Thinkpad with built in printer

Z

zorlof

Member
My quest to get all of the various oddball Thinkpads (and a decent chunk of non-oddball Thinkpads) is one step closer to completion. Behold the latest addition to my collection, the 555BJ, a 1993 Japan-only Thinkpad that features a built in printer!

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You feed paper in the front, as shown, and it passes through the laptop and your printed copy comes out the back. This one needs a little TLC mechanically and needs cleanup, but early inspection is promising. I expect I will be able to get this fully working!
 
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Performa

Performa

Member
That is extremely cool! What sort of printer is it that they managed to cram it inside the laptop itself?

I've seen luggables with printers "built in" but this is something else!
 
Z

zorlof

Member
It is a Canon print mechanism and it uses the world's cutest ink cartridges. Tiny little things that are only good for 50-75 pages. I don't think the ink is still made but cartridges are still quite easy to locate new in box (model Canon BJI-101). I recently learned that as part of this IBM/Canon collaborative, Canon had the right to market the same laptop in the US and Europe, under their own name. And they did, as the Canon NoteJet (equivalent to the Thinkpad 500BJ) and NoteJet II (Thinkpad 555BJ). The Canons and IBMs basically look identical, other than logos and sometimes the case color--the IBMs were always black, but Canon used a couple of different colors.

The 500BJ/NoteJet did not have TrackPoint on the keyboard, but the 555BJ/NoteJet II that came a year later did. I'd like to find a NoteJet II that I could harvest the keyboard from to try it in my 555BJ. I like Japanese keyboards, but it would be fun to try to make a hybrid since it's all IBM parts (for the keyboards) either way.

There is a NoteJet (NOT NoteJet II) on ebay I wouldn't mind having, but I have to see if the seller is willing to come way down: https://www.ebay.com/itm/325309432142. There is no "make an offer" option, but I will try message to them.
 
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