Is the Thinkpad R40 any good?

[mallik]

Somebody is selling their Thinkpad R40, and it seems like a pretty good deal. It's a Centrino 1.4GHz, with Radeon 7500, 30GB HD, 15"etc. Those specs seem similar to the Thinkpad T40/T41, so I was wondering if this laptop is good, and how does it compare to the T40/T41? Any help would be appreciated.

Also, a side question, hope it is acceptable for this forum...this person does not have any references (because they don't trade through forums), but they expect money first. What steps and precautions should I take to ensure that I don't get screwed over? The email address that I'm communicating to him with is his university email address if that helps any. Thanks for your help.

 

[paranoidandroid]

essentially, the R series is the same as the T series, except slightly thicker and no magnesium casing. in fact, they use the same bios etc.

 

[aakerman]

Yeah.. the R-series is the economy version of the T-series. About 1cm thicker, 30-40% heavier, and made entirely of plastic.

I would be very cautious, trading with that guy.. you have no way of verifying that he has the machine, or is willing to send it.. it would
be best to arrange a physical meeting.

 

[mallik]

Thanks for the info. I would prefer to meet in person with this guy, but he lives too far.

 

[WackyDan]

The only thing to be careful of with the R40 is the latches--more specifically, the latch hooks that are on the display/cover and hold the screen/top down to the base of the chassis when closed...

Maybe IBM fixed them at some point, but we had about 15 R40's go through our hands and nearly half of those ended up with at least one broken hook, some with both broken. We man handle our machines a lot though.... And they broke most often when grasping the screen edge and moving the unit around when the lid was open... Hard to explain, but done in such a way that you probably wouldn't do it. We never had the same problem with any of the T's, newer R's ie R50, X's or A's.