Used ThinkPad Buyer's Guide (2019)

daymanstep•10 minutes ago

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.

sandreas•33 minutes ago

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 :-)

ssl-3•9 minutes ago

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.

CrociDB•39 minutes ago

A newer guide would be good, as some of the information now is a bit outdated.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. :)

mdspan•about 1 hour ago

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.

matltc•20 minutes ago

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

Gathering6678•about 1 hour ago

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

PennRobotics•20 minutes ago

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

Used ThinkPad Buyer's Guide (2019)

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