Hey, I’m burnt out on this, kek. Dunno when the next update will be, this is kind of old too…

Lets get to business, read the old “how to” shit on V7, page too fucking big now.

Old IBM laptops, portables, ThinkPads, PS/55 “thinkpad” clones will be posted to this link. Systems from 1984 to 2001, basically pre T, R, A, X machines. E series? Fuck em, and make your own guide, L Series should suffice for price comparison. 🙂

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oaD3FJqTWnMLXuyhNXQ9t_LeiQdtunM2t59Sg-cyzN8/edit?usp=sharing

There are three prices for each model in this guide!

Model – Link to eBay, sorted lowest to highest, shipping to USA including Worldwide sellers. Search will have modifiers for certain models to zero in on results. Due to this some machines may be omitted all together. Not sure if there’s a way to get all listings possible int he world.

Low– Great deal if fully working, but mostly these can be fixer uppers (needs more $$ parts). Not recommended for your 1st laptop, unless you’re confident with rebuilidng.

Mid – In about the above middle mark of all sold listings (e.g. #270-300 out of 500 sold units) , my recommended price to newcomers. It can be complete & working, maybe with a warranty. Best for people who want a decent, working laptop.

high – Systems with upgraded RAM, CPU, SSD or LCD. In some cases these are near mint condition. You can def pay much more, as in my spreadsheet I have 4th price… Good for people who want the best out of their laptop, & have certain spec requirements.

EX+ – Usually New, refurbished or excellent refurbished laptops. Sometimes high end CPU/GPU/RAM/SSD/LCD configurations, but not always if it’s a NIB older model. Ideal for people who want no fussing with parts, possibly come with Lenovo warranties, or seller guarantees.

#Sold – How many laptops sold within the past 3 months at the time of research. The higher the better, as it means plenty of machines & likely chance of a seller having a BIN undercut or generally good as is auctions. However the older the laptop is, the lower the number usually gets, & in some cases, are sought after & sell for higher, due to eBay alerts for buyers.

MTM – Machine Type Model
Some ThinkPads are just others with different model names on the bezel. Additionally if you’re looking for parts harvesting, you can have a chance with some parts when doing this. Also some sellers will put this down as the ThinkPad model name, so it’s necessary when TP hunting, especially the 90’s ones.

14″ Machines
T Series Standard
R, L Series Economy

The OG Classic!
13.3″ & 14.1″ 4:3
2000 – 2003

TP Forums T20 Max CPU
T30 CPU info
Blink of death
T30 RAM problem
Loose inductor T23
R30 = T21
R31 = T22
R32 = Chassis name for the Third Generation Nissan Skyline. The GT-R spec infamously known as “Godzilla” in circuit & road racing due to its dominance. The lovely RB26DETT straight six engine and four wheel drive… But in this case, we refer the R32 ThinkPad, so it’s equal to the T23 in a way.
R40 = T30 or T40…

2003 – 2006 | 14.1″ & 15″
Pentium M
Classic IBM Thinkpad

• Hardware issues
  • Graphics…
    • GPU issues can be a problem of this era, but if they turn on and go to bios, you should be OK
    • Reflowing the graphics card is quick fix for bad GPUs, but not a solution
  • Southbridge chip Flex
    • Picking up the laptop with one hand can bend the chassis & poof southbridge disconnected
    • Pick it up with two hands to be safe, supposedly T43 fixed this problem
    • R Series don’t have this problem due to a thicker plastic base that doesn’t flex. Its not as sexy as the T Series tho.

T4x SSD info
T43 SATA mod
GPU reflow

2006 – 2010 | 14″ mostly, some 15″ & 15.4″
Core (2) Duo, 3-ish generations
Classic Lenovo ThinkPads, Last of the Old Guard

More graphic problems… T60 have ATI graphics and some people complain about overheating issues, T61 have the infamous nVidia BGA solder failures. But you may get one that was fixed by IBM engineers, or just replaced by another faulty mobo thanks to Lenovo bean counters.

A popular cooling upgrade is using a W500 heatsink & fan, as it’ll fit most systems except the 14″ widescreen i think. L Series have DDR2 RAM I think and build wise are way different than R Series. E Series comes around this ISN”T an E Series friendly website.

2010 – 2015
Core i3, i5, i7 – 1st gen to 4th
Last of the Socketed CPU Machines
Non-“s” T Series….

• DDR3 – T410 thru T430
• DDR3L – T440p
• 16:9 – T420 thru T440p (IPS on the T440p as an toption, $$ mod required for T420, T430)

T Series “NuPad” Redesign
“ThinkPads Suck Now”, Macbook Shill era
2013 – 2020

Yeah, lenovo offered the previous generation CPU on some systems. I couldn’t just fucking do one search, I had to do two, becuase last thing I want is to fuck u over due to lazyness.. I rather do it via ignorance, which was done b4 i found out they had two dif cpus lol

T480 had a USB-C firmware issue where it wont charge, or only slow charge. Or maybe its the T480s, thats all I know that is bad about these but really don’t dwelve deeper than that. Some chud says T440 is better than the T450 because it doesn’t have a LCD whitelist crap, but who cares if you got the IPS display.

A Series was essentially a T or X Series machine, but with AMD CPUs. Lenovo eventually just names the “A495” as the T495. I think the E Series had AMD variants that ended w/ 5, while standard Intel machines ended with 0.

2019 to Nao T Series
Now with “Healing BIOS”

• Currently, Healing Bios will thwart all BIOS locks using a CH14a programmer from flashing the rom. Check the badcaps forum for updates.

T Series Modern
2022 to Current

T Series Slim

These have a different build than the standard T Series, they are slimmer and are a slight upgrade in some respects. Some come standard with a higher res screen, better battery life, and higher CPU or RAM as standard. In addition to them being slim, there are some that do not have removable ram slots, or even any at all (I think). Additionally, they have different frames and shapes, so most Lenovo specific parts can’t be swapped.

2009 – 2014
“Classic” to Graphite Black

• Classic Charger – T400s, T410s, T420s, T430s, T430u
• Rectangle Slim – T431s, T440s, T450s
• 1.8″ uSATA – T400s, T410s
• 2.5″ 7mm SATA – T420s, T430s, T431s, T430u
  • 2nd Drive
    • mSATA – T420s, T430s, T430u
    • m.2 mSATA (B+M key crap) – T431s, T440s, T450s
  • DVD swapped for HDD caddy
    • T400s, T410s, T420s, T430s
• iGPU only – T431s
• Screens
  • 16:10 TN – WXGA or WXGA+
    • T400s, T410s
  • 16:9
    • TN 768p
      • T420s, T430s, T430u
    • TN 900p
      • T420s, T430s, T431s
    • 1080p IPS mod chip & cable upgrade
      • T420s, T430s
    • 1080p IPS upgradable
      • T431s
• IPS Screens – Are mostly 250 or 300 Nits luminance & 700:1 Contrast ratio til T490s
• Dual Batteries – T400s, T410s, T420s, T430s, (DVD), T440s, T450s, (internal)
• Two RAM slots – T400s, T410s, T420s, T430s, T430u
• Soldered RAM + 1 Slot – T431s, T440s, T450s; 20/24GB Max

From Version 6 – T400s is the bargain LibreBoot ThinkPad, cheaper than T400, X61, or X200. I’m assuming not many T400s were produced & the other machines seem to have article, guide & video about them, so they became the ones that were demanded. If you’re really wanting to get something this old… T410s used to be one of the last 16:10 ThinkPads, so if you wanted a T Series, that be it, but given now there’s new 16:10 ThinkPads in 2021, and assuming more, this aint shit now.

First off, these are not “REAL CLASSIC IBM” however the T420s, & if you mod it, T430s are the last here to have the 7 Row keyboard layout. The typing feel is a bit better, but it’s not something I’d recommend for college if you’re wanting it to last 4 years & expect it to stay on & standby for 4 classes… you’d probably need an extra battery or two. If you want something in your in your dorm, use it for writing, watching streams & have great durability, nab either of these machines. If you want 8 hours of batter life, The FHD mod kit is not available for these machines, but it is for the normal T420 or T430, cost ya $50 from ThinkPan. If you want to, the T431s can get an FHD IPS panel as an upgrade without any fuss. Remember the T440s has the infamous clickpad, so you can swap it with a T450s.

2013 – 2020
ClickPads, “Nu”-Pads

• Chargers
  • Rectangle Slim – T460s only; some T470s
  • USB-C – T480s only, some T470s
• IPS Display
  • T440 it wasn’t offered but maybe be able to be upgraded??
  • T450, T440s, T450s it was an option
  • FHD IPS is Standard from T460s
  • optional is FHD Touch, or WQHD,
  • FHD Privacy opt on T480s.
  • 3 IPS options total on all machines.
• Dual Batteries – On T460s, T470s; only internal battery from T480s on out.
• QuadCore CPUs – On some T480s machines (8th gen Kaby Lake R) & later, everything before is dualcore
• dGPU –
  • On T460s & most T480s, except EMEA machines.
  • T470s is iGPU only
• Memory
  • Soldered RAM + 1 slot – T440s, T450s, T460s, T470s, T480s; 20/24GB Max

Pick these ‘s’ models over the standard T Series as they have NVMe 3×4 speeds, as the others have only 3×2 (until the T490) & you’ll need an adapter for them, as they have 2.5″ SATA III bays. T480s is cursed for its USB-C charging port, I think all 8th Gen CPU thinkpads have a fauty power delivery, as there’s reports for other machines having an issue too. Yes there’s a firmware update, however… consider that you may get an eWaste T480s that is being sold for parts due to that being broken. Do I know for a fact buying it, & updating firmware will fix it or not? No. I don’t want to spread FUD, but I also don’t want to advise buying these without knowing 100% its fixable & not an issue. If you’re looking for dedicated graphics, T460s, T480s are ones to get, but honestly a P slim maybe better.

2019 to Current

• T490s, T495s and T14s Gen 1 and 2 use the same motherboard as their X390, X13 counterparts.
• Processor crap
  • Quadcore Only – T490s, T495s, T14s G2 Intel….
  • Sixcore options – T14s Intel G1, T14s G2 AMD
  • Sixcore by Default – T14s G1 AMD, Fuck yeah
  • Eightcore bragging rights – select T14s AMD Gen 1 & Gen 2.
• iGPU – On all machines
• NVMe 3×4 – On all machines… except T14s Gen 2 Intel/AMD are 4×4 supposedly
• IPS Displays – 5x Options on all Intel machines, 4x options on AMD (5x on G2). Mix of privacy guard, blue light filter, low power & Adobe HDR mixups, too much to go thru. See the flowchart or the specific X1/T14s spreadsheet 🙂
  • UHD IPS – Available as an option on T14s Intel G1 & G2, and G2 AMD
• USB-C Chargers – On all models, 45W or 65W
• Only Internal Batteries – On all models, 6 Cell 57Whr Li-Polymer for just about all of them. Unsure if they all share the same part number or similar fitment.

Actually idk if i got this info correct when I wrote this, because I am conflating normal T Series with T-S specs. I think this or the “Normal” T Series has X Series parts. Whatever.

2000 – 2002
A Series – 12″, 14.1″ & 15″
Small Business, Economy & Multimedia

A20m – searching under all categories. shipping is expensive, all units boot, low has no drive, others do
A21e – eastcoast is fair at what they got… although it comes with a 12″ screen lol, I do want it because of that
A21m – haftu on the refurb game… overpriced IMO, i think they are scouraging for units too. but if u get tired of looking for this laptop (or other vintage ThinkPad, they sell a bit) *eyes burn& they use comic sans in the description. my eyes are bleeding, also their white bottom and cardboard backdrop makes it hard to see if there’s any imperfections. especially the sides, as the lightsource is directly above and not in front, so it casts a shadow on the edges…. I just looked at avail units, i got raged that a machine “turns on without a dark screen” but the motherfucker doesn’t SHOW IT FUCKING TURNING ON. new seller that “always leaves positive feedback” but doesn’t… have any feedback given. lmafo
A22e – similar prices to A21e if it happens
A22m – high price is the only sold unit, with 2 bids via Croatia! low price is actuhally an available unit that boots!

Finally I have added the A Series… One of my favorite ThinkPads series! Although the ones I came across don’t have that tight feelin the T2x has, they are the next best thing. These machines were catered to multimedia and small business, and the e variant was a cheaper model to get. Then the R Series came along and was a cheaper machine I believe. All units use the same bottom chassis, the 12″ just has a big ass bezel around the screen, and the 15″ had a modified keyboard bezel & palm rest to accommodate the bigger 15″ screen.

A Series Info (copied from T Series)

• m = Multimedia – 770 Series successor
• e = Economy – 300 Series successor
• LCD – 12.1″ SVGA, 14.1″ XGA & 15.0″ XGA screens (all TFT)
  • A20 thru A22m
    • 15.0″ SXGA+
    • A22m
  • certain mobos accept the LCD upgrade & need the cable to go along with it I think…
• Max RAM / CPU
  • 512MB DDR & 1GHz PIII
    • All A2x
• Drives – 9.25mm PATA drives
  • Samsung HM160HC recommended via TP forums
  • IDE to mSATA converters
  • IDE to CF Card (i think u need certain types of ones tho)
• Hardware issues
  • Blink of Death?
  • Motherboard doesn’t recognize both ram slots
    • something about the solder joint getting loose, may need mobo replacement
• Three drives
  • Floppy
  • HDD
  • Blank / CD-ROM / DVD-ROM / HDD Caddy
    • 380, 390 & iSeries also have 3 drives too

15″ ThinkPads
A & G Series
T, L, and R Big

IBM Classic Desktop Replacement: 14.1″ & 15″
2001 – 2004 | A Series

Quick Info

• CPUs
  • Pentium III Tualatin
    • A30
  • Mobile Pentium 4-M Low Powered “Northwood”
    • A31
  • Mobiel Pentium 4 “Northwood”
    • G40
    • G41
  • Core Duo
    • G50
• Graphics
  • ATI dGPUs
    • A30
    • A31
  • Intel Integrated Graphics (shitty)
    • G40
    • G41 (if it has a floppy drive)
    • G50
  • nVidia dGPU card (removable)
    • G41 (fan holes on left side of laptop)
• Screen Options
  • 14.1″ XGA
  • • A30
    • A31
    • G40
    • G41
  • 15.0″ XGA or SXGA+
    • All
  • 15.0″ SXGA+ IPS
    • A30
    • A31
• Drives
  • 2.5″ 9.5mm PATA
    • A30
    • A31
    • G40
    • G41
  • 2.5″ 9.5mm SATA
    • G50
  • DUAL FUCKING ULTRABAYS
    • A30
    • A31
  • NOT SO EASY ULTRABAY REMOVAL?!
    • G40
    • G50
    • G41
• Hardware Issues
  • Graphics Problems
    • A30
    • A31
      • Some add a copper shim connecting the GPU to the CPU heat sink

A31P MASTER FUCKING THINKPAD. I fucking love my A31p! oh fuck we aren’t at this section yet… fuck. Try to get an IPS A3x system if you can… Some say the G series has a desktop CPU, and I think I fell for it too/ But honestly I’m not sure if it does… I think the confusion is that these fucking CPUs take a lot of power, and some desktops had them for a CPU. What I dislike most about the G Series is that it doesn’t have a docking port, and its actual fucking ports are limited thanks to that… And, for being the most massive fucking laptop (i think a 770 is thicker), it doesn’t have a crazy as fuck videocard… And on the G41, if it did come with the nVidia FX Go5200 (with either 64MB or 128MB), you couldn’t upgrade it… Plus the Dell Precision M60 was a better machine with that card. Oh and if you wanted max Pentium 4 performance… the Compaq nx9600 was probably your best bet. Yeah we are kinda going to workstation terrirory, but still, IBM and even Lenovo never really offered a heavy hitter GPU laptop, even when MXM cards were available, only until the P50 or P70 did they offer something.

4:3 “IBM Classic” 2003 – 2007

• Display
  • 15″
    • XGA or SXGA+ IPS
      • T42
      • T43
      • T60
      • R60?
        • UXGA
          • T60
  • 15.4″
  • WXGA
    • T61
    • T500
      • WSXGA+
        • T60
        • T61
        • T500
          • WUXGA
            • T61
            • T500

Widescreen 16:10, to 16.6″
2007 to 2010 – Core (2) Duo – Merom / Penryn

SL500 – kek these can have nVidia graphics while the T400 & T500 had ATI

15.6″ & 15.5″ 3K
2010 to 2015 – i5, i7

• Display
  • HD, HD+ and FHD TFTs
    • All units
      • FHD IPS
        • Some T540p
  • 15.5″ 3K
    • T540p (up to T560 I believe)
• mSATA
  • T510 thru T530
• m.2 SATA (B+M Key bs)
  • T540p
• CLICK FUCKING PAD
  • T540p
  • Can get Coreboot I think?

A few Coreboot T520 machines are starting to pop up. Yeah the damn clickpad on the T540p might affect the prices vs the T530. If you want to go big, a W Series is the way to go, but honestly I like the Elitebook 85xx more.

2015 to 2020
Soldered Processors

• m.2 SATA
  • T550
• NVMe 3.0 x2 via SATAe Caddy
  • T560
  • T570
  • T580
• UHD IPS option
  • T560 and beyond

2019 to 2023 – Modern Hellscape

2022 – Current

16″ Mainstream

Yeah they are 16″ now, and I think 16:10?

SubNotebook, Ultrabook & Flagship
Must be X Series

Mixing 12″ X Series with S30, most tablet variations, X1 Carbon, X13 & L13 machines.

The X Series was just about equal to the T Series since it’s iteration. Like the old IBM era, it is a true successor to the 500 Series with a bit of 200 mixed in. But for a moment, there was a machine that took the spotlight away from the 500, and it was a great seller; the 701C. The 701C was an ultraportable but it had a fullsize keyboard thanks to the Butterfly mechanism that gave a fuck unlike the shit Apple made. For anniversary editions, there are quite a bit of them in the smaller category. Technically the 700 was a small laptop in comparison to other notebooks, and such the X Series holds the flame. S30/S31 was the 10th anniversary of the ThinkPad, but they did make one with the X30 as well. Next was the ThinkPad Reserve Edition, which was a special version of the X61s with a leather bound case. When Apple unveiled the MacBook Air, Lenovo countered with their own take on an UltraSlim ThinkPad, the X300. It got slimmer and became the X1, and then got slightly bigger and became the X1 Carbon. After a few years, the X1 became it’s own sub-brand to the ThinkPad, being the premier, ultrathin & flagship version of other ThinkPads. I can fucking talk all day about the X Series ThinkPads… they really are something special, unless you really require absolute performance, then maybe not so.

Classic IBM X
Some links fuck up now, so they don’t open a new window…

• Display
  • SVGA (800 x 600)
    • X20
    • X21
  • XGA
    • All systems here

I do not know much about these machines. No blink of death. Nothing to brag about is that these have a dGPU, because iGPUs weren’t really a thing at this time. X2x Ultrabase can have both a floppy and a CD drive at the same time, IBM quickly changed this “problem” on the X30 revision. TransNote is here because… its basically an X20 with a touchscreen, pen thing. I want that failure so bad. S30 and S31 are RARE as fuck, recently purchased a unit from a collector & thats the high price… it could be higher than that kek. I forget what they were asking on the other units they were selling.

I love the fact that the X40’s performance thanks to the SULV Pentium M and 1.8″ drives sucked so much that IBM had to bring back the machine it replaced. They brought the X32 alongside the X41, yeah! Also Intel Extreme graphics were crap… I know this first hand because I’ve used a G40 and G41 w/ nVidia… it’s a load of differences. At least with the X31 the CPU didn’t need to bother with graphics, that’s where the ATI graphics chip helped out, AND the X32 didn’t even get an upgraded GPU… good times!

Lenovo X Series

• Display
  • XGA
    • All systems here
  • SXGA+
    • X60t
    • X61t (bubbly LCD problem)
• Vaporware
  • ThinkPad Reserve Edition
• ULV cpus
  • X40
  • X41
  • X60s
  • X61s
  • ThinkPad Reserve Edition
• Normal CPUs
  • X32
  • X60
  • X61

Lenovo pressed on with having a ULV CPU machine with the X60s, and the “full powered” CPU on the X60. From there it would have the successors, X61s and X61. But then it wanted to make special anniversary edition for ThinkPads, the Reserve Edition. NOW, it is just a X61s with a leather cased assembly, but at the time it was only catered to a select few clientele and it came with an even faster repair program, with it’s own telephone line, a big deal at the time.

16:10 ThinkPad X
X300 Executive UltraSlim
X200 UltraPortable

• Hell yea, the X300 Series, best keyboard… or the 25th Anniversary TP
• X30x have 1.8″ SATA bays, so buy a 1.8″ to mSATA adapter bc those OG SSDs are expensive, uncommon & have lower disk size volume than newer mSATA types
• X200 and X201 both use traditional 2.5″ SATA drives, I think they are SATA III speeds idk
• all these use the classic barrel charger 

65W Big Barrel Charger – On all systems
8GB Max RAM – X300 up to X201
Two batteries – X3xx can have DVD battery, X2xx can have slice battery or thru ultrabase’s ultrabay
iGPU – On all systems, but goddamn the X300 is so lackluster with DDR2 and 1.2GHz CPU… 🙁
WXGA+ – X300, X301 as standard and select X200s & X201s (Lenovo logo on left of LCD bezel)

Libreboot is making prices for X200 higher than it should, it’s also affecting X301 as well. This also marks the end of the ‘s’ variant for mainstream sales until 2019.

16:9 Ultraportable & Ultrabook Flagship
2011 – 2014

12″ Ultrabook & 14″ Ultrabook Flagship
2013 – 2017

• Rectangle Slim Chrger – All systems
• Soldered RAM – 4GB or 8GB on all systems, max 16GB on X1C3 or X1C4 if you’re lucky
  • + 1 RAM slot – On all X2xx series here
• Storage
  • 2.5″ SATA – X230 thru X250
    • Secondary 2242 B+M mSATA – X240 to X250
  • SATAe – X260 (only drive)
  • Fucked SSDs – X1C is hella proprietary
  • m.2 SATA – X1C2
  • NVMe 2280 – X1C3 is 2×4, X1C4 is 3×4
• Meh Display – X1C2 has 900p as default, X1C3 has FHD TN as default
• FHD IPS default – On X1C4 and onward
• WQHD IPS – Options on X1C2 thru X1C4

X1 Yoga Gen 1 =X1 Carbon 4
X1 Yoga Gen 2 = X1C5

2018 Refresh

X1 Carbon 2012 – 2018 buying guide

2019 to 2021

USB-C Chargers – X1C5, X1Y2, X280, A285 some X270. and then all systems later
Rectangle Charger – some X270 systems, all A275
What the fuck? – Yeah TWO CPU generations on a lot of these fucking machines
8GB or 16GB – Max RAM on X1 systems
Display – FHD and WQHD screens on X1C5/6; FHD, WQHD, & UHD on X1C7
Quadcore – On Kaby Lake R, & Whisky Lake, sixcore on i7-10710U X1C7. uh idk on X series machines, I don’t think so… not looking for now 😀
Healing BIOS – Begins on X1C7…

Quadcores – On all machines, except some i7 X1C8, which is sixcore. Wait the Nano has even more lesser powered CPUs, SULV?
Memory – 8 or 16GB RAM configs on all machines, 32GB possible on X1C9
Display– Too much to list, but X1C9 (and later?) is now 16:10 format & Nano has 2K as standard
SSD – 2280 NVMe 3×4 on X1C8, 4×4 on X1C9 and the smaller 2242 3×4 on the X1 Nano & Titanium

2022 and Later Models
Skipping X13 ones

Z Series uses Ryzen CPUs, all iGPU and has the return of the clickpad!

ThinkPad Slate Tablets
2011 – 2021

• Android – TP Tablets, TP 8, 10
• PC – Helix, X1T, X12, X1 Fold
• RAM
  • 1 GB – TP Tablet 1
  • 2 GB – TP Tablet 2, Tablet 8, Tablet 10 (G1, G2)
  • 4 GB – Helix (1 & 2), Tablet 8, Tablet 10 (G1, G2), X1 Tablet (G1, G2), X12
  • 8 GB – Helix (1 & 2), X1 Tablets (G1, G2, G3), X12, X1 Fold
  • 16GB – X1 Tablet (G1, G2, G3), X12
• Storage
  • Soldered eMMC – TP Tablet (1, 2), ThinkPad 8″, ThinkPad 10″ (G1, G2)
  • mSATA – Helix
    • m.2 2280
      • NVMe 3×2 – Helix 2
      • NVMe 3×4 – X1 Tablet
    • m.2 2242
      • NVMe 3×4 – X12, X1 Fold
• Display
  • 16:9
    • HD 1366 x 768
      • 10.1″ – TP Tablet 2
    • FHD 1920 x1080
      • 11.6″ – Helix 1, 2
  • 16:10
    • WXGA 1280 x 800
      • 10.1″ TP Tablet 1
    • WUXGA 1920 x 1200
      • 8.3″ – TP Tablet 8″
      • 10.1″ – TP Tablet 10 (G1, G2)
  • 4:3
    • QXGA 2048 x 1536
      • 13.3″ – X1 Fold
  • 3:2
    • FHD+ 1920 x 1280
      • 12.0″ – X1 Tablet (G1, G2)
      • 12.3″ – X12
    • QHD+ 3000 x 2000
      • 13.0″ – X1 Tablet G3
• Chargers
  • Micro USB 10W
    • TP Tablet (1, 2), ThinkPad 8″
  • USB-ish 36W
    • Helix 2
  • Rectangle 36W
    • Helix 1
  • “Unique New Connector” 36W
    • ThinkPad 10 (G1, G2)
  • USB-C 45W
    • X1 Tablet (G1, G2, G3
  • USB-C 65W
    • X1 Tablet (G2, G3), X1 Fold

ThinkPad Yoga (some of them)
2014 – 2018

No notes… at least these are all IPS. I used a Yoga 460 for a bit, didn’t care for how it felt. IPS screen was nice, 1080p, but keyboard feel? Yuck. Studryness? L Series like. As flimsy the S230 Twist was, it FELT a bit durable… but what do i know? P40 has discrete graphics and Yoga 15 might be able to… Supposedly there are an S2, S3 and I think S3 Yoga, but I think they are codewords for some of these machines I have listed.

Performance

Gonna start old school
Then 15″ A, G, T
15″ W to P Series
17″ W and P Series
14″ oddities w/ 15″ Slim (including X1E)

Classic Portables

Gas plasma display, wired keyboard, fucking funkey ass case. Check MCA mafia for info on these, good luck.

PS/55 Behemoths

These machines aren’t laptops, they are more like desktops with a clamshell form factor and they are part of the PS/55 family. So TOTALLY not a ThinkPad, however they are painted in black, have a trackpoint, fuckton of ports, and was probably built in Yamato labs. Yeah its a ThinkPad like the P110 PalmTop is, rather have one of these than that fuckshit L40 SX, oh and my buddy sharktastica has an article about what keyboard it probably has.

800 Series – The PowerPC ThinkPad

Good fucking luck getting these cheap… FUCK me for not seeing the “lot of 2 thinkpads” one was a 600 and another, an 850 or 820, both sold for like $80… FUCK. Anyways, there was one unit being sold for like $1600 that didn’t work and lmafo, it was bc the guy bought a dud. only sold 850 was listed as a “BM PowerPC 850”. I literally hate life, the fuck i am not going to just put random letters of IBM in searches for these things, IMB should be enough. w/e

The 851 (maybe 850) is the one ThinkPad that can have a webcam. It might be the “first” laptop w/ a webcam but I think the Sony Vaio C1 Picturebook beat it out.

A Series Pentium III
Desktop Replacement

Pentium 4

Memory – 2GB DDR on T40p, T41, 2GB DDR2 on T42p, T43p
PATA Drives – On all (T43p can be SATA if mod), get an IDE to mSATA or CF Card adapter, IDE SSDs are either too old or crap. HM160HC is recommended via TP Forums but may have a speed issue.
SXGA+ or UXGA IPS – Former on 14″ machines, later on 15″ machines, nothing else. As it should be. but god… 150 Nits or 200 nits luminance, for that classic feel. YMMV for LED mod options.
72W “Coax” Charger – Recommended on these machines, maybe you can get away w/ the 60W on the 14″ machines, but not recommended.
Pentium M – Banias CPUs on T40p, T41p; Dolthan on T42p, T43p
ATI GPUs – Classic gaming feel

Thin as fuck. R series not so much, but T40 thru T42 are known to have the bad southbridge chip, that can flex by holding it by one had. IDK if its FUD, but enthusiasts say hold by two hands. It got fixed ont the T43p supposedly…. but yeah. way smaller feeling than the T60, then T61, and W500. Whatever, and when it came to the T430s i own? T43p still felt thinner…. it was like the precursor to the X300 but/… sturdy-ish munus the flex? ok thats ass.

T43p prices have doubled since TPG 7…

Core 2 Duo Classic

• DDR2
  • 3GB T60p, Z61p, G50
  • 8GB for T61p
• SATA I Speeds –
  • T61p can get SATA II w/ Middleton BIOS
  • On all machines
  • T61 Wikia – Via ThinkPad Forums 🙂
• Screens
  • T60p – SXGA+ TN, UXGA IPS, WSXGA+ TN
  • G50 – 15″ XGA
  • Z61p – WUXGA
  • T61p – SXGA+, WXGA+, WSXGA+ or WUXGA for 15″
• Big Barrel Chargers – On these machines, 90W recommended
• dGPU –
  • All systems except G50
  • Z61p may be the most “safe one”, but ATI systems do sometimes fail
  • T61p is the worst w/ nVidia due to the BGA solder fiasco… ticking timebomb
    • systems or mobo’s built after August 2008 are fine tho (check mobo)

Buy a W500… but yeah, G50 is fuckign asss ass ass asss ass ass ass. dont buy one, buy the others…. T60p probably one of the best build quality machines you can get… wish they went more robust with it, but w/e…. lighter. Z series is cool too, but doesn’t get that magnesium lid… swap it. Amazingly this system, despite not really vsing the T60p (14″, 15″ and widescreen 15.4″), it had a WUXGA as standard while the T60p didnt… even though it had a UXGA variant, only a WXSXGA+ was available… at least on my notes via PSREF 🙂 G50? XGA ass fuck shit fuck whack fuck u

• Display
  • 16:10
    • WXGA – W500, 11: W700ds, W701ds
    • WXGA+ – W700, W701
    • WSXGA+ – W500
    • WUXGA – W500, W700, default on W700ds & W701ds
  • HD, HD+, FHD
    • W510, W520, W530
      • W540/1 come FHD (not IPS) & a 3K IPS panel w/ 99% sRGB
  • Cucked – W500 thru W530 start WXGA/HD & can get up to WUXGA/FHD
• RAM – Two RAM slots on dualcore based systems, four on quadcores
  • 8GB – Core 2 Duo/Extreme/Quad
  • 32GB max – On Quad i7 machines (if it has four slots)
• AC Adapters
  • Big Barrel
    • 90W on W500
  • Sloted Big Barrel
    • 135W on W510
    • 170W on W520, W530, some W701
    • 230W on other W701 and all W701ds
  • Rectangle Slim
    • 135W or 170W on W540/1, depending on DC/Q
• ATI Graphics – W500 machines
• nVidia 1GB or 2GB – On W700, W701, & W510 through W541 machines

• P15, P17 notes
  • Quadcores – P50, P51, P53, P15 G1
    • SixCores – P52, P53, P15 G1 & G2
      • Eight Cores – P53, P15 G1 & G2
  • ULV DualCore (Later quadcore)
    • P50s
• DDR4 Max – 64GB on P50, P51; 128GB RAM on P52, P53, P15 G1 & G2
  • 3x Drives (2.5″ & 2x NVMe 3×4) – P50 to P52, P53 if T1000 or T2000 GPU
    • 2x NVMe 3×4 – P53 if RTX GPUs & P15 G1
      • 2x NVMe 3×4 + 1x NVMe 4×4 – P15 G2
• Displays – All IPS FHD or 4K/UHD, or OLED 4K option on P53 thru P15 G2
• Chargers – 170W Rectangle on All, 230W on beffy P53 thru P15 G2

IDK what to say about these…. P50 has the OG hinges and not the drop hinges. The keyboard feel on them is fucking amazing too… felt like I was using a T60 but not that nostalgic. Still fucking way better than my T460p and W550s. Oh yeah the frame fucking felt really good on it too.

Cheaper P15 – T15g is your bet, nVidia RTX instead of Quadro & similar LCD configs
Powerful T15 – P15v & T15p are in a similar frame but have workstation CPUs.
P15v has Xeon options, quadro graphics while T15p is iGPU or GeForce

17″

15″ Slim
P15s, P1, X1 Extreme

2018, 2019 Models

Notes about the P1 & X1 Extreme
Because of their thinness, the cooling fans are smaller and heat sinks too, so cooling performance will be compromised, which is worst on heavy tasks vs the P15. When the 2nd Gen systems dropped, they brought iGPUs into the configs. From what I’ve seen, most sellers say what fucking GPU comes in the machine, because…. idk you get clicks, and it sells a lot higher when you have non-shit graphics. YMMV on these machines, they are similar (X1E, P1 systems), so YOLO.

14″ Skylake Kaby-Lake HQ

14″ Ultrabook 2019 to 2021

• dGPU systems
  • P43, P14 G1 Intel, and some P14s G2 Intels
• iGPU
  • P14 G2 Intel, both AMD P14s G1 or G2

10″ & 11″ Mini-Laptops & Netbooks

11″ AMD NetBook / School Laptop – 2010 to 2011

• Base CPU w/ 1.5/6GHz single core, 1.6GHz dualcore otherwise
• all have 11.6″ 720p display w/ 200nits & 300:1 contrast ratio
• 2.5″ 9.5mm SATA II drives, no SATA III 🙁
• 65W big barrel charger
• Max RAM – 4GB DDR on X100/Mini 10, 8GB DDR3 on X120e

Other than getting a slate tablet w/ keyboard, these are probably the smallest “latest” ThinkPads one could get sub 13″. Oh wait I forgot about the 11e… nvm those are better i think. I do not recommend them, fucking slow as shit, maybe make something with a jukebook with one of these idk. Oh fuck, I forgot about the X1 fold… smallest thinkpad i guess.

11″ AMD/Intel School NetBook / Chromebook – 2012 to 2014

• HDD/SSD – eMMC on some models
  • X130e – 2.5″ 9.5mm SATA II only
  • X131e – 2.5″ 9.5mm SATA II + mSATA
  • X140e – 2.5″ 9.5mm SATA III + mSATA
• LCD – 11.6″ HD
  • 200N/300C on X130 & X131e
  • 200N/500C on X140e
• RAM
  • 16GB DDR3 Max on X130 & X131e
  • 16GB DDR3L Max on X140e
• 65W Big Barrel charger on all
• iGPU on all *duh*
  • BUT WAIT, AMD APU GAAAAAAAAMING GRAPHICS OH YEAAHHHAHAHHA
• Processors….
  • Most of these have meh one-point-whatever DC AMD/Celeron
  • 1.4Ghz i3-2367m on X130e & X131e if you’re lucky
  • FUCKIGN 1.9GHz i3-3227u MONSTER on extra lucky X131e

In the past, I’ve seen some sellers call these “budget gaming laptops’ because AMD CPU = Gaming.

Back to these, the creme of the crop is that 1.9GHz i3, an entry level ultrabook CPU, its Ivy bridge vs the Sandy bridge meh tier i3. For sure it is nowhere near an i5-3320m, but its much faster than the quadcore AMD cpu. Shilling aside, these are fucking big (X130, X140) because of that hard case lid and rubber bumper around it. Honestly it’s pretty strange because the 11e has some of a bumper but it isn’t anywhere as big as the 11e.

Cheap Student Laptop – 2014 to 2020

• CPU Gen
  • G1 – Celeron N29xx “Bay Trail”
  • G2 – Intel Core M Broadwell or AMD A4/E2 (2015)
  • G3 – Skylake i3-6xxx, Celeron N31xx or Pentium of that era
  • G4 – Kaby i3-7xxx, or Celeron N34xx
  • G5 – Celeron N41xx or Pentium S N50xx
    • Who fucking cares about cores, forget about it!
• Memory Things
  • Soldered – 11e G2 Intel, 11e G5, and all Chromebooks here
  • 1 Slot – 11e G1, G2 AMD, G3, G4
    • Max RAM
      • 2/4GB – 11e Chromebook G1 or G3
      • 4GB LPDDR4 – 11e Chromebook G4
      • 4/8GB – 11e G2 intel, 11e G5
      • 8GB DDR3L – 11e G1, G2, G3, G4 (non i3)
      • 8GB DDR4 – 11e G4 i3 version
• Storage facts rumors – because i cant verify fully via PSREF
  • 16GB eMMC – 11e CB1 & CB3
  • 32GB eMMC – 11e CB4
  • 64/128GB eMMC – 11e G5 (some models)
  • 2.5″ 7mm SATA II – 11e G1
  • 2.5″ 7mm SATA III – 11e G2
  • m.2 SATA III – 11e G3, G4 (m.2 2242 size? idk)
  • m.2 2242 PCIe 3×2 – 11e G5 (some models)
• Display – 11.6″ HD
  • 200N/400C – 11e G1
  • 200N/500C – 11e G2, & CB1
  • 220N/500C – 11e G3 & CB3
  • 250N/400C – 11e G5
  • 250N/500C – 11e G4, G5, & CB4
  • 250N/800C IPS 45% NTSC – 11e G5
• Power Adapter
  • Rectangle 45W – 11e G1 thru G5, CB1, CB3
  • USB-C 45W – 11e G5, & CB4
  • Rectangle or USB-C 65W – 11e G5

This is concise as it can be… in previous TPG iterations, I had literally just mixed all 11e machines together. So I didn’t bother researching the Yoga (tablet) versions or the Chromebook versions. I just simply did Gen and called it a day, or as far as I can remember at 9AM of editing this… not gonna look at the old version right now, thats like fucking seeing your old drawings… even though its been a year between each guide. SO yeah the guide spreadsheet if you wish to look at the link, has specific fucking CPUs these came with. In the later sections of the field. Most of the same gen systems have similar CPUs, but there are some specialties. For the laptops here, you’re gonna basically get an X131e or X140e equivalent screen, Yogas are better. Yeah these do not have a trackpoint. So what. It’s included in the guide anyways, because I like these more than Edge & E Series ThinkPads. 😀 Get one of these for a burner i guess, but I really recommend getting the Yoga versions instead.

11e Yoga – 2014 to 2020

• CPU Gen
  • Literally the same like the ones earlier except…
    • Core M, Kaby Lake R – 11e Yoga 6th Gen
• Memory
  • Yup, just the same like the 11e basic.
  • Yeah I know I could of just copy paste, but then that would be boring
    • 4/8GB LPDDR3 – 11e Yoga G5
• Storage
  • ….
    • m.2 2242 PCIe 3×2 – 11e Yoga 6th Gen
• Display
  • IT’S THE SAME 11.6″ DISPLAY, So I’m not gonna…
    • 200N/400C TFT – 11e Yoga G1
    • 200N/500C TFT – 11e Yoga CB3
    • 250N/800C IPS – 11e Yoga G3, G4, G5, 6th Gen, CB4
    • 300N/800C IPS – 11e Yoga G2
• Power Adapter
  • Rectangle 45W – 11e Yoga G1 thru G5, CB3, CB4
  • USB-C 45W – 11e Yoga G5, 6th Gen
  • 65W Rectangle or USB-C – 11e Yoga 6th Gen

First off, to shill the ThinkPad Timeline I made, you’ll see what year all the thinkpads are made. Literally all, ok most of them, I may be missing a few… sadly idk how to count them, but there’s 208 models listed with the MTM of 20xx… maybe 100 or so before 2013. Ok i forgot where im going with that originally but the 11e Yoga G5 is still being made today in 2022 and it outlived the 11e Yoga 6th Gen, which was made like 2 years later. Also yeah, I shortened Gen 5 to G5 and etc if you didnt notice, but lenovo calls the G6, 6th Gen… no idea why they changed it out of nowhere, but thats how it is. yes the 11e Yoga G2 has the “best” screen out of them all, with 300 nits brightness and 800 to 1 contrast ratio, idk if the 50 nits really matters, but i guess it did with lenovo so they downgraded them.