TPG 11 – 15″ Classics

Header image is from https://www.quatiica.com/
It’s like this human mech racing game, like F Zero & WipeOut?
It is from this twitter post here, https://x.com/quatiica/status/2108247261218296122
it looks really cool, that’s all. No pics of ThinkPads here.

15″ ThinkPads
Size queens classics
T42 to T540p and some info about them
Budget models R, SL, L and old Z in here too at the end.

Some of this format will be copied from the previous TPG 10 guide.
If you’re looking for 14″ machines, then you have the classics TPG 11
No workstations here, Z, W and P machines will be coming along on a different page.
Google Spreadsheet of TPG 11 – https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zIbQxxibIBK43k_JVyCB9whL1-UuA7F5aTS7OdSlg6w/edit?usp=sharing

As always
Model – eBay Link to the search that I use
Sold – How many sold in the past 3 months of research (its late compared to this post.)
Low – Not the lowest but maybe 1/4 of all listings. If possible I skip the broken ones, not something you can do with old ones tho.
Mid – Probably will be a fully working machine or may need a few things.
High – expect it working w/ OS, and good battery. If they are old… well you’re purely getting a nice condition one or FOMO.
EX+ – Fixed up units, pristine, complete with box or just sold by niche sellers.
Release – year/month when they were released per PSREF
withdrawn – When they got taken out of markets per PSREF.

Prices were researched from September 2026, which will be June to September sold listings.

15″ & 15.4″ Classics

ltwbook for PSREF

• Prices were researched on 9/11.
• T42 15″
  • lmafo ok. Mid price seller linked, small refurber, they sold 2 listings
    • glaurung1
      Rochester, NY USA
• T43 15″
  • Mid price seller linked, they are good
    • TVR-INC
      Clifton Park, NY USA
• T60
  • Low price seller linked, they had like 8 sold laptops.
  • They sell a bunch of different things, like floppies n such.
    • bpasemann
      San Marcos, TX USA
• T61 15.4″
  • EX+ could be $310 but thats one listing vs 3 others in that price range that I put down.
    • PayMore Gurnee
      Gurnee, IL USA
• T500
  • No notes
    • WINMACS STORE
      Stafford, TX USA
• T500 libre
  • JFC they put spinning rust in this thing… and its 1280 x 800? my god.
    • Reuse-laptops
      Springfield, OH USA

Some CPUs vary from the 14″ machines, so I have went thru the PSREF and found which ones go to them. Well except I didn’t split the 4:3 15″ T60 from the 16:10 15.4″ machine… xD Sorry. Some systems start with slightly higher base close processors than their 14 counterparts or have a higher clock option at the end. But even then, the P will always have the highest clocked CPU IBM/Lenovo offered, tho there are upgrades you can do past that.

• Max Processors (Mostly copied from 14″ Guide)
• T60
  • T7600 – commonly found on many laptops, 15″ T60 or T60p have this chip
  • T7600G – for bragging, T60 doesn’t have a BIOS to overclock the chip, so no speed boosts.
    • W500 heatsink will require a mod for 4:3 machines
    • T60p is your go to heatsink for 100% compatability, just match them with the right size.
• T61
  • 2.6 T7800 – Runs hot
  • 2.6 T9500 – Run hotter
  • 2.4 T8300 – Popular upgrade, runs pretty warm
  • 2.8 X8700 – There’s been a few with them working
    • https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/f745mt/bought_a_t61_with_a_weird_cpu/
  • 2.8 X9000 – Runs very hot, but people have done it
    • QWERTY Andreas TP Forum & Another post
  • QuadCore?
    • Q9000 – German TP Enthusiast has gotten one to work, mods required
      • Q9000 El-Sahef
    • 2.53 QX9300 – reddit user got it to work as well, similar mods
      • QX9300Reddit
  • T61 can use 1066MHz FSB chips found in T400/500, but they require extensive mods.
    • W500 heatsink should be a drop in, minor modification may be needed
    • T61p heatsinks should be no issue.
• T500
  • P9600 or T9600 – Easy upgrade
  • T9800 – Runs really hot, fan 100%
  • T9900 – Expect as above
    • W500 heatsinks are drop ins for these, always use them.

• T500 has an LED option only on the WXGA screen.
  • LED backlights became standard on T510 & onwards
• There was in the past, LED strips & dummy boards to take place of the inverters for T60 & T61 machines, not sure if T4x
• Graphics wise, T500 is the safest
  • T4x suffer from SouthBridge displacing itself from the motherboard
  • T60 do have some problems with ATI chips overheating
  • T61 have the same GPU solder ball issue as well, but much more notorious than T4x
    • iGPU T60 or T61 just as fine as T500, except graphical performance is tried to the chip/memory
• T4x and T6x can get IPS mods, just need the panel and cable for them
• T6x can get WUXGA if you have the panel and well laptop form factor.
  • I will not go into T601 frankenpads, plenty has been said about them.

My experience with these

15′? I went with the W Series, big fan of the W500, felt like something special at the time in 2014… Not a W530 or W701 but it was pretty beefy. I did mod my T61 to fit in a IPS SXGA+ T60 which is legit the best of both worlds. Any IPS 15″ is great, ofc UXGA is much better. Just know that the T6x 14″ 4:3 motherboards can fit onto a 15″ unit for Frankenpadding, IBM/Lenovo just had an interposer card for their Ultrabay device. But the 16:10 motherboards are different from each other, you could fit a 4:3 machine, but you do have to do some intense cutting. I tried doign something with a W500 into a T60p chassis, didn’t work out well. $100 wasted bc that what both went for at the time, even then the headphone jacks were in different spots. i THINK a T500 chassis can fit into a T6x machine, so long as they are both 16:10. Famously the heatsinks for these are all similar so W500 swaps are common with minor shimmying. WUXGA panel swaps were common from T61p, Z61p & W500 donors.

Core i5 i7 Socketed

• Prices researched on 9/12/2026
• T510 High price seller linked, decent refurb, they got a lot of laptops.
  • gtatechsource
    Markham, Canada
• T520 Some people really buying these for $300 lmao

These are last year’s prices, I’ll make another price guide, but it wont be updated here (legit I would have to update/format every page, fuck that).

• These TFT screens kinda suck during this era
  • Nits brightness is low
  • Contrast ratio is pretty ass
  • You def didn’t want one of these for color accuracy…
    • MacBooks had better color displays and brought Retina as standard in October 2012 for their pro models
    • A lot of enthusiasts hated these screens, some kept their T601 Frankenpads
• After much delay, IPS was brought back for the T540p as an option
• On IPS units, eDP cables were introduced, on HD and HD+ units, LVDS was still used.
  • It has a 15.5″ display, not 15.6″, it has a different frame, screw location on its hinges, everything…
    • Entire lid swap is the way, same with getting the correct cable.
• One day, I will get panel P/N & info…
• OH yeah, you could get Integrated Graphics, or Dedicated card.
  • These GPUs are fairly good, BGA issues or much overheating
  • Apple sticked with ATI and those machines still have problems…

My experience….

Really didn’t have much time with these. I’ve yet to use a T540p, maybe I may go with that instead of a W541. The downfall on these is that they have 2 RAM slots, I think quadcore models may have gotten 4 slots, but I have a feeling that was reserved for the W Series… T520 had quadcore then it was taken away on T530 lol, yet brought back on T540p. I think that was the last hurrah for socketed processors, so thats why they did that. Oh I forgot about the keyboard change, some preferred the T520 7 row vs the 6 row “island layout” of the T530. I think you could get ThinkLight, Backlight on the T530’s, fun times. IPS upgrades aren’t as easily done like they were on T420/30 upgrade kits.

Budget 15″

• Z60m
  • EX+ sold in croatia, so maybe its just over $200 shipped in EU.
    • Tech-Gem
      Vancouver, Canada
• Z61m
  • Nada
    • SimronTechRepair
      Greensboro, MD USA
• R60 & R61?
  • I have them under the 14″ price guide, I didn’t bother looking thru them, too many to see which is 14″ or 15″
• R500
  • Mid price is the third unit, otherwise expect to pay high and EX+
• R500 Libre
  • Guess there arent any, high price is from Version 10, June 2025
• L510??
  • I don’t know if this actually exists, but there’s like sellers who list parts for them
    • Could just be copy / paste crap mistake from ages ago that just stuck
• SL510
  • Linked seller is best for this era and so many others.
    • Juluplus
      Houston, TX USA
• L512
  • No notes (angry)
    • Juluplus
      Houston, TX USA
• L530
  • Mentally blocking two listings bc they are overpriced.
• L540
  • English cunt has a good listing. Better than the bollocks americans are selling (except JCS)
    • techshah
      Birmingham, UK

Specs on these aren’t really much considering they were entry models before the T Series. R is a cheaper T, and Z is maybe equal to but below T. SL was super cheap machines as a bridge between T and X Series if you compare build quality and type of the R. No E Series OFC but the L is basically a E Series at $100 higher price point. You may get dedicated graphics on some of these but they aren’t anything special. L540 does have a few quadcore options but I’m not sure how well those stand up against a T540p due to different designs and thus heat sinks available.

I don’t have any experience with these much. I did have a Z61m at a time and the WSXGA+ screens were a treat. It was a fast sale, the R500 is just a thicker T500 at the weight of a W500 sooo… lol I’ve never used an L Series that is 15″ so eh. If I would get one of these… well no Z61p so I Guess nothin. 😛

Anyways here’s some pics in Michigan 🙂

New farm kitties. Last time I was here, the momma cat was just a kitty like one of these <3 There’s 3 orange cats, one Siamese & one tiger kitty.

This is a bird dog, idk what they are called… maybe I’ll update it. But he’s a puppy who got ran over by a skid steer and seems to have allt he energy in the world.

My girlfriend’s Corvette. 72 or 73, idk, this thing needs a cam bc the rods aren’t working well. Pops at just about every time you accellerate. It’s gonna eventually be in San Diego but still needs some work to be done. Interior isn’t the best, but its a piece for driving around in vs just showing. Her dad drove all summer in it and then had a bent rod one day, so its just cruising down the street.