We look at the amazing afterlife of decades-old ThinkPads, their appeal, and the extreme mods available for them
  • dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml
    6·
    2 months ago

    Imma take issue with those “reasons”.

    #7. the red nubbin

    I know what communtiy I’m in but still - it’s the doghittest pointing device. when you add its additional button group IN BETWEEN the keyboard and the touchpad, you’re left with irritants your fingers bump against while trying to actually use the laptop.

    they come from a time when it was the only sensible way to navigate a 800x600 GUI. its competition were trackBALLS (remember those fucking things?) and stamp-sized touchpads of the negative precision variety. today, they’re just an irritating anachronism.

    #6. repairability

    that persists even today. it’s no framework, but I can upgrade and replace almost anything on my T14 and T480s with just standard tools and the replacements are plentiful and cheap. six or seven generation older upgrades aren’t adequately cheaper, it’s often the inverse.

    #5. imagine not needing a docking station

    the docking station is the greatest thing ever! instead of manually connecting/disconnecting 5+ cables, I connect one cable or i just click the laptop in place and presto - all my shit is connected. if I had to connect my PSU, external monitors, mechanical keyboard, mouse, LAN, sound, etc. one-by-one, I’d go insane. because multiple gens share the same expansions, they are ubiquitous and cheap.

    #4. the good, old keyboard

    granted, it feels good. the main reason is there’s like a kilo of metal underneath it - no wonder it’s a superb typing experience, moving from that to a consumer grade laptop is verily torture. not so on any reasonably modern thinkpad, the keyboards are better than unibody macbooks, which were the yardstick then.

    #3. the upgrades

    yeah, you can upgrade your 2nd gen i5 in ridiculous ways - CPU, screen, storage, RAM, cards, etc… but the question is - upgrade it to what? and for how much? by the time you upgrade all those items, you’re still stuck with an ancient device, that’s bulky, heavy, double-digit idle W/hr, etc. as to prices for such activities, don’t even bother.

    #1. linux support

    is exceptional even on modern devices.

    bottom line: when you can have a base modernish thinkpad in the $100ish region that outruns, outbatteries, outdisplays, outconnects even a heavily upgraded device, you’re left with a shitty value proposition. so the only reason you’d be into this is as a hobby, and bear in mind it’s an expensive one. the best analogy I’ve seen is it’s like working on a classic car - the time and expenses and the result are acceptable only to hobbyists.