I can’t even bear to look at a low DPI screen for more than a few minutes. Anything under 150dpi just looks so awful to me at this point. Basically ruins all older laptops from my perspective.
The laptop that won't die
71–80 of 344 posts
Re: The laptop that won't die
#72Author kinda summed up the problem a few paragraphs in. > I needed a machine that a) could run Logic Pro (the finest music-editing software available to humanity), So saying > If you want a modern, sexy, lightweight, high-powered laptop? Go get something pricey from Apple or Microsoft. should rather be > If you need to get modern work done, you will likely need to obtain a modern, high-powered laptop that the modern…
Apple is pretty good at long service life. I recently had to upgrade the OS on my moms Air and it was a pain in the butt because she ignored updates for so long that all the SSL authority certs expired and the internet didn’t work. Plus Apple’s upgrade software was no longer supported by the servers – server wanted 2fa, moms laptop was too old to know what that is. After a few manual hops, she is now smoothly running…
They do Sonoma on 9 year old laptops? On the Apple site, they are saying only 2018+ laptops get the latest version.
Re: The laptop that won't die
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple computers have a time limit if you want to keep using MacOS. My 2012 MacBook Retina still works great ... if I put Linux on it. Logic Pro is a great example. It requires MacOS 12 or greater. MacOS 12 will only run on 2015 or newer MacBooks.
... and so do Windows machines. Windows 10 will EOL in July 2025. My Threadripper 1950X, still outperforming most of today's mid-range CPUs, isn't allowed into the Windows 11 world. Why? Who knows? But yes, I didn't realize that Logic Pro was no longer compatible with macOS versions before 12. So, if this person wanted an indestructible laptop that could run Logic Pro, have a hi-res screen and be upgraded to a 1TB dr…
I think a key difference between Windows and MacOS is that Microsoft has (historically at least) not stopped you from installing newer versions of Windows on older hardware, provided it's fast enough to run it.
Trying to run newer versions of MacOS on 10 year old Apple hardware is next to impossible.
Windows 11 has a requirement for TPM 2.0, which older hardware doesn't have. I believe that requirement check is relatively easy to patch out and install anyway.
Re: The laptop that won't die
#74I'm still rocking a 2012 built HP EliteBook 8540w which I bought second hand in 2015. The weight of the thing is a little bit annoying and the battery is dead. It has never failed me, running Windows 10 now. It has always come back from standby and hibernate without fail. By far the most reliable computer I own. But it is showing its age though, not because of the hardware but because of software. Windows 11 doesn't run smooth on it unfortunately :-(.
Re: The laptop that won't die
#75I can’t even bear to look at a low DPI screen for more than a few minutes. Anything under 150dpi just looks so awful to me at this point. Basically ruins all older laptops from my perspective.
I have one of the lcdfans modded Thinkpads. It's a "T70"—a T60 with an i7, 16GB of memory, the old style keyboard, a giant SSD, and, importantly, a high DPI display.
It's an awesome machine but it might as well be a desktop because it's so bulky and heavy that I never take it anywhere.
I travel with my M2 Mac but that Thinkpad sure is a sleeper.
Re: The laptop that won't die
#76I can’t even bear to look at a low DPI screen for more than a few minutes. Anything under 150dpi just looks so awful to me at this point. Basically ruins all older laptops from my perspective.
Normal “low” DPI screens I can deal with, but the panels that used to be built into many ThinkPads until pretty recently are some of the worst screens I’ve ever used… washed out, terrible viewing angles, mediocre brightness.
I have an old Dell workstation laptop and 15” MBP both manufactured around 2008, with 1920x1200 and 1440x900 panels respectively and they’re both much nicer to use than what you find in a lot of T-series Thinkpads, so it’s not even an age thing… Lenovo just used bargain basement panels.
Re: The laptop that won't die
#77I 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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Re: The laptop that won't die
#78I can’t even bear to look at a low DPI screen for more than a few minutes. Anything under 150dpi just looks so awful to me at this point. Basically ruins all older laptops from my perspective.
Normal “low” DPI screens I can deal with, but the panels that used to be built into many ThinkPads until pretty recently are some of the worst screens I’ve ever used… washed out, terrible viewing angles, mediocre brightness. I have an old Dell workstation laptop and 15” MBP both manufactured around 2008, with 1920x1200 and 1440x900 panels respectively and they’re both much nicer to use than what you find in a lot of…
Agree. I’m not sure the exact years, but starting around 2013 the T series screens were awful.
Re: The laptop that won't die
#79The 420 with Windows 7 is my personal idea of the peak of desktop computing. 2011 was also around the peak of computing in general considering it was right before social media turned hellish psyop and smartphones became distraction / disempowerment devices.
I have a T530 and it's perfect. It's been around the world with me and has one single crack in the plastic to show for its decade of service. I have no clue how many times I've disassembled it for cleaning or upgrades or just plain tinkering. I have a new extended battery that hangs out the back like a tumor, but this bad boy gives me five whole hours on a charge. My modern work laptop lasts 40 minutes, maybe.
It's thick, it's heavy, and it's comfortable. It doesn't tip over if the screen is opened too far. It even has an honest to god docking station, none of this USB-C dongle nonsense. It maxes out at a mind-blowing 90 Watts of power. Which is a blessing after having my wrists burned by my modern all metal laptop with the latest whizbang nvidia 48000000 GPU.
Yeah it's old and slow. It only has four cores and 16GB of RAM and a positively prehistoric GPU, but I love it dearly and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Re: The laptop that won't die
#80The x220 is another great thinkpad. You can also upgrade the screen to 1080 with a little hacking: https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=122640