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I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

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Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#441

Post by scarface_74 »

op00to wrote: post #374
scarface_74 wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t see any conflicts between this: > it turns out I’d prefer to spend most of my time at the computer in common spaces; at the dinner table, on the couch And this? > I’m present and available for my family

The conflicts arise when all you do is work. Every second of every day does not need to be spent staring at your children and still be a good parent. I often sit with my kids and get a little work done on the couch while they're entertaining themselves. I can engage where appropriate, and of course I don't spend my entire life working. This flexibility allows me time to walk them to school, pick them up from school,…

I have a kind of strict separation between home and work and I have since I started working remotely.

When I’m “at work” in my home office. I’m not to be disturbed. When I’m “off work” my computer is shut down until the next day and I get on with the rest of my life - which doesn’t involve computers.

That sets strict expectations from everyone in my home.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#442

Post by dweinus »

ErrorNoBrain wrote: post #323

I mean sure, being able to keep a 17 year old laptop is alive, is awesome... but why? I get special hardware needs to live for a long time, like, an arcade machine, specialized equipment or something. but some random laptop? what can it do, that a modern computer cant, apart from being repaired easily (lets ignore framework laptops for the sake of argument) if his point is he just wants a framework laptop, it already…

It also avoids a lot of waste/pollution/cost. That might sound trivial, but over the course of 17 years an average person might own 5 laptops.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#443

Post by MostlyStable »

huslage wrote: post #376
CursedSilicon wrote: post #6

I wish that Framework could attain the same lofty levels of "second hand market success" that ThinkPads enjoy. A lot of the "Thinkpad fans" I've talked to genuinely want them, or respect them for similar reasons they enjoy the ThinkPad legacy. ThinkPads are durable but every day they get older, slower and more difficult to source parts for as collectors entrench themselves and the requirements of operating systems (a…

Framework laptops aren't really repairable in the same way that old Thinkpads are. Maybe that's good, maybe not, but replacing an entire motherboard every 3 years isn't all that different from replacing an entire computer really.

In what way can you repair and old Thinkpad that you can't repair a framework?

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#444

Post by vhodges »

M95D wrote: post #224
CursedSilicon wrote: post #6

I wish that Framework could attain the same lofty levels of "second hand market success" that ThinkPads enjoy. A lot of the "Thinkpad fans" I've talked to genuinely want them, or respect them for similar reasons they enjoy the ThinkPad legacy. ThinkPads are durable but every day they get older, slower and more difficult to source parts for as collectors entrench themselves and the requirements of operating systems (a…

Let me say from the start that I only saw Framework laptops in pictures and I still have my old Lenovo X60 Tablet. I hate Framework laptops' design. They went to the extreme of repairability but only as a marketing tool, while the products are still e-waste trash. I looked at Framework 13 laptop as a replacement for my X60 Tablet. Let me do a comparison between them: - FW13 battery swap needs dissasembly. Can't do it…

There's some mis-information here:

Yep on battery - I rarely use mine while traveling (and rarely travel) and set max charge to 60% so it should last a good long time, but it can be replaced when I need too. I replaced 2 in my black Macbook and once in my iPhone 3G (but I got 8 years out of the phone). When my work MB Pro had a battery bulge, the whole machine was replaced and presumably recycled since it was not repairable.

Internal, yep, but nvme > SATA any day.

They are usb-c yes, but the ports are adjustable (can mix usb-c, usb-a, display-port, hdmi, network, storage, etc) so it's not as restrictive as you seem to be implying.

On video, I am not sure if you think it's some kind of DisplayLink thing but it's alt-dp over usb, directly connected to the GPU.

My 13" has a headphone jack (and passable speakers) and a built in Mic (and both the camera and mic have switches to disable them).

2.5GB Ethernet is available as an expansion module.

I find the keyboard and touch pad okay! I don't really need a touchscreen.

On ports: I don't use the finger print reader (but it has one). I don't need SD card slot all that often (but is available). I don't have any FW devices (and 400Mbs vs 5-10Gbps). Don't need a modem or an IR Port

I don't use a dock (I do at work for my MB Pro - but it's mostly a permanent desktop configuration so I don't mind that it's connected via usb-c). The one I got IS compatible with my Framework 13 though.

I had a t61 for work and I loved it... in 2009 . I should have bought it from the company when I left but bought a black Macbook instead

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#445

Post by vhodges »

M95D wrote: post #360
Tade0 wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed! I was not aware of that as I have the 16, which doesn't feature it. Community forum posts from 2021 suggest they sort of forgot to include this information initially. It so happens that the audio jack in my previous laptop started getting loose after four years, which was a first, as usually it was the USB ports which would go, so having it as an expansion card was a major selling point for me. This really is…

As I said, I never saw the FW16 except in pictures and everything I know about it was from the net. I might be wrong about some of the things I wrote. So, does it really have a headphones jack or not? My X60T headphones jack only recently started to cause troubles after many many years of use, but it was an easy fix: drill 3 tiny holes in the connector casing and push a needle through each one to bend the contacts ti…

I don't know about the 16, but my 13 definitely does have one.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#446

Post by vhodges »

dagw wrote: post #281
squiggleblaz wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can buy a brand new Ryzen 7000 series laptop for the price of replacing a Ryzen 7000 series mainboard for a Framework laptop. I haven't been able to confirm this (I found laptop prices running at about twice the cost of the mainboard), but I wonder if you're comparing an EOL runout model from a place that can afford heavy discounts against a standard price from a smaller company. If you just need a laptop and you…

This is 173% fud. If it happens, it's because Framework is dead Take a look at the Framework desktop, it comes with soldered on RAM. Not because of any active decisions made by Framework, but simply because that's how that CPU ships. It literally didn't support RAM slots. I can only see this trend continuing. I don't doubt that Framework will be the last hold out in the fight against soldered on RAM and SSDs, but soo…

FW asked AMD about lpcamm memory and AMD looked into it (assigned an engineer and everything) but came back and said no it couldn't be done (I am guessing without crippling performance).

I would be in the market for the MB only but I think I can build a 9950 based system cheaper, but I am not running AI models locally.

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#447

Post by vhodges »

janitor77swe wrote: post #231
mistercheph wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Replacing the mainboard itself costs the same amount of money as a new laptop (an entire device). Their component prices are on their website under "Shop Parts", so you can verify that for yourself. I can buy a brand new Ryzen 7000 series laptop for the price of replacing a Ryzen 7000 series mainboard for a Framework laptop. That’s not true, you must be comparing unlike boards and machines. a 7640 mainboard is $380…

Look: Ryzen 7840U replacement Framework mainboard £699 (currently discounted): https://frame.work/gb/en/products/mainboard-amd-ryzen-7040-s... Thinkbook 14" Gen 7, 7735HS/16G/512G £730 - https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/configurator/cto/index.html?bun... Ideapad Slim 3 Gen 10 14", 8840HS/24G/512G £730 - https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/configurator/cto/index.html?bun... 7840U and 8840HS are essentially the same CPU and the d…

Huh... I think the Pound is over valued or something. It's $699 CAD (currently discounted mind you) which is something like £380 (according to Google today).

I have a 12th Gen 13 but I will probably wait one more generation and either get that or a discounted Strixpoint MB (since it'll be a generation back and presumably cheaper).

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#448

Post by csdvrx »

gsibble wrote: post #412

I have both a brand new M4 Macbook and a ThinkPad P16s. I run Arch with Hyprland on my P16s. They are both fantastic laptops but have clearly different use cases. My Macook is my browsing/YouTube/music/research/photo editing machine. It's fantastic at those things. It also integrates into FaceTime and iMessage which means I don't have to pull out my phone all the time. My P16s is my work laptop. I can disappear into…

> And hyprland is freaking gorgeous, fast, and incredibly stable. I don't get nearly as good a development experience on my Macbook, mostly because so much of its navigation is based upon the trackpad vs. the keyboard in Hyprland.

hyprland is so much better than anything else I don't understand why it's not more popular on HN

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#449

Post by smiley1437 »

prmoustache wrote: post #364
herbst wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a T420. A few years ago I switched to a slightly used T480, keyboard was a huge downgrade and the whole series can get really stupid USBC issues. After half a year or so it didn't dock anymore and I got an X1, basically the same laptop glad I found it without touch and the 'bright screen' because the screen is barely good enough, keyboard is the same and USBc already started to get finicky. Meanwhile my T420 s…

I've solved the USB-C aging issue by using those magnetic cable adapters on all laptops and smartphones.

Be careful - those magnetic adapters can fry your port

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2307079/dont-buy-these-dange...

Re: I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

#450

Post by geocrasher »

My T420 has a couple of upgrades: Memory (16GB) and SSD (250GB). That's it. It's bone stock otherwise. When my buddy's laptop screen cracked, we had a hard time finding a new one. He took my T420 to work every day for a few months, and it came back to me more banged up than when it left. It's fine. And it did the job admirably.

I need to do some automotive tuning/testing and guess what, the T420 is where its at for that, too. It's no longer good as a daily driver, but it'll do everything else just fine.

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