IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

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vic
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by vic » Wed Apr 17, 2019 5:45 pm

^The vendor claims it is 4th generation. And yes, the best laptop so far. Even W10 is snappy!!! I will never buy anything less than i7 cpu in the future. My old T`s sucks big time now. Will upgrade my T450 with a new SSD and probably install BunssenLabs on it.

Yes, I just want point, click and go these days. I just do not have the energy and ideas to configurre and tinker myself. Push, play, Openbox. :|
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wuxmedia
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by wuxmedia » Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:23 am

^ you can confirm with the serial number on the bottom. If it is 4th gen, oh wow, yeah that will be expensive. the 3rd gens are 400 quid.
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vic
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by vic » Thu Apr 25, 2019 5:01 pm

Thanks for the tip. Checked and confirmed, 4th gen. Well, my excuse is that I for once wanted to really spoil myself. Next time I certainly will go for something more economic, but still the X1 :D
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by wuxmedia » Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:24 am

well, it should last you a damn long time (mine is now nearly 7 years old and is fly as fuck - fast and not a single issue) even as you mention: windows works quite nicely on it :D
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rust collector
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by rust collector » Sat Aug 03, 2019 3:27 pm

So, after all this time, I ended up with a t430s.
So far, I am missing a charger that fits, so I have to charge the battery out of the machine, but it does seem to be a fairly ok machine.
It has the new-ish style keyboard, and it feels pretty good to me.

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ivanovnegro
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Sun Aug 04, 2019 1:47 pm

Welcome to the club despite the old keyboard. ;)

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vic
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by vic » Sat Aug 17, 2019 5:03 pm

Congratulations to both birthday and T rust collector! After that there is no turning back! :D
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by wuxmedia » Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:14 am

those t430s look good - nice and neat - quick. not a ton of ram. and cheap second hand. (half as much as a 2014 X1)
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gutterslob
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by gutterslob » Tue Aug 27, 2019 4:37 pm

Following up from the laptop discussion I had with @Gekko on another thread; I decided on a X390 in the end, since the pricing with discount coupons was the most attractive of all the "thin-n-light" models. X1 Carbon is a bit too fancy for my needs. There was a AMD Ryzen powered X395 which was 20% cheaper, but the included warranty add-ons weren't as attractive, plus AMD has a spotty history with power management and graphics drivers for Linux on their mobile APUs.

Middle-of-the-road specs; Core i5 (4core/8thread), 16GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe, backlit keyboard and 65W fast-charging adapter are the only upgrade options I picked. Figured the reduced thermal headroom of an ultrabook wouldn't really benefit from an i7, and I can swap the SSD for a faster Phison or Samsung model if it's too slow and convert the stock one to a USB-C/Thunderbolt external drive down the line. Sampled it in a store beforehand. The display is only 1080p, but at least it's properly matted down (can't say the same for the current X1c, which was still too glossy for my liking despite being labeled "anti-glare"). Battery is a bit small at 48Wh, but at least it fast charges.

Warranty add-ons seem good on paper; 3yr on-site + 3yr accidental damage protection + 3yr battery add-on means I'm covered for a free screen or battery replacement in that time. Checked with the Lenovo support staff and they confirmed that the battery simply has to go below a certain charge threshold for me to qualify for the change, which means I can hammer this thing to bits the first three years and get a fresh battery replaced for free. A good thing since the battery is sealed on this one, unlike X models of old.

Still, ThinkPads aren't quite what they used to be. Almost the entire line now comes with sealed batteries and soldered down bits. At least the keyboards are still decent (compared to modern laptops, not old ThinkPads) enough, though I miss my blue Enter/Return key. Meh, it is what it is, I guess. Currently awaiting delivery. Estimated arrival mid-September. Hopefully it doesn't arrive with dead pixels or light bleeds on the screen. Don't fuck this up, Lenovo.

Edit:
Now I need to find a nice sticker to cover the Windows swastika key....

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ivanovnegro
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:01 pm

^ Sounds nice. But really, sealed batteries, wtf?
I am definitely not looking at modern Thinkpads on the market.

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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by GekkoP » Wed Aug 28, 2019 3:13 pm

^ Sealed on my Dell XPS 13 too :(

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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by gutterslob » Wed Aug 28, 2019 6:19 pm

ivanovnegro wrote:
Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:01 pm
I am definitely not looking at modern Thinkpads on the market.
The way things are going, you probably won't be looking at any modern laptop in the near future. Even those mobile Xeon workstation or nVidia RTX gamer* laptops that are usually as thick as a house have started adopting sealed batteries in their current models. It's depressing.

*Must admit that some of these gamer laptops have really good mechanical keyboards though. Shame they're ruined by ectoplasmic coloured gamer backlighting.

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ivanovnegro
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:14 pm

gutterslob wrote:
Wed Aug 28, 2019 6:19 pm
The way things are going, you probably won't be looking at any modern laptop in the near future.
You are right, unfortunately.
My hope is that I still can find those old models I am usually looking for.

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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by wuxmedia » Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:16 am

still super chuffed with my Mk1 X1c :D
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vic
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by vic » Fri Sep 06, 2019 10:54 am

^No turning back after X1. :D
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by vic » Tue Feb 18, 2020 9:59 am

My T60. R.I.P
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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by ivanovnegro » Tue Feb 18, 2020 3:30 pm

Oh damn! I am sorry.

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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by catfood » Sat Jul 11, 2020 3:15 am

gutterslob wrote:
Tue Aug 27, 2019 4:37 pm
Now I need to find a nice sticker to cover the Windows swastika key....
https://thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/tux- ... rd-sticker
just the first one that came up, but googling/ebay/amazon should yield more...
Just seach Tux/Linux superkey/windowskey sticker, and I'm sure there's way more options...

and sorry to quote pyramid a bit:
ivanovnegro wrote:
Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:14 pm
gutterslob wrote:
Wed Aug 28, 2019 6:19 pm
The way things are going, you probably won't be looking at any modern laptop in the near future.
You are right, unfortunately.
My hope is that I still can find those old models I am usually looking for.
https://www.newegg.com is my go to for "window shopping" laptops. Can search all hardware paramater checkboxes you like, ie, I search windows 7 laptops because I have yet to bother with Linux on UEFI, so it gives me all the classic BIOS choices. Everything new or refurbished (as you choose), basically "Last Years" models warehouse for cheaper new computers.
https://www.tigerdirect.com is also similar, but harder to search on...

currently browsing cheap options to run kali on so I can hack back into all my old usb and hdd linux distros I forgot passwords to :D (the GRUB e init/bin/bash trick hasn't let me reset all my debian passwords...)
Thank You!
(I remember when debian "non-gui" installer scared me. #never-forget)

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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by catfood » Thu Jul 23, 2020 11:14 pm

Hey gutterslob, if you can measure the size of the key, or the circular indent in the "windows" key, preferably down to #.## fractions of a mm as best as you can, I can GIMPshop an icon for you. Just pm me the best dimensions you can, and an image you'd like to use for it...

You'll still have to find a local vinyl/sticker print shop, but this would get you exactly what you wanted, probably = or less price than what seems to be for sale online. Let me know if I can help.
Thank You!
(I remember when debian "non-gui" installer scared me. #never-forget)

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Re: IBM/Lenovo ThinkPads

Unread post by gutterslob » Fri Jul 24, 2020 12:36 pm

^ Thanks for the offer catfood, but I already went the sticker route. In the end, I just didn't like how it blocked the keyboard backlighting so I took it off. It's not I didn't know where the key was in the dark, just that patch of black kinda bothered me. Meh, I'll live.

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