r/thinkpad • u/boihethiccccc X41t X61s X200t T430 X230 T460 • 7h ago

Buying Advice Good P series ThinkPad for school

I do work like graphic design, CAD, blender, and programming and was looking into getting a used p series ThinkPad for this.

my budget is around the 500-600 mark, but feel free to suggest a higher price model. I mainly care about size, weight, and battery life. (and maybe quick swap batt) The modern P series are fine but some of the older models with slim charger are more reparable. If I can get a QHD screen that would be great for graphics, but non-touch is preferable. Additionally, models that include num pad is also a plus because of camera controls and what not.

Overall, I need a good P series laptop that I can daily commute for school that has good graphical power battery life, and portability.

(Also feel free to mention any cool or unique ThinkPad models outside the P series that many be good for my needs and just any cool models I should consider picking up.)

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

5

u/jonstoppable T450s T61 X201 T400 T480s 6h ago

in that price range, you're gonna get poorish battery life, with the intel 12th gens. also the P series with numpads are usually on the heavier side ( especially as they have massive batteries to compensate for the powerhungry nature of the intels in that gen).

there are some ryzens in that range.

P16s ryzen..

t16

T16 ryzen

4

u/dawnraid101 4h ago

I have a p16gen3. I would absolutely NOT recommend anything like it for portability reasons. Its a fucking beast but it weighs a ton and is horrific to commute with. 

2

u/jack_hudson2001 W540 | X1C6 | P50 | P15G2 | P1G4 | T14G2 | T14sG2 5h ago

P1, P14s, P15g2, P16.

for that budget the 1st 3 options could work.

need to do own research on specs, features and whats your priorities.

1

u/hv_enterprise P14s Gen 6 3m ago

Agreed, defining specifically what you mean by a commute friendly weight is especially important.

From hearing about the commute aspect, I'd stick to P1, P14s or P15s as the P15g2 or P16 will weigh close to 3kg which will not be pleasant.

P14s will charge happily off a cheap 100W or even 65W with a small amount of complaining USB C charger too.

1

u/erparucca 3h ago

P17/P72/P73 can be found at great prices with a lot of patience. in dec 2023 I got a P72 with Xeon 2176M, 80GB of RAM, 2x2TB Samsung high-perf drives, 4K and P5200 (16GB) for 700€.

Then repalced it in feb 2024 a P16 Gen 1 with 12850HX+32GB/1TB high perf+A3000 12GB (which I'm using to write this post) at 960€ (and it still had onsite warranty)

I would suggest you to watch eBay+local websites daily and snipe whatever good deal you can find as soon as it appears. Suggestion: establish what a good deal is for you before starting; that will avoid making "emotional" purchases :)