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Just ordered a used thinkpad

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astroidea said:
So $180 for the old laptop, $90 for the SSD, $40 for the battery, $20 for 2GB DDR2(got it a year ago), $40 for win7 pro for students

$370 total... for a tablet, that's WAAAY faster than a netbook, and not that much bigger(12.1" screen).

The SSD was $162 including shipping/no insurance. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180459055007
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i have serious doubts about a 40 dollar battery, there is a huge disparity of price online for those batteries, the 40 dollar ones from the ratings seem to be a bit scammy. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...k+Batteries+/+AC+Adapters-_-Lenovo-_-34995051
a legitimate battery seems to cost 150 dollars
 
0roo0roo said:
i have serious doubts about a 40 dollar battery, there is a huge disparity of price online for those batteries, the 40 dollar ones from the ratings seem to be a bit scammy.
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Did you see the link I posted on the battery? It's a brand new, sealed genuine battery from IBM. *OFFICIAL*
It came sealed in a foam lined box with all the manuals.
But they do only come up once in a while.
I got another brand new, genuine battery a year ago for $50 shipped.
Sanyo cells kick arse. 🙂
 
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001M6DPX0/
"'ve just bought this battery less then a month ago...

Initially the battery just drain out before the it get under 15%, so I ran the Thinkpad Battery Maintenance Program to make sure that Thinkpad is charging according to its capacity. But this kept recurring.

Now I've cycled about 30 times, and Thinkpad Power Manager already shows that it only has 15.30 Wh from the claimed 57.60 Wh!!! "

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AYM310/
"This extends about 4 inches from the back of my ibm x40. Clearly not the battery in the picture and not the standard extended battery. It works but it's not what was shown in the picture. "
 
0roo0roo said:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001M6DPX0/
"'ve just bought this battery less then a month ago...

Initially the battery just drain out before the it get under 15%, so I ran the Thinkpad Battery Maintenance Program to make sure that Thinkpad is charging according to its capacity. But this kept recurring.

Now I've cycled about 30 times, and Thinkpad Power Manager already shows that it only has 15.30 Wh from the claimed 57.60 Wh!!! "

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AYM310/
"This extends about 4 inches from the back of my ibm x40. Clearly not the battery in the picture and not the standard extended battery. It works but it's not what was shown in the picture. "
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Yeah don't buy generic chinese junk. Only get genuine with high quality Sanyo cells. 🙂
btw, look back at the first page, I posted the battery info a post right before you brought up the importance of the battery.
 
astroidea said:
Did you see the link I posted on the battery? It's a brand new, sealed genuine battery from IBM. *OFFICIAL*
It came sealed in a foam lined box with all the manuals.
But they do only come up once in a while.
I got another brand new, not sealed genuine battery a year ago for $50 shipped. It was as good as my current sealed battery.

Sanyo cells kick arse. 🙂
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you have no idea what level of fakes there are now😛
faking manuals is nothing these days in china.

some of these cheapies might be refurbs..aka "rebuilds" using used cells with the weakest ones replaced. there used to be places where you could refresh your laptop battery packs for cheaper than replacement and eek a bit more life out of an old pack..

lithium ion batteries also have a shelf life from manufacture, so how old is it.

you can only be scammed if you are willing to believe you can get an incredible deal. who knows, you might have gotten lucky, but most of the time these things are rip offs.
 
http://www.computerworld.com.au/art...elling_fake_flammable_batteries/?fp=16&fpid=1
"IBM is suing Shentech for selling laptop batteries that catch fire and sport allegedly fake IBM logos.

The suit, filed Nov. 20 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, accuses Shentech of trademark infringement, false advertising, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices.

IBM says that a consumer in Ohio bought a battery from Shentech for a ThinkPad laptop. The battery overheated and caught fire, causing damage to the laptop, IBM said. The user reported the problem to Lenovo, which licenses the IBM trademark. After examining the faulty battery, IBM discovered that it was not a genuine IBM battery, the company said in the suit. "
 
Shit well if I got a fake, they must be REALLY pro at making fakes since notebook hardware control says the manufacturer for my battery is SANYO.

The brand new battery I got a year ago for $50shipped has 65% capacity (43whr/66whr) after a year of heavy usage - full time student with classes M-F without plugging it in till I get home.
Does that sound about right for genuine japanese cells?
 
maybe you got lucky, its an old laptop and perhaps there are old stock left of batteries they are getting rid of.

i'm just saying sometimes cheap can be deceiving. the cheap initial price doesn't cover the costs that just add up as you keep adding bits to make it work. in the end you have a 5 pound "sorta" tablet with 1024x768 resolution which is too small for much multitasking desktop use and sorta unwieldly for tablet use.
 
0roo0roo said:
maybe you got lucky, its an old laptop and perhaps there are old stock left of batteries they are getting rid of.

i'm just saying sometimes cheap can be deceiving. the cheap initial price doesn't cover the costs that just add up as you keep adding bits to make it work. in the end you have a 5 pound "sorta" tablet with 1024x768 resolution which is too small for much multitasking desktop use and sorta unwieldly for tablet use.
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lol alright the OP was a bit deceiving without including all the extra purchases in there... but it sounds like someone here is anxiously defending himself about his ipad preorder. :sneaky:

However, I'll admit that it did take me a lot of time to get this whole thing set up from doing all the research and spending all the time snooping on ebay. Definitely not for the average joe schmoe. You also won't get a fancy multi-touch on this 5yr old tablet, but it does come with a Wacom digitizer, which makes it effectively as good as a mini 12" XGA wacom cintiq that usually sells for thousands on itself. Plus I can't imagine much of a better option as a student's tool, well at least for me in which many of my classes require diagram and schematic drawings.
Oh and it's 4lbs with the 8cell. 😉
 
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0roo0roo said:
maybe you got lucky, its an old laptop and perhaps there are old stock left of batteries they are getting rid of.

i'm just saying sometimes cheap can be deceiving. the cheap initial price doesn't cover the costs that just add up as you keep adding bits to make it work. in the end you have a 5 pound "sorta" tablet with 1024x768 resolution which is too small for much multitasking desktop use and sorta unwieldly for tablet use.
Click to expand...

The IBM Thinkpads are sturdy workhorses. I have the X22, X40, T42p, X61t. They all never had any problems and have been through a lot of use. All bought second hand except the X61t. The X22 has been a file/print server 24/7 for the last 3 years and under normal use before that. The X40 and T42p are used constantly and moved around a lot. The X61t is my main computer in dual monitor setup.

People are still buying these laptop and there is constant supply of parts, especially batteries. Just do some research before buying the parts and it should be fine.

As long as you do normal productivity work on them, they're good. They're typically not aiming for gamers.

I don't know why you think they're 'sorta' tablets. Tablets aren't meant to have as big of a screen as a desktop or as speedy. The Wacom setup with stylus is going to be more accurate than using your finger. The finger is fine for finger painting and clicking on big icons. It won't replace the precision of a stylus for more detailed work.
 
aceO07 said:
The IBM Thinkpads are sturdy workhorses. I have the X22, X40, T42p, X61t. They all never had any problems and have been through a lot of use. All bought second hand except the X61t. The X22 has been a file/print server 24/7 for the last 3 years and under normal use before that. The X40 and T42p are used constantly and moved around a lot. The X61t is my main computer in dual monitor setup.

People are still buying these laptop and there is constant supply of parts, especially batteries. Just do some research before buying the parts and it should be fine.

As long as you do normal productivity work on them, they're good. They're typically not aiming for gamers.

I don't know why you think they're 'sorta' tablets. Tablets aren't meant to have as big of a screen as a desktop or as speedy. The Wacom setup with stylus is going to be more accurate than using your finger. The finger is fine for finger painting and clicking on big icons. It won't replace the precision of a stylus for more detailed work.
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Its a "sorta tablet" the way all windows tablets were, neither fish nor fowl. Just not light or handy or fast enough to be a convenient tablet, and lacking software support for usability as a tablet. Navigating microsoft windows with your finger is just not on, so there just is very little reason to justify it. Its a novelty in a way which is fine, but its also why it failed, it didn't justify itself, for most tasks on a laptop it was an inferior way of doing things.
 
lol. Yet another unsightly, clunky, useless piece of garbage that some fool thinks can somehow be compared to the iPad. Comparing this trash to the iPad is like comparing a rusty old wheel barrow to a Bugatti Veyron. Everyone knows this.
 
astroidea said:
For $180 shipped no tax(best offer, which is now removed)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180485637378&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

1024x768 IPS screen, USB, multitasks, windows 7, runs UT2004 @ native res medium settings with detailed textures, slightly bulkier than ipad, 3lbs, 5.5hr battery life, remote desktop to my beast of a workstation at home on 25mbps upload FIOS,
yeah and I got my touchscreen too apple bitches.

BOOYAH!
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Define "runs". Yeah. Thats what I thought.

How does your hard drive handle 25mbps fios? Oh? Whats that? You cant USE it as top download speed? k.
 
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theflyingpig said:
lol. Yet another unsightly, clunky, useless piece of garbage that some fool thinks can somehow be compared to the iPad. Comparing this trash to the iPad is like comparing a rusty old wheel barrow to a Bugatti Veyron. Everyone knows this.
Click to expand...

You're Steve Jobs aren't you! That would make perfect sense now that I think of it Theflyingpig = Steve Jobs!
 
0roo0roo said:
Its a "sorta tablet" the way all windows tablets were, neither fish nor fowl. Just not light or handy or fast enough to be a convenient tablet, and lacking software support for usability as a tablet. Navigating microsoft windows with your finger is just not on, so there just is very little reason to justify it. Its a novelty in a way which is fine, but its also why it failed, it didn't justify itself, for most tasks on a laptop it was an inferior way of doing things.
Click to expand...

Enjoy your oversized iphone. It's a "totally tablet"! OSX also runs with full tablet functionality on the X41T, funny how my ghetto ebay 5yr old laptop can do it while apple doesn't even have anything out that can do it.
 
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Hacp said:
What ssd did you get? I thought the HD had a proprietary interface.
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There's a company called Kingspec that makes a line of SSDs for the horizontally mounted PATA on the X40 series of thinkpads.
Lenovo also came out with a 60GB model that can be had from anywhere from $180-200.
 
SunSamurai said:
Define "runs". Yeah. Thats what I thought.

How does your hard drive handle 25mbps fios? Oh? Whats that? You cant USE it as top download speed? k.
Click to expand...

lol 25mbps fios is still only 3.1MB/s. Even the slow as molasses stock 40GB 4200RPM drive can pull a solid 18MB/s.
 
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