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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.
----
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:

thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X201s
gumtree.com.au/s-ad/kelvin-grove/other-parts-accessories/lenovo-thinkpad-bmw-dis-sss-ond-more/1137993538
m.ebay.com/itm/272544970817?_mwBanner=1
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

Hey guys, I was told you are the experts. Looking for something around €300 for uni work, and the GPU has to be capable of Dota 2. Should not exceed 15.6".
Best I found so far are T4xx or similar with Quadro NVS5400m, but I think that might be a bit slow for Dota. Are there cheap/good models with faster cards?
Or, if there are not, does someone here have this GPU and can confirm if and how well Dota 2 runs? I can't use older benchmarks because the engine changed a lot.

Because it's the second time I pull up this general, I get to post the first question.

Is there anything besides tlp that can make battery life longer?

As I remember, T420 has an nvidia that can run GTA V

x201 masterrace reporting in

Who else comfy with their X40?

>max RAM
>SSD
>new Wifi card (which I can't put into power saving mode for some reason REEEEEE ATHEROS YOU CHINKS)

It's good shit. Plenty fast for browsing, runs Open Arena and Tribes 2 and Dwarf Fortress like a champ, etc. With a new chink extended battery pack I get 10-14 hours battery life, and I will get more as soon as I figure out my Wifi card's power savings issue.

Does the T420 keyboard fits in the X220T?
I read a guy in reddit saying that both keyboards where the same model, but I don't believe him.
I need confirmation.

Im repairing a businessman X250.

What is some thinkpad tier software i must install on it?

Like the extra software needed.

I have a x220 with Debian, is it possible to call via the gsm module?

Reminder that Lenovo is in Shenzen, Peoples Republic of China.

are laptop coolers an meme or do they actually work?

keylogger
VNC

They work, but unless you're having heat issues they are a meme. If you are having heat issues get a lap desk or put the thing on a table or desk.

>buy a T440

>entire front bezel is a fucking sticker


Christ I knew classic was better, but STICKER?

Welcome to chinkpads.

Do you expected magnesium?

this

This.

The Macbook Pro Retina 2015 doesn't have this problem.

kekd

I've seen too many Chinese videos on liveleak.

Well its done, i hope his company doesn't do software audit on personal laptops.
Is software audit a thing in mexico?

Not a great idea to fuck around with someone in the land of you fuck with me i kill you and tacos.

the 3G shit it came bundle with? nah

you need another UMTS card

can you recommend one and/or do you know compatible software? Got none yet, WiFi+msata ssd, are there gsm+WiFi cards? thanks for your help

They are the same

Any idea which nvidia card would that be? Could that be the NVS5400m?
A friend of mine needs this, so I really want to make sure it is fast enough for his Dota2 addiction.

Thanks. Will look for used T420 keyboards.

search for any Huawei mPCIe card, that have Voice support

and yes you need to mod your BIOS

Thanks! Installed a modified BIOS for my atheros wifi-card already.

hey idiot, did you tell him its not possible to initialize the interfaz on linux for the Thinkpad 3G modems because of QMI?

also voice calling is not possible afaik

T420 has NVS 4200m as an option. The T430 has the 5400m, so you should probably go with that just to be safe. The 4200m isn't a very impressive card, it's only about on par with Ivy Bridge integrated graphics.

Hmm, so the 5400m is the fastest I can get in a Thinkpad without getting expensive latest plastic gen?
Thanks, I guess I have to take it then.

You can look for a W520 or W530 which have better CPU and GPU options, but that'll likely exceed your budget considering those machines still go for $400+ even in the US.

So I maxed out the RAM on my x201t to 8GB. Performance seems to be about the same desu but I went from 6GB to 8GB because I was using 90% of my physical RAM on a daily basis. Ah the joys of using a million Chrome tabs/windows and Telegram (which somehow uses 400MB on telegram.exe).

Things coming in the mail: replacement pen

Things I should get later: replacement battery, possibly OEM or chink off eBay.

thoughts on this machine/price?

Ask for which SSD.

according to thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X201s

>128GB SSD SATA Samsung MMCRE28G

were there other options not listed here?

Great deal..

That doesnt mean its the one it will be using but anyway its a really good deal.

rarepad

snag that shit my man

thanks niggas. sent a text. just noticed the ad is 2 months old. we'll see.

Nice machine. It's kinda understandable that the performance didn't increase all that much with 8GB or RAM. That's a different story on Core i CPUs. These benefit from Dual Channel a lot.

Don't forget to meet in a public place or in front of a police/fire station!

Those slim hinges are so fucking sexy. Shame they don't build them like this anymore.

Thanks mate, I will check it out, but it seems you are right. Quick search says most of them are 450+ and not much faster, if at all.

Do you guys overclock your Thinkpads?
I found this guy who got his 5400m up to 900+MHz in a T530.
Is the cooling solution of the T430 comparable/good enough to get some decent gains on the GPU?

Why don't you own a BMW thinkpad?
gumtree.com.au/s-ad/kelvin-grove/other-parts-accessories/lenovo-thinkpad-bmw-dis-sss-ond-more/1137993538

I'm looking for a college companion. I could get a pretty good deal at a X260, but I'm a bit afraid of the size. On the other hand, I don't want to lug a brick around all day every day.

Is the 12.5" big enough for comfy programming?

>gumtree.com.au/s-ad/kelvin-grove/other-parts-accessories/lenovo-thinkpad-bmw-dis-sss-ond-more/1137993538
why the fuck was painted?

maybe because that particular laptop were used for car diagnostics and shit

It's probably been sold as a kit where you get a laptop preloaded with diagnostics software and the adaptors to connect to a car. It's hard to be sure since the photos are shit, and it's beaten up, but my guess is some third party has customised thinkpads in-house to flog off as specialist equipment. Probably even getting second hand ones like we do and selling them for thousands to mechanics who don't know the difference.

m.ebay.com/itm/272544970817?_mwBanner=1

Just bought this X230 and a separate SSD for it. Ayy

Decided to install ubuntu 16.10 on my t420 today. Been messing around with lightweight distros for a while, but I'm pretty impressed with this.

It's not so much about the screen size. The X260 comes with resolutions high enough to show a lot of text on screen. If you don't mind small text you'll be fine. I'd go for a T series though because the screen is big enough to work with it without UI scaling, even at 1080p.

Why not 16.04? I always go for LTS versions.

I end up reinstalling OS's often enough that it shouldn't really matter for me. Though I am liking Ubuntu enough that I could end up switching to LTS.

I paid 110 on eBay for a slightly used in appearance think pad w510
Stats
>Intel Core i7 720QM @ 1.60ghz
>4 gigs of ram
>1024 nvidia quadro fx 880m
>Threw in A samsung 850 evo 500gigs i had
>1080p screen

What kind of ram could i get and can i upgrade the processor?

Yeah, I see that.
Gladly that there's thinkpad doing heavy work and not being in the hands of anime addicted virgins.

Should go up to 8GB, maybe 16 if you have four slots? I'm not sure about the W510 but it's like that on the W520. The CPU might be upgradable but you've already got a quadcore so it wouldn't be much of a difference.

t. lenovo chink manlet

Like what kind of ram... I've had problems in the past with ram on my t420
>buy new ram
>put in ram
>computer no boot
>try several different kinds
>none boot......

I have a T410 that I purchased for $65.

Runs great, excepting the battery life.

I'd like to upgrade it to be able to play some newer games. I am of the understanding that this requires me to get an external, dedicated GPU. I am also aware that I may need to upgrade the CPU, since its chokehold precludes any good gayming.

Anyone has suggestions on where to start in terms of researching this, or specifically, product recommendations?

DDR3-1066 to be safe, but most DDR3-1333 sticks should work too. Whatever you can find more easily.

My first computer was an actual IBM computer :^)

I have the i7 version, it's not the highest end i7 but it's an i7 with muh hyperthreading. It helps a lot, with the SSD I put in it.

>.exe

check "unofficial maximum memory specs" on thinkwiki. try to buy the exact ram that they used, or at least one with a serial that is as close as possible.

thinkpads can be fucking picky about mixing and matching too, you're best off buying a matched set. I have some sticks that will each work individually, but the machine just gives me those faggot beeps when I try to use them together

Winblows master mace

Hey, I'm looking for a quick rundown on replacement panels for a T420s. Can I follow the exact same guides as for a T420, or is there something that's going to catch me up (different thickness, weird cable routing etc)?

Mostly I just care about viewing angles and black levels, 900p is fine. EE by trade so I'm not worried about getting my hands dirty, but at the same time I'm not really trying to burn all my nights and weekends on it. Money's not a huge issue, anything under about ~$150 all in should be fine.

>poorfag, got an i5-520m x201 because the x220 was $50 more
>unironically enjoyed the shit out of its keyboard, trackpad, clitmouse, cute 16:10 display, durable design, easy repairability, and 10+ hour battery life with GAHNOO PLUS LANUCKS
>completely fall in love with the laptop
>CPU was overheating with VMs because of the 7 year old thermal paste and shit tier previous owner (smoker, inside was literally caked with cig ash), but idled at 50C
>no problem, ordered new paste and fan for $12 combined
>fan got bent in shipping, didn't notice, screwed it all in
>temps drop like a rock to 40C idle and maxing out after 14 hours of P95 to just 92C
>fan bend pulls one of the screws out after a week, screw drops to back of device and fries the fan power pins
>FAN_ERROR, won't boot
>in a panic order a new motherboard
>it's an x201t motherboard because I didn't double check
>install requires that I nearly destroy screen cable, permanently damaging it
>it overheats too, even with new thermal paste
>return motherboard, parents just order me an x240 because they're sick of me repairing such an "old laptop"
>find an x201s i7-640LM motherboard for just $35, compatible with big fan, cooler than the T board
>mfw too poor to order it now
It's been a bad 3 weeks, anons.
I just want my x201 back.

TrackPoint is useless and you guys are retards.

>tfw fell for the thinkbrick meme

Why is the t420 so fucking heavy for a 14" laptop?

Is it heavy or are you some kind of woman?

>Chinese gov wants to spy on Sup Forums user
>Chinese gov makes thinkpad generall and keep it alive forever
>Chinese gov suggest buying used thinkpad

No ty i like my mcbook

Why did IBM decided to go for multidirectional pressure sensor for TrackPoint instead of traditional analog sticks that have actual physical movement and tactile feedback, like the ones in psp, ds or even some mid 2000-s cell phones? Sure, they didn't have such miniature technology back in 80's, but the TrackPoint barely progressed it's technology for 27 years already.

Security through obscurity. It is fine for americans or europeans to be spied by Chinese government instead of NSA and Inter/pol/.

Should I just set computrace off permanently?

Trackpoint is perfect. Don't mess with it.

Yes. BLOW DA FUSE

But analog sticks are operated by thumbs and trackpoint is for index finger, maybe that's the difference.

An analog stick requires more physical travel than the trackpoint, which just requires pressure in a direction instead of actual movement.

Additionally, pointer fingers are less nimble than thumbs.

Put a joystick where middle trackpoint button is, so it will be reachable by both thumbs.

Then you lose the middle button/scrolling functionality, and you still have the problem of more motion putting more stress on the hand. Either way, analog sticks have more physical components, which means more points of failure.

Fuck it. Make a trackball with laser sensors.

I miss cleaning build up from the rollers.

desu sell the t420s it, buy a t520 and upgrade it to the B156HW01 V.4 1080p panel. Its a direct drop on and despite being a TN panel its one of the best TN panels in a laptop. Has a wide gamut (95%) and great contrast ratio. When calibrated its suitable for photo editing. Viewing angles are good too for a TN

guys, is it normal the battery wear level to go up ?
as far as i understand with batteryinfoview - 79% means the % of the original capacity left. It was 79% a couple of days ago, 82,6% yesterday, and 85% today. Is this normal behaviour ?

What I should look into if I want to buy a new keyboard on eBay for a W520?
How I avoid buying fake chink shit?

Try recalibrating it. Let it run to literally dead 0%, as in can't even boot to BIOS 0%. Immediately after that's done, plug it in and charge it to 100%, as full as possible. batteryinfoview might be able to automate this like TLP does, I'm not sure.

i'm trying it manually, thx
lenovo power manager could do this, but doesn't open on battery since i swapped ssd to the new one. iirc the seller said it was used primarily on docking station, maybe the battery doesn't really know what's going on.

all thinkpad keyboards are chink shit from one factory

I had this problem, solution was to switch the two ram sticks around and that, for whatever reason, fixed it.

Track-point is more precise for me than a joystick. that pressure sensitivity gives me so much more control. The little joystick the travel is pretty linear. The control on a joystick always feels a little jerky to me.

I want to split my 120gb SSD in two partitions, Lubuntu (ext4) and Seven (NTFS).

Anyone familiar with Linux/Windows dual booting on solid state drives? I heard there could be some issues.

It's for a X220 btw.

I've never heard of issues and I've never experienced any with dual boot on my SSD. You should install Windows first btw so you can let the Lubuntu installer set up GRUB for you.

>this
though an analog stick wouldn't have the problem of phantom movement

I feel that the X series is what a laptop was always meant to be. I'm going on my fourth one, (1) X220, (3) X201's, the third X201 I just ordered. Then I have my colossal W520. Such a combination of greatness, a middleweight T series I won't need.

True. My X220 is holding up pretty good and it's truly ultraportable. If I were to replace my current Desktop I'd probably get a W530 or P50. I'm a classic keyboard advocate but on a workstation I wouldn't use the included keyboard that much and the additional performance would be worth the drawbacks.

anyone happen to know the difference in battery life between t460 and x260? which one has longer battery?