definitely changed the course of ThinkPads. They've decided to make them less expensive and more accessible, which can be good, bad or perhaps both depending on your perspective.

The Z series is a very underrated ThinkPad. It's probably the best widescreen ThinkPad to date, my opinion of course.

 

I find that the gap between the screen and the base chassis of the T4x laptop is smaller than the T60, but other than that there is not much difference in terms of overall build quality. The price between the T43 when it first came out, and when the T60 first came out was quite large. Maybe this could be due to exchange rate differences (nearly fluctuation of 40%). Also, when Lenovo took over, thinkpads were sold through more distribution points then it was under IBM, so the higher sales volume may have lowered the price further for the T60 in Australia.

I do find the Z series very appealing in terms of design, it gives the T60, T61 and T400 run for their money in terms of chassis size and design. The only problem of the Z series was their thermal management was not as good as compared to the T60 (T43 was even worse due to the CPU and ATI gpu combo), for the same CPU running using the same power management profile, the Z61t would run around 10 to 15 degrees hotter than my T60. Other than the Z6x was the perfect machine, i think it was the pinnacle of Thinkpad design and construction like the T400s is in many ways (X30x was pretty good too, even though it is priced out of reach of many users).

 

Yes i was considering getting a Z61p but i knew that thermal management would be lesser than that of the T61p, so i got it instead, also the Z series is pretty thick. I have a T43 with ATI X300 and 2GHz P-M, it heated up a ton when gaming because it really was very very thin for it's time, i think it may even be as thin as the X3xx series, wish the T61p had the subtle accentutation of the lid at the edge with the taper, like the T43, and that the T61p was 4:3, but whatever, at least it isn't 16:9. At least i'll have an "antique" 4:3 screen laptop.

 

the Z61t is thin as the T61 and T400 14.1 inch thinkpad.

 

Wow, didn't realize this thread went on without me.

I ended up spending my Craigslist dollars on an Inspiron 6000. Pentium-M 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, 160gb HDD, 2200BG wifi, 15" WXGA, and a combo drive --$140.

I slapped 1GB of RAM in it, and will put a Pentium-M 1.86GHz processor in it before it goes out again. They're a little chunky, but I like the solid design.

 

Oh come on...

 

?!?

I refurb/refresh laptops for fun, and a little profit. The i6000 is better from that perspective; of course, if the R60 had been $140, I wouldn't have even needed the thread.

 

Yes true, i'm just a pure ThinkPad user, once i went black i'll never go back. That is, my first ThinkPad was a T21 that was jumped on a few times by a 7 foot pompous football player in a scuffle in a parking lot, survived, screen was fine, still works to this day. From the year 2000, a decade old, pretty phenomonal, this was when ThinkPads didn't have a roll cage at all but used extremely thick plastic.

 

it was not just any plastic it is Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic.... it was pretty expensive back then....

 

Whatever.. don't care it was just durable.