Note: Additional pictures are located at the bottom of the page.
The IBM ThinkPad 701 is a truly iconic piece of history, also known as 'The One with the Folding Keyboard'.
Yes, that one, the 701 was the only model to feature the 'Butterfly' keyboard, released back in 1995, the concept was a laptop which was compact, but at the same time didn't feature the ridiculously large screen bezels which all laptops at the time did. The problem was that screens were small and fitting a full-size keyboard in the same chassis required large bezels to fill the gap, so what did IBM do to change this?
They made the keyboard fold into two triangular pieces forming a rectangle which fit under the lid when closed, yet was able to spring out overlapping the chassis when open. The result? A compact laptop with a full-size keyboard without large bezels, a magnificently engineered solution to a complex problem. It was a very popular laptop, even the Museum of Modern Art in New York still displays one of these for it's innovative design, if you haven't seen one before, take a look at it in action here:
Only the 701 came with the 'Butterfly' keyboard as larger screens became available making the keyboard mechanism redundant, anyway, enough of the history lecture, what about this particular unit?
The laptop is fully working with only minor cosmetic blemishes. The rubber floppy port cover is missing, and there are some traces of shine on the keys. The CMOS battery is dead, meaning it will not keep the date/time after turning off, but this is to be expected for a laptop of this age. This is the 'passive-matrix' screen '701Cs' model, but the screen is still in excellent condition with no bad pixels. It does full 16-bit colour, the only difference between the passive and active matrix versions is that the active matrix display has a greater contrast ratio and has a faster response time. This unit, rather amazingly, comes with the original box with all original accessories. The external floppy disk drive and docking bar with the mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer and speaker ports, as well as the printer adapter that connects to the floppy port. Now for the specifications:
- Intel 486DX4 75 MHz Processor
- 40 MB of RAM (originally comes with 8 MB, 40 MB is the maximum possible and is very rare to find these days)
- 4 GB HDD (upgraded from the original HDD)
- Battery and battery cover (it's dead, so it's for cosmetic purposes only, but it is not stuck in due to corrosion like some 701's)
- Original IBM AC Adapter
- PCMCIA Ethernet Card for Internet Access (drivers are installed)
- Windows 95B with all drivers and software installed
The casing is in solid physical condition, with some scratches and scuffs expected on a laptop this old. All covers except the floppy and PCMCIA cover are present. The screen is bright and clear, the sound works and the butterfly mechanism works smoothly when opening and closing. This is likely one of the last ones to be sold with everything included, it is the perfect addition to any ThinkPad collection. This has to be sold 'As-is' because of it's age. It will be dispatched within one working day (Monday to Saturday) or the very same day if ordered before 10am. It will be sent via Parcelforce express24 locally, or Parcelforce globalpriority internationally. The international postage cost is for the USA, it is actually considerably cheaper to ship to most other countries, I will refund the difference depending on your location. Due to the size and weight the postage costs are not cheap, if you wish to organize an alternative postage service, collection or have any questions feel free to message me about it.
