4 ms·

ThinkPads every day of the week. I have a T430 that I have owned for about 6 years and a new P52 which is my daily work machine. Both running Linux with zero is

ThinkPads every day of the week. I have a T430 that I have owned for about 6 years and a new P52 which is my daily work machine. Both running Linux with zero issues. I liked the comment below describing Hotels (Mac) Vs home (ThinkPads). It's true that if you can be bothered to tweak and install some stuff then you end up with something of your own. Your way. Never used Macs as old enough to remember the "no one got sacked for buying IBM" saying and it's true even if it is now Lenovo.

perlgeek 7y ago
Seconded. Happy T480 user here.
- ahnick 7y ago
  Thirded. I got mine 1.5 years ago and I love it as much as the first day I got it. The T480 running Ubuntu really hit a sweet spot for me. I could get 32GB of memory (double the memory of other developer laptop options) and it has hot-swappable batteries for extended coding sessions off plug. I'm not a huge fan of dongles either, so the built-in ports (ethernet, HDMI, MicroSD card slot, etc.) were nice.
soylentgraham 7y ago
"Never used macs" maybe you should try them. I'm still using a 2013 MBP, only issue is that I had to finally replace the battery about a year ago. MacBooks used to be good. Can you still buy a 6 year old thinkpad?
- garmaine 7y ago
  Are you joking or just don’t know? Google “x222 thinkpad” for an example. There’s a whole market for classic thinkpads.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    AFAIK there's even plenty of people who order components from newer thinkpads in order to retrofit them to older thinkpad's chasis, either as a way to upgrade their own machine or just to assemble a better laptop (like in most things in this industry, older interfaces and form factors are very often better).
  - gen220 7y ago
    I got bit by this bug. It’s amazing what $200 will get you! I also have a mid-2012 MBP that’s going strong. The advantage of thinkpads from that era is that their parts are generally easier to replace. The keyboards of that generation of laptop are just something else :)
  - jmmcd 7y ago
    Typo: x222 -> x220 I got an X260 on Ebay for ~EUR220 to replace an MBP whose screen went bad. The screen and touchpad are no match for the MBP, but it sparks joy in a way the MBP never did.
- Joeri 7y ago
  There are a ton of thinkpad t440p’s floating around from that era. They have upgradable everything (even a socketed cpu). You can buy a low-end model for €150 and soup it up to perform similar to current gen laptops.
  - yitchelle 7y ago
    How much extra dollars are needed to soup it up so that it has similar performance as current gen laptops? I imagine the drive and RAM would be first two items for the change, what about the CPU?
    - Joeri 7y ago
      It depends on your ebay skill. You can look up the parts in the T440p upgrade guide: https://octoperf.com/blog/2018/11/07/thinkpad-t440p-buyers-guide/ https://octoperf.com/blog/2018/11/07/thinkpad-t440p-buyers-g...
kjaftaedi 7y ago
I had a MacBook Pro daily driver, and had the same concerns as the poster. I'm now running a Yoga x390. It was the most I've ever spent on a laptop, and it was worth every penny. It's the perfect size, weight, battery life, performance combination, and is an absolute treat to use.
wj 7y ago
I have a T480s from work and it has two annoying issues for me. The first is that the cursor doesn't always disappear when typing. That is probably a Windows/browser issue. The hardware issue is the right side of the touchpad seems to be setup as a right click space. I want one finger left click no matter where I am on the touch pad and two finger right click. Reaching to the left side of the touchpad to click is super annoying and I often accidentally drag a tan instead of clicking on it. Posting that in hopes someone knows a way to make the touchpad just one big space.
stephen 7y ago
+1 to ThinkPad, good quality, great for Linux, and TrackPoint which is the vim of mice (no moving off the home row). (Pair the ThinkPad with a Linux desktop using an external USB "ThinkPad-style" keyboard, and you've got TrackPoints + exactly the same keyboard layout (and OS layout/key bindings, etc) across laptop and desktop.)
jlarocco 7y ago
I don't know... I own a 2013 MBP and also use a Thinkpad P52s for work, and I really hope there's a better competitor than the Thinkpads. The Thinkpad feels cheap and poorly built compared to the MBP. The plastic creaks and it feels like it's going to fall apart when I carry it with one hand. The trackpad isn't nearly as good, and I had to dig into the X11 configuration to make it work reasonably. I've only had it for 10 months, and I'm already worried that the USB-C plug may be breaking. Meanwhile, the MBP has sustained 6 years of abuse and still feels solid and works great. As far as specs go, the Thinkpad is fine, but I'd be sad if I had to buy one with my own money.
lars_francke 7y ago
Just FYI: Should you plan on using Linux on the T490 don't get the Nvidia version. Read the forums, battery life drops to 2-5h vs. 9-11h on Windows. I hope the next generation fixes this and/or we finally get good nvidia drivers.
- godwhoa 7y ago
  Give Pop_OS[1] a shot, it lets you switch between iGPU and dGPU. Been using it on my Thinkpad P1 works well for my workflow, I almost always use the iGPU and for tasks that need dGPU I am usually plugged into power. I get good battery life this way. But I agree, MX250 option isn't worth it for the amount of GPU power it gives and the complications it brings under Linux. >I hope the next generation fixes this and/or we finally get good nvidia drivers. GPU offloading is being worked on by nvidia[2] so there is indeed hope. [1] https://system76.com/pop https://system76.com/pop [2] https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/08/nvidia-43517-linux-beta-driver-adds.html https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/08/nvidia-43517-linux-bet... [3] https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power/pull/111 https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power/pull/111
  - lars_francke 7y ago
    Thanks but Pop_OS also doesn't help here. They did something different for the T490. My colleague has a T480 and that works fine. T490 also doesn't have a BIOS/UEFI option to disable the NVidia (again there's forum threads requesting that as well on the Lenovo forums). The problem is that the NVidia card never enters its high power saving states even when it's disabled. I lose about 20% battery on standby overnight.

perlgeek 7y ago

Seconded. Happy T480 user here.

ahnick 7y ago
Thirded. I got mine 1.5 years ago and I love it as much as the first day I got it. The T480 running Ubuntu really hit a sweet spot for me. I could get 32GB of memory (double the memory of other developer laptop options) and it has hot-swappable batteries for extended coding sessions off plug. I'm not a huge fan of dongles either, so the built-in ports (ethernet, HDMI, MicroSD card slot, etc.) were nice.

soylentgraham 7y ago

"Never used macs" maybe you should try them. I'm still using a 2013 MBP, only issue is that I had to finally replace the battery about a year ago. MacBooks used to be good. Can you still buy a 6 year old thinkpad?

garmaine 7y ago
Are you joking or just don’t know? Google “x222 thinkpad” for an example. There’s a whole market for classic thinkpads.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  AFAIK there's even plenty of people who order components from newer thinkpads in order to retrofit them to older thinkpad's chasis, either as a way to upgrade their own machine or just to assemble a better laptop (like in most things in this industry, older interfaces and form factors are very often better).
- gen220 7y ago
  I got bit by this bug. It’s amazing what $200 will get you! I also have a mid-2012 MBP that’s going strong. The advantage of thinkpads from that era is that their parts are generally easier to replace. The keyboards of that generation of laptop are just something else :)
- jmmcd 7y ago
  Typo: x222 -> x220 I got an X260 on Ebay for ~EUR220 to replace an MBP whose screen went bad. The screen and touchpad are no match for the MBP, but it sparks joy in a way the MBP never did.
Joeri 7y ago
There are a ton of thinkpad t440p’s floating around from that era. They have upgradable everything (even a socketed cpu). You can buy a low-end model for €150 and soup it up to perform similar to current gen laptops.
- yitchelle 7y ago
  How much extra dollars are needed to soup it up so that it has similar performance as current gen laptops? I imagine the drive and RAM would be first two items for the change, what about the CPU?
  - Joeri 7y ago
    It depends on your ebay skill. You can look up the parts in the T440p upgrade guide: https://octoperf.com/blog/2018/11/07/thinkpad-t440p-buyers-guide/ https://octoperf.com/blog/2018/11/07/thinkpad-t440p-buyers-g...

kjaftaedi 7y ago

I had a MacBook Pro daily driver, and had the same concerns as the poster. I'm now running a Yoga x390. It was the most I've ever spent on a laptop, and it was worth every penny. It's the perfect size, weight, battery life, performance combination, and is an absolute treat to use.

wj 7y ago

I have a T480s from work and it has two annoying issues for me. The first is that the cursor doesn't always disappear when typing. That is probably a Windows/browser issue. The hardware issue is the right side of the touchpad seems to be setup as a right click space. I want one finger left click no matter where I am on the touch pad and two finger right click. Reaching to the left side of the touchpad to click is super annoying and I often accidentally drag a tan instead of clicking on it. Posting that in hopes someone knows a way to make the touchpad just one big space.

stephen 7y ago

+1 to ThinkPad, good quality, great for Linux, and TrackPoint which is the vim of mice (no moving off the home row). (Pair the ThinkPad with a Linux desktop using an external USB "ThinkPad-style" keyboard, and you've got TrackPoints + exactly the same keyboard layout (and OS layout/key bindings, etc) across laptop and desktop.)

jlarocco 7y ago

I don't know... I own a 2013 MBP and also use a Thinkpad P52s for work, and I really hope there's a better competitor than the Thinkpads. The Thinkpad feels cheap and poorly built compared to the MBP. The plastic creaks and it feels like it's going to fall apart when I carry it with one hand. The trackpad isn't nearly as good, and I had to dig into the X11 configuration to make it work reasonably. I've only had it for 10 months, and I'm already worried that the USB-C plug may be breaking. Meanwhile, the MBP has sustained 6 years of abuse and still feels solid and works great. As far as specs go, the Thinkpad is fine, but I'd be sad if I had to buy one with my own money.

lars_francke 7y ago

Just FYI: Should you plan on using Linux on the T490 don't get the Nvidia version. Read the forums, battery life drops to 2-5h vs. 9-11h on Windows. I hope the next generation fixes this and/or we finally get good nvidia drivers.

godwhoa 7y ago
Give Pop_OS[1] a shot, it lets you switch between iGPU and dGPU. Been using it on my Thinkpad P1 works well for my workflow, I almost always use the iGPU and for tasks that need dGPU I am usually plugged into power. I get good battery life this way. But I agree, MX250 option isn't worth it for the amount of GPU power it gives and the complications it brings under Linux. >I hope the next generation fixes this and/or we finally get good nvidia drivers. GPU offloading is being worked on by nvidia[2] so there is indeed hope. [1] https://system76.com/pop https://system76.com/pop [2] https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/08/nvidia-43517-linux-beta-driver-adds.html https://www.linuxuprising.com/2019/08/nvidia-43517-linux-bet... [3] https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power/pull/111 https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power/pull/111
- lars_francke 7y ago
  Thanks but Pop_OS also doesn't help here. They did something different for the T490. My colleague has a T480 and that works fine. T490 also doesn't have a BIOS/UEFI option to disable the NVidia (again there's forum threads requesting that as well on the Lenovo forums). The problem is that the NVidia card never enters its high power saving states even when it's disabled. I lose about 20% battery on standby overnight.