*sighs*
My T420 is... Really beat up. I can fix it. But the parts needed to fix it and upgrade it (because if I'm tearing it apart, I'm going to upgrade the screen and processor...) Are a very significant part of getting a new to me thinkpad that has everything that I'd want to do.
What to do? What to do...
#randomthoughts
Upgrade to T490
I've been looking... 😅
Newegg has them refurbished for less than $300
Does that have pretty good Linux support? Been wanting to get a new laptop for some time. Main thing for me is working battery, all main are junk 😆
I can replace batteries.
And Lenovo has very good Linux driver support.
Wonderful! Do you run core boot on them? Or whatever it’s called?
I honestly have no clue what you mean. I'm a barely functional Linux maxi. 🤣
Boo. Nothing for the T580 that I've found so far. Not a big enough deal to me.
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).
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
I think I'm going to get a T580 instead. I want the numpad and external battery.
Yup. T580 for me. Want to be able to add a second drive. I hate dual booting on one drive. I'll miss the third drive in my t420, but that's OK.
I’ve not had to replace/upgrade a laptop CPU or screen (I did replace an inverter board? that powered the screen’s backlighting), but I have upgraded HDD/SSD and RAM.
I’d recommend doing good homework to make sure the new components are compatible with the target machine.
Best of luck to you!
Mine:
I'm in the same boat. My old HP laptop runs fine but the case is physically falling apart.
T580 looks interesting but I really want 64gb RAM in my next laptop.
I'll let you know if I can ram that in. (Pun intended.)
I have 32gb in my T420 on Linux and even windows. I don't take the stated factory limits as gospel.
