Toshiba Satellite 4010CDT

Posted by DL444@reddit | retrobattlestations | View on Reddit | 17 comments

Very lucky to get this wonderful laptop in great condition. The previous owner treated it so well it's still like new - not a single scratch or dent to be seen. Even the mouse buttons are still spotless, something very hard to come by. LCD is in great condition.

It originally came with Pentium II 266MHz, 32MB of RAM, and a 4GB HDD. I swapped the CPU with a 333MHz part of a later stepping, added an additional 128MB of RAM, and pulled the spinning rust out for a 30GB SSD.

CMOS battery replaced with a new one, standby battery removed. After 20+ years those NiMH batteries are starting to leak and can cause fatal damage if not taken care of in time. Main battery is a Li-ion battery pack that I'm not sure how to rebuild, so it was just removed.

I would say it is an amazing sample of its time, featuring a clean, sturdy design that still turns me on today. It offers an extensive selection of ports, including a USB 1.1 port for your modern mouse/keyboard and a pair of PCMCIA slots for networking. Most notably, unlike many other laptops from this time, on this one the FDD and CD-ROM drives are both internal, so no need to carry a separate FDD case around.

Drivers are easy to find (Toshiba/Dynabook even kept them online until very recently), parts and donor machines are still plenty, disassembly guide is available, and the machine itself is generally very easy to service.

[-]

Active-Signature-816@reddit

That is so excellent

Oh my god .... wow you just took me back to memory lane

Dutch_Disaster@reddit

Cool machine

fuzzmonkey35@reddit

It looks exactly like my 320CDS except you can beef yours up way more than mine it seems.

DL444@reddit (OP)

Satellites 300/310/320/4000/4010/4020 CDT/CDS all use the same case, so they indeed look the same. The motherboards are even interchangeable. 40x0 series uses Pentium II on a daughter card, so you can swap the card to replace the CPU. 3x0 series uses Pentium MMX soldered to the board, so not easy to replace.

I have XEmacs, Turbo C++, Turbo Pascal, Watcom C++, MikTex LaTex, QBasic, and Microsoft Office all on 64 MB of RAM and Windows 98. It’s a fun little machine for exploring ideas.

dualboot@reddit

This laptop was my daily driver in 2000 until early 2002. I miss that laptop.

This-Requirement6918@reddit

I have a 4025CDT I've been using for 10 years now almost daily until here recently when I switched over to a Dell Inspiron 8200 for a beefier CPU. (Using Publisher 2010 in XP)

Original battery pack in mine still holds a decent charge. The date code is from 1998 but I've been doing step charges since I got it to recondition it. It used to stay on for almost 3 hours but I usually get just an hour out of it now. Still uses the original 6GB disk to boot the OS and applications, I save everything to a CF card in the PC Card slot.

It has been an absolute tank and the keyboard is one of my favorites to type on.

0KlausAdler0@reddit

"safety first sir"

"Kirov reporting"

"Ka boom"

"Gp to the inflator room"

"The hospital administrator is cheating"

HAVE FUN ☺️

systemofamorch@reddit

I got one of these ages ago for about a tenner, but it was the dual scan CDS, loved it so much i bought the CDT LCD model, and when i was at a carboot, i found another CDS so i have 3 of them now

all have the internal batteries removed and work 95% just brittle plastic and mouse can be spongy

great sound support though

drivers here: https://archive.org/details/4000-4010-4020-rc-2-win-98-disc-1

and generic toshiba drivers https://archive.org/details/toshibalaptopdrivers

NinjaBreadM4N@reddit

That fella looks pristine! Glad such a gem has found an owner who appreciates its charm after so many years of service.

I inherited my grandfather's Satellite and I have fond memories of playing simple DOS games and fumbling through solitaire. Unfortunately, between the NiCad battery corrosion and the LCD rot, my old boy has done his last dash. I'm very jealous that you've got one that looks like it came out of the factory yesterday.

Have fun with your lil guy! And thanks for showing him off!

Thanks. It's really unfortunately that old leaky batteries are killing those laptops fast these days. I also have a 440CDT in great exterior condition, however the battery had killed the motherboard. Fortunately I was able to locate a donor machine to resurrect it. Might post some other day.