On the google spreadsheet, I am adding the first four digits of the MTM. This will be useful on older Thonks missing the model name/number, and good for X1 Carbon or Yoga variants.
On laptops that have more than 500 sales, I added in a second price for units with an i7. The search with optimized to list units with a 256GB SSD, 500GB, 750GB or 1TB HDD in the listing title.
51nb units will be added on an as is basis
I am considering adding a price difference percentage from the previous price guide. Currently haven’t figured it out on google sheets, might just have to get Excel to do this job.
When I do configure a price difference, I’d like that information to be on a separate page/post. š
This layout will be different than the previous. Sue me.
Yitty has my full support for ThinkBa.se <3
Buying these used instead of brand new
Used ThinkPads are cheap thanks to businesses always buying new equipment every 2+ years.
Unless you’re really concerned about battery life, the worst these perform on a good battery is one hour, and the best work you can get done with 2 batteries is 7 hours.
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.
Warranty is most likely expired on these Thonks unless they have an extension.
Why choose these aging ThinkPads
Spill proof keyboard or backlit keys
Excellent keyboard feel for ThinkPad newcomers, modern-ish hardware
Good durability, & functional matte black design
ThinkLight on some models ā 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 ā T410 to T440p, L412 to L440, L512 to L540, S430, S431, S440.
Big Screen ā T510 to T540p, L512 to L540, S531 & S540
Small & Portable ā X201 to X240, X120e to X141e, Yoga 11e, & X1
Desktop Replacements ā W701, W701ds ~ or get a dock for your Thinkpad, preferably 4338-30U or 4338-35U (USB 3.0) models
Avoid – E Series, X1C2, X100e, Mini 10, T410i, & T510i
Pricing Guide Abbreviations
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 ā Broken, ugly and/or laptop only without RAM/HDD/AC/BATT Mid ā May have HDD, maybe working battery, & AC adapter. High ā HDD or SSD w/ OS, good battery, higher spec. # Sold ā How many sold in the last 3 months. The higher the better (300 great) or 0 means very uncommon or rare on eBay. EX++ – Originally my absurd pricing. However these can be refurbished, modded or brand new units. EX++ is more like a camera lens term. Why I don’t have a EXC++ pricing for all? Because either they were just a little bit pricer than my high recommendation or just didn’t set the bar.
Hardware Arrandale – 1st gen Intel Core, poor battery, meh performance Clarksfield – 1st gen Intel Core, more power, but without an iGPU! 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, GOAT performance because Intel lazied out. Atom, Fusion – Intel & AMD Netbook CPUs. Multi – Two or more CPU options, usually an i3, Atom and AMD CPUs. The descriptions above are comparing them to buying a new laptop, with a newer CPU & technology. S ā Soldered CPU Q ā Quadcore by default (some exceptions) 1 – 1 RAM slot (and maybe one soldered module) 4 – 4 RAM slots No # – 2 RAM slots
Edge laptops are not recommended, so most were ignored at this time, and in the past. Additionally they used a mix of AMD and Intel CPUs on their systems. Please use L & S Series as a price guide, they are about the same, maybe 20% more expensive.
T430u – Visually it is super similar to the SL412, like an inbetween the L and T ‘s’ series. Not really recommended for upgrades.
T431s is like in between the T430s and T440s, but can house 12.5mm thick HDDs while the others can only do 7mm. U N I C O R N !
T420s and T430s have the FHD/QHD mod chip, T431 and T440s are drop in FHD upgrades.
T431s and T440s have ‘U’ processors, that have lower base frequency vs the ‘M’ CPUs found in T420s and T430s. The M CPUs can theoretically beat them in performance (and also have biggur heatsinks to boot.
A few less W701 sold this time around. Rare machines indeed.
There are actually W701ds laptops on market, about $1600 for barebones and $2400 for a decent one. Overpriced for sure, but hey at least they are there.
W541 has more sales and is a little bit pricier, is this because that dreaded clickpad hinders sales?
Looks like I forgot the original X1 had one removable ram slot from the post prior. Ok guess this guide is worthless
X1C2 is such a weird fucking laptop still in 2019. You can fix the touchpad, but you can’t escape the keyboard.
2nd Tier ThinkPads
The following ThinkPads here aren’t as great like the ones above, mostly due to less a utilitarian and robust build to something closer to (then) current consumer market demands. With that said, none of these Thinkpads on this page GOAT Tier like a 600X, T30, 755, or Tadpole ThinkPad…
ThinkPad X1xx Series – 11″ Business Notebook & Education Series
There isn’t much of these sold, guess they were not that popular
Sadly Lenovo likes to make a new line, but if it don’t sell well, they drop them… like the last 12″ X Series
I could not include the empty results, but its just for consistency
So thats its for now, next post will be the newer models, 2015 to present. Due to the timing, the prices might change drastically when the *90 series thinkpads arrive.
Many thanks to rann#1634 for photosBWONG you have been warned!!
