You just threw shade at LTT? You just gained a sub

Lets just take a moment to appreciate the beautiful shots of the thinkpad that we're getting.

i dont know why but its really fascinating hearing you talk about this topic

I bought a T400 for R$250 (for a laptop in Brazil, it's cheap) and I couldn't be more happy. With an SSD and ram upgrade, it runs great and the keyboard is amazing. The trackpoint is a little tricky to use but I'm getting used to it.

i could watch videos of old thinkpads anytime and never get bored

The real story behind this laptops... Vendor #1: Hey man I'm gonna step out for a smoke. Can you watch my laptop? Vendor #2: Huh? Yeah, sure... whatever... Sebi: How much for this laptop? Vendor #2: Uhhhh, $5?

That's a great deal at that price, i bought T520 last week for about 150€ in Germany, with i7 2670QM and Nvidia 4200M, it's barely used like new. I love older Thinkpad laptops way more than any modern machine.

Well if laptop don't handle Win10, we always have Linux or Android64x

Saying NO to a 5$ ThinkPad is self insult !

I just picked up a T14 Gen3 with i7-1260p for $400. $140 in upgrade to 1TB M.2 and 40GB of RAM. This thing is perfect for on the go studying and work. Even plays games with the integrated Intel IRIS video.

I picked up a used T520 last summer from Craigslist. i5-2520m, 8 gig ram (2 x 4), new 9 cell Lenovo brand batter with less than 1% wear, 1600 x 900 display, and the NVS 4200M graphics. Nice machine, but after a year I picked up a T530 for two main reasons. USB 3 (the T520 is limited to USB 2) and a backlit keyboard. Aside from that I don't see any noticeable performance difference between the two. But I use a laptop in low light conditions a lot so the backlit keyboard is a great benefit to me over the T520s ThinkLight, and the USB 3 is essential to a lot of what I do. I know that some will think I'm crazy, but I'll take the backlit newer style keyboard over the non backlit OG keyboard anyday for how, when, and where I use a laptop. I was used to it within a week and I wouldn't go back.

A T520 is my desktop workstation. Upgraded to a Quad-Core, 16gb RAM, FHD LCD screen from a W510, 3 SSDs, and an external DVD drive, all driving 3 external FHD screens through a 4338 dock. Love it- still more than fast enough for everyday work.

Got a T520 off Ebay for $40, not missing anything and everything is in perfect working condition (few minor cosmetic scuffs, but that's to be expected). These really are excellent laptops, and I love that I can just get a replacement battery if or when needed. I hate these new ones that just end up in a landfill because batteries are internal and not meant to be changed by user.

Dang nice find. I'm amazed all the time how cheap these kind of things are getting. People are almost giving them away at this point. I just picked up an L520 for $35, a lower quality version of this and I'm able to use it as a daily driver for most things. You could probably find an i7 for pretty cheap and a bigger copper pad heatsink from an L412 and bring it to quad core. I think.

I'm actually using the same laptop watching this video at work. Paid $2200 for it back in 2012 with lots of high end parts like 32gb ram, dual harddrives SSD. It's a beast of machine takes punding and still runs fine.

It is unbelievable to get a Thinkpad at the cost so stated in this video . Previous generation Thinkpads were very sturdy and reliable machines for sure. Slight tuning and upgrade and we are confident previous gen Thinkpads can effectively handle most of the features of the latest expensive laptops.

I love the ThinkPad nipple! I was at a trade show a while back and they had the 25th Anniversary ThinkPad on show and naturally I had a play with it. The kid manning the display was astounded that I preferred the trackpoint and I could use that way faster than the trackpad :) I felt proud. Proud but old!

Also, an HDD isn't the worst thing ever for a boot drive. It takes a few seconds longer than an SSD but it's acceptable. I think most of the problem is that most people use slower 5400RPM HDDs that have been used alot and they slow down. My 7200RPM 1TB HDD I bought not a while back boots up just a few seconds longer than a new SSD I just installed in my ThinkCentre. Not saying an SSD is worthless though. The speed is noticeable, but if I was forced to use a 7200RPM HDD as a boot drive, I wouldn't mind.

Man, I see these every day but never give them the light of day, I even skip the t430's and t530's because ive never really given them a chance, ill see if I can pick one up from work today, let me know if you are looking for a T530 Sebi! or anything like an x230t, another x301/x300, or something like a X131e, which i know they sound bad, but i gave one a chance and was surprised with how well it worked with just a 60gb ssd.

Nice video as always, this laptop sure isn't the most portable Thinkpad but given the big 15.6" screen and that $5 price, you just can't walk away from it

little fun fact, on the x20 models, the trackpad texturing is actually a sticker, you can remove it and replace it with literally anything else, or just remove it.

I really miss laptops like these, the ports, the size, the disc drive.

Used to have one of these upgraded to 16 gb of RAM and it ran beautifully. Gaming was decent when using it with MSI afterburner. Even basic Solidworks and AutoCAD ran without issues. Loved this clunky computer and its indestructible shell.

Very, very nice video! Extremely well put together! I could learn a thing or two from you!

I have a w541, best laptop I’ve ever had. It has a quadro k1100m, so I just use it for light gaming. I just recently found out it has a m.2 slot, so I got a little more storage too. The only downside is that the battery only lasts like 20 minutes but I don’t take it anywhere anyways

I always find the videos on this channel to be full of useful information, presented in a clear, no-nonsense way. The Lenovo laptop in this video looks to be a good machine, especially with the option of three drive bays, and considering the price of just $5. Sweet deal!

That was a screaming deal on a T520!

I personally use a T520 as my main laptop now, while the weight of almost 3KG(sorry I previously misremembered it being 3.9KG, which is a lot heavier then it actually is) probably makes it the heaviest laptop in my entire class, it works fine and the typing experience is wonderful. 5USD for one of these is definitely a insane bargain, I paid 5000NTD(around 167.2USD)for mine and spend another 27USD to upgrade the RAM to a total of 10G, I'm planning to install a SSD later. As a side note, for some reason 15 inch ThinkPADs are kinda rare here in Taiwan, but I'm not sure why.

Got a T420 that is fully loaded (fingerprint, 1600 x 900 screen, 8 GB RAM, Bluetooth and more I have forgot to mention) and I love it. Since owning a ThinkPad 770 (still got it, going strong to this day) I have sworn by ThinkPad's. Did buy a MacBook in 2007 ish, after a few months the plastics started cracking so I changed back to ThinkPad's by getting an R60e (guess what - that one is still also going strong) until 2014 when I got my T420 that I am typing this on now. Absolutely love they keyboard and after trying the new "island" keyboards in work on the T480, while perfectly useable and much better than that disgrace the new MacBook's have, given the choice I would still use they keyboard on my T420.

Classic Thinkpads rock. I've got an old T60 with the Intel GMA 950 graphics upgraded to a T7200 Core 2 Duo @2.0GHz with a 240GB SSD. It originally had a T2400 Core Duo but the only reason I upgraded was to get a 64 bit CPU so I can run modern Linux distributions as 32 bit support is starting to fall off. I'm honestly amazed at what it can do. Even today basic web browsing and 720P KZfaq is doable. Forcing hardware acceleration in Chromium along with H264ify helps a ton with these older systems. And that trackpoint combined with the 7 row keyboard is heaven.

Awesome, it's great to see that it's not just England that do 'carboot sales' Always some great deals to be had in places like those, because people just want to get rid of as much stuff as possible

The T520's are VERY capable machines, even a decade later. They can be swapped to quad-core, and an external GPU can easily be connected to it. And yes, this is the very last 15" ThinkPad to have the "classic" keyboard. These were the last true ThinkPad's, when it came to simplicity and features. Now, ThinkPad is basically like any other modern laptop. It's kind of sad.

Meanwhile the seller's geek son at home: Where the ffff my thinkpad is!?

Sebi, you are a legend for liking comments on a year old video

The only thing that is better than that normally falls from a truck. And the Thinkpad would probably survive that without problems.

4:22 my heart stopped.

I convinced my Dad to buy a W540 off eBay, it actually came with the 3K IPS panel and a quad-core i7. The viewing angles and colors are amazing. I can assure you the 15" displays are miles better than the 14" counterparts.

The ThinkPads hold up pretty dang well! Impressed a battery that old has any capacity. Usually I find the battery ends up drained beyond the point of being able to take a charge at all.

Nice to see a fellow Yinzer sharing the love of the ThinkPad!

Balancing a Thinkpad in Dangerous Places -- The Movie

I found two 510 laptops in the yard at the recycler. Unplugged/replugged cmos, slapped Ubuntu on them, then gave them to the kids. Better than trashing some iPads!

I might be wrong about this but generally T5 thinkpads have better cooling solutions than T4s. And so I believe that the T520 might be able to take sandy bridge qm chips. If that's the case this machine could actually be upgraded later on to become a real piece of work.

Damn! Nice find. And here I thought I scored locally by picking up a T450 and 2 older laptops (doesn’t work) for $30usd. The T450 was untested without power brick as well, but it was in very good shape as it was in storage for awhile.

The T520 was my first laptop

Cool, I just bought a t520 three days ago on eBay and ordered 16gb of ram and a ssd. Can’t wait to see your upgrades!

The T420 is shockingly still very useful. $5 bucks very well spent!

A $5 T520, I'm going to cry 😭 You should reconsider upgrading it, luckily power supplies are universal with ThinkPads as long as yours has the same jack (barrell vs squared plug).

Hah! I came here thanks to your vid on the AFFS panel for an X201/X200. This T520 is absolutely a treat, I was lucky to get 3 of them out of service for about 100 bucks each, ripped the i5 CPU, the 16x9 disp and the 320G HDD out -- bumped the ram to 16G, CPU to i7-2760QM(had to get 135W AC adapters to support this), replaced panel with a 1080P LCD, and finally, stuffed in an mSATA 256G SSD and a 512G 2.5" SSD. I now have 3 Dual-booting tricked-out classic beasts running W10 and LinuxMint 20. Could not be any happier. A beautiful machine made fully awesome with some significant upgrades. Love 'em! Thanks for the vids!

Another nicely done video of your epic ThinkPad adventures! Thanks

i just found a dell inspiron 570 with a gtx 960 OC for 6 bucks, so that first line is definitely relatable.

That's cheap!! Although I got an X250 i5 with a touchscreen 8gb/256ssd from a selling app called Mercari for $135 but when I got the laptop the seller sent the wrong charger but since I already own two Thinkpads (a T420s and T460) I was able to charge it and when it booted up it was running Windows 7 with all the drivers missing it can't connect to the internet and the USB ports are not working so since the seller sent the wrong charger I had a reason to return it, I'm not the most technical person so I didn't want to bother with it and when my return was approved the seller decided he didn't want it back so I got a refund and I kept the laptop lol. So basically got it for free. I was able to change the boort seuqence from the BIOS and I was able to utilize one of the USB ports and I installed Windows 10 Pro on it and now it's running amazingly and added a second ssd (it has an internal m.2 slot). Now my next project is to hackintosh my T460 (I gifted my T420s to my friend after I got the X250 to work).

3:47 so much metal inside :) The modern ones are changing to flimsy plastic more and more...

5 dollars? That's a steal!

Gotta say, I'm very jealous. I've got a very nice T61, but this certainly blows it out of the water on quite a few levels. I still like my T61 as it's an absolute tank. Not even Thanos could snap it out of existence.

I got a used X300 with a dead battery and a UMTS modem for free when a company where dad worked was going to sent them for recycling, even have the vista sticker and a license key. If only there was a way to get storage without replacing the disk drive with a bay. Whos bright idea it was to use 1.8 inch sata drives instead of normal 2.5 I'll never know.

Typing this from my T420! Was about $200 4-5 years ago. SSD and some RAM have really kept it going.

I used to agree with you on that a 15.6 inch laptop was too big and clunky. Ever since I went dumpster diving in my school's ewaste dumpster and got a HP ProBook 6570b. I decided to use this ProBook to replace my Dell Latitude e5430 (14 inch). Both of these systems have near identical CPUs (i5-3340m) and just took the SSD and RAM from the Latitude to upgrade the ProBook. I also got a ProBook 6560b, which is closer in specs to your T520. I did grab the fingerprint sensor off the 6560b and moved it to the 6570b, because thats a feature I care about. Now here are some features I gained by upgrading to the ProBook. • Better I/O (Serial port, more USB, FireWire, etc) • Better 1600x900 screen • Numpad • Fingerprint scanner (had to take one out of a ProBook 6560b • The laptop doesn't freeze when I pick it up (the Latitude did this, and it was annoying) Here are some things I lost when upgrading to the ProBook. • The better keyboard (the ProBook's keyboard is not nearly as nice as the Latitude's) • The better battery life (to be fair, I got the ProBook's probably 8 year old battery out of a dumpster as well.) What's ironic is a free dumpster laptop has less issues than my $100 Latitude. The ProBook runs Windows 7 and 8.1 pretty well. I have installed Windows 10 on a friend's Probook 6570b (exact same specs as mine, just with a lower end SSD PLUS) and it runs it pretty well. Which I use Windows 8.1 on my ProBook for two reasons: (1) I don't like Windows 10 and (2) the fingerprint driver works in Windows 8.1.

My current Lenovo ThinkPad is a T530, (Windows 10) which I bought for the i7 processor and CD/DVD drive. Looking back, I could have bought a T440, since Ye Olde Lenovo ThinkPad SL 410 is a handy size. It does everything I want it to do and has replaced a "needs a CLA 2012 Apple MacBook Pro" as the "high tech" laptop. Would I get a newer ThinkPad? Well, the chicklet keyboards of current MacBook Pros don't impress me, so not now.

5:56 shots fired

i think it still sells at USD200 at my country as 'refurbished' laptop with 8gb ram and 240GB SSD. Its not manufacturer refurbished. More like some repair shops buy them for scraps and make it work a bit and sold it

Nice video Sebi, also.. 3:35 you're lucky the wind didn't get any stronger lol.

A T520 for a mere $5.. In the shithole of a country I live in even a "well used" T520 can't be found for under $200.. 😢

A used $250 T520 was my workhorse from 2014 until 2022.

Damn! Sebi is always downing the W500 series. 😧. I personal own a 14 inch ThinkPad because the 15 inch units always seemed to big and heavy to me. But mine is so old that the best CPU is a dual core duo so I'm looking to upgrade. Sebi always puts out the best videos. He knows Thinkpads better than any other KZfaq creator.

I literally just bought a Dell Latitude D620 and D630 (both with integrated Intel graphics.) This video makes me wanna get an old Thinkpad. Thanks. XD

Damn, what a steal, can't wait for the upgrade videos, particularly the screen one. ; )

And so the story goes: "I got this for $5, and I'm going to see what it will do without any upgrades." "Hmm, why is anyone still using spinning rust any more? Only $25 for a cheap SSD." "Only 4GB RAM--but see how easy it is to upgrade to 16GB." "The CPU is socketed, so you can upgrade it." "If you just get an Express Card adapter, and play with the drivers, then you can use an external graphics card." Been there, done that, though I'm too chicken to change a CPU and don't game. But my cheap T420 I got to try out Linux distros now has 8GB, a 256GB msata drive and a 500GB 2.5 inch SSD. They just sit there, asking you to show them love.

I am envious Dang 5 bucks for such a treasure

I love your video, it’s so relaxing, I watch it everyday in my college’s cafeteria!

Dear Mr. Sebi, you mentioned tthat minimum $500 bucks to get near a thinkpad's processing power. I concur. My beloved's windows 7 machine (may 2020) is giving her its near last rites, so I amk givi9ng her my toshiba c55. I am also awaiting my package containing my ordered thinkpad x201. It has more to go then the c55, and did not cost near $500 neither. I wish you well with your new 'w' pad!

$5 was a steal for a T520 :o

Holy... I'm impressed you find a cheap Thinkpad..

Best video to watch on a coffee break

I've bought a t420 yesterday with $120...

This T520 is amazing luck. $5 would give you a nice lunch at McDonalds for an average person.

I just got a free desktop. No gpu but came with the motherboard, i7 3770, 12 gigs of ram, obviously case, and a 320 gig hard drive. :)

High gamut AUO panel available in T520/W520/T530/W530 is amazing. Colors are vivid and viewing angles are not that bad. It's much better from most of cheap IPS screens installed nowadays. IPS panel I put into my X230 is way worse in terms of color reproduction and contrast.

Why are Thinkpads so fascinating? lol

3:38 POV: There is a train coming.

$5 ThinkPad T520 really?? I will buy 100 laptops immediately if available for me...

I run Linux Mint on my X230 Thinkpad and it runs great!

you got a great deal for $5! i got a Lenovo thinkpad Edge E535 & an HP G62, at a garage sale($25) both need some work, but the E535 is worth upgrading! thanks for a great video! have you gone back to the flea market for other bargains?

4240-49U. That's a T520 with a 1600x900 LCD and 1GB Nvidia 4200M dedicated graphics. For $5... SCORE!!!

In Britain we call flea markets “car boot sales”

Man - if only people sell old thinkpads with cheap price here. The best deal in could get so far is 35 USD for good condition T400 (only with 2GB ram and 80GB HDD) tho. A T520 like this would cost me at least 150 USD here. Some people even sell X220 for 200 USD++ here

Thats a steal

My T520 is indestructible, 1TB SSD and 16G memory are the only upgrades, love it!

Your videos show your experience with computers

The T520 also runs Ubuntu Linux famously.

Very informative, professional, and thorough video. Thank you very much.

No smartcard reader on that one, just a plastic filler. EDIT: Missed LMGs T25 retro video. They bashed the trackpoint there also.

On the t420 if you still have one have you let not force the window update to 2004 and if so can you do a video on that if you all ready did how does it run on the t420. I am still waiting for the 2004 windows update on the T420

THICCpad

very good narration. i could fall sleep easily

That intro shot though! I was scared a train would come running and smash the laptop. Will there be a follow up video where you'll upgrade the RAM and put in an SSD?

Still better than my laptop lol

Great vid would love to see how this runs with an egpu

My favourite thinkpad is the x201, that can be upgraded from the first gen original processor to a chinese intel 8th gen i5/i7 x210 board!!!

I picked one up on ebay about a year ago without the fingerprint reader or even the thinklight oddly enough. I was debating of doing a CPU upgrade, but have not yet. These models are certainly the last of it's kind, something like this definitely deserves all the love it can get (i7 swap maybe?) Anyway, great vid as always bud, looking forward to more vids about the T520!

What keyboard is making that sweet sound in the intro?