4 ms·

Since I am daily driving Thinkpad E540 I can say I wouldn't buy a 10 year old device at this point. I maxed out mine, using i7 4702mq, 16GB of RAM and 256GB SS

Since I am daily driving Thinkpad E540 I can say I wouldn't buy a 10 year old device at this point. I maxed out mine, using i7 4702mq, 16GB of RAM and 256GB SSD, AC wifi and fullHD display. The machine doesn't feel slow for regular day to day tasks. However, the memory is getting close to being full (my AVG is 13GBs used) and the lack of USB-C is starting to really hurt my productivity. Using a docking station or a meeting room without pulling all the cables apart is getting quite annoying. Also the trackpad is really subpar. So at this point I am looking for an upgrade to Framework 16.

eimrine 4y ago
E540 has a shitty case in my opinion, totally without metal. Keyboard is vulnerable to liquids and original one is also hard to find. Touchpad is a batshit.
- lousken 4y ago
  Totally agree about the case, I replaced it once because it started cracking on various places. On the current one, the fan grill is broken yet again, but so far that's the only thing. The keyboard was not hard to find though, took me couple minutes on ebay two years ago, when I started to have issues with stuck keys.
  - eimrine 4y ago
    Replacement keyboard is really easy to find for this model but pressing keys in this one is not as smooth as in original one. Fan grill made of plastic is doomed in any laptop. Meanwhile my x220 works perfectly despite of really careless using because of metal case and keyboard which can survive a liquid and does not let it to spill on motherboard. I mean that statement about 10 y.o. laptop is not true especially if talking about good old thinkpads. But E540 does not share any good qualities except of name of that beautiful laptop family.
    - lousken 4y ago
      I don't really understand the argument here. I did point out some flaws with running old laptops, regardless of the model or manufacturer. Touchpads were not great at the time in general (neither screens for that matter), and usb-c is just missing. The specs are also getting to the point where it starts to feel slow, especially with current horribly overbloated webapps. I am not sure about what you mean by "not as smooth" keyboard. What matters to me is the accuracy and speed I perform at. And since I can hit 110wpm with great accuracy, just like on my mechanical keyboard, I don't see any real issue with it. Also for the record - I dropped my laptop twice back in the university where they had those tables tilted and it slipped. It did survive both drops, the cracks started appearing over time. I never spilled anything at or close to the laptop though. I keep my beverages on the left side of the table so I can't accidentally bump them.

eimrine 4y ago

E540 has a shitty case in my opinion, totally without metal. Keyboard is vulnerable to liquids and original one is also hard to find. Touchpad is a batshit.

lousken 4y ago
Totally agree about the case, I replaced it once because it started cracking on various places. On the current one, the fan grill is broken yet again, but so far that's the only thing. The keyboard was not hard to find though, took me couple minutes on ebay two years ago, when I started to have issues with stuck keys.
- eimrine 4y ago
  Replacement keyboard is really easy to find for this model but pressing keys in this one is not as smooth as in original one. Fan grill made of plastic is doomed in any laptop. Meanwhile my x220 works perfectly despite of really careless using because of metal case and keyboard which can survive a liquid and does not let it to spill on motherboard. I mean that statement about 10 y.o. laptop is not true especially if talking about good old thinkpads. But E540 does not share any good qualities except of name of that beautiful laptop family.
  - lousken 4y ago
    I don't really understand the argument here. I did point out some flaws with running old laptops, regardless of the model or manufacturer. Touchpads were not great at the time in general (neither screens for that matter), and usb-c is just missing. The specs are also getting to the point where it starts to feel slow, especially with current horribly overbloated webapps. I am not sure about what you mean by "not as smooth" keyboard. What matters to me is the accuracy and speed I perform at. And since I can hit 110wpm with great accuracy, just like on my mechanical keyboard, I don't see any real issue with it. Also for the record - I dropped my laptop twice back in the university where they had those tables tilted and it slipped. It did survive both drops, the cracks started appearing over time. I never spilled anything at or close to the laptop though. I keep my beverages on the left side of the table so I can't accidentally bump them.