Oldies But Goodies

Last Christmas, I saw a post on eBay of laptops recently retired from use and were being liquidated by a used electronics company. They were IBM T41 Thinkpads. Most of the models available were among the last ones produced by IBM before it was acquired by Lenovo. Newer Thinkpads already carry the Lenovo name. They were bidding items that I was fortunate enough to win. I was fairly confident in buying them having used IBM Thinkpads in the past, and knowing these things sell easily and die hard once I have them up and running. 

The laptops were missing power adapters and hard drives (since these are removed for data security reasons) that I could buy separately when they arrive. The batteries were declared "untested" and it's quite fair to assume that they no longer hold any charge. So it was quite a blessing when the laptops (I bought 4 units) came with strong batteries. Three of the four kept a charge of two hours each. They were like newly replaced batteries that I would have had to buy for a good sum had I intended to. I was only expecting to work on them using the adapter plugged into the wall outlet, but since they carried strong batteries, it was a big plus.

I bought IDE Laptop drives for each unit, installed Windows XP using the serials of each laptop, as well as Office and Chrome for a browser. They didn't have Wi-Fi so I plugged in a Wi-Fi antenna so I can connect to our home network and viola, they're all ready for sale. I posted pictures and descriptions on popular local online marketplaces, and in a matter of weeks, three of the four were sold, earning us extra spending cash. Why wouldn't they, when they all look fresh as new with clean keyboards, tight hinges, and complete decals? Only one is left as of this writing. Yes, it's the one with the dead battery, but it still works without it. So selling it would mean a lower price compared to the other three. But hey, I already broke even with the first two. I'm now planning on getting more of these in the future, or newer models if the price is right.