3 ms·

As my x220 is quite literally falling apart right now, I'm looking for a replacer. I was hoping something like this would be it. So your comment is a bit of a

As my x220 is quite literally falling apart right now, I'm looking for a replacer. I was hoping something like this would be it. So your comment is a bit of a cold shower. I have a x220 i7 + SSD + 16GB ram and am mostly happy with it. But for the follow up, a better CPU would be nice (rust compiler mostly), and a bigger screen. I fear the compromise on the track pointer will be unavoidable. Anybody has some inspiration?

vermaden 6y ago
Custom X210 or X62.
georgebcrawford 6y ago
Have a look on reddit for /u/xueyao. He makes a couple of modded Thinkpads, including the "X330", which has the X220 keyboard, a 13.3" FHD screen, with plans for an 11th gen version early next year. There are mods aplenty apart from those ones. Internal USB instead of BT, a second MSATA connector, and the currently popular (and on my to-do list) USB-C charging mod.
amiga-workbench 6y ago
I'm in a similar jam. I currently use an X201 Tablet, I refuse to move to a newer ThinkPad as the build quality really begins to suffer, and I'll be relegated to a 16:9 display. I'm waiting for an announcement about the Raspberry Pi CM4, if they offer a model with 8GB of RAM, I'm very tempted to look into designing a carrier board that can replace my ThinkPad's motherboard. It will need an active DSI to LVDS converter to drive the display, and a small microcontroller to act as an embedded controller to read keyboard scancodes, trackpoint input and talk to the battery.
samoa42 6y ago
latitude e7470 afaik the last dell with a track point thingy (https://xkcd.com/243/ https://xkcd.com/243/). gen 6 i7, 32gig ram, 1tb ssd, 14" fhd. dated but capable fan is mostly idle with linux desktop work but constantly whirling under w10. should be affordable in used condition...
jamesacklin 6y ago
I have a T480 I just upgraded with 32GB RAM; I highly recommend it. Not as light as the x220 and doesn't have the nice keyboard, but the price was right at ~$500. Came from a liquidator with a 512GB SSD + NVME mod already in place. Handles most things nicely; still have a desktop with a GPU for heavier rendering tasks.

vermaden 6y ago

Custom X210 or X62.

georgebcrawford 6y ago

Have a look on reddit for /u/xueyao. He makes a couple of modded Thinkpads, including the "X330", which has the X220 keyboard, a 13.3" FHD screen, with plans for an 11th gen version early next year. There are mods aplenty apart from those ones. Internal USB instead of BT, a second MSATA connector, and the currently popular (and on my to-do list) USB-C charging mod.

amiga-workbench 6y ago

I'm in a similar jam. I currently use an X201 Tablet, I refuse to move to a newer ThinkPad as the build quality really begins to suffer, and I'll be relegated to a 16:9 display. I'm waiting for an announcement about the Raspberry Pi CM4, if they offer a model with 8GB of RAM, I'm very tempted to look into designing a carrier board that can replace my ThinkPad's motherboard. It will need an active DSI to LVDS converter to drive the display, and a small microcontroller to act as an embedded controller to read keyboard scancodes, trackpoint input and talk to the battery.

samoa42 6y ago

latitude e7470 afaik the last dell with a track point thingy (https://xkcd.com/243/ https://xkcd.com/243/). gen 6 i7, 32gig ram, 1tb ssd, 14" fhd. dated but capable fan is mostly idle with linux desktop work but constantly whirling under w10. should be affordable in used condition...

jamesacklin 6y ago

I have a T480 I just upgraded with 32GB RAM; I highly recommend it. Not as light as the x220 and doesn't have the nice keyboard, but the price was right at ~$500. Came from a liquidator with a 512GB SSD + NVME mod already in place. Handles most things nicely; still have a desktop with a GPU for heavier rendering tasks.