111–120 of 143 posts
> a ThinkPad remains a ThinkPad. Uhm, no. My a20p, bought in 2001 still works. I only swapped the HD once and the keyboard every 6 months or so. I bought my last thinkpad 4 years ago and (given limited time and budget) had only a single model to choose because I wanted metal hinges instead of plastic ones.
I tried to replace it in 2012 with an Asus Zenbook but that was not pleasing to me with its flimsiness in keyboard and build-construction.
I would like to perhaps buy a later ThinkPad model, but I really don't see any advantage whatsoever in doing so. My T410S was ordered with the extra-large battery which is still going strong, and I swapped out the 500gig hard drive for a 2000gig hard drive about 5 years back.
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The one problem I have, rational or not, is just how worn out those laptops look over time. The plastic gets all shiny and worn down and the thing just starts looking greasy. That's probably the only thing I miss from my older macbook.
I don't mind the worn look, though I often clean the fingerprint oils off the keyboard. A blog post titled Aged to Perfection describes my view[1]: > The truth is that consumer products are ‘new’ for a very brief moment when they are first removed from the packaging, but spend the great majority of their useful lives as ‘used’ products in the process of decay. Many welcome the breaking-in of products like a leather w…
It's really sad that Lenovo has driven the design into the ground. I have a X201 running NixOS, that I still use from time to time, and I pulled it out recently to show it to friends. Physically speaking it's a revelation . Three USB ports? Check. Because even today, one port permanently has a YubiKey Nano, one port permanently has a Logitech Unifying nano receiver, and I'll probably be charging my phone out of the t…
The X210 from 51nb is a fantastic upgrade, with i5-8250u or i7-8550u processors, M.2 slot with NVME support, DisplayPort output, support for 32GB of RAM and eDP displays. I'm running NixOS on it as well. Matthew Garrett even ported Coreboot to it[1]. [1]: https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/50924.html
It's pretty amazing what you can put them through too. As a MacBook owner Lenovo's dust tests have me wincing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hazDhYq8YOo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO5LGICeOuk And the waterproofing is kind of incredible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig3xI8dUdm0&t=1650s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmdcutSxmn0 Now that they make a solid, thin, repairable, upgradeable 15" laptop for creativ…
Oh, no dongle anxiety too.
The ROI on it is pretty amazing. Back when repairability was still a thing.
Last year, I decided to build an X62 (Thinkpad X61 or X60 with custom hardware) after reading about it here [1]. Shipment of the modification kit (some plastic parts + a new mainboard) took 2 months from China to Germany. It took me a while to find a brand-new screen as a replacement for the original 1024x786 screen (which has to be modified, including some minor metal-working). After roughly a year of heavy daily us…
I came very close to ordering this, as I still use an x61s for most of my hacking due to the ideal physical form factor and classic compact keyboard w/trackpoint. One major problem I have is the rather old SXGA+ screen used in the mod has a CCFL edgelight, and the last time I did an LED conversion on a modded SXGA+ x61s the visual results were not great - certainly nothing close to what is had on modern LED backlit d…
Regarding the problems with the chassis:
1) Yes, this is absolutely true. The used X61 I bought on eBay already had this issue in a very early stage. However, as the conversion kit does not come with a pccard slot, I just glued the slot latch shut and re-enforced it from the inside. The kit actually comes with a plastic part to close to ejector-button hole for the pccard slot, which is also designed to give additional support.
2) Hm, I will keep an eye on this, but so far I do not have any problems here. On previous ThinkPads I owned I found that any cracks in the chassis can be stopped from extending by opening the ThinkPad, adding a generous amount of superglue on the crack (from the inside) and immediately sprinkling fibers (with a 5mm length) on the glue. I usually obtain the fibers by cutting off a small part of some cheap hardware store synthetic cord.
It should also be added that I have a few spare parts from an X60 chassis (from which I obtained the original logo stickers). If you compare the X60 and the X61 chassis, you can definitely see that some additional reinforcements were added to the X61 chassis, so if anyone is planning to build an X62, I would recommend to use an X61 as a starting point. The X61 chassis also has some kind of a copper heat shield below the palm rests, which the X60 chassis has not.
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I came very close to ordering this, as I still use an x61s for most of my hacking due to the ideal physical form factor and classic compact keyboard w/trackpoint. One major problem I have is the rather old SXGA+ screen used in the mod has a CCFL edgelight, and the last time I did an LED conversion on a modded SXGA+ x61s the visual results were not great - certainly nothing close to what is had on modern LED backlit d…
For the display, I bought an LED conversion kit (mainly for the reduced power consumption) and have no complaints regarding the results. But if you are used to modern screens, the display may indeed appear a bit grainy. It doesn't bother me, though. Regarding the problems with the chassis: 1) Yes, this is absolutely true. The used X61 I bought on eBay already had this issue in a very early stage. However, as the conv…
I did appreciate the improved battery life with the LED conversion, but my complaints are more along the lines of colors being off and a visible pattern of the LED strip at the bottom of the display. It's non-trivial to get the LED strip perfectly aligned in the CCFL gutter, and in my last attempt there were some other artifacts, it certainly didn't look OEM in terms of quality.
Having said that, the SXGA+ 4:3 screen in that dimension is a rather nice resolution. I just wish there were compatible OEM LED options to do the mod with. Unfortunately these days nobody seems to be producing 4:3 screens.
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I used my T420 until last year, and it's a wonderful machine. But the new keyboards aren't as bad as they were in the beginning any more. They're actually good keyboards now. I just wish they had seven rows. But if that doesn't convince you, maybe have a look at the so-called X210. It's an X201 mod with up-to-date hardware, the laptop equivalent of a sleeper car.
They're good keyboards by modern standards, but they're still worse than the keyboards on classic Thinkpads (up to X220/T420/T520), both in terms of feedback (both tactile and sound) and the layout. The X210 looks marvelous, though, I'll see if I can get my hands on one. Thanks!
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I don't mind the worn look, though I often clean the fingerprint oils off the keyboard. A blog post titled Aged to Perfection describes my view[1]: > The truth is that consumer products are ‘new’ for a very brief moment when they are first removed from the packaging, but spend the great majority of their useful lives as ‘used’ products in the process of decay. Many welcome the breaking-in of products like a leather w…
I've looked longingly at 51nb's X210. It probably could be put into an X200 chassis rather than an X201, I imagine, which would be ideal (I wouldn't really want the touchpad). I can't justify the cost right now though, sadly.