ThinkPads 2010 – 2014 (Intel Core 1st Gen to 4th)

For years past, people have been using the ThinkPad buyers guide from ktgee. This website was supposed to be an updated database of ThinkPad prices. But its relevance became redundant due to me going dumbshit on other computer prices. There are two other websites that forked the ktgee guide, yttrium& trueflame… However these guides weren’t shitposted on 4chan or leddit, because it stopped being a simple 1000 x 1000 image. This is the start of a new era, in 2019 I will personally be updating ThinkPad prices every four months with a picture guide. Rather than me doing prices all in one page for 10+ years of ThinkPad, I will be doing batch posts which will consist of laptops group together by a few years. e.g 2006 – 09 | 2010 – 2013 | 2014 – 18 |

Buying these used instead of brand new

• Used ThinkPads are cheap thanks to businesses always buying new equipment every 2+ years.
• The old laptops become tax write offs by sent to local recyclers or IT groups.
• An abundance of laptops eventually flood the market on eBay, sellers start to list them off at low prices, 99 cent auctions or offers in bulk
• Some of these used laptops can come out to a 1/3 of the original price when a new model arrives & may still have a warranty.

Why choose these aging ThinkPads

• Spill proof keyboard or backlit keys
• Good keyboard feel for ThinkPad newcomers, modern-ish hardware
• Good durability, & functional matte black design
• Battery life getting better each newer year
• GOAT pointing stick, removes strain on wrists from trackpad
• Ultrabay on some models, secondary internal 
• ThinkLight – A little LED prior to illuminated keyboards that can help you read a comfy book
• Great Linux compatibility, various guides, programs, & scripts specifically for ThinkPads
• Well maintained due to being business laptops, most are written off & auction starts at low prices due to so much inventory
• Easy serviceability, abundance of parts, wealth in repair guides.

What are you looking for?

• Medium Size – T410 to T440p, L412 to L440, L512 to L540, S430, S431, S440.
• Big Screen – T510 to T540p, L512 to L540, S531 & S540
• Small & Portable – X201 to X240, X120e to X141e, Yoga 11e, & X1
• Ultrabooks – T410s, T420s, T430s, T430u, T431s, x240s & X1 Carbon
• Wacom Tablet – X201t, X220t, X230t, Yoga S1, Helix S230u Twist, & some W701(ds)
• Workstations – W510, W520, W530, W540, W541
• Desktop Replacements – W701, W701ds ~ Dock 4338-30U or 4338-35U (USB 3.0)
• Avoid – E Series, X1C2, X100e, Mini 10, T410i, & T510i

Pricing Guide

The following is what you should expect with what you paid for. If some of these things are missing, its not recommended to pay that price.
Low     – Broken, ugly and/or laptop only without RAM/HDD/AC/BATT
Mid      – May have HDD, maybe working battery, & AC adapter.
High     – HDD or SSD w/ OS, good battery, higher spec.
# Sold   – How many sold in the last 3 months. The higher the better (300 great) or 0 means very uncommon or rare on eBay.

Arrandale – 1st gen Intel Core, poor battery, meh performance
Sandy – 2nd gen Intel Core, ok battery, bad to decent performance
Ivy – 3rd gen Intel Core, gud battery, bretty gud performance
Haswell – 4th gen Intel Core, better battery, lolcow performance
S – Soldered CPU
Q – Quadcore by default
1 – 1 RAM slot (and maybe one soldered module)
4 – 4 RAM slots
No # – 2 RAM slots 

Edge laptops are trash & not recommended. L Series isn’t much better but included for consistency & S series was basically a little bit fancier L. 

Mainstream Laptops (14″ to 15″)

T420 can get coreboot bios & accept Ivy bridge chips – recommended.
T420(s) & T430(s) can use FHD or 4K LCDs if you buy the right modchip.
The ‘p’ models only signifies a removable CPU & non-Ultrabook.
AC Adapter changes from barrel design to slim X1C rectangle on all Haswell or later laptops
T440p last ok ThinkPad, even if it needs the trackpad swap.

Workstation ThinkPads (15″ & 17″)

Nab a W701ds purely for collection, or 8740w & M6500 for GPU swaps
W510 had an optional touch display. uwu
W541 is basically a trackpad swapped W540
W54x had an optional 3K display, but needs an entire lid assembly.

Portables (12″, 11″ & 10″)

The Mini 10 was just a cheap X110e w/ a 10″ shit display
X230s & X240s are East-Asia specific laptops, rare in the West.
X130 & later grew in size & in durability. Ebin rubber bumper meme build
They also had AMD, Celeron and i3 CPUs… an Edge variant with i5.
X320 or X330 is a modded X series with 13″ FHD Dell display.

Pen & Touch Tablets

X230t is the ‘best’ & last Classic Tablet ThinkPad
Helix is actually a Slate w/ keyboard dock, runs hot.
The ThinkPad Yoga gets confused with the IdeaPad Yoga… they are similar in name and how they fold. 
The 11e is a education derived laptop & started the chromebooking of cheaper ThinkPads…. also has no trackpoint.

Sleek & Ultrabooks (13″ & 14″)

T410s not in here because its old and it sucks
Basically T431s =/> T430s > X1C > T440s =/> T420s >T430u > X1 > X1C2
T440s is the best budget ultrabook & can get 1080p IPS easy
X1C2 has a lulzy keyboard and FN keys that dont work in linux last time i checked.

Buying these in 2019

Skip the 1st gen systems, because i7 QM can be easily beaten by Sandy Bridge i5 M
Ivy Bridge Quadcores are still plenty of powerful to this day, & can rival up to 8th gen systems when disregarding battery life or  graphics.
A trackpad swap is required for all 2014 ThinkPads, consider that cost & look at the cost of Broadwell TPs.
As far as Wacom tablets go, seeing the X240 no longer holding that flame is quite disappointing, Yogas are somewhat OK for a replacement.
Fun fact, T431s accepts 11mm thick HDD/SSD.