Author Topic: So, I finally got a laptop  (Read 1336 times)

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Offline WMCoolmon

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So, I finally got a laptop
Beauty shot below.

As you can see, it's an IBM Thinkpad T22. Works great; the battery, according to predictions, will only last ~1.5 hours or so fully charged, and it's got a Pentium III (rather than -M)

However, the 1400x1050 resolution is a definite plus, as is the DVD drive. It's damn light and very small, easily portable. Came with Windows XP and PowerDVD preinstalled too. It won't play games, but it's portable and responsive and will do school stuffs more than adequately (Wireless lan works like a charm too.)

But of course with every thread there must be a problem, whether that be people not getting the joke or some sort of technical glitch. In this case it's the latter; although I can verify there's a network port in the back, wake-on-lan settings in the BIOS, and places on the internet mention the T22 having integrated network, for some reason it doesn't show up in Windows. I've tried installing what seem to be the drivers on the IBM site with no joy. The BIOS doesn't seem to have any enable/disable LAN feature that might cause it to not appear.

Is there any way to get it working, or does this submodel simply not have it? :wtf: (According to the IBM autodetect thing, it's the "T22 2647-9CU)
-C

 

Offline Martinus

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[color=66ff00]The connection at the back should connect to a mini-pci board with LAN/modem function. There's a squarish plate just below and offset to the right of the expansion connector on the base of the laptop. it has one screw on the left of the plate holding it closed, open it and see id the minipci card is properly mounted and that all of the external connectors are properly seated.
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Offline WMCoolmon

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Does that white connector need to be plugged in, or the white paper removed?
-C

 

Offline WMCoolmon

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After a little frolicking around on the intraweb, here's what seems to be the deal...

The card I have does not actually support ethernet. Instead, there's a combo card (by Intel) that does both. So apparently the small connector (which does plugin) is the modem, while the large connector (which does not) is the ethernet.

I've found a site that seems to sell the combo board for ~$50, which is alright, although it is about 1/8th of the laptop's final cost.
-C

 

Offline Martinus

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[color=66ff00]That was my second guess, hence why I wanted you to identify the board. :)
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I have a T21 and I got it for no more than  $200. I love the IBM T series, they are rock solid machines that havent let me down yet. Its great for watching  my collection of simpsons episodes all over the house :)

 

Offline StratComm

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Nice!  There seems to be a good number of pretty nice older laptops hitting the market right now.  I just picked up a Dell Latitude for $100.  It's got a 2 GHz P4-m, a gig of RAM, everything works flawlessly except that sometimes it won't boot completely (which I knew about before I bought it) so I have to go through startup a couple of times now and again.
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Last edited by StratComm on 08-23-2027 at 08:34 PM

 

Offline mikhael

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Sweet. The IBM T-series runs FreeBSD (oh, and Linux) quite well. :)
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Offline Stealth

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IBM laptops still pwn.

  

Offline WMCoolmon

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Quote
Originally posted by mikhael
Sweet. The IBM T-series runs FreeBSD (oh, and Linux) quite well. :)


Getting a working coding environment on Win2k + installing Kubuntu has killed my enthusiasm for installing large free software. :blah: At least for now.
-C

 

Offline Mongoose

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Quote
Originally posted by StratComm
Nice!  There seems to be a good number of pretty nice older laptops hitting the market right now.  I just picked up a Dell Latitude for $100.  It's got a 2 GHz P4-m, a gig of RAM, everything works flawlessly except that sometimes it won't boot completely (which I knew about before I bought it) so I have to go through startup a couple of times now and again.

Jebus; those specs and only $100?  Hell, that's even within my price range! :p

 

Offline StratComm

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Yeah, it's sort of a special case as I bought it from the place I worked this past summer (they basically throw out anything three years old, so go figure) and the only reason I got it at all was so that I could have wireless capability while waiting in line for basketball games :p

No way I was going to spend $500+ on one ;)
who needs a signature? ;)
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Last edited by StratComm on 08-23-2027 at 08:34 PM

 

Offline WMCoolmon

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:bump: Is there any threat to the 'top, especially the LCD screen, to be had from stuffing it in a backpack with an item like a calculus textbook, and/or binder? Special bags/backpacks are ~$30-$70.
-C

 

Offline CP5670

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I do that all the time and my laptop is made of cardboard. You should be quite fine with that tough IBM one.

 

Offline WMCoolmon

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Cardboard? They make those? :nervous:

It's the 1400x1050 screen, and seemed somewhat delicate compared to the other used laptops for sale (as well as my 486 one), which is why I'm nervous about it. :)
-C

 

Offline CP5670

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Well, several parts of it are slightly flexible. It's either cardboard or some really cheap, thin plastic. The display has the same resolution and it can actually be bent in and out a bit. :p
« Last Edit: September 27, 2005, 03:54:58 am by 296 »

 

Offline Turnsky

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i had to install service pack 4 (win2k) for about 2 dozen of those damn things...

well, supposed to.. i left my job on the same day :p
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Offline Martinus

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[color=66ff00]I've lugged mine all over the place with nothing more than a plastic bag protecting it in my rucksack. Seems none the worse for wear. :nod:
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Offline Kamikaze

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From my experience Thinkpads are fairly durable machines compared to others, so it should be fine. Speaking of which, I've once used an HP widescreen laptop where the speakers on the front get bent just by sticking it in the laptop bag it came with. *shudder*
Science alone of all the subjects contains within itself the lesson of the danger of belief in the infallibility of the greatest teachers in the preceding generation . . .Learn from science that you must doubt the experts. As a matter of fact, I can also define science another way: Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. - Richard Feynman

 

Offline Martinus

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[color=66ff00]Laptop bags are a bad idea in general. You're more likely to get mugged carrying a laptop bag than if it's in a backpack.
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