/tpg/ - ThinkPad General

Previous Thread: 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 IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T, X, and W/P Series if you want the Real Business Experience™

Recommended IBM models:
X60, X61, T60, T61, 860, Transnote, PC110

Recommended freedom models:
xx00 series, IBM xx0 series
Check libreboot.org for details.

Recommended modern models:
X220 - 12", 768p, cheap and light
T420 - 14", 900p, widely avaiable, socketed CPU, Ivy Bridge installable w/ Coreboot
W520 - 15", 1080p, Desktop Replacement, 32GB RAM on quadcore models, USB 3.0

T440p, T540p, W540 - last ThinkPads to have replacable CPUs, IPS displays avaiable, chiclet

P-series - reminiscent to old build quality, top-of-the-line specs, better than most current mobile workstations, but very expensive

Why ThinkPad?
>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 (most models), upgrade & maintain thanks to readily available service manuals for every model, spare parts easy & cheap to obtain
>The best TrackPoint, 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

New guides by xsauc:
dankpads.com

ThinkWiki - Info on ThinkPads & running GNU/Linux on them:
thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

ThinkPad service guides w/ tutorial videos:
lenovoservicetraining.com/

EPP discount for new ThinkPads:
pastebin.com/JVwVGVTW

I overclocked my THinkpad X220 with Ahmed Muhamed's Overclocking tools and BigPackets overclocking supervisor

Running safely at 4.6ghz on 4gb ram. feels good

>How many time an X220 will last before shitting itself hardware-wise? I mean, in terms of quality build they're like tanks, but specs aren't that good and considering how bad optimized are new applications and browsers nowadays.

Is the E series, specifically the E570, bad? How does it compare to the T series?

wtf what a retard i am.


How many time an X220 will last before shitting itself hardware-wise? I mean, in terms of quality build they're like tanks, but specs aren't that good and considering how bad optimized are new applications and browsers nowadays.

fixd

I mean, 8GB of DDR4 RAM, SSD, good display, all for cheaper than other models.

Why is this? I need a laptop for just general browsing/programming, will this be good for me?

Is there a brainlet guide to compiling and installing coreboot?

uninstall ur monitor n then u have coreboot :D

>nonfree software

Spill ur guts /tpg/

No libreboot for an x220, unfortunately.

Realistically, how long could you sustain this before detriments became apparent? Also, is your CPU running at that constant frequency or just for particular tasks?

I'm just curious. I generally wouldn't think it's a good idea to OC a CPU in a laptop. I'm probably completely off base thinking this. I don't know...

sometimes i go 6.6 ghz pc consume 13kilowat. am powerful m3n

heard that linux cripples ThinkPad's battery life, is there any truth to this statement?

For me it's the x201

oh shit its gonna happen

I'm new to Thinkpads too, can somebody please explain why only the T, X and W/P series are recommended?

All other series are inferior and serve no unique purpose except to be cheaper, which is irrelevant when you're buying used.

What if you're not buying new? I know you guys suggest buying used, but let's say for a few reasons I can't.

How does the E series compare to other laptops in the same price range? Specs wise it looks good, but I don't know if that's everything?

I've had my x220 since 2011. I've had to replace the fan after a few years and also the power supply. Both were cheap. A few days ago the drive died but I backed everything up in time so no harm no foul. I'm pretty rough with it. I often carry it in my bike bag

Are latitudes welcome here?

I can't upgrade my t430s because all the new tp's forgot their bottom trackpad buttons or only come with those buttons AND a numpad.

P50 owner here. I'm one of the last of a dying race of Thinkpad users in my office; everyone's moved to Macbooks for the sake of Terminal and whatnot.

What a beast of a laptop though. If they weren't 2 fucking grand to buy, I'd look into one for personal use.

All other laptops are better and cheaper, you are just buying the name with E and L series.

You are better buying a Dell XPS 15 if you are looking for something new and "high" end.

It’s not built with the same materials and quality that thinkpads are known and loved for. Still has the great trackpad and trackpoint though, so it’s on you if you value those fit and finish things.

An XPS 15 starts at $2200 where I am from, the E570 is just over $1000?

Ah okay I see. Would the build quality still be similar to other laptops made by other companies around this price range?

>Starts at $2200
Where are you from? the land down under?

>X230/T430 not the recommended modern models
REEEEEEEEEE
May I remind you that they are last thinkpads with
>Classic body/design language
>Full voltage CPUs instead of ULV crap
>Classic keyboard (replaceable on X230)
While also being faster, still just as cheap, and significantly better graphics.

Unfortunately, yeah. Comparing prices here to American prices makes me wanna cry.

And I have to buy a new laptop for a few reasons, so I can't buy a used ThinkPad, hence my dilemma.

Well that explains it, but if your company is paying for it why not get a P50/P51?

I work for myself as a small time programmer, so I still have to pay for it and get the tax back in like 12 months, so I have set a budget of roughly ~$1000 AU.

Otherwise yeah budget wouldn't have been a problem.

You can't write it off if it's used?

Weird ass laws, need to have proper receipts, accountant friend highly suggested not buying used.

Ebay provides a receipt. I'm not sure why you would pay 600 extra just to save 200 dollars on your taxes.

Australian import laws are retarded as fuck.

Sandy or Ivy?

Depends on the price difference.

Pretty much the same. At least 30 bucks of difference in the worse cases.

Ivy is faster, but it depends on what model it's in.

Well Windows is best because it's optimized for it and they have to compete with other manufacturers and Apple, etc. Linux used to be very bad OOTB but now it's not so bad... However you also have to deal with more unoptimized software on Linux.

This, X230T reporting in

Can you put a classic keyboard in a X230?

I think so

Time to upgrade from my T400 then.

My W500 will come today. plan to fresh install it. Which one will give better performance:

Win 7 with Win 7 driver
or
Win 8.1 with Win 7 driver in compatibility mode

I have a T420s and I like it except for one major issue. I have it running overnight and occasionally I wake up and it's turned itself off. It isn't overheating it isn't the power management. Is this a known problem for these and if show, does the T430 exhibit the same issue?

Windows 7.

Windows 8.1 is a mess in multiple ways.

He's right you know

For me it was Win 7 without updates > Fully updated W10 LTSB > Fully updated W7. On both my T440p and X60.

All those years of duct taped updates i guess.

What OS are you using? Have you tried using a different OS to isolate the problem? This isn't a normal issue afaik

Using Ubuntu 16.04. Haven't tried using anything else. Maybe I can upgrade to 17.10 and see if the problem persists. Not really interested in using anything other than a Debian derived Linux.

Aren't their CPU soldered ?

Try upgrading or using a live USB overnight. Maybe install vanilla Debian on the Live USB.

Good idea on the USB. I'll do it.

Just switched over to Win10 LTSB + SBAB. After messing around with arch and ubuntu I was tired of the trackpad not working after waking from sleep, firefox tearing (I tried everything) poor trackpad acceleration curves, and there being no good DEs. (Don't argue, I tried them all, and I've done i3 stuff before)

Freedom was nice but it's still not there for anyone who wants a stable system UI on modern hardware. Lots of good terminal software if that's your thing but I don't get any joy from ricing like I used to.

The trackpoint's polling is too low for my preference and I'm not an aggressive typist that needs to keep hands on home row.

Hope you enjoyed my blogpost :^)

Fgt

I'm looking for a wifi card for my T540p (whitelist is not an issue). Is there a good and readoly available Atheros alternative for the Intel AC-8260, in terms of speed?

What is the thinkpad with the best display, my old laptop broke and i need something to watch shit when in bed. under 300$. 13-15inch.

T420S Full-HD ips kit?

At that price range, you should look at the w530 with a 1080p screen. That will likely be right at your budget, maybe a bit over. Alternatively, you can get a w520 with a 1080p screen fairly comfortably in that price range. On the other end of the scale, you can get a t520 with a broken screen for $80, and install the w520 1080p screen in it ($50). It's a straight swap: 8 Philips head screws and some plastic clips.

Are thinkpads a meme?
Answer honestly

Sort of. Latitudes and Elitebooks offer the same value proposition, often at a slightly lower price. All three are off-lease business-class computers. They're cheap, sturdy, and easy to work on. A t420 will be able to handle most things you throw at it for the foreseeable future.

Do they have the same awesome Linux support (eg tlp)?

what about a t430?

Much better, people should really stop recommending the t420 when the t430 are better in every way except the keyboard which you can replace anyways

That, I don't know. The only reason I buy ThinkPads is because I'm familiar with them. The price difference is only 20 dollars or so and can easily be overcome by waiting around for a deal. ThinkPads have alot of documentation online as well. I'm not sure about support for Latitudes or Elitebooks.

will check it out thanks

I have the option to take a free, brand new thinkpad or MacBook Pro 15, which would you choose?

Maxed out X1C or maxed T470

X230 yes, like every x model
T430 no, it started with the T440

$299.99 - t430 - 320gb, 4gb ddr3 (14 inch)
or
$349.00 - t520 - 500gb, 4gb (15.6 inch)
which one Sup Forums?

Some people prefer an IPS screen to a higher definition. I don't really care either way. It's a laptop; there's very few scenarios where I need wide viewing angles.

Either one, work is paying for it

Both are terrible. Are you in the US?

Get the P70 with the 4k screen.

How do you install the Lenovo Settings app without Windows Store?

You mean the retro thinkpad? I'd take the thinkpad without question, finally got the good keyboard back.

I'm in same position, work is paying up to 2500 eurodollars for it, have to tell them today

Honestly, new ThinkPads aren't that great of a deal. Most of the appeal to these computers is how cheap they are used on Ebay.

Because of reasons...

Do any of you have opinions on the Carbon X1 series? I'm looking for an understated notebook, my only reservation is the lack of a 2.5" bay. Though I might be asking for the impossible.

What if I need it for work, and I like trackpoints. It has to be a new one, and I need to do a ton of virtualization on it. I'm looking at specced out P51, don't see any other options

If you like the track point, it's a good choice. The P51 or P71 are both great computers.

Is there any point in getting a 4K display on a 15.6 inch screen? I don't think it's worth it, but I like the xeon cpu... I think a 17 laptop is just too retardedly big, and I'll hook it up to an external monitor anyway. don't want to be massive screen alienware guy working in the train killing battery in 10 minutes

Scaling is still fucked. There's no real point to 4k on a laptop.

LADS LADS

I saw a really neat HP Elitebook 840 G3 for 600€ in eBay (256SSD, 16GBRAM and i5 6300). Should I sell my T460 and get this? Are Elitebooks /comfy/?

Pls brehs

Yeah they're comfy but not comfier than an equivalent T series
Just buy an extended battery or something instead for your T460

High resolution is sometimes as good as having a second monitor
As some who does the four way split on windows quite often
Having four 7.8", almost 1080p screens in one sounds God tier

There's no point. I've got a 27 inch 4k monitor and I have to squint to see some text without scaling. Even scaling in Windows is terrible, forget Linux.
If you think a 7 inch 1080p screen is good, stand 10 feet from your 1080p screen and try to use it.

Thinkpad P51:


Intel Core i7-7820HQ processor (8 MB cache, max 3,90 GHz)
Display : 15.6" FHD (1920x1080), anti-glare, IPS
Memory : 32 GB (16+16) DDR4 2400 MHz SODIMM
Graphic Card : NVIDIA Quadro M2200 4 GB GDDR5
First Solid State Drive : 256 GB SSD PCIe TLC OPAL2
Second Solid State Drive : 256 GB SSD PCIe TLC OPAL2
Total Hard Drive Capacity : 512GB


About to send, any objections? Thinking two ssd's instead of one in case I want to dual-boot some bullshit and not pollute my work-drive

Is 100 dollars more for 6300u over 5300u worth it?

Looks good. It's always good to have a spare SSD anyway, especially if the company is paying for it.

Yeah I guess you're right

How's the x200 do these days for muh freedumbs?

I have a powerful desktop that I want to use for muh games, content creation and shit, but I want to keep it offline, and use the libre laptop as my main machine for work and personal stuff.

Throw 8gb of ram in it and an SSD and it should run fine. The screens are shit, unless you swap in an x201 screen.

Thanks man.

Got 8gb and an SSD on standby so!

If you're shying away from the t400 and t500 because of the required disassembly, I've got a shortcut you can take.

With the T400 it's mainly the portability I'm concerned about -- how much heavier/'bulkier are they? Or are they better machines on the whole?

I have heard that the T400's CPU can be upgraded, which is a bonus.

Feel free to hit me with the shortcut regardless.

The t400 and t500 are both monsters. You can upgrade both of them to a t9900 processor. It doesn't make them much faster though. The x200 is the best option out of the three. Buy one with a broken screen and swap in a x201 screen. If memory serves me well, the x201 is a 1600x900.

Instead of disassembling the entire laptop, you can take a dremel to the roll cage and cut out a 1.5 inch section right above the chip you need to program. I'm not at home so I don't have pictures to show you where to cut, but it's super easy. Just be careful that you don't cut into the motherboard. I usually cut until there's just a little magnesium left and then snap the joint with my fingers.

2 months ago I bought a sleek, overpriced dell XPS. Though sexy and light as a feather at 1.6kg, it was no match for a kettle lobbed during a heavy psychedelic binge. I just picked up a T420 (to atone for buying expensive sexy piece of shit).

It's heavy and ugly, just other day in Starbucks three girls terrorized me subtly from the next table. I haven't felt like a spastic since school a decade ago and this thinkpad is triggering me to all fuck.

Put a Refugees Welcome sticker on your t420. Bitches love that shit.

Which battery is good for an X230 in amazon? I mean chink ones because originals are pretty expensive lol.