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Used ThinkPad Buyer's Guide (2019)

40 points Mr_Minderbinder 10 hours ago 34 comments

mdspan 5 hours ago | parent

I really miss the customization that older laptops offered, especially the socketed CPUs. I remember putting a i7-3840QM in my T430 and having it shut down due to overheating every few minutes to the point where I had to install the heat sink from the GPU model. Was fun tinkering around with it and I wish modern laptops had a similar level of hackability.

Gathering6678 5 hours ago | parent

Never managed to get one myself, but Framework laptops could be your thing as well?

matltc 4 hours ago | parent

Hah I'm doing this with some models of that same era judging by the CPU you cited. I had frankensteined one laptop from like the best parts out of three I had from that era, got xubuntu on it, running fine-ish but the Wi-Fi antenna ran through the on-board display chassis, which was destroyed. Took off the top clamshell, was gonna put ether in it and use as a desktop, but oops! The clip holding ethernet cable fell out during disassembly! No prob, pop it back open, oops! One of the screws holding the mobo is stripped! (Also, wife goes into labor while everything disassembled) No sweat, get something from ace to extract. I think I ended up throwing it back together and not testing?

Forgot about it for a couple years, wanted to put opnsense on it and see if I could replace stock equipment leased from ISP, nope. No display.

Fun to a point but probably should just spring for a used thinclient at this point, but prices are scary and I hate letting all this hw go to waste

aljgz 2 hours ago | parent

You'll feel right at home with something from Frame.work (writing this comment from my 13" FW).

If they ever sell their 12" version with AMD cpu, I might get one as well.

Encouraged my friend to buy one, his feedback: "best piece of tech in my past few years."

unrented7977 49 minutes ago | parent

Everyone I know hates their framework and calls it unreliable garbage

bdunn 38 minutes ago | parent

I'm using a Framework 13 right now. I love it.

CrociDB 4 hours ago | parent

A newer guide would be good, as some of the information now is a bit outdated. But I love the concept. My main laptop where I do lots of programming and writing is an old T490s, i7 8th Gen, 16 gigs of RAM, running FreeBSD, that I paid around 150 euros last year. :)

zuuuuul 2 hours ago | parent

and now it's 300 :')

sandreas 4 hours ago | parent

I was looking for a Notebook (best case Thinkpad) with the following Criteria:

- Business class

- Ryzen 5 or greater (Strix Halo would be great)

- >= 32GB RAM (soldered would be ok)

- 14.5" WQHD 2560x1440 Display (>1920x1200)

- NO Numpad / centered keyboard

- >=70Wh Battery

There just is hardly anything to find in this category. There is Dell Precision, Hp Elitebook, LG Gram, Acer Swift... but somehow they all feel unsufficient. The Thinkpad P1 was close, but has Intel...

So I'm gonna wait until the Framework 16 Pro (if ever released) or until Intel gets another decent GPU upgrade so it can compete :-)

sigio 3 hours ago | parent

Thinkpad T14 gen 5/6/current should have AMD APU, has a 4k OLED, and 2 sodimm slots.

sigio 3 hours ago | parent

https://www.lenovo.com/nl/nl/configurator/cto/?bundleId=21WV...

sandreas 2 hours ago | parent

T14(s) is to small for my old eyes - see comment above ;)

sandreas 2 hours ago | parent

Yeah the T14(s) would be the right choice in nearly all of my requirements - even Gen 4 has Ryzen 7840 + OLED + 32GB configs (rarely, but available).

Unfortunately T14 is NOT > 14.5" Display... I would prefer a 15-16" Display (I'm getting old and my eyes are not as good any more), but all of these have a numpad, except the Thinkpad P1 which is only available with Intel and pretty expensive. So the only Ryzen > 14.5" Display option without numpad might be the Framework 16 or maybe some other non business or niche brand.

hypercube33 3 hours ago | parent

Lenovo think pads don't have strix halo... you'll have to go to hp for that and pay $1000 over list price for it. Asus rog z13 is probably the only hope for that.

sandreas 2 hours ago | parent

Yeah I know... ZBook Ultra G1a is the only "notebook" alternative while the z13 i more like a "Pad" with keyboard - and while the zbook seems to be a good notebook in general, it is not > 14.5". Otherwise I would have bought it right away.

To be real I already had my mousepointer over the "order" button, when it was 3099 with Ryzen 395+ and 64GB RAM, but I didn't do it and 3 days later it was 3299 - regrets ;)

Another option as buy a used T14s with Ryzen 7840, 32GB and 2k Oled for 699 - but it was too far to check it out and pay it in cash, so I skipped... regrets²

tosti 12 minutes ago | parent

The shit Lenovo does, spyware in hardware, spyware in software, cheap plastic, the E models... Yet ThinkPads are iconic kinda like how a MacBook is instantly recognisable and looks cute. ThinkPad does the same except it looks like it means business. Which perfectly fits their origin.

Would buy again unless something really good hits the market.

PennRobotics 4 hours ago | parent

Lenovo needs to fix the awful quality USB-C ports on modern Thinkpads.

Skwid 2 hours ago | parent

Hey, stop it! If they do that I won't be able to buy basically new machines for £200 any more!

daymanstep 4 hours ago | parent

I refuse to buy any laptop that doesn't have an easily swappable SSD. I don't want to have to open up the case to swap out the SSD.

Yes, I realize that this requirement limits me to 15-year-old Toughbooks and Getacs.

wkjagt 4 hours ago | parent

What is your use case? Do you have multiple SSDs with different OSes?

daymanstep 35 minutes ago | parent

Yes, I want to do dual boot (well, multi-boot) with one OS per disk.

Also sometimes friends come over to my house and need to use my computer to do their stuff. So it is convenient if I can easily swap out the SSD and hand it over to my friends.

ssl-3 4 hours ago | parent

I'm getting the sense from the comments here so far that I'm likely to be the only one still using a Thinkpad T530 from 2012.

It still works.

UncleSlacky 4 hours ago | parent

T60 user here - just upgraded the CPU to a T7400 C2D, added an SSD and increased the RAM to 4Gb (3.25 or so usable thanks to Libreboot). It's actually still quite usable. I'm currently running Exe GNU/Linux for a modern yet retro look (Trinity DE), and the 4:3 screen and decent keyboard really make it.

2b3a51 3 hours ago | parent

There's two of us. Stock T60 (3Gb ram, 320Gb mechanical hard drive, stock BIOS) with Slackware64 -current.

Nice keyboard as you say. These things are solid.

hypercube33 3 hours ago | parent

I have a pile of dell e series with the og i7 in them. Still can run windows 11 but yeah Linux is beautiful on these things.

Skwid 2 hours ago | parent

I only very recently upgraded from an X230 with X220 keyboard

It was a close call between a totally new machine and a display mod though

zh3 2 hours ago | parent

More of us than you think (and often by preference rather than cost).

Current main travel laptop is a T420, backed by a T520 w/nvidia when needed (older T41s, T60's lying around). Both work fine with linux & modern browsers (the T420 is particular has great battery life).

nticompass 2 hours ago | parent

I still have my T430, but I use my X270 more often now.

kjs3 1 hour ago | parent

I regularly use a significantly older T42. It has a honest-to-gawd parallel port, runs XP nicely and controls a couple of instruments and device programmers. I upgraded the screen at some point (SXGA?) and put a solid-state disk in it. Still going strong.

reasonabl_human 42 minutes ago | parent

T430s as a mobile linux workstation for garage projects. For anything else, 14” M series macbook.

Thought I’d put Asahi Linux on it but the workflow I’ve settled on is to use my Mac as a thin client for a linux box under my desk. Best of both worlds.

elric 3 hours ago | parent

Somewhat tangential, but Lenovo's website is an absolute shitshow. It is so hard to find a laptop that matches a bunch of criteria. Their search facets are next to useless. Not to mention glacially slow. It's almost like they don't actually want to sell laptops.

I probably buy more laptops than most people, I've owned some 30 thinkpads in my lifetime. Quality isn't what it used to be, but the serviceability and on-site repair warranty is still amazing.

windex 3 hours ago | parent

Anyone have any pointers for sourcing genuine keyboards for thinkpads? I seem to run out of luck with them everytime.

hypercube33 3 hours ago | parent

I think Lenovo has a parts depot website. I was able to get parts (LTE modem kit) for an 8 year old model there.

bar000n 3 hours ago | parent

using a T470s currently with 20GB memory and a 2tb ssd, but it cannot keep up anymore because it has only 2 CPU cores Ubuntu/wayland is really sluggish sometimes. i think i'll go for a 5th gen T14. too bad that you can't upgrade the RAM anymore on the new T14s models... and also they ditched the LAN port at some point on the s