Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | I decided to look into a laptop over the weekend for use in a variety of situations. My "needs" are a bit different than your average business man/woman flying aound the country every day as seen on TV.
I wanted something pretty rugged, still run under XP and have a "Real" serial port. I didn't need extreme speed or video requirments but yet decent (whatever that means). Due to the various problems I've heard about with Vista, I felt that XP was a better choice for me.
I wanted a "Real" physical serial port since several of the situations that I encounter utilize a direct connection. I am aware that USB to serial adapters exist but there seems to be some incompatibilites in certain scenarios that we run into.
After checking a couple of discount stores, I came to the conclusion that the majority of new laptops are being sold with Vista. I could not seem to find any computers (laptop or desktop) that have a real physical serial port.
At this point, I decided to check out the used market. I checked out one of those used computer stores that cater to homebuilders etc. After discussing my needs (the College Kids working at these stores are amazed/unaware of what we're doing "Down on the Farm"), they suggested the IBM Thinkpad T-30.
I bought one from them and played around with it some over the weekend. I believe the unit will meet my needs.
I could have bought the T-30 with a couple of options such as a Port adapter, WiFi and/or a new battery. I took it the way it was since they didn't have a new battery on hand.
The unit seems to work fine so far but I've noticed the battery life indicator seems to drop off quite rapidly. I was told to expect about an hours worth of use on a full charge. This actually will probably be sufficient for my intended uses but more time would be nice.
Now the questions. Would I get more time out of a new battery? Are new batteries made with a more modern type of construction that might increase my user time? I suspect the short use time is mainly due to the higher power requirments of this older machine.
I have purchased one of those 12V DC to 110V AC lighter adapters for recharging in a vehicle. By using the included 110 V charger, I feel I should be able to pick up a quick charge if necessary on the way to a job.
I have tried the unit with a variety of my USB devices such as card readers, external drives etc. Everything seems to work fine.
Are there other concerns or issues that I should know about?
TIA
Edited by tedbear 3/12/2007 09:32
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Bought a Used ThinkPad - Questions
