I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad

Posted by Fred34 4/3/2025

I maintain a 17 year old ThinkPad(pilledtexts.com)

620 points | 580 commentspage 8

bambax 4/3/2025|

> One of the main reasons that old Thinkpads stand out is their design philosophy. They are made with swappable components with the intention of user upgradeability.

On a fixed PC everything is swappable by definition. I don't quite understand why people love laptops so much. If you're using your PC in only one place a tower PC is cheaper and can be upgraded indefinitely with only a screwdriver (if that).

burkaman 4/3/2025|

People love them because they want to use their PC in more than one place.

Cthulhu_ 4/3/2025|||

And employers love them because if people take them home overnight they only need security / insurance for peripherals. The only fixed PCs I still see in offices are low cost / bulk Dell machines only good for office work or thin clients, and even those go back ~15 years now, at a bank that already had relatively tight security.

I wish I could have a job where I work on a desktop machine and could just leave things at the office when I leave for the day. Alas.

bambax 4/3/2025|||

What are those places? Do most people have multiple residences? Or do they think they might need it, and in practice never do?

daxelrod 4/3/2025|||

I have a relatively high-end desktop with a nice monitor. I also have an aging laptop with a tiny screen and an anemic amount of RAM. Most of my computing ends up being done on the laptop.

With a family and a kid, it turns out I’d prefer to spend most of my time at the computer in common spaces; at the dinner table, on the couch, etc. so that I’m present and available for my family. This is far better than squirreling myself away in a room.

(Note that for work, I have a different computer, I’m talking about for life outside of work.)

scarface_74 4/3/2025||

You don’t see any conflicts between this:

> it turns out I’d prefer to spend most of my time at the computer in common spaces; at the dinner table, on the couch

And this?

> I’m present and available for my family

op00to 4/3/2025||

The conflicts arise when all you do is work. Every second of every day does not need to be spent staring at your children and still be a good parent.

I often sit with my kids and get a little work done on the couch while they're entertaining themselves. I can engage where appropriate, and of course I don't spend my entire life working. This flexibility allows me time to walk them to school, pick them up from school, leave early to go to their sports things, band concerts, or just play outside with them.

You know, nuance and balance.

scarface_74 4/3/2025||

I have a kind of strict separation between home and work and I have since I started working remotely.

When I’m “at work” in my home office. I’m not to be disturbed. When I’m “off work” my computer is shut down until the next day and I get on with the rest of my life - which doesn’t involve computers.

That sets strict expectations from everyone in my home.

op00to 4/3/2025||

I’m glad that works for you and your family. For me, I thrive from taking breaks during the day with my family and having the ability to catch up and work when the ideas hit me. That’s what’s wonderful about remote work, both our styles can be accommodated, we can be there when our families need us, and we can both be our most effective selves.

burkaman 4/3/2025|||

Even multiple rooms in your home is compelling enough for many people, but for me it's about taking it on trips. Obviously you don't always want to take your computer on vacation, but sometimes I want to visit a friend and work from there, or go visit my family and work on a project while I'm there, that kind of thing.

On a smaller scale, I often bring my computer to the roof of my building or to a library or cafe. I can understand preferring the constraint of "when I leave my desk I don't have to think about the computer anymore", but for me all the additional flexibility is a good tradeoff.

zh3 4/3/2025||

T42, T60, T62, T420, T520 (multiples of some around the house) here, ending at the point they changed the keyboard. All running linux, the T420 and T520 (with SSD's) are fine with modern browsers while the older ones can be slow on bloated sites. I imagine the RAM might be an issue with multiple electron apps though.

Only real maintenance is to use quality battery replacements (T420 lasts particularly well on batteries).

diggernet 4/3/2025|

Got a good source for safe, reliable battery replacements? Last time I needed one I discovered that Duracell made them, but it seems like they've stopped now.

zh3 4/3/2025||

In the UK, laptopsandspares.com "2-power" batteries have worked well for me. Subtel are pretty good too for UK/EU.

https://www.laptopsandspares.com/pno/cbi3402a.html

https://www.subtel.co.uk/Battery-for-Lenovo-ThinkPad-Edge-14...

ChrisMarshallNY 4/3/2025||

I can't match that, but I regularly use a 2012 11" MacBook Air, as a Zoom terminal.

Works great. Stuck on Catalina, but can handle the software I need.

chilldsgn 4/3/2025||

I would love to get a ThinkPad as my next computer. My 2018 MacBook Pro is still working amazingly well, but I think I won't get a new one.

HexPhantom 4/3/2025|

There’s something satisfying about how fixable and straightforward they are

BrenBarn 4/3/2025||

I'm really bummed to see how newer ThinkPads have given up that modularity. Some components are necessarily more integrated, and I was never going to be too sad if it was easier to buy a new laptop than to replace the CPU. But the fact that you could, for instance, trivially replace the hard drive made it ludicrously easy to get a lot of extra mileage out of old ThinkPads.

cheeseomlit 4/3/2025||

I still use my t420 all the time for one reason and that's the keyboard. I can't stand chiclet keys and that's all there is now

Narann 4/3/2025||

I’ve never been a fan on ThinkPad looks, until I get a second hand one, in 2014. It had 4GB or RAM and starts to have hard time with browsing, so few month ago, I bought 16GB for 20€. I’m almost sure It could live for 5 or 10 years.

My only complain is Ctrl cap sensor having some inconsistencies, I have to push strong on it.

For the rest I consider ThinkPad as the way to go for second hand.

DrNosferatu 4/3/2025|

Want a real solution to electronic waste?

The EU should mandate 10-year warranties for higher-end consumer electronics and durable goods.

This could work on a sliding scale: less expensive items get shorter warranties (but never below the current 2-year minimum), while pricier products require longer coverage periods.

Such legislation would:

1. End the exploitation of workers in sweatshops producing deliberately short-lived products

2. Discourage planned obsolescence and reduce manufacturing waste

3. Significantly decrease the climate impact of consumer electronics

4. Create genuine incentives for a Circular Economy where durable products like quality ThinkPads become standard rather than exceptions

By requiring products to last, we'd not only protect consumers and the Environment, but also the vulnerable workers currently trapped and exploited in sweatshops designed to produce disposable goods.

stronglikedan 4/3/2025|

The reality is that no one wants to carry around a five pound laptop just for the sake of sturdiness or repairability.

asdffdasy 4/3/2025|||

98% of laptops are portable desktops.

Only in very niche jobs you carry your laptop to/from office/home every day.

DrNosferatu 4/3/2025|||

One thing does not prevent the other: that's what standards are for.

acrooks 4/3/2025||

You will need to sacrifice something. If the regulations become more restrictive, one of the following needs to change:

- cost (laptops getting more expensive) - quality (laptops getting less powerful / smaller) - time (manufacturers have a long grace period before they need to implement the regulations, to allow technology to catch up)

DrNosferatu 4/3/2025||

The EU always implements this kind of legislation with grace periods - obviously, no step functions.

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