Warm deal: New-in-box DVD-rom for IBM Thinkpads $79 shipped

[Kwad Guy]

Egghead has the DVD player that fits in the portable
drive bay on IBM Thinkpad notebooks models 240, 390,
560, 570, 600, 770 and i series for $79 shipped. These
are new-in-box units. 2x DVD, 20X CD-ROM speeds.

A pretty good deal considering that even cr*p old DVD
roms for non-laptop computers sell for around this amount
when new-in-box. (Of course, they're now faster than
2X DVD, but who cares on your notebook...it's only to
watch movies anyway...)

Here's the link to egghead

Kwad

 

[Gunbuster]

Do you know what type of connector is on the drive inside the sled\bay adapter? is it the little din shaped one?

Also is this a flat faced drive bezel?

(mmmm must adapt one for my compaq m300)

 

[zhensel]

In my limited experience with IBM "ultrabay" type products, they usually have a non-standard connector, but have a standard component with a wierd plug adaptor to plug into the non-standard interface.

I got a 1.2 gig hd for my I-Opener and was initially disappointed and thought my cash (like 15 bucks) had been wasted. I gave it a shot and tore the thing open and it was totally standardized inside. One wierd thing was that the marking for the "1" IDE pin was actually next to the 44th pin. Figured that out eventually though (and luckily I didn't kill the drive by passing the +5v through the wrong connection on the disk.)

 

[Gunbuster]

My question is what is the "standard connector" for laptop CD\DVD drives?

 

[zhensel]

It's a 44 pin mini ide connector - the extra pins hold the functionality of the 4 pin mylex power connector on a normal drive. They have a couple ground lines and a +5 power line and I think a -5 line. You can buy a converter (search for 2.5 to 3.5 converter or something) for like 7 bucks that comes with brackets to fit it in to your computer even. Search around for this part number to confirm the design type before you buy though. IBM may use some totally proprietary design on this, though I doubt it.

 

[Gunbuster]

Looks to me this is the standard connector for laptop dvd/cd drives now. .link to picture
(and it's the one I need)

I just hope the IBM is the same inside the sled

 

[tinhrdep]

does anyone knows if this drive will work with the thinkpad 1340?
my school if offerring the thinkpad 1350 very similar to the 1340.
the specs on the laptop is cel 500 MHZ, 24X CD-ROM, 6 GIG HD, 12.1 screen, battery 2.8 hours life
the price is $1000
is this consider a bargain?

 

[Nack]

tinhrdep,

That isn't a very hot deal that your school is offering. Check out the clearance racks at your local B&M store. A couple months ago, I picked up an IBM TP i1480 w/ C466, 14.1 TFT, 6GB HD, DVD/CD, 64MB SDRAM, and LiIon battery (about 2.75-3.25 hours) for about $1050 w/tax. I paid another $45 or so, and installed an extra 64MB because I found the memory cheap. Total was about $1100 w/128MB RAM.

If you need it sooner rather than later (and can't wait to find a good clearance deal) check the Internet. If that fails, buy a computer shopper and see what the new york mail order houses are selling them for. Whatever you do, make sure that you get an active matrix TFT screen. A 12.1" screen is as small as I would go.

Nack

 

[erickotz]

Anyone know if the will work in an i series 1400? Type 2621-42U. AFAIK, this is NOT the UltraSlim, it's almost 2 inches thick. I know a DVD drive was sold with some models of this notebook. This machine does NOT have an ultrabay; the CD-ROM is mounted perminately inside it. That said, it looks like this drive will fit if I take the machine apart to swap them.
Also, OT here, but does anyone else with an i series notebook and the NiMh batterey find the batterey meter is VERY VERY inaccurate. They've exchanged the batterey once with no change. My machine gets to arounf 50% and just abruptly shuts off.