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As a long-time Thinkpad user I would begrudgingly recommend one (begrudgingly because QA-wise they are the shadow of their former selves). Compared to older Th

As a long-time Thinkpad user I would begrudgingly recommend one (begrudgingly because QA-wise they are the shadow of their former selves). Compared to older Thinkpads, they do not have a wobbly battery or noisy fan any more, and you may still get a decent keyboard (or you may not, it's a bit of a lottery). Thinkpads now have at-least-FHD matte displays available. And it's possible to upgrade the disk(s), RAM, and battery. The battery is now hot-swap-able, and battery models are compatible across most models covering 2 generations. I'm using both a T550, which I like, and X260, which is a PoS by design, and being able to grab any extra battery and swap it mid-way through a trip without switching the laptop off, is quite nice. Fedora is running on both without any issue.

pawadu 10y ago
I think their X1 series is the only one not gone downhill. The X2nn series stopped being awesome somewhere between the X220 and X230. The newer ones are dropping to Acer ergonomic and quality levels...
- detaro 10y ago
  Sadly getting a 1080p screen for X220/X230 those is only possible with quite complicated hacks, and getting that is IMHO worth the drawbacks of a newer one. X220t with a modern CPU (but still the old thermal envelope) and 1080p would be basically the perfect laptop.
  - pawadu 10y ago
    X220 has a 12" 1366x768 display which may sound awful but I have noticed that it is perfectly adequate for someone who spends most his time in emacs and tmux. I actually do have a 1920x1080 and a QHD laptop, which I barely touch because neither have the great keyboard of the X220.
    - detaro 10y ago
      Matter of taste then - I recently replaced my X220 (and strongly considered just buying a used one again) and I think the high-res screen outweights missing the keyboard. I just saw some chinese fans sold a series of hacked X220/X230 with retrofitted with the screen from a Dell XPS 13, that sounds like a dream.
0x54MUR41 10y ago
Thank you for posting this question, OP. I am in the same situation. I can't decide between Lenovo Thinkpad and Dell XPS 13/15 Developer Edition. This happened because I came across the HN discussion and saw a lot of people who recommended between those. Then, I just saw this discussion. Actually, I have been deciding to choose Dell XPS over Lenovo because its security (I am still doubt with that and need to read more). I heard that Lenovo laptops have backdoor/SuperFish installed, is that true?
- Hasknewbie 10y ago
  The Lenovo Ideapad series, which is consumer-oriented, did have at one point pre-installed spyware compromising all https connections. And yes the level of imbecility involved in including something that broken was bewildering. The Thinkpad line being enterprise-oriented is sparred that kind of issues, but this remains a strike against Lenovo. That being said the only things keeping me in the Thinkpad camp are the battery life (that's truly liberating, although a competitor will probably catch up with them) and the trackpoint (on that front no other brand comes close, and none seem interested in closing that gap). But my experience with the X260 is so bad (keyboard leaving marks on the screen, screen bezel leaving marks on the palm-rest, picking up the laptop by the bottom left corner may disconnect the underlying HDD and crash the machine -- a defect known since the X240!) that I will probably forego Lenovo entirely in the future. Dell XPS do have good press, but I've had multiple bad experiences with Dell across several generations, so much so that we taunt colleagues still stuck with that brand at the office ("so I see you've brought your hair-dryer today!").
  - 0x54MUR41 10y ago
    Thank you for reply. It's clear now. Your explanation eases my worries. I will looking forward for its security issue. I have googled that that issue can't be detected and removed. Like what you said, I read someone has same experience when he's using Dell XPS.

pawadu 10y ago

I think their X1 series is the only one not gone downhill. The X2nn series stopped being awesome somewhere between the X220 and X230. The newer ones are dropping to Acer ergonomic and quality levels...

detaro 10y ago
Sadly getting a 1080p screen for X220/X230 those is only possible with quite complicated hacks, and getting that is IMHO worth the drawbacks of a newer one. X220t with a modern CPU (but still the old thermal envelope) and 1080p would be basically the perfect laptop.
- pawadu 10y ago
  X220 has a 12" 1366x768 display which may sound awful but I have noticed that it is perfectly adequate for someone who spends most his time in emacs and tmux. I actually do have a 1920x1080 and a QHD laptop, which I barely touch because neither have the great keyboard of the X220.
  - detaro 10y ago
    Matter of taste then - I recently replaced my X220 (and strongly considered just buying a used one again) and I think the high-res screen outweights missing the keyboard. I just saw some chinese fans sold a series of hacked X220/X230 with retrofitted with the screen from a Dell XPS 13, that sounds like a dream.

0x54MUR41 10y ago

Thank you for posting this question, OP. I am in the same situation. I can't decide between Lenovo Thinkpad and Dell XPS 13/15 Developer Edition. This happened because I came across the HN discussion and saw a lot of people who recommended between those. Then, I just saw this discussion. Actually, I have been deciding to choose Dell XPS over Lenovo because its security (I am still doubt with that and need to read more). I heard that Lenovo laptops have backdoor/SuperFish installed, is that true?

Hasknewbie 10y ago
The Lenovo Ideapad series, which is consumer-oriented, did have at one point pre-installed spyware compromising all https connections. And yes the level of imbecility involved in including something that broken was bewildering. The Thinkpad line being enterprise-oriented is sparred that kind of issues, but this remains a strike against Lenovo. That being said the only things keeping me in the Thinkpad camp are the battery life (that's truly liberating, although a competitor will probably catch up with them) and the trackpoint (on that front no other brand comes close, and none seem interested in closing that gap). But my experience with the X260 is so bad (keyboard leaving marks on the screen, screen bezel leaving marks on the palm-rest, picking up the laptop by the bottom left corner may disconnect the underlying HDD and crash the machine -- a defect known since the X240!) that I will probably forego Lenovo entirely in the future. Dell XPS do have good press, but I've had multiple bad experiences with Dell across several generations, so much so that we taunt colleagues still stuck with that brand at the office ("so I see you've brought your hair-dryer today!").
- 0x54MUR41 10y ago
  Thank you for reply. It's clear now. Your explanation eases my worries. I will looking forward for its security issue. I have googled that that issue can't be detected and removed. Like what you said, I read someone has same experience when he's using Dell XPS.