/tpg/ - ThinkPad General

First for T420s, i.e., the best Thinkpad. Fight me.

x250 for 350 do i take it

Is a refurb T420 with a i5-2520m, 900p screen, 4GB of RAM, 160GB Intel SSD, and Windows 8.1 for $179.99 and free shipping, a good deal? I am thinking about it.

Fairly often (but not all the time) when I start typing on my T410 the screen flickers, like goes black for a fraction of a second. Is it X being shit or could there be a hardware issue?

>>57444864
We cant, Chinkpads are truly a gift from the pajeets goods

I caved in and grabbed a X220 for $180 (cheapest I could find on eBay here in Australia). Comes with Linux Mint installed. Should I keep that as babbie's first Linux?

>>57446039
If you like it, if not it's not that hard to install something else. Having said that drivers can be a bit of a pain depending how the distro devs feel about "non free" software.

>>57446039
ALWAYS reinstall after getting a used computer
never trust the OS they preinstalled
>>57445862
seems pretty good
I just hope it has an ssd, or not godshit screen
>>57445869
pretty average
>>57445927
in linux I'd have that issue when adjusting the brightness some times
but never in windows.

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>not using a thinkpad related OP image
SHAME

>>57446175
ssd i7 8gb of ram no info of screen, thats what im trying to get from seller. If it does can i upgrade it? if not then i got a not shit tier screen.

>>57446193
I'm pretty sure you can upgrade it fairly easy
It is a thinkpad after all

>>57446210
true hopefully they fucking reply so i can buy that shit.

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>>57446186
report frogposters and ignore

I'm gonna graduate soon. I kept an Acer working for years but now I might try a Thinkpad. Since I won't be doing schoolwork and instead will be focusing on personal dev projects, is the t420 still able to keep up these days?

>>57446221
Kill yourself, fucktard.

>>57446245
Easily for anything but vidya games
skylake is like 30% faster than sandy vagoo

is there any point in getting an older x series thinkpad that uses pata? besides the fact i like older computers, pata is so slow

>>57446794
Actually, it'd be kind of cool to put a PATA SSD in it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1GK3Z95602&cm_re=2.5%22_PATA_SSD-_-0D9-004V-00011-_-Product

>>57446866
>tfw i want 4 of those to dual disc my PPC 'Books

I'm currently looking at the thinkpad 13 probably getting the full HD screen and 8gigs of memory.

I don't game too much maybe OSU and league from time to time.

Dose anyone know if this is a good pick or should I go with something else

Can i buy 2500mah cells and repack my 9cell battery for my x220? Would that give me a 22500mah battery or would it be impossible because of the circuitry?

>>57447211

Interested in this as well.

So I just got a used thinkpad, and sometimes it doesn't want to turn on unless I plug it in (even though battery is full) and it seems like the usb 3.0 ports aren't working at all. I'm thinking it's a bad main board, what do you guys think? I've also seen it randomly power down twice, but I can't reproduce.

>>57449426
Ooo tough luck on buying a lemon. How much was it?

>>57449469
$200, it's a t440p. I just ordered an i7 4810qm for it. A new mobo would be like another $140.

>>57449469
It's still under warranty, but I don't know if I can claim it since I'm not original owner and the ram and hard drive have been changed

>>57449490
That's not so bad. My first guess would be mobo but someone else who's more experienced with them might disagree

>>57446193
Not sure about the screens of the X250, someone bricked their X240 when trying to upgrade.

>>57447153
I was able to play league of a T430s fine, but not on a X1C3, however the 13 looks like it has a decent heat sink fan, which is why the X1C sucked at it.

>>57449426
When it came to the X1C2 & T440p I had, when I removed the CMOS battery & mains, it would not turn on until I connected the machine to power. Does yout T440p give a clock/time not set error? The USB 3.0 ports not working can be a driver missing, I had this problem when installing Windows 7 on an HP Envy 17 w/ only USB 3.0 ports, I burned a CD full of drivers to fix it. ":)
Liveboot to linux, its a driver issue if it doesn't recognize.

As for the random shutoff, it could be an overheating issue, maybe the fan isn't kicking in?

>>57449511
I don't believe you have to be the original owner to use the warranty, give lenovo an email or call.

>>57450104
The craigslist seller isn't resonding ;-;. There are also ads in my area for x230 and T430 no T530's though.

Due to thinkpads PWM being literally eye raping I've decided to try an HP elitebook or dell latitude

Anyone have experiences with either?

Which tend to have less shit screens or are they all equally generally awful?

Also latitudes and elitebooks seem to be cheaper in general than thinkpads hoping this doesn't equate to much worse build quality or something and is just due to a lower popularity

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What's a fair price for a near-new 4GB RAM, i5 2540M CPU x220? I'm looking at these two, both are the same price and have almost the same specifications, but one is listed as having a 2500-3100mhz CPU and the other one as 2600-3300mhz. Also there's slight differences on the keyboard face (pic), the most noticeable one being the fingerprint scanner (which I doubt I'll ever use since my fingerprints never work on anything)

So I gather the old thinkpads are great for their price, but what if you've got money to burn and want newer hardware? Are the latest models any good, even if overpriced? And how far can you go manually upgrading an older model to compete with the new?

>>57450183
Top : us layout
Bottom : uk layout (Personnaly I would change asap that keyboard so add 50 bucks to the price)

>>57450195
budget? and what are you using it for? also what models did you have in mind?

>>57450216
Ah yeah, just noticed the ñ there. I'd prefer that one though since I'm Hispanic. Too bad that one has the slightly less powerful processor. Guy is asking $230 for either, is that a decent price?

>>57450223
Got no problem dropping a thousand or two. I've been pretty frugal with tech over the past couple of years and I'm aiming for something that, even if expensive, I can use for years on end. I'll most likely be using it for the usual browsing, office work, and light emulation and gaming of course, but I also hope I can do some programming on hefty IDEs when I'm in bed or out of the house.

So far the T460 and p50 caught my eye, the former for battery life and the latter for quad core, dGPU, huge RAM, and numpad.

>>57450234
Maybe a little overpriced, check on ebay you can find some x220 in good condition for less than 200 bucks

>>57450284
Problem is when you add international shipping to that price

>>57450269
gaming as in just emulators or like high end games that require graphics cards to not be shit?

>>57450306
Emulators, maybe circa 2010 games at best but mostly older, etc. I have a decent enough desktop for anything new or intensive.

>>57450298
You can use mail forwarders. For example, I ship thinkpads to Russia for 35-40$+US shipping instead of ~100$ for direct shipping, idk about other countries.

How do I make my T420's battery last as long as possible?

>>57450104
No, I don't an error, and the system clock is accurate. I've really only booted to fedora so far, it won't recognize the ports in fedora and it also won't boot to them, no matter what the settings in BIOS are.
I wasn't sure if the warranties still followed the device, like they used to, or Lenovo changed their policy

How to charge laptop without charger

>>57450709
Look for some other 20v power source and make something to attach it to laptop.

>>57450170
There's the pwm tool and you can crank up the refresh rate to 2kHz...

opinion on T430 T530 and X230?

>>57451351
I have a t430, I really like it. Screen isn't great, touch pad takes some getting used too, and some people really dislike the keyboard. Mine sits on a dock most of the time, so none of those really matter to me. I got it a few years ago as a package with the dock, a bag, multiple chargers and it was basically brand new for like $300. Can't beat it for that price. It also has an i5 3xxxM (as opposed to a "U") and the performance is satisfactory.

Opinions on the Dell precision 7000 series?

question have any of you just swapped the motherboard on your thinkpad for another one? ex take out the T420 input a T460 mobo keep the rest of the hardware and only spend 200 upgrading? or do the screens have a compatibility issue or is it not possible?

>>57451629
Why not just use a T460 at that point?

>>57451636
cause you get the best of both if it's possible, new hardware, great original design

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I'm looking to cop the X260 literally just for the 1920x1080 screen. How fucked am I?

P.S. I don't care for its autistic keyboard layout.

Upgraded my t420 today to a Core i7 2720QM. Runs about 39c idle with TPFancontrol Could not be happier!

Is the L412 any good?

>>57447153
I'm this anon again. I'm wondering if I should commit to the thinkpad 13.

So far I opt for a full HD display 512gb ssd and an ultra dock(muuh ports), but kept the stock i3.

So far its pretty cheap cause some deal (about 705 for everything). Would anons recommend different specs? Or perhaps a different laptop in general.

This is from the lenovo website BTW.

So I have a Thinkpad X230. It has one AUDIO out which is for audio + mic. I have apple earbuds which have a mic. When I plug them in, only the mic is recognized. What gives? I want to listen to music through them.

is a T450 with a missing trackpoint worth 575 or no? otherwise 5600u 256gb ssd and 12gb of ram worth or no? can i just replace the trackpoint?

T420 for £150. T440 for £250, X220 for £150. Which do I take?

Does any anon have experience putting a 1080p screen on the T420? How difficult was it and we're there any problems afterward s?

>>57451818
depends what's inside them

>>57451782
I think the Apple headphones have a different wiring than every other headphone in the world, so the TRRS connections don't line up properly with the connections in the jack. Not sure about that, but I think I remember reading something about this once.

Is the T60 a good laptop for school documents and making websites with Java Script? Course is manditory and I'm super poorfag at the moment.

Hi guys!

Should I go for a T430, T430s or an HP 8470p?

why is searching for an x250 w/ 1080p fucking impossible. Do i just get a pleb 720p and a screen at the same time to replace it? As much as I would love to use the T430 keyboard I really don't wanna use the hardware.

>>57452334
t61 with integrated graphics is same price and better

NEVER get the version with an nvidia gpu though they are all fucked and faulty as shit by design

How come they never released the T450s with the Nvidia GPU in the US?

>>57451686
Welcome to the QM club m8

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does this seem decent? I know that I can't change the ram on the T400s series which is why I want to know if it's good for the price. it costs 680

>>57452928
>post your experience with these pretend lenovo batteries
Pretty fucking good, China is my greatest ally.

Based free worldwide shipping.

Can X201 palmrest be fit into the X220.
I just want the "no touchpad" look, not the fingerprint reader.

Are the fingerprint readers on W510s legit. I just set mine up now realise I did so through windows hello so now the botnet has it which is a bit shit

have an option to buy a W550 w/ i7 touch 250gb ssd, call for more info 500 do i call and take it if the ram isn't shit tier? how are the W series thinkpads, I know they're heavy but I browse /fit/

What are you using to control fan? Is TPFC any good?

>>57453221
tpfancontrol

>tfw silent quad core t420 with the fan turned off
fucking hdd is louder than everything else

Ugh stahp

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Best Thinkpad for video editing, friends?
T420 seems great but i need HDMI support

I'm going to get an x131e for free from a family friend, but the problem is the keyboard needs to be replaced, like missing keys fix, which doesn't seem to be a problem.

Besides "x131e keyboard" where can I find a suitable replacement for it?
Prefer to be cheap obviously but whatever I can make due.

Thanks

>>57453295
Get a monitor with DP already

>>57453295
t420 + egpu and a gpu with plenty of hdmi ports

or dongles :^)

>>57453427
>>57453408
Succ my dongle, dude!
I might have to do the EGPU shit.
Hopefully everything works with Premiere CC.

Appreciate it, anons!

>>57452065
Let's assume they're all i5s with 8GB RAM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9-Cell-Battery-for-Lenovo-Thinkpad-T410-T420-T520-SL410-SL510-Power-Supply-/262472268054?var=&hash=item3d1c90f916:m:mcLOUYaR8Xh9YYHFtGJ-7-g

Are these batteries any good? Looks a little to good to be true.

>>57452150
They use the CTIA wiring but they use a special signalling protocol.

>>57453295
W520 or W530 with quadro and get a miniDP to HDMI cable.

Are the palmrests of the x220 supposed to be a bit bent inwards?
It's kinda uncomfortable.

Can anyone tell me how the t460p is? Planning to get this as my first thinkpad with an ultra dock. There's a good deal going one so its about 900 bucks for everything

Someone please help me. I got a Thinkpad without noticing that it had shiny keys. Am I fucked or is there a way to fix them?

>>57453382
Ebay

>>57453925
just buy a new keyboard if you don't like the idea someone else touched the keys you're touching now

>>57453975
How do I take of the shininess though? Is it too late?

>>57453979
it's polished wear of the finish of the keys and is permanent as far as i can tell

>>57454002
FUCK
I don't know if it's just me but it seems to slightly change the texture of the keys and it makes it hard to type

Calling all t420qm lads, how are your temps, and battery life time in light use cases (Firefox & Video in the background)? I'm tempted to get a 2820qm and disable HT, but i'm concerned it might strain battery and the cooler too much. No dGPU btw.
Talk me into doing this, i'm hyped.

Otherwise i wanted to try a 3820qm with coreboot, anyone got some experience with coreboot and ivy quads?

>>57454021
So what dedicated keyboard or laptop have you been using up until your thinkpad purchase hasn't had its finish worn down from regular use? If its that much of a dealbreaker, maybe switch back? Or buy 2-3 extra thinkpad replacement keyboards and swap out as they wear out

>>57454021
Just buy a new keyboard or stop being autistic about jt

>>57454048
Not a QM but the dual i7-2640 with a fairly clean fan and new paste: 30-40 idle, 50-60 with a 720p youtube on firefox, 65-80 overwatch, 85-90 (no throttling) intelburntest

>>57451686
But what are you doing with it?

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>>57454048
>how are your temps
50-64c with the fan turned off, TPFancontrol kicks in at 65c+ with fan at level 1 and then it goes back to 50c, maxes at 92-93c with stress tests and no throttling until 10+ mins.

Pic related if left with the default fan speed but i like muh silent T420.

Battery life on Chink 9-cell watching cartoons here. >>57390604

should i just sell out and buy a T520 with a quad core how does it hold up to lets say ASUS K501UW in terms of specs? If i still want a thinkpad but not the shit tier asus laptop how is the W550 or T550?

Besides price, why am I better off with a T420 instead of just getting a new XPS?

/tpg/ when the nipple is activated as mouse, the pointer tends to move on its own. Its driving me bananas.
I had to set the trackpad as the mouse, and it fucking sucks.

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This shit is cash

I just tried to update the BIOS from DVD, looked like it completed but then stayed on the ThinkPad boot screen. I powered it off, try to enter BIOS and all I get is the flashing underscore, otherwise it just hangs on the ThinkPad boot screen
I think I just bricked it
XD

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>>57454977
having a digitizer is really fun

i should learn how to draw

>>57447211
>>57449065

No one seemed to know the answer, this video on youtube makes it seem fairly simple, I may just give it a try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrDnTXqoqjM

>>57454977
You got windows blinds running in that thing or what, the borders look weird and the start bar looks weird.

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>>57455838
its lubuntu with some 95 theming

>>57455868
thats totally awesome, whats the model? i know i know but bear with me, does it have sound blaster?

>>57455926
refer to >>57455705
and i dont think so
audio is kinda meh

>>57455955
lol sorry i had only seen the thumbnail, thats pretty cool. I only asked for a retro station but I really need to get that out of my head. it would be cheaper to get a chromebook or cheap laptop to do that with emulation.

>>57455975
theyre like 40-60$

but if you dont need the touchscreen or tablet function, a t42 is even cheaper and a bit more powerful

lol wtf why would i buy one of these dinosaur ass laptops

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>>57454977
>>57455705
I'd like a digitizer to sketch shit but a 12" screen is somewhat small for my tastes.

drawing with the trackpoint and acceleration is hell

>>57452497
The T60's that I'm finding locally are cheaper than the T61's without an nVidia GPU, and that's $100 without a HDD but has the charging dock and the person can't even check the specs. I'll ask for a lower price but I may as well go with the T60 since it's only $60

>>57454371
Man have you tested the XPS out for extended periods? I found the keyboard to be crap and the trackpad is worse than the ThinkPad clit and my 2010 MBP

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>>57456099
its ok for me, if i need a bigger space to work with i have a cheapie huion tablet i can use with my 1080p monitor

>>57455868
Does lubuntu play well with wacom drivers and the rotation feature of that model?

what is the smallest thinkpad that is modern enough to use? are there any smaller than the x220/x230?

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>>57456166
Would adding a digitizer to the T420 screen be even possible? I'd like to try something like that.

>>57444603
Where do I set the charge thresholds in the lenovo power manager?

>>57456244
Battery tab > Battery maintenance > Tresholds

>>57456203
not right after install, the screen itself works great with the pen, buttons on the pen work
but the screen buttons to not

fingerpint-gui handles the fingerprint scanner, its basically just an alternative to typing in your sudo password and login password
the other buttons are mappable, but i dont really care enough to go map them out to different scripts like rotating the screen

>>57456227
i dont think so actually, i dont think the motherboard has the screen input for it

I can get my hands on an x200 in my area for 75USD. I already have an x201, and I've been holding out to replace it with a 220t or a 230t. Don't know if want.

>>57456423
get it
sell both of them for $100 each and get an x220 with the money you'd have
or save up a bit more and get an x230

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I-is it worth $240?

>>57456455
Seems a bit high
I'd try to talk him down to $200, and $220 being your max.

>>57456099
>>57456227
how the fuck can you draw with the clitmouse it's impossible

my t420s is always very hot (~80c) regardless of what im doing

how do i fix it so it werks and the fan isnt always blasting? is there anything i can do short of pulling it apart and changing the paste?

>>57451875
Pls respond

>>57456761
Just pull it apart and change the paste it's really not hard to do.

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Finally thinking about getting a thinkpad, but not sure which one. T420 is more in my price range, but i'm worried if 160 GB will be enough. T520 costs about 60 dollars more. Pic related.

>>57457162
how much are each?
and odds are 160 gigs will be fine
at worst you can get a 320 gig drive off of craigslist for like $10

>>57456968
they don't make 1080p screens for the t420

>>57457285
$180 for T420 and $230 for T520 (not exact prices, had to convert to usd)

Not from the US so I'm wondering if hard drives for T420 are hard to find.

bunch of cucks, i didnt even read but its purple as shit in here and thats a clear sign. I hope trump sticks his hillary in your redneck asses.

Testing to see if i can post.

K

Forgive my stupidity on this but does the modded 1.42 X220 modded bios work on the tablet version?

>Buy t400
>Enable discrete graphics in bios
>will no longer boot
>Power light and battery light
>Clearing CMOS doesnt fix it

Technology is a shit hobby

>>57457427
l o l what are you even asking

do you think T420s use some secret proprietary hard drive or something?

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Can anyone recommend me a sane, safe and quiet configuration for TpFancontrol on a T420 w/ intel graphics?

BIOS is too conservative (it gets pretty loud easily) and I kind of fucked up my setup for Smart Mode now...

>>57458466
Fan turned off by default
Level 1 fan at 65c
Level 2 or 3 (They're the same speed on my T420) at 80c
Level 128 (bios override) at 90c

>>57458567
>tfw I turn the fan off and can't even tell the difference because of loud HDD

>>57458567

Thanks.

45c 0
65c 1
75c 2
90c 128

Let's how this works.

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>Just plugged in my X230 to a monitor

Jesus fuck what a difference it makes compared to a small shitty laptop TN panel. Is it worth getting a dock?

>>57458658
Take the HDD out and turn the laptop on.

The quietness will make you impulsebuy an SSD as main drive or a second SSD for storage, it did for me.

Fucking HDDs man, being loud and shit.

>>57458717
Thing is, I already have SDD on desktop, and frankly I use my laptop only one week in a month. So that need of SSD snd quad-core is really shady.

How do you guys use your minifirewire port?

>>57459364
I plug my mouse into it.

I just got an L520, how do I reset the BIOS supervisor password?

I need a laptop to do python and shut posting, I was thinking of a x220
I can get one for 250€ at a local shop nearby, it has 4gb ram i5 and a small ssd which I prefer over a larger one or any HDD.
Is it a good deal ? Where could I find a better one ?

I don't mind having to buy one with no HDD nor battery at all I'll put one in there myself

>>57459886
eBay

Why are thinkpads so fucking slow

>>57459911
Because they aren't unless you're using a HDD in 2016

is there a noticable difference between using an i5 or an i7 in the t420

>>57459988
dual cores? nah
quad cores? massive but only in multicore workloads

>get thinkpad on thursday
>ordered charger
>est delivery monday
>okay i can wait
>monday comes
>nothing
>same next day
>check ebay
>delivery estimate monday
>check fedex number
>delivery estimate SATURDAY
>been sitting 3 hours away from me since thursday
>sitting in a warehouse for a fucking week and a half
>meanwhile i have a dead thinkpad

Fucking FedEx. What can I do about this? eBay was off by 5 days. Do they compensate me or something?

i have a t540p.
I already have it for 2 years and i noticed that the fan cover is getting really dusty.

How the fuck are you supposed to clean that when you need to disassemble the entire fucking thing.

Is there not an easier method. even cheap laptop's come with a removable fan cover yet this 1500$ laptop needs to be disassembled for routine maintenance

found on ebay, looking for a friend

>T420
>refurbished
>i5-2450M
>8GB RAM
>160GB SSD
>Windows 7 pre-installed clean (without bloatware)
>1 year warranty
>300$

y/n?

i got my T430 from the same ebay seller btw

>>57458665
yes, it's cheap. plus more ports and ability to add another display is always nice.

>>57460933
don't get one for over $200, and ideally under $150

>>57460933
too expensive

>>57460960
>>57461000
thanks

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X200 tablet here, how hard is it to flash libreboot? Will there be a lot of issues that come with using a custom bios?

Just bought a T420 with 4GB RAM for $110. Plan on upgrading RAM later.

>>57460933
bit pricey

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Should I get a used X220 with i7 2.8GHz, 8GB, 128GB SSD for 350$ or a i5, 4GB, 320 HDD for 250$?

I already have a X201, but it's kinda lacking. Regarding the bit higher price - I'm not from USA.

>>57461566
Does the x201 have an ssd and reasonable amount of ram? If not I would say upgrade that, mostly the ssd. What are you doing that gets slow? My x200 can't handle YouTube and some JavaScript heavy sites but I mostly use it for schoolwork and shitposting, which it does fine.

Guys, do I get a cheaper chinkpad and drop a bunch of upgrades into it or a more expensive one with a bit more base features. ie t420 or t440s

>>57461633
My personal preference is to go with older models, but it really depends on what you plan on using it for.

>>57461610
It doesn't have either sadly. And the battery lasts barely an hour and half

>>57461657
Well I'm in College, and I live off campus so I need something with a good battery life and handle non-intensive games(ie binding of Isaac)

>>57461686
What do you mostly use it for? What os are you using? On Windows I would bet you would benefit a ton from increased ram, and an ssd is going to breathe new life into any old computer. I would say get an ssd and then if you are still unsatisfied try to buy an x220 that doesn't have a hard drive, since those seem to be way cheaper.

>>57461633
T420 with upgraded cpu has like only 30% less performance than the top-tier skylake 6700HQ.

If you want performance I'd say t420 + upgraded cpu, for battery life an X series and for gaymen a x20 or x30 series with an eGPU setup.

>>57461983
what about T430 with upgraded CPU?

>>57462033
Works too.

>>57461983
What do you mean by upgrading the CPU? Like dropping in a i7-2620m?

Anyone have any clue as to why my x220 runs hotter and fan always on under Windows but not under linux?

anyone have experience on a W530 w/ i7-3920XM? considering picking up after talking to a guy who owns one and loves it.

>>57462112
I would guess windows just sucks more power in general. my friends laptop (not a thinkpad) gets insanely hot under windows and is very reasonable on linux. although people also claim better battery life on windows so it sorta leaves you wondering.

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>>57462172
I mean look at this... I'm gonna try to run W10 and see how it does, I normally use whatever Linux distro i feel like, but it doesn't get hot at all. But I need W10 to do things like Hulu or Netflix.

>>57462072
A quad core, something like a 2720qm which plenty of anons already did.

>>57462188
yeah ive never used windows on my x200 but it has never gotten hot except for one time I put it in my backpack while it was still on and it really did not like that. normally I would suggest replacing thermal paste/pad but if it runs cool on linux then idk. does it always get that hot on windows or only when you use chrome/watch videos/play games? might have to do with that

>>57462224
Sweet didn't know that, thanks!

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>>57462242
It gets hot in Windows when its doing nothing. On that screenshot all that I had open was Chrome with a about 4 tabs. I have already replaced thermal paste and even the heatsink and fan when I bought my x220 a few months ago.

This is under ubuntu right now with about four tabs and nothing else.

>>57462306
beats me man, maybe another anon can shed some light on this

>Bought a refurbed X230
>Disk usage is pretty much always at 100% and I can barely even open Photoshop without having to force close it multiple times

Jesus, using a laptop without an SSD is depressing. Does anyone have any experience with this?

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-750GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSD68?th=1&psc=1

>>57462647
Crucial in general is pretty legit

>>57462647
I have a small one in my desktop (128gb) it's great

>>57462647
I have an HDD and everything is good.

And more to that, I have SSD on my desktop. Once it failed and I sit for a month on HDD, and you know what? If HDD is not a total fucking garbage, there is difference only in startup time of OS and soft.

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So guys, I've got a L460 coming in soon. I haven't had a ThinkPad before, but they seem to be the best choice for Linux support. I'm planning to run Debian on it, and use it mostly for work (light coding, database shit and some R stuff). What can I expect?

>>57462994
isnt the L-series a meme?

>>57463047
L is for Low Cost, anon. Its not a meme, but a fact.

>>57463047
Mainly comes down to build quality. Specs are about the same.

>>57463110
>>57463078
huh neat

Where's the best place to buy a refurb thinkpad in the UK

Are Lenovo 9cell batteries for t420 (70++ ones) worth it? I read something about big degredation after a year of use.

If not, how can I find non-shit non-lenovo 9cell batteries?

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>>57461610
>My x200 can't handle YouTube and some JavaScript heavy sites but I mostly use it for schoolwork and shitposting, which it does fine.

What OS and what cpu does your X200 have? My X201 can handle youtube and twitch streaming in HD just fine

Is there really that big a difference between X200 and X201 cpus?

Messing with TPFanControl, surprised me how quiet it is, but I'm thinking with my second hard drive is there any way to slow the drive RPM?

What thinkpad t model has the best screen?

>>57464038
No, do this >>57458717

>>57464072
I have an SSD as primary, I just want a mass storage drive as secondary

>>57464047
15" 4:3 T60p.

>>57460576
Damn, I'm dealing with that shit now as well. T430 came today but charger won't be here till Saturday. Seller said he would ship the charger same or next day, he ended up waiting 2 days from the day I ordered it to ship it.

Nothing you can really do, as delivery dates aren't guaranteed AFAIK.

>>57464114
Get an SSD as secondary and another one as tertiary :^)

Is a thinkpad a good cheapo laptop for someone who wants to just browse various forums, and watch Movies/Live Streams

>>57465287
yes

>>57461686
Mine with a knockoff 9 cell battery at full brightness and high performance power plan on windows 7 lasts about 5 hours web browsing

>>57462253
the cooling is a struggle though, those quad cores run quite a bit hotter than the default dual cores

>>57465287
overkill

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Are there any thinkpads that have a dedicated line-in jack? I make music, so that would be nice

>>57466075
how

>>57451681
It's a good machine. Get the biggest batteries available and you'll have battery life for ages

>>57466254
all you need is a chromebook for what you want to do

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hey guys the batteries on my T61 and R61 are shot, what is a good site/brand battery that wont break bank. Not really looking for name brand battery, just something that will get me by. Also its weird but does the 14.1"WS listed HD bay work with a 14.1" 1400x1050 model?

>>57466214
Find a laptop with a low-latency audio system. Otherwise you're making things harder for yourself.
Most Macs, for instance, have low-latency and some have optical digital audio inputs.

What temps would be normal for an i5 T420?
I'm getting about 80-85c non-turbo under intel burn test and that seems high

goys is it possible to change the touchpad on a T440 to the touchpad thats on the T450 or T460? is this possible ;-;

Why shouldn't I get something newer like the thinkpad 13 if I can afford it? Are the improvements over the older models not justifiable by the cost?

>>57466693
does that stress the gpu at all?
if not that's pretty average, maybe slightly on the higher side of average.
re doing your thermal paste should help a bit
>>57466791
yes
>>57466804
the main reason people recommend these thinkpads are the price for what you get, the keyboard, and the build quality.
Newer thinkpads aren't as nice as the older ones are
>>57466214
I know the t400 does
although if you do the "listen to this device" in windows the audio will probably be backwards
If anyone knows of a way to fix this I'd love to know because I do that with my two desktops at home and the audio is backwards on one because of that.

>>57466838
intel burn test does not stress the gpu and already redid the thermal paste and I guess 85c is still loads better than 97c in which windows 7 just kills itself afterwords

Should I buy an x1 carbon 4th gen as my main machine?

>>57466838
>Newer thinkpads aren't as nice as the older ones are
Why not? Are the new keyboards really that bad? Or is it because of the price?

>>57466963
keyboard layout is pretty dumb (but not too bad once you get used to it)
the build quality isn't as good
and they're doing a lot more "apple" like things like soldering ram/cpu in.
The only nice thing about them was that lenovo finally got their head out of their ass and made good screens an option

>>57466984
Is there a good compromise model between old build quality/design and newer hardware? The stuff I hear about the T420 is nice and all, but I'm still hesitant about not getting something with a current gen processor with good integrated or dedicated GPU, battery life, and screen.

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Wouldn't it be nice if there were some Thinkpads in various colors that were denoted for use in programming, medicine, or educational use?

Then we could collect them and feel like big men with our blue "developer" laptops.

>>57467428
Why the hell would you want a blue laptop?
That sounds like some apple level shit

>>57467451
It's not that it's blue, it's that it would be something the normies aren't supposed to get. It's like the blue PlayStation that was only used for debugging.

I guess there are such things floating around out there. Lenovo interanal prototypes and laptops with branding or funky keys built-in for special purposes.

>>57466542
B-b-but i wana thinkpad

>>57465287
It's perfect for it.

Don't listen to this man
>>57466542

Get a real computer.

>X201 just got the fan error
Fuck. Come the fuck on. Can I fix this by myself?

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>>57467849
reee...
how hard are CPU fans to replace?

>>57463824
Sorry, I meant HD YouTube. The x201 has a gen 1 i series whereas the x200 has a third gen core2duo. Plus mine is the tablet version which has the low voltage cpu, I think mine is clocked at 1.6ghz

>>57467892
if you're already capable of stripping apart thinkpad-chan to reapply thermal paste, replacing the fan should be easy and replacements are $2 on ebay from china

i've done a few replacements myself; the only trouble i've had is when the chink seller sent me a fan with a 4-pin connector, but the mb had a 3-pin slot
i just popped off the connectors from the dead/replacement fans and swapped them

you might be fucked if the fan error is caused by something else; e.g. blown fuse. gg no re, get a replacement mb in that case; they're like $20.

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Just got my T420 and about to install Ubuntu-Mate

Do I do it with UEFI or Legacy?

Respond please, thanks.

I bought a refurbed X230 from a company that offers warranty and the E key on the keyboard only registers like 50% of the time. Is it easy to fix this on your own or should I just send it back?

>>57461102
Make sure you got everything right (the software guides on libreboot.org suck ass, try coreboot first).
It is good to have a hardware SPI Flasher with a clip just in case.

>>57464565
what about the 1050p T61 screen?

>1024*768 15" screen
>2GB of RAM
>1.8GHz duo

I know using a ten year old laptop for all my computing needs is a little silly in 2016, but I'd be lying if I said this thing wasn't comfy as fuck.

>>57470145
Not even a comparison. The T61 only has TN panels, the T60p is IPS.

>>57446175
>ALWAYS reinstall after getting a used computer
>never trust the OS they preinstalled

Also, always reflash after getting a used computer
never trust the BIOS/firmware which was preinstalled

>>57446866
>PATA SSD

wat

>>57444603
>Recommended models:
>T420 - 14", normal size
>X220 - 12.5", ultraportable

You do realize that RMS recommends not to ever use any Intel CPUs newer than the Core 2 line due to AMT/ME botnet in Core i?

>>57471279
/g/ isn't RMS, though.

I heard something about a $300 1080p T420 screen being released recently? Some third-party modder thing?
That ever turn out to be the real deal?

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>>57470208
I remember that feel. Can't say I'd want to go back from what I've got now, though. It was fun as a secondary machine, but now I can use it as my main machine.

Guys I got a new T420 recently at $150.
Everything is Ok and dandy, except for one thing... the fucking smell.

It's like the precious owner bathed in cologne every fucking day next to his think-pad and now instead of glorious plastic and metal it smells to cheap cologne.

Have any one here had to deal with something similar? Any tips on how to remove this odor?

>>57469852
It's easy to fix, a new keyboard is $20-40 and a few screws. Might as well upgrade to backlit while you're at it.

>>57471740
maybe just take it all apart and drench it in isopropyl alcohol

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>mfw it's almost $60 for a female HDMI to male VGA adapter most places I can find in my country, and almost impossible to find in the first place

Why is this a thing
Why is the inverse so much easier to find and so much cheaper

>>57471800
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-HDMI-Female-to-VGA-Male-Converter-Audio-Adapter-Support-1080P-Signal-Output-/112146461067

>>57471886
I know they can be bought in China like that link for much cheaper, I was just baffled that despite this easily available Chinese counteroffer, my country's prices are fucked beyond all belief

>>57471900
Yeah, those kind of stores really depend on uninformed people with too much money.

Is this a good deal?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220-Core-i5-2-5Ghz-4GB-320GB-Windows-7-Pro-12-5-Laptop-BA-/401180956323?hash=item5d683f96a3:g:YIwAAOSwMgdXyGKB#viTabs_0

>>57472137
Yeah, but x220 is pretty small.

>>57472143
I wanted an 11 inch so this is all I can get.

>>57471758
This. I do it with all my electronics. They ALWAYS smell when they are used

>>57472137
Careful anon. Check feedback. I never buy from a seller like that.

>>57472331
What do you mean? It seems like an average price, only thing thats giving me a red flag is the stock photos

>>57472350
>6 available
>98% feedback
>stock pictures
Don't expect a nicely cared for item. Buying from resellers is a bad idea

>>57471715
>T61 with integrated Intel GPU
>Middleton BIOS (allowing 8GiB of RAM and SATA II transfers)
>fancy dock with eGPU ATI card
>500GB SSD in the main disk slot and a 1TB HDD in the UltraBay slot

Correct?

i need a new laptop for university, the old one had pepsi spilled on it. which is the cheapest thinkpad i can stick an ssd into? going to be running debian on it

>>57472466
t420

>>57471379
Obviously it's not literally RMS. Still, why is the RMS picture in the board sticky? What you said is like saying "yea, but /vr/ doesn't really like 2D Zelda games".

>>57472466
T400

>>57472466
You can put an SSD in to anything that can use SATA. You just wont get full speed. I have an SSD in a T60, and considering that I ask very little from it I'd never know that it isn't going its full potential.

>>57472432
Almost. T60p body and UXGA IPS screen with T61 motherboard transplanted.

>>57464114
>mass storage
That's a weasel expression really, it may mean anything (from a small-capacity USB flashdrive to huge SAN networks full of RAID arrays) depending on the context and on who you ask.

>>57472380
But the 46 bought seem ok.

>>57451629
Check http://forum.thinkpads.com/ for most planar swap info. It's the mother lode of Pad info and a very helpful community.

>>57456130
60 is painless and plenty of work gets done on T60s. You can then hunt more computers by barter, doing fresh Windows installs, etc.

Worked well for me for many years. I keep .isos, activators or preactivated Win7 from respected sources (see MDL forums to learn what those are and a lot fucking more such as preactivation OEM style etc). Of course Windows 10 doesn't need activation to be functional but there are ways around that, too. Many versions of Office with activators exist too. I've even done a few Linux installs and have one long term Linux using normie in particular who now loves Xubuntu and has no use for Windows.

Wise poorfags, or non-poorfags who want the benefits, get gud quickly at reloading fucked PCs and doing data rescues. You can be wallowing in computers and peripherals easily for nomoney.

>>57458050
Maybe attempt reflash BIOS?

>>57458665
Docks rock and are a key reason to buy Thinkpads. You can add another hard disk in a caddy for moar storage, and some docks will charge an external battery.

>>57459886
>I don't mind having to buy one with no HDD nor battery at all I'll put one in there myself

I prefer them that way because I can get SSD of choice and a new Anker battery.

>>57470131
Thanks, apparently there are some issues with the tablet version, I think. I'm going to wait until I buy a second Thinkpad so I don't have to worry about bricking my working laptop

>>57451686
so throtling with quad cores is just a meme?

>>57462647
>Disk usage is pretty much always at 100% and I can barely even open Photoshop without having to force close it multiple times

I'd do a clean install, but of course an SSD is a fine upgrade.

>>57467849
Yes. Read the service manual, which is excellent. BTW I blow thru the fan grills to spin the fan during POST until I get replacement fans.

>>57471279
The internet is a botnet. If the Illuminati gave a shit about you they'd hold your sack over a blowtorch until you begged to give them your data.

If you matter, there is no defense. If you don't matter, there is no outsider interest.

>>57474027
Yes, it's a meme from people who think 90-95c on load will brick your cpu when it's designed to run up to 105c.

>>57474272
I have an i5 idling at 60 celcius. Does i7 heat less?

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>>57446866
Most 2.5" SSDs don't even take up the whole case anymore.

There's no reason you couldn't fit a pata/sata dongle and the SSD itself back inside its own case.

Might have to take the keyboard off to plug everything in, but big whoop.

I just tried to replace the screen on my T420.
I connected it with new cable, and it become apparent that screen in broken (really big crack).
I shut everything down, connected the old screen.
Aaand there is no backlight on the old screen. Did broken screen fucked up my motherboard or something?

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howdy. i dont usually come to this end of the chan, so forgive me if i dont follow /g/ ettiquette.

i bought myself an Acer Aspire R R5-471T-51UN on newegg for college. not looking for the fastest most expensive nasa linux chromebook, but it was a pretty good deal at $500. this is the first windows 10 product i have ever bought and so far i am a little more than unimpressed
>mctrashee reinstalled without subscription
>100 bloatware apps on the desktop
>during startup i somehow enabled the narrator and couldnt disable it until startup was finished
>search bar in the bottom corner will not register when i type
>trouble opening the start menu
>cant figure out touchscreen

how bad did i fuck up. i got the narrator to stop talking and installed chrome- how do i un fuck this computer?

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Anybody ever sent their Thinkpad for warranty repairs?

>T440p
>Keyboard keys start literally falling out and USB ports keep breaking
>Send it for express warranty repairs
>Keyboard replaced in 4 days but broken USB ports not accepted for warranty repairs and have to pay $200~ for board replacement if I want it fixed
>Test it in the shop and the trackpoint doesn't work
>"lolwhoops we fucked the board during keyboard replacement"
>Got a discount voucher and they're replacing the motherboard for free

Also, since I got the discount voucher, any thinkpad backpack/messenger bag that can either hold 2 heavy laptops or 1 heavy laptop with a lot of school notes?

>>57474479
I'd do a clean install. You don't even need to activate Windows 10 except to "personalize" settings and other tools will do that if you care.

>>57474479
You came to the thread where people talk about cheap old laptops friendo, not really the right place. Anyways, is it a new install of Windows 10? Maybe try installing 7 or reinstalling 10 if it isn't a fresh install.

>>57474452
You may have forgotten to plug in the backlight somewhere or also cracked it.

>>57474479
>how do i un fuck this computer?
Sell it and buy yourself a used X220 or X230 instead. Use whatever money left over after the base unit purchase for an SSD, new battery, RAM, and other accessories/upgrades as needed.

>>57474625
>>57474620
my bad, this is just the first laptop thread i came across. truthfully i am not sure what a new install of windows 10 entails- i just plugged it in and entered my settings rigt out of the box

probably should have done a little more research, i am very technologically illiterate. i know a lot of people who have had success with windows 10, is it possible to delete enough of these shitty apps to make it useable? i ahevent even attempted to use cortana yet, seems like some bullshit siri for windows

>>57474650
thanx

Just got my t420, I didn't buy it for gaming but what games can I play on it? Minecraft works smooth in basic settings for reference. Apart from that is there any good music editing software that can run on it? This is the first laptop I have that doesn't run macos so I don't know a lot of the software available

>>57474815
Do you have the Nvidia dGPU or just the Intel integrated graphics?

>>57474865
Intel graphics, not expecting much just something simple to distract me

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>>57474909
Source games will run decently on it. Indie pixelshit is a safe bet too. I wouldn't expect much in the way of 3D games.

And of course, Doom is always there for you.

>>57474452
WHAAT
I just saw that cable for my 1366x768 and new (broken) 1600x900 are identical = 04W1618/
I just plugged old 1366x768 into new cable and it worked. Why are they identical, everywhere in the internets they say I need new cable?

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>>57475168
photo here

Is it just me, or is there any way to get the physical audio buttons on the top of the x220 near the Thinkvantage and power button to work?

Right now, the mute audio button is stuck on, and I can't hear anything, and pressing it does nothing. The actual system sound is turned up all the way, though.

>>57475220
I should add that I am on Antergos linux

How hard is to fix/replace audio jack on T420. It seems I have some physical object in there.

I propose we move to instead of having a thinkpad general thread we make it a laptop general thread and maintain our thinkpad x20 x10 x01 recomendations up top because of how good they are when compared to how much they cost.

>>57475413
>opening the floodgates for macfags and gaymur kids
I'd rather not.

>>57475443
>macfags

if macs is what some people want let them make that choice on their own, there isn't much to discuss there if they want/need macos

>gaymerfags

i propose we tell all gaymers to either get desktops and or fuck off to /v/

>>57475443
>>57475458
not that anon but what about chinkTop general? something for cheap but very usable laptops since these are mainly used or we provide more up to date alternatives with some form of customization?

>>57475576
that would be awesome, or at least a small compilation or lists of what other laptops are on the market today to buy new that are cheap and good. or other used laptops that are cheap and good also. thinkpads are great but it feels we often miss other good laptops by focussing to much on one thing. but this could be something we should start discussing and then figure out if its something we want to do. maybe adding it to te wiki would be a first good step

>>57475648
granted I would rather have new hardware in the old case

>tfw you'll never have a T460 mobo + CPU in a T420 case due to dimension differences.

>>57475700
I've been very tempted to buy a brand new x260 i3 at around $700 because of the battery life and performance in a good package, but all /g/ says new lenovos are shit, and ive read a lot of shit on how bad those trackpads are and how the keyboards are all shit and there isn't anywhere around where I can go and test one so I find it hard to justify that kind of money.

>>57474590
Never had a warranty issue, but years ago when I got my T400, I called in to Lenovo to complain about the keyboard flex. They sent me a solid backplate T61 keyboard for free. Good luck getting the cunts to do that now.

>>57474815
Sim City 4 and Civilization IV are legit. All I ever play on my W520. It can run newer things, although not... very well. Unless they're source games, in which case they do OK.

Does w520/w530 supports hackingtosh at all?

>>57475837
You'd probably have to disable the dedicated GPU for it.

>>57474389
Dunno about the stock CPUs but my 2720qm idles at ~52c with the fan turned off, ~44c with the default fan speeds.

>>57475981
we need to start stating operating systems when we mention temps.

>>57476001
Running Win7 because muh eGPU.

>>57475748
you do sacrifice old features for new tech

>>57476269
I found it very difficult to understand your post.. You mean to say old features as in good keyboards and good trackpads? That just seems to be the standard anymore on any laptop. The great benefits of new tech is battery life.

>>57476288
pros and cons of new thinkpads vs old thinkpads
Pros:
>new hardware
>better performance
>better screens
>better battery life
>can technically longer

Cons:
>not as good of a keyboard
>not as good of a trackpad
>loss of volume keys
>fn key bullshit instead of actual function keys

at least these are what I see as pros and cons

>>57476354
>can technically be used for a longer period of time

>>57476354
is there any retail space in the usa where one could go and test a thinkpad in person?

>>57476360
kek, it was actually better before you corrected it.

>>57476371
idk I just test the T430's at my school and they're /comfy/ even though they have shit tier specs. Honestly I'd say like a school you used to go to and still keep in contact with or some shit.

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This corner has gotten loose and started to wiggle. How concerned should I be and can it be fixed easily?

>>57476562
it happens on every x series that has that stupid bar thing
try not to open it from the top if you can, use one of the edges

>>57475756
Yeah, I can't even get them to replace the crappy trackpad with a T450 trackpad

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is any linux distro fully compatible with a X201t?
is it possible to get all the buttons and features all working? fingerprint reader included.

>>57476371
Look for Lenovo showrooms in your area

can we put the pros and cons of new thinkpads in the sticky

>>57477145
i have an x61t and none of the buttons on the screen work except for the power one, so i assume it'd be mostly the same for x201t

>>57454048
Went from i5 2520m to i7 2760qm
I only notice a 5c change. You can't put an ivy bridge cpu into a t420.

new thread

>>57477592
>>57477592
>>57477592

>>57477548
is the upgrade worth it?

>>57477709
well depends what you are doing. I'm working with adobe shit, so rendering is faster. Games would be faster if they support more cores but I don't game on my laptop. If you aren't doing anything intensive then I'd suggest keeping it stock or just appreciate it until you find a killer deal online for a quadcore.