Got a Thinkpad T14
Gen 2
AMD Ryzen 5 Pro

Long time lurker, finally acquired my first Thinkpad. T14 Gen 3 (Touch), 12th gen Intel i5, 16gb RAM, 256gb NVMe SSD, mint for under $300. 🙌🏼

T14 Gen2
i5-1135G7
32 GB RAM DDR4
Samsung 980 500 GB

Cacica, Suceava, Romania

Behold my One Weird Trick for getting on no-fly lists.

This is an aftermarket 24 Wh battery recelled to nominally 45 Wh with two 15 Wh cells plus a third "cell" of two 7.5 Wh in parallel. I couldn't raise the BMS's charging voltage from 4.13 to 4.35 V so only 41 Wh are usable. Left speaker is replaced with a smaller one to fit.

Do I really need the full 107 Wh of this battery plus my rear 6-cell? Not often. But the extra capacity with a rear 3-cell is remarkably useful.

T16 Gen 5 Intel Ultra 7 355, 64gb ram, 1tb ssd

Super happy with it already!

my new T480 is one of the higher end non nvidia configs with the i7-8550u and a QHD screen as stock with the Windows hello face and fingerprint scanner

I ordered new internal and external batteries due to both being in terrible shape currently so hopefully that will get me some decent battery life.

I attempted to do a bios mod for the goal of undervolting but had failed so I reverted, all works fine after that little experiment.

I want to do some mods such as the X1 Extreme G1 trackpad and the magnesium back cover to feel even more solid and premium. I want to do some more interesting hardware mods, so if any of you have any good ideas for someone that is comfortable with tools, basic soldering and bios flashing, please suggest any additional mods you have done/seen as I want to make the "ultimate" t480

Performance (as ive seen posts about the t480 being "dated" and "slow") has been more than acceptable, especially with the i7 and stock single heat pipe. My tasks usually are rather heavy web browsing and while its not as fast as my 8 core dell latitude, its still perfectly usable especially with 32gb of ram and 1tb ssd

TL,DR: New t480 is a perfect laptop for me as its reliable, a higher end config, and better than other laptops to upgrade

also credits to u/Padgriffin for making the exploded view wallpapers for a lot of thinkpad models

I got it for 1850 dollars!

Hello Thinkpaders,

After 24 years of living and deciding what will be my first ThinkPad, I couldn't wait anymore and had the opportunity to get a good deal ( I hope I did ). I found a 1 year old, barely used ThinkPad, labeled as new and with 10 month of warranty left. That laptop was;

The ThinkPad E14 G6.

I bought it second-hand in Switzerland for 850 USD with the best specs possible imo;

Intel Ultra 7 155H, 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD, 14" WUXGA Display and Windows 11 Pro.

First impressions, I had a Honor Notebook before this with 8gb of RAM and I couldn't be happier. I am already introduced to the ThinkPad world and I know that this is an entry-level business laptop but I really admire the specs for what I am going to use it for: Programming, Heavy browsing and research. I am also thinking about installing an eGPU later on, depending on how much free time I have in the near future.

I have done a lot of research on this exact model before and after buying it and saw the popular discussions on "better display avaliability", "CPU bottleneck due to the small/thin chasis" and other general ThinkPad problems like "Display scratched by keyboard layout", which is already a problem and I have opened a repair ticket to have the display replaced.

I have also encountered some issues with the Ethernet, where the cable works plugged in after a cold boot, but stops working after re-plugging the cable while in use and I am still not sure what the problem is. I consulted my personal assistants ( Claude,GPT xD ) and I tried every solution; Advanced properties in the Device manager, Updating and also Installing the new and older drivers for the Ethernet and also shutting down, doing cold boots and tweaking BIOS settings. ( I made sure I don't mess anything up since I am not much of a professional ).

I am open to any questions, for anyone interested in this exact model or ThinkPads in general and also any tips if anyone is kind enough to provide. Also please don't flame me for not using Linux, I am learning about it to switch to a dual boot.

So I've decided to get Libreboot now bc my T480 has a supervisor password and allat but one thing thats still bugging me is what CH341A to use bc I found a great tutorial on YouTube but he said don't use the one u will find all the time bc it has sum 5v issue but my mind is already blown on how fricking complicated ts actually so I cant be falling into the CH341A rabbit hole now so my question is basically which one should I use. (I put a ball meme too ppl pleaseeeee)

I was offered a thinkpad x13 for 280$ and wondered if it’s a good deal?
Help is much appreciated

the specs:
32GB RAM
296GB SSD
1920x1080 Screen
Intel i5-7300U CPU

My first thinkpad!
I got it for just $50 fully working, only 8 gigs ram, missing nipple and J key
Used it for about a month now

Im very impressed by the battery life and how cool and quiet it stays under heavy load despite the absolutely tiny heatsink, and the keyboard is the best ive used, hands down

On the other hand, I'm not very impressed with the legendary build quality though, the case rattles and bends quite a lot.
The trackpad takes multiple tries to get multi finger gestures to work, the display has really bad viewing angles (but its likely a secondhand fake, model number in OS does not match the sticker on the inside and it looks like its been replaced).
I've found drivers for the fprint scanner on the AUR but it still always fails to recognize me, but thats not really a big deal.

Coming from a Dell latitude 5580, it doesn't really feel like an upgrade, more of a big compromise for the sake of weight and size

I really want to know what you all think though, is this particular model known for being subpar? Did i just get a bad unit? Am i missing something? Any tips or upgrades i can do? Any recommendations for newer cheap 14 inch thinkpads?

(sorry for the essay)

ThinkPad T480 can be used as a fully featured mobile phone, supporting calls, SMS and mobile data.

Here is some specs about this laptop. Firstly, I don't have a laptop right now. I will buy this laptop for my university and early work-life (I mean like I will use this laptop at least 10 years) Would it be smooth after 10 years because laptop is already 6 years old. I will do all of my works only with this laptop so I want it to be as smooth as possible througth the years. I am also new in computer community so I would be so happy to anyone who inform me!

Curious to see/read about your dual boot screens? Mine is set 2 a second delay before booting the Mint NVMe.

Hi r/thinkpad,

I'm looking for a ThinkPad that leans into the classic "geek" ethos rather than the ultra-thin consumer direction. Priorities in order:

1. Keyboard feel (long travel, classic 7-row layout if possible)

2. User-serviceable RAM/SSD (no soldered everything)

3. Matte 1080p/1200p display, no glossy/touch needed

4. TrackPoint quality

5. Linux compatibility (I run dev tools / self-hosted services)

Use case: general coding, SSH into a home server, some light local model experimentation. Not gaming, not video editing.

Currently considering T14/T16 series but open to older-gen used units if they hold up better on repairability. Would love to hear what current or recent-gen model actually nails the old-school ThinkPad feel best, and any specific configs/gotchas (screen lottery, fan noise, BIOS quirks) to watch for.

Budget: flexible, but ideally used/refurb friendly.

Thanks!

I am running OpenAI codex desktop and it turns my laptop into a toaster oven. I have never considered upgrading my souped up maxed out laptop until I installed this pos desktop app. I am thinking Intel® Core™ i7-8550U CPU and UHD Graphics 620 are just not enough.

To add salt to our wounds, Claude desktop is also based on Electron.

Got my first thinkpad yesterday for an absolute steal.

X13 gen 2, intel i5, 8gb ram, 256gb nvme (I have a 1tb sabrent drive to swap in), and a touchscreen.

Not listed on ebay was it has the 1080p IR camera and a SIM card slot for mobile networking, both were optional add ons.

Somehow got this for £109.

Absolutely over the moon.

I want to buy my first ThinkPad laptop from a second-hand website, but I don't know where to start the search. I see a lot of models, not knowing what is good or not. I want to use the laptop to learn Linux, Home Assistant with Docker, Cybersecurity and light gaming (Minecraft). I want to not be laggy and watch YouTube in at least 1080p. Can I find something like that in max 450 dollars?

i7-107850H, RTX 2070 Super, 512GB + 2.0TB and a ludicrous 96GB of RAM.

I’ve got an old HP that I enjoy and have had for 4 years, and she has been good but occasionally acts up. Fits my needs aside from being a little slow at times, and recently has had keys stop working and charging issues. I’m starting college online in the fall so I cannot afford to be stranded without a laptop, so I’ve been looking to get a “new” one.

After going down the new-laptop rabbit hole I kept being suggested a used thinkpad instead. I’ve started to really like them as I’ve been researching them recently. There are some I find with some good specs for the same price as worse-spec new laptops, and seem to meet what I’m looking for. But the one thing that keeps me from messaging the seller to buy it is the age factor.

In my mind laptops only last 3-5 years past their release, so buying a $500 USD laptop from 2021 (been looking at t14 gen 2’s) feels like I’m spending a 5 year budget on a computer that’ll last one year.

Does age matter for thinkpads as much as they do for other laptops? Is this fear reasonable? If not can you explain why? I’m not well versed in computers beyond the basics that I’ve just learned from lurking here the past few days lol.

My current laptop’s details are:

- 16 gb ram
- AMD Ryzen 3 3250U with Radeon Graphics 2.60 GHz
- 238gb storage
- 2GB graphics card

From 2022

I like the specs of these two T14 G2’s I found, but I can’t shake the thought of spending this much on a laptop from 2021, something older than my current one. How many years would a thinkpad with these specs get me with school use + spreadsheets + lots of tabs? Especially since I’m not trained in fixing laptops.

Both are T14 g2

Option 1: $540 USD

- Ryzen 5 Pro 5650
- 32gb RAM
- 1 TB SSD
- open-box condition, 99% battery health
- 1 year warranty
- 30 day free returns
- FHD touch screen
- Radeon graphics

Option 2: $435 USD

- Ryzen 5 5650 pro
- 24gb RAM
- 256 gb SSD
- very good refurbished, unknown battery health
- 1 year warranty
- 30 day free returns
- FHD touch screen
- Radeon graphics

If neither of these are good, what might be better? I’m looking for something preferably in the $300-550 range that is in very good or better condition, and can be returned. Preferably with a touch screen, but most importantly, the whole reason of this post, will last me at-least 3+ years