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I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

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201–210 of 432 posts

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#201
It also seems that Linux hardware support gets worse over time. I upgraded an old laptop to a newer distro, and the CPU fan was constantly blowing, cpu scaling stopped working, video became buggier, Bluetooth would randomly stop working with A2DP, hibernation stopped working. It took nearly a year for me to figure out each of the issues, because this is Linux; we don't "help users" or "test hardware", that would make us soft and weak!

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#202
post #196
post #167

I'm using X220 from 2011, it has i7, 8GB RAM and SSD, running Debian Linux. I don't even feel the need to upgrade. It's in ideal condition, I love the keyboard and form factor, and for my daily tasks mostly involving terminal, text editor and web browser if feels snappier than many modern machines I have worked with. I bought a new Dell laptop for my wife a year ago, and while the CPU and GPU are obviously way more c…

I'm also using an X220. I bought an X1 as a potential replacement but the trackpoint is unusable and the keyboard is a big step down. The X220 battery only lasts about 15 minutes though, so I need to keep it plugged in. I'd like to find a replacement battery but am not enthusiastic about prying the housing apart to install new cells or buying a knockoff from a faraway land which might start a fire.

The easiest way to tell the difference between a real and fake is by the white "recycle" sticker

https://preview.redd.it/83f0fqegasa11.jpg?width=1263&format=...

fake batteries have a poorly printed, "fat" looking battery on the recycle sticker and the real ones have a slender properly printed one. For context in the image the bottom one is fake.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#203
post #170
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The claim was that laptops are on par with desktops, not that they're good replacement for many workflows. This is just flat out not true. > It's not portable has a TDP of 280W That doesn't bother me in the slightest for a workstation. > So yeah, maybe for rendering it's faster, but it won't be as snappy as the M1. Nobody who cares about performance is doing rendering on a CPU, it's all GPU accelerated. It's not abou…

> Nobody who cares about performance is doing rendering on a CPU, it's all GPU accelerated. Has OSL already been ported to GPUs? You're implying that OSL users such as film studios "don't care about performance" but I suspect this simply isn't true.

Sorry, I can't edit my original post to update but you're right.

A large amount of commercial renderers and commercial rendering software is GPU accelerated which was what I was trying to refer to (and would like to update my comment to but can't).

That said, given the render times for indiovidual frames a laptop is going to end up thermally throttling which will wipe out the single threaded gains, and being limited to very small amounts of ram is likely going to make using a current M1 Mac impossible for anything like OSL.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#204
post #157
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For one thing (for me, at least): The keyboard. I have yet to see a good keyboard on a modern laptop, and I use a lot of different ones. Some people do not care, but I do. There's some keyboards that are "still decent", but all of them are progressively getting worse. Well, they say that Mac keyboards are getting better again, but I don't like their zero-keytravel style in the first place, not even in the ones that w…

If it is just for the Keyboard, Lenovo sells bluetooth Thinkpad keyboards. I've just checked and the microUSB ones were under 50€.

They also sell Thinkpad keyboards on new Thinkpads, but they're not impressive.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#206
post #186

My circa 2011 x220 thinkpad is the greatest most indestructible machine ever. It survived 10000kms of travelling on airplanes, the Indonesian jungles, underground gold mines and to this day runs like a champ. Sure a couple keys are missing, a few superficial cracks but I will never be able to throw this guy away. So man memories

I'm sure you're aware, but in case other aren't, individual Lenovo keycaps can be easily bought online.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#207
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try one out before you start with that conclusion

What conclusion, I'm not asserting they are going to fail. Startup failure rates are close to 90%, being concerned that this startup might also fail isn't unreasonable.

My intuition is that hardware based startup failure rates are significantly higher, still.

Re: I went back to using a ThinkPad from 2012

#208

I like to buy ex-corporate ~5 year old Thinkpads, get from a seller who gives atleast 6 months warranty, put new batteries in and they are usually far better in every way than anything new for the same price. Am currently very happy with my T460S, runs Linux or Win10 great. My previous machines that the kids use for school work and Roblox are x250 and x220, and previous to that I have an X200 and a T61, that all last…

Where do you get new (X220) batteries?
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