Old ThinkPad for a mobile Linux station... Any recommendations?

Mobile Tech Laptops & Netbooks
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Hello all,

So I’m new to the forum and I wanted to ask you for recommendations.

I know that old ThinkPad laptops are reliable and preferred by many, but I’m wondering what model do you recommend for a secondary machine that’ll running Linux exclusively and will be used a road warrior.

I’m looking for something reliable, fairly modern and with a decent battery life; my only “must” is that it has to have USB 3.0.

Any 3rd - 5th gen. Intel models you recommend? If it has a fingerprint reader or any other goodies like NFC, the better. I’ve been shopping around, especially on eBay and Newegg. but I’ll like to hear the community’s opinion first.

Thanks all,

g.a

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Look for older Thinkpad X1 laptops with the i7-4600U or 5600U. That’s the only one I can recall that has decent specs and USB 3.0.

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What’s your budget?

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T540p or newer, the mentioned goes for 150$ on ebay without an os.

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X230 is a great choice.

Ivy bridge, fully supported, msata for ssd goodness and built like a radical feminist.

With a new ‘extended’ battery you should get 5+ hours of use.

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~$300 USD should be enough I believe.

I’ve browse eBay for the models the other guys/gals have mentioned (thanks!) And they seem to be around that, but obviously the most I get out of my money, the better.

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idk I have a T420s and an x230T and they do great for me.

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My t450s has most of those thing except NFC I think. Its a pretty light computer, FHD screen, 2 batteries with good life, and you can get a docking station for when you don’t want to be so mobile.

Downsides are that it has soldered ram and CPU.

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X230 would be your best bet then as they have USB 3.0. You would be hard pressed to find one with an i7 at that budget but you can get one with a decent SSD and 8GB for that price.

Even has 1Gb ethernet which is a plus for me.

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Hello all and thank you so much for your recommendations.

I read and took into consideration all of your comments and found an amazing deal on a ThinkPad T440 i5 w/ 8GB of RAM. I know some of you are not very fond of that design, but the machine is pristine, works like a charm, is lightweight enough to throw into my backpack and not having to worry about it and it even came with a case!

This being my first thread, I must say that very please with the community so far and I’m glad I finally joined.

Keep rocking!

g.a

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Everything working? On some distros you might have to disable a driver module for 2 finger scrolling to work properly after waking up from suspend.

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It works fine and out of the box, no need to hack around, however, two confessions: at first I was skeptical it might work with Linux (at all) being this a Microsoft precision touchpad to my understanding and even if it didn’t or kind of worked, I always carry a mouse around anyway.

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X1 Carbon’s are a pretty good buy. Replace hard drive (duh) and the battery, and you’ll be in good shape.

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t440s are hella cheap right now.

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I picked up a T440p last Summer and after installing a touchpad with actual buttons, it works great. Truth be told, I still prefer the keyboard on my T420, though. My moms liked the T440p so much that I got a second one, in order to replace her antique Dell.

It’s Linux friendly and no regrets.

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If you don’t mind me asking: how much did you pay for each and where did you get them from?

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Got them on ebay, from a company rotating their staff into newer machines. Can’t remember the exact price, but even after purchasing my own power supplies and SSDs for both and a NOS DVD drive for one, I had about 300 in one and 325 in the other.

I haven’t looked lately, but surely prices are even more attractive now.

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