/tpg/ - ThinkPad General

Previous thread: IRC: #/tpg/ on irc.rizon.net

Other business laptops are also welcome in /tpg/ (e.g. Dell Latitude/Precision, HP EliteBook/ZBook).
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If you're looking for purchase advice, READ THE BUYERS GUIDE FIRST. Then post, stating budget and requirements (e.g. size and performance).
Don't buy anything OTHER THAN T, X AND W/P SERIES if you want the Real ThinkPad Experience™

Recommended models:
T420 - 14", normal size
X220 - 12.5", ultraportable
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Why ThinkPad? (also applies to other business laptops)
>Used machines are plentiful and cheap.
>Excellent keyboards - tactile feel and quiet.
>Great durability: chassis uses a magnesium rollcage for structural integrity, with high quality plastic body panels.
>Utilitarian design: e.g. indicator LEDs, 7 row keyboard layout on older models.
>Docking stations that easily turns your laptop into a desktop.
>Easy to repair, upgrade and maintain thanks to readily available service manuals for every model. Spare parts are easy and cheap to obtain.
>The best trackpoint (that red thing in the middle of the keyboard). Great for those who type a lot or hate swiping their fingers all over a touchpad.
>Excellent GNU/Linux & *BSD support.
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Used ThinkPad buyers guide:
ktgee.net/tpg

xsauc buyers guide:
dankpads.com

EPP discount for new ThinkPads (USA & Canada only, usually 15%+ off):
pastebin.com/JVwVGVTW

Helpful links and resources (Wiki, lookup tools and wallpapers):
pastebin.com/DYjEnVq1

Other urls found in this thread:

ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T420-120GB-SSD-4GB-RAM-Core-i5-2520M-2-50GHz-Win7-Pro-Laptop-65-/262729351536?hash=item3d2be3c170:g:74EAAOSwNRdX2ZHx
x220.mcdonnelltech.com/
ebay.com/itm/Fastest-mSATA-on-eBay-128GB-miniPCI-SSD-SATAIII-466MBs-304MBs-R-W-Samsung-Chip-/272450332044?hash=item3f6f4e258c:g:LI8AAOSwl9BWLLYf
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

Where can I get a X220 with an IPS panel?

with x60s can I boot from usb, I've got two in the mail that have no hard drives.

What dock should I get for a t430?

you guys ever think how shitty it is to have this thread all of the time. I mean just kill yourself how many thinkpad questions can you have?

Does this thread really bother you? What a fucking idjit.

What to buy next for my T420?

I have: 2520M, 4 GB ram, 1600x900 screen, 256 GB SSD, 320 GB HDD in ultrabay, 9 cell 96%, docking station.

8 GB RAM, right? However, I'm pretty content with the current 4 GB.

yes

fuck 8Gib go 16Gib and you could get an msata ssd.

thanks bby have a cute kitty for payment

4gb is the bare minimum. Anything over 8gb is le epic meme

A better laptop

Do you guys connect a keyboard to your thinkpad sometimes?

The position of the FN key is right where the control key would be on a normal keyboard and it trips me up. Also I prefer the feeling my mx cherry clears to thinkpad keys.

They're comfy threads, sorry.

only when I was in class in highschool
You get used to switching between a laptop keyboard layout and a normal keyboard layout pretty quickly
also
>having a meme keyboard
while I agree with 4 gigs being the minimum
I regularly use 8 or more gigs of ram all the time on my laptop
and it's really nice to have 16 gigs when you want to run VMs

I agree. But I am sure most don't run VMs. In case of running VM's would 16gb be considered bare minimum?

depends on the VM
if it's a command line linux distro then 256MB to the VM is good enough 90% of the time.
but if you want to run windows in a VM you'd need at least 2 gigs of ram to the VM to get it working halfway decently. Then like 4 to make it run nicely.
but still even without running VMs I get near or above the 8 gigs used mark all the time.

2720qm, 16gb ram, 1tb msata ssd, 2x2tb sata ssds, external gpu, linux/fsf stickers

>The position of the FN key is right where the control key would be on a normal keyboard and it trips me up.
There's a BIOS option to swap fn and ctrl key.
I like the thinkpad keyboard enough to not carry a keyboard around.

actually like how the fn and ctrl keys are positioned. Comfy for my girly Asian hands.

this week on craigslist:
t410
i7
256gb ssd
8gb memory
9 cell battery

this feels way too fucking cheap, what could be wrong with it? i'm emailing him for pictures right now

Do those keys next to the spacebar do anything if you're using the US locale?

I could use the weeaboo keyboard only because it has those keys that could be remapped to something else, that RShift and backspace key look weird though.

i should have probably included that he's asking for $75

japanese keyboard..
nice senpai

Too used to the FN/Ctrl locations. But since I like to use the laptops I flip, I get used to it the third time using a laptop.

page up/down I might mess up more often if im not using the same keyboard for a week.

>moving back a 11" display
how can you even see that?

T410's can be sold for under $130 arguably in that spec... Maybe they need money.

I use JP Microsoft IME, I just happen to alt-shift. And they don't do anything in US. getting used to a smaller space and backspace is weird but I prefer it for kana.

what do the keys between the alt keys do (besides the spacebar)?

One changes from katakana to hiragana to half width katakana but also scrolls and replaces kanji after you press space on underlined text. The other goes down the list which I find redundant but still useful. The other switches from Kanas, the tilde key switches to normal text and caps lock extends the list for kanji when it that mode.

So with that perks at work offer, will I have any issues using it considering I didn't get it from work?
Will Lenovo send the thinkpad police after me?

i need a computer for $150 dollars. my laptop now is a celeron 1.6/4gb ram/15" which i paid new $150 last year on black friday which so far has been impossible to match price point.

where should i look for memepad?

ebay
never buy a new laptop for under $500

How's Photoshop/Video editing/Unity performance on a higher end t430?

i have been searching.
what does anyone think about this. it has better specs than my laptop except for screen size.
ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T420-120GB-SSD-4GB-RAM-Core-i5-2520M-2-50GHz-Win7-Pro-Laptop-65-/262729351536?hash=item3d2be3c170:g:74EAAOSwNRdX2ZHx

not bad, but I'd suggest trying to find one with the nvidia gpu so you can be sure to get a 1600x900 screen.
Plus the nvidia gpu is really nice for any tasks that need 3d acceleration
very good?
for any of my shitty editing that I do hd 4000 is EASILY enough.

Thinking of buying a W500 or T500 as my first thinkpad because muh 16:10. The only drawbacks I can see from them is having an old CPU and no USB 3.0. How good would would one of those be for web dev, lots of java script, NES - PS1 emulators and Quake 3/UT99?

If it isn't good for web dev stuff and viewing 20+ tabs in Firefox is there any other good laptop with 16:10 that doesn't cost a +$1000?

Why would anyone buy a new thinkpad when they all are filled with spyware?

>why would anyone buy any electronic?
>hold up... let me check facebook

I would like to flash a modified BIOS on my x220 in order to remove whitelists. The modified BIOS version is 1.42 while my current BIOS is v 1.31. Is it safe my me to update directly from 1.31 to 1.42 or should I update incrementally (i.e. 1.31 to 1.32, 1.32 to 1.33 etc)?

for that price? that will be really, really, really, really difficult.

I got a t430 with dgpu for not much more

X60s is great, but have fun with the 3GB of RAM hardware limit (thanks Intel)

from where? and what condition was it in(unless you got it brand new)?

ebay
the trackpad looks weird, and theres this weird area under the right speaker that is really smooth for some reason
you just have to look for ones without a hard drive for dirt ass cheap
then get a hard drive (or preferably ssd) for not that much money

>Quake 3/UT99?

Sup Forums here

Quake 3 and UT99 will run on almost anything. You'll get triple digit framerates on a GMA 950, let alone the 4500MHD you're guaranteed to have with a C2D, and some W/T500 models ship with HD3650s or Firepros. You'll be fine with either system.

Only downside if you're likely going to have to do some .ini editing to get vanilla Q3 to run in 16:10 resolutions (Quake Live is for fags), and playing an arena shooter with a trackpad is retarded so you're gonna need to lug a mouse around with you.

As for PS1 emulation, you'll be alright with certain emulators but going nuts with upscaling and opengl texture filtering won't work well on the shitty intel IGPs, worst case scenario is your PS1 games actually look like PS1 games so you're golden. Get a controller though, don't be the guy trying to play Crash Bandicoot with a keyboard. Any other emulator up to the 32 bit era will run perfectly on either model though.

As for having an "old CPU", unless you're doing work that is particularly CPU intensive you probably won't know the difference. A solid C2D is 99% as effective as the highest clocked i7 when it comes to standard computer usage (browsing the web, programming/text editing, watching video, etc). Just make sure you have a decent sized SSD and 8+GB of RAM and you'll have a pretty nice little mememachine. I have a T400 with a P8400 at 2.26GHz with 8GB of RAM and an SSD and it performs just as well as my desktop with a 4.3GHz 6600k and 32GB of RAM for general computing tasks.

According to x220.mcdonnelltech.com/ upgrade straight to the latest official 1.43, then install the custom bios. Custom bios has also recently been updated to 1.43

Post your mpv confug.

Opinions on the P50? The black friday sale is making it far more tempting than the precision I was thinking of getting initially.

Why is /tpg/ still obsessed with -20's?
They're horribly outdated. Buy something that ends with 50 or 60.

Redpill me on BIOS whitelists. Does it only affect WiFi cards or does it also prevent you from using "non-approved" RAM, storage devices, etc?

Probably because unlike you we actually know how to maintain our PCs?

I'm sorry that your malware ridden T500 has given you such a low opinion of the Core 2 Duo but the reality of the situation is modern computing doesn't really require a ton of processing power if you do it right.

Can somebody suggest me a nice work laptop?
It's gonna be traveling all over the world, even in sandniggers territory. It has to be fast so SSD is mandatory, it's main use is gonna be emails, Autocad (Not 3d) and office.

Bought a x220 from eBay a couple of months back. It was plagued with issues, main problem was it heated to 75° even while performing basic tasks. I returned that piece. What other models should I look into?

If it bothers you so much filter it out, then kys.

Welp on attempt 12 and it almost finished before breaking again. CentOS wont stick, and neither will RHEL. So far only been able to get ubuntu to work.

>T450s

hey /tpg/, I would like to buy a new-ish business laptop, should I start looking at Latitudes or the newer T/X series?

Looking for: battery life, decent screen, solid construction

I forgot to add, Linux HW compatibility is a must.

I'm in a situation where I'm using my W530 everyday. Really appreciating it every moment.

-20 and -30 have awesome value at the moment and it's hard to get into -40 since they require trackpad mod.

I'd upgrade to X260, T460s or X1C in a heartbeat if someone else would pay for it but I cannot justify the cost if I have to pay for it myself.

Whiltelist only affects PCI-e devices such as WiFi cards. mSATA, RAM and normal SATA are unaffected.

Sounds like all it needed was changing the thermal paste and some cleanup. If you liked the size of X220 you could look into X230 which is pretty much the same except it should heat up less, it has better GPU and uses the new keyboard layout.

Which Thinkpad has the best Loonix support?

The X61 is.

Guy is selling a T410 with 4GB RAM for $100, in town. Should I jump on it?

x220

It's actually the x200 that has the best FS support.

sudo tlp recalibrate BAT0

Will this make my battery timer accurate?

What think pad has a 1080 ips display and is relatively cheap?

Or is it possible for me to put a 1080 ips display in a x220? (should have put his all in one post -_-)

I... I just put an IBM trackpoint nub on my Latitude E4300. Did I commit sacrilege? It feels so good...

Does lenovo do black friday discounts?

And can explain the difference between these two 6-cell batteries options for the T460p? Am I correct in guessing that they both stick out below the laptop?

Is it worth to get a x260 if you don't care about the price and need a 12.5" thinkpad?

having a precision M6600 as a daily is a pain worst than death, the charger alone is like a fucking concrete brick and the battery life is horseanus i can even get 2 hours on it, but with with a quadro 3000 is ok
should i update to a chink Quadro 5010M?

I love my T420 gf

Far as I know the major things work. Multi pad touch, sleeping and maybe any kind of video out will not right now, or at least not very well Function keys like volume may need to be configured by hand. I had to in i3 on my older model. Touch pad can be way too sensitive out the box and you may need to faff around with configs. As price is not as issue for you I would get the best screen. The base screen is complete garbage.

Forgot to say if you want to install linux. If you just want windows and money is no question, why not get it.

Where me fellow T60-ers at?

Keeping the flame alive!

My brother. Although mine's only very barely a T60 anymore. I transplanted the whole top half of a T60p rather than wasting time and effort swapping the panel. Only the bottom of the case remains of the original T60 that I started with.

fuuuck!!! fucking europoorean ebay currency!

i'm slowly thinking about a 'new' thinkpad, have t410, there's not point in going for the t420 right ? I'd go directly to t430, should serve me some good years.

also, anyone repaired a sticking fan ? installed a new chinese one, which whines in idle. drilled the back of the old one and oiled it, theoretically it should not stick anymore, right ?

Are there any differences with msata and sata ssds in terms of speed. What would be some good msatas?

I found a T60 for sale but the screen is XGA. Shall I get one?

mSATA is limited to SATA II speed, SATA III is twice as fast. It barely makes any real-world difference though, you'll only really notice it in benchmarks.

You can always upgrade it later. If you're looking at a 15" model, you can go from pic related to , given time, money, and a pinch of luck. 14" models can only upgrade the screen to 1400x1050 TN, so they're less worthwhile in my opinion.

>there's not point in going for the t420 right ? I'd go directly to t430
Actually aside from the sandy bridge/ivy bridge and usb 3.0 there isn't any other improvement, everything else is worse or the same.

Outside of benchmarks fucking nothing unless you transfer big files between SATA3 SSDs on a regular basis.

>What would be some good msatas?
The brands i always see here are Samshit, Crucial and Kingdian. I guess those should be good.

Thinking on buying a t440s/t440p for cheap and upgrade the screen with a FHD IPS, something I need to know?
It looks like a great idea, and I saw on YouTube that the swap is extremely simple

Also, is the i5 4300u good? All I need to do is browsing and sometimes light video editing, I have a desktop for heavy stuff, I need something good to use on the go for video installation and generic video live mix/edit

ebay.com/itm/Fastest-mSATA-on-eBay-128GB-miniPCI-SSD-SATAIII-466MBs-304MBs-R-W-Samsung-Chip-/272450332044?hash=item3f6f4e258c:g:LI8AAOSwl9BWLLYf

this guy claims this is SATA III msata ssd?

xx40 serie are the shittiest thinkpads. If you need it for light video editing spare yourself some money and buy T420/X220

Most ssds are sata3 but they'll operate at sata2 speeds if the port is only sata2.

That being said, the ssd in that listing looks sketchy and noname as fuck, I'd buy even a Kingdian instead.

>UK seller
why would you ever trust mohammad? cmon....

Should i bite on a x230 with an ips minus the ssd for 185, or look for one on ebay for around 200 without the ips screen?

I don't know, the t440s from benchmarks and reviews looks fine, the ULV is powerful enough and the chassis is solid, reviews are good. All I need is to reach the performance of a, let's say, 2014/2015 macbook. Keep in mind that all I want is a fluid fullHD preview in Premiere. I know the keyboard got worse with time but I'm not a programmer and I need a fine keyboard, not a toptier keyboard. Can I put a FHD IPS on the t420?
Also something tells me that conditions for a used laptop from 2015 are better than 2012

I have a shitty LS150 now or whatever is called, 15.6" and base C2D, I like that the cooling system is perfect and the thing is well engineered but it is a bit too thick (like 2 floors tall) and the shitty TN really piss me. Basically the upgrade I'm searching for is an overall lighter laptop, a better screen and a usable CPU, battery life is welcome

I'm about to buy an x230 for 195€. Is it a good buy?
Also, I'm not sure, does it sport 5ghz WiFi connectivity out of the box?

go for the ips imo

ssds are cheap and plug and play

This, a good SSD is less than 50€ and unless you want 3GB/s cause autism you can't go wrong, to install you have to remove 4 screws and put the OS on it, the IPS is something people with the average Acer will envy and it's not that easy or cheap to get aftermarket

go for the t450s then u fag.

How's better? It just looks more pricy Idk

well do you even care for the trackpoint? do you know what it's used for?

if not dont post in thinkpad threads. get any normie backlit keyboard laptop you want

>t. reddit kiddie

There is no need to buy the latest and greatest (tm) for $1000 when you can buy something for $200 that does the job

Gunna get dadbro a thinkpad for christmas. All he uses it for it typing letters and browsing internet, what you guys recommend? It does not need to be portable.

T601F is the best for that job because of the nice high-res 4:3 IPS display.

Yes, i do know what a trackpoint is and my old thinkpad has one, but since it also has a nice trackpad I find it better to use. If you think the clitpoint is the only good selling point of a thinkpad just kys you autist.
Thinkpads are truly godtier laptops, it's a shame that people like you represent (or want to) the common user base, while people who can keep a conversation running are directed to macbooks.

Looking to buy a T420 tomorrow, how much will i regret it if i don't get one with 1600x900 resolution?

Also what distro, only really used Ubuntu before. Benefits of using Debian instead?

1366x768 is pure cancer