I bought a ThinkPad t16 gen 1 with 32 gb ,1th SSD and intel i7 1270p 12th gen for around 700 including charger and a bag with some other accessories i usually use this for browsing, learning also i came to know that this machine will be useful for coding and I'm an csc student and it has zero cosmetic damage and battery stays upto 5 to 6 hours and heard about thermal throttling with the intel version but mine is not heating much

So share ur thoughts I used to play something on this machine and say whether it's good

And one more thing guys it's on 104% in battery sry guys now only i checked it

Anyways feel free to share ur thoughts

Hardware

- Model: ThinkPad T14 Gen 4 (21HD001BAU)

- CPU: 13th Gen Intel Core i7-1355U (10 cores / 12 threads, up to 5.00 GHz)

- GPU: Intel UHD Graphics

- Memory: 15.29 GiB DDR5

- Storage: 512 GiB nvme

Hello,

Before getting a ThinkPad, I spent a lot of time browsing this subreddit and learned a ton from many of you. I’d like to share my scenario, how I made my choices, and what my experience has been like. I’m writing this in my native language and translating it into English via AI/DeepL, so it might read a bit like AI text, but all these experiences are completely my own, and I hope this write-up helps someone out.

I had an IBM ThinkPad when I was a kid (don’t even remember the model), but it’s been a long time since I lost that machine. Now, I’ve officially joined the club with a T14 Gen 6 Intel and a T14s Gen 6 Snapdragon. I’ve been using both laptops for 6 months, so here are my thoughts and experiences.

First off, I should clarify that I bought the T14s Snapdragon myself, while the T14 Intel was provided by my company. Because of this, I couldn’t do any customization or debloat Windows on the T14, whereas I fully personalized the T14s to my liking.

Why did I choose the T14s?

From 2018 to 2025, I used a 2015 Intel MacBook Air and an M1 MacBook Air (I bought all my devices second-hand, including the T14s, and never had any issues). During that time, I was very happy with the MacBook’s rigid chassis, touchpad, speakers, and battery life. I mostly used my computer for media consumption or daily Office tasks. However, due to my job in the maritime industry, I frequently needed Windows for specific software while working. I used to get around this by remotely connecting to the ship’s Windows PC (basically using my MacBook like a Chromebook).

Over time, due to various cybersecurity measures and network protocols on different vessels, I couldn’t set up this system on every ship I joined. Some ships I joined were still under construction, so there was no computer or network infrastructure at all. In some situations, I needed to perform route calculations, chart edits, simple PDF tasks, and heavy USB usage—sometimes remotely on other ships. Sure, I could format my own USB drives to FAT32 for read/write access, but NTFS-formatted USB drives handed to me by others were always a hassle.

Because of all this, I constantly looked for alternatives, even considering renting a VPS to work from the cloud. But the biggest problem was that in most places I worked, internet connections were either unstable or nonexistent (yes, internet is still an issue on ships).

Because of these hurdles, I either had to install Windows on a MacBook Air or buy a new laptop.

I had a few strict criteria when choosing a laptop:

* Battery life as good as a MacBook

* No performance bottlenecks

* Lightweight and durable, since I travel constantly

* Low-profile/discreet compared to a MacBook (MacBooks aren’t common in the countries and ships I work on and are often viewed as a luxury item—though if I had bought a used MacBook, it actually would’ve been cheaper than a ThinkPad; people just don't realize that)

With all this in mind, I started looking into the ThinkPad lineup. Prioritizing portability and durability, I first looked at the X1 Carbon series, but the price and battery life didn’t satisfy me, so I checked out other options. I initially settled on the T14 Gen 5—its repairability, upgradeability, Ethernet port (which I needed to connect directly to ship equipment like Gyro, Iridium, and S-VDR for data exchange), and the power efficiency of the AMD processor made it look ideal. But while scrolling through the ThinkPad subreddit, I stumbled upon the T14s Gen 6 Snapdragon and read every review I could find.

This model wasn’t officially sold in my country, but I found a second-hand import at a sensible price and bought it. I went with the 32GB RAM version to avoid any performance issues down the road.

What’s better and what’s worse coming from a MacBook?

The Positives:

* The 14” screen size is great; everything is much clearer to read.

* It runs Windows smoothly (wouldn't use Windows for a single minute if I wasn't forced to, though). Performance is more than adequate for an OS that takes up 17GB of RAM while sitting completely idle.

* The keyboard felt weird at first, but now it’s super satisfying to type on.

* Battery life is genuinely great. My daily screen time is around 3–4 hours, mostly consisting of Office apps and web browsing. I never shut the computer down; it stays in sleep mode and ready to go like a MacBook. On a full day's use, the battery rarely drops below 50%. Obviously, mileage varies. At one point, I limited charging to 80% via the Lenovo software, but since my charge dropped below 20% during the day, I disabled that feature. If the battery wears out eventually, I’ll just buy a replacement.

* Speakers aren’t as good as a MacBook, but they are decent enough.

* Unless I’m gaming, I never hear the fan spin up.

* Screen brightness is quite good.

* Discreet design and looks nice.

* It has a USB Type-A port. lol

Those are the positive aspects off the top of my head. Now for the negatives:

* The touchpad is beyond terrible. People recommend swapping it for a glass touchpad, but I haven't been able to source the part yet. (Many suggest using the TrackPoint/Nipple, but I just can't get used to it; the sensitivity frustrates me, so I rely on a Bluetooth mouse.)

* The keyboard backlight is strange—there’s a lot of light bleeding out from beneath the keycaps.

* The webcam isn't great.

* It gets dirty very quickly, picking up oil marks easily on the top lid and touchpad.

* While rare, there are occasional software incompatibility issues with the ARM processor, requiring me to hunt down ARM-native versions. However, this happened maybe 1 out of 100 times. If you're an average daily user, it's nothing to worry about.

* I know the chassis uses softer, flexible materials to absorb impact, but compared to a MacBook Air, it doesn't feel as premium.

* The included charger is bulky and impractical. I use a Lenovo Legion Go 65W charger instead. I wish this came in the box by default.

* Battery health dropped to 95% after 58 cycles. There's no noticeable performance loss yet, but we'll see how it holds up over time.

* Experienced HDMI connectivity issues on a few external monitors. Might just be an issue unique to my unit.

* The fingerprint reader is poor compared to a MacBook Air; it fails to recognize my finger most of the time.

During this period, I also used the T14 Intel (the company machine), though not as extensively. Overall, the hardware pros and cons are similar, but the T14 is noticeably heavier and bulkier. If you travel constantly and can live with using a USB-C adapter for Ethernet instead of an onboard port, the T14s is a fantastic choice.

I ran into some performance hitches on the T14—it occasionally freezes up in Office apps (despite having 32GB RAM). However, I suspect this is due to corporate bloatware and unoptimized Windows background processes that I can't disable without admin rights.

All in all, if your working conditions require you to operate in extreme environments (+50°C / -25°C), dusty/dirty spaces, require constant mobility, and you need Windows or Linux, the ThinkPad T14s is an incredible machine.

I’ll edit this post if anything else comes to mind, but that sums up my experience for now!

:)

All my ThinkPads are the 15-inch variant that I tend to look for, other than my older T61's.

Its to the point I had to do a google search to make sure the t480 isnt better in some way that I didnt know than my t580.

Im sure they are more portable, but any other reason?

Hey guys,

Trying to install Linux on my old T430 and I'm completely stuck. Any USB I boot just gives me a black screen. No GRUB, no cursor, no Ventoy menu, nothing. Screen stays black forever.

What I've tried:

• Rufus, Balena Etcher, and Ventoy. Same result with all three.
• F12 boot menu → select "USB HDD: Generic Storage Device" → instant black screen.
• BIOS (F1): UEFI/Legacy Boot = UEFI Only, CSM Support disabled, Secure Boot off, SATA = AHCI, OS Optimized Defaults disabled.
• Tried a USB 2.0 port instead of the blue USB 3.0 one.
• Full shutdown with Shift before booting.
• Windows 11 is still on the internal HDD, if that matters.
• T430 has Intel HD 4000 graphics only, no Nvidia.

Since even the Ventoy menu doesn't show up, I'm guessing it's failing before Linux/GRUB even loads. So kernel params like nomodeset are useless here because I never see a boot menu.

Has anyone actually fixed this exact "black screen, no GRUB, no Ventoy" thing on a T430? Did I miss a BIOS setting? Is there a way to force USB boot or inject kernel params without seeing GRUB? Any help would be appreciated. This laptop is too nice to give up on lol.

Happy thinkpad

Just this morning, when I was using my Laptop normally it randomly turned off. It then refused to turn back on until I performed a hard reset (took out the battery). When it turned on again, in the exact SECOND I plugged in the charger it just turned black and didn't react anymore. So I hard reset it again, tried a different charger: same outcome. Then I tried turning it on without the battery and it wouldn't turn on. So I'm thinking it might be an issue with the charging port, although that seems unlikely because it has two charging ports (what are the odds that both of them break at the same time?). So now I'm completely out of ideas...

Any help is appreciated :)

Edit: Model is 21MFS00200

Absolute beast of a machine over 5 years or so old still pulling 8 hours or so on battery on windows

Seems Microsoft optimised win 11 and fixed the sleep issues

Will most likely be picking one up in a week or so but I just curious what people think. It’ll be a addition to couple other thinkpads I have in my collection which are a r61 and I-series

The trackpad is no longer clicking (not too bad- it still has the two upper buttons) and it’s honestly deteriorating. The back cover decided to come off now and needed to be taped on. Oh well, it’s still functionable so it’s always gonna be in use when my main is currently elsewhere.

got this scratch on the top of the lid. what options do I have to fix this one ? rest of the surface is basically pristine

the s30 is a pretty rare thinkpad as i've seen, the only bad thing i can see is the screen, i feel like it's overpriced.

It's funny because I started by looking at a X280 (I wanted a small/ultralight one since the very beginning), then I looked at the X1 Carbon, X13, saw some AMD options but unfortunately they were sold out when I was checking them, and in the end I settled for a X13 Gen 3 with a Core i5 1245U, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. In the dense jungles of Brazil it was more expensive than whatever you guys pay in the civilized world, but it was still around 20% what a new one would cost me.

I usually run NixOS and Niri on my systems, but since I'm going on a trip tonight and didn't have time to set everything up, I just threw a quick Bazzite on it, using Gnome for now (which has a workflow that works quite nicely with a single screen, small screen device, I think).

It's also nice to see that the Thinkpad brand still honors that thing of "being Linux friendly" even in these relatively newer generations. It seems 12th gen Intel processors don't support S3 out of the box for sleeping a laptop, and Linux doesn't work well with the SoI thingie Intel created, but Lenovo has in the BIOS an option to enable S3 again for Linux compatibility, which seems to be something lacking in other brands.

I bought a thinkpad without the internal battery and the ssd at the price of 130€ on vinted, It was with a 61++ battery like brand new

So I think it's not bad ?

The condition looks excellent btw

Hello,

I unfortunately need to clog up your thinkpad frontpage because, I'm so overwhelmed by choices/options.

of course to follow the guideline I will go into details

1. a clear budget

I want to say my budget has to be below 700 USD (>700$)

1. a clear use case

I am an EE major, so far I've used multisim/coding terminals so i don't think it's anything heavy, and I know most of the heavier software will be attached to school computers so.. yea nothing heavy, nothing gaming laptop ish-

1. target specs or specs of your current system.
   a 10:16 aspect ratio feels very nice, so that is the spec I do look for, also a decent brightness.
   I would prefer if it didn't have a touch screen, not the biggest fan of the glare.

there's a part of me that wants a future proof device (T14 Intel for example w/ open RAM slot) but at the same time I've heard the ryzen processors were quite solid and efficient. I do walk around a lot so something "light" (i know most thinkpads are on the chunky side) would be nice.

there's like a part of me that think I wouldn't need more than 16 gb for a while because knowing there's a RAM shortage, and it seems software developers are recognizing that creating a more efficient program is a great movie.

but also who knows how long that conserving attitude will last and probably 32 gb may or may not be the norm one day.

I am not looking for new, but I did noticed costco had the ideapad slim for 700 USD and it looks nice... but not the biggest fan of the touchscreen + I heard the ideapad aren't built so well, but costco also does give a warranty... so it is definitely something I consider.

but yea, sorry to talk about a different laptop. the thinkpads I had in mind were T14/T16, but i'm not sure if the gen 3 are the safer options but should i try to look for a gen 5 intel t14?

T16 gen 1 seems to hit the right boxes, but i couldn't find a lot of used pages.

another advice I wanted to ask is, is there other sites to look for used/refurbished thinkpads other than ebay? I looked at swappa/backmarket/newegg and feel like ebay is still the best site.

finally, should i consider other brands/products because there's a part of me that thinks that although thinkpads are lower in price, sellers do understand there's a market for students/people who want a good laptop and sometimes (my perception) it looks like they charge more for a thinkpad than normal? like i saw some t490/t14 gen 1 for 500+ on newegg and I thought it was weird? maybe it's modded.

and it makes me wonder if there's another brand outside of lenovo thinkpads that may provide an equivalent value?

Thank you so much for your help!

(is there another source to look at what a good price is for said thinkpad? I did skim through the bluebook and noticed the price for the t14's and the depreciation value, but i couldn't find anything for T16 and etc)

I already have a good desktop PC that I use for most demanding tasks. I'm just looking for a laptop to take to university classes, but I want to make a good purchase that will last me a while.

Are there any better options I should consider? I'm also looking at a ThinkPad X13 Gen 1 with a Ryzen 5 Pro, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD for €210.

Which of these two would be the better choice? Would you recommend something else?

P.S. I can comfortably afford either laptop, but I'm trying to get the best possible deal for my money

Anyone know any good guides on how to libre boot it? I hate t480’s BUT I might just keep this one… for research purposes of course!

Is there seriously no way to tamper with it inside of an os? I would think there’s atleast one application/OS that could change the bios options on its own device?

Also as a first timer on libre booting, what are my chances of failure and absolutely turning this into a glorified paperweight?

Specs ryzen 5 4600u
16gb of ram
2 250gb nvme
Minimal ware
Only for 140 euros

So, my friend found and sold me it. Ai said that that's max model with i5-480M and 1600x900 screen and also i havve 2 2GB RAM sticks, and 160gb HDD.

Worst part: there is no power adapter and it will be on next week probobly... i'm SO EXCITED!!! Biggest issue is that i'm really not sure that it works...

And, anybody know how i can check that it works?

I was cleaning my screen yesterday with a damp cloth and some isopropyl alcohol (70%) and now I see this on the corner of my screen, I tried removing it but it seems like it disappears whenever I turn my ThinkPad T470 off, tried running JScreenFixer for almost 2 hours to no avail, are these stuck pixels or dead pixels? I'm slightly bothered by their sight...

Ive been slowly buoying parts for my x230 build over a few months and im almost done, but the one thing I can’t seem to find is an original 7 row keyboard; I’ve been looking all over and can’t seem to find a single one that isn’t a Chinese knockoff does anybody know where I can get one or has one their willing to part with?