There Will NEVER Be Another Laptop Like This... and It's $100 - Thinkpad T430

[@aChairLeg]

JOIN MY DISCORD discord.gg/2Wj8WanUzn

[@BlackRedDead1943]

"Lid-Latches" exist because ppl tend to drop their notebooks while carrying them closed - ofc most mechanisms aren't entirely drop-proof, but they certainly help keeping the lid closed and so the actual delicate parts protected during drops - how well depends on the actual mechanism, i've seen enough worthless ones and also on the opposite side lids that held fairly close without latch - it depends on some aspects, but i personally do indeed prefer a latch, tho mostly because i like to transport Dokuments unter the lid :D (the latch definitively helps in keeping it snug under there.)

[@GEMSofGOD_com]

As person who's only buying such laptops, I say NO. Almost any other one is better. 4 gb RAM? Laughable

[@BlackRedDead1943]

@@GEMSofGOD_com they can be upgraded tho, and they aren't great performance wise, but utility wise - if you even remotely using public wifi, you will love the hardware WLAN switch, nut just as a pentester, but that thing should be a feature on every Wifi capable device!

[@GEMSofGOD_com]

@@BlackRedDead1943 one of my laptops has its lid removed and I switch wifi module to hdmi module like a flash card 😂 I agree, that's a really cool feature. Another laptop of mine has a hardware webcam switch.

[@BlackRedDead1943]

@@GEMSofGOD_com lol, that's quiet hacky indead xD Idk why webcams and mics are build in those things anyway, never seen a decent one that doesn't convey the fan loise trough the case xP (tho, the rare occasions we need them, i simply plug in a USB webcam and use a headset anyway.)

[@ralphwiggum3134]

Some old thinkpads had an internal battery that gave you about a minute to swap out the changeable battery without having to turn off the laptop. I liked this feature a lot.

[@dinozaurpickupline4221]

could you list that model possibly?

[@walldoo99]

I've only seen that on the T440 and T450, and maybe some newer units. I had a 470 for a while but sold it, that's my business, flipping laptops. Lenovo's are my favorites, and Dells are in second. But if you are prone to dropping, get an X, T or W series Lenovo.

[@Angular777]

My T480 has an internal battery that is about half as big as my external, it provides more time than a few minutes, you can upgrade internals...

[@Derkiboi]

@@walldoo99 my T550 has two full size batteries

[@ThoughtForge5]

You can get a battery to go into the optical drive and you can also get a battery that plugs into the docking station port

[@RCfromtheNYC]

I proud own, and publicly use a T440p, which started as a no-CPU, no hard drive, original screen base model, for $60 pre-pandemic. I slowly did all of the suggested upgrades I saw in various videos, and the total cost was $145 (i7 quad core, 16gb RAM, 2 SSDs, and upgraded wifi card). I use it primarily for video recording and editing using Ubuntu Studio, which I have on the second SSD located in the DVD drive bay.

[@aChairLeg]

That's awesome! Love to hear so much use coming out of these old thinkpads

[@Chalisque]

What I didn't realise about the T440p until I got one off eBay is that it needs a beefier PSU. All my other Thinkpads can use a standard 65W charger. It runs Xubuntu, but is caught in a no-mans-land where most of my uses for Linux run fine in e.g. a T420, and I have a big 5950X desktop for heavy computing jobs, so the T440p doesn't get much use. (I only use Thinkpads as laptops, so I have plenty of compatible PSUs lying around. But I always wanted one of those high performance laptops -- my technolust I call it -- like having a dual socket HP workstation).

[@sagejpc1175]

Nice, what cpu did you go with? I upgraded my t440p to an i7 4900mq cpu and the temps haven't been too bad.

[@helmimakes]

I've had my t440p for 7 years now. Got it used for 400-500€ back then and did a few upgrades and replacements over the years. Never anything that took longer than 30 mins or more than 50€. Absolute workhorse and turning 10 next year :)

[@spoonikle]

found the hardware goblins

[@pr1sm55]

Is it just me or do these ThinkPads also look incredibly modern even after 10 years? Timeless design.

[@someoneelse4811]

As thick as they are, they'll never look modern. But, that's not to say they don't have style.

[@jerbear7952]

Thats just you

[@TuxedoReaper]

That's why they're called *"THINKpads"*

[@MikroLGS]

i wouldnt call it modern but this design surely is my favorite

[@berk6123]

It is the Macbook of the Windows

[@utkarshat3]

About the ports, there's one port I guess you missed. There's a proprietary extension port at the bottom at the laptop, which can be connected to an external 'extension' board; which gives this laptop an ability to have 3 monitors, 4 more USB ports and an external power adapter connectivity. This one used to be my office laptop a few years ago, and it was built like a tank! Also, with an 'extended' battery, it would run for a whole 10 hours without needing to charge

[@Chalisque]

Docks are yet another reason I love these thinkpads. At one point I was using a T420 in a dock with two screens as a quiet desktop. Set my Dad up with one for his studies. Though the connection isn't robust -- a slight touch on the docked laptop, and it disconnects.

[@mumblety96]

yes I am lazy and haven't read specs yet. any chance these have Thunderbolt? looking for Hackintosh

[@utkarshat3]

@@mumblety96 thunderbolt didn't exist for non apple devices back then

[@mumblety96]

@@utkarshat3 OK thanks. longtime Mac guy turned Hackintosh, although these are probably my last ones before going back to FreeBSD. Funny how the wheel turns.

[@mumblety96]

@@utkarshat3 Pretty sure HP had Thunderbolt PCIe cards for the Z series workstations back then. was hoping to find a Hackintoshable laptop in that price range with Thunderbolt.

[@Fweddle]

Old thinkpads are the flagship device for Linux users. Try running a really lightweight distro on it. The performance will dramatically increase 👍

[@ScubaSteveM45]

I am on a T430s running LXLE Linux right now watching this video.

[@terrapinflyer273]

Lubuntu ftw

[@animatewithdermot]

Thanks for this info. I'm running MINT on my ancient Dell Inspiron 1720, a much older machine than this, and love it.....but I've been wondering what to do when the 1720 finally croaks, as I don't have the funds for anything over 200, and 100 is more my budget.

[@terrapinflyer273]

@@animatewithdermot Unsure of your current specs, but you might be able to replace it with a Thinkpad t4xxp or t5-6xx. Hearing those have really good specs and are very structurally sound compared to nearly all the laptops on the market today. Or switch from Mint to Lubuntu or Bodhi, since you're familiar w linux already. I use Lubuntu on an old Inspiron 15 with a shamefully slow Celeron N CPU. It's barely useable lol, but Lubuntu really helps with it's low resource usage. Or maybe use it as a network media or file storage server.

[@animatewithdermot]

@@terrapinflyer273 I'm definitely looking at a Lenovo Thinkpad when either of my current laptops craps out. They look excellent!

[@ghardware_3034]

An advice from me: Error messages are there to be read. You downloaded the wrong build of PCSX2 as the error states. There is one which uses AVX2 (Haswell was the first gen of Intel CPUs that supported this instruction) and one that uses SSE4.1. You need the second one to execute it on those old CPUs. Besides that great video!

[@aChairLeg]

Got it, thanks for letting me know! I run PCSX2 off my server directly to whichever device I'm using, so I didn't look too much into the error as I didn't want to mess up my config just for one video

[@Shadepariah]

Older laptops used screen backlights with CCFL bulbs which were much heavier than modern led/oled displays. Latches protected the display from opening when dropped. By 2010, led displays were coming into fashion but Lenovo did not want to give up on the safety patch. Some models like the X220 finally dropped it but it hung around until 2013. Yours is one of the last models with a latch. I like the latches myself :)

[@johnnyvvlog]

The lid latches were completely normal back then. All laptops had them. Magnetically closing lids are a relatively new invention.

[@jm036]

They weren't normal in 2012

[@GRBtutorials]

I’m not so sure about that, I remember having two laptops with a magnetic lid from the C2D days (2006-2009), plus one from 2012 like this one.

[@johnnyvvlog]

@@GRBtutorials if I remember correctly it was Apple that started the trend with their C2D Macbooks. Their Powerbook and iBook laptops still had latches although those retracted when the screen was open. It took a long time to filter down to professional notebooks like the Thinkpads and HP Elitebooks though.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Yeah i saw these magnetic lids for the first time back in 2009 when Netbooks became all the rage.

[@rolux4853]

@@GRBtutorials what does C2D mean?

[@triple_gem_shining]

My dad used to have half a dozen of these floating around because he would take them home from work after the team got new laptops . That was always awesome to have an extra PC for gaming on LAN etc

[@iG34RH34D]

I used one of these for work for 5 years. Worked amazing. Every laptop my company has given me afterward has been dissapointing.

[@walldoo99]

I had a lot of people coming to me for Lenovo's, from IBM. Turns out they are doing a lot of work for Apple and tool everyone's laptops and gave them mac's. They were not pleased.

[@williamnessanbaum7464]

I'm quite fond of my Dell Latitude E6400 that I rescued out of the NYC eWaste bin in the basement of my apartment building. Whoever tossed it dropped it off with the matching power supply and a spare battery. I upgraded from 2Mb of RAM to 4Mb, installed a 120Gb SSD and chose Zorin OS Core Edition, 64Bit as my OS. With just a few minor tweaks to Zorin's GNOME desktop, the laptop is absolutely fantastic.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Zorin OS is pretty awesome. Another good beginner Linux for those who wanna get away from Windows.

[@greatwavefan397]

Did you mean GB of RAM?

[@williamnessanbaum7464]

@@greatwavefan397 Yes. from 2Gb to 4Gb is correct. Thanks.

[@Jon-Chan]

I still use my nearly 12 year old Thinkpad T420 for some legacy stuff, had it from new but now running SSD with Win10 so still a few years left of life! These laptops are solidly built, they're like the old Rolls Royce you see on the roads every now and again! Was my daily runner until I got myself a Macbook Air a year ago. Still has the best keyboard, much better than my Macbook Air M1!

[@andrewsampson9065]

I love my t420 I rescued it at a goodwill for 30 bucks, that goodwill has so many thinkpads for under 30 bucks my friend and I go raid there every few weeks He has a t430 from there he's upgraded to be an absolute baller like my t420 We've found t540p, x201, t60p, etc

[@mainfish88]

Still got a x201

[@tomschmidt381]

My wife and I have a pair of T520 in addition to our desktop. I'm using a T420 as a poor man's server with a TB HDD stuffed in the DVD bay. Replaced the HDD with SSD. All run Win 10, not looking forward to end of life.

[@Chalisque]

@@mainfish88 I've had to replace fans in mine. One I gave to a friend. The other's fan is failing again, and I don't think I'll get around to sourcing yet another fan, together with the disassembly/reassembly required. Many things are easily swapped in and out, but fixing the fan means removing the motherboard. Its newer replacement was an X250, but that one as stopped recognising the battery (tried new battery, but same problem).

[@derealized797]

My brother got a ThinkPad for my father way back years ago, to have a computer at the house. I knew he got it cheap but i remember using it and checking it out. It was a decent laptop, started seeing them everywhere after that, and i can see why. I was never really much into laptops because i built my own desktop PCs. Except for now, i just use a laptop because I'm putting patience into planning the next build. Kind of a bad time for it rn.

[@CraigHagan]

Love seeing the T430 love in 2022. I just finished the last upgrades on my T430 after 4 years of ownership. I had the dual core i7 with Nvidia out of the gate. The upgrades were to a quad core, SSD drives, T420 keyboard, 1440p screen, heatsink, Slice battery (talk about a tank in thickness now) which makes for a nice angled keyboard, Ram to 16gb, plus new wireless card. I could overclock my CPU with the Bios update too. Not going to. I've seen someone put Mac speakers into these things but they require fabrication. The 1440p screen is really nice. I had the 1080p previously but the colors and angles are so much better. It shows how terrible my x260 768p screen is now. Thinking maybe I should do a video now. I would love to achieve your production values in my videos. Great video!

[@aChairLeg]

Thank you! That 1440p screen sounds awesome, I would live to see a video on that honestly. I thought the most you could do is 1080p. I've also seen lots of people do the t420 keyboard mod, if I had enough time and money I would have loved to trick mine out for this video and test that keyboard

[@cgsather3309]

Didn’t know there is a 1440 screen, I have a T530, where did you get yours?

[@skyrunner021]

Where did you get the slice battery, I can't seem to find any?

[@mysticaxolotl8215]

​@@skyrunner021 Same, I've been searching for ages

[@Гемотагенка]

​@@mysticaxolotl8215 model lenovo 28++. i see this in alliexpress on 77 dollars. sorry for language, i write without translater

[@veqv]

I really, really miss the thinklight being a thing. Great for referencing printed material late at night.

[@DeputatKaktus]

This was my daily driver at work. Traveled the world with this machine and it never let me down. Good times…they don’t make them like this anymore. (“old man yelling at clouds” mode off) Had mine decked out with a WWAN card, an additional HDD in the Ultrabay slot and a secondary battery that I could also put in the Ultrabay instead of the HDD. Runtime was pretty amazing. Plonk it down in the dock and had two additional monitors, keyboard & mouse. Always worked, never any problems. Not as sturdy as the IBM models but still doing pretty OK. Would recommend this one any day. Then some bright spark wanted to get us all to change to the X1 model. Because nice and sleek and all that. Was glad I declined. Because it turned out the “docks” you plugged into the X1 died like flies. We would have chalked the first ones up to “eh…whatever, probably just a bad batch” but it was getting ridiculous pretty quickly. According to our IT guys they swapped out at least 5 of them a week. And they were notorious for being unreliable and flaking out after software updates. And god forbid you plug them in after starting the computer…it was a complete tossup whether your mouse worked or which display you’d get. Also, no battery swaps. Thanks, but no thanks. My eventual upgrade was to a Dell XPS 15 (new company policy says “Dell only” - seems someone had seen enough defective Lenovo parts) Bit on the heavy side but a decent enough machine all things considered. Still would prefer more modular and maintenance friendly machines but alas, those days seem to be over.

[@johnson42069]

I have an x220 that's been used and abused for various purposes. It's missing various screws and the Wi-Fi antennae (I ran it headless for a while and was too lazy to reroute the antenna wires) and still feels sturdy even with missing parts. I was pleasantly surprised when I installed Win10 for an airgapped kiosk type application and it booted faster than my brand new Lenovo yoga. With its 2nd gen i7, 8gb of ddr3, and a cheap DRAMless SSD it still feels snappy for everyday tasks. I learned a lesson about how optimization is the most important part of advancing the user experience and computing in general. No matter how much horsepower you throw at the problem, a well-optimized system is always going to win in terms of price-performance ratio and efficiency.

[@raginald7mars408]

3 weeks ago I got a T61 donated for free never had heard of such machines must be like 2009 still in perfect condition even the battery is still only 40 % wear including a great Docking station fell instantly in love with it will keep it to my end

[@raginald7mars408]

@@mrtechie6810 still lasts more than 60 minutes - I use it with the battery detached - as desktop PC with the charger attached - works well. All for free...

[@LordTrashcanRulez]

I have one, but it needs upgrades that I may not get access to. Need to find a battery, DDR2 4 GB ram sticks, and a better CPU that won't burn the laptop.

[@hotairsaloon]

After daily driving my Ubuntu 22.04 T420 (blaze it lol) for 6 months as my school laptop, I just have to say I'm a bit obsessed. These old ThinkPads are incredible devices. Here's what I've done to my T420: -Hacked bios to remove hardware whitelist (difficult and risky but necessary if you want to upgrade WiFi/WWAN beyond the OEM WiFi/WWAN cards that shipped with the device and also if you want to run 2 8GB sticks of RAM) -16gb RAM (it has two DDR3 RAM slots) -WiFi 6 card with Bluetooth (originally N WiFi adapter with no Bluetooth) -240GB SSD -replaced optical drive with 1TB HDD -upgraded LCD with 1080p panel (the original LCD is so bad it's almost a deal breaker) -swapped the palm rest for one with fingerprint scanner, which surprisingly required no additional software in Ubuntu -added USB 3.0 ExpressCard (doesn't ship with USB 3.0) again, no software needed -9 cell battery (new battery life is 6+ hours) A few accessories I would recommend: -USB-C PD adapter and -100w compact GaN charger (way more portable and way more compatible than the original charger) -100w USB-C car charger (keep in mind, these can be used with other devices as well) -the dock, which I have hooked up to Ethernet and a dual monitor setup so at this point, I'm using my T420 instead of my desktop for most day-to-day tasks. There's also a half length mSATA slot that can be used for an SSD for a total of 3 potential internal drives but it uses the USB protocol so I installed an mSATA to USB adapter and now my mouse dongle lives inside my computer. This is the same slot used by WWAN adapters and the SIM slot is under the battery. I tried to get an LTE card working since the 3g shutdown just made every factory compatible WWAN card useless but I was unsuccessful so I decided to just keep the silly internal USB dongle lol. Another upgrade that I reverted was the quad core i7 swap (you can find the 2nd gen quad core i7 chips on eBay for like $30-$40). With the i5, I could use the laptop on AC power with the battery out (to reduce battery wear). With the i7, it would crash while booting if it was only on AC power. A 100w PD charger instead of a 65w charger did make it mostly usable but it would still sometimes pass out if the power usage was too high. Even with the battery, it was wildly unstable and would spike all 8 threads to 100% while watching KZbin videos, which has never happened with the i5. That same i7 has had zero issues in an old Dell Latitude. The cooler also struggled to keep up with the heat from the i7 quad but I decided to just switch back instead of upgrading the cooler since it was plagued by other stability issues unrelated to heat. As you can tell, there are way more positive things about the T420 than negatives. Linux support for ThinkPads is incredible and Ubuntu makes it feel snappy and new. I highly recommend this laptop and other ThinkPads of this era. If you're wanting a gaming laptop, it would be a terrible choice but it runs graphically simple games like Factorio and Civ just fine. There's also the cool factor. People will undoubtedly notice that you're using ancient technology but TBH, the keyboard alone justifies using it and the aesthetic simply does not exist in consumer laptops anymore and the only tool you need to work on it and upgrade it is a screwdriver. I hesitate to say it because I'm very picky with technology but this is my favorite laptop of all time.

[@goof3209]

how are you charging with usbc on a t420??

[@hotairsaloon]

@@goof3209 An adapter and a PD power brick. Not sure what the minimum is but 65w charges mine just fine.

[@jonmeltzer1361]

I have one too. Great machine. Its major flaw for me is that you can't get a decent USB 3 ExpressCard anywhere. They all seem to be made by the same Chinese factory and they all have problems staying in the card slot and tend to flake out if the card overheats. I maxed the memory out to 16G and use a SSD. Both essential and cheap. And then there's the dock. You really need the dock.

[@polocatfan]

​@@goof3209 people make a USB-C power jack for old thinkpads that you can just swap the original out for without soldering. it's really cool honestly.

[@BrianMartin2007]

Something to keep in mind, even on older ThinkPads than what you have there, the track point has multitouch gestures usually only for two fingers, so if yours doesn’t work, the appropriate driver is not installed. That is an Ivybridge classed laptop, you can upgrade the CPU in it. I would also Max and it’s ram to 16 GB. These laptops are totally serviceable. If you’re having performance issues, consider taking the bottom shell off and clean the heating compound from both the CPU and GPU and also the fins on the heat sink.

[@aChairLeg]

That's a shame, I'll have to make sure all my drivers are properly installed in the future. Figured it was just a quirk of that tiny trackpad

[@bawssky]

i found your channel by mistake while just browsing, gotta say that your videos are really professional and I'm honestly impressed, cant wait till u become famous and well known

[@TimotheousMaximus]

Same

[@oddvin0000000000000]

The trackpoint is actually amazing though, literally my favorite thing about these.

[@jameshogge]

I have a trackpoint and never use it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ mouse buttons above touchpad are to die for though

[@maciejprokop2001]

100% agree, I've repaired an old t400 and I'm loving it!

[@Daniel-it1dp]

When I used to work on a Thinkpad I exclusively used the trackpoint since their touchpads are the worst.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Trackpoints are great when you don't wanna move away the hand too much when moving the pointer and it's more precise too.

[@jameshogge]

@@KRAFTWERK2K6 I struggle to believe this. Obviously everyone gets used to the one they choose and they get good at using it. However, in a trackpoint you control velocity whereas a touchpad you actually control the position. I can't see a practiced trackpoint user beating a practiced touchpad user.

[@Chalisque]

What I loved about the T410, T420 and L440s is that they have an optical drive bay, into which I put a spinning disk for large cheap extra storage (often these machines would come from eBay with a 500GB HDD as the system drive, so I'd pop an SSD into them and move the original HDD to the optical drive bay as extra storage.)

[@jakx2ob]

They even made batteries you could put in the optical drive bay.

[@mundotazo]

I run this as a desktop plugged into speakers and 7 buck monitor. I upgraded the ram. I love the keyboard. CPU upgrade is pretty hardcore.

[@prod.kidmizu]

My dad works for IBM, and always had a Thinkpad for as long as could remember, I used to do some light gaming on them whenever I visited him at work. This video is a huge throwback for me because he had this same one. Time really flies

[@Sully365]

This is my work laptop and i swear, it's a freaking beast. I love these and had no idea just how much better they were than almost any other i've encountered.

[@mrw417]

I have a refurb T440, and love it so much I recommended one for my Mom when she needed a new laptop. A little heavy and bulky, but built like a tank. I used a new one for work many years ago and am happy to have this one.

[@K0nt4kt]

I ran my t430 from 2016 to just this August. I paid $175 for it and upgraded it pretty well since then.Incredibly solid piece of hardware!!

[@BrianMartin2007]

Make sure you play a good thermal compound when reattaching the heat sink assembly. As for my earlier, comment about CPU upgrades, that motherboard will take a quad core. You have to swap out the motherboard for the one with the GPU, because the GP was soldered onto the board sticking a quad core of that machine would actually spit up quite a bit so we’re doubling the ram, and having one of these laptops with the actual dedicated GPU.

[@azbesthu]

I have two of them still in use. One of them was my primary working machine in the last 7 years, I just recently bought a new machine, but as secondary machine they are still in use. The t430 can be expanded with 3 ssd drive (disk, optical bay tray, msata), 2x8GB ram, 4 core 8 thread cpu. I have i7-3720qm and i7-3612qm. Over displayport (and with active dp-hdmi2.0 dongle) it can drive an external 4k display at 30Hz. Sometimes I connected to the machine 3 fhd display with help of a docking station. I have no problem with wifi, it can do around 200Mbps. For the two machine I have still two original ~100% battery. But also have an other one that degraded to 30%. I used an egpu adapter with it: gdp exp expresscard with gtx1050. It has official support for win10 and still got bios updates in 2019.

[@justinsigford4079]

I have the t430 mod all the way, new screen with adapter, 16gb the fastest ram I can get, white list removed, and the best 4 core cpu I can put in it. Now it's a beast !! Love my thinkpad, t430

[@MisterRorschach90]

A few years back when I needed a laptop I had a small budget but I realized very quickly that if you get a used business laptop, you can literally get a machine that is 5-10x faster than what you’d buy on sale at best buy or Amazon. For $350 I was able to get a laptop that only just now started showing it’s age. It was an i7 4800mq which was pretty much just as fast as any i7 chip until the i9 came out.

[@NormanF62]

I think the i9 has a very small reach. I5 and i7 are plentiful enough to do most of what we want them to do.

[@thecastiel69]

I got a t480s i7 for 142 usd, with touch screen display

[@rav4l2003]

I have the S model of this generation, an i7 equipped T430s which is thinner and lighter than the base T430. It was the last S model with an optical drive. It also has the thinklight AND backlit keyboard. It gains thunderbolt 1 as well. Pretty sweet for a $75 find.

[@Artofwilliamsburgva]

I have a T420 and I upgraded the ram, HDD to SSD, CD drive to HDD adapter and upgraded the wifi module. I use it for linux for various things. Never have an issue doing anything. I have a buddy of mine that has one as well running win 7, he uses it for research documents and such. No issues.

[@mikestanley9176]

The T series Thinkpads are built like tanks. My laptop has been dropped a few times. My T 530 started out with 2 GB RAM, a 128 GB HDD , and the standard I5 3230M CPU. I have since upgraded to 16 GB RAM , a 128 GB SSD boot drive , a 128 GB SD card just for my GTA 5 install and a 1TB storage drive. Did I mention the total cost was about 35 dollars.

[@Star88701]

Lenovo generally makes really good laptops. Their cases, especially on the ThinkPads may as well be like an OtterGuard phone case. I would take a Lenovo over a Dell or HP any day. Glad to see these getting the praise they deserve.

[@NormanF62]

HP made a solidly built CRT “17” monitor I owned for over a decade. I was sad to see it go when it died and it only couldn’t be repaired because time moved on. The brand has a reputation for quality products.

[@NormanF62]

HP made a solidly built CRT “17” monitor I owned for over a decade. I was sad to see it go when it died and it only couldn’t be repaired because time moved on. The brand has a reputation for quality products.

[@Star88701]

@Norman F Birnberg I have a bias against hp because of their ProLiant servers being such a pain to work with. The hp envy and spectre laptops I've heard are good but I'll probably never get one bc of the headaches I've suffered working with ProLiant servers

[@Raphaelwelingston]

I have one of these since 2019. I've upgraded preatty much every thing you can imagine on it ! Even the sketchy wood box egpu ! The last thing which still remains are wifi, fingerprint scanner and liquid metal for cooling (my i7 quad was dirty cheap, but it's a 45w, so even with a t420 cooling assembly, it peak a 100°c). It's a pleasure to use it !

[@toku30]

This laptop cost me $160-$200 back in 2017 with 4 gigs of ram. I had to get another one after it got stolen but got one with 8 gigs, also had found a neglected t450(needed a new fan)that I was allowed to keep & reset, & now I have a Clementine Yoga 3 i5 I bought a few days ago for $190 it's practicality in music DAW's is high with it's touch screen & flipping ability. The Yoga 3 i5 was seriously underrated & expensive.

[@V3RYSC4RY]

I always loved these thinkpads with the trackballs, they are just so utilitarian. I was a PC tech during those years and this was always my fav with the Macbook pros of the time.

[@phili4600]

I've bought a few used and broken laptops recently. In my spare time I like to fix electronics like consoles and stuff. It seems like the ThinkPad are the most common broken laptops lmao. Cool vid

[@aChairLeg]

I like to think it's because they're heavily used haha

[@GregoryRCosta]

Trackpads were long standard by the time I got my first ThinkPad, but I quickly joined the TrackPoint cult when I discovered a 1996 ThinkPad in the trash and became enamored with it. To this day, I use the TrackPoint 95% of the time on my ThinkPad X1 (work laptop) and my ThinkPad Anniversary Edition.

[@uzomanwosu]

I'm writing this from my T430 and I agree with everything you've said. I rarely take it off power because that battery is terrible (and I'm just too lazy to buy another for this one). Plus it generates a ton of heat so I just use it on the table or a lapdesk. I run Fedora Silverblue on it and it runs like a champ. I've played SC2 through Lutris and it's pretty good. I've thought about getting rid of it but the keyboard is too good to part with. None of the new Lenovos come close to its feel.

[@zibbezabba2491]

I got my T430 for £100. Since I bought it I've installed a quad core i7 processor, 1TB SSD 16gb mem and a 1080p screen. It's lightning fast. I love it. The total cost was a little over £300.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

An absolute bargain, especially seeing how PC hardware prices went through the roof in the recent few years.

[@lapz6758]

I got it for free from a family member that said it was too old and was about to throw it to the trash, bruh....it was in perfect condition just needed a clean windows install, it even has the nvs 5400m which means I can install the 45W cpu without any trouble due to the bigger cooler. I got a gaming PC and just got an insane graphics card, but I am even more excited about getting this one out of the blue for free and upgrading it to hell

[@zibbezabba2491]

@@lapz6758 The 1080p screen upgrade is the icing on the cake. Brings it right up to date.

[@lapz6758]

@@zibbezabba2491 I don't think I will make that upgrade since AliExpress shippings to my country are painful, but I am looking for the m14x Alienware panel that can run from the stock cable

[@splashboi898]

Got mine ebay for $50 great condition too

[@shatteredonthesidewalk]

This is the 4th time I've watched this video. Enjoyed touching base on these affordable and like mildly obsolete techs getting a semblance of another life

[@SaintInix]

The X series is badass. There are 1080p versions, has the little tracking nub, screen flips around to turn into a tablet. I've had a couple now, planning on another.

[@djesky1]

Watching this on my modified T420. This series of laptop is awesome!!

[@maxmustermann-hx3fx]

8:20 I am sorry but it literally says that you should download the SSE4 build bc your CPU doesn't support AVE2. The instruction set are the assembly commands available for programmers and in this case they are the vector commands which are often used to parallelize things. So probably the AVE build will run a little bit faster bc it was better optimized than the SSE build but it should be possible to run PCSX2 EDIT: But appart from that nice video I am also in love with thinkpads and recently bought a new E14 Gen 4 and I love it.

[@rivas3889]

I've had a T430 for about 5 years now as a "college notes laptop" really solid machine for that purpose. Ended up swapping screen and motherboard to get one with the nvidia GPU and a 900p monitor. Swapped in a 3630qm and it's been doing alright. Once kitted out completely it's really a lot of laptop for how little you end up paying

[@theena]

I got myself a T420 just after the lockdowns. I put in an SSD and it runs Ubuntu Server like a dream. An incredible machine.

[@walldoo99]

I go to all the trouble to set up the Windows 10 and the added software I install, and then some people say, I need to install Ubuntu for the servers I monitor at work. AAAARRRGGGGHHH.

[@MrMagnaFarce]

Eight years ago I was using an i7 T420 to run 2-3 displays for live events with PowerPoint slides, a countdown clock, and playing back HD video. I still use that machine today for various business/production needs, along with an x220t. Those 20 series machines are workhorses.

[@Chalisque]

I have one running mpd as a music player, and also for streaming movies to my TV.

[@Chalisque]

I got two off eBay for £30 each, with broken screens. Add SSDs and everything else worked fine.

[@fr_og]

got a beat up bare x270 for 30$, replaced the keyboard, got 32gb ram on it, installed the internal 24Wh battery, and just slotted a m.2 into the wwan slot. now the tiny laptop runs great. later i put in a backlit jis keyboard to make use of the extra keys. upgraded my 24Wh external battery to 72Wh and it lasts around 7-9 hours for me.

[@fr_og]

what sucks is that the cpu is soldered on the x270, but crazy thinkpad enthusiasts have done the upgrade. swapping out keyboard is a hassle compared to other models since u have to unfasten the whole motherboard and stuff instead of just ploppin the keeb in.

[@agoodun]

"definitely doesn't impress my girlfriend when I pull it out to get some work done before bed"......Lolzzz 😂😂😂 ☠️💀

[@PJ-om2wq]

I have bought a few T440s laptops over the years for various people and they always like them.

[@-jeff-]

I've had my T430 for years. I learned years ago to turn off the pad in the bios and use a wifi mouse. It has an Intel 7 and 16gb ram, but I use Win 7 (offline only) and have no problem running 3D modeling and video editing because I'm using versions built for Win 7.

[@sadarax4405]

The lid-latch was put on the frame because this Thinkpad laptop series has a built-in role cage. It is generally designed to be sturdy in case it is dropped or stepped on. The lid-latch ensures the screen is more likely to stay in a 'safe' position during falling or landing. (To my knowledge, nodern Thinkpads no longer include the role or drop cage.)

[@joelsanderlin6990]

The older quad core i7s still stand up really well. Especially the third generation.

[@NormanF62]

I’m trying out a dual core Intel i7 ULV processor workstation first. If I do want/need a quad core, I can buy one down the road. I already have a quad core Apple MBP but frankly all my dual core Intel i5 have served me well. And dual core chips power the vast majority of the world’s laptops.

[@Scornfull]

@@NormanF62 That's because they're cheap not because they're good lol

[@diegodevops4151]

T430 is really the best Thinkpad ever. I sold one a few years ago and the owner broke the display cover and didn't wanted anymore so he gave it to me. So I got a brand new top cover, New Mouse Sticker, Palmrest Sticker, New MSata and a used 9 cell battery and looks brand new again.

[@berkayaktas8439]

i am really not sure which is better x230 or t430

[@t.a.p4554]

t430 please...

[@berkayaktas8439]

@@t.a.p4554 because of the size x230 i think :)

[@t.a.p4554]

@@berkayaktas8439 oh , if you want small compact size laptop , you should consider to buy 2560p or 2570p because both can do cpu upgrade and x230 cant....

[@TORTLESSS]

one of my favorite things about older thinkpads is you can grab them by the screen and it will not break the hinge, i used to bring my x220 to the toilet while taking a shit, outside kitchen while cooking or doing laundry, garage while fixing the car

[@nebelparderk]

I used this thing the last 4 years for university. I love its swappable battery, the card slots, the tank like build and the nice keyboard. With Manjaro it was actually very usable. Windows on the other hand slowed down a lot over time. And my back hurts from lugging around this behemoth with the extended battery (which is very nice as a grip while not having a table). The best thing, it was only 230€ used + a new battery for 75€. But now comes the time to get a little lighter with a very affordable T480s (which does also have a lot of ports)

[@Daniel-it1dp]

Congratulations and good luck! I used to have one of those at work and mine along with everyone else's in the office broke in various ways under daily use in at least 4 years. Under light use rather than 8-12hr work days I'm sure it should last a little longer.

[@DJSekuHusky]

I got the W530 for $200 several years back. It's an absolute beast: FHD IPS panel, quad core i7, 32GB DDR3, and a 480 GB SSD have kept it capable even in 2022. Best of all I have the USB 3.0 ThinkDock, so I can have up to 10 USB ports running natively which comes in handy (I can just dock the machine and have all my instruments, controllers, and drives detected). I sorta got lucky getting one of the K2000 graphics models as the previous owner didn't mention it. And it came with the backlit keyboard option (in addition to the ThinkLight), so it's my studio/live show machine, whereas the $140 i7 T460 is my daily. Believe it or not, it all began with a T60 purchased from a Goodwill. I was booked to play a set at a Tallahassee club (back around 2010), and during sound-check my 2008 MacBook Pro suffered GPU failure, and I had everything backed up on my freshly rebuilt T60 (2006), so I did the set on a thrift store laptop that cost me $20 instead of my $2,500 Aluminum paperweight, and despite the mid-tier Core 2 Duo CPU not being too happy with the high demands, it got through the entire thing well enough. My ThinkPad saved the show. I ended up replacing my MacBook Pro soon after with a T61P (manufactured 3 weeks into the revised Nvidia GPU soldering method), and I've stuck with ThinkPads ever since. I've yet to have one fail on me.

[@user56]

thank you for the magic eraser tip. my 8 year old used thinkpad now looks like new.

[@MysticMango412]

This is my daily driver for school in 2022 🤘🤘

[@Angular777]

I have a 470 at work that I like. I recently bought a 480 off of eBay that I love even more than my work computer, dual batteries and repairability are awesome..

[@mcborge1]

Old Thinkpads were definately built to last. I have a Yoga 12 (i5 8gb) Thinkpad that I got 4 months ago for just over £100. It looks a little rough around the edges but it still runs great for it's age.

[@Weedug]

Did you get it from eBay?

[@mcborge1]

@@Weedug No i got it from a pawnbrockers around the corner from where I live. 😀

[@Weedug]

@@mcborge1 well done. 👍

[@mcborge1]

@@Weedug Thanks, it came with windows 8.1, I upgraded it to windows 10 without any issues as Lenovo had windows 10 drivers and even a newer bios for it. 🙂

[@jupiterapollo4985]

That's one ugly looking beast 🤢

[@AI-dz2zd]

You may have overlooked the key (marketing?) feature. The keyboard, allegedly, was designed to drain the fluids through the case, saving the internals from the water damage. Anecdotally, I had the same model at my internship at a 3 letter firm, although, allegedly, custom built for the company and may have had different specs. But let me tell you, that poor thing survived numerous coffee spills and was washed down under running water by the supervisor on a couple occasions. The word out there was that it was not as good as the 'old stuff'. But, allegedly, this maybe one of the last models before the R&D, engineering and manufacturing completely changed hands. But I might be wrong in this regard.

[@lummatravel]

I have a T530, I upgraded the CPU to the quad core i7, 16gb RAM, two 1tb SSD and a 4gb mechanical HDD (replacing the DVD drive). Apart from being gigantic, only the trackpad lets it down. It was my daily driver until I got a Dell XPS 15 this year (started to do video editing so needed the extra power). It's interesting how little machines have developed in the last 10 years compared to the previous decade. In 2012, you would barely be able to use a machine from 2002, but a 2012 laptop is perfectly usable for most computing tasks in 2022 (as long as you have at least 8gb RAM and an SSD)

[@D3arkWizard]

I have two laptop one where I do my work, backup storage,games, and another laptop (T440p) where I mainly use programs to modify/hack consoles, handheld, phones and use as a Blu-ray player. Love the quality of the T440p the only things left to do is upgrade the touchpad and cpu.

[@Koziolrh]

I still use my W520 from this generation. It's awesome.

[@aChairLeg]

Those are sweet! I'd love to try one out one of these days

[@Koziolrh]

@@aChairLeg highly recommended, it weighs a ton and a half though haha

[@hypocriticalharambe8274]

@@aChairLeg there great I daily drive a W520 with the top end dgpu and a low end quad core i7 1080p display (the high end ones require the over 100w power brick fyi) I also have a mint condition T420 i7 with the 900p display a X220 i5 ips and the x220t i7 all less than 100 USD each there great laptops that I horde lastly a standard dual digital display out docking station I got for 20 bucks that I modified to let even the tablet slot in. The 20 series has the best hardware with the last standard IBM 7 row keyboard setup which I have used for most of my life I missed when I moved on to a modern ThinkPad for a year but went back to the less powerful and beat up W520 as performance is only half the picture.

[@brunopadrino1498]

T430 with i7-3632qm since 2018 here. Cheers! (btw, changing the CPU doesn't require much beyond the usual thermal paste rework and general cleaning that I strongly recommend in any case - just don't choose a CPU with a higher TDP, so i7-3632qm is the furthest one can go on this machine's original 35W TDP design)

[@wngimageanddesign9546]

Yeah, these old school business class laptops are built like tanks. I am watching this video with a 2012 Dell Inspiron i5 laptop feeding a 27" monitor. Excellent daily driver still. Quiet and reliable.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

And wayyyy more power efficient than a Desktop. :)

[@peremos7781]

game name please 0:04

[@yesiamavdol]

i think its factorio

[@gramfero]

factorio

[@cynfaelalek-walker7003]

I like you

[@synthoelectro]

I'm very happy with my ThinkPad L430, and it was very affordable on eBay, and I would probably love it more than anything new. They are business machines and made to take a beating.

[@ravagingwolverine]

Good choice. I already had gotten a good deal on a used L420 back in 2015. Not long after, was trying to fix an Ideapad with broken hinges(the weakness of those at the time), and while it was disassembled, I saw another great deal on an L430. It was one of the last ones left too. I didn't "need" it, but the timing was perfect, and I didn't have to put that Ideapad back together. That L430 has been my main computer ever since.

[@synthoelectro]

@@ravagingwolverine and a little history on the thinkpad. Musicians used it for years live with ableton back in the day. It's that good.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Gotta say i resisted a lot when i saw the T430 came with the new chiclet keys (or Island keys) because i always preferred the other Thinkpad keyboards and their layouts. However the T430 really is the ONLY laptop who's chiclet keys are actually really amazing to type on. I have one that is not backlit so the key track is a lot better than the keys who are backlit. Originally when i got mine i felt like doing that Keyboard modification where you swap in a slightly modified T420 keyboard into the T430 as well as adding a slightly modified BIOS but i decided to just leave it as it is. Even though i often miss the delete key and don't have it at the same spot anymore so the muscle memory is now a little confused. But general typing on that keyboard is actually pretty good. I'll also probably swap the DVD drive for a Blu-ray Drive. I have a feeling the whole laptop itself is even slightly lighter than the T420. What i REALLY like the most is the 2 USB 3.0 Slots as well as having the Ethernet port on the backside. Where it always should be but usually never is. I really love the T420 & T430 and i just wish they were available with 16:10 screen instead of only 16:9 LCDs. These laptops show how much of a scam modern Laptops are and how little progress there is in Computer Tech. Modern day laptops are just glorified Tablets with keyboards.

[@walldoo99]

In the beginning, when people were still trying to figure out the 420 keyboard swap, some had issues with the extra contacts for the backlight option causing damage.

[@Kepler_2258]

i have a few of those, ive been selling a lot of my laptops ive been getting from a friend, most of them i sell are under 100$ things of that age though i usually list for around 50-60$ i actually have a T430s rn and it has Nvidia Graphics and a i7 2nd gen

[@mdsalahuddin7077]

T440p is arguably much better in every way except the infamous touchpad. A T440p with 4th gen i7 4600m FHD 16GB RAM and 99wh battery only cost $70. A charger and SSD will cost another $30. A great working laptop under $100.

[@aChairLeg]

I wish I knew that earlier, I'll just have to add it to my future video idea list haha

[@ShinzouKatsune]

I work in a company that deployed these enmasse.... ....it DOES have a chiclet keyboard. "Chiclet" refers to the rounded corners and the seperation of the keys, unlike the older standard laptop keyboards like it's predecessor the T420 had. Most low profile keyboards are called that as well due to the shape of the key, not the slimness of the formfactor.

[@willbly734]

The lid latch is to keep it closed when walking around with it say under your arm or something. If I remember right there’s only one side latched, which give you the extra play. It’s there for the safety of the screen.

[@MrR2185]

I do miss this era of laptops that were so easy to fix/ upgrade, as opposed to newer machines with their lack of repair-ability. I have an HP Elitebook 8570p. It is an all metal chassis and feels like a piece of body armor. The back cover slides off with a single latch(no screws). Once that cover is off, you have access to literally everything, even the CPU and heatsink/ fan which come out in two minutes. I've since upgraded it to an i7- 3740QM(4c/8t), 16GB of RAM, SSD and the wifi card to a more modern standard. It still holds up well today with most general computing tasks, not so much for gaming, of course. Alas, it suffers a similar to issue to your Lenovo, in that the display is not great with the viewing angles and the battery life is not much, perhaps 45 minutes..but hey...it is 10 years old. Even though I now have a nice MSI laptop with an rtx 3060... I will not get rid of the HP, I love it too much and had fun souping it up.

[@LabCat]

I used to maintain these for a major corporation. The T430 is not a bad machine at all. Just be mindful to clean the CPU fan and change the thermal paste regularly. The cooling solutions in early T4xxs were not sufficient in any way. Lenovo has made some progress in the past couple decades, since as we get older we really want the sturdy build quality and great keyboards of models like the IBM T43, but carrying around those things in a briefcase... youch. I just wish the computers were still made in Armonk, NY.

[@chincemagnet]

I have a T430, it was decent. I paid $200 for it like 5 years ago. The one thing I liked about was you could manually set the CPU to boost and crank up the fan speed, that was a feature all laptops should have. I have an i7 Dell now. Bought my daughter a MacBook and inherited her old laptop.

[@EllySensei]

I swear after learning about Thinkpads, I want them so badly, saying this now, hope to be getting a T480 by next year. Lenovo just don't make it like they used to sadly.

[@aChairLeg]

I still think thinkpads are amazing devices, but other laptop manufacturers have been making major strides in quality the past few years. Hopefully you're able to get that t480 and cherish it for a long time!

[@EllySensei]

@@aChairLeg I'm eating my words at the moment. I got 3 "broken" but actually untested Thinkpads, two pieces of T430, and one T410 Now, I hope these work, genuinely.

[@sludgefactory241]

Good video. See you are under 10k subs. Keep up the good work. I'm sure you'll be at 100k in no time my dude!

[@Larfty]

I love the t430. I use it everyday for school and some gaming on the side. My model has the nvidia nvs 5400m and it performs much better than the intel hd 4000 graphics. I can play all kinds of old games and play games like gta 5 normal settings at a stable 40fps. This is without a doubt the best price to performance laptop out there.

[@samhyde6395]

This was our school appointed laptop when I was in highschool. I really miss this thing.

[@DevotedGamer1]

switch to LINUX

[@jimbroxx]

Faaaaacttttssss bro !!!

[@jupiterapollo4985]

Why?

[@triple_gem_shining]

Always loved old thinkpads

[@maurvir3197]

10 years isn't what it used to be. In 2012, a 10 year old laptop (from 2002) was hopelessly obsolete junk. That pretty much quit being a problem once Intel started with the i series processors, and really the later Core 2 processors. While I certainly wouldn't use it for CAD work, my late 2011 13" Macbook Pro is still chugging along, and I still carry it with me when I travel. It has a new battery, maxed out RAM, and a 500GB SSD - and while it would be absolutely trounced by a modern Mac, it still works just fine for what I need on the road. However, the machine that makes my point is an even older Dell Inspiron 1720 - from 2006. Years ago, I stuffed a T7700 in there with 6GB of RAM. It has a 256GB SATA SSD and a 256GB SATA hybrid disk, and it is actually surprisingly usable. It boots Windows 7 Enterprise in about 10 seconds, and once the OS is fully up, is actually quite fluid. It is perfectly usable for 1080p KZbin videos and most web-based applications - though not for long, since Windows 7 will likely quit being a target for Firefox soon. I wouldn't haul it around, since it's a boat anchor, but if I had to use it in a pinch, it would work. It even has a bit of its battery life left - after 16 years. I'm almost tempted to try Windows 10 on it for giggles. These days, if you aren't doing video editing or watching 4K video, playing current gen games on high settings, or trying to do heavy CAD work, you probably don't need to upgrade that often.

[@JogieGlenMait16]

I also have a T14. Very sleek Thinkpad and extremely travel friendly.

[@NoobieAnimation]

i do 3d modeling on that laptop and you cant stop me

[@heyallenify]

I used a T430 and then T530 for years, only replacing them in the last year with a W530 because I wanted access to the added RAM (and the stock quad-core CPU) for some of the software that I'm running. They've all been modded with almost all of the features in that modding list, though I elected to learn to tolerate the chicklet keyboard instead of EC-flashing and replacing it. I had missed the better WiFi adapter though, and it's now on order!

[@AIMadeEasier]

The T430 series is incredible I have a few of them I use in my homelab as test servers. The magic part is the metal frame, meant to be easily upgraded so access to everything. Like the hard drive that is under the USB ports on a pull tab and one screw.... LOVE IT! The reason for the lid latch was to keep it as durable as possible. The internal metal frame meant that if everything was clammed up it was going to last 90% of abuses. It helps with the stability of the case when closed. Also they need to keep the screen latched a few mm higher with that red mouse button thing in the middle. Earlier models had those break screens. The coolest part is if you look at the bottom you will see these random slit holes. Those are for if you spill something on the keyboard. The keyboard section is sealed and if water gets on the keyboard it drains out the bottom of the laptop. This is why my kids have used them when they were doing the entire Schooling From Home. No back lit keyboard but a keyboard light which is an absolutely brilliant addition. Now one thing to remember is these were built for businesses and industrial uses. These were not cheap laptops back in the day, however we see a lot of them in the reused market since they were decommissioned. This was not meant as your every day laptop you would go to best buy to get, these were special ordered direct from Lenovo for businesses and schools. Price of a Raspberry Pi and 1000% more powerful and if you get a new battery for it even better. The Lenovo T430 holds a special place in my tech heart.

[@guttabacker]

Swapping from Windows to Arch Linux on my old T430 made such a huge performance boost!

[@CoasterMan13Official]

Reminds me a lot of my Latitude. It's old, but it works. It's starting to show its age (~15 years old). I have been using that little guy for 3 years. That keyboard is very comfortable to use.

[@1ch0r41]

I remember being 16 wanting a t430. While it was only 3 years ago, it was my dream laptop but I’ve now got a t460 as a throw around and am getting a t480s as a main driver!

[@Zombie_Knuckles]

I own a T430 and I've been using it for years. It's an amazing computer, especially when using a Linux operating system. Used to play games like minecraft, counter strike source and garrys mod on it.

[@felinegoatzapper]

nice video, how did you refresh the beat up lid ? I saw you rubbing something, like a candle/ soap bar ?

[@aChairLeg]

It's a magic eraser or melamine foam. It very lightly polishes the surface and gets rid of minor wear marks and scratches

[@robertredmon5409]

I just found my old one and am waiting on a new power supply to see if it will boot after being in storage for so long. I'm excited to see what's on it if it will lol

[@gergelyh]

I used a t430 2 years for work. I was beating on the Laptop (heavy cpu tasks) with a lot of heavy scripts. The laptop never skipped a beat.