[Thinkpad] What's a good choice? - The Result

After a couple of weeks of "scouring" EBay this is what I found:

A fully configured 770Z ranged from $200 to $350. The SXGA screened
machines are rare and priced in the upper regions of the range. For that
price, I could get a closely configured lower end 600 series.

A fully configured 600X ranged from $300 to $550. This computer did not
have a sxga screen, but I did like the possibility of going up to 800 MHz
processor.

The A2xP series machines that met my specs were hovering over $500 and on up
to $800. In this case, you paid for what you got, meaning I was in the
$600+ range. One exception was a 14.1" screen nearly new A31 that sold for
$485 with quite literally a load of licensed software!!!! That person stole
it!!! This is by far a heavy machine but a power house none the less. The
only problem - they are rare!!!!

The T2x series are everywhere and their prices range in the same ball park
as the A2xp series.

I settled on a T22 900Mhz Pent. with 256Mb ram and a 20Gb HD, a DVD-ROM & a
Floppy with windows 2000 installed. This cost me $525/$20 Shipping. I
think all-in-all, I did OK and it should come in tomorrow! Again, thanks to
you all! I'll let you know how it turns out when I get the machine in my
hands!

Thanks!
George

-----Original Message-----
From: Colgrove, George
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 6:49 AM
To: 'Thinkpad@stderr.org'
Subject: RE: [Thinkpad] What's a good choice? - The Summary

Hi All,
Thanks for all your input!

It looks like the food chain goes like this: (least to best)

First, the 770Z - it's old, but still competent and well priced. IT is
starting to have some electronic failures however. It does have a high
resolution screen (SXGA).

Then there is the 600X - Still a good machine though aged a bit. Seems to
be everyone's favorite and still has a lot of utility left in it. Price is
higher but definitely seems worth it. This unit does not appear to have a
high resolution screen (only XGA or under)

The next step would be the A20p or A21p - This so far seems to be the best
machine that fits the bill. The specs for this machine are excellent. I
like the 3-spindle design and the SXGA+ and UXGA options, but I am concerned
about the heft of the box. The price range seems to be a bit over budget
and it is rare. How about repairing the beast - is there enough available
spare parts?

The top choice would be the T20. This seems to be the best selection for
total utility. Its only problem is that it is limited to the XGA
resolution. The other problem here is that it is still priced out of my
budget - but a good look around may solve this.

I suspect, I will be looking for a 600X or higher. It seems the 600X has
been a good machine for so many and on EBay, there are parts for it that
number in to the thousands! It's why I've always drove a Ford Escort in
college. I could always find cheap parts for it anywhere. The search will
also include looking for the right priced A2xp and a T2x. The best part of
the later two options is that they are modern machines.

I'll let you all know the results of my search.

Again, thanks to all!
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Received on Wed Jan 21 12:20:57 2004