VOGONS


First post, by joe6pack

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I've been eying this Thinkpad on craigslist for a little while now. I can see it's running XP with a god awful high contrast theme, but I have no idea what model it is, as I'm not all that familiar with them.

He's asking $30, and with the cost of having to replace the keycaps and who knows what else, is it even worth it? (Who am I kidding I'll probably buy it anyways 😵 )

Qi0EoL9.jpg

Reply 1 of 9, by snorg

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It looks like maybe a beat up x60, it is hard to tell. Could also be an x30 or x40, it is difficult to tell from the screenshot. If it has a Core Duo then it is an X60, if it is a mobile P4 then it is an x30/x40. The x60 is not a bad model, especially if it has something other than the Intel GMA 950 graphics (may have an older ATI chip, may not) but the x30/x40 series won't be much good for the modern web unless you're blocking all flash and shockwave content.

Reply 2 of 9, by snorg

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As to whether it is worth it, well, that depends on what you want to use it for? Retrogaming and Office 97 or some other lightweight Office suite? Go for it. Using it for the internet of 2015 is going to be painful, even with one of the Core Duo systems if all it has is GMA 950 level graphics. Doubly so for the P4 level systems. I have a Core Duo with integrated graphics and it is getting to the point where it is unusable with Flash-heavy pages. I think it has maybe another year or two, before I won't be able to use it at all on the web?
If you don't care about internet use or you're going to do text-only browsing, then you should be fine. For $30, it would make a decent file server if you stuff a large drive in it.

Reply 3 of 9, by dr_st

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It's a T2x.

T20: http://digichar.com/imgs/a/d/s/x/x/ibm_thinkp … tware_1_lgw.jpg
T23: http://philippthome.de/fotos/upload/2013/01/1 … 47-9f8c2fc8.jpg

All T2x look basically the same, as you can see, and the picture is not sharp enough to positively identify the markings. Perhaps someone more experienced than me can find some subtle clues as to the exact model, but in any case you are looking at a Pentium III laptop here.

Best case: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T23
Worst case: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T20

https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/ - Random content on hardware, software, games and toys

Reply 4 of 9, by joe6pack

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I also just came to the conclusion that it's a PIII machine. It wouldn't really have a use per se, but rather for its collective factor. It'd also be a fun restoration job in a masochistic sort of way.

Reply 5 of 9, by leileilol

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snorg wrote:

the modern web .... shockwave content.

😀 shockwave wasn't part of the modern web for about a decade now. It's only Flash, Acrobat, HTML5 and Java to worry about, and Java can be nicely left out nowadays.

apsosig.png
long live PCem

Reply 6 of 9, by snorg

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For a second I thought my "partzheimers" was manifesting again, but I ran across a web page last week with misbehaving content, and Adobe still lists Shockwave in the lower right of their main page, as well as a Shockwave player on their downloads page.

It may not be the "new hotness" but it is still around.
But I will give you that Flash is more prevalent, and it is not terribly friendly to older systems.

Reply 7 of 9, by GXL750

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If you buy the thing, just know there were two different keyboards these things used and they used different keycaps so if you just find some keycaps off ebay, your chance of sucess are 50/50; might as well just buy a fresh keyboard since it won't set you back substatially.

Also, while it'd seem the bulk of the units that were prone to this issue have already died by now, there is an ailment common to the T20, T21, T22 and T23 models called "Blink of Death" that happens to a small percentage of units due to a few components on the motherboard being low grade.

Also, be on the watch for a crack in the keyboard bezel just above palm rest area and immediate right of the right arrow key. With that said, never handle one of these models by the palmrest.

All of that said, in good condition they're nice systems and are fully supported with all necessary drivers available in Windows 98, 2000 and XP. The T20, T21 and T22 have Coppermine PIIIs (100mhz FSB, 256kb L2), 440BX chipset, 8mb S3 Savage IX8 graphics and a single USB port. T23s have Tualatin PIIIs (133mhz FSB, 512kb L2), 830MP chipset, 16mb S3 Savage IXC graphics and two USB ports.

Reply 8 of 9, by shamino

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My brother had a T23 many years ago. I thought it was a great laptop, though I do remember him getting a BSOD from that S3 Savage video driver once. I don't know what provoked it but it wasn't an everyday thing.
My sister had an A22 and I've had an A20 since 2001. The latter were both ATI based. I was left with the impression that the ATI Rage based Thinkpads were more stable, but their 3D isn't as good, almost useless really. So, the "better" video chip from my point of view would depend what you want to do with it.

The biggest risk is if the motherboard is faulty. Last I knew there was still a healthy supply of motherboards for these era of Thinkpads on eBay at decent prices (some around $50-$75 NOS I think, and cheaper for used) but I haven't looked in a few years.

Reply 9 of 9, by joe6pack

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This is a solid hour long drive from me, I'd have to try and get more info from the seller before pouncing. The thinkpad I own, a 385ED, had motherboard issues when I bought it which the seller did not tell me about. It turned out to be failing solder joints and wasn't TOO bad to fix.

Any other northern IL members want to snag this before me? 😀