The Thinkpad 770-series was the last of the 700-Series machines before IBM shifted to a letter-based model designation. The 770 was a huge beast, which got larger as the series developed into the X and Z models.
A 770ED with the large 14" SVGA panel, MPEG-2 hardware and DVD-ROM. This particular machine is notible for not having a worn palmrest!
All 770-Series machines suffer from 4 age-related issues:
- There is a hibernation battery buried in the middle of the machine which leaks and corrodes the inside if it's not removed.
- The metal palmrest has a painted coating which seems to react to the natural oils in people's skin, causing it to lift and come off. Often you'll see a 770 with a bare-metal palmrest on the right hand side.
- The internal DC-DC board has capacitors that die and cause the machine to fail to power on.
- If the CMOS battery is dead, the machine will boot-loop, forcing you to set the clock, power-cycle the machine and repeat.
I've restored a bunch of 770 machines and whilst the case can be a little daunting to dismantle - being absolutely removed from how you'd tackle a 760, they're fairly logical, straightforward and simple machines to disassemble. They're very rugged and somewhat modular.
The later machines with the 14" displays are very impressive for their age.