Should I downgrade to a thinkpad t420s?

Should I downgrade to a thinkpad t420s?

I'm currently using a macbook pro retina 14" late 2013 2.4 GHz/250Gb SSD/8Gb RAM, and I like it quite a bit, but I'm currently working in a field of research that necessitates that I use software that is all designed to be run natively on Linux. I've got a copy of Ubuntu 16.10 on my mac, but I find it's not an ideal interface, and I've always loved using classic thinkpads. I saw some t420s for sale for 300$ and I know I can get 800$ ish for my macbook, so I was thinking of downgrading and using the 500$ to buy a new digital piano. Does this make sense, or should I just wait for the rumoured "Thinkpad Classic"?

I really prefer the upgradability, removable batter, and keyboard of the thinkpad, but I know the processor architecture is older, and I kinda want support for 3 monitors.

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Get a T430, it's worth the Keyboard.

bait

yeah, that's what I've been thinking, but I kinda wanted the 420 just because 420. Also, my macbook with 22nm Haswell i5-4258U has CPU support for 3 monitors, and I usually like to run onw 27" main monitor, 17" rotated monitor for documents, and use the macbook for menus. I find 3 monitor is perfect workflow. Are there any thinkpads with the classic keyboard that support 3 monitors? I can't find one...

I've run my T420 with two 1440p monitors.

But when you run two external monitors the laptop display turns off, so I doubt it would support a 3rd external.

yeah I know. The CPUs on T420s don't support 3 monitors.

hmmm.... then again I could maybe lose the laptop monitor and just use the big 27" and the rotated 17" & still have good workflow. It might be worth the 500$ profit, better keyboard, and 16 Gb RAM.

The T420 monitor is not something you want to use full time anyway, it's a crappy TN panel, so whatever monitors you have to hook up to it will be better.

It isn't

you think I'll actually be more happy with a i7-2640M/16Gb t420s than with the i5-4258U/8Gb Retina 13", or am I just fooling myself?

The main thing I need my computer for is running scientific software on linux, and having 400 browser tabs open, but I don't really do too much graphics stuff or gaming.

Also considering X220 tablet for drawing chemicals easily.

wait. WTF are you talking about? T430 has chiclet keyboard like a macbook. The whole fucking point was that I wanted the old keyboard.

That's why I called it bait.

It's still a laptop, it's not gonna be super powerful, but mine runs linux just fine, get an SSD in there and it flies with most any desktop task you can throw at it.

Though to be fair, you can replace the chirchet with then old keyboard from the t420.

Id personally say no to an S model, theyre a bit hotter, and i really dislike heat output from a laptop
But if you want the slim form factor and dont mind the heat its worth the small premium

It would be a good choice. But for 300 you Could get either a really nice t420 or a more basic t430 + a t420 keyboard

Do it, but use the money to buy stock in NVDA or AMD

Not sure I'd want to go backwards. I went from Air 2011 to X220 and that was a good move, but it's a year newer. Would try for a t450, imo

Yes UPGRADE to the thinkpad from the fisher price toy product you currently use to watch animal hentai.

can you replace the keyboards on the new thinkpads with the t420 ones?

no, only the t430/t530/x230/w530. They changed the design afterwards.

Sadly no, even if you could it'll be a pain in the ass to open the later thinkpads. Got one myself and when I tried to add more ram, I ended up stripping one of the tabs.

Depends. Models with the Nvidia GPU do support 3 monitors, though T420s doesn't get to have this GPU. Need to step up to T420, T520, or W520 for this.
But there are other ways to run a third monitor. If it's just a 17" monitor with a resolution lower than 1920x1200, and the only thing you use it for is to display documents, a USB GPU can do the job just fine. Needless to say these GPUs don't perform all that well even under what would normally be considered an idle workload for a proper GPU, but they work fine for such an application.

Alternatively you can also run a desktop GPU externally via the expresscard slot, but this is a more expensive solution as well.

hmmm... I would consider T520. I'm not sure if I want a laptop that big though, but I do like Louis Rossman's argument here: youtube.com/watch?v=AFWJP5yCujw
(and he's using a T520)

... but when I look up the CPU of the T520s it says it only supports two displays. Why does CPU matter? I would've thought just GPU would be important here.

I figure anything will be better running Linux than one of the new Mac OS X. The problem is that the retina macbook is a shitty interface for Linux. It's really annoying to get it configured neatly. Plus, T420 is supposedly one of the best laptops for Cubes.

hmmm how much better is T430/T530 than the *20 counterparts?

>T420
>X220

Nerds only use.

I have a used t420s and just recently (re)installed linux on it, and my experience throughout the time I've been using it has been both shitty and satisfactory. $300 is far too much to pay for a laptop of this caliper, you want to look in the $200 range.

By far the most disappointing aspect of the laptop is it's battery life. My battery is a 6 year old 66+ 3.9Ah and in real use I'll be lucky to get more than an hour of use with light web browsing and word processing while PowerTOP and Linux Mint give 2-3 hour estimates. I'm considering spending an extra $40 for a new battery and $20 on a recycled(?) ultrabay battery. On promotional pdfs found online Lenovo boasts a 10+ hour battery life with the higher capacity main battery and an ultrabay battery. It could be that I'm giving a 6 year old battery too high of expectations though.

The screen is decent, I have the 1600x900 variant and I have no issues, except for the god awful screen-tearing when scrolling through websites. In order to upgrade Intel mesa drivers on Mint you have to trick the Intel updater to think you're running an Ubuntu machine.

Necessary software for any distro for T420s include PowerTOP and thinkfan. PowerTOP is a power-saving utility. It's really simple to use and just needs to be configured to run on startup. Thinkfan changes the fan speed profile because the default profile is far too loud. If you have a SSD you can put your fan speeds even lower. It is geared toward advanced users but there are plenty of guides online for setting it up.

pic related, before and after installing mesa

Also don't install Xubuntu, it's straight up broken: sometimes XFCE will crash randomly and saving a session before logging out will completely break the default DE. You need to use getty/agetty to launch XFCE. I am a complete beginner to using linux and having "features" break your laptop really push me back to wanting W7/W10. At least it's a good learning experience. Stick with Ubuntu.

Joke's on you I like chiclets.

>just because 420

KYS, faggot pothead.

Get a X220.

Get a T450, it is different from "classic thinkpads" but most of the important aspects are there + the keyboard is really good if not better. I got a new t450 with warranty (i5-5300, 8gb ram, 256gb SSD) for only 500$ . The main problem with T420 is that it's specs are slowly getting old and battery life isn't as good. T450 with extended can hold up to 10-12 hours (although they claim it can go even as 17h)

Keep in mind that the display in the T420 (even the HD+ ones) uses some of the worst TN displays you will ever see. It will be a huge downgrade coming from a MBP. There's no problem if you're only using it with an external monitor, but it's something to be aware of.

I get an easy 6 or 7 hours with a 9cell, you have a dead battery.

ditto
especially the battery life
get a good battery

hmmm you guys are making me reconsider my position.

My MBP is pretty nice. It's just that I don't like the new Mac OS, it is annoying with linux, I don't like glossy screen, and I love thinkpad OS. Specs-wise, though, it's much better. Plus, I like to use triple monetor (pic related)

T430 has a better keyboard feel. I get the whole layout meme, but the T430 is way more comfy for typing on in general. It's more tactile, there's less key confusion,and it's actually quieter while also being responsive.

T430 has literally the best chiclet keyboard that exists. T420 has the same shortcomings of any other chiclet keyboard. The only reason you should by a T420 is for layout.

Dont do it. I've had T420 and T430 for 2 years. Hate them.

Its so much better to get a T560. Literally everything is better.

That layout is horrible
>delete key same shape and almost same size as function keys
>no PrtSc
>easy to get confused between Home and End
>Useless Insert key that no one ever uses the easiest top row key to reach