If you are talking about Celerons in my comment then it was SATA drives. But Celerons are shit anyway, couple of weeks ago I replaced a HDD with SSD on Acer Aspire ES1-533 with Celeron N3350 [1], with a fresh Win10 install. It was slow with the original WD Blue, with SSD it just started to slow faster . Still seconds to open menus and overall a very poor performance, despite the whopping 2Mb cache. I have ThinkPad x301 lying somewhere, with a SU9400 Core 2 Duo and 1.8" SSD. Last time I used it (with Win10, too) it performed better than that Acer with Celeron. X301 is from 2008, ES1-533 is from 2016. Intel learned from Mendocino/Coppermine 'fiasco' and since that Celerons never performed well. Obligatory bash.org quote [1] [0] https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/95598/i... [1] http://bash.org/?769729
Doesn’t like it
> I’ve brought my text files with me since 1990, from Mac to Windows to Linux to BSD > But plain text? Always. Everywhere. Quite obviously you have your files in ASCII. Anyone who needs more than 26 letters (or god forbid non-latin ones) are fucked. Sometimes quite literally. > Your writing should outlive you. Depending on companies is not an option. ASCII? Sure. EBCDIC? Ughh. UTF... 8? 16? 32? > If you rely on Word, Evernote or Notion, for example, then you can’t work unless you have Word, Evernote, or Notion. You are helpless without them And you are absolutely helpless if you can't access your ASCII/EBCDIC/UTF8whatever plain-text files. > Plain text can be converted into anything else. Date: 2022.02.03 Is this March 3rd or February 3rd? > NEED HIERARCHY Sure. But in the year 2022 I want not only a hierarchy but crosslinks too. > CONCLUSION > Reliable If you know the encoding. IF. > flexible See #date > portable See #date > independent Sure, but what about dates and encoding? > and long-lasting If on the suitable media. Good luck accessing your precious files on Google Drive when the mighty AI decided you aren't worthy to access them. Or your CD-ROM isn't readable because the last machine with working [0] CD-ROM compatible drive were thrown out 5 years ago because it can't run any modern OS[1] > Plain text files will be readable by future generations, hundreds of years from now. [x] Doubt Real conclusion: Sure, plain-text files are way better than binary blobs with unknow…
Likes it
I still have X301 somewhere. I think this is probably the last machine in the house with a working DVD drive. Funny enough Windows 10 on it runs just fine while CentOS is slow as molasses. On SSD. Go figure.
Likes it
After upgrading the display, CPU, disk, RAM, fan, battery it's a bit click-baity to say you've gone back to a 2012 ThinkPad - but interesting read non the less. What surprised me the most is that Lenovo ships something as annoying as a loud fan (easily replaceable even for a home tinkerer). Of course they save a few pennies per laptop; but no laptop can ever be good if it's noisy. That was one of the main reasons why I bought an X301 ThinkPad many years ago, even when it fanned like crazy it was very quiet. But the clever design of the original ThinkPad's was starting to fade already then; the X301 actually had it's speakers on top. So you could spill liquid on it, unless you happened to spill it on top of one of your top mounted speakers of course. I've also gone through a few ThinkPad's over the years, and ever since they stopped being IBM; they seem to loose more and more of the "premium feel" for every generation. Especially the keyboard is way better on my old T40 then on the one I use right now (T14).
Likes it
I also use and love Thinkpads as dedicated GNU/Linux machines. I have a T60 running Arch Linux, an X301 running Arch Linux, and a X30 running Debian. All work marvelously despite being >10 years old in some cases. I do Android development on the X301 which I upgraded to 8GB of RAM. My only gripe with any of my Thinkpads is that their processors are under-powered by modern standards but you won't notice unless you are compiling something large, running an emulator, or running something virtualized. The best part is the price, I paid 40USD for my X301 and have had no issues for years.
Neutral
I've been using Thinkpads as full-time Linux machines for several years now. Specifically, I've had an R61, T60, X60, T530, X301, and W520. Aside from a rough start getting the X301 set up the way I wanted it, I've been totally satisfied. The Thinkpads I've used have all been sturdy, straightforward machines, easy to upgrade, and well supported by Linux drivers. I'm currently using the W520 as my everyday development machine. It's heavy enough that I leave it in its dock most of the time, but taking it to and from work isn't terrible. It might grow annoying if you had to carry it long distances in a backpack or briefcase. I can't tell you what battery life is like because I'm either hammering the hell out of the CPU or barely touching it, depending on what I'm doing, so lifetime varies widely. The X301 is much slimmer and lighter. Its battery life pretty much sucks, so I swapped the DVD player out for a second battery, and between the two it'll stand 4+ hours of heavy use. I use this machine as my personal travel laptop, and it is also the machine I use for DJ gigs.
Likes it
I love my x301 but I do agree.. it is out of date unfortunately. It was the perfect balance between the 12" and the 14" ThinkPads. My only gripe is that it's limited to 4GB. Anyone know if it's possible to exceed this limit? A coworker of mine just got the T410s and I've gotta say I'm jealous. If I was buying a new laptop, I would go with the T410.
Recommends it
I second the ThinkPad recommendation. Do some research on different models. The X301 is a lightweight option. ThinkPads are the best laptops for Linux by far. Another great thing about them is that they seem to me to be tougher and more reliable than other PC laptops like Dell or HP. I've dropped them before w/o incident, and they take a beating better than any laptop I've ever used. Also, the keyboard on a ThinkPad is an order of magnitude better than on a Dell or HP.
Likes it
i use ratpoison on a thinkpad x301. they must go well together.
Likes it
there are still plenty of new, in-the-box x201s' on ebay. the thinkpad edge 13" is cheap ($) and has decent specs, but you get the annoying glossy screen and case. i'm typing this on a thinkpad x301. with the dvd drive swapped out for a 2nd battery, it's pretty nice. it's costly though, and i wouldn't really recommend buying it when there are other thinkpads available for 1/3 the price with much more than 1/3 the performance.