Good laptop to install Windows 2000?

[Genralkidd]

I would like to run Windows 2000 on a laptop natively for some legacy applications and hardware. I was thinking about buying an old IBM Thinkpad laptop off eBay but I have no idea how new I can go with the Thinkpads. Does anybody know what the ideal laptop would be to install Windows 2000 or what I should take into consideration when looking for a laptop to run Windows 2000?

 

[Saberus]

I think any pre-Lenovo Thinkpad will work somewhat, and it might have issues with drivers. Getting hardware that old that's functional is going to be a pain in the neck.

You might be better off running a small VM instead.

 

[Saberus]

One possible alternative: Contact a local office that's been there since 2002 or so, the IT dept might just have an old Thinkpad or two they never got rid of that you could get cobbled together into a functioning machine. Just be ready to supply your own hard drive.

 

[Genralkidd]

I think any pre-Lenovo Thinkpad will work somewhat, and it might have issues with drivers. Getting hardware that old that's functional is going to be a pain in the neck.

You might be better off running a small VM instead.

I'm not too familiar with the entire Thinkpad line, you wouldn't happen to know what the most recent IBM ThinkPad is would you? I assume even the most recent pre-Lenovo Thinkpad should be capable of running Windows 2000. Unfortunately I can't use a VM for this as I have old devices that I need to use and they simply don't work or aren't recognized at all in newer versions of Windows.

Also, from what I've read, the biggest concern with installing Windows 2000 on newer hardware is its lack of supporting SATA drives. That being said, would that issue be removed if I set the laptop BIOS to IDE mode instead of AHCI? The remainder of the drivers I can find on my own, I just want to make sure it's possible to even install Windows 2000.

 

[Saberus]

I'm not too familiar with the entire Thinkpad line, you wouldn't happen to know what the most recent IBM ThinkPad is would you? I assume even the most recent pre-Lenovo Thinkpad should be capable of running Windows 2000. Unfortunately I can't use a VM for this as I have old devices that I need to use and they simply don't work or aren't recognized at all in newer versions of Windows.

Also, from what I've read, the biggest concern with installing Windows 2000 on newer hardware is its lack of supporting SATA drives. That being said, would that issue be removed if I set the laptop BIOS to IDE mode instead of AHCI? The remainder of the drivers I can find on my own, I just want to make sure it's possible to even install Windows 2000.

I am not that familiar with the Thinkpad line specifically, but a T40p might be what you should look for, it was released on 2003 and supports Windows 2000. I am now thinking you have serial devices that won't work with a USB adapter, as this is by far the most common reason to keep something that old around.

 

[Genralkidd]

I'm not too familiar with the entire Thinkpad line, you wouldn't happen to know what the most recent IBM ThinkPad is would you? I assume even the most recent pre-Lenovo Thinkpad should be capable of running Windows 2000. Unfortunately I can't use a VM for this as I have old devices that I need to use and they simply don't work or aren't recognized at all in newer versions of Windows.

Also, from what I've read, the biggest concern with installing Windows 2000 on newer hardware is its lack of supporting SATA drives. That being said, would that issue be removed if I set the laptop BIOS to IDE mode instead of AHCI? The remainder of the drivers I can find on my own, I just want to make sure it's possible to even install Windows 2000.

I am not that familiar with the Thinkpad line specifically, but a T40p might be what you should look for, it was released on 2003 and supports Windows 2000. I am now thinking you have serial devices that won't work with a USB adapter, as this is by far the most common reason to keep something that old around.

I ended up buying a Lenovo ThinkPad T61. It's relatively newer but actually has Windows 2000 drivers available. So far it's working great. And actually I have a few USB devices that only have drivers for Windows 2000 or earlier. I've tried the drivers on newer versions of Windows but none of them work.

 

[Saberus]

If it has drivers, it should do you well as long as it's in decent condition.