IBM ThinkPad 600: The Start of the Modern Age

Before the T series, there was the 600. This iconic machine brought many firsts to ThinkPad that have remained since, come learn more! Special thanks to Tommy for helping me acquire this sample.
Hardware Maintenance Manual:
download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/09n1033.pdf
LaptopRetrospe1
laptopretrospective.com
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eBay:
ebay.us/iE7OL8
Timecodes:
0:00 Introduction
0:54 Innovations
2:08 Acquisition and Thanks
3:38 Specs
5:34 Ports
8:04 Disassembly
11:32 Using the ThinkPad 600
13:03 Conclusions

[@DJTydalOfficial]

No matter how crappy a day can get, you can always rely on Laptop retrospective’s ThinkPad videos to truly make your day better.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I hope your day ends well regardless of how it started!

[@ithinkabout4369]

Start of the modern era, but also the beginning of the end for IBM. It was famously very expensive, with the 600X having a list price of 12,000 DM in Germany. This was way too expensive, as the pieces started to drop rapidly in the late 90s and early 2000. Suddenly, IBM was not able to make money anymore. Ironically, the T series, which was kinda built on the ideal of the 600, was kinda a cost reduced version of it.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

IBM had some organizational issues that prompted a few challenges, pricey high speed low drag machines weren't for all their customers either.

[@herrfaust2020]

In Canada, the most expensive model I saw was the 770Z, which was just over $10,000CAD. I think the real problem was that other manufacturers started making notebooks, which were of lesser quality than ThinkPads (i.e. competition). You look at the 600, with the rubber finish and covered ports, then compare it with the T20. The T20 was cheaper than the 600, but even so, T20 was far nicer than the competition.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yep, ThinkPads have a history of being on the edges of computing technology and that can make them expensive but then innovation finds a way to include those features in the next generation at a lower cost.

[@herrfaust2020]

The best of them all! Made by IBM and before they cheaped out, starting with the T20. Still my personal favourite. You're lucky the battery still works. The big defect of this series is that the battery chip would often malfunction. You end up with a useless battery, even though the actual cells are still good. You end up with an eternal blinking amber light. The Ultraslimbay caddy is only for the floppy. If you take a closer look, you can see that the CD drive you have won't fit in it. IBM did make an external caddy for the Ultrasllimbay, but it was connected via 16-bit PC Card. The docking port actually goes to a port replicator (Selectabase). You need the Selectabaase before you can connect the ThinkPad to the Selectadock II/III. On the right hand side of the 600, near the latch, there's that little round part that is blocked out on yours. There's an optional card that can be installed for a hardware MPEG-2 decoder and S-Video out.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah, this machine was pretty cutting edge.

[@klwthe3rd]

Best comment on the video IMHO. It's commenters like you that bring so much more insight into the video that even the creator was not aware of. Thank you.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yep, I don't have access to all the parts for these machines that are out there. 👍

[@herrfaust2020]

@@klwthe3rd - Wow, thanks for the praise. It's only because I'm a bit older than LaptopRetrospective that I know some of these things 🙂. Regarding made by IBM, look on the bottom. If it says "Made in Mexico" or "Made in Ireland", it's IBM. I don't know where their plant was that served the Asian market, though.

[@ted-b]

What a great little machine, nice find!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Agreed, I'm fortunate I had some help or it would have never happened.

[@wilou62]

Hello, My favorite Thinkpad of all time, my first too. Mine had battery (how strange ! :D) and keyboard problems and I sold it piece by piece, to buy another unit just after. And I went for the 600E. I still have it today and I have a sentimental relation with it. I consider it as my first laptop, the one which has the best keyboard (you can't understand if you haven't typed on it), it's lightyears above all the other Thinkpads I have used (and I own ca. 50 machines, from 1999 to 2014). The X31, the X301 and the T4x are the nearest, but still inferior. I like to write and it's the best machine to use for that. This machine prefigured all the laptops that were to come for more than 10 years after. A machine ahead of its time. I doubt I'll ever sell all the machines of my collection but if I had to do that, I would keep my 600E. 🥰 W.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It is a special machine.

[@klwthe3rd]

Can you explain what the difference between the 600, 600E and the 600X are in their content??? I'm thinking of buying a 600 and i noticed that they have those (3) models. Thanks.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

They are mainly differences in hardware configurations. If you take a look at the PSREF for them you'll see the differences laid out in detail.

[@wilou62]

@@klwthe3rd Hi ! The internal components are what makes the difference. It's old, I don't remember everything in full details, but with the 600 and the 600E, you had Celerons and Pentium II, the soldered RAM was 32 MB and you had low end models with 800x600 resolution (possibly a different screen bezel for this very model). You also only had a CD reader (when it wasn't a floppy drive or other exotic readers - up to 24x for the CD reader). The 600X brought the Pentium III (850 MHz was the max if I remember well). No more 800x600, only 1024x768, the internal RAM was 64 MB and the max capacity went to 512 MB (so 576 with the internal RAM). It's also possible that the graphics card wasn't identical (2 MB of VRAM at the beginning, 4 MB at the end, but don't quote me on this. It was also possible to have a DVD reader (up to 6x). And of course, you didn't have the same HDD capacities between the models. On mine I have 20 GB but it's aftermarket, I'm not sure you could find more than 12 GB back then (it's even possible it was only 6 GB). I say "only" but when you see what OSes were in the 90's, no big deal (Windows 2000 is around 2 GB on the drive). W.

[@wilou62]

Hum... Forgot to tell, about the CPUs, it's on a card that plugs on the motherboard and the plug isn't the same. On the 600, it's an MMC-1 card whereas it's an MMC-2 card on the 600E and 600X. You would say that you'll replace a PII in a 600E with a PIII but it's not straitght compatible (well, physically of course it is). It'll be recognized correctly in the BIOS after a BIOS mod but you'll have to install a software in Windows to use it. And the software disables the L2 cache. For trying, it was not particularly difficult (but I had to deal with a BIOS mod procedure without even having a battery and it was a little tricky, I had to mod the mod to inhibit the battery detection :D). The results were so-so. I had installed a cheap PIII 500 to replace a PII 300 and the performance gains were not really visible (the disabled L2 cache has a lot of impact). That's why in fine I installed a PII again (a PII 400). And that's why I'd like to find a 600X, to be able to max out its CPU (but finding a MMC-2 PIII 850 won't be easy, nor the RAM (I surely still must have a stick or two but definately not 256 MB ones). Even the IDE drives become elusive. I've found one for my T43 months ago, I had the chance to buy it for peanuts and its CrystalDiskInfo showed good results and relatively low functioning time, I was very lucky. And It's also difficult to find machines on which the paint is not very deteriorated, with the battery, another default of these laptops.

[@Blindtechnician]

We got one of these laptops donated in recycling recently, I don’t have the hard drive sled for it and the rubber seems to be rotting away but other than that everything works. Even the batteries somehow still works. I may fix it up. Somehow

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Interesting! Keep us posted if you decide to keep it and your progress fixing it up.

[@Nolibear]

i have thgis laptop!!!!!! honestly wish laptops were always this good

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Tell me more. Did you get it new? What have you used it for?

[@Nolibear]

@@LaptopRetrospective Half life 1998

[@elektron2kim666]

Nice to see it for sure. I bought some 2032 cmos batteries from China on eBay and they plug right in in my 60 series. I dismantle one if I need for a Psion. A 2025 and 2032 are of the same voltage. The 2032 is thicker and might run longer.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah I suspected there wouldn't be an issue but a friend of mine had all the right gear to rebuild it to spec and went for it.

[@adamzahoy1749]

2016 : 20 mm diameter, 1.6 mm height 2025 2032 I am sure you get the idea. ;)

[@sybsygstgstsgysg5330]

How’s that going for you plan to do that

[@wilou62]

Hi ! :) There are slight differences between the batteries, not only about their format but also with the technology they use, the chemicals. I would always avoid to use something different from what was used at the beginning to keep things optimal. About the CR2032 (probably the most used for our beloved Thinkpads - not all, the R30 for example uses a CR1220), we can read that the name can vary depending on the manufacturer of the battery, but if it's true, it's good to know that sometimes, the technology and the functioning of the battery will not be the same. For example, the CR2032 has its voltage gradually going down over the years. The lifespan of such a battery is approximatively 10 years. If you find a BR2032, it'll be slightly different, because they are made to be able to maintain their voltage at the maximum for the longest amount of time (and they'll fail quickly after that). The result is a shorter lifespan (circa 7 years). So, here, the name is not different because the manufacturer is different. The chemicals inside the batteries are not the same. On the other hand, you also could find some DL2032, which are Duracell CR2032 (so, no technical difference). Those differences are not usually well known so, for me, it's always better to stick to the original reference, and that's the advice I give to my clients. W.

[@phenom957]

Used to have one of these but the screen's backlight died over time. Great laptop, played the original Jedi Knight on it.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That's a classic example of the era. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@phenom957]

@@LaptopRetrospective Probably my favorite memory was when I brought it to College one day. Someone saw me playing Jedi Knight and came over and asked how old the laptop was, I told him it was the ThinkPad 600 from 1998. Man was floored 😆. Have a great weekend, LR!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Awesome memory, thanks, same to you!

[@herrfaust2020]

Back in the day, I remember seeing an article on how to replace the CCFL backlight tube on the screen :-D .

[@Dontworrybehappy-cn1rp]

I still have a laptop like this at home. My father brought it with him from IBM where he worked. Unfortunately it no longer works. So what does it mean no longer works? ee already works but it shows me error on the screen. The BIOS battery is probably empty. and I don't think it's worth ordering a new one on eBay. But I would be interested to know what kind of operating system is on it. Maybe I'll try connecting the hard drive to my computer, which also no longer works. It's a desktop PC but maybe it will work. Even my father, who had worked for IBM for over 30 years, tried to fix the error code. But he probably realized that it wasn't worth it. The hard drive has probably destroyed itself by now. There was also an HDD in there whose lifespan is shorter than an SSD. Feedback

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Depending on the error codes, fixing it would be pretty easy. If the only thing that is wrong is a BIOS battery, that's a couple dollars and less than five minutes. If you can tell me the error codes I can give you a better idea.

[@viniciusmv7727]

Is a pristine x301 for 200 dollars a good buy?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Are we talking USD and are you buying it as a collector or a user?

[@viniciusmv7727]

@@LaptopRetrospective I'm buying as boot user and collector, but more on the collector side, I already have a desktop and an x230 as my daily machines. It's 200USD equivalent more or less (1000 Brazilian Reais).

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It's a 'bit' on the pricey side but that might also have to do with your region. It isn't a ludicrous price, especially if the condition is excellent.

[@viniciusmv7727]

@@LaptopRetrospective thanks for the advice, I will have a look at the machine in person.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Even better. I suspect you've seen my videos on it. Look for cracks around the hinges especially.

[@mabuchild]

20年前你觉得 250m 内存就够了.肯定够了.结果,安装了 xp之后你发现,512m 才刚刚够了. 现在x230 感觉 8G 都多余,可是当安装了 w11 后你发现 32G 刚刚起步.这就是残酷的时光机器. 但是最好的thinkpad 都留在了 xp时代. thinpad 貌似可以抛弃老用户,戏耍老用户.造了一批又一批的垃圾,你看它再能耐,能放弃 红点么? 一个k29将thinkpad 打回原形.现在的thinkpad 只配卖韩国烧烤.