Lenovo ThinkPad 600E 2645 (26455JU) PC Notebook

Pros: Best keyboard ever, small and light, durable
Cons: Screen technology has improved since these were new, getting slow

I've reviewed many older laptops here on Epinions, and many modern ones as well. For my personal use, I usually have at least two, one modern and fast, the other older and easily replaceable (meaning cheap). I also always try to make one of my machines ...

Pros: Nice keyboard. Fairly thin and light. Excellent speaker system. Upgradeable CPU.
Cons: Backlight flickering issues. Short battery life.

I change laptops regularly, as I get bored with one or another. I don't like to have a huge investment in a laptop that will make me worry about losing or damaging it, so I budget myself to $300 max. My most recent acquisition is a ThinkPad 600E, ...

Pros: Dependability, flexibility, portability, bios setup and price, price and price.
Cons: Battery life and USB drivers need ocaisional downloading for newer devices.

Being a reseller of refurbished laptops, I found a diamond in the pile of coal with the IBM 600E. I have used and or sold all of the Win98 IBM laptops and I have chosen the 600E as my personal favorite. It's rock solid dependability is rivaled only by it's ultra portability and reliability. If you have a small space it makes the perfect PC replacement with or without the port replicator. It outperforms my e Machine Celeron 2 to 1 hands down. The only con to these machines that I can find is their battery life could be a little stronger, though I only use refurbished, I can't speak for new condition batteries. All in all the 600E and it's closely related cousin the 570 have to be the all time best value in the computer world today.

Pros: Durable, have never had an issue with either of mine (other than the battery)
Cons: Battery will not last, Pentium II 400MHZ is definitely adequate, but slow by today's standards.

I have worked with a few different ThinkPad computers over the last 6 years. Each one gets faster and has advanced standard features, but I have always held the 600E as my favorite for the period of time I had it. I liked it so much I bought my wife a used one for Christmas in 2003. I offered to buy her a newer T30 this year, and she just looked at me with a puzzled look, and asked why?

Its true, the 600E really does most of what one needs. I have a wireless card installed in my wife's 600E and she is good to go.... she spends to much time on the thing...

Many people go out and buy the latest and greatest, but my experience with the 600E has been truly positive. If you need something that is functional, something for the college student, retiree, etc. and need to stay within a budget... The 600E is a viable option.