Plastidip Thinkpad T430 Laptop, 3 Months Later

[@Nalojuntu]

Really nice to have made a "3 month later" video. Very respectful attitude for the viewers. Ya got my +1 ! : )

[@cee128d]

With any sort of paint (and yes Plasti Dip is essentially a paint) you want a lot of thin layers, not thick layers. Thicker layers don't dry as well or as hard, are more prone to be brittle or soft (depends on the type of paint), and tend to peel or scratch easier.

[@cee128d]

Not according to the directions nor in my experience using it.

[@smileyguyz]

@@cee128d i've been applying plastidip for years, first go for 50% transparency, then a thicker coat, and a couple more medium-thick, and finally a thick (but not enough to run) layer otherwise you'll get a rough finish.

[@benchmarksx1650]

Im a simple man, i see thinkpads i like

[@EgoShredder]

Thinkpad is the intelligent connoisseur's laptop of choice.

[@davidrobinson2598]

but it's heavy

[@EnvyDreamz]

@@davidrobinson2598 not the "s" serie, i got the T470s and it's really light

[@benchmarksx1650]

Raymond because I’m a programmer, not a MacBook user

[@benchmarksx1650]

Raymond dude what’s the problem of having a Mac on the profile, I’m a coder and that pic is the on I liked the most thats it

[@eggman0291]

I have a t430 and a x220 and in my experience you´ll get better results with a vinyl wrap rather than plastidip, because it´s as cheap as a can of plastidip and much easier to apply, also a vinyl wrap gives you more choices if you want to customize your laptop since you can get a texturized or a chromed finish .

[@jimbean5962]

I use heat activated carbon fiber vinyl works marvelously

[@OriginalMergatroid]

Thanks for the idea man. About a month or a month and a half ago, we received a shipment of "grade B" off-lease T420s. Man, they sucked (I work at a mom & pop computer shop). They were cheap, but in super bad condition. The lids were awful bad shape, and had lots of very deep scratches. I was looking around for some vinyl covers we could use to fix them up, and up popped your youtube video. So, we picked up a can of plastidip, did a light sanding job on the lids and applied it in four coats. We also removed the LCD front bezel, light sanding with very fine grit sandpaper, and four coats. They look awesome now, and we are selling these laptops being very open about the condition and the reapplied rubberized coating. We tell people it will come off if they place it in a backpack and it rubs against other items, but most people are just looking for a computer to use from home and say they will not be moving the laptop at all. We tell them they can come back if they like and, for a small fee, we can reapply to coating or they can pick some up and apply it themselves. Before the plastidip, these laptops would have been a very hard sell because of how bad the lids looked. Some even had been discoloured from stickers people had put on them. We cleaned them very well before the application, and it seems to be holding well if the laptop is treated well. Thanks for the idea, it really helped us out.

[@tagfarms91]

Been waiting for what seems like forever for a video, keep on keeping on.

[@matthewsonne2940]

Should have used Flex Seal

[@Agent001]

THATS ALOTTA DAMAGE

[@OriginalMergatroid]

Flex Seal is a more permanent coating. Plastidip can be easily removed and reapplied. I would have to experiment with both before deciding on which is better for a laptop.

[@malkyprijemny7077]

I think it will be better result when you spray edges first, wait 15 minutes, then spray "first" thin layer on whole object, secon and third medium layer, and fourth thicker lyer and wait 15 minutes between every coat, after dat leave it for 12 hours min. in room temperature, better is 24 hours

[@KylesDigitalLab]

I tried doing this on my T21 and 390E lids, it worked great so far. But when I tried it on the RAM door of my T21 it peeled off the original paint with it and exposed the shiny metal. So be wary of that.

[@omgwtfbbqstfu]

Car dipping has really advanced the science of plastidip, they can do all sorts of colors including the two tone pearlescents.

[@InterlacedTech]

Thinkpads are just... Made to get scratched and we still love it It's the whole point of glass coat Lenovo does add on the laptop plastic body.

[@sdushdiu]

How does the wear characteristics of plastidip compare with the various 'skins' that are available?

[@soulife8383]

Obviously added texture would help the Plasti-Dip stick, like a light sanding with a fine grit sand paper. But at the very least, if you dont want to sand it, I would definitely at least rub it down with rubbing alcohol first to strip any oils and etc off of it before you respray it again.. This way the plasti-dip should hold better.. Years or "miles" of use, over time there is def a buildup of life on the laptop, especially since it has a texture to it. A cheap dollar tree bottle of alcohol and a good scrub should break those oils down. You could also test the stripped surface with an oxypad before you alcohol clean or respray it too to see how dirty it really is

[@alexandrossotiropoulos5621]

I have also the Lenovo t420 with i7 and 8gb of ram. I got the 90watt power supply and it adds to performance.

[@isame0085]

Thank you for making this follow up!

[@InvidiousIgnoramus]

Honestly, i don't see why you don't just put a new lid on it, if the scratches bother you that much, they're only like 15 dollars on ebay.

[@applegwava]

Invidious Ignoramus another lid to scratch up?Its a fun test ;)

[@toxy3580]

Or better yet not care because its an old thinkpad and it looks don't matter, my t430 is beat up as hell

[@eddieoconnor4466]

Just curious, I wonder if a "hardcoat" over the Plasti-Dip would prevent a lot of the nicks and peeling? (think nails and nail polish, or like staining wood and then applying a hard waterproof coating) I bet there's some kind of spray-on hard coating that might prevent the peeling.....something maybe you could do a video on?...maybe not on your main machine but one of your standby devices?...

[@EduardoBach01]

Did you remove grease with alcohol before applying it? 2 coats of anything that "sprays" is the bare minimum to properly cover ;)

[@arielf361]

Thinkpads are amazing, i just upgrade mine from in i3 Sandy Bridge to an i5 Ivy Bridge and it works like a charm.

[@UKgamer87]

If you just got a laptop sleeve it would have been pristine. I'm thinking of using the stuff on a vdsl router to make it look more modern.

[@namesalvaje]

It worked fine for me in my Thinkpad Edge 15

[@darkknightforU]

Will spray paint do the job too that can be used for plastic? Or will it ruin the laptop?

[@barbarella7028]

nah, why not go the other way nad go for a reliced look?

[@condog118]

Have you ever considered doing a thinkpad gaming laptop, with an external gpu. Ive been thinking about it lately and trying to find a good base to start with. Something I can run at least 16 gb of ram on.

[@rustymetaII]

I've done that on my t540p. All it takes is some tweaking with bios tables and a half spoon of black magic but eventually it will work superbly.

[@echangwang1821]

condog118 You don't need more than 8 for gaming.

[@Autunite]

Get one with a PCI Express Card slot on the side, it's much easier than using the PCI-E slot inside the laptop.

[@andresvaldevit3692]

I've been thinking to plastidip my laptop too but I don't think it's the right paint for this kind of job. Plastidip looks nice but it just can't hold mechanical wear over time, as it can be seen on the corners. I think a better choice is a 2k spray paint. I've had experience with this type of paint working in the automotive industry and it's on a whole another level of mechanical and chemical resistance. From my experience in industrial paint, a thicker coat will have an even worse resistance. It will just add thicker borders from which it can tear.

[@Happy-or4wt]

How does the plastidip feel?

[@SimSimsTECHcrunch]

Have u thought about trying out a color besides black? Don't get me wrong I love the designs that Thinkpad laptops already have. But when get myself a T430 (which should happen relatively soon), I think I would try out a color besides black.

[@AAComputersandTechnology]

I would never use use any color besides black on my personal machine just because I think black looks the most professional. I am thinking about spraying a laptop in the back using something else besides black though.

[@alexandrossotiropoulos5621]

It is good but you can also buy the parts very cheap on ebay and make it like new again

[@ExiledDiclonius]

Use Plasti Dip and then some kind of varnish, it should help. Thicker layer of plasti dip wont help at all

[@SamSquids]

Have you tried Flex Seal?

[@BundesL4D]

What's the current status of your Optiplex project? Were you able to sell the whole lot & are you glad how the project ran?

[@AAComputersandTechnology]

It was terrible. A complete logistics nightmare XD . I will talk about it in December's subscriber update.

[@BundesL4D]

Oh, thats a pity. Never the less, the pallet witz nearly a hundred machines was really stunning :D Shipping in the US is like 40$ for some states, right? Thats of cause a problem which destroys a good deal. In Germany shipping a computer like an Optiplex costs circa 5-7€. Okay with 1/30 of the territory its not that difficult :D

[@crazywanderer4735]

Does the Thinkpad logo on the lid of T430 light up or is it painted?

[@xavierpanohaya2647]

Late AF response, but it´s painted.

[@samsonbatavia1998]

i feel not comfort to watch the screen even it comes with 1600x900 resolution...it causes eyes sore there is minor problem with the touchpad ...its running well with 2 finger scrolling instead 1 finger n also there is no hard disk casing ...i bought it from local market place online the solution i bought the new HD casing n also new palmrest for my T420 from aliexpresss...since the touchpad run erratically ..

[@hagbard72]

Plastidip is around $25 a can here in Canada, I'll pass.

[@blakewixom2893]

Can you give us a tutorial on how to make a computer cluster?

[@ollienollie8297]

Can this play world of warcraft at lower settings atleast? but the i5 version with 4gb ram

[@andrut04]

ThinkPad is the best laptop I ever used. Now I'm using x240.

[@karlsolitario8013]

If you don't want the texture, spray heavy coats

[@JakeJoris]

make a video about using x61/x60 in 2019/2020

[@vulcanus9384]

need me some for my laptop. Thanks for the vids

[@joehdah5395]

that plasti dip worked EXTREMELY well

[@zipzip8239]

No it didnt

[@KatieTheDev]

A channel called LaptopMore stole this video

[@-DontTrip-]

Awesome Video!

[@damjanvidovic803]

hello from Croatia

[@fourtysix4646]

I say plasti dip it then spray it with truck bed liner. Should still come off if you want it to but will be much tougher/scratch resistant.

[@fourtysix4646]

Maybe test it on an old computer side panel or something else first though. Also would make sure it is a thick layer of plasti dip that is fully cured before spraying the bed liner too. Would be interesting to see how it turns out.

[@AAComputersandTechnology]

A couple other viewers said the same thing. I think that would be neat to try!

[@justinpieper8129]

fourtysix4646 agreed! I have a t430, I'm planning on doing just that.

[@jancek6076]

Justin Pieper please share how it went! Im considering vinyl wrap or plastidip..

[@justinpieper8129]

Jance kor it's ok, i like the texture. It's more aggressive than plastidip, but it was too thick for my liking and i took it back off. It had a noticeable overhang from the coating. Luckily the rubber coating on the case prevented the bed liner from sticking too much. I looked into plastidip more, this stuff is the best. They have every color you could want. It's crazy!

[@jimmykang9500]

I thought you ordered the thinkpad 25. When are you gonna do a review mannnnnnn

[@AAComputersandTechnology]

It ended up being wayyyy out of my budget. I could not afford one :(

[@jimmykang9500]

Ahhh i see, same for me :(

[@johnhenryscott5319]

Do you know if the t410s has an upgradable cpu? I have one and want to put an i-7 in it and 8gb of ram.

[@nilswegner2881]

John Henry Scott 8gb ram will work and I plan on doing that upgrade too, not sure about the cpu though because I really like my i5

[@Tim_3100]

Anything upto gen 2 i core should be socketed

[@vladimir7838]

does that plastidip stuck on glass

[@vladimir7838]

n where can i find it

[@freesoftwareextremist8119]

But why.

[@hieroja1]

Take a shot every time he says plastidip

[@MD-vk3bj]

Wow that is awesome

[@TheKetsa]

Straight paint would hold better.

[@superanup]

the number of times he said Plastidip...

[@KazunaiOwO]

nice vid bro

[@vermilion5559]

what the music

[@martyhastings9347]

thanks for sharing

[@dastanharris]

should have used flex tape

[@noelsoong777]

spray glue then plast dip

[@andydennis5592]

You should get a 3d printer

[@pompompela6339]

I'm pretty sure if you tested a normal laptop paint you would mess it up too. I mean, it looks like you key your thinkpad lol

[@joehdah5395]

thicc plasti dip

[@Donbros]

So it is useless. 3 months and it looks even more terrible than before

[@Av-ks8uc]

You can also buy a sleeve XD

[@YoutubeSux4ss]

Maybe next time fill a tub with plastidip and literally "dip" your ThinkPad into it.

[@sdushdiu]

Yeah, that will work great with the ports and the fact that the seam between the lid and body are not waterproof and plastidip on the screen would work just great(sic). Next time try thinking.

[@DonutDeflector]

sdushdiu obvious joke is obvious

[@ojkolsrud1]

Even if it was a joke, the practical way of doing it would be to disassemble the lid first. That was how I interpreted what he meant.

[@markifi]

I like the content, but why do you have to talk like this?