/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).

New to /tpg/ or looking for purchasing advice? (hint: use the advice request template, it makes life easier)
pastebin.com/nBqTEbHn

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

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:

2008.lenovo.com/en/blog/retro-thinkpad-survey-2-displays-keyboard
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

S T I N K P A D
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>Recommended models:
>not T450
>not X250

FPBP

t. mactoddler

t. poorfag

HP 2570p >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> x230 > dogshit > x220 and older
deal with it

2570p would be GOAT if there was IPS available for it + middle click scroll

it can have IPS. 51nb has board for this model to support eDP.
Also you can always route your screen to the internal dock port.
>middle click scroll
I miss it desu senpai, but I can live with it. Touchpad on the other hand is much better than the x230 one, so I dedicated it to the two finger scrolling.

>51nb has board for this model to support eDP
the absolutely crazy chinks are back at it again

>Touchpad on the other hand is much better than the x230 one
It's glass isn't it?

Reminder that the T440p meme is coming

"So... T440p seems like the next step up from T430 in terms of computers on the downtrend of being dumb cheap.

Here's the quick rundown:

This is the "T430" of fourth gen - the T440/T440s is a ULV, avoid since at that point you should just get an X240.

Garbage TrackPad is replacable with a good one quite easily.

PGA946 socket means it is Socketed / Upgradable

- i7-4702MQ to chill at 37W
- i7-4910MQ for 47W upgrade
- i7-4930MX for 57W MEME TIER HOUSEFIRE upgrades

The T440p actually went all the way up to 4900MQ on Lenovo's site (47W), but after its' launch we got the 4910 MQ and the 4702MQ, which is basically a 4700MQ with a 10W lower TDP (37, down from 47). This was previously only possible with 47W, which means nowadays we can get a nice quad core and actually get MORE battery out of it than back when the laptop launched.

100Wh battery available, which will couple very nicely with a 4702MQ @ 37W TDP. T430 goes to 94Wh @ 45W TDP. Going off comparing the Wh to the TDP alone makes the T440p last ~29% longer.

16GB RAM, takes T420/T430 RAM just fine.

FHD SCREEN. FHD SCREEN. FHD SCREEN. These models have the glorious IPS displays that T420/T430 owners kill for, and we wait fucking months/years to get our hands on a kit.

T440p auctions have an INSANE price range for completed auctions, going anywhere from as little as $150 to $500 for fully functioning units (yes, the $150 was a recently sold fully functioning unit). People don't know what it's worth, or don't want to pay a lot because of what a mess the trackpad was. As always, I recommend buying a working unit sans HDD / RAM.

And finally, get this. THE WHITELIST DOESN'T WORK IN THE T440P! You can install ANY WiFi card on BIOS versions 2.32 - 2.36 because of a bug in the BIOS checking the whitelist, AND YOU CAN DOWNGRADE BIOS IF NEEDED! NO FLASHING LIKE ON THE T430!"

>keyboard layout

>t440p
>overheating and shutting down in quad core + nvidia model when docked
no thanks

>he says this as if the older models don't immediately explode under any quad core configuration

Are you being ironic or just stupid?

Yeah that's a real shame. Good thing that's just a shitty meme. Enjoy your media keys I guess.

wtf I love T440p now

my old t430 with i7-3630qm and overlocked nvs5400m was working fine, even when docked
t440p cooling system is much worse

No, you don't.

I run my t430 with a 3840qm, and I had to install an nvidia heatsink on my iGPU model just to stop it from throttling.

Both of us run 45W processors.

Nearly everyone who actually puts a load on their 45W quads reports the same along with it being downright unusable in a dGPU model.

Why are you lying on the internet?

>t430

there is a difference between i7-3630qm and i7-3840qm, you dumb fuck.
And no wonder it was overheating if you tried to run a 45W CPU on this small piece of shit heatsink. This is why nvidia is required, so CPU TDP is limited to 35W (minus iGPU) and rest is handled by separate pad.
And I still got multiple pictures of my t430 heatsink mod, before I sold this shit and got a proper laptop :^)

>bragging about being too inept or poor to own a better laptop and/or flash their chip

Seriously?

>He doesn't understand that 45W is 45W no matter what

Wew

>Having a dedicated graphics card reduces heat compared to the integrated one
What

post those pictures. I've been trying to mod my t420s but i have no idea how. or should i just get a new laptop since none of the older panel even come close to 100% srgb

45W is 35W CPU + 10W iGPU.
Reduces heat on a single pad, which is the direct reason of overheating.

Looks so comfy. More manufactures should build their notebooks like this.

They're too expensive in Germany anyways, ~400€.

Hopefully Lenovo will listen to the survey where the majority choosed the 7 row keyboard over newer 6 row ones.

2008.lenovo.com/en/blog/retro-thinkpad-survey-2-displays-keyboard

this is literally not true.

As already pointed out, having a GPU only makes the heating worse. It might not make it worse on that one point, but the entire damn thing heats up instead and the CPU throttles like a bitch.

On the other hand, those who upgraded WITHOUT nVidia are actually able to use their 45W CPUs without setting their houses on fire.

Fuck off with your shitty bait.

i want desperate poorfags who only care about specs to leave

--40 generation was a fucking disgrace, you are buying a joke

It's objectively better in every way except the keyboard.

What exactly is your gripe here? How are other people poor when you're probably running some shitty X61 with 1GB of RAM?

>On the other hand, those who upgraded WITHOUT nVidia are actually able to use their 45W CPUs without setting their houses on fire.

What if I disable the discrete GPU?

Non meme reasons to avoid the T430?

here's the non-meme version of that image:
- T420 has shittier specs
- T420 can flash out the whitelist with software, which is only relevant if you want a new WLAN card
- T420 will respect your freedoms later this year since coreboot is coming out

- T430 requires a hardmod to use a new WLAN card
- T430 has the new keyboard, BUT has the option to swap it out
- T430 has better specs

Both are roughly the same price, T420 maybe $20-40 cheaper overall.

Thank you. I was looking at the T430 and the better specs were winning me over. (Provided I can deal with the keyboard.)

Why would someone need to swap a WLAN card? Just for newer Wifi tech like ac?

T92 THIS YEAR

No it wasn't. The build totally changed and now its dogshit. It looks and feels like some average cheapo Walmart machine now. The ThinkLight was fantastic. You could have documents on either side working in total darkness and you could read them both clearly. Real business use and real innovation. Axed in the name of bullshit cost cutting and style.

Yes, the autists in this board that own a T420 do it just to say they can without hard modding.

This may seem like an insignificant thing but, the hinges. I don't like the axis they're placed on. Top mounted hinges are so much nicer to open and they have the HUGE added benefit of allowing the rear to be used for ports. Things like power, Ethernet and display connections should only be on the rear. USB and such, commonly removed things on the side. That's the logical thing.

>working in total darkness

who the fuck does this

Working and casual use in total darkness? Many people.

Yes, the build totally changed. Only aesthetically. The ThinkLight IS fantastic, I agree here. However, "dogshit" is pushing it a bit. It's still structurally sound. You can still toss it off ladders and have it be in one piece. Other than the keyboard and thinklight, which I understand for some people, but you're kidding yourself if you think most people here use it for memes other than just seeing their keyboard - it's not that bright and you're full off shit if you tell me you're doing real work with documents to the side of your laptop. I'm trying this from a T430 and it isn't bright enough.

It's a good machine, and I'll be testing the T440p memes next week.

Not him but I do astigmatism makes me see beams of light while directly looking at them or while in my peripheral vision and it gets in the way so I do tend to work or do most things on my computer in total darkness

plus the thinklight looks like absolute shit if you have a heavily used keyboard

Agreed.

Can I put a second HDD or SDD in my t460? I have a single SSD now but I'd like to have a second boot medium.

Or should I just install a live linux on a 64GB USB drive and just carry it around?

Come back here when you are finished testing. Would like to hear your opinion on this.

They fixed the keyboard flex with the t440p rollcage

I'm not 100% sure but I think you can have one M.2 SSD and one 2.5 inch SSD/HDD.

You can also partition your single SSD to install multiple operating systems on it.

>You can also partition your single SSD to install multiple operating systems on it.
wait really? I thought you couldn't partition SSDs lol.

What the fuck

really I'm not kidding I thought SSDs couldn't be partitioned. Actually they can't on hardware level ofc but I just never looked into it much. Always assumed you couldn't create multiple partitions for OS

Is it possible to output video signal from vga and dvi from the dock at the same time ? Got a dell monitor for free from work, would be perfect to use in portrait mode for debugging and shit

Yes, but not on integrated. Since you have an NVS, it should be possible but I don't know if the deck supports it since it would run both signals through the dock's lane. At worst you just run the VGA through the laptop.

T430 has USB3.0 ports while the T420 doesn't.

Oh right. The T420 memers have no leg to stand on.

>T430 has better specs
lmao

it doesn't have a hardware whitelist though

>Why would someone need to swap a WLAN card?
because they don't want to wait five hours sitting a foot away from the router to download a 1GB file?

We already went over this. They're both "hardware whitelists". T420 autists just don't want to spend the $30 and disassembly time to hardmod it.

Are you retarded?

How does ac help? What does the spec actually do? Is it the one that includes 5GHz?

>They're both "hardware whitelists"
not really tho

>How does ac help?
are you shitting me? go get a dual band ac router and a gigabit internet connection and see for yourself.

Leave it to you autists to make my undecided ass doubt wether to buy a 420 or a 430... depending on the hour you check this general it's eithe full suport for one or the other...

I meant your opinion on the whole t440p.

I really hope you get paid for this.

>which is only relevant if you want a new WLAN card
and a (((non-genuine))) battery

Nope.

I have a third party battery. It will complain but boot just fine.

>depending on the hour you check this general it's eithe full suport for one or the other

That's because they don't differ in much. It boils down to personal preference. I like the chiclet keys over the old ones, but not the layout. That's basically the only thing with the T430, that and some whitelist stuff if you want to use other wifi cards and whatever. If that shit doesn't bother you then the only thing to consider is whether or not you like the keyboard. The T430 is of course more powerful thanks to being a generation ahead for CPU and GPU if you get a model with dedicated graphics.

That's because you're retarded.
There's literally not a single way the T420 beats the T430 if you're willing to mod it. Not a single one.

How much more powerful though, if they’re both gonna crap the bed, or there won’t be much difference when I’m watching 1080 stuff on youtube and tackle some cad and slicer stuff I guess I should just buy a tablet and stick with upgrading my desktop. I just want something portable to tote around during the weekend to wherever I go.

I'm well aware of that.

i am this guy

Stumbled upon this in the last thread and looked up the review and was amazed by the comfyness, nothing else.

I'm not the original t440p user but I can say this:

>good performance
>native usb 3
>easy 1080p ips
>decent enough battery life
>really easy to maintain

>keyboard layout
>need to do trackpad swap
>lid is flexy

thanks, i will look further into it!

Do you have a T430 for comparison?

x220 and dell m4800 owner

also used to own a hp 8470p

I do this pro bono, senpai

Do you prefer your T440p over the others? Are you using a 37W or 47W CPU? If the latter, what's your average runtime on a 9-cell?

Also
>lid is flexy
Isn't a downside, unless for some reason you're saying it wobbles as you type.

>There's literally not a single way the T420 beats the T430 if you're willing to mod it. Not a single one.

Yeah ok but I'm talking about just stock everything. With modding anything is possible. I personally don't mind the T430 as it is. I think the keyboard is fine and don't care about the ability to use chink batteries nor the ability to put in non-approved wifi cards, as the T430 has a rear Ethernet port and would be sitting on a desk for 99% of the time for me enabling the maximum transfer speed from my router. At 18 mbps my connection isn't even bottlenecked by my router over wifi anyway.

If you are willing to swap a 420 keyboard into your 430 then you should definitely get a 430. Now, if you're willing to do hardware mods to remove the wifi card whitelist then it's unquestionable that you should get the 430. If you're scared to mod anything at all don't even get a fuckin thinkpad you cautious cunt.

ThinkPads are not for hobbyist modding. They're business machines expected to just work. You CAN mod them, but don't shit on someone if they don't want to tinker around with it past hardware upgrades and normal maintenance.

>if you're willing to mod it.
lmfao

...

Just an i5 4200m. Only have a 6 cell, I get about 5-6 hours out of it.

Lid doesn't wobble when I type, but it feels weaker than the lids on the 8470p/x220/m4800

Are you using a 100Wh OEM 9-cell? That performance is dreadful for an i5.

>Only have a 6 cell

>get a thinkpad guys, they just work!
>but first, you're going to need to mod things and follow pajeetforums guides

I'm not a NEET.

Oh okay that's quite reasonable then.

>You need to be a NEET to enjoy tinkering with your hobbies.

I'm typing this at work.

why is it so god damn hard to find a good thinkpad auction.

Because you are retarded.

Yeah, they should update it and and the 2015 series, It's not as good as the 2012 one but still really good

started searching for thinkpads with no hdd and found a bunch of good deals, thanks user!

X250 maybe, but
>T450

Are you retarded? The T450 is a ULV. No one should be stupid enough to buy that.

That's why people are suggesting the T440p now. It's decently priced and doesn't fall for the 15W meme. A T450p does't exist because they didn't refresh the non-ULV mobiles that year. T460p is stupid tier because of price.

This is how I've snatched up four T430 s in under a week for ~$100 each. The T430 originally came with HDDs that you are swapping out immediately anyway. Also look at ones with no battery, since you're going to put in a new one if you actually plan on using it outside anyway. Batteries age worse than any other component.

>that chinese knockoff design
no thanks bro.

>ULV
My battery lasts 15 hours, and the components are still really good

I see no problem with this, ULV is good shit

>T440p
Are you retarded, that was the worst model

what battery is the best size?
looking at the 9 cell it seems so bulky or is it just the pictures?

9-cell sticks out about an inch out the back. Depends on your autism. I like having 9+ hours of battery life.

If you don't get OEM make sure you triple check that you're buying a 94Wh battery, chinks purposely sell 9-cells with 70-77Wh and people don't notice that difference.

The trackpad? You're going to buy a T450 with a ULV and spend way more money because you're too lazy to do what is by far the EASIEST ThinkPad mod out there? L M A O.

This is the #1 reason why I went for xx30 series.
>inb4 hurr muh x220 i7, muh poorly working USB 3.0 card