Thinkpad Appreciation Thread

[dylandylandylan]

;Has anyone else with a thinkpad tried popping one of these in http://goo.gl/Gu73WX ? I have a T420 with a 6300 currently and have heard mixed results about getting one to work.

 

You could always just get a USB dongle, they're so small now, just look like a piece of your laptop. But I have that model laptop, so I can try it out for you, if you want.

[stevv]

Did you end up getting that carbon?

 

I might not go that route anymore because of a couple of things:

 

1: Got my nephew a Thinkpad twist, and turns out it has a msata 24GB in addition to the 7mm 2.5 in drive (funny thing is that nowhere did it say there was a 24GB msata drive inside!!).  It's about the same weight as my x300/x301 + touch screen for ~$500.  Swapped the HD for 256 Solid state + win8, and the 24GB msata... osx maverick =).  I was against getting a mac just b/c his class needed to us xcode.  Stick it to the man!  The twist's trackpad is actually pretty good.... 

 

2: I can't do with only one hard drive in system, so the x1 series doesn't fit the bill anymore.  The thin and light doesn't make too much of a difference for me vs the ultrabooks.  Thinkpad twist with fingerprint and pen... waiting... 

 

3: well maybe one more... reason I'm sticking with my x301 a little longer... 

 

 

 

;Has anyone else with a thinkpad tried popping one of these in http://goo.gl/Gu73WX ? I have a T420 with a 6300 currently and have heard mixed results about getting one to work.

Their whitelist is very narrow.  Can't even use the x300's wireless I had on the x301. 

[dylandylandylan]

I might not go that route anymore because of a couple of things:

 

1: Got my nephew a Thinkpad twist, and turns out it has a msata 24GB in addition to the 7mm 2.5 in drive (funny thing is that nowhere did it say there was a 24GB msata drive inside!!).  It's about the same weight as my x300/x301 + touch screen for ~$500.  Swapped the HD for 256 Solid state + win8, and the 24GB msata... osx maverick =).  I was against getting a mac just b/c his class needed to us xcode.  Stick it to the man!  The twist's trackpad is actually pretty good.... 

 

2: I can't do with only one hard drive in system, so the x1 series doesn't fit the bill anymore.  The thin and light doesn't make too much of a difference for me vs the ultrabooks.  Thinkpad twist with fingerprint and pen... waiting... 

 

3: well maybe one more... reason I'm sticking with my x301 a little longer... 

 

-snip-

 

 

Their whitelist is very narrow.  Can't even use the x300's wireless I had on the x301. 

 

Oh nice, I'm bidding on a twist at the moment, people don't seem to like these business grade laptops here in New Zealand, and I keep getting quite late model think pads for less than $150. I'm going to turn into a think pad hoarder one of these days >_<

[rashdanml]

I might actually get myself an X220/T420/etc to test out the older, 7-row keyboard that people seem to be swearing by. Finding nothing wrong with the X230's keyboard (and very glad I went with that over the X240, the dedicated trackpoint buttons are amazing and took no time to get used to). 

[TheProfosist]

Be warned: Thinkpads have a specific set of FRUs (field replacement units) whitelisted in the BIOS. Not every Wifi card will work. Ran into that issue with a similar wireless card. 

Ebay is a good place to look for wifi cards that are whitelisted. 

 

The other way around it is a custom BIOS, which is risky. Or modify the PCI-ID of the wifi card, which is less risky. b

Yep thought that might be the case the HP Probook I used to have had the same issue ill see what I can find on ebay. I also read something that yo uhave to disable the built in bluetooth is you have it.

You could always just get a USB dongle, they're so small now, just look like a piece of your laptop. But I have that model laptop, so I can try it out for you, if you want.

Yea, no the small ones work like crap even if they are "AC" so id rather just stick with my Intel 6300 which and do max Wireless N. The main reason I want the 7260 is that the 6300 doesnt like connecting to 5GHz networks that have AC on them.

I might actually get myself an X220/T420/etc to test out the older, 7-row keyboard that people seem to be swearing by. Finding nothing wrong with the X230's keyboard (and very glad I went with that over the X240, the dedicated trackpoint buttons are amazing and took no time to get used to).

Who trackpoint FTW the only change I like on the newer keyboard is the fact that the back and forware buttons arnt right next to the arrow keys. I do how ever think they should have put home and end there not page up and down. I do like the backlight ones some time but its not needed really.

[R4STABAN]

I disposed of about 12 thinkpads the other day. I can't remember the model numbers. I was happy to see the back of them.

 

Not because they're bad, but y'know, teachers + laptops = massive workload fixing coffee spills, broken keyboards, broken screens, broken chargers, broken hinges etcetcetc

[dylandylandylan]

I disposed of about 12 thinkpads the other day. I can't remember the model numbers. I was happy to see the back of them.

 

Not because they're bad, but y'know, teachers + laptops = massive workload fixing coffee spills, broken keyboards, broken screens, broken chargers, broken hinges etcetcetc

 

How the hell can you break a ThinkPad? I've spilled like, 5 coffees on mine, and they just go right through because of that spill hole, I've dropped mine so many times, indestructible -touches wood-

[rashdanml]

How the hell can you break a ThinkPad? I've spilled like, 5 coffees on mine, and they just go right through because of that spill hole, I've dropped mine so many times, indestructible -touches wood-

I'm almost tempted to try it too  

Just ordered the 9-cell battery and 6-cell slice. Had to buy the laptop through a retailer because Lenovo was taking far too long to ship (ordered with the batteries), so needed to buy them separately. Oh well.

[TheProfosist]

I disposed of about 12 thinkpads the other day. I can't remember the model numbers. I was happy to see the back of them.

 

Not because they're bad, but y'know, teachers + laptops = massive workload fixing coffee spills, broken keyboards, broken screens, broken chargers, broken hinges etcetcetc

Seems like they really need to make a laptop thats made to be broken.

How the hell can you break a ThinkPad? I've spilled like, 5 coffees on mine, and they just go right through because of that spill hole, I've dropped mine so many times, indestructible -touches wood-

They are breakable but you have to treat them rather poorly. I really wonder what they would have done to a normal consumer laptop though.

I'm almost tempted to try it too  

Just ordered the 9-cell battery and 6-cell slice. Had to buy the laptop through a retailer because Lenovo was taking far too long to ship (ordered with the batteries), so needed to buy them separately. Oh well.

I need to order new ones of those my slice battery has been worthless for over 6 months and im getting less than 2 hours on my 9 cell now.

What laptop do you have? The reason I ask is that there are few that support both and thats actually the reason why I got my T420.

[rashdanml]

What laptop do you have? The reason I ask is that there are few that support both and thats actually the reason why I got my T420.

X230. The one I got should support both the X220 and X230 (they're almost identical in shape/size). 

[TheProfosist]

X230. The one I got should support both the X220 and X230 (they're almost identical in shape/size).

Yea I got the T420 over the T420s because of the batteries and because I would get a HDD initially now SSD in the ODD bay. I recently found out I can also put a mSATA SSD in the WWAN slot so im waiting very impatiently for the 840 EVO mSATA to come out.

[rashdanml]

Yea I got the T420 over the T420s because of the batteries and because I would get a HDD initially now SSD in the ODD bay. I recently found out I can also put a mSATA SSD in the WWAN slot so im waiting very impatiently for the 840 EVO mSATA to come out.

Mmhm. I opted for the 840 EVO as a replacement for the existing 500GB HDD, which I plan on turning into an External by buying an enclosure. Seems like my mSATA slot is vacant too (only have a WLAN card inserted). 

 

Future plan: mSATA SSD with SATA3 SSD for storage. Hopefully by then, 1TB SSDs will be cheap enough for mass storage

[TheProfosist]

Mmhm. I opted for the 840 EVO as a replacement for the existing 500GB HDD, which I plan on turning into an External by buying an enclosure. Seems like my mSATA slot is vacant too (only have a WLAN card inserted). 

 

Future plan: mSATA SSD with SATA3 SSD for storage. Hopefully by then, 1TB SSDs will be cheap enough for mass storage

Yea I have a 256GB 840 Pro in the HDD bay for the OS (Win8.1) and a 500GB 840 in the ODD bay for a TEMP drive. I plan to use the 840 EVO probably ~120gb (depending on pricing) for dual booting to Win7 for PC Repair/Diagnosics stuff.

[R4STABAN]

How the hell can you break a ThinkPad? I've spilled like, 5 coffees on mine, and they just go right through because of that spill hole, I've dropped mine so many times, indestructible -touches wood-

 

Well these things were also old as hell. XP os on them etc. Batteries were all fried. Chargers lost etc. I found them in the depths of a storage cupboard.

 

If you want indestructible, you want a panasonic toughbook! We had crates holding 84 MoD Army issue toughbooks that were donated to the school when I was a student there (some idiot accepted them), they were used in first gulf war I think..

I managed to convince the army to take them back because I booted one up and the OS was still intact. Confidential military data anyone? ;D

[dylandylandylan]

Ha, I've decided to build a hackintosh out of one of my T410s, it's going to be an awesome project, even though the last time I touched the Apple OS was a long time ago ..

[TheProfosist]

Hey guys as mentioned above the 840 EVO mSATA finally came out and I picked up a 120gb and popped it in my T420, which now has 3 SSDs BTW.

[dylandylandylan]

Hey guys as mentioned above the 840 EVO mSATA finally came out and I picked up a 120gb and popped it in my T420, which now has 3 SSDs BTW.

 

That's awesome! Does it take up the slot where the wireless card would go? 

[TheProfosist]

That's awesome! Does it take up the slot where the wireless card would go?

No it goes in the WWAN slot. It would fit in the WLAN slot as those are now half height.

[Nirmal]

Well damn,

Broke the rollcage frame thing on my thinkpad. Guess I shouldn't have droppend it from 4ft, long story short, my backpack broke and my laptop was in the backpack.... I think it will cost about 20 dollars to replace.

 

*Edit can't figure out how to use spoilers with images so, here are the links to the images:

http://imgur.com/DMfUUrB,pZM9qJ7,9YmULHP,TmUpeod#0

[dylandylandylan]

Well damn,

Broke the rollcage frame thing on my thinkpad. Guess I shouldn't have droppend it from 4ft, long story short, my backpack broke and my laptop was in the backpack.... I think it will cost about 20 dollars to replace.

 

*Edit can't figure out how to use spoilers with images so, here are the links to the images:

http://imgur.com/DMfUUrB,pZM9qJ7,9YmULHP,TmUpeod#0

 

wow, you broke a ThinkPad? D;

 

That sucks man, I haven't managed to break one yet, the worst I've done is scratched one by having it sitting on the roof of my car and driving off

[Nirmal]

wow, you broke a ThinkPad? D;

 

That sucks man, I haven't managed to break one yet, the worst I've done is scratched one by having it sitting on the roof of my car and driving off

 

Yeah, lol. Anyways just looked it up on ebay and it costs exactly 20 dollars with free shipping, so not all bad I suppose.

[stevv]

The Thinkpad 8 getting charged by portable (Anker® 2nd Gen Astro3) battery while watching youtube HD 1080.  Charged 3% in 10min.  The battery could charger over 2amps, but I didn't have a meter when I was testing it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stevv]

Keycap comparison: Thinkpad (x301) vs Corsair K95 key.

 

I found the K95 keys too narrow, and my finger easily slip between keys when the center of my finger is actually still about a 1/4 from the edge of the key, and the wobbly switches doesn't help either.  Any thoughts?  I'm currently using a Logitech K800.

 

 

[TheProfosist]

Keycap comparison: Thinkpad (x301) vs Corsair K95 key.

 

I found the K95 keys too narrow, and my finger easily slip between keys when the center of my finger is actually still about a 1/4 from the edge of the key, and the wobbly switches doesn't help either.  Any thoughts?  I'm currently using a Logitech K800.

 

 

get cherry height/profile keycaps as they are slightly shorter than the OEM height/profile corsair ones. You wont be able to get the for your K95 though as it has non standard bottom row key spacing.

Thats one main difference between a scissor switch board which both the thinkpad and logitech are and a mechanical board. Another option might be some DSA profile caps since your used to them all being the same height. these can only be gotten from groupbuys on places like Geekhack.org, massdrop, and pimpmykeyboard.com (direct manufacturer). but they will once again not fit your K95.

[stevv]

get cherry height/profile keycaps as they are slightly shorter than the OEM height/profile corsair ones. You wont be able to get the for your K95 though as it has non standard bottom row key spacing.

Thats one main difference between a scissor switch board which both the thinkpad and logitech are and a mechanical board. Another option might be some DSA profile caps since your used to them all being the same height. these can only be gotten from groupbuys on places like Geekhack.org, massdrop, and pimpmykeyboard.com (direct manufacturer). but they will once again not fit your K95.

 

Thanks, I'll have to check them out.

 

Right now, the K95 went to my brother, who is perfectly content with it and two finger typing =).  The blue backlight is a bit blinding.

 

The K800 is serving me nicely, but I might get a mechanical keypad for gaming and other "hot key" purposes in the future. pimpmykeyboard... nice  B)