I’ve been happy with them. ThinkPads boot fine to TailsOS. I’ve installed Linux Mint of a few and QubesOS on one. No non-hardware issues (had a bad keyboard on one refurb, not Linux related).
Discussion
I’m interested in qubes, that was a main driver for me.
I was looking on eBay, thanks for Newegg though. I forgot about them
Make sure to check the #QubesOS hardware compatibility list to confirm your specific laptop model is supported. In my experience, you need to confirm the actual manufacturer model number,. Checking the makering model type against the list isn't sufficient. I learned this the hard way.
Good to know.
I ended up scooping a dell from work for nothing and running Fedora. I really like it.
Someday I’ll get Qubes running