What Do You Think of ThinkPads? \ stacker news ~tech

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517 sats \ 24 comments \ @kepford 3 Dec tech

I have a first gen Framework machine that I still use every day but my company provided machine is ThinkPad and I have bought some old ones that are pretty useful. I'm not gaming or anything so high performance isn't critical. Of course I run Linux on them so I don't need the latest and greatest hardware.

Any Thinkpad fans on SN?

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197 sats \ 2 replies \ @aljaz 3 Dec

I swear by them.

I have a prehistoric T61 which my dad still uses somewhere in his workshop. I had a T530 that was the best workhorse imaginable, by the end it looked like it was used in a warzone (chassis broken on corners due to falls and drops) and only being covered in puke (story for another day) ended that soldiers career.

The only one that ever died on me was x270 that I used as a spare travel companion but I abused it too much and the motherboard died and I got a replacement x250 too cheap to bother with replacing the motherboard on x270. I miss it tho, for years it was my primary travel laptop.

I also bought my parents some refurbishes t450s that work perfectly and i regret daily not getting more of them at the time.

Currently my primary laptop is t14s. I just wish it had more ram (only 32gb).

I owned dell xps and several macbooks and they all suck compared to thinkpads. Sadly as many pointed out older generations had better build quality (up to T530 was fine imho) but its still best bang for the buck. Its also incredibly easy to get spare parts for them for years.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @krispy_donkey 3 Dec

My man I have to ask, what are you using your laptop for that you need more than 32GB?

16 sats \ 0 replies \ @aljaz 23h

its mostly that modern software is broken.

i just have few browsers open, few code editors, some docker containers, the occasional virtual machine. I'm definitely bad at keeping insane amount of tabs opened, I have 64gb ram battle station in my home office and it still runs out of ram frequently xD

164 sats \ 6 replies \ @k00b 3 Dec

I think @ek has one?

30 sats \ 5 replies \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 3 Dec

I think he has a collection

1 sat \ 4 replies \ @ek 3 Dec

I do

37 sats \ 3 replies \ @kepford OP 3 Dec

What do you have if you don't mind sharing

I bought a X220 to use for testing. Upgraded it a couple years ago. Just ordered a T480 and I'm planning to do some upgrading.

My company machine is a P1. While it isn't as upgradable as the older machines I really like it.

48 sats \ 2 replies \ @ek 3 Dec

What do you have if you don't mind sharing

I shared my collection in #261900. Additionally, I now also own a refurbished X1 Carbon 9th Gen 14" i7-1165G7 1TB/32GB that I bought in April for 750€ which I use for work when I am traveling.

I regret a little that I bought it refurbished since the mouse button has some issues so I couldn't use the trackpoint as well which used to be one of my favorite things on Thinkpads. But I think it was still a good deal for the specs and the touchpad for moving and clicking works well enough. I also think there is something off with the keyboard on the newer models compared to the old T1 models. Typing on them doesn't feel as satisfying.

I still love my old Thinkpads since I bought them really cheap (<100€) and they are perfectly fine to just browse the internet, watch movies or anything else that doesn't require a good CPU since I upgraded all of them to use a SSD and at least 16GB RAM iirc. But they don't have HDMI, only VGA.

I bought a X220 to use for testing. Upgraded it a couple years ago.

Is it the tablet version? I bought my X220t because I wanted to have a cheap tablet that I could use for university notes or drawing.

Just ordered a T480 and I'm planning to do some upgrading.

Did you buy your Thinkpads used or new? At some point, I even considered to become a Thinkpad reseller on eBay because I saw a lot of good deals and I assumed there will always be some demand for them so they shouldn't lose much value over time (especially if you already bought them for not much).

33 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford OP 3 Dec

Is it the tablet version? I bought my X220t ...

No. That would be cool. Only has VGA out.

Did you buy your Thinkpads used

Used. Did upgrade the drives and RAM. Bought on eBay for reasonable prices. Not steals but I don't regret them.

62 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 3 Dec

Cool, have fun with them :)

37 sats \ 0 replies \ @Dash_1971 3 Dec

The t440p can be upgraded to a decent daily driver (4 core CPU, 16GB memory) running Linux with the advantage it's cheap and you can run Coreboot which has the option to disable Intel ME. (Intel's backdoor). It's over a decade old now but as far as I know is the latest model which allows this. All CPUs after this date are backdoored (AMD has PSP) Now, it's not perfect as it's a tank so not good for carrying around. It also guzzles power especially if you upgrade to the 4 core CPU. And you will need to fully open the case to get to the motherboard chips to flash Coreboot which is a pain, and also, you will need to use binary blobs for a few things (wireless etc) so it's not 100% FOSS. If you DDG or YouTube search you should be able to find out more info as it has a bit of a cult following. This is also a pre Lenevo model so it's ThinkPads how they used to be back in the good old days--built to last.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 3 Dec

I am a fan of thinkpad. The old ones were very robust. The quality became worse once it was sold to lenovo.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @krispy_donkey 3 Dec

I got a think pad for my new job, at thr recommendation of a friend who works for AMD. It’s pretty solid, I have some complaints but build quality isn’t one of them, at least not for this one (p14s). I’d still describe them as robust, it perhaps not so much as the old ones which were genuinely burglar-repellent .

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @itsTomekK 20h

I have t480 and Carbon X1 gen 6 - I'm very satisfied how durable they are, having water spilled, bumps and squeezes while traveling.

Both have some issues with GPU and power management however

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @itsTomekK 20h

I have t480 and Carbon X1 gen 6 - I'm very satisfied how durable they are, having water spilled, bumps and squeezes while traveling.

Both have some issues with GPU and power management however

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @0232e175b0 22h

basically they seems to be better by the end of 2018 and as well as an intel cpu with it i think they have better compatibility and works as charm. yep they now are at the best deals and no provide better prices for performence versus price

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @jddska 22h

I am using starlabs and novacustom laptops and I have flashed and reflashed coreboot multiple times, I would like to try thinkpads next time, maybe flashing libreboot in one of those compatible devices.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Roll 22h

I ve been testing a Thinkpad PS14, on linux too. So, far so good but it s been only 3 weeks :) Now, time will tell :)

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @nym 3 Dec

I love Thinkpads, and they have good Linux support and pretty upgradable.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 3 Dec

They do have good Linux support

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 3 Dec

I have one from the 2015-16 era. Seems to be working well.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @justin_shocknet 3 Dec

Was just looking at them but EliteBook maximalism wins the day

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @krispy_donkey 3 Dec

Used to hate them, back in the 00’s, these days I’ve done a bit of a U turn on them, the right specced ones can provide considerable bang for buck when Lenovo have their annual sale

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @LowK3y19 22h

Reminds me of the good ole days back in school all the teachers had one