Help scouting out Thinkpads

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Looking to get my first Thinkpad. Somewhat old. Used. Refurbished.
Ebay, probably. Would like to get a collection of in-depth
descriptions of all the different Thinkpads, so I'll know what I am
buying. A spreadsheet sort-of comparison of features would be nice,
too.

When I find what might be a good prospect on Ebay, I try to research
the model number with Google, and by the time I think I may have
enough info to answer just a few of my questions (but not all), the
auction may be over. Besides, I should be knowledgeable about what I
am buying, so that I'll be able to use it well.

IBM seems to give info on what they are currently selling (of course)
instead of the "legacy-type" Thinkpads that would be in my (low) price
range.

Hoping someone has already done at least some of the hard work of
getting this info together. Or at least a few links that I can check
out and collate info from?

Maybe there is a book on legacy Thinkpads that I should read too?

Jim DeMian
Columbia, MO
 

john

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

>IBM seems to give info on what they are currently selling (of course)
>instead of the "legacy-type" Thinkpads that would be in my (low) price
>range.

Jim, compare the info from these IBM sites:

http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/RJJR-3PZQ77.html

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/RJJR-3PZS9K.html

http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/LWIK-44KK9D.html

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/LWIK-3YJFM2.html

http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-39576

http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/thinkpad/tseries/

I personally still use a 560z, 770z, 600x, T-20 and T-23. They have
become old friends. By maximizing the RAM and upgrading to a
faster hard drive these are sufficient for Windows and Office 2k Pro
and web browsing.

BTW, my favorite is the ThinkPad 600x (PIII-500MHz / 576 MB (PC-100MHz)
SDRAM / 40GB GNX Hard Drive.

Regards ... John
 
G

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 23:54:31 -0500, jim_demian@hotmail.com wrote:

>Looking to get my first Thinkpad. Somewhat old. Used. Refurbished.
>Ebay, probably. Would like to get a collection of in-depth
>descriptions of all the different Thinkpads, so I'll know what I am
>buying. A spreadsheet sort-of comparison of features would be nice,
>too.
>

You need tawbook.

Find it here -> ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/

More information can be found in the Legacy forums at
http://forum.thinkpads.com
 

john

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Jim, for the Hardware Maintenance Manuals, checkout:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/

tabook/tawbook - A/T/X/R series
tbook/twbook - 2xx, 3xx, 5xx, 600, 7xx, 8xx series
tibook/tiwbook - i series
trbook/trwbook - older R series

Regards ... John
 
G

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Thank you very much for the info on the Thinkpads, guys.

I have my work cut out for me, and I have already started. Thank you
very much for helping me out.

Jim DeMian
Columbia, MO
 
G

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

In article <tt3qk0ppaid5kvijjg7j9dgsniu9b89tnm@4ax.com>,
<jim_demian@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Looking to get my first Thinkpad. Somewhat old. Used. Refurbished.
>Ebay, probably. Would like to get a collection of in-depth
>descriptions of all the different Thinkpads, so I'll know what I am
>buying. A spreadsheet sort-of comparison of features would be nice,
>too.
>
>When I find what might be a good prospect on Ebay, I try to research
>the model number with Google, and by the time I think I may have
>enough info to answer just a few of my questions (but not all), the
>auction may be over. Besides, I should be knowledgeable about what I
>am buying, so that I'll be able to use it well.
>
>IBM seems to give info on what they are currently selling (of course)
>instead of the "legacy-type" Thinkpads that would be in my (low) price
>range.
>
>Hoping someone has already done at least some of the hard work of
>getting this info together. Or at least a few links that I can check
>out and collate info from?
>
>Maybe there is a book on legacy Thinkpads that I should read too?

Don't know of any tables comparing models. My favorites are 560z,600E,
X-series. I like them because of their excellent keyboards and relative
ease of running Linux on most models and ruggedness. I have bought most
of my thinkpads on ebay for very reasonable prices and no problems.

Nothing is ever perfect and I'm definately hard on my notebooks. In
case of problems/failures, I have found the tech manuals from IBM
helpful in tracking down error codes and part numbers, which I then
buy on ebay to fix.

See ya, -ingo

--
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