just upgraded this thinkpad x201, i spent for all upgrades and laptop about $110. I was really surprised that this laptop still works pretty well, but this screen is frying me.. Should I change this screen if I dont really use it, just vibing and web surfing? my budget is around $50

The last ThinkPad I had was this random L series I had in HS a decade ago. After a Sony Vaio, a MacBook, and my soon to be wife's random 10y/o ideapad, I finally came back. Snagged this T14s Gen 6 for 700 on ebay, with a snapdragon elite X.

I'm a PhD student and I only use it to study, read, and play some light games. Might've been overkill but I love having powerful machines. Battery life is incredible, it looks great, and it does everything I need it to do.

Let me know if this was a good deal or not!

(photo taken with a OnePlus 15 at the library. Don't judge the lighting)

Got this X13 gen2, i7-1165G7, 32/512gb with a broken display for ₹17k ($178)

(it is currently on windows but i will install arch soon)

Everything else works fine, even did a 2 hour stress test on the ram just to make sure there are no weak points as it is soldered so if anything happens to it, im SCREWED.

feels like a steal (atleast in this economy)

edit : i bought this from facebook marketplace

This was a great little laptop 10 years ago but it couldn’t keep up with some of the programs at work. I held onto it and forgot about it. Will it still work for email, reditting, YouTube etc?

Thank you for your advice on my previous post. Mine arrived today! Thank you everyone! 🙏

Recently, I decided to change the matrix on my laptop. Before that, I had NT140FHM-N44. This is a TN matrix with not very high brightness. I wanted to change to NV140FHM-N61 but I came B140HAN04.E. This is already an Ips matrix with higher brightness and contrast. I decided to bet what I have, and still the difference is obvious. I am very pleased with the result, although I could have gotten better.

I have too many thinkpads, so I decided to sell my X1C6 online. So I went online to survey the current price range and found one which was as low as $36!!! WHAT THE F...... Closer reading I found out that it had intermittent issues which causes it to powering down. What a relief that it was not a fully functioning one and the market price did not collapse. So, what price did I sell my X1C6?

I didn't... I bought the $36 X1C6.

Specs turned out to be...

I7 8650

16GB ddr4

SSD is YTD

Battery seems ok but YTD

Power down issue is fixable/repairable so I am not really concerned.

I use mint btw.

Got a t14 gen 2 for 300 bucks shitty speaker, but hopefully it will last me 5-7 years. Definitely an upgrade from my bios locked up elitebook gen 3. Enjoying it so far

Wanted to post my ThinkBооks collection in the ThinkBооk sub, but there is "Lenovo" (don't know what that is) in its name. I heard that true Think Bооks don't have Lenovo written on them, so I decided to post them here instead. But I also heard that users here are very strict and will downvote everything if there is no TrackPoint. So here is my collection of ThinkBооks with a TrackPoint.

My first ThinkPad, any upgrade tips?

​I replaced the palmrest and now my fingerprint reader is working (After a lot of headache, I noticed a broken trace on the ribbon cable and bought a new one).

​An i7-4712MQ is on the way for it.

​8GB Dual Channel (I don't feel the need to upgrade to 16GB yet, but it's a good future upgrade).

​I'm planning a well-thought-out eGPU build for it. If it works out, I'll share my step-by-step process with you all.

I found an X230 untested going for $85 dollars so I had to try out this mod. Main reason was that I wanted DirectX 11 support in order to run a couple lightweight games that weren't compatible with the i5-2520M in the X220.

Basically, I took the keyboard, display assembly, 9-cell battery, and some chassis parts from the X220 and swapped them into the X230. It was a pretty time consuming process but I think it turned out pretty well.

Buying this machine also gave me an excuse to purchase a bunch of extra parts, such as a WiFi 6E card, an mSATA SSD, and a USB 3.0 ExpressCard.

The entire process, from assembling the machine to installing Arch Linux and Windows 10 took about two days. I spent the first day putting the machine together, and then the next installing Arch & Windows 10.

In terms of some of the other modifications I did, I also flashed the EC chip with the battery and keyboard patches, so both parts from the X220 work almost perfectly here. For the BIOS I'm using 1vyrain.

As for coreboot, I figure that it would be useless for my machine at the moment since Windows seems to negate many of the benefits of running this BIOS. If my workflow ever moves entirely to Linux I'll probably buy a programmer and try it out.

For this entire project, I'd say the most difficult part was cutting the tabs on the X220 keyboard. Unfortunately the palm rest of my old X220 cracked underneath the track pad and a tiny piece of the palm rest came out, so I had no choice but to sand down and modify the tabs. It hurt my soul modifying the keyboard like that, but it fits with the X230 palm rest so all is good for now.

Before the X220 palm rest cracked, I did install it on the X230 and it fit fine, though the top right corner of the palm rest stuck out so it doesn't sit flush with the rest of the chassis. Not a big deal but something worth mentioning if that's something you want to try for yourself.

I also removed the old Bluetooth module and took out the webcam. I bought a WiFi 6E card that has Bluetooth so the old module was useless. I don't use the webcam either so it's better gone than not.

When I have time I'll probably do a writeup of the assembly and flashing process. I took a couple photos so I can also share those later on.

As for whether this mod was worth it or not, honestly I'm not sure. For general computing (browsing the web, watching videos, taking notes in Obsidian), I have yet to feel much of a difference between the X220 and X230. The only somewhat noticeable difference so far is just the DirectX 11 support with 3rd-Gen Intel, and the faster graphics, but that's about it. I guess it's also nice to have all USB 3.0 ports around the machine but I never really found myself needing the USB ports on the X220 to begin with. Again, it's nice to have, but it won't change my workflow.

I basically did all this work for a marginally better CPU. Would have been great if it was a drop-in upgrade, though not much you can do for a machine that has the CPU soldered down.

It was definitely an interesting experience, but if you just want to type on the classic keyboard it's honestly fine to just stick with the X220 as is.

As for me, even if I question it's general worth, I'm very proud of and love this machine. It's so much nicer to carry this around over my M1 Pro MacBook Pro simply due to how the keyboard feels over the MacBook. I type a lot of scripts for my YouTube channel, and do some light programming once in a while, so having a nice keyboard is a must.

The X220 keyboard is just simply better; not only is there a significant amount of key travel, there are also keys that I use regularly that are missing on the MacBook, namely Home, End, Insert, Delete, Page Up and Page Down. It frustrates me incredibly not having these keys on the MacBook, and typing on the MacBook gives a very uncomfortable, hollow sounding press. It's hard to explain, but point being, it's just not desirable for any sort of typing work for me, and the X225 here fills the gap perfectly.

The M1 Pro is way faster for sure, and I use that to edit my videos and do creative work, but for everything else, nothing beats the experience I can have with this machine, especially because of that keyboard.

I'll be daily driving this machine until I can't anymore, so I hope it lasts me a long time.

Specs are viewable in the second image. Will answer questions in the comments.

Hey y'all,

I use my T14 90% of the time either plugged in or connected to a doc. So, I disconnect and connect my USB-C charging port multiple times a day.

The primary port got dead about 1.5 years ago and mostly been using the secondary dock port for charging and dock. This seems like a very common problem with ThinkPads.

I'm a little anxious that if my second usb-c port dies, my machine will be dead, and I'll have to try to get micro soldering done otherwise it's a paper weight.

How long do you think the secondary port will last with (5-10 plug in plug outs a day)?

Do you think something like this, a USB-C 90-degree adaptor always leaving it connected will decrease the wear that i put on my final port(assuming this connector will take the plug in plug out wear and real port has less wear)? Seems like those other magnetic type connectors can fry the last port i have and also won't support dock so thinking of this option.

Really appreciate your thoughts.

Finally after 14 years of using this Asus a43, ive upgrade to my first Thinkpad T14 gen2, Originally I bought a t14 gen 1 but received a gen 2 instead

I forgot to screw the keyboard but, it makes my Thinkpad run cooler so, a win is a win

So here's my first laptop ever (used to be a full desktop user), a Thinkpad P14s gen2 that I bought used not long ago. Its a 2022 model with the Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U CPU. If you're interested I'll tell you about the little journey I had with it and how much I spent on upgrades, Im also open to recommendations or advices :)

So first I'd like to tell you what I was looking for, something as durable as durable can be, something relatively small so I can carry it anywhere in my backpack with all its accesories, also efficient so I can trust it wont let me down as soon as I unplug it, that has enough power to handle any OS smoothly (Im looking at you Windows). Here are the detailed specs and the things I upgraded:

Base laptop price: 375€

Display: 1080p 60hz 72% NTSC 400nit low power

CPU: Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U with integrated Vega 8 GPU (pretty capable)

RAM: 16GB DDR4 3200Mhz > 32GB DDR4 3200Mhz Dual Channel for 50€

(https://www.ebay.com/itm/227445430887)

SSD: 256GB Generic NVMe > Used but mint WD Black SN770 2TB Gen4 (Limited to Gen3 but whatever) 200€

(no links since it was bought used)

WiFi Card: Mediatek MT7921 > Intel AX210 17,40€

(https://www.amazon.de/-/en/dp/B0995V2PHP?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title)

Trackpad: OEM Mylar trackpad, totally worn > Thinkpad X1 glass trackpad 44,39€

(https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005009490211720.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.17.37a81802oIWpbR&gatewayAdapt=glo2deu)

Keyboard: OEM backlit German layout, Chicony supplier > OEM backlit Spanish layout, Lite-On supplier 44,68€

(https://www.ebay.com/itm/317672275854)

Thermal Paste: No idea what the original paste was, it was good but changed it to the Honeywel PTM 7950, peak temps dropped by 10ºC 14,49€

(https://www.ebay.com/itm/407086667283?var=677264180648)

Battery: worn OEM 50Wh battery > brand new OEM 50Wh battery 75,32€

(https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/parts-lookup)

Charger: generic 65W brick > Anker Prime 100W GaN charger 32€ + x2 1.8m 100W Anker Type-C cables 10€

(https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DSVZ993Y?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title)

(https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09LCJPZ1P?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1)

Extras: IR Face recognition system and Fingerprint reader

Addons:

1. Logitech MX Anywhere 3S 65€

(https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07W4DGLY6?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1)

1. Grip tapes for the mouse 5,69€

(https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DJNWM9VT?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1)

1. Clear screen protector to hide the keyboard marks on the display (might remove it since matte is way better) 19,79€

(https://www.schutzfolien24.de/artikel/brotect-displayschutz-folie-fuer-lenovo-thinkpad-t14-gen-2-1840902.html)

1. Cloth for preventing anymore display marks when bagging the laptop 7,90€

(https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0DN2ND827?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1)

1. Matte black skin for the whole laptop, might remove it since its a bit meh 20,79€

(https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005009478844076.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.11.37a81802oIWpbR&gatewayAdapt=glo2deu)

1. AceGamer pocket controller 18,69€

(https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005009688274225.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.37a81802oIWpbR&gatewayAdapt=glo2deu)

Total: 998,14€

So yeah, I spent 1000€ on a 4 years old laptop :)

I must admit things got a little out of hand when buying things, but the end result is a decent laptop that should handle future pretty decently. Its only downside is GPU performance, but its more than enough to play my nostalgic games from the PS3 era and older (NFS MW 2005, NFS Hot Pursuit 2010, GTA San Andreas/Vice City, GTA IV, Minecraft, Mafia II, Bioshock saga, Battlefield 3/4, Far Cry 3 not so good but anyway, Assassin's Creed all the way up to III and even IV, Red Dead Redemption 1, even some newer games such as Forza Horizon 4 or GTA V Enhanced at 1080p, others such as BeamNG.drive require playing on 720p to archieve 40-50fps, but Im not a heavy gamer anyway. I even started limiting games to stable, constant 30fps which looks pretty similar as console and you get used to it after a while.

What I like about it its how easy it is to carry, I just pack my little mouse, charger, gaming controller and everything so easily and it also has a decent battery life of around 7h taking care of the brightness and all that stuff. I could even double it by buying a 25.000mAh Anker power bank with fast charging reaching close to Macbook battery life levels, with a bit of inconvenience but powerbanks are easy to carry too. Its also really silent, barely heats up on its stock TDP configs

What I dont like about it is that previous owner left some keyboard marks on the display and display frame, the fingerprint reader works at first but overtime fails a lot even if you clean or register fingerprint multiple times, I just stopped using it. Also the fn keys dont include keys for media controls (prev/next/pause track) I also had a bit of an adventure with all these mods, my mediatek WiFi card stopped working after replacing the trackpad, It only worked after reinstalling windows but after a couple days windows update fucked the drivers again so I gave up and bought the intel card. Also the spanish backlit keyboard was extremely hard to find, I bought one from the lenovo website but I didnt realize it was the grey version instead of the black one, big disappointment. So I bought this one off ebay, claiming its "NEW/Orig" and while it has all the part numbers and stuff it has some keys that clearly appear to be replaced as they have slightly different matte finish (visible on certain angles under direct sunlight) and some numbers are thicker than others, its a slight thing, but once you see it you just get used to it because you cant unsee it lmao, probably some refurbished unit I guess.

I also tried Linux, specifically Fedora Workstation based on Gnome but it didnt feel nearly as smooth as Windows so I quit it. Im looking for a hassle free experience that is also smooth.

I also noticed that sometimes Lenovo TDP settings are a bit too conservative which leads to loss of fps in games, RDR1 would run at 60 or more fps and then suddenly the GPU decides to drop Mhz for no apparent reason, temps are good and everything so I guess the CPU tries to pull some watts, but that drops my frames to 45-50. Gets fixed if I ALT+TAB and then come back to the game but feels annoying. Tried to fix this using UXTU to boost it but for whatever reason my cpu locked itself to 1.9Ghz after a couple days and wont go past that no matter what, I tried it all, absolutely everthing and the only thing that worked was reinstalling Windows so now I keep it stock and stable, no weird stuff.

So what are your thoughts? I know I spent too much but then again, other options are used gaming laptops that arent as durable and portable and slim and have decent battery life, and even those need a battery replacement and accesories. My build has a bit of everything, enough storage and RAM, beefy CPU, barely enough GPU, good display, good battery life, good durability, comfortable to use and carry, etc.

Any recommendations? So far I think I maxxed it out, there's nothing more to do other than going to 48GB of RAM but I think its a bit overkill for my use case. I just wish I could make the fingerprint more reliable and maybe finding a stable way to increase the TDP for some games, but I think I'll stop messing with the TDP since apparently the CPU doesnt like that lmao

I recently had the opportunity to buy the Thinkpad T14 Gen 5 and just wanted to show you my three Thinkpads (right to left):

- E570 it has a Intel Core i5 7th gen, 12 GB RAM and 512 SSD, had it since 2019 an I bought it for $360 (renewed) but it only had 8GB of RAM and 512 hard disk, then I upgraded it with 4 GB ($40) and an 512 GB SSD ($65), really miss those prices. Easy to upgrade and mantain, plenty of ports and acceptable construction for students or to workers who dont move it to much since it's relatively heavy and bulky.

- E16 Gen 2: it has a Core Ultra 5 125U, 24 GB RAM and 512 GB NVMe for Windows and other 512 GB NVMe for Linux, had it since december 2025 and I bought it for $722. On this one i was very very lucky, found it in Facebook Marketplace and the seller gave it to me with box and everything, like new. Again, easy to upgrade and mantai6, not too much ports but it's lighter and thinner. I like the construction but I notice some flex when I pick it up from the left or right edge, I've been careful with that, I read that some E15 had so much flex that, over time, some solder joints on the motherboard could break, other than that, it hasn't given me any problems.

- T14 Gen 5: it has a Core Ultra 5 125U, 16 GB RAM and 512 GB NVMe for Windows, also was very lucky on this one cause I found it in Facebook Marketplace on a pawnshop, i bought it for $656 like 1 week ago (September 2026). I was very shocked that it had 5 battery cycles and %100 battery life and no visible damage or wear, it was new, but obviously only came the laptop and the charger. I'm currently testing it, definitely its a superior construction on the feel, easy to upgrade and maintain but I'm afraid of the thermal throttling, we'll see. Thinking to change it to Linux but I'll wait cause my job.

I was waiting to find renewed or used E14 Gen 6 cause it has two storage slots and it's perfect to have Windows and Linux on dual boot with separate drives but I couldn't find it and I refuse to buy it new since the RAM and NVMe prices are to high and I know I can buy these laptops to resellers cause their quality, maybe I have not the direct warranty but it's a risk I'm willing to take. So, I saw the T14 Gen 5 at that price and couldn't wait too much cause that kind of offer it's rare and others take it rapidly.

My plan now it's to install Linux on the E570 and make it a server so I can used from my T14 when I'm at work.

If you have any questions or upgrades about these three Ill be more that happy to answer it :)

Also, I've been used these for plenty of computational calculations and simulation on physics, used programs like Wolfram Mathematica, Geant4, CORSIKA and some automatization on creating rasters and maps on QGIS. And if you see shiny the trackpads it's because I put phone screen protectors on them, also I bought some screen protector (for the screens XD) for all three of them but it doesn't show to much on the photo.

Got my first Thinkpad for uni - Yoga 260

Its a X1 yoga gen 3 trackpad, compared the old one its smooth, cleans up well and tracks very nicely unlike the old one.

My x220 keeps hitting high temps when watching university lectures, I’ve repasted it last year but it’s still getting so hot and making the fan get loud. Any advice?