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I got myself a T440p because the 4th generation is the last one with replaceable display, battery, RAM and CPU. They're quite heavy but that's not an issue for

I got myself a T440p because the 4th generation is the last one with replaceable display, battery, RAM and CPU. They're quite heavy but that's not an issue for me. Best bang for the buck I ever spent. Bought it around 2015 in used condition for around 250EUR, then upgraded CPU, RAM, batteries (2x as of now), got a bigger SSD and HDD (512GB+4TB) and got an IPS display and a touchpad of the T480 which fits in there. I just love that laptop. Superb linux support once you figured out how to setup the synaptics driver configs with synclient. Oh and it's also the last generation (afaik) that can run coreboot as a BIOS. Overall I probably spent around 800EUR on it, but considering its lifetime (sold in 2013-today) I say it's definitely worth it. So many "Ultrabooks" and Macbook Pros died on me before, because I always overstressed their GPUs. There's a German Thinkpad wiki that contains all kinds of quirks and potential problems you can get, it's an amazing resource. The tldr is you should update the BIOS first and update the firmware of your dockingstation with windows running, and then install linux to be safe. [1] [1] https://thinkwiki.de/ThinkPad-Modelle https://thinkwiki.de/ThinkPad-Modelle edit: Oh and I used an external m.2 adapter to PCI-e occasionally when I have to do ML related work when I'm not at home on my tower. It kinda works but performance is limited to somewhat PCI-e 4x speed even when it says 8x mode is being used.

penner_im_auto 5y ago
I can confirm that. Also have a T440p And I'm very happy with it. Added a 1 TB SSD, 16 GB RAM, Kubuntu, keep some spare CPUs with different performance levels because I travel a lot. Everything is very easily interchangeable, designed to military standards. I've had my device for 3 years, and it's already suffered bumps and scratches that would break other devices. Got myself a docking station for 25€ for when I am home. It hasn't even crossed my mind to get another device since then.
- cookiengineer 5y ago
  > It hasn't even crossed my mind to get another device since then. Honestly, I don't even know what to get in case it would break. I even have a spare mainboard just because it was 30 bucks on eBay. But in case it would fail completely, I don't know how to replace it. Most other devices would be a major downgrade in repairability, which I meanwhile value so much that getting yet another Ultrabook that runs 2 years would be no option for me. The framework laptop and the System76 devices look nice, and either of those would probably win in that case, depending on which system is more easily repairable. But still, they're by far not as easily repairable when components break down.
kuschku 5y ago
If replaceable CPU isn’t a priority, I can recommend the T470 or T480. I’m currently using a T470 [1] with 16 GB DDR-3 3200MHz RAM [2], a 2 TB NVMe SSD [3], a Wi-Fi 6AX card [4], the Innolux N140HCG-GQ2 1080p 100% sRGB 8-bit 400 nits panel [5] (based on the T14 / T490 display), and the Lenovo 61++ battery [6]. The result is a laptop that can hold 17 hours of battery (95Wh), supports a Thunderbolt 3 dock and the old Lenovo dock, supports USB-C PD charging and the old Lenovo charging port and is the perfect mix of performance, repairability, and compatibility. You can build this laptop yourself, depending on how the pricing is where you are, for about 600 €. ---------------- [1] https://www.afbshop.de/notebooks/20668/lenovo-thinkpad-t470-14-0-zoll-core-i5-7300u-at-2-6-ghz-8gb-ram-250gb-ssd-fhd-1920x1080-webcam-win10pro#ceca8b67d65d9977c3a602b909eaa106 https://www.afbshop.de/notebooks/20668/lenovo-thinkpad-t470-... [2] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08LQG2SDS/ https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08LQG2SDS/ [3] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07MLJD32L/ https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07MLJD32L/ [4] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B087WVLPXW/ https://www.amazon.de/dp/B087WVLPXW/ [5] https://www.xelent-store.de/Innolux-N140HCG-GQ2-400cd-Low-Power-Display-72-NTSC-inkl-4-brackets https://www.xelent-store.de/Innolux-N140HCG-GQ2-400cd-Low-Po... [6] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06WGMPFCD https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06WGMPFCD

penner_im_auto 5y ago

I can confirm that. Also have a T440p And I'm very happy with it. Added a 1 TB SSD, 16 GB RAM, Kubuntu, keep some spare CPUs with different performance levels because I travel a lot. Everything is very easily interchangeable, designed to military standards. I've had my device for 3 years, and it's already suffered bumps and scratches that would break other devices. Got myself a docking station for 25€ for when I am home. It hasn't even crossed my mind to get another device since then.

cookiengineer 5y ago
> It hasn't even crossed my mind to get another device since then. Honestly, I don't even know what to get in case it would break. I even have a spare mainboard just because it was 30 bucks on eBay. But in case it would fail completely, I don't know how to replace it. Most other devices would be a major downgrade in repairability, which I meanwhile value so much that getting yet another Ultrabook that runs 2 years would be no option for me. The framework laptop and the System76 devices look nice, and either of those would probably win in that case, depending on which system is more easily repairable. But still, they're by far not as easily repairable when components break down.

kuschku 5y ago

If replaceable CPU isn’t a priority, I can recommend the T470 or T480. I’m currently using a T470 [1] with 16 GB DDR-3 3200MHz RAM [2], a 2 TB NVMe SSD [3], a Wi-Fi 6AX card [4], the Innolux N140HCG-GQ2 1080p 100% sRGB 8-bit 400 nits panel [5] (based on the T14 / T490 display), and the Lenovo 61++ battery [6]. The result is a laptop that can hold 17 hours of battery (95Wh), supports a Thunderbolt 3 dock and the old Lenovo dock, supports USB-C PD charging and the old Lenovo charging port and is the perfect mix of performance, repairability, and compatibility. You can build this laptop yourself, depending on how the pricing is where you are, for about 600 €. ---------------- [1] https://www.afbshop.de/notebooks/20668/lenovo-thinkpad-t470-14-0-zoll-core-i5-7300u-at-2-6-ghz-8gb-ram-250gb-ssd-fhd-1920x1080-webcam-win10pro#ceca8b67d65d9977c3a602b909eaa106 https://www.afbshop.de/notebooks/20668/lenovo-thinkpad-t470-... [2] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08LQG2SDS/ https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08LQG2SDS/ [3] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07MLJD32L/ https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07MLJD32L/ [4] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B087WVLPXW/ https://www.amazon.de/dp/B087WVLPXW/ [5] https://www.xelent-store.de/Innolux-N140HCG-GQ2-400cd-Low-Power-Display-72-NTSC-inkl-4-brackets https://www.xelent-store.de/Innolux-N140HCG-GQ2-400cd-Low-Po... [6] https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06WGMPFCD https://www.amazon.de/dp/B06WGMPFCD