How I spend less on used laptops.
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- čas přidán 12. 06. 2024
- Many have asked me how I can afford to have so many laptops to show off in my videos, and have asked where I get them from. Unlimited funds or magic portals aren't the answer - so in this video I talk about the main ways I can purchase used laptops for less than what they're typically worth.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
2:06 - Repairing a T470s
5:57 - Other easy repairs
7:11 - Locked BIOS
8:07 - When it isn't worth it
9:27 - Other good ways to save money
10:28 - Conclusion - Věda a technologie
I needed a laptop last year but didnt have much money, and after seeing your videos on thinkpads I decided to buy an older model and "repair" it. All it needed was a hardrive, ram, and a charger and its been a great machine! I liked it so much I started buying a few more thinkpads, slowly getting more comfortable with trickier repairs like screen replacements. I've had a lot of fun buying old/broken laptops and fixing them up! Honestly your videos talking about older thinkpads is what helped me get into this and I want to say thank you
Glad I could help you find a sturdy laptop! I'm happy it's working well for you.
Also really fond his videos, and raised my interest in messing/opening laptops. Too bad, for Europe i can't find much offers on Ebay. Even more that i live in Island, and many sellers don't ship to me as "OffShore" (not mainland Europe).
Still my x230 and t450, were great deals.
I need a laptop (used)
With the following spec;
A recent laptop.
At least core i5 and 8GB RAM.
An SSD of 256 GB too would be fine or 500GB HDD
At least 6th gen of core i5I need a laptop (used)
With the following spec;
A recent laptop.
At least core i5 and 8GB RAM.
An SSD of 256 GB too would be fine or 500GB HDD
At least 6th gen of core i5
E-mail: iorpuumsugh@gmail.com
@@iorpuumsugh5127 no
The hard part about repairing the thinkpad screens is taking off the damn bezel off without damaging it , at least on the t460 lol
Louis Rossmann approves
Time to up my repair skills.
Louis Rossman, Maestro
Louis Rossmann would have opened up the PSU and soldered a new cable instead of replacing the entire brick
@@LiquidSnakeSSJ4Louis Rossmann - The Chuck Norris of Computer Repair. 🤣
...
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Thinkpads are like the old Land Cruisers or Land Rovers of laptops, just when you thought they're dead, they came back roaring with just a little nudge. Can't say the same for other models.
You are soooooo right. My old ThinkPad E520 (or 530) is still running for the relative I gave it to. The machine is now 11 years old. I wish I could visit it and pop and SSD into it. 8GB of RAM was a lot when I first purchased it. Now if only Dell, Lenovo and all the others would *STOP* whitelisting the hardware. It would be so much easier to upgrade some of the parts like the wireless adapter. Yes I know we can get the BIOS clean up but it adds to the cost and you need to find someone who knows what they are doing and doesn't add unwanted code in there.
One big reason I love ThinkPads. The Lenovo R61 I have is an 12-year-old model I bought on Refurbio for $79. It was upgraded with an SSD and an expanded battery, and aside from it being heavy as hell, it's a work horse. I've done so much with it in the past two years, and if I ever decide to upgrade to a newer model, I'm giving it to a family member or friend
You mean the old(ish) ThinkPads, not the new stuff
Land rovers are not reliable.
@The Trashman or your room might turn into a museum of old thinkpads lmao
this guy uses the shift key on the right of the keyboard, im scared of him.
Is that unusual? I've always used both but I think I use the right one more.
@@noracola5285 I would consider it to be, I've never met someone who has used it regularly before. I think I've only used it a few times in my life.
@@noracola5285 dude I've never used the right one in my life
I used a x220 Thinkpad for 5 years in college while pursuing my Computer Science degree (2016-2021). Although I made it sure it was tested before purchasing, I only paid about $120 for it off of ebay and it never gave me troubles. The only repair I needed to make was a single broken USB port, and after about 2 years I upgraded the HDD to a Samsung SSD for better storage. Overall the computer was still less than $200 which is much better than the thousands my peers had spent, and I used it to complete all of my assignments when I wasn't at my desktop. Never regretted it for a second. While I don't use it as much anymore because I have a company-issued laptop for work, it's still running perfectly fine.
Agree, no one in uni needs a workstation laptop when they have a desktop at home me included. I currently use an almost 7 year old lenovo yoga and it does me well, absolutely every assignment I had the professor even made sure to add "this shouldn't take longer then a minute on decade old hardware" and made me more aware of performance and algos
Did you use Linux on it, or not because of software limitation?
thing is, some people don't want to or don't have a desktop and some people come from another state, live in apartments, or rent a house, why have a big desktop if you could have a simple but powerful laptop that you could carry anywhere...
How were the compile times on it?
How well does it handle virtual machines?
Just yesterday I literally found an old IBM ThinkPad 760EL in an abandoned building. I couldn't believe it. It was in a laptop bag but isn't in the best shape as was exposed to the weather, although not direct rain. Needless to say I rescued it. It was manufactured in 1996. This particular building is near to where I live and if I'd have known that laptop was there I'd have got it years ago when the building was first abandoned.
The guy that thought he had finally found a good hiding spot for his laptop💀
This is like finding an easter egg in a game holy
I'm out of a flock of 11 siblings. I have made myself the goto IT-person for my family and their friends and relatives. It only costs me a little of my spare time. This has given me about 15-20 free laptops over the last 10 years as they tend to give me their old laptops when they upgrade to new ones.
My brother's mother-in-law not only gave me her old single core laptop some years ago when she "upgraded" to an iPad but she actually used to work in a phone factory and she gave me the solder station she worked with up until she retired. She bought it when the factory went belly-up. :)
That is one way of getting computers. And yes I have gotten quite a few dual cores and core i3's and i5's that way as well. Teenage gamers tend to upgrade more often than others.
P.S. They tend to use me because I'm cheap. I only charge them for coffee and parts. :)
When a normie is selling a good laptop on craigslist for $20 because Windows nuked itself
Yup i had the same problem
Those are the good deals lol
1st world countries man!
*licks lips* don't mind if I do
I've had a couple laptops given to me after Windows update screwups.
This is exactly what I do. I have about 10 ThinkPad's. I got carried away and bought too many. I haven't had time to fix them all yet. You have to have discipline or else it can become an addiction. 😱😁
Discipline or looming college bills to pay for ;)
Yeah I had good intentions too but after I fix them, I tend to put them in my collection. Now I have way too many laptops that I'll ever use. Serious ThinkPad addiction here.
@@klwthe3rd I'm really trying to cut down on how many I hold on to - For sure going to keep my FrankenPad T601, my X301, first gen X1 Carbon, and my FHD classic keyboard T430....that's already four...
T480 I'm on the fence about, I was going to try to force myself to use it and wear it down to do a "then and now" type of video in the future, but I've frankly barely touched it since making my video about it. So that one might be sold.
Once I get a proper replacement back for this T470s, it's likely going to be sold as well. I might hold onto a T450s to have at least one semi-modern ThinkPad, as this was my favorite when it comes to "modern" machines.
@@klwthe3rd The FHD/classic KB T430 has been my daily driver for a while, before that I alternated between a few. I use the FrankenPad on occasion but until I get something like a T70/700 modification for it, it's a tad too slow for my everyday needs.
For r/thinkpadsforsale, you just have to make sure to have a timestamp in your photos (your reddit username and the day you took the picture written on a sheet of paper next to the laptop in one of the photos), and then have the country, state, what you have, and what you want for it in the title.
For example, [USA-PA] [H] ThinkPad [W] PayPal
@@SebisRandomTech Yeah they keep saying I don't have a timestamp. I didn't know what they ment till you described it in this reply. I really really want to use my T61 as my daily driver but until you do a video on how to make hardware mods on these machines to install quad core processors, my T9300 just isn't fast enough. Gonna have to try upgrade to the extreme x9000 like in your video.
I love your photos of the laptops in different nature settings.
Glad somebody appreciates it! :)
I picked up my T430 at a flea market for $25. The only flaw it had was the CMOS battery was dead, and I think the errors that was bringing up made them think the machine was damaged. Thus far the only thing I've had to do with it was install a new CMOS battery, and upgraded the memory. And, of course, wiping the disk (I automatically do that with any computers I get) and installing Linux.
I used to find the same thing with discarded (literally in the dumpster) desktops. It amazes me how incapable some people are.
@@stan.rarick8556 Are there any specifics rubbish bins you'd find them in?
@@JatPhenshllem No, just residential (apt complexes, mobile home parks). Anywhere where people dump stuff and you probably wouldn't get in much trouble for diving. They don't show up that often, so you just grab them when you see them.
@@stan.rarick8556 Thanks!
no way... the residents pfp on a thinkpad video.. based asf
AS a ThinkPad lover?...I am all for keeping them out of landfills and huge piles of e-waste. If I can?..I buy them on eBay or other sites, fix em up?..and then give them away to family and friends as birthday gifts...I don't keep them anymore..as I have three T-420's a T-430, and X-1 Carbon (1st gen) and then I also have a Dell Latitude E-4300, a Dell XPS 15...and finally? a Huawei MateBook X Pro. All in the name of trying to keep some of these old electronics up and running! Plus?...its fun refurbishing and then installing Linux on 'em...
You are so wonderful Eddie!!!!
Can you give me one Please! :(
Yeah. I’ve picked up several laptops and MacBooks for a bargain price. I would install Linux and/or chrome.
@@philippossnortis2035 Sure!....LoL!!!
I am glad someone else restores and re-purposes electronics. I do it often. Why toss perfectly good tech when it can be restored? Never understood the wasteful mindset of consumerism
This is basically how I run my business. I buy used or broken laptops, fix them and sell them.
I also love thinkpads. There's just something about them that keeps me hooked. I tend to find some people way undervalue items on ebay too, so tend to jump on these before anyone else can.
I live in Bangladesh. Do you bussiness with me. I want to sell refurbished laptop in my area.
@@md.nournoby4523 I'm UK based so unfortunately that wouldn't be practical
Hey brother, here in USA. Just bought a perfectly well taken care of Thinkpad T480, no scratches for under $200 on Ebay. But I am new to the thinkpad refurbishing and selling thing. I'd like to know if you have any advice you can give me
@@RavenWampus Read up on business fundamentals. Most people here are probably reselling the refurbished devices. I'd just find a copy of windows 10 with a volume license. Just a couple lines in command prompt makes that WINDOWS ISN'T GENUINE message go away.
Plastic (typically abs material) can be easily glue back together with abs pipe adhesive (available at Home Depot) or epoxy (2nd choice, not as strong). I often reinforce brand new replacement laptop plastic panels at the hinge locations with abs pipe adhesive to prevent future issues.
That's a great tip. Thanks.
youre a real one, this videos inspired me to fix broken thkinpads
these laptops are so easy to get inside all i needed was a phillips scredriver
Good video man. I've also been doing this for years! Some easy fixes and others like you said best used for some parts value. Had some great buys doing this and have had so many good laptops over the years from doing this. Keep it up man!
Thanks for watching! Glad you’ve had similar success with parts machines.
Forget crazy glue for broken screen screw inserts, or even on hinges. Use PL Premium. Lay it down like putty, insert the broken screw in metal grommet and smooth it like plaster. Its worked flawlessly for me a quite a few HP DV series laptops.
*Thank you* for that adhesive name. 👍 I have been looking for something that will do that job. I have used, in the words of Neo and John Wick, Araldite (lots of Araldite) in the past and then loosened the hinge screw off a little just to ease the strain on the repaired section.
Great vid! This past year I've been getting more involved in camera and computer repairs, giving new life to old tech is so satisfying and addictive 😂
hi, it's a great hobbie keeping alive all those thinkpads. I've done the same since my T400 presented problems and I'm learning a lot with your videos. thank you.
Old laptops are also getting expensive.
Sadly yes
its funny how this showed up in my recommendation right after I bought a laptop for $100.
@SubToMeForNoReason yup. My dad's company sells old used laptops (to the employees). It was a really good deal. 16GB DDR3 ram, Intel core i5 5300U, 500GB SSD. It dose have some scratches and broken clips. But they can be replaced for pretty cheap
@@jotsa gg indeed
@@Eagle10021 wow gg
@@Eagle10021 gg
@@user-jg1yn9lm2g gg
I paid 15 bucks each for two t510s about two years ago, no hard drive or caddy, but one of them had a 1600x900 IPS panel and the other had an i7 620m (top of the line for the model as far as I know) and a bad keyboard so I did a motherboard swap and now I have one nice ThinkPad and a lot of spare parts. Not the most usable laptop today but with the correct EQ, those speakers are actually MacBook quality and it's working very nice for college prep.
Love those older T/W500 machines. Very solidly built and they came with some nice display upgrades.
Very inspiring! Best video I've seen so far on this very topic.
Like your ideas. I've collected several over the years and some are basically for parts when the need arises. One old one works, but it needs alil work done to it again now that I had relocated and it may have been damaged along the way. Keep up the good work, my friend.
Offer to be the repairman or tech garbage disposer for all your friends. Every time they upgrade you get something that could be useful to some degree.
me
I wish i was in NA, over here in Poland they sell laptops that are basically unfixable (ruined motherboard) and very dated for the same prices as really decent fixable laptops on ebay.
Same in Oz. Since the _Work From Home_ started, the price of second hand computers has skyrocketed. I would rather be kneed in the groin than pay the prices being asked for. It's almost cheaper and in some cases it is to buy a new machine that is on sale than a "pre loved" unit. Some junk sellers have gotten very greedy during this time of pandemic.
Same in Bosnia, if you see an ad listed for parts or repair you know it's unfixable useless junk stripped of everything that even remotely worked.
I managed to get a $1000 dollar laptop for $200, what you usually have to look for is something that may appear broken or not have a lot of info on it, but you have to know enough about the computer to tell if it’s actually working or not
Wonderful tips, thank you so much for unveiling your process.
The b-roll in this video is incredibly unique!
Good tips. I’ve built and repaired computers for years, but nowadays my decreased motivation to tinker combined with arthritis lead me to seek solutions that are a little closer to turnkey than those requiring more difficult repairs. I just purchased a refurb T440P for $200. Normally I don’t think I’d be willing to pay much over $150 for a working unit, but considering the seller also included a new battery and AC adapter (something that seems to be becoming less common for some reason) that was enough value add for me to put up an extra $50 for something I wouldn’t have to track down myself that probably would have cost me more than what they were charging in the process. Now all I have to do is add some extra RAM, an old SSD (of which I have more than a few I’ve salvaged just lying around) and I’m set, until I eventually get the itch to change out something more involved, that is. ;)
The battery is likely aftermarket from China. With lower lithium cells than the original. Buying a brand new OEM battery for any ThinkPad within the past 10 years is usually priced around $50-70.
thanks very, very much! my computer's mother-board died few months ago, and this video really helped me understand what i can do to replace it.
i understand it might be a bit daunting but for hinges i usually drill a hole all the way trough and secure it with a nut & bolt.
this way i don't have to worry about it happening again. works especially well if you have an aluminum back panel.
A chemist friend of mine recommended me evonic acrifix 116 glue. It's a solvent glue meant for gluing abs plastic as well as polycarbnate and it even works on printed Pla. It's hands down the best glue I have ever used and I would highly recommend it over brittle CA/superglue for repairing plastic cases.
*Thank you* for that adhesive name. Much appreciate it. 👍
Sebi going wild with the new uploads lol
great video im new to all this but enjoying learning quite a lot especailly from channels such as yours thanks for all the advice/videos
Thank you for this video I will definitely be putting this information to use.
I bought a used X230 five years ago from a company that only sells Thinkpad. I installed linux , SSD and then put 16Gb of RAM.
I use this machine every day since then. The only problem after 2 years of use was the battery.
This computer is from 2012 and as I said, it still works great.
The X230 is one of my favorites. With an IPS display and a X220 keyboard/palmrest it's still an absolutely awesome little laptop.
16 GB of RAM. That is juicy.
I have an X230. It's 10 years old now. It still runs very well. With the help of so many awesome videos I am looking forward to upgrading the memory and hard drive and running Linux on it.
Hello Marco which is the compagnie you are talking about
The "for parts" section of ebay is awsome, most of the time its just machines with missing hard drives, batteries and ram, which you normally just replace anyway
Amazing video, as always!
when I needed to get a laptop a few years ago, I was really tight on funds. I got very lucky and found someone selling Thinkpad laptops on Craigslist, it was the middle of the summer so that is a slow time for selling laptops. It came with decent amount of RAM and Windows 10 Pro (I needed the Pro OS Version). I couldn't tell if it was refurbished, but he only charged $150 for the laptop. With the price he was charging, I thought that it might be stolen but I my fears were allayed when I visited him at his convenience store in an upscale community and he had a lot of them for sale (unfortunately the store closed down during the pandemic) Sometimes you get lucky, the laptop is still running strong, never had any issues.
Thinkpad T430 was the first laptop I've ever nearly fully maxed out. FHD mod, i7 QM, SSD and 16 GB of RAM. Now I use it with Fedora for programming and testing software, and despite of it's age, it work really well. Very fun thing to do and I can recommend it for every DIY tinkerer.
i7QM, SSD, 16GB RAM? I recently retired a Thinkpad E530 with those specs. Still works pretty well, it's just a little too 'old' to be officially supported by Windows 11. Linux Mint works great with it though.
It's _much_ easier to learn to tinker with something you got off eBay for $50 than to experiment with something you paid $1500 for brand new. The only thing my T420s struggle with is modern websites and their multimegabyte Javascript webpacks. For software development and lightweight quiet servers they're great. (One of my T420s, with a broken screen cost £30 on eBay, is a media server/music player, so I can stream content to my TV and control the music via the network.) I did get one off eBay so broken it had no keyboard, but with a dock and a usb linux stuck, it ran Ubuntu 16.04 just fine.
@@Chalisque fixing those things isn't that expensive tho. Idk how it looks in other countries. In Poland used screens for laptops cost around 10 to 15$
@@Vexisu Yes, a nice thing about Thinkpads. I've changed cooling fans, keyboards, ssds and ram, but I already have enough Thinkpads with working screens, so ones without screens are used as desktops/servers via a dock.
@@maxtornogoodWindows 11 has absolutely bogus requirements, my laptop from 2015 could run it perfectly if the CPU was supported, but iirc there are ways to bypass these requirements
Thinkpads are so awesome. I’ve been watching your videos
I got a t430 for about $60 after never owning a thinkpad before in my life instead of trying to spend $200-300 on a new entry level laptop.
I just put a i7-3632qm in it I got for $40, and a 500gb ssd. This thing is really beastly and snappy on linux, it’s beautiful!
But tinkering with these is super addictive, it brings out my geekiness and I wanna keep checking eBay for various sized models that I don’t necessarily need right now
But yeah-they are so practical, affordable and enjoyable!
I have subbed because I like your style and the fact that you look at refurbishing old laptops like I do.
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
I love making temporary solutions, makes me excited to see how long they'll hold up and how I'll have to fix them again
I use a ThinkPad X220 (the tablet version) as my core writing machine and it blows me away how much the older models hold up after over a decade, especially when you upgrade the hard drive to an SSD.
This video is awesome. I have found some of the same techniques work. This channel is awesome.
It's good to see 8.02 you've returned the laptop to it's natural environment. You're truly a hero.
I repair phones, and always look "for parts or not working." A surprising amount of phones that don't turn on at all can be fixed with a very simple battery replacement.
In order to repair hinges, you could also use 'devcon', which become like a stone after dry.
Sounds like epoxy, was thinking the same thing during the video. Epoxy is almost always going to be better than some super glue that lasts a year or two.
Excellent way to go. Great video, thanks for some common sense. I've been doing this for years. Like cars....a Bentley or a Civic, they all travel the same crappy roads. May as well save your money.
Dude! The only way I can afford decent laptops is to buy broken ones and fix them. I like your style. Subscribed.
Love these tech videos that really make sense, for average consumers and tech enthusiasts. Really appreciate the effort you put into making this well comprehensive video.
Appreciate the comment! Thanks for watching!
I get my first T440p as refurbished and pimped it with upgrades and still i spent the same amount as for a budget new laptop. Then picked up a T60 only with CPU, RAM an Wifi card and nothing else, and now it's fully working and posted on the bay for a new home. Now i'm watching for the "parts only" auctions... damn you Sebi ;)
Really good video. I love finding new content on CZcams. It's like discovering hidden treasure like the Think pad.
Thanks! I'm glad you liked the video!
@@SebisRandomTech inspirational. Good job with narration and editing
Now i am using Lenovo Thinkpad X230 and T460 . Both of them were bought on eBay. I love Thinkpad laptops. Thank you for your videos
Thank god for the people who always want the latest model even if they've just bought the previous one.
You just can't get better than old Thinkpads
Thinkpad line is my favorite laptop for working and personal use. Currently (2022), I have the X230 and just three years ago I had the X220 which was replaced due to it was "requesting" vacations :)
I bought a refurbished x240 in 2019. I have encountered minor issues, changed the charger, but still works fairly enough for my needs.
I bought x250 for around 150 usd abount an year ago and i think its the best option if you can get one with touch 1080p display with i5 or i7.
Its comparitively modern looking,theres enough processing power for an every day user,the battery life is excellent,i can get around 5-8 hours depending on the usage.
And the 1080p ips display is gorgeous.
It is better than new laptops that are 600$ to 700$.
I would definitely recommend buying one.
Athar...To me, the ThinkPad design is timeless. Two Thinkpads are in-fact on permanent display in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. The first is the classic design that continues to this day...and the second is the 710c butterfly ThinkPad.
Here in Serbia thinkpads are expensive. T420 with i7 ssd and bad battery is around 150 euros or more.
€150 seems around what a T420 usually sells for in Europe, if a tad on the high side.
@@SebisRandomTech
Plus a VAT tax of ?
Honestly, the fun part of repairing is doing the crazy repairs or hacking/modding the device.
Like recently a roommate's bluetooth just died and vanished from his machine. I opened it up and when reseating the connectors I accidentally popped off the connector and pulled up the trace. I then soldered a wire to the antenna connector and the trace and kapton taped it down.
It still works to this day.
this is the kind of thing i've wanted to do for a long time
plus it would be nice to have a thinkpad again after 10 years
I don't do this kind of thing myself all that often but I help and encourage others to do so. I mostly specialize on Dell though, the service tag gives you the exact assy number of all parts if you know where to look and you can find almost anything factory new from China, which has worked great many times for me, sometimes getting very new laptops for free and fixing them for $50 or so plus a used power brick for $15-20.
I’ve wanted to look into Dell Latitudes a little bit more. They seem easy enough to work on.
@@SebisRandomTech Relatively speaking they are, compared to asus, toshiba and so on. On those I've had to solder and glue a lot because I couldn't find the actual parts, but for Dell I could always just buy it, swap it in and almost always it would work.
Ive been thinking of purchasing laptops that are working, but with a broken screen (seems pretty common). The idea I was going for was to remove the screen and use the 'base' computer with other laptops of the same persuasion in some sort of Kubernetes cluster.
Or plug in a dock and run as a desktop or just plug in a monitor. You do need to keep in mind the wifi ant is usually in the lcd case. You remove it and you will need wired network or a usb wifi card. It is a great way to take a mlb functioning computer that work mostly and continue using it even if it has a lot of broken parts. I mean what do you really need to function? Your ports, fan, power cable port and power button.
fyi if the lcd is cracked many lenovo laptops will not output video to the video port if its still plugged in. You need to unplug it on the mlb and then it will out put. I saved a lot of repairs in the depo when the mlb was ordered replaced to give ext video with the lcd cracked when the lcd repair was denied. I just unplug the lcd and made my notes.
Really good video, you just got a +1 subscriber count :) Keep up the good work!
Superglue and baking soda, along with a small set of files for sculpting, is a good way to rebuild small plastic tabs which are otherwise irreplaceable. I've had good long term luck rebuilding the tabs that hold a small door to a TV and repairing broken car dashboard components this way. And yes, the dashboard holds up even through years of summer/winter cycles.
In my experimentation, Loctite 401 seems to be the best for this. You dot on some glue where the part needs to go, add baking soda, give it a minute to dry, then repeat until you have a "stalagtite" bigger than the part you need. Then file it down into whatever shape is necessary.
Ripped of hinges is a very common issues and relatively easy to fix.
What we do in our shop is that we glue what is left together after which we drill one or two holes trough the panel/hinge and just use very small profile nuts/screws to make it as unnoticeable as possible.
Trust me it's on there better then it was originally.
We also see the hinge get ripped off from the frame side and we can do similar things and usually totally hide the repairs.
Also we keep all broken laptops and the most expensive part they usually have is the LCD display which is very expensive as a new replacement part, it costs us nothing and we can fix otherwise expensive issue.
3 years ago I got a T430 for £300, and I still use it for college today, only considering upgrading to a T480 or X395 because I need better battery life.
Hey, past me: you just purchased a T495s for personal use, and an X1C G4 and X270 to upgrade and flip.
Great video, check out 2 part epoxy for glue repairs, it is usually stronger than what you are gluing together.
Great Advice!
That beige keyboard and cable 😮
It’s the legendary IBM Model M!
@@SebisRandomTech I used those quite a lot back in the late '80's-early '90's on military office computers, and being so used to them it took me quite a while to understand today's love of them. Everything old is new again. They must have been pretty good to have stood up to the usage they did.
@@k.b.tidwell Mine is from 1990, still works like a charm. Many like the tactile "click" of the buckling spring switches used in these keyboards. They're excellent for typing because of this.
Great video. I’ve a bit of a laptop addiction and have been doing my own rebuilds since I discovered eBay in the early 00s. I started with Thinkpads and for a while made pocket money by rebuilding T20s for people, but then I got into Macs and had a lot of fun rebuilding G3/4 and Intel era laptops as well as the earlier iPhones before everything became soldered on single boards. The 2015 MBPs and the MB 12 are the latest generations where it makes much sense and replacement screens now often cost more than the machines will sell for in good condition which is sad.
I made a few forays back into the PC world this year with a rebuild of a Carbon X1 Tablet and an Asus 12 inch machine from 2009 which had the first gen of Intels ULV Core Duo chip. I’m considering perhaps having a go at a Thinkpad P-series machine as they look like they’d make good *nix machines but I have to sell off some things first to make space.
My son helped me with an MBP 15 rebuild a few months back which was a present for his grandma and he enjoyed that. At some point we have to build a desktop PC so he understands that process as well. But I’ll admit I much prefer working within laptop constraints: finding good candidate machines and then any parts necessary to either fix or upgrade them is a very nice break from my work routine. It’s also interesting seeing how hardware performance has changed over the years.
I thought I was watching Hugh Jeffreys until I saw the channel name.
Keep up the good work, you’ll be popular very quickly with the quality of your videos.
Thank you so much for the tips Sebis, one of my dreams is to make a thinkpad collection/museum on my own, so far I have 2 (T430 and X61s thanks grandpa) but when the lockdown passes and prices drop I'm thinking of hunting down a x230 or x220
x230 i would say, just because the better iGPU, and 2 usb 3.0 ports. there are many opinions of the chiclet keyboard on x230. But i enjoy it.
never used an x220. But both are able to modify bios, and remove wifi whitelist.
And the X230 can easily be modified for an X220 keyboard!
A trick I might add for people looking to REPLACE their laptop with a different model is to look up for a model lacking all the components that you can transfer from your existing laptop. For example, I'm looking for a ThinkPad X220 right now, and I already own and daily a T420. Since it's basically the same architecture I know I can save money by looking for an X220 without RAM, HDD, SSD or CPU, and transfer them from my T420, that I can later resell.
Now, this is really not strictly based on owning a ThinkPad, except for the CPU you can usually remove RAM and drives pretty easily, and many different brands from the same year are compatible with the same CPU, so if you can remove it, you can go with another brand with the features you want.
I love your channel dude!
I'm so happy I found your channel
Would be amazing if there was this, but for smartphones instead. Great video!
With older phones it can be done. Unfortunately many newer models are gluing/welding/soldering components in that makes repairs more difficult, and then you have companies like Apple that take the BS to the next level by tying components to the phones themselves, so even replacing the battery or screen either isn’t possible or results in the device not working properly - unless Apple does the repair themselves.
there is also the issue of the ever changing fequency bands ie 3G to 4G to 5G
Excellent video! It's like you took my previous video idea and made it reality. I just got a T410 off a local EBay seller for $10 cause he thought the unit was broken once he removed the old HDD for security purposes. Smiles.
Wow even if it was a dud, you immediately could profit off selling the parts!
@@teerich2011 True. But I was so surprised that it was in mint condition. I could see the mark where the corporate asset tag sticker was affixed on the lid so it lead a pristine life in someone's office. I don't think I could part out such a mint machine. I would of fixed it if it was faulty for sure.
Wow a real gem!!
You could have sold that guy a bridge and gotten your $10 back from the sale. Ok, that was a bit _ not nice_ to someone who sold the laptop for a really good price. It's the nice people who don't ask exorbitant prices for their non working devices and don't complain when the "parts machine" you sold won't boot.
In Mumbai, India one can be friendly to the several local scrap vendors. Regular visit to their shops can give you a chance to find a faulty laptop or mobile or any other random electronics scrapped by someone else. Some of the electronics start working with battery changes. I got a hp compaq tc4200 tablet PC with touchscreen for around $10 (INR 800) in oct22. While i have to learn to repair it I came across this video. I am happy !!
FYI companies throw these way by the dozens for either recycling or to be resold (I would know I work in IT). My advice to anyone would be to always buy second hand enterprise laptops like the Thinkpads or the Dells which are a year or two old.
4:15 fun fact, i live in Vladivostok but because of all packages going through Moscow, they arrived after month or more
Nice Unicomp you got there. I'm typing on a Unicomp M122 myself.
Model M's for life!
I've only bought two laptops new. The first one I sold on immediately as it was a great deal and the second one I just regretted and made me swear off buying new, pretty much forever.
Nothing more fun than putting in the work to bring something back to working order! Even if it costs the same, the feeling of saving something from the scrapheap is just excellent.
Thanks for sharing! I'll definitely look into buying another ThinkPad using this approach
I dropped and broke the screen of a x220i Thinkpad. Got a used non-working x220 for $40 Australian. Transferred x220i into the x220.
Found a Lenovo B590 in the corner of my brother's office. No power supply. I tried the power supply that came with the x220 and it turned on. Windows wasn't booting properly and it's HDD. Got an SSD and installed Windows. It only had 4Gb RAM and I'm lucky to find a couple of 8Gb RAM from a couple of laptops that was either not working properly or simply slow. Took the CD ROM out and stuck the old HDD in a CD caddy. So I got a working, faster Lenovo B590 with 16Gb RAM, 250Gb SSD with extra 500Gb storage and 15.6" screen. My only cost was the 250Gb SSD for $29.
Nice video but I was disappointed that there was no light rail in any of your background shots this time.
I'll try to make sure not to disappoint next time around! ;)
Ask and you shall receive. Take a look at my new video! :)
@@SebisRandomTech :)
Whenever I've need an appliance I generally buy used or spares/repair from ebay. The main point for me is you need to have patience to wait for a good deal to show up and to be willing to look up the product you're interested in, checking to see if there're any common issues that are difficult to repair, and checking repair guides and the price of spare parts.
My Asus laptop had the same problem with broken screw posts. Glue held it in for a long time but it broke again within a couple years.
I ended up drilling a couple holes trough the back cover and secured the hinge using M3 bolts. The laptop still works perfect now.
Love your approach ...
Lenovo T420s was a really good laptop. Drivers were very stable, so much compatibility, secured and yet flexible.
For me I grabbed an X230 for 190€ (and 40€ shipping for me is expensive, and IPS screen from aliexpress), and T450 for 300€ (Local market, Portugal).
Great machines, very good performance.
And for that price, in Portugal stores gets you celeron cpu or very low end i3. I looking to get some "collection" of refurbished, and experiment with laptops.
But Europe prices are higher than US. Not much availability, and for me many sellers don't ship as it's "outside of Europe, not in mainland Europe".
The x240, x250 and further, are kinda disappointing with just a single RAM slot, cutting performance of the iGPU.
I would be looking for 14'inch dell e7440/e7450 or HP 840 G2,G3 (Would like FHD) and 12'inch HP 820 G2, G3(again FHD).
Unlocked bios on x230 with 1vyrain.
Someone has experience with HP Elitebook's?
Great video btw. Been following your channel for a while.
Definitely check HP G3, 4 slots DDR4, meaning MAX of 64GB of RAM, I love surfing web and playing HD movies, my T440 is no match.
@@jeffschlarb4965 hp 840 g3 or even 820 g3, has 2 ram slots. from what i can find.
still more than an x240/x250
The Thinkpad is my all time favorite laptop. I've got an older one which is a Chromebook and use it for my acting PC. Scripts and zoom, etc. Works Great!!
Great video. I have an Lenovo X240 I got off eBay. I put a better battery in and it works great. I know this, ThinkPads will always be my go to now.
or just steal them from the trash
Great video as always! Question - what's the highway at 1:32 and 11:37 (I assume they're the same highway)?
It's the (as of when this was filmed) unopened Southern Beltway (or PA Turnpike 576) on the border between Allegheny and Washington Counties near Pittsburgh. It's set to open some time in 2022.
@@SebisRandomTech The border of Allegheny and Washington?? Isn't that kind of in the middle of nowhere?? And it's a toll road too??
@@JohnWilson-hb5qc Yep. I'm intrigued by how useful this project will be when finished, on one hand it will help alleviate congestion on I-376 for traffic traveling between southern suburbs and Robinson/Moon/PIT, on the other hand I question the high price tag of the project (as well as the planned extension connecting with PA Turnpike 43 and 43's extension to Monroeville) when the money could be better used repairing our existing roadways and improving/expanding transit.
The several billion being spent on these new toll roads could go a long way to update and repair many of the structurally deficient and outdated roads and bridges in the Pittsburgh region, and would probably pay for new commuter rail services or a light rail expansion or two easily.
@@SebisRandomTech I agree, with how shit our roads are it seems like a huge waste of taxpayer money on something nobody's gonna use
On my Asus when the plastic hinge mount broke I did drill holes thought the back cover and secure hinge with a M3 screws and a nuts. The other option was replacing back cover for 120$ and have it broken again in 3 months.
really inspiring , you are a hero , how i can learn laptop maintenance online for free as i need to fix my acer aspire laptop and follow your way of utilizing used laptops
I recently bought an Alienware 18 (2013) with two GTX 770m's in SLI and an I7-4700MQ for $100 on Facebook just because the battery was dead lol
Bruh 😎
Yea some people are beyond stupid
@@AbuHajarAlBugatti stupidity is unlimited compared to space
They might be not knowing anything related to tech