5 ms·

Is there really a market for modding a 7+ year old laptop? I know thinkpads used to be great (And some still are), but, I just don't get the point in trying to

by wilhil 7y ago

Is there really a market for modding a 7+ year old laptop? I know thinkpads used to be great (And some still are), but, I just don't get the point in trying to give more life to something so so old - most likely ~3rd-4th gen intel.

juped 7y ago
If it's a ThinkPad? Absolutely. Many people are drowning in outdated ThinkPads, because you can ebay them for often sub-$100 prices.
boomlinde 7y ago
Apparently there was enough market interest to reach the funding goal in 24 hours. As a 7 year old Thinkpad user: 4th generation Core is absolutely fine for me. I can get a refurbished and kitted out replacement for some 200 euros. I could upgrade the RAM from 8G to 16G, but in my daily use I've seen no concrete reason to do so yet. SSD is great, though. Maybe I spend a few more minutes compiling software on this machine than I would on a more recent laptop, but I'm not losing sleep over it. I can see why you'd want something more out of, say, a gaming PC or something you use for resource intensive analysis applications, machine learning etc. but getting a laptop for that seems like a waste of money to me, compared to getting a desktop computer that you can upgrade incrementally. I'm interested, though. What is it that people do where you feel that your laptop needs to be more powerful than this?
jankotek 7y ago
There is viable market (it has customers). But I would say it is just nostalgia. Some people even say it is not real ThinkPad unless it was made by IBM (pre 2006).
- wpietri 7y ago
  For me it's definitely not just nostalgia. I type this on my X220t, which was released in 2011; it hangs around my house as the general-browsing-and-social-media machine. I love the keyboard and trackpoint, and older Thinkpads are rugged in a way that new models have apparently given up on. I bought the Thinkpad 25, which was basically a 2017 mid-range laptop with the old keyboard. It's adequate, but flimsier and less reliable.
  - geekgame 7y ago
    I'm in the same boat, albeit with a bit newer W540. I've got Linux on it and it's my mobile machine for work when I'm on call, and travels with me when I head to the makerspace or other remote location. It works great, the keyboard is amazing, and I love how modular the entire laptop is. I have a second W540 as a parts machine just in case.
yur3i__ 7y ago
Most definitely. I am typing this from my modded T430 and its my primary machine. I'm not sure what I will get when it eventually dies, modern laptops really don't compare in terms of general physical strength, 'modability', keyboard, I/O etc
NikolaNovak 7y ago
I have 2 t420 and 2 t420s at home. They're awesome - much much better keyboard with standard layout than any newer model (other than perhaps the retro t25). I have more modern think pads as well but I plan to keep the t420's for a while. They're solid reliable expandable and great form factor :)
mhb 7y ago
I'd be happy to buy a replacement battery for my X220 from a non-sketchy source if I knew it had new, matched cells and wasn't going to explode.
- 1996 7y ago
  If you have sources for X61 batteries tell me! I left a good one in it while docked but unplugged, the dock apparently killed the battery. I'm pondering whether changing the 16550 cells make senses
mindslight 7y ago
It's still one of the most recent Personal Computers that you can buy. Anything beyond Ivy Bridge, and you can't evict Intel's spyware!
yttriumtyclief 7y ago
For a single laptop? Not usually, although the T430 and X230 have some device-specific mods that took off. For the entire ThinkPad lineup spanning 5 generations? Oh yeah, definitely.
4bpp 7y ago
The third-gen Intel processors were the last ones that came in M (mobile) rather than U (ultra low power?) versions, resulting in performance that is still competitive [1] with the sort of 8th-gen U processors that are found in similar laptops, at the expense of battery endurance. (The U-only 4th gen was actually a big step back in performance [2], resulting in those laptops being a bit of a joke as an upgrade path.) More importantly, they are the most recent laptops that you can fit with non-chiclet keyboards. [1] https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-vs-Intel-Core-i7-3520M/m320742vsm50 https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-vs... [2] https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4550U-vs-Intel-Core-i7-3520M/m6199vsm50 https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4550U-vs...

by wilhil 7y ago

juped 7y ago

If it's a ThinkPad? Absolutely. Many people are drowning in outdated ThinkPads, because you can ebay them for often sub-$100 prices.

boomlinde 7y ago

Apparently there was enough market interest to reach the funding goal in 24 hours. As a 7 year old Thinkpad user: 4th generation Core is absolutely fine for me. I can get a refurbished and kitted out replacement for some 200 euros. I could upgrade the RAM from 8G to 16G, but in my daily use I've seen no concrete reason to do so yet. SSD is great, though. Maybe I spend a few more minutes compiling software on this machine than I would on a more recent laptop, but I'm not losing sleep over it. I can see why you'd want something more out of, say, a gaming PC or something you use for resource intensive analysis applications, machine learning etc. but getting a laptop for that seems like a waste of money to me, compared to getting a desktop computer that you can upgrade incrementally. I'm interested, though. What is it that people do where you feel that your laptop needs to be more powerful than this?

jankotek 7y ago

There is viable market (it has customers). But I would say it is just nostalgia. Some people even say it is not real ThinkPad unless it was made by IBM (pre 2006).

wpietri 7y ago
For me it's definitely not just nostalgia. I type this on my X220t, which was released in 2011; it hangs around my house as the general-browsing-and-social-media machine. I love the keyboard and trackpoint, and older Thinkpads are rugged in a way that new models have apparently given up on. I bought the Thinkpad 25, which was basically a 2017 mid-range laptop with the old keyboard. It's adequate, but flimsier and less reliable.
- geekgame 7y ago
  I'm in the same boat, albeit with a bit newer W540. I've got Linux on it and it's my mobile machine for work when I'm on call, and travels with me when I head to the makerspace or other remote location. It works great, the keyboard is amazing, and I love how modular the entire laptop is. I have a second W540 as a parts machine just in case.

yur3i__ 7y ago

Most definitely. I am typing this from my modded T430 and its my primary machine. I'm not sure what I will get when it eventually dies, modern laptops really don't compare in terms of general physical strength, 'modability', keyboard, I/O etc

NikolaNovak 7y ago

I have 2 t420 and 2 t420s at home. They're awesome - much much better keyboard with standard layout than any newer model (other than perhaps the retro t25). I have more modern think pads as well but I plan to keep the t420's for a while. They're solid reliable expandable and great form factor :)

mhb 7y ago

I'd be happy to buy a replacement battery for my X220 from a non-sketchy source if I knew it had new, matched cells and wasn't going to explode.

1996 7y ago
If you have sources for X61 batteries tell me! I left a good one in it while docked but unplugged, the dock apparently killed the battery. I'm pondering whether changing the 16550 cells make senses

mindslight 7y ago

It's still one of the most recent Personal Computers that you can buy. Anything beyond Ivy Bridge, and you can't evict Intel's spyware!

yttriumtyclief 7y ago

For a single laptop? Not usually, although the T430 and X230 have some device-specific mods that took off. For the entire ThinkPad lineup spanning 5 generations? Oh yeah, definitely.

4bpp 7y ago

The third-gen Intel processors were the last ones that came in M (mobile) rather than U (ultra low power?) versions, resulting in performance that is still competitive [1] with the sort of 8th-gen U processors that are found in similar laptops, at the expense of battery endurance. (The U-only 4th gen was actually a big step back in performance [2], resulting in those laptops being a bit of a joke as an upgrade path.) More importantly, they are the most recent laptops that you can fit with non-chiclet keyboards. [1] https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-vs-Intel-Core-i7-3520M/m320742vsm50 https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8550U-vs... [2] https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4550U-vs-Intel-Core-i7-3520M/m6199vsm50 https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-4550U-vs...