Deciding what ThinkPad might be best for 7/XP use

[CommanderKeen]

Hey everyone, I'm basically kinda new to the ThinkPad gang and was wondering what would be the best one to go with, I'd like to dualboot 7 and XP, maybe Vista if it doesn't cause too many issues. This won't be my daily driver obviously, but I do wanna use it for older Legacy programs and games. The first one that caught my eye was the T420s, has even XP support and it's newer. But I'm really not sure...

I'm up for any suggestions! Pricing is not a problem but I don't think I could afford a W701

[Gonzaleitor]

I would go for a T61 for an XP machine!

[theterminator93]

I would recommend T400/T500/W500. This generation uses the 1066 FSB Core 2 CPUs, has discrete GPU options that aren't failure prone, and later models come with LED LCDs. They have native SATA-II support in the primary drive bay as well as in the Ultrabay, and the T500/W500 has the ability to run the same WUXGA displays found on the T61p. Furthermore they shipped with all three OS's as an option from the factory: XP, Vista or 7 - so finding restore media and software/driver support for the OS of your choice is easy.

[dr_st]

I second theterminator93's suggestion, and for games I would make sure to go with a discrete GPU option.

If you put XP and Win7 on it, there is no need for Vista. It doesn't cover any bases that aren't already covered by either XP or 7.

[JBUK]

I am using dual boot XP and Win10 on my T61, T520 and T530 without any problems so you could safely take your pick from these models.
I favour the T520 for its last of the line traditional Tpad keyboard but to be honest if you only want a 4:3 display the T61 is more than adequate for browsing and normal office activities but I cannot advise about gaming although I cannot see why it will not handle legacy games.
The T5xx are the last of the line with Ivybridge CPUs that natively support XP so that is your upper Thinkpad performance limit for games.

[sunder]

I just installed XP on a T400 with a dgpu and so far it seems pretty great. Realistically, most of the use I'm going to get out of this is playing some old games so the aspect ratio is really not ideal, but I have it docked to an old display anyway so it's something I personally can live with. It's also not the most power efficient, silent or powerful machine but it's more than enough for anything I'd use XP with.