I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012 • Hacker News Board

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#31

Post by alcasa » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:04 AM UTC

causi wrote: post #10

Do something fun with the ExpressCard34 slot. Shame it isn't a 54 slot. You'd be able to get an expresscard bluetooth mouse. They're comfier than you'd expect and incredibly convenient. They even charge while stored in the slot.

Or use it for an eGPU connector, I believe there were also options to use it as additional storage

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#32

Post by alcasa » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:06 AM UTC

shusaku wrote: post #8

I don’t think the author is alone in keeping an older thinkpad running by upgrading its components, that’s part of why they’re such popular machines with tech people. I have to say though, his complaints about the newer machines doesn’t resonate with me, my T495s works great (the only issue is the awful Lenovo buying process)

I honestly feel like there were some issues in their specific hardware selection. Linux shouldn't be that bad on a recent Thinkpad system

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#33

Post by ciphol » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:06 AM UTC

ya_throw wrote: post #16

Does this mean that "things that have survived for 10 years are more durable than average", or "in the last 10 years, we have become unable to make useful, durable laptops"? If it's the latter, then I can hear the footsteps of the Anti-Singularity getting ever closer....

We're capable, companies have just decided there isn't a market for it.

Or else there are still useful durable laptops being produced, but not this model or this company.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#34

Post by knaik94 » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:06 AM UTC

This laptop doesn't have a dedicated GPU and while I love my old thinkpad, a third generation i7 isn't powerful enough to do 4k h265 decoding and physically lacks any hardware acceleration for vp8, vp9 and both 8 and 10 bit h265. 1080p content is fine but with 4k it will start to struggle. This author doesn't seem to be using the laptop for multimedia consumption, but I would like to bring this limitation up for anyone looking to run this generation of thinkpad as a daily driver. If someone was planning on doing screen recording, I would strongly urge them to pick a newer generation of processor that can do hardware accelerated video encoding. A 720p webcam is fine, but seems like the limit as well since the author had to drop the desktop resolution to 720p to use OBS screen recording functionally. It's a great machine though and I completely understand why someone would feel those tradeoffs are worth looking past. I miss my w520 sometimes. I have never felt so at home with another machine.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#35

Post by knaik94 » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:12 AM UTC

jeffjeff2 wrote: post #6

"To make this machine viable in 2021, you need the CPU, RAM and SSD upgrades at the very minimum" This is not really a 2012 machine any more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

The ram upgrade was common since the 2012s, thinkpad sold 16gbs as an upgrade while buying the laptop at the time. SSDs needing to be upgraded has also been recommended since that time. And the processor update was simply maxing out the processor upgrade from that generation. It was available on the workstation version of the thinkpad in the same generation. The i7-3820QM release date is 04/23/2012. It's still a processor from 2012. A new SSD doesn't mean current gen speeds, the internal and the caddy are still limited to sata 3 speeds. It's a very 2012 machine, a very nice 2012 machine and still lacking a dedicated GPU.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#36

Post by dijit » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:13 AM UTC

jeffjeff2 wrote: post #6

"To make this machine viable in 2021, you need the CPU, RAM and SSD upgrades at the very minimum" This is not really a 2012 machine any more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

That CPU is generationally accurate though. It would be possible to have that much ram and that CPU when the system was brand new.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#37

Post by fsflover » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:13 AM UTC

hddherman wrote: post #9

In case my internet connection fails, here's a Wayback Machine snapshot: https://web.archive.org/web/20220110074515/https://ounapuu.e... I really appreciate your feedback, thoughts and own experiences that relate to this post!

All the same advantages, plus 64 GB RAM, hardware kill switches, thin metal design, Coreboot and no compromises: https://puri.sm/products/librem-14

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#38

Post by the_only_law » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:15 AM UTC

fsflover wrote: post #37

hddherman wrote: post #9

In case my internet connection fails, here's a Wayback Machine snapshot: https://web.archive.org/web/20220110074515/https://ounapuu.e... I really appreciate your feedback, thoughts and own experiences that relate to this post!

All the same advantages, plus 64 GB RAM, hardware kill switches, thin metal design, Coreboot and no compromises: https://puri.sm/products/librem-14

Well… maybe aside from price.

It is kinda cool that I can get it shipped with Qubes though, which I assume means hardware support is solid.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#39

Post by unixhero » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:16 AM UTC

iamevn wrote: post #19

A couple months ago I pulled my x220 that I hadn't used in 3 years out of the closet and got it all updated to do some hobby programming while visiting parents. My only other laptops were a work machine (X1 Carbon, I want to say from 2019) that I didn't want to travel with and a Surface Go that I didn't want to wrangle into having a decent dev environment. When I booted it up, I checked the most recent entry in pacma…

Well of course you fixed your arch install in a matter of an hour, you're a Haskell developer.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#40

Post by gigel82 » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 9:18 AM UTC

Let's circle back in a few months; I too feel nostalgic when I visit my dad's and play some classic games on the old faithful PC from my youth (still rocking a 17'' Trinitron CRT). But after a few hours reality hits since I use my PCs nowadays to actually... get stuff done. I can't imagine that PC would be very useful for any productivity work, at most (frustratingly slow) browsing.