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The laptop that won't die

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Re: The laptop that won't die

#11

Post by genter »

thrtythreeforty wrote: post #5
zitterbewegung wrote: post #3

Anecdotal evidence is obvious but Lenovo has at least tried to keep up their quality (don’t buy anything other than the thinkpad line) but Mac durability in the long term may can have issues. I remember that I had to get a repair of two Mac’s I have owned (but one time Apple upgraded me to the newer version so that’s why I am loyal.)

I'll second this: Non-Thinkpad Lenovo laptops are poorly designed trash heaps. Thinkpads have largely retained the build quality that everyone brags on. My tl;dr advice for buying a computer on a budget is, get a T480s off of eBay. They are corporate cast-offs and there are so. many. of them. The R2v3 rating system has become popular. Get one rated C5 or better (cosmetic: minor usage marks only) and F4 or better (fun…

I've done what you described multiple times. One other tip is buy one with a lower resolution screen, and then replace the screen with a higher resolution one. Be sure to research this, though, some of the highest resolution screens need a different mobo with a higher pin connector.

Re: The laptop that won't die

#12

Post by [deleted] »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #9

> 12-year-old Thinkpad has outlasted two high-end Macbooks Nice! Our two MacBook Air from 2013 died at about the same time, about six months ago. Despite putting in a faster SSD and changing the battery: eventually RIP is RIP (and thanks for the 10 years). Our recent MacBook Air M1 lasted... 13 months. Upon waking up one morning the screen was fuxx0red. Meanwhile my 2017 LG Gram's screen is ultra flexible and sturdy…

[deleted]

Re: The laptop that won't die

#13

Post by thrtythreeforty »

genter wrote: post #11
thrtythreeforty wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll second this: Non-Thinkpad Lenovo laptops are poorly designed trash heaps. Thinkpads have largely retained the build quality that everyone brags on. My tl;dr advice for buying a computer on a budget is, get a T480s off of eBay. They are corporate cast-offs and there are so. many. of them. The R2v3 rating system has become popular. Get one rated C5 or better (cosmetic: minor usage marks only) and F4 or better (fun…

I've done what you described multiple times. One other tip is buy one with a lower resolution screen, and then replace the screen with a higher resolution one. Be sure to research this, though, some of the highest resolution screens need a different mobo with a higher pin connector.

While possible, I've never found the dollars-per-research-time conversion ratio to be particularly good for this upgrade. My advice is aimed at someone who doesn't want to become a thinkpad nerd (although that route is always available!).

Is there any tl;dr equivalent for upgrading screens like you described?

Re: The laptop that won't die

#14

Post by noufalibrahim »

I can relate to this. I needed a laptop quickly and found a factory display piece on eBay. It was an x230. It must have been atleast a year old. I bought it. That was in 2013 or so. I'm still using it. Upgraded the Ram once. The current problems are a slow fan and a poor battery. I haven't fixed them yet but can probably do so. The thing still works. It's running an old Debian and is my primary machine.

Re: The laptop that won't die

#15

Post by NikolaNovak »

Yup. The T420 itself is quite big and clunky these days; but I have a couple of T420s ('s' tends to be the slightly smaller version of any given generation of the mainstream T series) in active use around home, and have setup and given a few to friends and family as well

They run Windows 10 perfectly fine once you put an SSD in, and they're small enough not to feel like 80's retro-futuristic Cyberpunk deck clunkers :-).

Re: The laptop that won't die

#16

Post by NikolaNovak »

thrtythreeforty wrote: post #5
zitterbewegung wrote: post #3

Anecdotal evidence is obvious but Lenovo has at least tried to keep up their quality (don’t buy anything other than the thinkpad line) but Mac durability in the long term may can have issues. I remember that I had to get a repair of two Mac’s I have owned (but one time Apple upgraded me to the newer version so that’s why I am loyal.)

I'll second this: Non-Thinkpad Lenovo laptops are poorly designed trash heaps. Thinkpads have largely retained the build quality that everyone brags on. My tl;dr advice for buying a computer on a budget is, get a T480s off of eBay. They are corporate cast-offs and there are so. many. of them. The R2v3 rating system has become popular. Get one rated C5 or better (cosmetic: minor usage marks only) and F4 or better (fun…

Do you mean "T480-s" as in plural of T480, or T480s, as in the smaller version of T480?

The reason I'm asking is - "T480" is the last nicely modular ThinkPad with removable external battery. Which means if you get a used one and need to replace the battery, it's literally a 2 second job - you push a button, slide it out, and slide the new one in :)

The "T480s" though is a slightly smaller version with only an internal battery, like all newer ThinkPads, which not everybody will be comfortable with.

And yeah, I have 2 T420s-s and 3 T480's around me today and love them :-)

Re: The laptop that won't die

#17

Post by NikolaNovak »

genter wrote: post #11
thrtythreeforty wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll second this: Non-Thinkpad Lenovo laptops are poorly designed trash heaps. Thinkpads have largely retained the build quality that everyone brags on. My tl;dr advice for buying a computer on a budget is, get a T480s off of eBay. They are corporate cast-offs and there are so. many. of them. The R2v3 rating system has become popular. Get one rated C5 or better (cosmetic: minor usage marks only) and F4 or better (fun…

I've done what you described multiple times. One other tip is buy one with a lower resolution screen, and then replace the screen with a higher resolution one. Be sure to research this, though, some of the highest resolution screens need a different mobo with a higher pin connector.

I think that advice depends on whether you're looking for "a laptop" or "a project" :)

I'm a massive thinkpad fan, as per sibling comments I have half a dozen in the room with me right now, but have never and don't plan to ever replace a screen. My time and hassle are worth more than $0-$30 I'd pay for one that already comes with higher res, and the risk / pain / fidgetiness is outside of my own personal threshold. Not so for others!! But my message is you don't need to replace screens and 3d-pring and dremel new keyboards to get value out of ThinkPads :).

Re: The laptop that won't die

#18

Post by aetherspawn »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #9

> 12-year-old Thinkpad has outlasted two high-end Macbooks Nice! Our two MacBook Air from 2013 died at about the same time, about six months ago. Despite putting in a faster SSD and changing the battery: eventually RIP is RIP (and thanks for the 10 years). Our recent MacBook Air M1 lasted... 13 months. Upon waking up one morning the screen was fuxx0red. Meanwhile my 2017 LG Gram's screen is ultra flexible and sturdy…

I keep forgetting that LG is not HP and that, in contrast to HP, LG makes very durable and high quality things (especially white goods and TVs). Thanks for reminding me. I had never considered their laptop before. I would trust HP because their TV is quite ethical and ie compared to Samsung and other brands, it has never served me Ads and asks permission before collecting my data.

Re: The laptop that won't die

#19

Post by syntaxing »

I have a X62 (x61 with a custom mobo with updated everything) sitting in a box now. My build is 6(?) years old and still works like a champ. But the battery is the main reason it’s in a box. You have to use it like a desktop and keep it plugged in within a hour or two which really defeats the purpose of a laptop…

Re: The laptop that won't die

#20

Post by ddingus »

noufalibrahim wrote: post #14

I can relate to this. I needed a laptop quickly and found a factory display piece on eBay. It was an x230. It must have been atleast a year old. I bought it. That was in 2013 or so. I'm still using it. Upgraded the Ram once. The current problems are a slow fan and a poor battery. I haven't fixed them yet but can probably do so. The thing still works. It's running an old Debian and is my primary machine.

I have the same machine the author shows in the picture. Agree completely.

Also have a really old T60p. Might be close to 15 years old now. It has a bad fan.

What I did was put the machine into passive cooling and spin the fan up at boot! Kind of like a jump start.

Runs just fine.

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