Lenovo ThinkPad T61 Revival

[thevacuumman]

I picked up this little Lenovo Thinkpad T61 from a local junk store for about $30. It had no hard drive and the computer wouldn't complete it's POST due to a fan error. After replacing the fan and new thermal paste on the heatsink, It is working correctly now. It also received a Intel 120GB SSD that I got off of ebay for about $60. I haven't decided if this is going to be my new laptop for running Ubuntu or if I'm going to put Windows 8 onto it.

 

[human]

Linux Mint?

For basic Web surfing, e-mail and office productivity on an older machine, you can't beat the Linux experience. Ubuntu is a great choice, although these days I prefer Linux Mint. I've got a 2006 vintage HP/Compaq NC6200 laptop that is quite happy on the latest Linux Mint with the lightweight xfce interface. I ran Ubuntu on it for a while but I kept running into glitches that Mint resolved instantly.

I would absolutely avoid putting any sort of Windows on it. Too much of a resource hog for older hardware.

 

[jodan3399]

My son has my old Thinkpad R61e. It should run Ubuntu nicely.

He has Kali running on his, it came with Vista *shudder*, it's never been so fast.