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 9

NoSalt 4/3/2025|

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 that I absolutely LOVE! It is running the latest Xubuntu (24.04) with no problems. I have maxed out the RAM, installed an SSD, and even upgraded the CPU. I like it even more than my Dell E5440. No, I cannot play Minecraft on it that well, but it is a SOLID laptop and it feels good to hold and type on.

Vaslo 4/3/2025||

I have one of these that was a tablet and touchscreen from my mba program in 2008. I still have it and put some version of Linux command line only (peppermint maybe) and it still works. Haven’t touched it in a few years.

Honestly was never that impressed by it and have had to replace the fans on it multiple times but it’s still kicking while other laptops are not.

b8 4/3/2025||

I have a x220 with an adjustable screen. I broke the screen and the battery can't hold a charge. The power button cover is messed up. No hard drive cover. Last I looked up the screen install was complicated and expensive. Probably take over $200 I paid on eBay for it. It has an unlocked bios though which I've read is rare.

trod1234 4/3/2025||

I'm surprised they didn't mention how many of the Thinkpad models encase heatsink fan power cord in kapton tape and run that cord along and above the CPU/GPU shared heatsink. The modular assembly fails reliably and consistently roughly every 3 years.

Sure I can get parts, but I don't think it actually shows what they are trying to say.

bentt 4/3/2025||

I just replaced the seat back on my 2005 Aeron chair as well. Feels good to take an old thing and make it feel new. These kinds of opportunities need to be designed into products, but maybe even more importantly, people need to value those design choices so much that they'll pay more for these types of things.

ipv6ipv4 4/3/2025||

I have a PowerBook titanium G4 from 2003 that I can boot but never bother because it's not worth the power consumption.

dmwilcox 4/3/2025|

Really??? I had an iBook from 2001, and put Linux on it, but power consumption was definitely the best of laptops in that entire era. What could it be, like 20-30 watts? Motorola PPC processors weren't exactly heat beasts (or speed demons lol).

I'd be curious about how yours has held up. I overclocked my iBook back in the day to play DivX (bumped FSB from 66 to 100mhz) and it eventually cooked around 2010.

vvpan 4/3/2025||

Off-topic about the Nassim Nicholas Taleb opening: Does anybody else feel like he just restates obvious things in a more formalized and somewhat pompous way? I do not mind formalization but I feel like I am supposed to swoon over it as if some profound truth, that was not already implied in our every day thinking, was being revealed.

blatantly 4/3/2025||

I don't think it is obvious to everyone that a 20 year old laptop had a better survival chance over the next year than a new one.

Most people think old is more fragile.

Sometimes it is though (e.g. parts for a plane need to be replaced every X hours of service)

pazimzadeh 4/3/2025||

at some point is it even the same laptop? I don't think the original laptop has a better chance of surviving

darkwater 4/3/2025||

It's not strictly THAT or ONE laptop though. It's the concept of old Thinkpad laptops in general: since there is already a big enough refurbishment market active, parts will still be produced or stored and sold, thus permitting that kind of laptop to be repaired and survive. Even if you apply the "ship of Theseus" logic, it won't matter. It won't be the same original Thinkpad, but it will still be a Thinkpad (flies like a Thinkpad, sings like a Thinkpad...)

MonkeyClub 4/3/2025||

> just restates obvious things in a more formalized and somewhat pompous way

That's sort of the premise of his Black Swan idea, namely that extraordinary things appear quite obvious in retrospect.

I've read a few of his books, including Antifragile that's referenced in TFA, and he does go beyond merely restating (or formalizing) the obvious.

But then again perhaps such things are not generally obvious and need to be stated explicitly, we just happen to be part of a subset that is more aware of them.

p2detar 4/3/2025||

Man, I knew it was going to be a T-series machine. I used to own T400s and T430. Just hardcore pieces of hardware. I fine-tuned my T430 so that it boots Archlinux in about 3-4 seconds. Loved tinkering with Linux, Xfce and coding on that machine. As I grew older I switched to a MacBook, like many others but I miss that machine.

acosmism 4/3/2025||

I still use my t440s all the time to this day. it is durable, versatile, does exactly what it does and does it well. not tied down to its firmware, software - i can't think of the analogy off the bat but its like several other things that "just work" (maybe indoor plumbing or something) so well you forget about them

arkensaw 4/3/2025|

I have an X201 (15 years old) and X220 (14 years) that I regularly use, running different flavors of linux. they've both been repaired and upgraded a few times. I'm spoiled by having an M2 Macbook as a daily driver - they can't match it for speed - but I love the ruggedness and resilience and I always will.

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