I bought this a few weeks ago. After I found my son monopolising my desktop I decided to buy a desktop replacement laptop on the cheap... Frankly it's incredible.
Thinkpad T530 from ebay. I was shocked just how good condition it was when it arrived. It has clearly had a new keyboard at some point as it's like new. I assume as it's the 15.6" version it has probably spent most of it's life on an office desk. It also has an nvidia 5400 GPU (along with a switchable Intel HD4000) which I didn't expect and wasn't advertised. Complete win
. It's a quad core i7 Ivy Bridge, bluetooth, webcam, fingerprint reader and Windows 10. I've upgraded it with a used SSD and 16gb RAM from the MM here. When I have time I'll put the original HDD into the optical drive bay and replace the 1600x900 screen with a 1920x1080p which are readily available on ebay. I've also replaced the battery with a brand new third party one which lasts 4+ hours (not bad considering the spec).
I then grabbed a really cheap docking station, again from ebay. Becaused the laptop has a dedicated GPU it allows me to run a triple monmitor setup (plus the onboard LCD to make four screens). I have the other screens waiting to be setup when I get the office finished in the next few months.
After that I looked at laptop stands for using it extended periods away from home. The Roost stand from Kickstarter looked fantastic but was very expensive anid I was trying to do this on a budget. So I found the Nexstand K2 which appears to be a copy of the Roost. No doubt it's probably not quite as good but for the price but I'm very happy. Like the Roost it folds up very small for portability but then unfolds to an adjustable and stable stand.
I then dug out my old Logitech K750 wireless keyboard. It no longer worked but replacing the onboard Li-ion rechargeable battery for a few pounds sprung it back into life.
I'm actually thinking of changing it for something a little smaller as it now seems that I may need to carry it daily rather than a coiupel of times a week. But these older Thinkpads really are superb. It's built like a tank, can be easily upgraded or fixed and they are jsut such solid machines. Granted it wont win a beauty contest in Starbucks but it's an absolute tool
Thinkpad T530 from ebay. I was shocked just how good condition it was when it arrived. It has clearly had a new keyboard at some point as it's like new. I assume as it's the 15.6" version it has probably spent most of it's life on an office desk. It also has an nvidia 5400 GPU (along with a switchable Intel HD4000) which I didn't expect and wasn't advertised. Complete win
. It's a quad core i7 Ivy Bridge, bluetooth, webcam, fingerprint reader and Windows 10. I've upgraded it with a used SSD and 16gb RAM from the MM here. When I have time I'll put the original HDD into the optical drive bay and replace the 1600x900 screen with a 1920x1080p which are readily available on ebay. I've also replaced the battery with a brand new third party one which lasts 4+ hours (not bad considering the spec).I then grabbed a really cheap docking station, again from ebay. Becaused the laptop has a dedicated GPU it allows me to run a triple monmitor setup (plus the onboard LCD to make four screens). I have the other screens waiting to be setup when I get the office finished in the next few months.
After that I looked at laptop stands for using it extended periods away from home. The Roost stand from Kickstarter looked fantastic but was very expensive anid I was trying to do this on a budget. So I found the Nexstand K2 which appears to be a copy of the Roost. No doubt it's probably not quite as good but for the price but I'm very happy. Like the Roost it folds up very small for portability but then unfolds to an adjustable and stable stand.
I then dug out my old Logitech K750 wireless keyboard. It no longer worked but replacing the onboard Li-ion rechargeable battery for a few pounds sprung it back into life.
I'm actually thinking of changing it for something a little smaller as it now seems that I may need to carry it daily rather than a coiupel of times a week. But these older Thinkpads really are superb. It's built like a tank, can be easily upgraded or fixed and they are jsut such solid machines. Granted it wont win a beauty contest in Starbucks but it's an absolute tool
