[kwlug-disc] Refurb laptops & monitors - Eco-Tech Recycling?

[Steve Izma]

On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 12:46:43PM -0400, Paul Nijjar wrote:
> Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] Refurb laptops & monitors - Eco-Tech Recycling?
> 
> I have a soft spot for the Lenovo T60s and T61s. Several years ago we
> purchased some new at work and they have been reliable (and heavily
> used). We recently had some donated, and are in the process of making
> these laptops our main staff laptops throughout the organization. 

The T60 and T61 series have well-established track records for
endurance. Since they were one of the last designs done by IBM,
many people prefer them to the later Lenovo Thinkpad series,
mostly identifiable by three-digit model numbers (T400, X200,
etc.). But even the recent Lenovo models are well liked by many
in the Linux community.

The mailing list linux-thinkpad at linux-thinkpad.org is an
excellent resource for this information. Lenovo recently assigned
one of their engineers to contribute "inside info" to the list
(mostly about new models).

Here's an excerpt from a recent post about modifying a T60 into a
"Frankenpad":
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 23:51:22 +0100
To: linux-thinkpad at linux-thinkpad.org
Subject: Re: Refurb Thinkpads, was Re: [ltp] Thinkpadd T430U

...
Are you aware that any 15" T60 shell hosting one of those amazing
IPS/Flexview screens can easily have a T61 replacement board, giving you
the capability of using 2x4=8GB RAM together with one of those nice cool
running Penryn CPU's?

I am currently typing on exactly such a machine running an up to date
Debian/unstable. Besides those 8GB RAM, it is also hosting a T9300 CPU
and a 256GB OEM Lenovo/Samsung SSD.

If you search the international http://forum.thinkpads.com for the term
"Frankenpad", you will find a wealth of information about this T60/T61
hybrid machine. If you'd also read German, or through a translation
service, then the same would apply to the http://thinkpad-forum.de site.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

I've run linux on Thinkpads since about the mid-1990s and have
only bought one new model, an X200, about four years ago. After
about a year the motherboard got fried, apparently due to a
combination of an electrical surge and a flaw related to the 65W
power supplies (I never really understood this). I replaced it
with a rebuilt X200 through eBay, and that machine is still
working very well.

I've also bought a new Thinkpad Edge and an old T60 for my
teenage daughters, both of whom have been running linux on them
for more than two years without significant issues.

	-- Steve

-- 
Steve Izma
-
Home: 35 Locust St., Kitchener N2H 1W6    p:519-745-1313
Work: Wilfrid Laurier University Press    p:519-884-0710 ext. 6125
E-mail: sizma at golden.net or steve at press.wlu.ca

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