TPG 11 – T/A/R Series 14 Vintage

Fuck… it has been a long time since I updated this site. Wanted to finish all of my research, fuck that. Been drinking too much, me wants another beer. Anyways congradulations to Isaak Hadjar for getting 3rd place in Azerbaijan GP. So happy that Norris DNF’d there too, but sadly Colapinto shouldn’t have knocked out Gasly, who is currently P10 in the driver rankings. Can Antonelli lose it? I doubt it, he will come back in fast form so long as Max doesn’t unleash the full power of the RB powerplant.

Some of this format will be copied from the previous guide.
Wait disregard… I wanted to add more info, but it took a lot longer. 2 days! I was going to add more info for the A and R series, but not no more. Gotta pubish!

Actually I am going to put more information on here. like system specs n shit. Gonna milk this bc pretty much my info on google sheets will be wasted I guess. Given that old websites are going away, I dont know what will be left around. Eventually I will make a page for each specific laptop and their prices. I would like to do an image graph but I would need to figure out how to use sql and my brain doesn’t like that and would rather like addicting from League of Legends.

Hey, I will be covering ThinkPad prices from the T20 to T14 Gen 4, & T16 Gen 3.
Starting with the 13″ & 14″ IBM models, then switching to the 15″ models, and the 16″ replacements.
The T Series is a great start, I was happy with my 14″ T61, it was a nice upgrade from the X61 Tablet.

Models not listed here will be the slim S suffix ultrabook-ish models, nor will I have any performance P or G types. They will have their own page category, or be bunched up with a workstation one.

#T460vsT590

2000 to 2004 – 13.3″ & 14″ T2x & T30

• 2647 / T2x
  • All Linked seller has a lot of stuff for sale, about 500+ computer stuff including old computers & parts 🙂
    • All Systems Go Computers
      San Antonio, TX USA
• T20
  • Three units boot. High price booted to OS but had an interesting horizontal artefacting on the screen.
  • An aussie seller had a 1 cent, 1 bid auction w/ $112 shipping to USA. Vinegar syndrome but worked.
    • The GRID Powered by Goodwill
      Charlotte, NC USA
• T21
  • All systems power on.
  • EX+ is linked seller with two sold. mid price was an auction w/ 9 bids.
  • High & low price were BIN.
    • Speedhelp Shop
      Nürnberg, Germany
• T22
  • Mid price and up work, one was a lot listing of four items.
    • CoolRefurb
      Irvine, CA USA
• T23
  • SEVEN sold from the same EX+ seller in germany!
  • These are sought after, probably bc they fixed all the problems of the T20 to T22, minus the blink of death.
  • Mid boots to bios, below expect to be untested unless its EASTCOAST 🙂 they badass
    • EAST-RECYCLING
      USA FUCK YEA
• T30
  • Much more reasonable, but consider this is P4 and not the cooler, reliable PIII-M from the T2x.
  • Additionally these had graphical issues too, well at least the A31 did.

Facts & Issues

Blink of death
ADP3421 chip is known to be faulty. As always, if it turns on, buy it.
Leddit post from KingDeVa or w/e
The konsolist youtube video doing the repair process.
MacDat article about the chip & which it affects.
T23 revises the problems of T20 thru T22 and has a bit of a different chassis/mobo.
Visual
T2x systems will often get a hairline crack at the right of the keyboard bezel.
Gummy rubber feet usually disintegrate or are just missing.
Memory
Then you have RAM seating issues on the T30 and I think T23.
Graphics
None of these machines had heatsinks on their graphics chips.
T30 systems will more likely have a GPU problem than T20 systems, just runs hotter due to CPU & the solder.

PSREF
tawbook
HMM Links
62P9631 – T20 thru T23
92P1840 – T30

Processors
Socket 495
T20 – PIII – 650, 700, 750MHz – 1GHz Max
T21 – PIII – 650, 700, 750MHz – 1GHz Max
T22 – PIII – 800, 900MHz, 1.0GHz – 1GHz Max

Socket 478
T23 Tualatin PIII-M – 866Mhz, 1.0, 1.13, 1.2GHz
Max CPU –1.33GHz if you can find one, or a 1.26Ghz.
Otherwise a 1.2GHz is “common” max CPU to get

T30 Northwood P4-M – 1.6, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4GHz | 2.6GHz Max I think
P4M Notoriously run really really fucking hot.

Google sheets CPU Prices as of September 2025

MTM Notes
T20
x5U/x2U units come w/ 750Mhz, 20GB & DVD-ROMs. 13.3″ units have 2xx/6xx & 6GB drives
T21
850MHz units come with SXGA+ LCDs as standard (in bold), “better” GPUs come with MTMs ending in 5xx or 9xx
T22
7xx/3xx are 13.3″ units with 10GB & CD-ROMs,

• Graphics & Video
  • All systems have VGA & S-Video Out
• T20
  • S3 Savage IX8 8MB SGRAM – AGP 2x
• T21
  • S3 Savage IX8 8MB SGRAM – AGP 2x
    S3 Savage X8+ both w/ 8MB SGRAM – AGP 2x
• T22
  • S3 Savage IX8+ 8MB SGRAM – AGP 2x
• T23
  • S3 SuperSavage IXC16, 16MB SDRAM, AGP 4x
• T30
  • ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, 16MB DDR-SDRAM 364MHz, AGP 4x

I havent checked prices of memory for these systems since covid, so I am assuming it’ll be from $5 to $20 to max it out. Shipping is so fucking much now.

For drives the most annoying thing is getting a caddy. Luckily IBM at this time stopped using an interposer connector for their drives or an enclosure for them. So you could just have a drived plopped in there unsecured other than the connector. Me personally, I’ve yet to really use an IDE adapter of any sort, I’ve read that some old CF Cards have decent adapters and others use SD cards. Its up to you, I personally like risking the old drives I have and let em die… then just grab another from the junk pile.

The bottoms of these had a squishie little button to depress near the drive, it was to absorb the shock if it dropped.

As always its best to do an entire lid swap with the screen, because you’ll need the specific LCD cable to retrofit. Unfortunately I do not have part numbers for the screen or cable at this time, probably will be found via HMM. SXGA+ are hard to find, you’ll likely have to find a laptop via MTM lookup. Because the T23 is slightly different than previous T2x, I think that will also be an issue with the screen as well if you swapped to something older or vice versa. I don’t know, so you’ll have to research first before buying & upgrading.

Why get these?

• Well they are the 1st T Series laptops, so woo collectors!
• 3 Audio Jacks – Headphone, Audio in & Audio Out ports (same with A2x Series)
• UltraPort – a USB 1.1 proprietary port on top of the lid
  • UltraPort Bluetooth Adapter
  • UltraPort Camera & UltraPort Camera II
  • UltraPort Compact Flash Adapter
  • UltraPort Digital Array Microphone
  • UltraPort Infrared Adapter
• Comfy BIOS start up screen & keyboard layout
• Faster PIII Coppermines in T20, T21 & T22 w/o the issue of MMC-2 slot laptops
• S3 Savage Graphics Cards… ummm ok idk what games benefit from them.
• T30 keeps you warm
• Last of the old school TrackPoint – Version IV tall – 84G6536
  • These became slightly less long, tho the middle click is primitive.
• Dual Lid Latches
  • OK these are finicky compared to previous 7xx & 6xx laptops

From what I have bought… (copypasta from TPG10)

The four T30’s i have are dead, dunno why, I swore two were working but they stopped, I think one has an SXGA+ panel. On my T2x systems, I bought a lot of 4 machines, 3x of them T20, T21s, and one A20m. The latter worked, which I persued other A Series machines. The T2x machines were missing parts and well, they were parted out for a reason. 🙂 But they were only $60 in total and it was a learning expeirence for me on tinkering and openening up these systems.

2003 to 2007 – T4x 14″ Pentium M

15″ displays was introduced on the T42, those will be at a later part of the guide.

• Prices researched on 6/10/2026
• T4x
  • No notes put down.
    • Tech-Gem
      Vancouver, Canada
• T40
  • Mid price is a small reseller. $100 and up seems to boot to OS, before that is untested or booting to bios, all in pretty good condition.
  • One unit sold for $325
    • b_angelini
      Brighton, CO USA
• T41
  • Theres a chance you can get a working unit at low price, but pretty much mid and up boot to OS.
    • TVR-INC – Awesome seller
      Clifton Park, NY USA
• T42
  • Linked seller is EX+ price, doesn’t really have much old computer stuff, but does take nice photos with their camera so yeah im putting them on.
  • Strangely no one is putting IPS or Flexview on these listings (titles, descriptions), so good luck!
    • FinalCutDigicams
      Kettering, Australia
• T43
  • All idk why these are cheaper.
  • Seller linked at low price, barebones (no drive or charger).
  • They got 900+ laptops for sale.
    • IdahoSDS
      Boise, ID USA

T40 and T41 can be upgraded to faster Dolthan CPU’s per ThinkPad Forums
2.1GHz Dothan is the fastest, or the 1.7 maybe 1.8 Banias if you want that. You could do the “long” Fan upgrade FRUs 26R7860 or 13R2657 works
I am strickly looking at the PSREF, for the 14″ T43, it does not get the fastest 2.26GHz CPU, only comes in the 15″. Same goes with the T42 14″, max you can get is 1.8.
Doesn’t matter, you can do heatsink ugprades from the workstations & swap those CPUs.
Not doing a drive size thing. Expect 40GB thru 100GB, various speeds. You’ll upgrade it.

Prices seem to be about the same since I’ve done the guide last year. Maybe ill update again after im done with TPG (it’ll be 2027, fuck)
T43p will get the faster 2.26GHz on both sizes, T42p i think is 2.13GHz fastest. They are plentiful and prices are pretty cheap.

150 Nits is not fucking bright now days… the base T14 Gen 2 finally went up to 300 Nits, but you can get 200, 220 to 250 on some systems. So if you have a newer laptop and get one of these, they are a bit dimmer.

None of these are IPS! So if you’re gonna get one, just know its TFT and probably 40Hz, idk, PSREF doesn’t say. IPS was offered on 15″ SXGA+ systems, that will be covered later.

These are the last systems to use the old IBM Coax cable, T42 started to let you use a 56W cable on certain units (lower gpu/cpu). T43 is where they fixed most of the flex issues

Facts & Issues

• T4x All – Motherboard Flex – SouthBridge chip & Graphics Card
  • The T4x is much more thinner than the chunky T30 & T2x it predates.
  • Because of that, picking up the laptop w/ one hand can flex the case & desolder the SB from the motherboard.
    • There is no real fix other than solder reballing, or using an oven to heat it up
      • Some swap R5x bottoms bc they are thicker & flex prone
  • T41 dying (flexing symptoms) – Southbridge, GPU, or both?
    • Supposedly the T42 strengthened the chassis & resolved this issue but still the problem persists due to age.
  • T43 Hot south bridge
    • They get hot due to usage, tho not X61 hot 🙂
    • SouthBridge Heatsink DIY
• T42 & T43 – Loose GPU chip on 14″ machines.
  • T42 shuts down after moving it
  • 14″ more GPU Failure Prone
    • Again, bad GPU solder balls, but it seems to be more common on 14″ machines than 15″ units.
• Install the “Long Fan” Heatsink
  • This has been a thing on may laptops, get the beefier heatsink & the machine will cool itself a lot better
• ThinkPad Dock II 287710U
  • You can use a PCI card, but not an AGP like in the previous dock or PCIe…
    • And no, gaming isn’t much better due to the bus latency.
• T43 SATA Mod
  • The T43 infamously kept PATA drives but actually has a SATA controller inside it
  • IBM put a SATA to PATA interface, but you can use SATA drives.
    • Sata mod by Mike MOF Moffit
    • IF you want Pentium M and SATA out of the box, nab a ThinkPad Z60

My experience with them

Not much. Though I did own a T43p after buying a X300 (S70 preproduction type). I had this idea of selling LCDs, so I had dissassembled a perfectly working T41 so I could test displays easily and then list them on eBay back in 2014. I think I only sold about 2 screens, and have like 6 of them still. Ill have to check which ones they are, but I think the LCD ribbon cable ripped off from being moved time to time.

• Prices researched on 6/13/2026
• T60
  • All EX+ is likely going to be an IPS 15″ model, though there are a few 14″ that will sell that high.
• T61
  • No notes
• T61u
  • None still
• T400
  • Non libre EX+
• T400 Libre
  • Dont pay EX+, its literally a $20 chip to solder if u cant do the libre flashing.
• PSREF
  • ltwbook – All systems

• Max Processors
• 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.
• 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.
• T400
  • P9600 or T9600 – Easy upgrade
  • T9800 – Runs really hot, fan 100%
  • T9900 – Expect as above

Fuck…. that was a lot of data research, fuck me i dont want to finish this shit up….

Display & Graphics

I am including the T61u’s 15.4″ display, even tho I am not including the 15″ & 15.4″ T60 nor 15.4″ T61… I would have the 15″ T500 but then I would include the other fucking T42 and T43. No! That will be on the 15″ GUIDE!!! >:(

I think the nVidia quadros are GDDR3, but the ATI’s are GDDR1, maybe even just DDR ram on the X13/400, not sure if the HD3470 is GDDR2 or 3. W/e
Also the issue you may have is with the T400 as it has the first early iteration of switchable graphics. So the bugs really didn’t get worked out… after 15 years. lmao, it gotten better on the 2nd gen and no one looked back.

Display wise they are all nearly the same, around the same contrast ratios (200:1 vs 300:1), and brightness goes from 150 Nits on the CCFL T60 to 250 Nits on the T400 when its LED backlit.

My experience with these?

A 14″ T60 is fucking solid. Real fucking solid, holy shit. I used a 14″ T60p (my 6th daily) after having a 14″ T61 (3rd daily) and my god the build difference is night and day. Performance back them was a different story, it was 2015 and well now its 2026… Dunno how slow a C2D will be today, but I wouldn’t be fun having it. Actually I tried to use an E6400 with Windows 7, 10 and 11 to flip and they fucking sucked just getting drivers. T400 is a lot lighter, faster and much more battery efficient than the T61, esp when u have integrated graphics.

A Series – 3 Spindle AIO laptop

• Prices researched on 7/12/2026
• 2628
  • Mid price is untested w/ no drive. dayum.
• A20m
  • Mid price seller linked for A22m.
    • Atlanta404Store
      Atlanta, GA USA
• A21m
  • no notes
    • Tech Deals Warehouse
      Maryland Heights, MO USA
• A22m
  • Ummm it just jumps the fuck up to high. lmao mid price seller linked.
    • galleryautomotive2012
      Cinncinnati, OH USA

• iSeries 1800
  • idk when I put the buyee link… but its still available.
  • $130 asking price, idk what shipping will be to USA, assuming $40.

• A30
  • Updated search, added MTM and removed -things.
  • Got 7 instead of 4, one A31. eh.
  • Basically any price you ask, all BIN, few were B/O but not needed
• A31
  • All powered onto bios, one w/ bad screen (mid)

These systems are similar from the T20 to T22 machines.

These have similar issues as the T2x systems
But they have 3 spindles, so Floppy, CD & HDD 🙂

These are like precursor Edge series…. not strong, smol screens, big cases.

EH ill put these in the 15″ as well. 😛

Z Series

Z Series are special bc you can get them with a “Titanium Lid”
They were a “Multimedia Business laptop” but really didn’t have much different features than the widescreen 14″ T Series.
Well it was more like a marketing exercise, they also were the ones who did the silver IBM logo too that gets swapped.
Z60t is essentially a T43 that is widescreen
Z61t is a T60…
Yes the numbering scheme makes no sense, but that’s IBM’s & Lenovo’s predicament when making ThinkPads.

R Series

Just publish the blog bro….

Hope you guys like it 🙂