4 ms·

I agree with general gist of your laptop vs desktop argument. I will add though that there exist laptops that are / were built to last ; I am nowhere near the T

I agree with general gist of your laptop vs desktop argument. I will add though that there exist laptops that are / were built to last ; I am nowhere near the ThinkPad fanatic some people are :-) but I still have several t420s laptops, 11-12 years old I think, running as daily drivers with windows 10. That's about as long or longer as any desktop I've owner particularly considering how little I've changed it (mainly adding an ssd).

Sakos 4y ago
T420 would be perfect if it wasn't for the god awful displays manufacturers used. I'd still be using mine otherwise. Just going from a 1080p monitor back to it was a pain. After using my M1 MBP und my 4k monitor for the past year, I could never go back.
- NikolaNovak 4y ago
  T420s is the smaller version of t420; still modular and much more portable. There were likely several versions of lcd panels with it - the t420s's I got were way better than the t480 and e580 I picked up recently, even though there's 6 years between them. I believe the ones I have are either 1920 x 1080 or 1600 x 900 (whereas the t480 is inexplicably only 1366 x 768 ; and e580 is 1080p but awful contrast or gamma or something)
- andai 4y ago
  Not sure about this model but I modded an X230 with a better display for $100. Surprisingly easy, it pops right open.
  - jkepler 4y ago
    Classic Thinkpad repairability/hackability.
  - amatecha 4y ago
    Nice, I've considered doing this... though then that would effectively double the amount I paid for the system. Are the improved displays from a later/different ThinkPad model, or are they something being newly-manufactured? Part of the reason I chose such an old computer is to purchase already-existing hardware second-hand, rather than put my money towards newly-manufactured stuff.
  - tlavoie 4y ago
    Very cool. I just picked up a more portable, refurbished T450s to use for when travel or general portability matters, as well as being less to worry about than my primary device. Is there a good site for recommended upgrades by model? I'm pretty pleased with this as is for Linux use already. (8 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD).

Sakos 4y ago

T420 would be perfect if it wasn't for the god awful displays manufacturers used. I'd still be using mine otherwise. Just going from a 1080p monitor back to it was a pain. After using my M1 MBP und my 4k monitor for the past year, I could never go back.

NikolaNovak 4y ago
T420s is the smaller version of t420; still modular and much more portable. There were likely several versions of lcd panels with it - the t420s's I got were way better than the t480 and e580 I picked up recently, even though there's 6 years between them. I believe the ones I have are either 1920 x 1080 or 1600 x 900 (whereas the t480 is inexplicably only 1366 x 768 ; and e580 is 1080p but awful contrast or gamma or something)
andai 4y ago
Not sure about this model but I modded an X230 with a better display for $100. Surprisingly easy, it pops right open.
- jkepler 4y ago
  Classic Thinkpad repairability/hackability.
- amatecha 4y ago
  Nice, I've considered doing this... though then that would effectively double the amount I paid for the system. Are the improved displays from a later/different ThinkPad model, or are they something being newly-manufactured? Part of the reason I chose such an old computer is to purchase already-existing hardware second-hand, rather than put my money towards newly-manufactured stuff.
- tlavoie 4y ago
  Very cool. I just picked up a more portable, refurbished T450s to use for when travel or general portability matters, as well as being less to worry about than my primary device. Is there a good site for recommended upgrades by model? I'm pretty pleased with this as is for Linux use already. (8 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD).