Originally Posted by Simon - PG Music
Originally Posted by Notes Norton
In fact, my 2002 ThinkPad still works
My 1999 and 2003 ThinkPads both still work, although the 1999 is starting to have an intermittent backlight problem.
I had two 2002 ThinkPads, actually they both work, but the rigors of one-nighters made one unusable. The hinge broke in a fall, and it will cost more to fix it than it's work.

A couple of years ago, I replaced both my on-stage ThinkPads with new ones, including the 2002 that still works. Since COVID we do a lot of outdoor gigs. Therefore, I gig in a lot of dark places, and I wanted the back-lighted keyboard.

I have two ThinkPads up and running at all times on stage. I only need one, but I am a "the show must go on" performer. Since 2002, when I started, I've had to use the second computer twice.

The first time, the CMOS battery died, and wouldn't boot, so I moved the USB to Audio interface to the second computer and gigged. Next day I learned how to manually enter a date and boot the computer, plus, spent $5 on a 'coin' battery and fixed the problem.

The second one was on the computer that the hinge eventually broke on. After dropping it, mid-gig, I noticed a mechanical noise coming from the hard drive, so I moved the USB over to the other computer and - on with the show. I had the drive replaced the next day. All data is always backed up on more than one flash drive.

My new ThinkPads have solid state hard drives, so the bouncing around packing in and packing out up to 6 days a week in the tourist season (less in the summer) shouldn't affect the drive.

My first ThinkPad was an IBM running Windows XP. When Lenovo bought the ThinkPads, they kept the quality up, and as long as they keep that up, I see no reason to buy a different brand.

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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