Searching for ThinkPad 770 parts at a reasonable price.

[ikethederg]

Recently got a cheap ThinkPad 770. It's missing a few keys, but importantly it's missing the optical drive, HDD caddy and RAM door. See online an optical drive is $120 and no way I will spend that much. Can't find a HDD caddy or RAM door online. There was a website but it was out of stock at least for some.

 

[Unknown_K]

I think you fell into the trap of finding a parted-out machine on the cheap and are hoping to complete it on the cheap, good luck.

Optical drives, RAM door, and the HD caddy are very specific to just that 770 line and hard to find.

Are you sure the unit works? People tend to part out broken machines, unless they just used it for parts for a nicer looking model or like to max profit on eBay without having to actually pack a vintage laptop. The sad fact is I would probably make more money parting out a working machine over a year's time then selling it as is (assuming I would want to sell).

A HD caddy sold for $20 back in August but I dort see them listed much.

 

[ikethederg]

I think you fell into the trap of finding a parted-out machine on the cheap and are hoping to complete it on the cheap, good luck.

Optical drives, RAM door, and the HD caddy are very specific to just that 770 line and hard to find.

Are you sure the unit works? People tend to part out broken machines, unless they just used it for parts for a nicer looking model or like to max profit on eBay without having to actually pack a vintage laptop. The sad fact is I would probably make more money parting out a working machine over a year's time then selling it as is (assuming I would want to sell).

A HD caddy sold for $20 back in August but I dort see them listed much.

I did find a drive for $50. High but not as crazy as some listings. It's untested but I expect it to probably work, I've gotten machines that work but for some reason the sellers remove the parts more often than not

 

[GiGaBiTe]

Used laptops with missing parts is super common. People throwing out their old laptops pilfer the drives and RAM and aren't nice enough to put the proprietary required parts back in.

Unless you have a laptop that was as ubiquitous as the McDonalds hamburger, getting replacement parts can be neigh impossible, or hideously expensive as you've figured out.

You may consider investing in a 3D printer and learning modeling software like Blender. The printer can pay for itself in just a few prints, and is why I have two of them. I design and print long obsolete and unobtanium car parts and computer parts with it. With how cheap filament is, you can afford to experiment with prototypes.

 

[ikethederg]

I mean that would be very useful for me for other things besides computers lol (I have an old rare car with hard to obtain interior parts, a 79 AMC Pacer wagon)

 

[3lectr1c]

Is it the one that sold on eBay recently? If so, it definitely looked rough. 770s are known to be rather unreliable so I wouldn't invest in parts like an optical drive unless you know it fires up once you through RAM in. Also make sure to remove the Varta CMOS battery, which is under the keyboard.

Service manual and other info is available on my website: https://macdat.net/laptops/ibm/thinkpad/770.php