Which Thinkpad on a budget?

Well,I'am wondering which thinkpad.Can I buy with only a $800.00 budget?
I only do emails,instant messaging,burn cd's,and I'll need microsoft word!

And where to buy it?I don't mind buying a refurb.And it must have windows xp home or pro

I see alot of the older ones;only having windows 2000 pro,or windows 98 SE

For some reason,I've always been pulled toward IBM Thinkpad's.But,I've never brought one yet! :buyIBM:

 

Definetly get a R or Z series with Celeron CPU. Maybe a used T40 or x31 on ebay. Or a T22/23.

 

ThinkPad R50e 1842-SLU.

Celeron M 360 (1.4GHz, 1MB cache)
256MB RAM
40GB 4200RPM HDD
CD-RW/DVD Combo
15" XGA
WinXP Home
Intel 2200BG WiFi

$799 regular, $759 credit card, last I checked.

 

bhtooefr,where can I find what you're talking about at?
Thinkpad R50e 1842-SLU
$799 Regular,$759 credit card

Let me know where to look please?

 

1842-SLU: http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/s...yId=2302835&dualCurrId=1000073&catalogId=-840

Credit card discounts are available at:
http://ibm.com/businesscenter/visa
http://ibm.com/businesscenter/mastercard
http://ibm.com/businesscenter/amex
http://ibm.com/businesscenter/discover

You'll have to buy with the credit card that you pick for the discount, though.

I've personally set up an 1842-SLU, and it's a decent laptop. Just get more RAM, though - when the SLU I set up was purchased, IBM was running a special to upgrade it to 768MB for free

 

Ok,thanks
I'll look into it and decide.I'll be getting this or a Inspiron 6000

 

The ThinkPad will be much better built.

 

Zazonz
What's your opinion on these: T30(61U)
A31
R40(26U)
R40(3XU)

 

I truely wish that I could afford a T42

 

Always better to have the newer model, hence the R50 should be superior to all these I think.

 

Myabe a used T40 in the $800 range on ebay. Might even have some warranty left on it which follows the notebook not the owner. Make sure you buy from a reputable seller on eBay. The T30 was not one of ThinkPads better moments. They run hot and the battery life wan't as good. The also had problems with the memory slots. If you are going to look at a used T, I'd look at the T22 or T23. $400-500 on eBay with a PIII, 256MB of memory and combo drive. They also sell them at IBM and TigerDirect with 90 warranties. If you put in a 5400RPM hard drive and bump up to 512MB of memory the performance will be quite good. The battery should last about three hours if it is in good shape. I upgraded a T22 not to long ago with a 7200RPM drive not too long ago. The performance was excellent.

 

I was going to say, eBay is an excellent way to get a cheap good Thinkpad. I would rather risk it on eBay with a T or X series than get a new R50e or similar.

 

Okay Zazonz But doesn't all the T22 & T23'S only come with older windows.Like 98 & 2000 pro?Can I still get good performance with 2000 pro? Windows 98 is way to old!!

 

What features of XP do you need?

There's a reason that 2000 is called "NT 5.0" and XP is called "NT 5.1".

Wireless Zero Configuration is VERY nice when you have a WiFi card not supported by Access Connections (like I do), and ClearType is just beautiful, but those are XP's main advantages over 2000.

I run 2000, myself. On an older T22 or T23, 2000 is going to be faster than XP.

I agree that 98 is crap. However, XP is simply a "point release" on top of 2000 - the difference between 2000 and XP is similar to the difference between 95 and 98.

 

How good are X21's?And where can I purchase it?

 

X21's are good quality...

I purchased mine from RetroBox. $305 w/o any OS, and with 128MB RAM and a 20GB 4200RPM drive (the HDD is a replacement that I did, and I upgraded to 384MB RAM. That is the MAXIMUM for the X21.)

Please note that you will need the UltraBase X2 and an UltraBay 2000 CD-RW to use it for burning CDs.

It'll cost ~$50 to upgrade the RAM if you shop around - just be sure the RAM is compatible with the X21, if you go that route - the X20 and 21 are *VERY* finicky about RAM. Best bet? Get something that says it will work with the X20 and/or 21.

Also, make *SURE* yours has the XGA display, and 128MB base RAM. First off, you REALLY don't want an 800x600 display, and if you get one with 64MB base RAM, you have to do a mobo swap if you want to go to 384MB RAM - otherwise, you're stuck at 320MB.

Now, the best thing to do? Avoid the hassle, and pay a little more for a X22, 23, or 24. Faster CPU, newer chipset, support for just any PC133 SODIMMs (and up to 640MB RAM instead of 384), and a MUCH better GPU. Some even have built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. Oh, and you don't have to worry about the screen - all X22-24s have the XGA screen.

If you DO go for an X20 or 21 (difference is CPU speed), you really don't want XP, due to the limited RAM. 2000 will be MUCH faster.

I can't say a source for the laptops, though, other than eBay. I'd watch on FS/WTB forums as well - this board has one, right? Also, forum.thinkpads.com has one.

 

I actually prefer 2k over XP. Underneath they are very similar and were released within a year of each other. Funny though there is no more support from Microsoft for 2k. There way of pushing yoyu to upgrade to XP. I'd agree about staying away form Windowss 98 although I'd rather have 98 than ME, Microsofts most flakey operating system.

 

Win2K is preferred to WinXP when the hardware is old, but it's the other way around for new hardware. Ignoring the features, I seem to have noticed XP being considerably more stable than 2K on new hardware.

Win98 with all its limitations is only suitable for running on really old machines, especially if you want DOS applications. On a modern machine you are likely to encounter problems with too much RAM, too large hard disks, Serial ATA, Wireless LAN, etc. No reason whatsoever going in that direction.

 

Never had any stability issues with 2k. XP is built off of 2k. I would run 2k on my ThinkPad, but no support from Leveno if I do. ThinkPads support every OS back to Win95 I believe.

 

Zazonz ,tell me where I can purchase a 5400RPM or a 7200RPM from to put into a T23??Where can I can I buy them from?Should I go with a 7200RPM in the T23?

 

As for 5400RPM drives, go to Newegg. I'm currently running a Samsung MP0402H 40GB 5400RPM drive that cost $63.50.

7200RPM HDDs, OTOH... you'll have to look around. The smallest ones are the Hitachi 7K60 (60GB, first generation) and the 60GB version of the Hitachi 7K100 (second generation). There are also 80GB and 100GB versions of both the 7K100 and Seagate's Momentus 7200.1.

 

I found these at www.usanotebook.com
1.)T23
P3 1000MHz 256MB memory 32GB hard drive
CD/DVD drive14.1'display
windows 2000 pro
$469.00 6month warranty

2.)T23
P3 1130MHz 512MB memory 30GB hard drive
CD/DVD Drive
windows 2000 pro 6month warranty $499.00

3.)T23
P3 1130MHz 512MB memory 30GB hard drive
CD/DVD/CDRW
Windows 2000 pro $549.00 6month warranty

I found at www.usanotebook.com

 

I would get this T22: http://www.usanotebook.com/notebook_display_page.php?id=568

It's got the same specs as the first T23 you mention, and the same price.

However, what makes it so good is the screen - it's a 14.1" SXGA+ display, which is kinda rare.

You can always upgrade the RAM (which it needs) and the HDD (which you'll want, but don't absolutely need). It's even easier to upgrade to a CD-RW/DVD combo. But, that SXGA+ display is a LOT harder to get, if it's even possible to upgrade from XGA to SXGA+.

 

Cool,I was just about to post.And ask if a T22 or T23.Only has a DVD ROM can I change it to cd/dvd/cdrw ?

 

Just get an UltraBay 2000 CD-RW/DVD Combo.

IBM's official part is the 22P6991, which is $169 through the store. However, I've seen them used for $50.

 

Yeah thats nice.What about those R31's & A31's??

 

Can't find the max ram information for the T22 & T23
Whats is the max ram for them?I want all that it can hold!!
Is Celeron D any good?Thats what the Thinkpad G41 has in it.2660MHz
256MB memory 30GB Hard drive 15"display
CD/DVD/CDRW Drive
Windows XP Pro
$689.00 refurb at www.usanotebook.com

 

The T22 can only hold 512MB, and that's with special low density RAM modules - it appears to be just as finicky as the X21, and takes the same modules.

As for the T23, it can go to 1GB RAM.

Now, a Celeron D in a laptop is the worst idea ever. Don't touch - this is a DESKTOP processor, and it's one known for overheating. 73 to 84W power draw - unacceptable for a laptop CPU. Pentium Ms draw 21W to 27W, Pentium III-Ms draw 21.8W approximately (what's in the T23).

Considering the RAM finickiness of the T22, I'm now leaning towards the T23 (the $549 config).

 

Hi guys, New here.

Looking to buy a refurbished T23, it's enough for what I intend to do with it.

I intend to use it to go on the internet, emails, running office applications, playing DVDs and MP3s. Not much else. Will the machine be capable of doing this?

Looking at the specs, do you guys know if it's easy to get to work wirelessly.

 

Internal wireless can be a total pain.

However, the T23 has a CardBus slot. Get a CardBus (aka PC Card) WiFi card (between $20 and $50 at your local office store), and pop it in the side of your laptop. Installation done. You'll want to remove it when you're not using it, so as to not have anything protuding from the sides.

Personally, I use an old beat-up Linksys WPC11 Version 4, covered with duct tape. I don't recommend that model, because it's old, and it is rather incompatible with Linux (if you ever plan on running Linux).