Thinkpad general

The other one hit the limit. Don't buy anything OTHER THAN IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T, X, and W/P Series if you want the Real Business Experience™ >Other business laptops are welcome in /tpg/ (Dell Latitude/Precision, HP EliteBook/ZBook). Recommended models: T420 - 14", normal size X220 - 12.5", ultraportable >Buyers guide https://dankpads.com/tpg/ >Thinkwiki https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

I'm currently looking into buying a used budget laptop and I thought it was gonna be a Thinkpad because these are so highly regarded across the web. But looking into these closer, while they are pretty good in most regards, their GPU is fuarrrking crap. I need the laptop to be able to do CAD, photo and video editing fluidly, and while games are not a priority for me, being able to run at least pre-2013 vidya would be a plus. But almost all reasonably priced Thinkpads have soykafty integrated GPUs, and even the 500€+ models have a Quadro 2000m at best. I'm probably better off with a used gaymen machine, those are in the same pricerange with better graphics and otherwise same specs. The only thing I'd be missing is the battery life and utilitarian design.

>>14915 Any thoughts on the W541? Looks like they have a decent screen, quad core i7, quadro, same trackpad as the **50* series, and can be had for around $500-$600. If the build quality is not too bad I would consider grabbing one. I have a T450s that I think is pretty decent. Not as good as my old T400 build quality wise, but better than most modern laptops.

>>14923 If video, and photo editing is a priority I wouldn't get a thinkpad to be honest.

>>14932 Why?

>>14933 Bad monitor, you should mod it and it's a pain in the ass and as said by >>14923 bad gpu

I own X230t and it's just piece of crap. Backlight only on lowest brightness eats 6W which is whole power consumption of my friend's laptop. Battery (i have 9 cell) is terribe it barely holds 3h. Wacom tablet is awful it has awful offset on the borders. On screen buttons stop working in tablet mode. I'll search and buy something better and i will never ever go back to soykafpads they are just piece of crap 2.5KG t60 is even heavier

>>14923 >>14937 I never really understood why weight of a laptop mattered personally, (within reason) but I think if you want a tablet with a keyboard and good battery life (although this is largely due to the age of the batteries) or a machine for high performance computing it's likely not a good pick indeed. The desirable aspects of thinkpads (used pre-2012) have always been price, durability, keyboard quality, replacement part availability, coreboot/libreboot, & openbsd driver support. They're great machines for folks who need a laptop and primarily program, or write, if that's not you then they might not be for you.

>>14938 Weight matter depends on what kind of life you have, if i have my laptop for hours in my backpack less weight is better, but it's a personal thing honestly.

>>14939 Lightness & Thinness of consumer products just usually seems like a gimmick to me (makes some sense for phones if you have effeminate pants or for vehicles if you like efficiency/performance). I'm a bit of a string bean and when I was at university I never even really noticed the X220 in my rucksack, despite being pretty militant about my routine I even forgot it a few times and didn't notice until I tried to take it out for class.

>>14944 >phones in pants thickness is far less a problem than width and height, at least these days. >weight Maybe the degree to which it is carried, is excessive. But in principal, I'd far preffer a light computer if I'm gonna be carrying one everywhere, all the time, I think most people would. A heavy laptop reduces portability, which is the the main selling point a laptop can hope to hold over desktops.

>>14945 >thickness is far less a problem than width and height, at least these days. I haven't had a phone since in 4 years so I guess I'm a bit out of touch. >Maybe the degree to which it is carried, is excessive. But in principal, I'd far prefer a light computer if I'm gonna be carrying one everywhere, all the time, I think most people would. >A heavy laptop reduces portability, which is the the main selling point a laptop can hope to hold over desktops. I guess this was all really just a secondary point of yours but it's just hard for me to imagine, I used to bike 6 or 12 miles a day to/from high school with a R400 on my back, and walk everywhere with a X220 everywhere at university, but the only laptop I ever wished was lighter was my Compaq Prespario 1200 from when I was 5 because I was 5 and it weighed 3.5kg. I'd certainly never purchase a lighter laptop on nothing but principle, I'd have have some noticeable discomfort to guide my purchasing in that direction and if you have that that's fine and it's a wise thing to look for but I just struggle to imagine it because I've been in some rather extreme circumstances where on reflection it seemed like if anyone would need a lighter laptop it would be me and I didn't.

>>14948 christ, there are a couple missing words there, I should be sleeping.

>>14924 Well, my offer was accepted. $450 for an i7 haswell quad core, 32GB RAM, Quadro K1100M, and a 500GB SSD. Standard 1080p screen, even though I was hoping to find the 4k panel, I am OK with this though as I have had bad luck trying to get GNU/Linux to scale well at over 180ppi, normally I just modify fonts to make it comfortable, leaving UI elements standard scale. I know its a lot of money for a computer, I spent less on my HP Z800 with 2 x5675s/48GB RAM/Quadro 2000 a few years ago. This should be comfortable though for working from bed. I also ordered pic related for comfortable bed browsing. That just about empties my christmas bonus funds, so I am hoping it was all worth it. I will keep everyone updated.

I'd like to upgrade my t430s CPU. At the moment i have a i5-3320M Should i get the i7–3632QM or the i7–3632QM?

>>15062 I'm retarded, i don't have a T430s, i have a T430.

You guys heard of the X210? I think it's pretty neat. https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Mobile/51nb-ThinkPad-X210-Mod-Review-Alternate-Reality

>>15063 And you also ask us about the deciding between the same CPU. heh

>>15093 Ah God damn it. I meant I can't decide between the i7–3632QM and i7–3840QM

>>14966 I got my W541. Everything is great, except the screen. The seller advertised it as IPS, so I did not look into it that much. It is TN and the viewing angles and colours are awful. I found a 1080p IPS screen that should fit from the T540p, I think I am going to buy that, but please, if you are considering this machine, get the 3k IPS version.

I'm trying to figure out the Thinkpads with the most universal operating system support. Redox lists the T420, T520 and P50 in its screenshot page [0]. 9front lists several[1], but there's no overlap (it supports the T420s though, which must be pretty similar to the T420). Haiku's list of supported hardware doesn't list laptop models [2]. Same deal with Minix [3]. [0] https://www.redox-os.org/screens/ [1] http://fqa.9front.org/fqa3.html#3.2.5.2 [2] https://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/HardwareInfo [3] https://wiki.minix3.org/doku.php?id=usersguide:hardwarerequirements What else do you guys got?

>>15211 Here are the models that support coreboot: T420 T420s T430 T431s T520 T530 X220 X230 W520 W530 https://doc.coreboot.org/mainboard/index.html#lenovo

>>15245 T530 user here. You should note that you need to get one that DOES NOT have the Nvidia integrated graphics option, as this is NOT Coreboot compatible. Just a friendly tip :)

hey lains, i have a t510 i bought a few months ago, i want to have a few partitions so i can have various oses but the thing is the bios info tells me im on legacy, so technically i can go to uefi, but i dont seem to find any info about it, does anyone know about t510 having uefi capability?

>>15745 >does anyone know about t510 having uefi capability The T510 doesn't have a UEFI. UEFI was introduced with the *20 series (HM67 chipset) ThinkPads, so you're one generation too early. Just to be clear though you don't need UEFI to dual-boot, you just need a bootloader GRUB being the most common one.

>>15746 Thanks lain, also, what distro can you recc for a newbie? And what other bootloaders are there, is there one you prefer? Why?

OMG, just found out by searching for this ktgee fellow that made OPs pic... he also made the screenfetch script So cool

>>14923 >GPU >laptop WUT? You want a gaming laptop? Want a cryptomining laptop? da fug you talkin bout?

Semi-related question. Libre/corebooting lains, does any of you go with grub as the payload? What would be the drawbacks of not having a seabios there, given i would (hopefully) tune the hardware with the os.

>>14923 The Thinkpad subreddit has some posts explaining setups for using an external GPU with x230/t430 and up. Seems like that could meet your usecase, though I'm not sure if it's worth the cost compared to just building a budget desktop.

>>15748 >Thanks lain, also, what distro can you recc for a newbie? And what other bootloaders are there, is there one you prefer? Why? Your bootloader doesn't matter much, just use the default for your distro (probably GRUB). I don't keep up with distros, just search 'beginners linux distributions' or something. >>15757 >What would be the drawbacks of not having a seabios there, given i would (hopefully) tune the hardware with the os. The only drawback I know of using GRUB is not being able to use full disk encryption with a OpenBSD install. One of the advantages of GRUB is being able to have full disk encryption on a linux machine without a unencrypted /boot partition. Other benefit if your system is librebootable is that they ship pre-made configurations meaning it's easier to get things going. >>15751 >>15759 There are situations where a laptop with a good GPU is useful. Mainly just when you travel a lot and need the performance for work or whatever. In these situations I would suggest something other than a Thinkpad rather than trying to duck-tape a GPU on the side.

>>15760 thanks lain your info will help the future of this n00b

I replaced today the motherboard on my X220 for one with an i7-2640M CPU. I mainly did it to get an USB 3.0 port, but its nice to have a higher frequency and L3 cache. When I was replacing it, I noticed that my older motherboard had some thermal pad on an IC near the CPU, but the new motherboard didn't come with one. So what I did was to put some thermal compound on it, I put a bit extra to make sure there was contact with the copper surface. For now I think its OK, I used Artix MX-4, so the conductivity should be even higher, but I am wondering if things will go bad with time, and if I should consider buying some pad in the future. What would Lain do?

Dont listen to the insider tradeers lainons, modern thinkpads are great. I very much enjoyed my time with my X220, but it doesnt even compare to a T470s.

>>16047 And what are going to do with the old one? Mine keeps rebooting once a week hence i'm looking for a replacement. Swapping for cs services or dishwasing, eh?

>>16049 It would be great to find an owner for it, as long as shipping is payed, I don't mind giving it for free. I'm located in JP though, so I'm not sure if it's worth it, shipping might be expensive. If you are interested, I'll also throw in a 32GB msata ssd I'm not using, it fits the X220 board just fine. There is also a place near my home selling second handed stuff, if you are looking for something specific from Japan like a certain manga, a game cartridge or a figurine I can try to locate it and put on the same package. Is not a big city but I there are still some cool stuff being sold around here.

>>16058 Hit me up at echo 'dmFzaWxpaUBvcmFuZ2VzaG9lbGFjZXMubmV0' | base64 -d

What does lain think of the newer thinkpad A series? Looks like the same T series but with an AMD APU. Given how awesome AMD has been with open source contribution lately, I might keep an eye out for a for parts model I can fix up.

Considering getting a dankpad. The only downsides I see are the weird hard drive size and it possibly being old as fuarrrk and unable to do what I want from it, which is probably run a web browser, Discord, and vim or maybe Libreoffice, ideally all at the same time. Do you think it could handle that? If not, what should I go for? Something with a nice keyboard and coreboot support would be good.

>>16231 just make sure everything works, especially the fan, or youre gonna have a fuarrrk ton of trouble getting replacements

>>16232 Fan is sure a thing to keep an eye out for, but it's really easy to replace and no shortage in spare parts. Better yet do tend it, lube it every couple years and you'll be fine.

thinkpads are great, i use a x220 for school with arch and awesome wm, but thinking of wmhopping. only real complaint is fixing them and replacing parts are a chore

>>16234 only real problem is not getting a cheap chinese made x220 fan

okay, so i've never owned a thinkpad (but i always liked my sister's), just wanna ask how is it with RAM and hard drive replacement? for example my current laptop can't have anything replaced unless i wanna violently open (and probably break plastic cover) it. i miss old days when it was a few screws and you could do whatever you wanted.... (sorry for being a noob in general)

>>16253 You'll be in for a treat with these black boxes! They're the most amenable to self service things I've ever had. You don't need no special equipment nor skills to replace parts on your own. There are official (here, it means of good quality) service manuals. Parts are plenty (there are crummy ones too). Keep in mind that all of the above applies to the good models like x6x, x2[0123]0, and I have a hunch not all of them are equaly good. Newer models are slimmer/lighter hence prob harder to self service. RAM/disks - just pick ones supported by your board and You'll be set. For PCI stuff You'd prob need to get bios with w/o whitelist or go with libreboot/coreboot.

>>16047 Seem like I've been stranded in Your spam folder?! Please, confirm.

Are there any particular security concerns to be aware of regarding the T440(s)? Any critical updates one should verify have been applied? Major CPU flaws?

Thinking about buying a T450 + minimal arch installation for work, what do you guys think? My problem is with the 2.3ghz processor, sometimes i need 3 or more docker images running at the same time. All i want is a reliable notebook that won't slow down on work and will physically last more than a year or two. My requirements (memory/processing power) won't change for a long time, but i'm not really sure if 2.3ghz takes care of it.

MFW I've had an X220 for 8 years and just bought a dock on ebay for like $20. Holy soykaf Lain, this is such a quality of life improvement for such a relatively small cost. I'm not even using this thing for external monitors--it's pretty much just a way to give my laptop power and a hard-wired ethernet connection when I get home. Now I'm learning you can run scripts with the APCI events for docking and undocking, and I am one happy computer user. This may be old new to all you galaxy brain thinklads out there who have had the dock for the beginning, but if you're like me and were a skeptic, just get one. It rules.

>>16345 they're extra useful for the x200 and x201 which don't have an onboard displayport. and so cheap on ebay. replace dvd drive with a caddy for yet another storage option

>europe, thinkpads are overpriced in my country >x200t for 78$ listed as x200 >L9400 1.86ghz >2gb ram >dead battery Am I missing something? Most other listings start from 150-200$ for a regular x200, T's being more expensive and rare. Seems to good to be true.

>>16751 >L9400 1.86ghz That's a very weak CPU. You should try and get one with a P8600.

I wanna beef up my t420 a bit, what options do I have for getting a better Screen / CPU?

I bought a T520 for ~$80. How bad of a decision did I make?

I want to Libreboot a T400. What are the best upgrades I can make to it?

Bought an X220 from private seller, it will come on Monday. I think I will install Linux on it and rice the hell out of it.

>>16861 >I wanna beef up my t420 a bit, what options do I have for getting a better Screen / CPU? i7 is the best cpu for a t420 iirc. for screen you can search for an IPS panel, its a huge upgrade imo. Other than that an SSD and maybe a second harddrive where your CD/DVD bay sits would be an option >>16865 >How bad of a decision did I make? Not too bad, depends on the condition and if you get an HDD and RAM with it. I had an t500 until very recently as my main machine, they are solid >>16877 >What are the best upgrades I can make to it? Not sure what the best CPU for a t400 is, look it up on the thinkwiki. Other than that i would recommend the same as for the t420 lainon >>17386 good choice, loving the sht out of mine. What CPU?

The Thinkpad is here. I was really surprised at how small it is. Unfortunately it really dirty keyboard, after checking browser history my guess is that it was used at construction site. Perfumes and ear buds solved the issue. Installed Debian on it with no major problems, but wireless connection malfunction. Seems it is just software thing, because every dozen minutes it "blocks" Internet, while connection is always fine. This is my first laptop and it is nice. I love the keyboard, but I need to get used to trackpoint and touchpad. >>17416 i5-2430M, 6GB RAM, original battery that lasts about 2,5 hours, HDD, but planning on buying mSATA drive.

>>17428 Just get used to the trackpoint, touchpads suck. i5 is decent enough imo

>>17428 might be unrelated, but back in the day when I first installed Linux, and went with Debian (can't recall which major version) for my acer v nitro laptop, I had a lot of wireless issues as well. I had to tinker with firmware and modprobe a lot of different things for my kernel. Did you try livebooting different systems to see if it's just a Debian issue? Certainly seems the case if you ask me. Even arch was less of a hassle in regard to wireless firmware, everything working out of the box (void, elementary, literally anything else).

>>17430 Not OP but I recently installed Debian on an X220. I just had to manually install proprietary drivers to make the wireless work.

>>17433 >manually install If I recall correctly the Debian installer ask you would you like to install proprietary drivers for the WiFi, but yes they need to be installed for the wireless to work.

>>17434 During installation process it asked me for specific driver as I chose wireless connection. I got the drivers from Debian website and it worked for a while. Then I had to continue downloading through Ethernet. I just installed non-free realtek firmware, maybe this will help. By the way, do you guys have any tips on keeping laptop well? I heard for example that charging battery full decreases its life.

>>14945 I personally only care about the weight of a computer since it's additional weight alongside everything else I will be carrying with me, which generally is a 5 subject notebook, a stainless steel thermos, and my lunch. With all of that, a heavier laptop does make quite a significant difference.

Im looking for a thinkpad T420, Its recommend for using at following stuff: - browsing clearnet and tor? - downloading videos w/ youtube-dl? - editing wikipedia? - watch animu and movies? - keep my privacy safe? - keep a very minimal system?

Just bought a t420 for $134.97. 4GB Ram, 320GB HDD, and an i5. Not bad I guess. Replacing the HDD with a 240GB SSD right away, only costs $30. Plan on installing GuixSD. The only sad part of the purchase decision is that I had to spend $50 on a USB wifi adapter from thinkpenguin cause >freedoms. This one is known to be supported on GuixSD and the libre kernel. Will report in, in a ~week.

>>17467 >thinkpenguin Price gouging in the name of freedom.

Will this memory kit: https://www.ebay.com/itm/16GB-2x-8GB-DDR3-1333-MHz-PC3-10600-Sodimm-Laptop-RAM-Memory-MacBook-Pro-Apple/281171327163 work with a t420? My CPU is listed as an i5-2520M. The intel page shows max memory as 16GB: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/52229/intel-core-i5-2520m-processor-3m-cache-up-to-3-20-ghz.html

>>17463 >- browsing clearnet and tor? Yes >- downloading videos w/ youtube-dl? Yes >- editing wikipedia? Obviously >- watch animu and movies? look for an ips panel >- keep my privacy safe? if libre or coreboot is installed, yes >- keep a very minimal system? you can basically install a minimal system on any hardware that lets you install linox

>>17501 Yes but for the stuff you have listed its totally overkill. 8gb are fine

What can you do with the expresscard slot?

>>17609 MOAR USB ports.

>>17613 Cool I guess?

>>17609 - More USB ports (or for some older models: newer USB 3 support) - Bluetooth addon - External GPU. Can however also be done with dock on some models. Usually not worth it money-wise though, when you can get an OK-ish gaming machine for maybe $500 or so. Dock/external GPU port + actual GPU will easily be more than $200 and then you may still be stuck with some mediocre mobile i5 or something even older. Remember you can't just put any CPU in any ThinkPad, even when it's the same socket (power requirements etc). - SD card reader?!? - Maybe some other ports, too?!? HDMI?!? - Mouse. Yeah, no. I got a USB3/Bluetooth combo card for my T400 (which has neither built-in). The Bluetooth is soykaf (can lose connection when you put hand between antenna and headphones) but the USB is pretty fast (maxed out my USB3 stick speed-wise at like 70 MB/s).

I think my T420 has been giving me tiny shocks when I put it on my lap. Should I be worried?

Found myself a W541 (4810MQ, K2100M, 32GB RAM) at about $350 a couple weeks ago, the battery it came with only lasts about an hour but otherwise it's a massive leap from the soykafty Acer craptop (i3-8130U, UHD 620) I was using.

I have a x220 which works great except the battery is absolute soykaf. Like it only lasts 10 minutes now so its only good to change outlets without powering down. I once had purchased a new 9 cell battery for it and it was working well but then I did something like leave with both the AC and the battery on and now that pack is completely dead. I want to get a new battery pack to enjoy freedom again but I don't know exactly what I'm doing that always kills batteries.

>>17985 Huh. Is it plugged in to the wall charger when this happens? Either way, this should be impossible as no voltages that are present in the device are high enough to get through skin. If there was an isolation failure in the wall charger, I'd think it would fry the laptop and be a dead giveaway. Well actually on second thought--a lot of older laptop screens had some fairly high voltage circuitry for the screen backlight. Could be that I guess.

ideapad 110 here piece of soykaf only good for music, videos and web browsing (have to limit myself to a dozen pages tops) but whatever its a work laptop and only purpose is to configure switches so eh

>>17995 > ideapad there's your problem, lain

Just got two T61's, one of which I plan on using as a server, perhaps DNS or for a tor hidden service. The other one I'm using for web browsing. I installed PureOS on it, and am going to start doing things like webdev and SSHing into my home server. My other PC has win10, but I'm just using that for gaming and soykaf like Facebook and Youtube now.

>>18008 Also, I used to have a T61 with the soykafty Nvidia graphics chip that died a few years ago. I plan on getting that dude for parts when stuff on these Thinkpads break. Thinking about getting a W series when I get more deskspace. I also plan on using this Thinkpad for ham radio as it has a serial port on the dock.

>>17987 Make sure you use it sometimes actually like run it down to 5% and then recharge it.

>>18010 Is this memory effect maintenance procedure still a thing with modern battery chemistries? Or does that particular model use an older chemistry?

Why not go why a older Dell Latitude something like the E6430 > Intel HD 4000

Why not go why a older Dell Latitude something like the E6430 > Intel HD 4000

I got a T420s the other day. Runs wicked hot and is annoying to disassemble, would not recommend.

>>14915 I've been using a T60 as a daily driver for school and work for about a year or so. I but on the heavy/thick side, but it fits in my bag well enough. The only problem I have with it is battery life, it only lasts about 2 hours on idle and barely over 1 hour when using it for stuff. I've already replaced the battery before, and still have the same issue. Any suggestions as to what I should do to fix it, (or maybe I should just buy another battery)?

Should I get a new battery?

>>18029 Unfortunately this was an issue with Sandy Bridge laptops. They're rated to operate up to 100C, but its unnerving to watch. Redoing the thermal paste helps.

>>18029 dont listen to retro npcs, get a used T470s. They are just as good with an even better build quality

Lol. Found on the city bulletin board, greeted by SMS ;-). Hi dude, but too expensive for x230.

>>18770 How much? (in RUB)

>>18771 13k But the case in front is killed and a white spot in the corner of the screen (pushed through). I think the real price is 7k. IPS LCD 1366x768 i5 3320M 320 HDD 8 RAM

>>18772

Shit. Dude most likely not lainon, and generally a reseller. He said he bought on ebay for 4k. I am disappointed.

>>18746 I would, I pussy out when it comes to possible battery fires.

>>15263 Is this true for all devices or just the W530? I've got a W520 with nVidia.

What's the best practice for maintaining a battery's health? I have a x200 tablet and I have two batteries for it. One of them has like 40% of its original charge and I only really use it when I'm at home. The other one has 100% of its original charge because I bought it kind of recently, but I'm worried about degrading its health. When I'm not using it, I charge it to around 70% and store it in my computer bag. I only charge it to anything over 70% when I know I'm going to be using it. I never let its charge drop below 20% Is this a good way to maintain the health of the battery? Or is it just autism?

>>18825 I like to configure mine not to start charging unless it's 40% or less, then fill it up to 100%. AFAIK, optimal range would be 60-40 for storage, but degrade occurs a lot faster when it is discharged. Cycling it often will kill it sooner. In this way, sometimes I only charge it once per week, but if I need it in an emergency it will likely have around 70% of the charge. Anecdotal evidence, but my battery is around 6 years old, it came with the laptop when I bought it used and I've being doing this for the last 2-3 years. Capacity went down from 90% to around 85%. Considering its age, I think the strategy is working well for me. Your strategy should be better in theory, as you are not overcharging it, and not cycling it often, so I think it should be good enough. I think most of the real benefit comes from not leaving it discharged for a long time (i.e. not going to sleep without plugging it in if fully discharged) and avoiding high temperatures (i.e. storing it inside a car in a sunny day). Just make sure that you are always able to use it when you need, it will always get bad with time anyway.

>>18825 Using it while full capacity is bad as the higher the capacity the more voltage it holds and you should derate your battery to "military charge" which is 20% <-> 80% otherwise the cells might burn itself out for holding too much or less for a long time. It's like actual cells, they either burst or dry up. Good thing there's a godsend tool lenovo built that can control the ACPI and cap battery to 40% charge then run everything on AC (not charging). I think it was called "lenovo energy management" and available to most UEFI bios laptops as aftermarket software driver.. It's windows only and you can't change it while on Linux though you may try wine (doubt), you can use "windows to go" with the said tool if you like to keep a GNU-exclusive system. The good thing is this ACPI battery cap works fine while on linux.

>>16047 Thermal pads are good though I can't find any reliable manufacturer aside from just Chinese sellers, I had a toshiba that's at least 8 years old now and it has a thermal pad so I never bothered changing to paste. Few times I've left it running inside a bag or even blocked the fan vents what baffles me is why it actually handles graphics better than my desktop when it's just a g45 chipset

x series has fuarrrking annoying custom of breaking in left bottom corner where fuarrrking hole for fuarrrking extension fuarrrking cards is fuarrrking located. Literally every model since at least x61. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

>>18838 i'm really scared of breaking that part too lol just dont handle it like a gorilla tho i guess

Got an x230 for $50 slowly getting LFS onto it. Got a CH341A to flash Coreboot onto it but apparently they are 5V so I either have to mod it to be 3.3V or just use a Pi.

>>18838 my t420 has the exact same issue, when i pick it up from the bottom left corner with one hand it used to bend like pic related (pic is of a w540 but whatever it's close enough), but some of the plastic has broken off and now it just kinda clicks. drives me faurkking insane and im afraid it's just going to break more but whatever i love my machine too much to replace it, and im too lazy to fix it.

>>18871 What about replacing just the handrest? I plan on doing that to my x230 cause its left corner is broken also.

>>18746 that's fuarrrking terrifying lainon.

>>18872 it might fix it. i think the issue has more to do with the plastic getting weak from wear and tare over the years and less to do with the design, or it might be a combination of both. i would give it an honest shot and report back.

>>18871 also related to my t420, whenever i close the lid and the machine goes into hibernation (moon lights up) i am unable to wake it back up. this has only started happening recently and i don't know why. not even the fn or ctrl trick works and im sure it's not a driver or software issue as it happens on both linux and windows . this is some weird soykaf lainons.

Have any of you lainons replaced the cells in your battery? I would imagine it is pretty easy, just use some precision tools to carefully open up the battery pack, desolder the cells, and install cells of similar voltage and capacity. Considerations are: >Cell purchasing. Best manufacturer? Similar capacity/voltage? >Disassembly. Pack chemically sealed(As in, no chance of opening), or just an adhesive/plastic locking mechanism >Controller invalidation? Heard that there is a chance it might refuse to work if modified. Don't know if Flash/EEPROM is present.

>>18880 It's not as easy as you think, Pack makers don't use solder they use battery spot welders. Due to the nature of the laptop battery packs solder will not hold for long. I'll eventually get a battery spot welder from amazon or ebay so I can repair many of the packs that go dead. it's usually 1 or 2 cells in laptop/cordless powertool/etc that crap out the pack.

Hi friends, Have any of you purchased a librebooted X200 from MiniFree? I've submitted an order but I've yet to receive a response to my email regarding my wish to pay in bitcoin. Do you know how long it typically takes for them to respond? It's been a few days already. I'm so used to the convenience of Amazon, etc. that I'm worried something has gone wrong.

>>18835 >It's windows only and you can't change it while on Linux though you may try wine (doubt), you can use "windows to go" with the said tool if you like to keep a GNU-exclusive system. I was using TLP on Linux to do the same, its possible. You just set a threshold to start charging and another to stop on /etc/default/tlp.

euro user asking if 150€ for a x220 with i5-2450M processor, 8GB ram and 256GB HDD is a good deal?

>>19002 I have. It's fairly straightforward, though I have always done purchases with bank transfer. It may take a few days for any response to get back as I think it's just Leah who runs minifree these days.

>>18875 reporting back, i soykaf you not, installing gentoo fixed it. gentoo truly is the superior distro.

just picked up a t420 today from an eldery asian man. he was stoked to show me the DVD drive.

>>21227 This sounds like a classic cyberpunk interaction. Did you negotiate that trade in some kind of rainy street market, where there's rumored to be an illegal symplant and cybermod surgeon running business out of the back office?

I have a x200 and I want to libreboot it. I also have a raspberry pi and the rest of the hardware needed but I can't find the clamp that attaches to the ROM chip. If somebody can give me a pointer or a link to it, it would help a lot.

>>21535 nvm, I found it

So i am about to buy a t440s. I know it has dual batteries. What is the battery life on linux assuming i get the minimal configuration?

>>14915

>>14915 I need a new laptop... X220 would be ideal but I NEED white thinklight (do any models have 2 think lights, one either side?) and I MUST have backlit keyboard as well as think light. I also MUST have ips screen...with as much resolution as possible, I can just live with 720p but 1080 would be better. 4g would be nice, on my must have list is - SD card reader, Wifi, Bluetooth (v2 if possible). I love the x form factor but not so into tablet versions. 4 threads minimum, 16gb ram minimum. Can a x220 do all this ask? Can any thinkpad?

>>14915

>>22207 >I NEED white thinklight why? it has think light but what do you need it for? >I also MUST have ips screen ips screens are about 70 bucks on ebay >with as much resolution as possible there are 1080 mods out there but they aren't cheap and you will have to solder stuff > I MUST have backlit keyboard wtf man? it has an SD card reader and a slot for Bluetooth you might have install coreboot if you want to choose freely on what card you want to use, this goes for WiFi as well i guess i normally end up recommending a x200, x220 or x230 with keyboard mod but i will go with the x1 in your case, you seem to want a current gen laptop and i heard good things about the x1 if bait, good one

Has there been any news about libreboot for any newer thinkpad models?

>>22593 t420 is the latest supported model iirc what's wrong with coreboot though?

>>22598 Nothing I guess

I have a T420 with a proprietary WiFi card and BIOS that keeps me from using it regularly. I want to flash coreboot at the very least onto it and be able to remove the Intel ME, but I'm scared when it comes to taking apart laptops.

>>22620 >but I'm scared when it comes to taking apart laptops. There should be disassembly instructions on the lenovo website. If you'll do everything they say, you should be able to do this. I disassembled my T60 without reading anything. Just put the screws into labelled boxes and write down where are they from. Do not use excessive force, etc.

>>22622 I have a thing with losing those screws. I'll need a beaglebone or a raspberrypi

>>22624 > I'll need a beaglebone or a raspberrypi a USB programmer is cheaper, considering you already have another PC to do this on. if you have or want to buy a device dedicated for it, go for the raspberry pi if pomona soic clips aren't available in your area or you want to save some money and end up with a chinc soic-clip remove the caples that come with it! took me weeks and i bought 3 until i figured out it wasn't posting because it couldn't hold the connection. if you run into problems come back here recently librebooted my x200 and corebooted my x220 and would like to share some of the stuff i had to figure painfully myself

>>22624 Use a metal tray with magnet attached to it. Screws won't get lost. >>22625 If you have something important, send patches to Libreboot documentation or at least contact them on subreddit.

>>22626 my hassle was mainly with my chinc programmer, the coreboot wiki mentions that but not to what extent. the rest was pretty straight forward, especially for libreboot

>>22625 A usb programmer? I have a Libreboot T400 right now, but would love a bit extra oomph from a T420 which is why I want to flash coreboot to it.

>>22630 something like this, they often come with those cheap soic clips but if you already own a Pi, just use the pi but don't use the pi to compile coreboot, it will take forever

anyone know where I can find boardviews for thinkpads that aren't paywalled? I have a t420 with switchable graphics (NZ3_MB-SWG_SVT) that's been sitting broken in a box for years and I want to see if there's anything I can do. If I try power it on, fans spin up for a second then it turns off straight away and tries to power on again. If I remove all ram dimms it'll give me a post code (no ram) then stay on (but obvs do nothing). my theory is either that supplying power to ram is causing something to trip (bad mosfet maybe) or that testing something later in the post sequence (after passing ram) is causing the trip. if anyone has any ideas pls help, I miss my t420 :(

>>22648 Don't buy the black version pictured there--it has a 3.3V VCC pin but the voltage on the logic pins are all still 5V which is above the 3.3V VCC+logic level requirement for flashing the SOICs on Libreboot-compatible machines. With that said, I've used the black version successfully but I'd steer clear of it if you have the opportunity to buy the correct programmer (go with the green one on aliexpress). Or, better yet, buy something that can do in-system programming such as a blue pill.

>>14915 This guid is 5 years old, is there a more recent one? (I'm talking about the op IMG)

How powerful would a fully upgraded X230 be going into 2020?

How is the build quality of newer thinkpads compared to an average modern notebook? I'm saving for an E495

>>23155 it depends on what you are planning to do with it, i will keep using my x220 going into 2020 and i don't have the feeling i am missing out on something.

I didn't see anyone talking about it, so I wanted everyone to know that the t440p is now cleared with coreboot. https://doc.coreboot.org/mainboard/lenovo/t440p.html

>>23237 fuking based! that's great news, now i'll need a mod for it to feature a bearable keyboard to make it a worthwhile upgrade

Can anyone provide me with an idiot-friendly guide to flashing coreboot on a t420? I don't think I understand the nuances in the wiki, and it claims to be out of date. I don't have a lot of time to be out of commission, and I rely on my thinkpad for college quite a bit. I'm only safe for another week or so.

>>14915 I have a local computer shop that says they refurbish business desktops for cheap. I am interested since the prices are really low and I will have to replace my laptop soon, but is it usually worth it? I don't want to buy a prebuilt desktop for sure, it's either this or something assembled.

>>23320 Wolfgangs Channel and tripcode!Q/7 booth have videos on their channel. its not idiot proof but it helps understanding the wiki >>23328 yes, i have a few and i really like them, the build quality is great, the keyboard is the best. the Displays could generally be better i guess but basically everything else is replaceable (at least in some T models) and they generally work really well with linux if that's something important to you

>>17428 Get a proper bombilla

>>23221 I have heard that the build quality is not as great as the business models Also check : https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-E495-Laptop-Review-Inexpensive-office-device-with-a-lot-of-power-but-without-keyboard-illumination.434877.0.html

>>23138 they still hold up tho, i don't have one laptop that's newer than OP's guide. just the prices dropped rapidly, you can pick them up for around 50 bucks now. with everything after the x230 you'll loose the great keyboard.

>>18746 I currently have a similar issue with my battery. Covered it with duct tape and it's fine.

Guys is that dangerous upgrade my thinkpad processor from a i5 4300m 37W to a i7 4710mq 47W? Would its 10W difference harmfully affect my mobo or drastically increase cpu temperature?

>>23880 >Guys is that dangerous upgrade my thinkpad processor from a i5 4300m 37W to a i7 4710mq 47W? Would its 10W difference harmfully affect my mobo or drastically increase cpu temperature? Depends on what you define as dangerous. It's not going to hurt your motherboard but temps are definitely going to be higher. How much obviously depends on your workload.

guys, there is an IPS-Panel for the x200! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8261000

>>25139 are there IPS screens for x220?

But is there a PWM-free IPS panel? The TN version is not. It's soykaf. Either go full brightness or see lines flickering on and off whenever your eye moves.

>>26099 yeah they go for about 70 bucks on ebay and they look great. it's still 'only' 720p but the colors look great and the picture looks sharp

>>14915 The Dankpads site is great but can we get google scripts and everything off of it? Come on :/

>>14915 I've got a W510 and X201. The W series is my "Desktop" since it stays in one place. It has windows 10 on it and I use it mostly for working from home because of kung flu. X series is my Linux laptop where I've been using it for learning all all things gnu scripting etc. I am considering getting a T series as well as an x220. If there's any recommendations for others please let me know.

>>18836 The g45 drivers from core solo/duo/quad series were perfected and actually way better than the proprietary counterpart and even nvidia/ati gpus during its time. I could playback 1080p 10-bit highly compressed videos and not get any frames dropped, desktop rendering is also very extremely smooth that my 4th gen pc looked like a downgrade.

>>18825 There's a tool that comes with lenovo but you will need a windows OS for it to work, it's on the drivers section. It would limit the battery charge down to 80% etc. while on AC and I was surprised it also worked while on linux. Don't know how to change it while on linux though. Just sideload a hdd with windows and use the lenovo tool, and don't forget to reinstall grub/efi if you can't boot up anymore.

>>26415 > don't forget to reinstall grub/efi if you can't boot up anymore. To be clear, the culprit is the secureboot and some security measures they put in the bios in which whenever the hdd removed, it will break grub and remove efi entries so you have to reinstall grub when this happens (refer to efibootmgr)

>>26415 On Linux you can use TLP, see: >>19016 Also if you want to set the limits via D-Bus (doesn't require root, better for scripting), try Threshy.

>>26403 >LARPS yikes i still follow him because there is a chance he pulls a bait and switch and goes full unibomber-propangandist and brings mayhem over the industrial world the 200 is libreboot compatible, the 220 and 230 corebootable, the 230 is able to take the comfy keyboard from the x220 with slight modifications but you'll have some dead keys (there's a interesting video about this topic called 'my fight against the modern laptop' or something)

>>26623 I like Luke. He has quality videos. Im not sure if I'll Libre boot my 200 or not. I originally got just as a machine to learn Linux and other stuff. Maybe that would be a good learning experience.

>>26625 installing libreboot isn't really that hard, the hardest part is getting the soic clip on and get the thing posting really..

>>14915 Which T-series laptop post-T450 has the best price/performance/upgradablilty ratio? Ready to move on from Macs and I loved my T440p

I need a 10-11" laptop, at least 32gb emmc, with a replaceable battery (at least something that would still be widely available or have a chink aftermarket). Any recommendations?

>>26643 Since you're in the thinkpad thread, I can recommend you a thinkpad. I have a thinkpad x131e, which has a upgradeable 2.5 inch storage and a replaceable battery. Most importantly, you can remove Chrome OS easily and install coreboot as its firmware. I got it for pretty cheap since its intended to be an educational device and some school was doing clearance on them.

I'm thinking about getting a eGPU for my t430 so I can play and emulate a few games like 0ad without issues. Any advices? Some pointers to get more information? The cheaper the better of course

I own a T60p that most probably didn't survive CPU fan cleaning and oiling for some reason - it displays no image on IPS panel and on VGA image has few horizotal and vertical lines mad of random ASCII symbols in text mode and many red pixels organised into a kind of dense regular grid on graphic bios splash screen on booting. I suspect that ATI GPU get loose or some soykaf during disassembling and reassembling it for cleaning. Am I right? What can I do with that case and IPS screen? Can I transplant some other model into that case or use IPS panel in other model of thinkpad? Would it work with any T61? Or later models of T Series? Also one of other Thinkpads have absolutely loose hinges. Can I repair them by my own or they require changing?

What bettery cells you reccomend?

>>27133 the thinkwiki has a comparability list for pane;s and all that good stuff but if it was your GPU, wouldn't the BIOS recognize that and give an error code in form of beeps implying you didn't libreboot the soykaf out of your device >>27192 i always go for the mid price, good rated on ebay, wasn't disappointing this far

>>27194 It does Beep, thats why I suspect GPU - by the code and by the behaviour of output on external monitor (I don't remember if I turned off panel in BIOS, could be, didn't checked few days ago when I tested it after well over a year if not two), or dunno what else it could be, Maybe one day I would try dissasembling it yet another time and trying cleaning it. But I don't think it would help as I disassembled and reasembled it few time plus left it aone for almost 2 years and it still is borked. I don't think its panel connection tape to be blamed as I don't get typical lines there but whole coulmns and rows of text characters in textmode and strange dot grid (kinda like that omne you can enable in CAD software, vector graphics editors, Gimp, etc). Other than that latpo seemed usable. And no - no coreboot on it as it has ATI GPU - it's T60p. I don't know if it's supported by coreboot, there were some issues with that GPU not cooperating or some thing like that when I last checked. Kinda sad as it's IPS panel has realy damn sweet colors.

>>27209 then you should check if the panel is compatible with the x60/t60 and make a little Libreboot device, that would be super comfy

Currently in the process of replacing my HP ZBook14, pic attached. Is there a Thinkpad equivalent/upgrade within the range of 400-500$? Mainly used for light web browsing and text editing. But preferably with a good battery time.

>>26626 can I install libreboot on my x201 though? I was thinking about corebooting my w510 as well and I was considering building a high end linux desktop that was also corebooted but that seems a little excessive and waste of cash... still conflicted that.

>>27236 >can I install libreboot on my x201 its the most difficult process i know of, wouldn't recommend for beginner >corebooting my w510 check what SOIC clip you need for the devices, if they are booth soic 8 or 16 you should consider investing in a Pamoa Soic clip but any cheap one should do as long as you make the Connection Short and stable (which is easier said than done IMO) tripcode has a video on librebooting a x201 iir

>>27241 Much thanks for the help, lainon

Does anyone have any insight on Librebooting an X200 with a Raspberry Pi 4?

\>>26643 Get an X200.

>>27254 yes how can i help you?

>>27256 My issue was with the GPIO pin layout to use on a RPI4, but I used the same layout from a 3+ and it worked without a hitch. Happy to report I've successfully flashed Libreboot on my X200, finally free.

>>27324 Enjoy your coil hum, power management and backlight issues :-)

>>27324 neat! yes the GPIO layout stays the same between pi3 and 4 which is pretty cool IMO >>27328 if you stop being salty someone might help you flash Libreboot the next time you run into an error

Guys I found both a T60 and a T61, they are stripped of ram and disk, but I do have ram and an SSD to put on one only which should I go for?

>>27345 T60 is Libreboot compatible without fuarrrking with the flash chip but it's also a 32bit system. booth of them take DDR2 iirc. i would go for the T60 but it depends on your priorities

>>27347 does librebooted x60 and t60 have that infamous coil oscillating noise that can cause seizures?

>>27347 Is there a 64-bit CPU I can upgrade the T60 with?

>>27755 No.

>>27369 Yes, but you can use powertop to stop it.

Can anyone help me? I'm not sure what's the problem with this laptop is. I found an old thinkpad R32, I tried to install windows xp, lubuntu, and bodhi (legacy) and nothing works. lubuntu - doesn't show partitions, and can't proceed the installation. bodhi - stuck right at the start of installing, showing this error: init: line 7: can't open /dev/sr0: No medium found windows xp: setupldr couldn't open drive multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1) What all of those mean? is the old hard drive fuarrrked? do I need to install usign a fuarrrking CD?

>>27942 I assume you were trying to install those from a USB stick. Can you use Lubuntu in live mode? If so, then your installation media should be fine at the very least. The hard drive is almost certainly dead, though I'd replace it regardless if I were you. Using an old hard drive without RAID is like treading on bombshells, you never know when it's gonna blow up and make you lose all of your data.

>>14934 >mod it and it's a pain in the ass Modding it was fairly easy. The hardest part for me was finding a compatible panel, but some trial and error later I now have a nice 1080p IPS T420s. The colors are really good too (compared to my IPS Dell Ultrasharp monitor). Nowadays it should be easier to find all the parts needed since there has been much more written online, when a few years ago it was still a fairly new thing.

>>27962 What panel you put in what exactly?

Complete noob here. Which thinkpad model would you recommend? Looking for something small, cheap, sturdy, and reliable. Thanks Lain.

>>27993 The biggest question is what are you going to be doing with it? An X200 can still be a great little machine even today if all you need is some office work or text editing. If you need heavy 3D or graphical work, then I would advise looking elsewere.

Anyone interested in the new Thinkpad T14/T14s and some of the other ones running the new Ryzen 4000 CPUs? Can we expect better temperatures compared to Intel CPUs?

Hello Lainons, I will be attending University this summer. I am currently using a Thinkpad T40. I want to upgrade and my needs are a bit demanding. My budget is around ~600$ US Dolans. I want to be running the following properly with no hiccups: -CAD Tools like EagleCAD, Altium Designer, Fusion360, Adobe Illustrator -Some light games like Minecraft Java, Counter Stike Global Offensive -Dis-cord -Microshaft(TM) Winblows10 and my precious dual-boot distros Thank you beforehand!

>>28280 >CAD tools >games I don't use either so I can't really judge how well the integrated GPU on most thinkpads will hold up, but my hopes aren't high. Either get one with an integrated Nvidia Optimus GPU (e.g. T460p,...) or one with Thunderbolt (e.g. T470) so you can eGPU. If you go for the latter, check the table in https://old.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/5ykwge/to_all_owners_of_thinkpads_with_thunderbolt_3/ to see if you need an external monitor. If all of that sounds like a large hassle, look up some benchmarks for your specific uses and the integrated GPU in the T430.

Looking for a ThinkPad. Budget is $200. Will be using it for work and brewing soykaf. Suggestions?

>>28686 If you want a thinkpad which is libre buy x200, otherwise buy a t420.

>>28686 Depends on kind of work you are talking about. I'd suggest a x200t/201t. Buying a tablet right away saves some money on ips panel, which you would want to have very much due to the ridiculous suckage of native ccfl panels. Or a t430, it has so much modding potential.

Just got my Japanese keyboard installed into my Lainpad T430. Pretty /comfy/. Haven't EC-Flashed yet, will tomorrow followed by 1vyrain.

>>28898 Where'd you get it from? Considering getting one too.

>>28898 Did you put a T420 Japanese keyboard into your T430? Were there any issues?

>>28983 Thought I replied to this, guess not my bad. The Japanese one specifically? On Aliexpress, lookup "Japanese Thinkpad T420 Keyboard". >>28984 https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Install_Classic_Keyboard_on_xx30_Series_ThinkPads There are 3 methods, the most common being sanding down the nubs. They are definitely a bitch but doable. https://github.com/hamishcoleman/thinkpad-ec You then have to do the EC-Flash to remap the keys, there are 2 keys I think that don't work and the caps lock light doesn't work as of writing this. It's completely usable though, and I highly recommend. So much better than the stock keyboard. https://github.com/n4ru/1vyrain I'd also recommend flashing 1vyrain to follow it up (or just Coreboot it if you have the tools). Note, you have to do the ec-flash before 1vyrain. And yeah, so as of now my machine is ec-flashed, and 1vyrain flashed. Pretty /comfy/. At somepoint will probably Coreboot it though.

>>28995 did you put tape on the ribbon to stop it from shorting?

>>28997 I did yeah, it was a bit of a PITA but I wanted to play it safe than sorry. I know a few people who didn't tape the pinout and have had zero issues, but again I'd rather play it safe than sorry for the $40 I spent + the month I waited to get it from China lmfao. It's not hard, it was a little sketch pulling the connector out from the keyboard because it felt like it was gonna rip, but I did it twice and it's fine. But cutting and placing the tape to ensure it's not covering the other pins is just super tedious, but once it's done it's done. I still think sanding down the nubs was the biggest PITA, I was at it for like an hour with a metal file although it would've probably been quicker with sandpaper. Weird angles, plus trying to eat through metal. I do want to grab some high grit sandpaper and just smooth out the edges a bit. Didn't have any on hand.

>>29002 I ended up grabbing one off ali for around $29. I've seen a couple posts where people used nippers to cut the nubs but I'd be scared of ruining it that way.

>>29011 >I've seen a couple posts where people used nippers to cut the nubs but I'd be scared of ruining it that way. Halfway into the sanding, I grabbed needle nose pliers and kinda snipped them (the pointy part of the pliers facing the top of the keyboard, not sideways along the edge of the keyboard) and kinda just twisted lightly. I think it helped a bit to be honest. It's just metal, you're not going to ruin it, it's just the chasis as long as you don't cut too deep or into the plastic. I'd avoid snipping the nub below the left and right click buttons though as it has a plastic layer over it, just in case. The other ones feel free.

>>14915 What would be the cheapest thinkpad that I can run openbsd on? I see myself only doing the following on it: >responding to emails >writing / reading / compiling TeX files >ssh into other machines >maybe irc

>>29349 T60 is probably your best bet--I scored mine for ~$60 and used it for basically the same kind of stuff using Debian, and it was fine.

where to get the nitrocaster pcb for fhd mod on x220? (im in germany)

I just bought an x220 and installed arch as my first linux distro. The whole installation went pretty smoothly, but now some problems have appeared. First, for some reason, Bluetooth is always enabled (at least according to the light on the laptop) and I can't find a way to disable it. Second, the volume buttons do not work, and also even though they work, the brightness buttons don't have a GUI anymore, meaning that when it was running windows, a little box with the brightness bar used to appear. Third, I have no idea how I am supposed to turn off the laptop outside of the terminal, although I suppose that as far as this problem goes, I just haven't done enough research. At this point I should mention that I downloaded awesomewm and not a full de. Lastly, I would appreciate any panel suggestions, as the default seems kinda ugly. Thanks in advance. >inb4 reddit spacing

>>29472 >I just bought an x220 and installed arch as my first linux distro. Are you familiar with Arch? Maybe try installing a distro which isn't a meme. Try something easy like Ubuntu, Mint, Manjaro (Arch-based). I'm unsure if your hardware is just fuarrrked or is this all Arch's fault. Are you running Coreboot/Libreboot or the default firmware? >First, for some reason, Bluetooth is always enabled (at least according to the light on the laptop) and I can't find a way to disable it. Strange. >Second, the volume buttons do not work Hardware buttons? There's a mute button, try pressing it once. >Third, I have no idea how I am supposed to turn off the laptop outside of the terminal Normally you turn off it from your DE's interface, just like on Windows. Menu -> Power off >inb4 reddit spacing That's fine, but why is your indention waving like a sea?

Looking for a cheap thinkpad for work and imageboards to run Linux on. Any suggestions? Currently thinking T420.

What are some good, easy mods to do on the T420?

>>29472 good choice on the x220 > First, for some reason, Bluetooth is always enabled (at least according to the light on the laptop) and I can't find a way to disable it. there is no bluetooth light on the x220 i dont have much experience with bluetooth but you can check blueman or whatever bluetooth manager you have installed >Second, the volume buttons do not work, and also even though they work, the brightness buttons don't have a GUI anymore, meaning that when it was running windows, a little box with the brightness bar used to appear. you can set keybindings in your awesome config file >Third, I have no idea how I am supposed to turn off the laptop outside of the terminal, although I suppose that as far as this problem goes, I just haven't done enough research. you can make a keybinding to shutdown, i have it on ctrl+shift+delete or you can add it to your panel > Lastly, I would appreciate any panel suggestions, as the default seems kinda ugly. check out polybar, lxpanel or tint2 >>29530 >Looking for a cheap thinkpad for work and imageboards to run Linux on. Any suggestions? Currently thinking T420. if you dont need much power and want to go extra cheap, look for an t60

Does anyone have experience with Kubuntu on Thinkpad T440? My T440 will come in the mail soon and I wanted to make it into a university machine so I need something that just werks as they say. Will going with Kubuntu 20.04 LTS be a good choice?

>>29650 Friend has x240 running Debian so I guess Kubuntu will also work.

>>27328 It's been perfectly fine so far. Put a new battery in and I get about 7-9 hours of battery life.

sory writin from dumbphone. quick question. does a thinkpad R400 for 60 bucks worth it? Will try to have it for 50.

>>29650 just debian stable with kde-plasma desktop werks plenty my dude

>>29791 Don't mind. I didn't bought it. It was on the flee-market and after killing my eyes lurking the thread an op's picrel. The vendor was some sort of gypsy high on hash, didn't speak my lang and quite insisting without let me know moar about the machine. All I know is the machine turned on, no OS. Quite cyberpunk no?

I'm thinking about buying a Thinkpad X200 or another X series. How do I make sure what I buy doesn't have a BIOS locked password?

>>29801 Ask seller to show Setup menu, all it's entries, especially one where Supervisor password is enabled. Aren't there jaibreaks for it since all these years? I thought the coreboot crowd must have figured out how to disable this idiotic "feature" without heavy soldering.

The screen on my thinkpad t495 is fuarrrked. LCD panel cracked. What are my options for replacement? I'm trying to find a good source for screens in the US and work out whether or not I can upgrade to a nicer panel (I optioned it with the second cheapest panel available IIRC). Advice would be appreciated.

Looking to buy an X220t for drawing (among other things). Never owned a Thinkpad, I see all of them use Intel processors. Is there anything you can do to protect against all the notorious Intel exploits?

>>29801 >>29864 I saw this in the buying guide too: >Don’t buy ThinkPads with BIOS passwords or not powered on Is this something that's common? Or is this a thinkpad thing? People selling laptops with passwords which make the laptop unusable? Also, what are some other red flags and other things to look out for after receiving the laptop?

>>30454 For posterity, I got answers on /g/: https://boards.4channel.org/g/thread/77016187#p77034371

>>30454 >notorious Intel exploits They only really matter if your laptop is a cloud computing node running other people virtual machines in a hypervisor. I find performance loss unacceptable and have these mitigations disabled.

what thinkpads will be good enough for web browser and document writing and cheap and won't be obsolete 3 yeaes from now

What are best battery options for t520? I normally use it on dock but recently I had to use it on battery and I hardly get 3 hours with light Firefox and Libreoffice suite usage. I am not going to replace cells myself because I am an techlet so I am looking just for an new battery. >>30509 Basically any thinkpad from past 12 years, something being obsolete is an subjective term.

>Don't buy anything OTHER THAN IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T, X, and W/P Series if you want the Real Business Experience™ Oh yes, give me that business experience. Right down my throat. I love CORBA. I want COBOL. I want VB.NET. I want Maven POM files YES YES YES.

>>14915 I bought a used T480 16gb RAM 512gb SSDs touch screen for $675 Is that a good price or did I get Jew'd?

I got 2 questions: 1. What is the best type of RAM i can put into X220? I'm a lamer in this hardware area. All I know I can max ram up to 16GB, but what exact type/clockspeed/model/etc? 2. Are we going to see posobility to flash BIOS w/o external programmer after recent Intel's leak? >>31485 Depends how used and which country.

>>31485 That's a solid price I'd say, if you're from America or Europe that's a great price in my opinion.

Does anybody have any insight on Coreboot'ing a T420s? I see plenty of documentation on the T420 but not the T420s. At a loss on the PIN layouts here to get flashrom to detect my chip.

>>31536 go to the #coreboot at FreeNode and ask there

>>31521 1. if you install the whitelist bios you can go up to 1600MHz, otherwise its 1333MHz im pretty happy with my 8 gigs @ 1333MHz from Samsung 2. i dont think so

has someone ever built a custom battery for the classic thinkpads? the 9 cell battery is 7800mAh even a relative small powerbank has more than that shouldnt we be able to increase the capacity of the old battery with the modern technology?

>>27133 >Also one of other Thinkpads have absolutely loose hinges. Can I repair them by my own or they require changing? Anyone knows?

>>31737 idk about the older thinkpads but i have a new one and the hinges come off with screws. idk if there is anything to do besides changing them but you could always just take it apart and look.

My old (non-thinkpad) laptop broke and I bought a T430 a few weeks ago. So far, so good! It's actually running a bit quicker than my old laptop, cause I bought a thinkpad with an SSD! (In ram and CPU it's pretty much the same as my old laptop, but that SSD really does make a difference!). Anyways, I misunderstood just how poor the GPU on this thing was. For starters, I thought the GPU I was getting was gonna be a intel HD 4000, but I guess I should've looked at the ebay page a bit more closely. I got the T430 with a intel HD 3000. Not that the 4000 is an outstanding GPU by any means, but it is still a lot better than a mere 3000. I've already encountered issues with the downgrade to a 3000. I tried playing Persona 4 golden (which my older laptop could run just fine) and I couldn't because the 3000 doesn't support Direct X 11. I can't even run a ps2 emulator to play the ps2 version of P4... Now I don't really use laptops to game that much, but damn, I can't play a more than decade old game? How unrealistic would it be for me to upgrade the GPU? Should I give it a go? Or should I just buy an external GPU?

I have a Thinkpad T520 and recently my power button on the keyboard stopped working entirely, both from an off and an on state. No matter how much or how long I press it, it simply does nothing. However the BIOS setting to have the laptop power on after the adapter is plugged in works perfectly. I've even tried a new keyboard and that isn't working either. Any ideas, Lain?

Has anyone ever had success updating the BIOS on a thinkpad? I have an X220 that I need to update to at least 1.37 or 1.46 before installing a custom BIOS without the hardware white list, but I can never get it to boot from the USB I made. Whenever I select it from the boot menu the screen just refreshes. Rough steps that I'm doing: 1. Download 8duj31us.iso 2. Convert it to an img with geteltorito.pl 3. dd the image to a usb (/dev/sdd) 4. reboot 5. f12 6. select my usb drive. 7 screen just refreshes Every instruction I find is either using some variation of the above steps or assuming you have windows installed already. Some others warned to allow booting from USB in the BIOS but that's already enabled. I would really like to replace the wifi card with one thats not soykaf

>>32208 Got it. I had to set my boot options from "UEFI Only" to BIOS

What replacement batteries you recommend? Im contemplating GreenCell's. BTW what red circle with white 44+ on it stands for?

I have a refurb X1 Carbon (2st Gen), which came with W10. The top left toggle for switching the touchscreen between F1 - F12 and macros for some odd reason does not work after logging in, but works up until that point, which I can only imagine is a software problem since the machine comes stock with W7. Also had a similar issue with this laptop, lost all sound output after a W10 update, and found out I needed to install something like "Lenovo management service" to get the sound to work again, which luckily fixed the issue, but is a clusterfuck of a solution. W10 is almost more trouble than it's worth to leave installed.

>>14915 I own a X200 but need a faster laptop for uni, compiling soykaf on a core 2 duo takes too long. I'd like a decent 1080p screen, quad-core, 4h on battery minimum, 8GB RAM and a GPU capable of OpenGL 4+ and hobbyist CAD. I have a budget around 350€ (400$). Current candidate: Buy T430 or T430s & install a quad core, older keyboard and 1080p IPS screen to make it truly /comfy/. Is the T430s as moddable as the T430 in this regard? Over 2h of public transport a day make the lighter T430s seem very attractive. And would even get 4hs of battery life with the quad core? or should I save myself the trouble and just buy a newer model?

>>33464 T430s has a soldered dual core CPU and is not socketed like in the T430.

Is this some kind of Lenovo Viral Marketing campaign?

>>33876 Considering the focus on the secondhand market I'd say probably not - I've never seen anyone suggest buying a thinkpad new. And it's not like this kind of thing increases the aftermarket value enough to incentivize businesses to buy them any more anyway. As a side note, the OP has >Other business laptops are welcome in /tpg/ (Dell Latitude/Precision, HP EliteBook/ZBook). changed from the 4/g/tpg/ OP but everyone in this thread seems to be ignoring that.

>>33876 Lenovo doesn't need a viral marketing campaign. They've got a solid grip on the balls of half the IT purchasing staff on the planet.

Hi lain I have a T430 that I use with external 1080p monitor connected through minidp to hdmi cable and I find myself pretty happy with it. Recently I have been looking to upgrade my set up a bit. Can I add another 1440p monitor to the one I already have? Searched through the internet and I couldn't find a definitive answer. ThinkPad Mini Dock Series 3 spec page says: >Any two, of the three, video ports can be used simultaneously >One Single-Link DVI-D digital monitor supporting 1920 x 1200 resolution >One DisplayPort monitor supporting 2560 x 1600 resoltion All good but this last line: >Supports attachment (compatibility varies by ThinkPad system) of DisplayPort monitor cables; Using DisplayPort monitor cables reduces resolution to 1920 x 1200 What does this mean? Ideally I'd use 1440p monitor through dp port and 1080p one through DVI to HDMI adapter. My T430 has Intel HD4000 if that matters.

>>34184 I have a T430, typing on it right now. I'm not sure about the docks though, as I don't have one. And I'm not sure if a t430 can run three monitors, but it's worth a shot I guess. You can always do a trial run by borrowing a friends monitor, or using your TV. Also you can check the thinkwiki for your dock model. Ask /g/'s /tpg/ or r/thinkpads discord server. https://discord.gg/DXzdvw Good luck anon.

The right hinge on my T500 came off, a long time ago, way longer than I'd like to admit. I've finally decided I'm actually gonna fix it. As you can tell, the top part is completely detached from the hinge, but the hinge itself is actually working and in one piece, although i find it hard to twist, however i think this isn't a problem with the hinge, but rather the fact that it's always hard to turn something so tiny. When i grab it with a plier, it's actually reasonably easy to twist. I was told that a 2-component epoxy adhesive would be good for fixing the hinge connection, just take it and glue the hinge to the metal underneath, would this be a good fix, does anyone think there's some better way, this seems fine neough to me, I'm just wondering if I'm not gonna accidentally make things worse if I do so

>>34235 left hinge, doh, also this is the adhesive i wa talking about

>>34235 >>34236 You can buy a broken T500 and use it for parts.

>>34274 I've been thinking about that, but I don't know how much that would help me since there are no parts missing here, it's just that the hinge got deattached from the monitor part.

>>31485 Very decent price, definitely didn't get screwed.

can you guys help me find a Thinkpad with support for plan 9/9front? i have a x1 carbon right now, but i cannot get any graphics driver but vesa going on it so video play back is like kicking dead whales down the beach

>>15211 a lot of the thinkpads that claim 9front support still use the vesa driver

Just ordered an X220t, waiting for it to come in the mail. I used to have a standard X220 so I know the general rundown on how to get things working and still have an ultrabase, but I do have a few questions. >Can a DP -> HDMI cable output sound as well as video? I always assumed not but I've seen some posts/videos recently that claim otherwise. >Is it even worth installing 16gb ram? I had 8gb in my old X220 because I thought it was the max but it seems it can go a bit higher. >Have any of you anons used one of the tablet models as an e-reader? Any recommended software/distros? I'm planning on rolling with xubuntu as of now. >>33464 I'm no expert on all the models, but I had a friend with a T430+nvidia graphics a few years back and I remember him being able to play Overwatch on it. Admittedly, it was on pretty low settings, but I think that should be good for your uses.