# IBM Thinkpads... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 29, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994 "2004-03-29T02:09:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/1 "2004-03-29T02:09:26Z")
Anyone ever own or know anything about IBM Thinkpads? I just got a 760ED thinkpad. The problem is – I didn’t know that you have to switch out the 3 1/2inch floppy for the CDrom drive. So, I have a few questions: 1) Is there any site that’ll show you the proper way to do it? and 2) Is there a site that has the drivers for the 4x IBM cdrom that goes with it? and what else should I know about my thinkpad that might be quirky? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/2 "2004-03-29T02:19:25Z")
I have an IBM Thinkpar T20 from 2000…and I hate it. Part of it is that the sottware I have to run on it is no good on a laptop (math and CAD software for school. It overheats and has memory issues.) I don’t know about yours, but to switch out the Ultrabay in mine, there is a little tab next to the drive, very small. I flick it, and a bigger tab flips out, and a message on the screen says “please wait”, then it tells you can change the drive, and you pull on the large tab, the drive comes out, you put the new on in, push in the big tab, and you’re good to go. But NEVER pull out the drive until it tells you to, otherwise you need a hard reboot (which on my laptop requires unplugging and taking out the battery.) ---
**Author:** ![Kaotic\_Newtral](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@Kaotic\_Newtral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaotic_Newtral)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/3 "2004-03-29T03:47:57Z")
I love my T30 laptop. It’s a 1.8ghz and instead of dragging my PC to LAN parties I drag it instead. Besides that, it does everything pretty well. I’ve never had a problem with it. The only ‘quirky’ thing I’ve found about it is that I need my docking station to use my USB mouse. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/4 "2004-03-29T07:22:44Z")
[IBM’s official drivers for the 760 series](http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=DSHY-3PGTDY) Find out about quirks here. There are [a bejillion (364, to be exact) FAQ and KB items on the 760 ED](http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/product.do?doctypeind=4&doccategoryind=0&template=%2Fproductpage%2Flandingpages%2FproductPageLandingPage.vm&brandind=10&familyind=50100&machineind=0&modelind=0&partnumberind=0&subcategoryind=0&validate=true) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/5 "2004-03-29T12:42:41Z")
Former 760 owner here, I think I found the one you want > [@](#): > > Installing the FDD: > 1.Make sure that no diskette is in the diskette drive. > 2.Open the LCD, then open the keyboard. > 3.Install the diskette drive. Press the down of the far end of the drive until it snaps into the connector. > 4.Lock the wire handle in place. > 5.Close the keyboard. > > Removing the FDD: > > 1. Open the LCD, then open the keyboard. > 2. Lift the handle on the diskette drive with the plastic tape (blue), and remove the diskette drive. The trick is opening the keyboard. I think the opening latches are on the sides of the machine, and you pull forward, if you push them towards the back of the machine, it should release the keyboard and let you flip it up towards the LCD screen. Don’t force it, it should come up VERY easily. There also is a plastic insert in place on the side of the box to accept the shape of the 3.5" drive, this must be removed when you put in the CD drive, which is bigger. I can’t recall if you need to unlatch it to get the 3.5" drive in and out, you’ll just have to experiment. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/6 "2004-03-29T12:47:44Z")
Oh, forgot to mention, the IBM site said to NEVER try and hot swap out the drives, always shut down first. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/7 "2004-03-29T20:17:54Z")
I always thought that was a cute design on the older Thinkpads. Instead of access doors all over the place, just make the keyboard removable and have everything accessible in bays below it. ---
**Author:** ![Eli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@Eli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eli)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/8 "2004-03-29T21:05:10Z")
I got a T40 yesterday. (That’s it. Just wanted to brag. :)) ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/9 "2004-03-29T23:42:22Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > I always thought that was a cute design on the older Thinkpads. Instead of access doors all over the place, just make the keyboard removable and have everything accessible in bays below it. Having dealt with a number of older Tthinkpads with this design I’d almost consider it a design flaw, as the spring loaded side latches on these units are _extremely_ prone to breaking and failure over time. ---
**Author:** ![Freiheit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/10 "2004-03-30T03:10:44Z")
Not to insult anyone, but I think it’s funny that half of the results for an eBay search for > [@](#): > > **Labtop** are thinkpads. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/11 "2004-03-30T03:39:12Z")
> [@Freiheit](#): > > Not to insult anyone, but I think it’s funny that half of the results for an eBay search for are thinkpads. Re the “nerd’s” opinion I’ve played with a lot of different notebooks and IBM Thinkpads are usually regarded as among the sleekest, most desired, most expensive and best constructed notebooks. Having dis-assembled a number of units down to the component level (IMO) Thinkpads sold over the last 5 -6 years or so are generally a distinct level above most other units in terms of the quality of internal and external construction vs the competition. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/12 "2004-03-30T04:01:34Z")
> [@Eli](#): > > I got a T40 yesterday. > > (That’s it. Just wanted to brag. :)) Oh yeah? I have two T40’s at my desk. Docking stations and all… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![remisser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@remisser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/remisser)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/13 "2004-03-30T12:12:51Z")
I think I’ve got the switching of drives down pat… only thing is, when I put the CDrom drive in, and turn the computer on, it gets to a screen in DOS that looks like a crude ascii animation of asking for a disk to be put in the 3 1/2 inch floppy drive that I swapped out for the CDrom. I hit F1 (since it indicates you can hit that to continue) and I get an error message of sorts… (just a bunch of random numbers) hrm. ---
**Author:** ![vasyachkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c5a1d2/32.png) [@vasyachkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vasyachkin)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2004, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ibm-thinkpads/236994/14 "2004-03-31T07:02:47Z")
i have a T20 too.