SHould i buy this laptop??

January 10, 2006 7:17 PM

LaptopFilter: A buddy of mine is selling his IBM ThinkPad T23 for $400 dollars. Here are the specs: P3 1.13ghz 60gb(5400) 1024MB ram CDRW-DVD 14.1 Display Docking Station Also has a PCMCIA WIFI card I want a laptop really bad and this seems to be a good deal, what do you think? Should i buy this? BTW..This will be used for web browsing and business applications. No graphic applications or gaming.

Laptop...Should i buy? Is it a good deal?

posted by flipmiester99 to technology (15 answers total)

You can get an up to date T4x if you hunt for the EPP deals - builtin wireless with much better power usage and reception, much better form factor, much faster, warrantied, much much better battery life, etc. The 1GB RAM and docking station is nice but I'd spend the extra $500-700 and consider it an investment against replacing the machine again in the next three years.
posted by kcm at 7:32 PM on January 10, 2006

I'm planning on buying a new laptop from dell in a few days that is almost to spec with that notebook, minus docking station and half the ram, and it's about $200 more. I'd take it.
posted by puke & cry at 7:32 PM on January 10, 2006

This is not a great deal if you consider that for roughly $500-$600, you can get a more modern Dell P4... the wifi will be built in, and the display may even be bigger...

Now, if you factor in the price markup of Thinkpads over other laptops, the $400 isn't totally unreasonable (a google search revealed IBM certified used thinkpads...

At the end of the day, it's not a terrible deal for what the item itself is, but I think your money would be better spent on a new laptop with a full warranty, etc... If you watch slickdeals and techbargains regularly, you can get a laptop for around $500 that's well equipped.
posted by twiggy at 7:33 PM on January 10, 2006

btw, I don't think you grasp the concept of tagging.
posted by puke & cry at 7:42 PM on January 10, 2006

You couldn't GIVE me a Dell laptop. IBM Thinkpads are great. Having a gig of RAM is a great bonus. I say go for it.

disclosure: happy IBM T30 owner
posted by intermod at 7:59 PM on January 10, 2006

sounds ok to me - i'd prefer it to a slightly better specced, new, perhaps slightly more expensive, but much less well built model. but it depends what you want it for. if you're not carrying it round much, i guess it doesn't matter how tough it is. tps are pretty damn tough (mine has survived being dropped from waist height onto concrete).
posted by andrew cooke at 8:18 PM on January 10, 2006

keep in mind that the difference between the chipset and processor in this laptop and one for $1k is VASTLY different - Pentium M processors w/ the Centrino chipset have much much higher speeds both in number and in reality, and the power consumption (not to mention the old old battery here) is much lower, not to mention the lack of built-in wireless for both convenience and enhanced reception from the display-mounted dual antennas. A Pentium M at 2.0Hz is easily more than twice as fast as this clunker PIII.
posted by kcm at 8:28 PM on January 10, 2006

I'd say it's a great deal for the price, especially with the docking station. remember, clock speed isn't everything. unless you plan on doing some really CPU intensive like edit video or multi-track audio, I think this set-up will make you pretty happy but you might want to think about getting a new/refubrished battery (~$60 on ebay).

you could indeed do better if your spending limit was $500, but not that much better. if you wanna see what kind of deals other people are getting, check the prices on ebay and pricewatch, and every now and then there'll be a slammin' offer on dealnews.
posted by mcsweetie at 9:01 PM on January 10, 2006

a T23 is built like a tank. this is a good deal, especially for your requirements.
posted by 3.2.3 at 9:11 PM on January 10, 2006

Clock speed ISN'T everything, but that doesn't make it a nonfactor. This is an old laptop with a very likely deadish battery, a processor two and almost three generations behind and slow at that, and a docking station may be irrelevant if he's not going to use it at home more than 90% of the time (and you can get a bundle deal for <$100 with a new Thinkpad anyway). And all the T series are built like tanks. :) The T30 and everything lower are huge, though, compared to the T40 and up (T4x e.g.).
posted by kcm at 9:23 PM on January 10, 2006

This is a good match for what you want to do with it. The Thinkpads are very, very well built. Great ergonomics, good screens, durable as heck.

Make sure, however, that you like the Trackpoint mouse thingie. Some people (like me) love them, some hate them. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground.

I've owned both a Thinkpad and (more recently) a Dell Inspiron 9300. The Dell is a lot more powerful, and it's a decent machine, but it doesn't feel anywhere near as robust. My needs changed, so the 9300 was a better fit than the Thinkpads at the time, but I much, much prefer the engineering in the Thinkpads. The Dell is big and kinda sloppy. The Thinkpad is small, precise, and ... elegant, for lack of a better word. The Dell is a product of a competent engineer. The Thinkpad was designed by a master of the craft.

For $400, I'd grab that unit without a second thought, assuming everything works.
posted by Malor at 9:29 PM on January 10, 2006

The newer low end (institutional and student grade) $500-700 Dell laptops are utter and completely unredeemable crap. I know, I support them. And we're constantly sending them in under warranty. The same grade of HP/Compaq laptops are total crap, too. Like, class action lawsuit grade crap.

Thinkpads may cost more, they might look a little funny, but they're excellent and durable computers. Well designed, feature packed and nigh indestructible. I hope Lenovo can properly carry that torch.

Heck, some of the Thinkpads have a built in white LED keyboard light just above the screen. It's perfectly recessed, it doesn't get in the way of looking at the screen, and it lights up the keyboard just right. It's little details like that packed in everywhere that make Thinkpads what they are.
posted by loquacious at 9:53 PM on January 10, 2006

...as long as you're not buying it from Ebay !
posted by Makebusy7 at 3:13 AM on January 11, 2006

This is twice the laptop I use daily. If you have $400, then I'd say, yes, it's a good deal. Like other say, Thinkpads are extremely reliable. I even had one repaired last year when my trackpoint died... try getting any other 7-year-old laptop repaired.

Happy Thinkpad 600X owner.
posted by GuyZero at 6:33 AM on January 11, 2006

That is a decent price for a T23. I'd buy it in a heartbeat (I use a T21 daily). You might want to consider replacing the hard drive with a faster one. I was amazed at how that speeded up my T21, but I also use Linux, which tends to hit a hard drive more often than Windows.
posted by QIbHom at 9:27 AM on January 11, 2006