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Going linux on decent hardware isn't biting the bullet one bit. Thinkpads are seriously nice and the days where you couldn't get your audio and wifi working on

Going linux on decent hardware isn't biting the bullet one bit. Thinkpads are seriously nice and the days where you couldn't get your audio and wifi working on linux have been over for ~5 years. Give it a shot, and you just might like it.

plandis 10y ago
How's the build quality though? I was under the impression that Thinkpads are mostly plastic. Honestly, one of the best perks of a MacBook is the machined aluminum body. Does Lenovo have anything like that?
- anuragsoni 10y ago
  Thinkpads are built pretty well. I can't comment on the latest series but i've had good experience with the T series of thinkpads. I still have my T430s around. The hinges and latches are solid, the keyboard is still a joy to type on.
- honkhonkpants 10y ago
  The metal body of the MacBook means that if you drop it one time the lid never closes right again. Plastic thinkpads don't have that problem. They have different problems that I happen to prefer, like the doors to ports that I never used break off.
- bryanlarsen 10y ago
  Thinkpads are traditionally made with a cage of magnesium covered with plastic. Best of both worlds: the strength durability and protection of metal combined with the light weight and ability to absorb drops and dings of plastic. Dunno how many still do that, the system may have been dropped in the pursuit of thinness.
  - rayiner 10y ago
    It's been sliding. The T450s is a rock: carbon fiber lid, magnesium body covered in soft-touch plastic. The T460 is a step back--glass-fiber plastic on top of magnesium roll cage. The T460s is not a viable replacement for the T450s because it has no removable battery.
anuragsoni 10y ago
Thinkpads are really good when it comes to laptops that play nice with linux. I still have my T430s around and I love the keyboard and form factor.
rayiner 10y ago
> Thinkpads are seriously nice I use a T450s for work. My wife took one look at the FHD screen (she uses a 15" rMBP) and said "can't the firm spring for something less shitty?" The backlight bleeds, the keyboard is warped near the touchpad, and the touchpad isn't that precise. I bought my own for personal use and then sold it because it was so underwhelming. The one redeeming quality of the machine is sick battery life with the extended battery. But on the T460 series, you can either have the high-resolution screen or the giant battery, but not both. Doh!
- 4ad 10y ago
  Thanks for posting this. I have about 14 ThinkPads at last count. The earliest functional ThinkPad I still have is a T42p. The newest one is a X250. My favorite one is the high-resolution X61T (I have two). There was a time when the build quality of ThinkPads was great, that time has passed. The quality has declined, while the Mac quality has increased. There is simply no comparison on this front anymore. What is sad is that ThinkPads are still better than other, non-mac laptops. I feel sorry for anyone who uses a non-ThinkPad, or a non-Mac laptop.
  - majewsky 10y ago
    You don't need to be. I'm still amazed by the build quality of my ZenBook after four years of daily usage.
kabdib 10y ago
> Going linux on decent hardware isn't biting the bullet one bit. I've tried before. I've got a couple of laptops at home running Linux, but they didn't stick. I didn't actually move to them. Moving is a kind of commitment, you're saying "Well, this is probably good enough that I can make it work for the next decade or two." And that's unclear. Moving platforms means changing some everyday tools. Visual Studio on Windows == XCode on OSX, but I'm not really happy with IDEs on Linux. (Visual Studio is really difficult to beat in terms of debugging experience, in my experience). It's not necessarily worse, though some things are. OSX has some nice creature comforts where things just work and I don't want to waste time tweaking the environment any more than I have to. So moving to Linux with the intent of staying there for the next decade or more is, indeed, biting the bullet.

plandis 10y ago

How's the build quality though? I was under the impression that Thinkpads are mostly plastic. Honestly, one of the best perks of a MacBook is the machined aluminum body. Does Lenovo have anything like that?

anuragsoni 10y ago
Thinkpads are built pretty well. I can't comment on the latest series but i've had good experience with the T series of thinkpads. I still have my T430s around. The hinges and latches are solid, the keyboard is still a joy to type on.
honkhonkpants 10y ago
The metal body of the MacBook means that if you drop it one time the lid never closes right again. Plastic thinkpads don't have that problem. They have different problems that I happen to prefer, like the doors to ports that I never used break off.
bryanlarsen 10y ago
Thinkpads are traditionally made with a cage of magnesium covered with plastic. Best of both worlds: the strength durability and protection of metal combined with the light weight and ability to absorb drops and dings of plastic. Dunno how many still do that, the system may have been dropped in the pursuit of thinness.
- rayiner 10y ago
  It's been sliding. The T450s is a rock: carbon fiber lid, magnesium body covered in soft-touch plastic. The T460 is a step back--glass-fiber plastic on top of magnesium roll cage. The T460s is not a viable replacement for the T450s because it has no removable battery.

anuragsoni 10y ago

Thinkpads are really good when it comes to laptops that play nice with linux. I still have my T430s around and I love the keyboard and form factor.

rayiner 10y ago

> Thinkpads are seriously nice I use a T450s for work. My wife took one look at the FHD screen (she uses a 15" rMBP) and said "can't the firm spring for something less shitty?" The backlight bleeds, the keyboard is warped near the touchpad, and the touchpad isn't that precise. I bought my own for personal use and then sold it because it was so underwhelming. The one redeeming quality of the machine is sick battery life with the extended battery. But on the T460 series, you can either have the high-resolution screen or the giant battery, but not both. Doh!

4ad 10y ago
Thanks for posting this. I have about 14 ThinkPads at last count. The earliest functional ThinkPad I still have is a T42p. The newest one is a X250. My favorite one is the high-resolution X61T (I have two). There was a time when the build quality of ThinkPads was great, that time has passed. The quality has declined, while the Mac quality has increased. There is simply no comparison on this front anymore. What is sad is that ThinkPads are still better than other, non-mac laptops. I feel sorry for anyone who uses a non-ThinkPad, or a non-Mac laptop.
- majewsky 10y ago
  You don't need to be. I'm still amazed by the build quality of my ZenBook after four years of daily usage.

kabdib 10y ago

> Going linux on decent hardware isn't biting the bullet one bit. I've tried before. I've got a couple of laptops at home running Linux, but they didn't stick. I didn't actually move to them. Moving is a kind of commitment, you're saying "Well, this is probably good enough that I can make it work for the next decade or two." And that's unclear. Moving platforms means changing some everyday tools. Visual Studio on Windows == XCode on OSX, but I'm not really happy with IDEs on Linux. (Visual Studio is really difficult to beat in terms of debugging experience, in my experience). It's not necessarily worse, though some things are. OSX has some nice creature comforts where things just work and I don't want to waste time tweaking the environment any more than I have to. So moving to Linux with the intent of staying there for the next decade or more is, indeed, biting the bullet.