Thinkpads

Favorite Thinkpad and why? It's a little pricey to upgrade, so I'm looking to replace my R61i for something better.

I've used a T430 for 6 years by now and it may be by far the best laptop I've ever used in almost every regard.

x200 w/libreboot Just buy it

>>49846 I am thinking about getting T460 but nt sure about the performance. I fell for the meme of new Thinkpads I have a P1 Gen 1 workstation which I use for engie work but it's so pricey and cumbersome to carr around. What do you guys think? Should I get a T460 for carrying it?

>>49842 For "modern" ones, X200. I really like the feel and form factor of the mid-late 90s IBMs too, but old batteries and crap screens keep me from using them on-the-go.

>>49842 Anything from the X series, ivy and older. The T series units don't really make sense, the specs are a bit weak for such big machines, but are fine for 12" ultraportables. X220 is the sweet spot in my opinion, hardware is still relevant for modern applications, the CPU is fast enough to make up for the lack of hardware decoder for newer video codecs, GPU provides adequate acceleration for compositing and general desktop use, it's an all around very dependable machine. >>49857 Mobile workstations tend to combine the drawbacks of desktops and laptops. It doesn't help that people tend to overestimate/misjudge what they need to work effectively. The company i previously worked at provided all developers with dell precisions with high-end quadros, despite the most graphically intensive program used being Revit, which is far from the kind of rendering/simulation/compute that mandates such hardware. Money effectively wasted on overkill, cumbersome hardware instead of getting a second internet connection and outfitting our network with QoS and failover capability, which would've brought a meaningful improvement across all departments, especially remote customer support. TL:DR: Figure out you _actual_ computing needs and get hardware that meets them with some wiggle room, without going overboard and throwing practicality and value out the window.

>>49842 Can it even play 480p video? My T60 with Intel graphics can barely handle 720p without some settings in mpv.conf the poor thing.

>>49894 Believe it or not, it does, but barely lmfao

None of them. Use a Windows secured core PC or a macbook. Old hardware and Thinkpads are not secure.

>>49944 Are new macbook ARM based computers secure according to you?

>>49944 Honestly, I can't quite ever see the need for a Macbook. If you want to use a Unix system, just use one of the many distros. What do you mean by secure in this case? Like hardware tracking/spying? Drive encryption? You're rather vague about the security aspect.

>>49842 T420 is probably the best classic thinkpad ever made

>>49846 based if you changed it to classic keyboard

Lain, I bought an used X200. It was used in a garage so it has scratches all over its cover. I have no Magic Erasers, any other things I can polish it with?

I haven't used many thinkpads, but I currently have thinkpad 13 as my main laptop (inb4 people will get butthurt because it's not like the X or W series, and it doesn't have libreboot. idgaf really) it's quite small and portable, keyboard is nice to write on too

>>49842 T430 because that's what I used. I had a T530 before and it was just too large for its performance. I'd like to get an x230 to take to college but they seem too expensive these days. I paid like $90 for my T430.

In my use cases, the T430 works well for me. I modded it to have a 1080p IPS screen (it was relatively expensive but not too difficult to do if you're tech savvy). It can play 1080p60fps videos on youtube well most of the time and always plays 1080p30fps and below great. I can play old/low end games well as well.

Are docks worth buying for thinkpads?

>>50245 unequivocal yes. don't even understand what you're doubting about, why do you think you mightn't want one?

>>50245 Not really unless you care about additional monitors. USB-wise it doesn't provide its own controller, so you cannot count on it for PCIe-level isolation with VMs, it's basically just a more expensive USB hub.

i use a t440p with a switched out display and touchpad. i love the thing to death, but i would like to get an x220. gets like 4-5 hours of battery life, borderline indestructible, but it has its flaws - no external gpu, no slice battery or anything like that, etc. got a backup battery and a dock, pretty comfy setup.

I have: X220 with i5 and 16GB of RAM T60 with Libreboot and 3GB of RAM X200 with Libreboot and 8GB of RAM By far my favorite is the X200. With a new genuine battery, I easily get 6 hours with Debian 11.

>>50312 You just reminded me that I need to get a replacement battery for my x200.... Whats the longest lasting type?

My co worker has something like T460 or T430 it's smaller than mine I have a P1 Gen1 actually smallest thinkpad I have ever seen irl. What model is it and is it good bros? I want a smaller PC to throw at my backpack and use it for ZOOM (soykaf uni job) and Linux and writing LaTeX.

>>50031 Update on this, got some smutzradiere from DM and rubbed down the cover. It got rid of the clouds and smudges although the scratches are still there. Wiped the interior down with some isoprop wipes and a window cleaner + microfibre cloth and it looks actually almost presentable now.

>>49842 T400, X200 and X60. I especially prefer the X60, I just wish they made newer ones that are updated internally but maintain that comfy robust packaging. I would like to try some X230 or T430 but used prices for those are still a bit expensive for me and I really can't justify buying another laptop since I still have a perfectly usable one.

>>50245 Yes. It significantly increases the usability and functionality of your thinkpad. With a dock you can legitimately use your laptop as a desktop replacement, provided that you're not doing some heavy stuff.

Lain I'm having a problem, my ThinkPad has an odd smell still. Specifically the hard drive area. Took it to the service but they said it all works fine, no sign of burning or anything. It had some dust was all. The two things that absolutely reek like this are the old SSD that came with it which I've just replaced and the black rubber cushioning of the caddies. How can I get rid of it?

>>51383 That's the best thing about Thinkpads, those juicy flavorous HDD rubber pads, mhmmmmm *sniiiiiiffff*.

>>50326 Other anon, it's the 9-cell "47++" that sticks out the back- unless they were referring to the "slice" battery that sits on the bottom and plugs into the docking port, which I think is also available for those models. However, I'm not sure that genuine batteries of this make are still available, despite what the chinese vendors on ebay will tell you- oftentimes they cell generic batteries and get away with it fine. Right now I'm contemplating rebuilding my existing 9-cell which is at 60% health with a new one using brand new 18650s. This is more expensive than a "genuine" battery, but a bit less expensive than a Genuine battery, with more capacity to boot. Although you do run the risk of destroying the unit, or inhaling toxic gas.

>>51383 The smell is the best part dude, my T60 and T410 all have it and it's yummy

>>51383 you sure it's not a battery leak? the usual sign is burnt/sweet smell

>>49842 I want to say the T410 that carried me through my failed attempt at university or the T420 I learnt linux on but really its the T450s I'm typing this on. Outstanding screen, super light, very tough despite its dimensions, great battery life, enough processing power.

>>51408 Burnt? Yeah. Sweet? Hell no. The batteries are fine. It's sort of like a weird mixture of burnt tires and burnt circuitry. It's definitely those rubber pads.

x200 Tablet for me all the way. Works amazing, very compact, and easily gets 4-5 hours of battery life on OpenBSD. Only downside is lack of OpenBSD support for the wacom digitizer, but I'm in the midst of writing a driver for myself to rectify that.

I have a x230 that i really like but it's completely busted and the battery is dying. I will buy a485 when i have enough money.

i have an x201. It has maybe a 1-2 hour battery life at best.

>>52226 i've got the same model (i5 520m) running my homelab, i tend to get ~6-8 hours of battery out of the 9-cell

>>49842 Anything after t400/x200 series is not worth getting, they are built like soykaf, you are unironically better off with just geting a random 300 dollar consumer laptop. The brandlets will disagree but those people are no different than the people who get the newest apple hardware every year, it's a brand thing.

>>51384 >>51388 I looooove the smell of cancer!

I have an x220 and a t400 (and a brand new desktop pc). The t400 is by far my favorite device I have. I love the DVD/CD drive, screen size, and the cpu doesnt get nearly as hot as my x220's i7 (that I even just repasted) and on top of all of that, it's librebooted. It's truly a beautiful machine.

Which Modern Thinkpad is good (or at least acceptable)?

i got a t440p for $25 ($40 total after buying new bottom cover & battery) its ok for what it is, i wouldn't get a t440p though. it runs like a oven even after i repasted, ill prob buy a copper heatpipe and bend / fit it on

>>52825 Unfortunately, I'm afraid most modern thinkpads aren't very good. They've defeated the good things of thinkpads -- the lack of soldered on and hard to replace or upgrade hardware. I think that the X200 series were one of the last really good systems. If you need a newer system, I think something from the E series will be the way to go.

>>49846 second this, i maxed out my t430 last year and put in a 1tb ssd and it's my fave laptop i've ever had. >>50245 yes but make sure u get one that fits your needs because there are a few available. I got the one with two dvi outs and used it as my main computer with 2 27" monitors before I got my desktop pc.

>>49855 This, or if you're looking for speed a modded T430s with 1080p IPS panel and keyboard mod. Corebooted ofc

Need a new laptop as my old latitude is slowly getting unreliable. Is there any thinkpad that is a) made the old fashioned way, as in durable and with most parts replacable and b) won't get me a CPU that's worse than the i5-4210M I'm currently running on? Other business laptops that fulfill those requirements would be fine as well, doesn't need to be a thinkpad necessarily.

I have a T500... it has some coil whining when writing things to disk but it does otherwise work like a charm. I made it run an Arch-based linux distro and turns on and works faster than most of other computers I use.

I love my tiny X280. It's not as comfy as older Thinkpads, but still fairly repairable, runs almost everything, and allows you to permanently disable most of Intel's soykaf without going through any hoops. The screen doesn't have a high resolution, but that means the original battery still lasts pretty long, and it has a nice matte finish that everyone but me seems to dislike. The trackpoint isn't too accurate, but using its buttons along with the regular touchpad is amazing.

I picked up a P50 from the local computer recycler recently. Has a Xeon 1505v5 in it with the Nvidia M2000M GPU. I can barely tell the difference between it and the 8700k in my desktop despite being several years old. The keyboard is fantastic, trackpoint works great. Nice matte screen so I can sit with a window right behind me and it's no problem I think I'm in love with this thing. Have a T420 too. Other than the crap screen it's great

literatlly just bought this x61. Was thinking of using it as a webserver. if so I'll probably install a centos based distros, since i need to get to grips with that.

>>54589 I have a friend who is obsessed with CentOS, I never got into it myself, but from what he says it's good.

>>49951 I'm sure he is either talking about Spectre, Meltdown, or the lack of a Treacherous Computing Module. Doesn't help you defend against the spying of the Intel ME, OS X, or Wangblows.

I use a T450s, i5-5300u, 16gb, SSD of course. Big fan of IPS panel on it. It's dual booted as I primarily use it for Mechanical/Electronic Engineering and software development. Does the just fine, only struggles with larger mechanical assemblies. Annoyingly, it's also one of the only Thinkpad models where it is basically impossible to add an eGPU.

Sort of off topic i guess but i just found out about the newest panasonic lets note laptops from what i understand these things are basically "thinkpads of old" but not old

>>55832 That circular thing is a touchpad? Does it have some sort of special feature or just an impracticable design?

>>55832 If you're up to paying $4000 and ordering from Japanese auctions, then yes, they are identical to Thinkpads of old.

>>55844 +2 to early 00's posing

>>49842 I want to get a W520 its got i7-2860QM 8GB ram and the 1080p display. Its in near perfect condition and I need something with the 4 cores 8 threads you think its worth it for 200$?

My T450s needs a new keyboard but when I replace the keyboard the trackpoint stops working for some reason. Guess this machine is on its last legs, are any of the new thinkpads actually worth getting? I kind of want to go down to just having a laptop but from what I can see the T480 is overpriced used and everything else is pretty much just overpriced or awfully built

>>55844 people that use the nipple swear by it, but i was already accustomed to touch pad and my first thinkpad came with a touchpad so i never dealt with the learning curve.

I have a W540 i7-4810MQ 16GB ram I got it for about 400 bucks (it's probably overpriced according to some of you, but quality electronics are difficult to get a hold of where I live) ngl best damn computer I ever had, battery lasts long, keyboard is comfy, plenty of processing power and ram for my needs. I know it's a heavy laptop but I never really carried laptops around, I hate carrying my smartphone around. Other than that, I noticed quite a few of my colleagues use the x220, I must say it seems really comfy. If you want to carry your laptop around frequently I guess that's the one to get. >>55947 Honestly anon that's a bloody steal if it's in near perfect condition. I'd say get it.

>>55967 I'd say the touchpad and the nipple serve different purposes. The touchpad is useful for precision. The nipple is useful for speed. Ideally one would use a mouse for precision but the touchpad can be a good substitute.