Aug 2021 – TPG V5.14″ T Series Prices

Image Credit to Sharktastica

What is in this guide?

• medium sized 14″ laptop – 2003 to 2021-ish T Series plus R Z S A as well.

Source links

Google Sheet Link – Prices on first sheet, then the image, Ports, CPU, GPU, SSD configs
PDF via google drive
PNG via Imgur
SVG via Google Drive – idk if you wanna edit it?

• slightly bigger 15.6″ laptop – see T500 Series, & L500 series if too expensive
• ultraportable (12″ & 13″) – See X Series, A2xx, and L380 series
  • cheaper & 11″ – See X100 series & 11e models
• workstation – W500 & P50 Series – W520, W541, P50, P52, etc
  • 17″ big? – W700 Series, P70 Series – W701ds, P71, P72
  • 14″ size? – T460p, T470p
  • classic style? – T43p, T60p, Z61p, T61p, W700, T25
  • Low Power – P50s Series- W550s, P51s, P52s, P40 Yoga
• Ultrabook (14”) – X1 Carbon
  • Cheaper – ‘s’ T Series – T420s, T450s, etc
  • Smaller – X3xx & L3xx models
  • Workstation – P1 or X1 Extreme
• digitizer or pen support (11” to 17” ) – See X Tablets, some Yogas, P Series & W70x series with wacom palmrest
• meh – E Series i7 dual cores, T4xxi, X2xxi & L Series sometimes
• not a ThinkPad – IdeaPad, Lenovo Yoga without ThinkPad in its name

There are 4 different “eras” of ThinkPads covered in this guide. This is just my opinion but I feel there are designs, build types & hardware implementations that make it that way.
IBM Era – May 2005 & before, well built machines, bulky designs, purely for nostalgia or XP program CNC machines
Classic Era – 2005 to 2012-ish. 7 Row Keyboards, Durability, & some Modding.
Modern Era – 2013 to 2018 Cost cutting, slimmer, internal batteries, & Edge style Keyboards, great for college.
Current Era – 2019 to now, Some thinkpads gone full McIntosh, sexy screens & battery life tho.

Doing the 14″ Thonks, minus the slim ‘s” and performance ‘p’ variants. Just the 14″ T Series and the R A Z equivalents.
T440p is in here, but T460p & later will not. Info blasted first, introduction & deeper info at the bottom.

                Timeline of ThinkPads
JFMAMJJASOND
2003        2004         2005         
  T40    T41    T42       T43          
R40      R50   R51         R52         
               R50e               R51e 
                                   Z60t

2006         2007         2008         2009
T60              T61              T400
 R60             R61      T61u
 R60e              R61e/i R61u   R400
    Z61t                           SL400 




2010        2011         2012         
T410         T420              T430    
    L412     L420              L430    
                            S430       

2013         2014         2015         2016
       T440              T450         T460
        L440             L450         L460
        S440              Yoga 14       Yoga 14




2017        2018         2019         
T470 T25       T480          T490      
L470         L480              L490    
        A475        A485     T495      

2020         2021         2022         2023
   T14-Intel    T14-G2
   L14     L14-G2
    T14-AMD      T14-G2

CPU Types

Brand New ThinkPad Prices at Lenovo:

• $1279 T14 G2 Intel – Current
• $990 T14 G1 Intel – late model
• $899 T490 – 2 Generations old
• $699 T495- 2 Generations old
• $1149 T14 AMG G1 – 1 gen old
• $1,789 T14 AMD G2 – Current

• $964 L14
• $789 L14 G2 Intel

Memory

• T40 thru T43, R50 to R52 – Slot 1 below keyboard, Slot 2 in ram door cover
• T60 thru T400 – Both slots below palmrest
• T410 thru T430 – Slot 1 below keyboard, Slot 2 in ram door cover
• T440 thru T480? – Both slots below entire bottom cover

Screen

This would take so much fucking time, because I would want to make a concise guide…, on the spreadsheet I have contrast ratios, color gamut percentage and brightness in nits. However YMMV due to multiple screen manufacturers/models being used in these laptops.

Some models are missing, and probably some other things. LCD ribbon cables are weird, during IBM era, they’ll require cable upgrade if it was a 15″ model… anyways its been awhile since I’ve looked at the FHD mod for T420/30 mdoels, dunno if its still around. I know early FHD screens require eDP 40 pin cables, but idk if they can accept WQHD or UHD upgrades.

Storage

i can be extremely wrong at this. A lot of different answers and results…. Some will have an Asterisk, which will be due to me not being able to verify. Unfortunately I would have to buy these laptops to test, but for some systems it depends on configuration for certain SSD upgrades/implementations are possible. GG mobo differences. Also I can’t confirm m.2 key differences, if its A key, B Key or M key? Lenovo’s PSREF doesn’t specify, and some just say they take m.2, meaning it’s probably SATA SSD only. NVMe drives are not supported until Skylake or later systems, additionally if its supports NVMe it should be backwards compatible with SATA III m.2 drives.

• If it says m.2 2242 WWAN, that means that slot was originally used for WWAN communications, so it can’t be combo’d
• It its just m.2 2242, no “WWAN” that mean’s it stand-alone spot for an m.2 SSD & one WWAN slot.
• T460 WWAN SATA m.2 – Supposedly it cannot boot from this slot, but can work for extra storage
• WWAN double vs Single – PSREF specifically states T440 can use 2x sided, while T450 and T460 don’t say… so I’m going to assume it wont accept double.
• 2.5″ bay w/ m.2 2280 explanations
  • SATAe is a SATA bay w/ extra lanes which can support NVMe 3.0 x2 with 01HY319 Adapter
  • But the successors, you can either get a SATA cable, or get a proprietary cable plus an NVMe Adapter
  • 2280 ready means it has an m.2 slot already installed & requires SATA cable for 2.5″ drive
    • Supposedly you can jam both 2.5″ drive & NVMe SSD if you want Astolfo’s bulge & burn them
• L460 can’t support both 2.5″ & WWAN m.2 SATA SSD at the same time, only one
• L14 G1 & G2 Intel can have a secondary m.2 2242 if it has SATA in the 2.5″ bay; but not 2242 + 2280
• Per the PSREF, I am getting different results for Intel Optane, some say its using the WWAN slot, others don’t mention it.
• ThinkMod? The adapter costs $40, and runs at SATAIII speeds, but hey if you got an extra m.2 2242 lying around…

I/O

No stone unturned, get fucked. Yoga, L/R/A are disregarded, as the systems are similar and man fuck this research, it took me 5 hours to do.

• T420 has 2 stacked USBs, but the bottom a combo eSATA w/ power

Price Guide

All prices are based in USD and United States. The following is the top row explanation.

Model – Laptop model, usually seen on the bottom right bezel of the LCD or to the top right of the keyboard. They contain a URL link to ebay sold listings.

Model + something – ALL – multiple CPU generations, some systems come with 2 CPU gens, so this is a general search. I’ll have a seperate search for each CPU gen, e.g. T460 will have Skylake & Kaby Lake prices. Most of the time the number won’t add up to equal the ALL count bc I search for specific CPU names or clockspeeds & sellers won’t put that info down.

Model i7 / SSD / RAM / ??? – A specialized search on eBay that has an i7 for that model,

Low – Lowest price I could find of a unit that turns on and has a hard drive. If it’s untested, you shouldn’t pay any more than this, as there are cheaper ones. If you’re looking to buy in bulk and flip, expect this price per unit if its 10 or more in a lot, but I doubt it’ll come with hard drives and power cords. Expect these to have at least moderate wear if they aren’t tested.

Mid – Laptop should work 100% at this price. If you’re in EU or Austraila, this might be the “low” price of a computer from other there.

High – Laptop should be in excellent condition, battery should be good to new. Refurbishers sell at this price for their grade A or B models. Additionally if you’re buying from like Iron Mountain, Arrow or bEsT bUy, this is probably their recertified price.

EX+ – These are top spec’d, New/New Old Stock, customized, excellent condition models or sold purely by nostalgia. This is also about the price from Lenovo that are not Top Seller machines. Most likely sold by specialty individual sellers or Refurbishers. Sometimes the units are sold so high because they come with extra components or software.

CPU – The type of processor it has. I was thinking of putting what year it comes out, but they always have different production dates.

#sold – How many items sold within the past 3 months. 200 & higher is great, it means the laptop is popular, probably a lot being sold on auctions & people aren’t asking too much for them. If its less than 70, then the laptop is probably still too new on eBay,

MTM – Model Type Machine Number – IBM/Lenovo part number that’s on the bottom of laptops. Sometimes these are listed as the laptop name. I have added this on some lists, to help differentiate from other similar looking laptops.

Classic 7 Row

• T40 thru T60 & T61 may be mixed with 15″ models
• Libreboot T400’s sell for a lot, is there a guide on LibreBooting one easily? I got a T400 to make money off of.
• All of these are pretty old…
• Core 2 Duo price guide here 🙂
• Prices are pretty much the same since End of 2020 V4 guide, libreboot T400 up.
• No R50/51, those are… just not on this guide
• SL400c is ass, dont get it

T400 is the best out of usability standpoint in this generation, since these do not cover the workstation, and we are disregarding the 15″ IPS Flexview options… T400 would still be the best option. There are 3 different keyboard manufacturers for T60 thru T400, NMB regarded as the highest, Alps is 2nd and Chicony is not regarded as the best, with that said, they are way better than a lot of laptops, I’d say maybe Chicony is equal to a Dell E6420, but still better than D620/30 or E6400 which it’ll compete with. I’ve played with a lot of these laptops, and idk i hit the lotto with the R61 w/ Alps keyboard, it’s thicker chassis raised my hands just a bit and it felt better to type on than the T60p i loved and the slightly thinner T43p and T42p I have.

i5/i7 Socketed

T420  i7 contains (256gb, 500gb, 750gb, 1tb)
T430  i7 contains (128gb, 180gb, 240gb, 256gb, 512gb, ssd, 8gb, 10gb, 12gb, 14gb, 16gb) -hdd
T440p i7 contains (ips, 256gb, 16gb, 512gb, extreme, 480gb, 12gb, 14gb, 24gb, 32gb)

1. dGPU graphics suck… maybe not on the T440p
2. L Series have socketed CPUs, Sxxx doesn’t…. but they aren’t really ultrabooks sooooo….
3. Seriously dont bother gaming on these, iGPU is decent, my T430s plays League ok-ish…
4. ExpressCard slot on T410 to T430, so eGPU setup on those will be better than T440p despite PCIe 3.0 x1
5. All of these have socketed CPUs, old price quadcore guide here…. from 2019 March…. yikes
6. Low – T420, cannot go wrong, for shittop or moddable machin
7. Mid – T430i if you dont give a fuck about performance, otherwise T430
8. High – T430 again, unless T420 with… coreboot/libre? can it do it, idk.
9. T430+ had the infamous non-OEM battery lockout, but I’ve seen non-OEM batteries for sale on later T44x machines…
10. T410/20 have borked 7 row, T430 has 6 row w/ backlit, and T440 has newer KB w/ the dreaded clickpad
11. T450 trackpoint/touchpad costs $30+ and will alleviate that fucked trackpoint buttons on the T440p…
12. It’s a shame T440p didnt have mSATA, as it’s m.2 2242 SATA drives isn’t as cheap… for now 🙂
13. Under $300, T440p will take you thru college, T430 might suck a bit and T420 will b def dated
14. USB 3.0 standard on T430 & onward… unless you get a T420 w/ i7 configured at default

Build wise, I’ve came across all of these, tbh i have a preference for the T430 due to it’s CPU, but T420 can have it’s bios borked and take ivy CPUs. Yet vanilla T430 potentially not take non-OEM CPUs so that is total ass. T410 is fair, but it doesn’t have the classic 7 row keyboard, and it’s build isn’t as sleek and robust as the Dell Latitude E6410, so I’d get that instead. yeah it has two fan exhausts, but…. for it’s performance, it’ll start throttling near the same time the Dell does, and well, why pay for that when the Dell can get it’s ass beat.

Modern Stanard

T440  (ips, 256gb, 16gb, 512gb, extreme, 480gb, 12gb, 14gb, 24gb, 32gb)
T450  (ips, fhd, 256gb, 240gb, 1tb, ssd, 16gb, 512gb, 480gb, 12gb, 14gb)
T460  (ips, fhd, 1080p, 256gb, 16gb, 32gb, 24gb, 512gb, 480gb, 512gb)
T470  (2.5ghz, 2.5, 6th gen, 2.6ghz, 2.6, fhd, ips, 16gb, 20gb, 24gb, 32gb, ssd
T480  (ips, 256gb, 16gb, 24gb, 32gb, 512gb, 480gb, 512gb, ssd, wqhd, touch, touchscreen)

• The A Series is basically a T or X series ThinkPad w/ AMD processors, they have the same chassis & parts but they don’t get the top end screen options like WQHD. T495 is the A485 successor.
• These all have soldered CPUs…. i think. 😉
• T460 is kinda cursed, I believe it is limited to only one drive, maybe m.2 WWAN as secondary.
• T470 has one USB-C, T480 & therenafter have 2
• Under $500? T470 should be easy or A485
• L470 are cheap as hell, about the same like last year. Not too many of them. They looking like a good snacc.
• RAM wise, these all have 2 slots except for the Yogas… which are one
• Also the next T Series have one soldered slot… so these are in essence the “last” of the 2 slot T Series. For awhile the S variant’s have been doing 1 slot + built in memory.

T480 spanks the ThinkPad 25th anniversary in every way except for the keyboard & can be configured lower. It’s sorta like a T470p in a T470 chassis, supposedly you can swap a T480 board w/ that keyboard or vice versa… idk but it seems more doable than what’s actually done. Oh yeah i got a Yoga 460 and jfc the battery has degraded to 60% and it’s battery life fucking sucks.

Current Era

• L490 is whisky lake, though there are Celeron & i3 CPUs for the poverty-spec machines
• L490 is also the last to have 2.5″ bays…
• fastest boot? T14 Gen 2, both systems w/ PCIe 4.0 x4!
• Both L14 & T14 finally get PCIe 3.0 x4 speeds, (first introduced in 2016 on the T460s & X1C4)
• Best late/current model – T14 either CPU under $800
• Budget – L14 G1 either CPU under $550
• WTF – L490 @ $300???