Surprising how many eBay listings have picture of the laptops showing the Windows key.

Haha, and I've just realised what some listings meant when they said Windows Key: yes/no. Not the keyboard, the software key.

I'd go for a T-series ThinkPad or an HP ProBook, they're usually built like tanks. I'm also thinking of getting something like that, for the rare times I need a laptop - but I need something with decent screen resolution and yet not too heavy...

Thanks. The T410 does look rather good (or maybe a T520). Can even get one with a year warranty but looking at around £250 for that. Might be worth it though. I'll have a look at the HPs later.

I read a review that said the T410 comes with either 1280x800 or 1440x900 screens. Can only find the higher ones in other countries.

And would it resist being stood on if it's built like a tank?

All done. I just purchased a Lenovo T410 in excellent condition. Core i5, 4GB, 160GB. Working battery and charger.

Hopefully this will turn out to be a better purchase than the first laptop. Ended up spending way more on spare batteries and chargers.

Woo hoo. Arrived already. I like when new toys arrive so quickly.

And it is sooooo much better than the first laptop I bought. Pretty nippy. Lovely keyboard on it too which is one thing that a lot of people praise the Thinkpads for. And it even has a nipple :O

Nice laptop, and also better (in some ways) than brand new ones.

The T410 is the last larger ThinkPad with a 16:10 screen (ones after this downgraded it to 16:9), and the second last with the "classic" keyboard (modern ThinkPads now have the debatable "chicklet" keyboards instead).

I own an X201 (the smaller version of the T410) and after upgrading it to a 256GB SSD and 8GB of RAM, it screams along and is almost as fast as my missus's new ultrabook. Add in the awesome keyboard and nicer screen and it's a lovely little machine - despite being 4 years old.

:( still upset about the lack of 16:10 screens?

Yep. 16:9 sucks donkey balls :(

I was torn between this laptop and the T510 which has a 15.6" screen but 1366x768 resolution. Didn't quite seem right having a bigger screen with a lower vertical res.

Not sure if I've tried a chicklet style keyboard. How recent are they? The keys on this are surprisingly solid and wobble free. Best laptop keyboard I've ever tried.

Just realised that it only has 2GB of RAM though. The eBay listing was wrong :O The laptop also came with loads of family photos. They'd done a fresh install of Windows 7 and left the old user files in the Windows.old folder. All gone now, including 7 with a fresh install of 8.

Yeah, that's 16:9 for you. Introduced purely to cut costs - hence why I dislike them.

Bummer about the RAM. And Windows 8 for that matter  ;-) . I can post you a stick of 4GB DDR3 RAM if you like for the price of a stamp/envelope. PM me if you're interested.

The chicklet keyboards (also known as scrabble-tile) are the ones where each key is flat and clearly separated from the next one by a plastic/metal gap between them. They were introduced due to looking more "modern" and "stylish". They're not necessarily bad and certainly do look better, but I do personally prefer typing on the classic one myself. Classic Keyboard, Chicklet Keyboard.

Oohh, yes please. What speed is it and is it likely to work with this laptop? Do DIMMs need to be used in pairs? Or is that something to do with dual channel? Not that I know how many DIMMs are actually in this now.

Ah yes, I see the difference in the keyboards. Some have pretty big spacing compared to that laptop. I like this one just fine.

Should work fine. I'll test it in my X201 first to be sure. Probably a DDR3 10600 stick. We've plenty from work which are pulled as spares from scrapped machines, such that we have a box full of them (two of which found their way into my X201...)

Well it turns out I actually have the higher resolution 1440x900 screen. Oohh. That wasn't on the eBay listing. And neither was the built in camera.

Nice!! Personally, I'd take that over 2GB of RAM any day of the week, as the latter can be easily fixed. Shove an SSD in it as well at some point and it'll romp along very nicely :)

True. Not gonna change the screen but easy enough to put more RAM in there. And it a nice res on the screen.

I'd love an SSD in it. Surprised how much difference it made to my desktop. Biggest affect I've noticed changing any parts for a while. Makes their whole thing seem so much snappier.

And it makes me laugh when people get mixed up with their internet and computer going slowly.

I was helping Sian's grandfather with his laptop last week and it was running very very slowly. Same as his desktop. I don't know what he does to them. Something was taking ages to load and I must have commented that it was taking a while. He said his neighbour has the same problem because the phone lines are rubbish and the internet is slow where they live.

Well the memory turned up today, thanks for that, but... it doesn't work :( I tried it in the slot on the bottom of the laptop and also the one under the keyboard and when I turn the laptop on the screen stays black and nothing happens. Bugger. 

That's a sod! That'll teach me to be lazy and think "Ahh, that one will be fine, no need to pull my laptop apart and test it". Sorry! I'll bung an alternative one in the post for you that I *WILL* test first this time, and a basic 2GB stick as well in case all else fails.

Ah, I thought maybe it stopped working along the way here but if you didn't test it then maybe it wasn't working before. And I can't test it in my other laptop because that takes DDR2.

Cool, thanks. I can pay for you to send the next ones if you want.