Is it even worth getting a T30 these days?

[pianowizard]

There were some postings there by people not too happy with there t4x machines and planning on replacing them with -- guess what? A T30 model!

Where?

[richp]

I bought my T30/2.0 cpu from J&R music world, was on sale for $300, was IBM refurbished and no memory board slot problems, plus it has a 12 month warranty. I did have to take the first one back, the left button on the pad did not work and they did not want to take it apart so see if it was unplugged, but they are just up the street 3 blocks from where I am working in manhattan, the exchange took about 20 minutes. Added memory and a dvd burner, hopefully it will last me a couple of years, I needed the serial port for the cisco stuff I work with.

[cparker]

Where?

Here:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=42958

Look at 6th post down by ajkula66 and also see his signature.

I was very surprised to read this, but it seems that, contrary to what I have read in other places, some people prefer the t30 to the t40.

[pianowizard]

Look at 6th post down by ajkula66 and also see his signature.

His signature is:

"on their way out: T42, R40
on their way in: 600, T30 and...(element of suspense and surprise)"

Does that imply the Thinkpad 600 is better than the T4*?

[WarMachine]

Does that imply the Thinkpad 600 is better than the T4*?

Yessssssssssssss !!!

The 600 are the best !



OK... OK... I must go to sleep !

W.

[NorrisCell]

In a perfect world, I'd like to be able to pay ~$200 for a stripped chassis. I don't mind doing some repair work if parts are missing, as I enjoy a good project. Like I said, being able to reuse my RAM would be a big one.

The main things I'm looking for are USB 2.0, faster system bus, and the potential for a faster processor.

[westsailor]

I have a T30 and love it. I live/sail on a boat so ruggedness is more important than bells & whistles.

Which brings up something to maybe consider? It's got a serial port which later models don't have. While I've since upgraded to a USB interface I needed a serial port to interface to my GPS

And it's built like a tank. A big wave rolled me thru 60 degrees and the laptop flew off the nav station, bounced off the galley stove and crashed to the deck. I thought 'Well, so much for that laptop... or at least the screen'. To my (very pleasant surprise) when I was able to get below and turn it on it worked perfectly. And the 'rubbery' covering is great when your hands are wet.

[Pyroraptor]

oops! I totally forgot to reply to this!

I went ahead and nabbed a T40 on ebay for $400 shipped, it looked like a good deal to me and I had the moneys.

Specs:
Pent M 1.3GHz/1mb L2. I'd love to pop a 1.7GHz/2mb L2 in here.
768mb RAM
Came with a 40gb/5400rpm, I've dropped in a 60gb/7200 that I had around. Its way faster
Atheros a/b/g wifi
Radeon 7500 32mb, 1024x768 screen
DVD-ROM
Three hour battery (this was a total shock!)
*prefect* cosmetic condition.

It has one of those STOPtheft tags too, but unfortunately the tag I have is European (either Brittish or French, neither I nor the STOPtheft people can tell) and so I can't re-register it. Makes for a good theft deterrent though...

Here are some pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/john8520/ThinkPadT40

I've loaded Win XPp SP2 on here and man, this thing is FAST! It boots in around 20 seconds, and runs everything I throw at it. The most CPU/GPU intensive thing I have run so far is either NASA WorldWind or Flight Sim 2002, and with all the GFx settings maxed out it has no problems running either, the only time World Wind slows down is when it downloads images. According to tpfancontrol the temp gets to around 65C after an hour or so of flying, and around 68C after a bit of World Wind. The fan is very quiet, the only time I even partly hear it is in the library. Overall it feels very sturdy, which shocked me considering its so darn light and thin! I'm very pleased with this, and I'm going to reccomend them to anyone I know thats looking for a decently spec'd portable.

[jadmire]

I've owned my refurb'ed T30 for close on to two months now and on balance I'm quite happy with it. The only real issues I've had have been the well-known memory slot problem (I'm using the "paper trick" to get around it, but it seems to work only intermittently - sometimes it shows 1 GB RAM, sometimes 512 MB) and a balky power-on button which occasionally has to be pushed a couple of times to get the system to start.

With those exceptions, this machine is very good indeed. I like the sturdy construction and the Wi-Fi capability; this laptop (especially when the "paper trick" is working and all the RAM is recognized) is nearly as powerful as my main system!

-Joe-

[BruisedQuasar]

The T23 uses the SvageIX GPU which is subpar for anything but basic tasks.

I would highly suggest the T40 over both the T23 and the T30.

If I had to choose only between the t23 and T30, it would be a T23. They seem to have been built very well and are very serviceable. I owned one for about 2 years and it was great (minus the craptacular video card). If it were me and my money I would ignore the T30 line entirely.

I AGREE. I have owned a T23 for a few years now. I still mavel at how for $300 I got this like-new, factory re-certified Thinkpad. I owned many laptops over the years, all expensive top of the line, beginning with a 28 pound V-20 driven monster, Toshiba's, Compact when they were the rage, etc. The T23 is the very first laptop I've had that is so well designed and well built, so owner modifiable and upgradeable.

It was meant to be a fine business PC and that is what it is. It cannot run games meant for current hardware, or DVD or online movies, using current tech DVD software.

As for T30s, I hear and read so many problems with them, that I must say that the better specs make them better in theory. But to an owner, theory is useless if they stop working.

Bruised