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Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

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Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#31
post #5

Did they make a 460s version of the 460 this time around?

They have 'workhorse' 460p (less mobile but stronger CPUs IMO) and a more expensive 'ultra book' 460s, plus the X1 Carbon. For the Carbon there seems to be a recent version released (in the US): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13286150 (maybe they plan to substitude the 460s?)

460p is not cheaper, it's the 'pro' version with more powerful GPU.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#32
post #3

Ive went with a T420 recently, mostly because of the keyboard. But also because $400 for laptop + battery + Samsung SSD + 16GB hyperX Ram sounded so cheap i could not resist. And honestly even after a 2015 MBP it feels perfect for all my needs. In fact due to the superior RAM and SSD it feels often way faster than the MBP for 5 times that price felt. Plus it has way better battery life. Seriously Thinkpads are the be…

What about the T-series keyboards changed recently that bothers you? If it's actually the touchpad changes, they reverted them on the xx50 and up (or made them optional, I forget which). (Typing this from a T430 I'm using while my W550s is being repaired, and I can't recall any drastic keyboard changes that had me in an uproar in the last while.)

I have not tested a t430 but the t450 feeled a lot more "mushy" or rubberdome like. The t420 has a solid click (without the "click" :/) which is something i really like.

From what ive read it got worse after the t420. So it was a easy choice for me.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#33
I bought a T420s a few months ago.

I am selling my much newer MacBook Pro retina now, as the Thinkpad is so much more functional, the keyboard is amazing the feeling of the machine itself is fantastic.

I am thinking to buy a X260 brand new because I need a newer CPU and better battery life, but for sure I'll only buy Thinkpads or Latitudes (I have one at work, amazing machine) from now on.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#34
post #12

I've owned Thinkpads in the past and almost bought the T460 last month, then I discovered the Dell XPS / Precision line and fell in love. I picked up a manufacturer refurbished XPS 15 on eBay and wound up swapping in a Dell Precision E3-1505M motherboard I stumbled across. The line has Intel quad core CPUs, minimal bezel (my 15" is almost the same size as the 14" System 76 Galago Ultra Pro it's replacing), reasonably…

> Xeon E3-1505M machine

Except they don't ship with ECC memory.

> 32GB, DDR4-2133MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS, Non-ECC [0]

So what's the point of having a Xeon? The Core i7 options offered for the laptop support all the same processor features [1], except ECC memory [2], which Dell isn't even shipping.

[0] http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m5510-workstatio...

[1] http://ark.intel.com/products/88970/Intel-Core-i7-6820HQ-Pro...

[2] http://ark.intel.com/products/89608/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-...

Edit: I think it's a legitimate gripe, Dell is selling a Xeon but there's zero benefit over buying an i7 equipped model. But thanks for all the downvotes!

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#35
> ... I find the boot time compelling enough (~23sec until login, plus 2sec to open the browser) that I do not need this.

I think something is slowing down your boot, I get faster boot on a 2008 thinkpad running the same OS.

OT: systemd was supposed to improve boot performance but it has actually become much worse. Upstart on a weak chromebook boots in under 2 sec, why shouldn't your current generation thinkpad with a fast SSD match that?

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#36
I have a X240 (12.5" version of the T440) for about 2.5 years now, and while indeed being super quiet when it's new, today the fan is almost always on, even if it's only on the lowest speed. Probably need to open it up and give it a good cleaning, and/or replace the thermal paste between the CPU and cooler.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#37
Lenovo are on my personal shitlist after superfish and abusing the windows platform binary table. When my current laptop dies (a thinkpad T440p that I'm reasonably happy with), I may have to suck up the performance hit and go to minifree for a machine I can actually trust.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#38
post #12

I've owned Thinkpads in the past and almost bought the T460 last month, then I discovered the Dell XPS / Precision line and fell in love. I picked up a manufacturer refurbished XPS 15 on eBay and wound up swapping in a Dell Precision E3-1505M motherboard I stumbled across. The line has Intel quad core CPUs, minimal bezel (my 15" is almost the same size as the 14" System 76 Galago Ultra Pro it's replacing), reasonably…

> Xeon E3-1505M machine Except they don't ship with ECC memory. > 32GB, DDR4-2133MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS, Non-ECC [0] So what's the point of having a Xeon? The Core i7 options offered for the laptop support all the same processor features [1], except ECC memory [2], which Dell isn't even shipping. [0] http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m5510-workstatio... [1] http://ark.intel.com/products/88970/Intel-Core-i7-6820…

It's just more frequency and cache for me, but for enterprise there are more management features.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#39

I have a X240 (12.5" version of the T440) for about 2.5 years now, and while indeed being super quiet when it's new, today the fan is almost always on, even if it's only on the lowest speed. Probably need to open it up and give it a good cleaning, and/or replace the thermal paste between the CPU and cooler.

I did that with 2009 thinkpad and it got much worse. I guess the cheap paste I used was worse than the 6 year old paste lenovo had used :(

What _did_ help was to take out the fan, clean it and then oil it carefully (too much oil or doing so without cleaning it first will only make things worse). You can also buy replacement fans, although original fans are quite expensive.

Re: Lenovo ThinkPad T460 – A Good Linux Laptop for Development

#40
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Xeon E3-1505M machine Except they don't ship with ECC memory. > 32GB, DDR4-2133MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS, Non-ECC [0] So what's the point of having a Xeon? The Core i7 options offered for the laptop support all the same processor features [1], except ECC memory [2], which Dell isn't even shipping. [0] http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m5510-workstatio... [1] http://ark.intel.com/products/88970/Intel-Core-i7-6820…

It's just more frequency and cache for me, but for enterprise there are more management features.

Maybe in the firmware Dell is shipping, but the CPUs are identical in their feature set as per the ark links I supplied.

The only difference in the processors is the Xeon supports ECC, while the Core i7 doesn't. But Dell isn't shipping the laptop with ECC anyway.

The specifications don't even list support for ECC RAM! [0]

[0] http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/shared-content/data-sheet...

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