IBM ThinkPad R52

1846 · 1847 · 1848 · 1849 · 1850 · 1858 · 1859 · 1860 · 1861 · 1862 · 1863 · 1870 · 1958 · 2005–2007 · laptop

Specifications

Cpu: Intel Pentium M (Dothan) 1.73 to 2.26 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 2 MB L2; Celeron M 1.3 to 1.5 GHz, 400 MHz FSB, 1 MB L2 on the budget machine types
Ram: max: 2 GB PC2-4200 DDR2 (2x 1 GB SO-DIMM) · base: 256 MB PC2-4200 DDR2
Ports: USB 2.0 x2 · VGA · S-Video TV out · Parallel · Serial · IrDA · FireWire (some models) · Gigabit Ethernet · 56k modem · PC Card and ExpressCard/54
Battery: Removable 6-cell Li-Ion, optional 9-cell and an Ultrabay battery in place of the optical drive
Display: 14.1" XGA (1024x768), 15" XGA, or 15" SXGA+ (1400x1050) TFT
Storage: base: 40 GB 2.5" PATA/IDE · options: 80 GB · 100 GB · 160 GB · Ultrabay Enhanced optical drive, swappable for a second hard drive caddy
Weight: 2.7 kg
Os Support: latest: Windows 7 (unofficial, 32-bit only, drivers are thin); Linux runs well and is the usual choice today · shipped: Windows XP Professional

Variants

Sizes

14.1" XGA2.7 kg with the optical drive fitted

15" XGA3.1 kg with the optical drive fitted

15" SXGA+1400x1050, the panel to look for

Upgrade paths

RAM

2 GB PC2-4200 DDR2 (2x 1 GB) · Two SO-DIMM slots, one under the keyboard and one under a bottom hatch. 2 GB is a hard chipset ceiling, not a conservative rating.

~$20

EASY

storage

2.5" PATA/IDE, or a CompactFlash or mSATA SSD behind an IDE adapter · Single screw on the side releases the drive tray. The IDE interface caps real-world speed, but an SSD adapter still transforms how the machine feels.

~$25

EASY

battery

9-cell Li-Ion, plus an Ultrabay battery in the optical drive slot · Cells in original packs are two decades old. Rebuilt packs are common, and running two batteries at once was the classic R-series trick.

EASY