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Modern ThinkPads are garbage
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My current main (Linux) laptop is a ThinkPad T480, which I bought after Coreboot
has been ported[^1], to flash it with Heads[^2]. It is, in fact, the first
"modern" personal ThinkPad after my trusted X230/T430 (the former with classic
keyboard mod) - apart from some work laptops from various companies.
[^1]: https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/83274
[^2]: https://osresearch.net
Initially I have been quite happy with the T480, as all my old ThinkPads were
slowly getting unusable for modern web browser and graphics workloads. Also, on
the plus side, it is almost a "classic" ThinkPad: trackpoint, Ethernet port, SD
card reader and a fairly usable keyboard (although I prefer the classic
keyboard).
However, slowly, problems started to arise. Foremost, the internal battery
wasn't equipped in my model (Lenovo removes it in some countries), which was
annoying, but quickly solved with an order from China.
After finally getting my internal battery, my external battery spontaneously
decided that it wouldn't have any of its capacity left. Good, I wrote the
refurbisher an email, who quickly responded that they would send me a new
battery as part of the warranty.
Battery problems solved. Some day my trackpoint buttons started acting weird.
They were middle-clicking all the time without any action. Which made it
impossible to work in any usable way. I started disassembling the laptop
multiple times to re-seat touchpad cables, etc. Until it hit me: The
trackpoint buttons are part of the keyboard assembly. So I removed the keyboard
and re-seated the smaller (trackpoint) cable. Finally the ghost clicks
disappeared.
The T14 (Gen 1) and L390 I have used at work both had extremely weird issues
with crashes (especially when moving or slightly flexing the laptop). Which is
an issue I have never experienced on older ThinkPads.
The build quality of the T480, T14 and L390 is also pretty meh. The case doesn't
feel as sturdy anymore and flexes easily. Probably because the case is almost
entirely made of plastic (with no magnesium reinforcements like in older
ThinkPads).
In contrast, my X60S is extremely sturdy and has no issues despite being about
19 years old at this point. It is not suited for web browsing with many tabs or
graphic workloads; however, it is the perfect machine to work with 9front for
me. Similarly my X230, which has been quite modded in the meanwhile (classic
keyboard, USB-C charging, etc.), is still perfectly usable with OpenBSD for
light day-to-day tasks. I will continue to use those older machines until they
die.
Rant end. My next (modern) laptop probably will be something from MNT[^3] (no
affiliation). Modern ThinkPads are garbage.
[^3]: https://mntre.com
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