I also am quite experienced with ThinkPads. I'm responsible for the IT department in my company and there I have several hundred ThinkPad Laptops from different generations. And the build quality is truly outstanding. I barely ever have any broken laptops, even though some are 20 years old and still see heavy use out in the field. I disagree on the Model M compariasm though. You should try an old Toshiba laptop from the 80s, like a T1200. They have superb keyboards in my eyes. Best keyboard I've ever typed on was an old IBM Model F. Barely ever seen anything as well built as that keyboard. Thinkpads I have at work and I work with (some are in storage ofcourse): 760EL 770E A21m A30 T23 T30 T40 T41 T42 T43 T60 T61 T400 T410 T420 T430 T440s T450s T460s T470s T480s T490 T14 Gen 1 T14 Gen 2 T14 Gen 3 R50 R51 R52 X40 X60 X201 X220 X230 W530 W540 W541 P53 E570 E580
I have been receiving thinkpads from this one company for like five years. Most of them are newer (like 2007-2008) but I recently received three t43 thinkpads that I've built one very well functioning one from that I am now using as my main laptop. It's really great using xp on it and I can't wait to mod the controller to use sata and add an ssd
Wow, you look like a pro. I have a ThinkPad 385 CD. How rare is it? I can't find any information about this model, and I conclude that it is quite rare. But how much?
I don't consider any of the 380's or 385's to be rare or to be worth anything. Great computers but nothing special. The 380XD and 380Z are probably the best out of those series
Since this video I've required more ThinkPads, the market in 2021 wasn't horrible compared 2020 so I was able to snag some ThinkPads for cheap. So here's a list of them with the operating systems they have. I'll make an updated video in 2022 380ED - OS/2 Warp 4.0 380D - Windows 98SE (I want to put NT 3.51) 1161-234 - Windows ME T43 - W2K T60 - No OS yet... can't decide. Either Win10 or Vista T410 - Windows 11 W701DS - Windows 8.1 All of my Win7 ThinkPads have been upgraded to Win 8.1 or Win11
I do love thinkpads, but as an sysadmin who manages hundreds of people, you'd be surprised of how often they can have issues. At least in the modern day it's not much more reliable than other common buisness or even many consumer laptops.
The IBM ThinkPads had the best keyboards of all time and the build quality was never equalled. But they're just too slow now for most practical use--they're really just for collectors at this point. I have three relatively "classic" ThinkPads (W510, X200, X220) with the classic keyboard. All are fast enough for daily use, and I do use them all the time, although I've left them at Windows 7. Then I have four newer ones (T440p, X270, P50s, P51). The T440p has a terrible keyboard and Trackpoint (this was the "ClunkPad" model, without trackpoint buttons), but I only use it as a file server, so it's Ok. The P51 is my daily driver these days, becase it's a monster--64Gb ECC RAM, 6.2 Tb of SSD storage and a Xeon v6 CPU. The screen isn't 4K, but it's full HD IPS, and I actually prefer that. The 4K displays tend to make things too small and the aren't as bright. All of these put together are probably worth about what Apple charges for a high-end MacBook Pro--maybe $2500 or so. But they are way more powerful and pleasant to use. I've used older ones in the past, but a lot of these died. I had an A-series (screen failed), a G series (Disk failure) and R500 (fan failure). I used to have an X61 at work. The X200 is very similar to that, but quicker with better ports. If you want a new ThinkPad with a keypad , than you should get a P series. They all have them. The W520 is a great system. It's very similar to my W510, and I love that one. I have 16 Gb and an SSD boot disk on it (with a regular HDD in the Ultrabay).
I have a T420s that is my daily driver. I can totally vouch for the durability of this things, specially after having to pull it from underneath my plus-sized older sister (she didn't see it was in a couch and sat on it) and it had not a single dent or scratch. can't imagine how would my younger sister's 2018 MacBook Air would have fared in that situation.
I use a Thinkpad E570 as my daily driver, Intel Core i7 7500u, GTX 950M, 2x8GB 2133Mhz DDR4 SDRAM, 240GB NVME SSD. Battery is dying unfortunately. I also had to be creative to fix up one of the hinges. But now it's all fine, and I can game a little bit on the go!
While I love Thinkpads, I still think much of it is about brand recognisability. Its much more about the brand being associated with quality, in the same way Apple is. I honestly think a lot of other companies had similar quality laptops, like old Panasonic laptops. In fact, Panasonic is the only company I know of that keeps the same focus on function over form, and the same form factor as old laptops. Those old thinkpad keyboards use a switch mechanism called “buckling sleeves”, theyre an upside down rubber dome with a piece of plastic in the middle. The plastic is the part thats pushed down onto the membrane registering a keypress, the rubber dome is only used to add tactility and to return the switch to its original position after a press. This makes similar in concept to modern Topre switches.
Dude, awesome collection and great video! I love the way you almost wet yourself with excitement as you discuss each one, and they way they are almost all "the greatest thinkpad!!!" as you discuss each one! You clearly appreciate them all greatly. I appreciate them too. I am surprised though that for the lenovo era thinkpads you have not moved towards linux. Lightweight linux distros run SO much better and faster - they are so much more space and processor efficient -- equivalent programs are so much smaller than windows -- also Windows 7 and earlier are totally insecure these days and should not be connected to the internet (I'm sure you know that, but it's just an option that is no longer there for machines that are capable). Linux is much superior for running on these later era machines. If you are a gamer, there are a lot of fantastic games. I'm not a gamer - but can recommend things distros like Antix or Trisquel for very lightweight installations and ease of use (for people who are not gamers like myself), or Ubuntu if you are a total noob with Linux and you want heaps of games and all that stuff - but I don't install ubuntu any more or really recommend because it is "too proprietary". Also, it's a very large install comparatively. One could read about best distros for gamers if that's an interest. If you are interested in a VERY tiny, very efficient, user friendly distro, something like Puppy Linux is hilariously useable for something so incredibly tiny - it does all the essentials.. Other than that - I learned stuff! OMG the old thinkpads with the flippy hinges to access the internals! That was amazing! I LOVED that. IBM needs to get back in the game. Even if they just recycled some of the old designs with more modern hardware, I'd buy.
My first ThinkPad is R50, buy the new one, after 5 years of use, I sold this laptop to my friend. Once upon a time, i have 4 ThinkPad, but I sold them and using remaining 1 as my daily driver. Now I'm using ThinkPad T470 as my daily driver, still in mint condition, upgraded the RAM and SSD and i still love using this laptop, very durable and reliable.
Anyone else just randomly got this vid in their recommended? Either way... nice collection! I've got a T30, R31, and G40. Might get rid of the T30 and R31 since we're moving house soon and I don't use em (and my T30 unfortunately has the RAM slot problem) :P
at work had many T43 then T420 then W540 then P50, now a 14 inch Lenovo Flex5. Did major compiles and debug sessions daily on the I7 W540, it was a real workhorse. The 14 inch Flex5 Ryzen Lenovo is an ideal portable, powerful and great battery life.
That's an insane collection man! I have a w530, is worth swapping for the p50 in your opinion? I'm tempted by the better display, but all in all the w530 still works like charm :))
Have you ever considered sharing your collection with the ThinkPad community on Twitter? #ThinkPadThursday seems to be catching on and I'm sure folks would love to see your collection!
Greetings from gernany! Two years ago i bought a new laptop... 6 months later i sold it because even switching the hard drive was a pain in the a**... And because of the modern flat design, the housing starts bending even when you just touch the keyboard... so it feels like typing on a pillow! Nowadays the "new stuff" is just sh*t... So i got a X220 and T520 for cheap and use them as my daily drivers. I was impressed that a 12 year old machine can hold up with a modern one from 2021! For me thinkpads are the perfect workhorses. People always looking at me when i come up with one of these tanks xD But i just love the big and bulky design! It is rock solid... just perfekt!
Your T450 might be reliable, but after a year of never dropping my L13 yoga, it's scratched, has a broken pen slot and CMOS battery, and terrible battery life. It flexes like a piece of paper.
hoestly the framework laptop is now my favorite laptop, i'm not throwing my t480s any time soon, but when it dies (in like 4-5 years) then i'll buy a framework
Thinkpads are the perfect laptop. Lenovo isnt IBM but at least they did retain the Thinkpad DNA (build quality and look). I do wish they would bring back the blue enter key. I wouldnt recommend low tier lenovo thinkpads though but if you get a P1 or Extreme , those now come with RTX cards and P1 can be had with a 4090 also everything except the CPU is upgradeable.
I wish I had a working thinkpad. I really like them too, maybe not to your extent, but they'd definitely be a go to laptop if I wanted one from basically any era. Sadly, my only thinkpad is a 2009 one that just doesn't do anything. No charging lights on plug-in, no power up, nothin.
I love old Thinkpad’s. Rand but the only issue for me is a shower CPU etc, Please make a video on which Thinkpad in your collection is the best to upgrade such as CPU, Ram, SSD ? . Thanks
install mx linux and an ssd and even a toaster of a thinkpad will feel speedy you cannot cpu upgrade most of them, some you can, most of the time you need to replace a full motherboard w/ a better cpu
No love for the T530? I got mine for free. It started out with 2GB RAM, a 320GB HDD and the I5 3230 M. I upgraded to 16 GB RAM, a 500 GB HDD storage drive, a 128GB SSD boot drive and a 128 GB SD card just for my GTA 5. I also have a 1TB HDD external drive for my games.
I've worked with panasonic toughbooks before. More specifically the CF30 and CF31 and although that's true almost everyone I knew didn't like using them.
I also bought a W520, I had to replace the keyboard, the screen is planned to be replaced by IPS, the native dim, as it seems to me, converter IPS to LVDS on alliexpress is sold
probably. Prices went up on the old machines and they aren't worth buying anymore right now. Definitely don't pay those scalpers on ebay 300-400 dollars for them, LOL
16:49 Get an SSD and install Windows 10 or 11, I'm sure you will find the drivers, I always succeed in filling every driver in device manager and replacing the drivers that look like they're installed but NO! Then try to get a faster Core 2 Duo for it. It could still be a daily driver! For the next one, same, and at least get a 64 bits install, 32 bits Vista on a Core 2 Duo that's a really stupid idea! I know it was like that new but that's really dumb!
I'm a casual writer myself, the best keyboard definitely goes to the 755C or 365XD but if you want something a little bit more modern, anything from 2006-2012 would be great. For example the T60 - T420, W500 - W520 usually if 20 is the last in the model number.
if you like portability, the X220 is good. Probably my favorite form factor of any laptop, and the keyboard is suitable for long typing sessions. It's still competitive with current mid-range laptops if you upgrade it. After winning an ebay auction for the unit, buying a 240gb SSD and 8gb ram, and a 9 cell battery, i paid less than $125 US for the whole thing
@@breadpirateroberts4946 I have an x220 and vouch for it still. Mine has an IPS display, x230 fan inside for better cooling, and a 2tb drive as well as a 256gb msata which the OS sits on. 9 cell genuine battery with good health and a 6 cell off brand for 'portability.' Also have the docking station, the old mini HDD is in it. It's a great little machine mine had almost zero use before I got it and I'm about to flash a custom bios on it now and remove the bluetooth module in favor of a non-intel wifi card that has BT built in. In total I didn't pay much I got the machine as working w/ no OS for like 40 or 50 bucks before the upgrades
This is the best Thinkpad Now i show you my best Thinkpad And this is by far the best Thinkpad Here you see the best Thinkpad Have I mentioned that I love Thinkpads?
ohhh. My first Thinkpad is a T20... I'm hacked with a 900Mhz CPU, 512GB RAM, A 2200BG Wifi card, and a 120GB IDE HDD... Later i used/have a lot of Thinkpad... T40-41-42, X31, X32...etc My favourite is the X series. A very rare X32 vith 1,8Ghz CPU, 4GB Ram etc with a UltraBase. I'm buyed from a former IBM worker with Bios PW, and when i'm unlocked that, the man get very angry :D :) Form my hobby/work aspect I really need the REAL Serial Port, now i have a X61S With an ultrabase. I Have a 14" T60 too... T7400, 4(3)GB ram, 60GB MLC SSD, A 14" T400 with a P8600, and 8GB RAM, SSD. A 14" T470 with 16GB Ram, 512SSD... for the daily use: X250 with IPS+Touch, 8Gb ram, 2xSSD, and 2x Battery, but my absolute favourite "new" thinkpad is a X230: i7, 16GB Ram, 256SSD, IPS, WWAN All of this with a original factory hungarian keyboard, because i'm from Hungary. And what do you think the T470 based "Thinkpad 25"?
Btw..i just got 560x ..it will be my old collection 🤣🤣.. from 1997 pentium mmx . But the keyboard error and i dont find any used or new keyboard for replacement.😥.
