Thinkpad General

[Hecate]

was thinking of getting T500 T480 so i can learn and install libreboot, but i might get another model thats fully compatible with libreboot if its cheaper.
man, all i want is just ONE device without backdoors on it

 

[Slav Power]

was thinking of getting T500 T480 so i can learn and install libreboot, but i might get another model thats fully compatible with libreboot if its cheaper.
man, all i want is just ONE device without backdoors on it

1. You're not going to use it. T480 already struggles with web browsing, and if you go older then it's gonna be even worse.
2. If you were actually schizo you'd be compiling libreboot by yourself and verifying it has no binary blobs to make abundantly sure it's safe. IIRC Libreboot for the newer machines like the T480 utilizes binary blobs, so you're still using a mystery black box that might as well be a backdoor. Same with all the software running on it. Have you verified and manually compiled every line of code of your Linux distro, or are you just blindly trusting that it doesn't spy on you?
3. Once you realize that the moment you step out of your house you're already in the near vicinity of countless smartphones, CCTV cameras and satellite imagery then your only escape from being spied on is killing yourself.

Oh yeah, and even if you go through all of that you're still going to be relentlessly spied on while browsing the web. Libreboot is a meme. So is being overly schizo about backdoors and spyware to the point of being compelled to use Libreboot. It sure sounds liberating to force yourself to use antiquated hardware for some faint sense of privacy that's hardly even there.

 

[Kosher Dill]

T480 already struggles with web browsing

This isn't true at all. I've got a T480s which handles modern browsers on modern OSes perfectly fine, no goofball ricing needed, and my daily driver is substantially older.

That said, Libreboot is indeed a joke when you consider what you give up for what you receive. The T480 one in particular is missing like half the features:

https://libreboot.org/docs/install/t480.html

 

[Lone Wandering Courier]

1. You're not going to use it. T480 already struggles with web browsing, and if you go older then it's gonna be even worse.

I have a t430 which handles web browsing fine, even with discord open. It's not even a maxed out T430, it runs an i5 and 8gb of ram.

 

[GameratePTSD]

I need something portable that can handle video editing and Blender. Would a used ThinkPad be a better choice than a regular laptop?

 

[Slav Power]

Would a used ThinkPad be a better choice than a regular laptop?

Yes, because for the equal price of a regular laptop you get a machine that has infinitely better build quality and performance. Look for used P series ThinkPads and look at what brand new consumer laptops you can get for the same price. It'll all be cheap, brittle plastic with underpowered hardware.

 

[Hecate]

1. You're not going to use it. T480 already struggles with web browsing, and if you go older then it's gonna be even worse.
2. If you were actually schizo you'd be compiling libreboot by yourself and verifying it has no binary blobs to make abundantly sure it's safe. IIRC Libreboot for the newer machines like the T480 utilizes binary blobs, so you're still using a mystery black box that might as well be a backdoor. Same with all the software running on it. Have you verified and manually compiled every line of code of your Linux distro, or are you just blindly trusting that it doesn't spy on you?
3. Once you realize that the moment you step out of your house you're already in the near vicinity of countless smartphones, CCTV cameras and satellite imagery then your only escape from being spied on is killing yourself.

Oh yeah, and even if you go through all of that you're still going to be relentlessly spied on while browsing the web. Libreboot is a meme. So is being overly schizo about backdoors and spyware to the point of being compelled to use Libreboot. It sure sounds liberating to force yourself to use antiquated hardware for some faint sense of privacy that's hardly even there.

i mistyped and meant to say T430. received it today (came preinstalled with win10) and it seems to run just fine. my desktop will always be my main driver, so the T430 will be what i use on the road and at work. literally cannot be beat at its price point ($50) and it even came with a new li-ion 9 cell. may or may not upgrade it down the road.

as far as libreboot goes, i have no misconceptions on how little privacy we all actually have. i have no intentions to make this laptop some autistic "privacy box", but it is nice that it doesnt have binary blobs like the T480 does. i literally just want to play around with libreboot and install arch on it

 

[seri0us]

that it doesnt have binary blobs like the T480

but it does
Libreboot started including blobs a few years ago

 

[Zeftax]

T480 already struggles with web browsing

I use it as my personal laptop and it runs all I need it to just fine.

 

[BeckhoffAX5702]

Those Ultrabook CPU's are fine for web browsing as long as they're not stuck at their base clock frequency. Do you use Throttlestop?

 

[Slav Power]

 

[Enig]

Dear Lenovo, fuck you for randomly changing the eDP pin pitch size from 0.5 to 0.4, I just love having to buy another screen instead of just carrying over my existing deep color UHD from the T480.

 

[Biker]

another one of my favorite ThinkPad autists: https://www.youtube.com/@dcfbf/videos

 

[The Stranger]

I got a thinkpad L15 and am going to upgrade the RAM, does all 260-pin RAM work? I've been building PCs for over 10 years but never worked on a laptop

 

[Slav Power]

I got a thinkpad L15 and am going to upgrade the RAM, does all 260-pin RAM work? I've been building PCs for over 10 years but never worked on a laptop

SODIMM is SODIMM. You don't worry about how many pins your PC DIMM modules have, you only worry if it's DDR1/2/3/4/5, what size, clock speed and timing it has, right? Pretty much the same deal with laptops, it's just a custom mini-PC motherboard.

 

[Miller]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bOFB3QaOT6Q

https://www.youtube.com/@SebisRandomTech

It's a good channel. I think I used one of his videos as a tutorial when I had to change the screen of my X230.

 

[skunt]

It's time for me to get a new thinkpad. I'm long out of the game of keeping up with models and specs though.

What's the best model to start looking at? I don't need a top of the line processor but 16g ram or higher and at least 1 NVME slot would be a great starting point. I'd also like something a bit slimmer so i don't look like a poor tech hobo when i take it out in public. GPU doesn't matter and I'd rather not have one. I'm also not a stickler for screen size.

Anyone have recommendations or starting points?

 

[Biker]

Anyone have recommendations or starting points?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X_series

x-230-x280 is the sweet spot.

 

[Slav Power]

I'd also like something a bit slimmer so i don't look like a poor tech hobo when i take it out in public.

Modern ones are all fairly slim. For example, here's a T14 Gen 2 that's about four years old now. Note the lack of the "s", the T14s is a different model that's slimmer but has soldered RAM.

I'd say look for modern used T-series or even L-series 14 inch ThinkPads. The L series is lower class and it lacks the magnesium chassis but it still has the metal hinges and the specs tend to be on par with the T-series counterparts. Do keep in mind that the SODIMM situation differs from generation to generation between these two lines. IIRC L14 G3 had SODIMM's but T14 G3 was soldered, then for Gen 4 both were soldered and with Gen 5 both had SODIMM's.

As for X230-X280, don't. X230 is ancient and while X280 is the bare minimum CPU wise (8th gen Intel), it has soldered SODIMM's and is still not that more compact compared to modern T14/L14 models that have more performant and more power efficient chips. Don't buy into the /g/ meme of the old old models, and if you do, the bare minimum is the T480 that had a good balance of old ThinkPad features and modern laptop features like USB-C charging, and it's very serviceable with a lot of third party mod parts available.

 

[the rat]

while X280 is the bare minimum CPU wise (8th gen Intel)

I'm curious as to what you think would be done that makes a mobile quad core Coffee Lake CPU to be "bare minimum"? You mention earlier even that it would be too slow to browse the web with a T480 (which uses that generation of Intel Core) but like, what????????? The web for the most part worked fine on my Arrandale chip before the piece of shit got to +80c because of the horrific ventilation on the T410. My old C2D T6400 I was using about a year or so ago was slow at it but could browse the web for the most part (don't expect YouTube to work though lol!).

And hello from Haswell! If you're not planning on doing anything too heavy a T480 would be good enough for most people.