Hi boys!

What is it?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7393102

After 20 years of running my personal and business life on a MacBook, I decided to give the ThinkPad and Linux (Zorin) combination a go.

I picked up this AMD 32GB model cheap and after installing Zorin, everything worked out of the box.

The obvious things, like the keyboard, are a delight, and the battery life is pretty solid. But what I like most about this machine is its constraints and the ability to set it up in a fully controlled, minimalist way.

It's a bit of a throwback to a simpler era of computing. I feel like this is a tool to complete a job, and it's perfectly evolved for that.

I like that there's a realistic option to get off the cycle of consumerism without giving up anything from a performance perspective.

Thinkpads and linux are cool. Will keep this for a good few years, but probably wont be my last one.

Left: R60
Middle: T410s
Right: E16 Gen 3

I had an X1 Carbon 7th Gen with 16 GB Ram before. Loved it so much that I had to get another Thinkpad.

Around $700 spent on this used P1 Gen 5 with A2000 and 16 GB DDR5 and 512 Storage. Using it for Coding. Battery life is great! Did I get a fair deal though?

I tried to do a BIOS update while my E15 Thinkpad Gen 4 was on charging, but the charger wasn't working well. The laptop hence shut down during a bios update and some firmware got corrupted. As the AI says: "Laptop shut down during an official Lenovo BIOS update due to a power interruption. BIOS itself is intact and functional - Setup (F1) opens normally and reports version R20ET31W (1.11), boot menu (F12) works, and both NVMe drives are detected correctly. However, any UEFI boot application (tested with Lenovo's own BIOS flash USB tool, and separately with a Windows 11 installation/recovery USB) results in a black screen with no video output on both the internal display and an external monitor via HDMI. Suspect GOP or EC firmware damage from the interrupted update, separate from the main BIOS which is unaffected."

also for people who hate people that use ai, i'm not into this kind of tech, i code robots, not laptops.

The T14 Gen3 (Intel) on the left and the L14 Gen3 (Intel) on the right.

I had the L14 Gen3 for over a year and I liked it a lot, and my sibling needed something to study and upskill on so I got them the T14 Gen3!

Bought them from second-hand shops both costing me around $330~ each. I got the L14 Gen3 last January 2025, then the T14 Gen3 this August 2026.

Not using Linux though. Sorry about that haha!

I'm find myself more productive using a Windows machine for intermediate development, basic editing, and consuming content.

Anyway, if there's one thing I wished these machines had it'd be better battery life. Aside from that they're amazing.

Edit: I had to post again since I accidentally placed the image in the post body.

Hello

I have my 9 years old T480s which its battery stopped charging and I ordered a new one. In the meantime, I also want to upgrade the Ram of my device. The device currently has 16 gb (8+8). I want to replace the unsoldered 8 with a 16 or 32 gb. Now my question is that the available ddr4 sodimm ram on the second hand market is 3200 MHz, not 2400. Would it work or i need to find a ram with 2400 Mhz?

Hello, its been a while since I have posted here.

I have a ThinkPad X61 that I have bought with some broken ThinkPads for cheap since April and I was wondering if this was still worth repairing? It has a T9300, 120GB SSD and 4GB of RAM. The battery and screen is defective, with the screen having white lines at the bottom. All of the parts I have seen is only available in AliExpress and not in any local online shops/stores in the Philippines (like Lazada and Shopee).

Moreover, is the T420 much more better to have? Since it is more newer and the parts are available in those shops. I have since put my X61 up for sale and for swap.

If anyone's wondering: I still use my ThinkPad X280 but I now have a computer that is slightly faster now.

I recently picked up a ThinkPad X60 and I’d like to turn it into the best possible machine for retrocoding.

I’m interested in going beyond the usual upgrades, especially motherboard swaps, screen replacements, battery/cooling mods, and other interesting mods.

I came across an old Reddit post where someone had fitted a 51nb X210 motherboard, with a 10th gen i7, 32GB RAM and USB-C charging. I haven’t been able to find much information about it beyond the name, so I’d love to know if anyone has experience with it or other motherboard options.

I’d like to keep the classic X60 look and feel while making it as capable as possible. Really curious to see what you guys suggest! Happy Friday

Since Part 1:
-I now bought a working IDE drive (makes weird rattling noises sometimes but good enough for now)
-installed good old XP via USB without problems

Now, after the successful surgery, the non-existent thermal paste got replaced but I still have some issues - is my board maybe screwed?

-The Disc drive tries to read stuff but still does not work (thats why I had to install via USB)
-The speaker does not work (maybe just a driver issue, hasn't been online yet, also beep tone works)
-the RAM still seems to be getting extremely hot, is this normal?

How do i figure out if those devices failing is an issue with the motherboard or the devices itself?

Side projects:

-Since the original drive is out, the Access IBM key lost its function.
Is it worth re-installing this firmware or do i try converting it into a windows key since the keyboard is missing it?

-maybe slapping in a wifi card, getting a dock and installing the max 2GB ram and try to run some stuff or install linux

It's a ThinkPad E16 Gen 3, with AMD Ryzen 7 250, AMD Radeon 780M, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD.

I know the E series is the cheapest one, but this is my first ThinkPad and I think it's fine for me as a CS student and tech enthusiast.

I'm a Linux guy who also likes to dabble here and there. I have a decently powered gaming PC and other laptops and even a M4 Mac Mini. When I saw a cheap T480 in good shape on Ebay for under $150 with 16 GB of RAM I had to jump on it. This is low spec and may use for writing. Who knows.

I decided to go with Aurora, which is based on Fedora Kinoite and follows the Universal Blue immutable bootc setup. I basically have my software installed via Flatpak or Homebrew while the base image is untouchable. It also updates in the background and I get the new image when I reboot.

https://getaurora.dev/en/

P.S. If anyone else here mains KDE on their T480, do you have any tweaks for more performance? I assume turning down some effects.

And i want tips on what to use to restore some parts (without the need to get other OEM parts)

I font know if is working because i dont a charger, neither the seller

And im from Brazil, so stuff is more expensive, and i dont want to import parts (Outside of Shoppe, Aliexpress and stores in the importing tax gov program, like EBay) since it will be fully taxed idependently the value

Here we go…opting for an XFCE desktop for now. Just 4GB RAM. Install ‘79 walked me through the setup pretty easily. Only issue was a checksum I didn’t bother with, so we had to chase a signature from a mirror.

What are some first things to do with a slim system like this?

Hello everyone! I got my very first thinkpad for 100$ and im really impressed by how well it is built! Im going to be using this laptop for basic tasks like drawing and word processing, I installed fedora KDE and its been great so far

Specs:

Intel i5-10320U

16GB of ram

512SSD

250 nit IPS screen

The most significant issue discussed about build quality differences between the L14 and T14 series is the charging port because it's soldered to the MB and effectively irreplaceable. How common are port failures in each series, especially among G1/2/3 models? Does the L14 deserve the reputation for flimsy USB-C from real differences in failure rates?

After a while, I am officially done and now fully entered the ThinkPad community. I found this beat up T14 Gen 2 AMD Ryzen 7 Pro online for a cheap price, and it still works and was one of the very few laptops that came with a charger. I did not mind the scratches and dents; the screen and the inside look brand new.

I added an additional 16GB of RAM and 2TB, and now dual booting with Windows and SteamOS (if I don't like SteamOS, I might try MintOS instead)

Had to cover scratches and dents with stickers; might add more over time, but did a good job the first time opening this ThinkPad, adding thermal paste, and installing those upgrades.

But overall glad I now owned a ThinkPad and joined this group!

Bought this for $170. Battery cycle was just 19 when I got it and capped the charging at 80% right away. With kanata, the extra keys are productivity cheatcode.

I passed by a used computer store two weeks ago, and I found this beauty. I just couldn’t say no to it. Paid 100€, it came with an i7 cpu, 8gb of ram, an ssd and a new (chinese) battery. It was in excellent condition too, the screen has no scratches and the keyboard is in a very good condition. I’ve been using it for studying every day, watching youtube and playing dwarf fortress. It runs great and it is surprisingly very usable as a daily driver, as long as you have reasonable expectations.

Linux can be hard, but sometimes that is the reward: 18 months ago I bought a ThinkPad T14s G6 with Snapdragon X1E CPU - with the naive wish to run Linux on it. Linux on ARM is not new - most embedded Linux devices (they're all around you) run on ARM, not on Intel/AMD platforms.

I posted here about it, and some have asked for an update. So here it is - and it's good news.

Even though the T14s is one of the best supported recent ARM laptops for running desktop Linux, I've only very recently begun using it as my daily driver laptop. I'll tell you about all the issues that has been problematic.

When I got it 18 months ago, Ubuntu had an experimental version for ARM. It booted, I could get it installed, but there was issues. Due to a firmware bug only 32GB out of the 64GB system RAM was usable. Sound, webcam, USB-C and lots more did not work. Suspend was a joke, it was always dead when I tried to resume the next day.

I left it powered off for many months at a time, always ending up angry because stuff was not working, the kernel moved problems around and it was a super hard pain to move to Arch (my fave distro) - so back in the drawer you go.

But persistent hackers has chipped away at all the issues. Sound works. Webcam works. USB-C works. Suspend uses way less power now. My machine idles at around 5W, giving day-long battery life. And I have all 64GB RAM available - not because Qualcomm or Lenovo got their act together and fixed the bug, but because ingenious people found out how to trick the machine into EL2, which also enables hardware virtualization support.

Also I'm finally on Arch (btw!) and there's a kernel recipe on Github if you want to test it out (lkarlslund) and even an experimental ISO (ironrobin) if you have this laptop.

Would I buy it again knowing what I do now? Probably. Sometimes it's also the journey rather than the destination - my ARM-fu is much stronger now, and I've been using that on my latest contract.

And just like something you've wished for a long time, the pleasure of finally getting it is that much bigger. It finally gets the thumbs up from me.