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I would suggest an older ThinkPad instead of a brand new one. Almost every operating system I know of targets them as a platform, you won’t run into issues with

by snazz 8y ago

I would suggest an older ThinkPad instead of a brand new one. Almost every operating system I know of targets them as a platform, you won’t run into issues with Wi-Fi cards and suspend/resume, and they are quite upgradable. Some have hot-swappable batteries (no need to shut down just to switch to a fresh battery), they all have great keyboards, even ancient machines feel fast with a new SSD, and the cooling is miles better than an “ultrabook” design. Whatever you do, I would caution against buying a machine for the specs. You’ll probably get something heavy, with poor battery life, and if you need more power, you should be doing those tasks on a remote system or a beefy “cloud” VPS instance anyway.

chrismeller 8y ago
I would second this. By “older” it could be a generation or two from their outlet for $500 or an old T42 from eBay for $100, depending on your performance needs. Either way it’s really, really hard to go wrong with a Thinkpad... that’s why they’re such a standard in big enterprise environments.
- aibara 8y ago
  If you don't need something new for performance reasons, I agree. Just replaced the motherboard of my T420s. While waiting for the part to arrive I used a much newer laptop, which only made me appreciate just how great that beautiful old 7-row keyboard is. I suppose I'll have to give it up one day, but not yet.
- bluedino 8y ago
  The non-IPS screens in Thinkpads are terrible - so that's basically anything that is 1366x768 or 1600x900 and not a tablet (So the X220 vs the X220T, which comes with an IPS screen) The 1080p, 1440p, and 4K screens in the Tx40 series and newer (T440, T/W540, etc) are fine screens. Don't forget the battery life also didn't get 'good' until Haswell chipset laptops came to be, which is also the x40 series for Lenovo. Before that, if you want any kind of battery life you need the extended battery that sticks way out, or the sheet battery which makes a not-so-thin laptop even thicker. Also, finding a battery that's in good shape for a 6+ year old laptop can be pretty tough.
MisterOctober 8y ago
^ Yep! I switched from MPB to Thinkpad last year, and couldn't be happier. Vast improvement in ergonomics and serviceability / upgradeability. As you point out, the older machines are great for dev work with some basic upgrades [maxed RAM + SSD] -- my go-to machines are the T61 and T520 -- they're tanks that love Linux and are wicked stable. [currently running Fedora 29, but have 'distro-hopped' a lot over the past year, and never had a hiccup with the hardware compatibility]

by snazz 8y ago

chrismeller 8y ago

I would second this. By “older” it could be a generation or two from their outlet for $500 or an old T42 from eBay for $100, depending on your performance needs. Either way it’s really, really hard to go wrong with a Thinkpad... that’s why they’re such a standard in big enterprise environments.

aibara 8y ago
If you don't need something new for performance reasons, I agree. Just replaced the motherboard of my T420s. While waiting for the part to arrive I used a much newer laptop, which only made me appreciate just how great that beautiful old 7-row keyboard is. I suppose I'll have to give it up one day, but not yet.
bluedino 8y ago
The non-IPS screens in Thinkpads are terrible - so that's basically anything that is 1366x768 or 1600x900 and not a tablet (So the X220 vs the X220T, which comes with an IPS screen) The 1080p, 1440p, and 4K screens in the Tx40 series and newer (T440, T/W540, etc) are fine screens. Don't forget the battery life also didn't get 'good' until Haswell chipset laptops came to be, which is also the x40 series for Lenovo. Before that, if you want any kind of battery life you need the extended battery that sticks way out, or the sheet battery which makes a not-so-thin laptop even thicker. Also, finding a battery that's in good shape for a 6+ year old laptop can be pretty tough.

MisterOctober 8y ago

^ Yep! I switched from MPB to Thinkpad last year, and couldn't be happier. Vast improvement in ergonomics and serviceability / upgradeability. As you point out, the older machines are great for dev work with some basic upgrades [maxed RAM + SSD] -- my go-to machines are the T61 and T520 -- they're tanks that love Linux and are wicked stable. [currently running Fedora 29, but have 'distro-hopped' a lot over the past year, and never had a hiccup with the hardware compatibility]