Which "old-school" Thinkpad should I buy

I've been perusin' the old Thinkpads on ebay and I'm hoping to find something for no more than $150. I'm planning to run some lightweight distro of linux, and main uses will be some sore of basic text editor as well as occasional internet browsing. Also, I'm looking for something easily transportable, so, the thinner the better. I'm grateful for any and all suggestions.

-Bebop

 

I recently purchased an x40 with this exact mindset. I got it for a bit over $100, put a cheap CF card and CF-IDE apdater in it, and use it with puppy linux frugally installed. Honestly I love it as a portable little machine. It's thin, light and with puppy loaded into the ram it is just as fast as any modern machine for common uses. In fact at times it feels a bit snappier than my T410.

There are of course others in this forum who have much more experience with other models, I can just say I am 100% satisfied with my acquisition of an x40.

As far as getting it for less, just be patient. I sat and watched at least 15-20 auctions before finally one ended at a reasonable price. I lost the auction, but the winning bidder did not follow through, and I got the second chance offer.

 

The x40 is a good option, but the hard drive is VERY slow so the CF-IDE adapter is almost mandatory if you want it to perform well.

The x31 is also a very good option. It's marginally thicker/heavier than the x40 but uses a standard 2.5" HDD and will generally be snappier at the same clockspeed.

Both are quite portable, superbly well built, should offer plenty of performance for your needs (Pentium M), and will get respectable battery life if you have a good condition battery. You should be able to get either for a little under $150 if you look hard enough.

 

X31 runs too hot... while the X40 and X41 is quite bad with the 1.8 inch hdd, they don't run quite as hot as the X31.

 

I second the X40/41, however like people have said the 1.8" HDD can be a real pain. Either finding a replacement when it inevitably dies is going to be super expensive, or the read/write times will hurt. Had a T42 for a bit, and really loved that one.

 

maybe the OP can find a PATA 1.8 inch SSD for the X40/X41.

 

The T4Xs isn't so bad as another option. Not as small as the X40, but it's a good size laptop, nice standard 14 inch screen and keyboard, lighter than the T6X and T4XX, durability almost as good for under $150-200.

ahhhh... the good old T42 days. Anyone else miss those days too??

 

If you decide on a T43p feel free to shoot me a PM. I'd be happy to sell mine for $200 - just spent $120 to put a new LCD, keyboard and 100GB HD into it. It's a 2668-G2U with a 14.1" SXGA+ (1400x1050) LCD, Pentium M 2.1GHz CPU, XP Pro license, and 2GB DDR2 RAM. I put it through some stress over the years, which is why I replaced those three parts, but it's otherwise in good shape - no cracks and no dead pixels. The keyboard and HD are brand new, but the LCD is used (all the upgrades were made a week ago). And if you make it $250 I'll throw in a Pelican 1490 CC1 case (minus the keys for the locks - which are unlocked - as I can't find them, heh).

Trying to consolidate my computing so I'm looking to get rid of this machine.

 

When you sais old-school, I was thinking 240. Slow drives in the old x40, but mine was otherwise a great machine for several years.

 

Thanks a lot for all the great replies, guys! Lots of great suggestions. I was able to narrow down my ebay searches to a few of the models you mentioned, and I found a pretty good deal on an x40. The price was just right for me, and it comes with an SSD hard drive which sounds like the route to go. What it doesn't come with is a battery, but that's not a big deal as I was planning on getting a new one anyway.

I was wondering if any of you know the battery part number or specs off hand, or you can point me in the right direction as to where I can find that information. Also, is ebay usually your best bet for batteries or can you still get them direct from Lenovo?

 

I had good luck with a replacement T40 battery from Calcellular. Unfortunately, they don't seem to list any x40 batteries at the moment (they have x20, x30, and x60 though).

The hardware maintenance manual for the x40 is available at Lenovo Support & downloads - Hardware Maintenance Manual (September 2005) - ThinkPad X40. This will list all of the parts (complete with FRU numbers) for the x40. It is also handy if you ever need to upgrade, repair, or otherwise modify your x40 in the future.

EDIT - 8 cell "scratch & dent" X40 battery in the outlet for $73 - http://outlet.lenovo.com/accessories/batteries/55y9168.html

 

Start with the Lenovo outlet for replacement battery. No idea if they have any now, but if they do the price will be right.

 

You can also peruse the Marketplace here.

The guys and gals of this group are nice and helpful. I've conducted business there in the past and was extremely pleased with the results. I've also seen some batteries for various Thinkpads for a decent price- ad usually has the amount of cycles the battery has gone through and the pertinent info that Thinkpad batteries relay to the Thinkpad.