Lenovo ThinkPad X61

In early 2018, before I had children and with much, MUCH more free time, I bought a used X61, plus a used X60 1400x1050 LCD, a new backlight, new internal stereo speakers, a new mainboard with an Intel Core i7-5600U from 51NB, plus new SSD, 32 GB RAM, and the original IBM logo of a X60 which was replaced by a Lenovo logo on my chassis. It's the exact same setup as mentioned here [0], except that I built it myself from the individual parts for cost reasons. The board arrived from Shenzhen after a month or so. I then had to manually fit (including drilling away some parts) the X60 LCD into the X61 chassis, which was extremely stressful. But in the end it all worked out perfectly. This X62 has been my private machine for 8 years now, and I always travel with it. The display still works perfectly, the 32 GB RAM are still more than enough, and it is still very easy to get X61 replacement batteries on Amazon. But the best thing is the form factor; this thing is just so neat and small and practical. Also the quality of the chassis is incredible. Apart from many, many scratches on the lid, it is still in flawless condition. [0] https://geoff.greer.fm/2017/07/16/thinkpad-x62/

Just a few months ago I replaced nearly the same laptop (Thinkpad x61 in my case, with SSD and 4GB RAM upgrades). It has served me well for 6 years (I bought it secondhand), but it started to definitely show its age. It started to have difficulties playing youtube videos and the like, these consuming a lot of CPU, and consequently battery life started to drop to below 2 hours (plus the aging battery didn't helped), and fan noise started to get somewhat annoying. It also had some scars like marks on the screen or partially broken keys (I've not necessarily treated it well, compressing it in bags or having dropped it on more than one occasions). It is still usable, and I will convert it for other uses (mpd server probably). But it was time to replace it with a newer laptop, the new one is a secondhand Thinkpad x250, and it's definitely an improvement, quiet, more powerful, 6 to 8 hours autonomy. I hope it will last about as long as the x61 that served me so well.

Like other's I'd definitely recommend a Thinkpad. I've had my current Thinkpad (an x61) for almost four years now. I'm in college ATM so as you can imagine it gets dragged around everywhere. Haven't had any issues with it other than having to replace the battery but that's standard. I'd recommend staying away from the Thinkpad Edge though; not a huge fan of them personally.

I've been running mint on my x220 for about a year with absolutely no issues. Prior to that I was running ubuntu on an x61 for 3 years, also with no issues. I use an external monitor every day and unplug it every night and don't have to change a thing. It 'just works'.

My thinkpad x61 from 2007 runs the latest Ubuntu and software edit: and has the same amount of ram as the mac neo.

I still use my Thinkpad x61 as my daily driver (typing on it right now) and I don't feel most of the "severe limitations" you are listing. I think some are wrong (eg. I use Dual-band AC wifi and BT4.0 wifi card in mine, and have a 2.5" SATA-II (3Gbps) SSD), and others are not limitation for my use. I won't recommend it to everyone, mind you, but for my use it is perfect.

Agreed. Though 'not precise' is a common complaint from people who haven't overcome the learning curve. My partner hated using my x61, complaining that it was hard to hit anything accurately. Her laptop had a failed battery and she needed to borrow mine for a few days... a week later she replaced hers with an x61 and some 15 years later has only used a thinkpad, specifically because of the trackpoint.

The last ThinkPad I was really happy with was the X61 I had though. I, however, got used to the track point, so I stocked. The Z13 is only half a ThinkPad but at least Lenovo did considerable engineering to solve the thermal issues of new processors fitted into the old ThinkPad design for 13 in. Now I only have tons of BIOS/firmware/driver issues. Often doesn't hibernate and spin loops until battery is empty and my whole bag is heated to 80°C. I think they are not able to manage all those absurd variants they created. Would try a framework if the marketplace had ThinkPad keyboards.

> I've never kept any laptop as long as I've kept the M1. I still have a running Thinkpad R60 from 2007, a running Thinkpad T510 from 2012, and a modified running Thinkpad X61 (which I re-built as an X62 using the kit from 51nb in 2017 with a i7-5600U processor, 32 GB of RAM and a new display) in regular use. The latter required new batteries every 2 years, but was my main machine until 2 weeks ago when I replaced it with a ThinkCentre. During their time as my main machine, each of these laptops was actively used around 100 hours per week, and was often running for weeks without shutdown or reboot. The only thing that every broke was the display of the R60 which started to show several green vertical bars after 6 years, but replacement was easy.

I don't know how to summarize WPS with words, but I can testify to the fact that the combination of WorkPlace Shell + ThinkPad X61 TrackPoint is the strongest mind-computer synergy I've ever experienced and the only computer interface I can use fully ambidextrously.

I use an upgraded Thinkpad X61, coupled with a screen from 2010 as my daily machine. This setup has not failed my once. The X61 is also incredibly small and easy to travel with. I use the current LTS release of Ubuntu. I also have 2 other Thinkpads (R60 and T510) which I sometimes use (mostly to watch movies) and a 2008 gaming PC which I sometimes use as a home server. My living room TV is a 10 years old dumb device, attached to a Pi running Kodi. My office TV is an old TV from the 70ies (also attached to Pi, connected via an HDMI->Antenna converter) which I bought on eBay for 15 EUR in 2007. I buy only refurbished smartphones, because I cannot find a modern device which comfortably fits into my pocket during cycling. Most of my other devices (keyboard, mouse, speakers, headphones, scanner, ...) I bought as a teenager in the mid-2000s. I only replace them when broken, which so far only happened to my old printer in 2014. Our vacuum cleaner is also 15 years old. We have slowly and unconsciously removed most electrical devices from our kitchen, with the exception of an early 2000s dishwasher, an electric kettle, a 1998 stove, a mixer from 2008, an IKEA fridge, and an old radio from the 70ies. A few years ago, we needed a clothes dryer. After doing research for some days, we bought... a used Miele Novotronic from the 90ies in mint condition for 60 EUR from an old lady. (The build quality is ridiculous, I suspect this thing will outlive us). Our family bikes are all pre-1985 (eas…

Welp, I used to play Tremulous[1] with it on my ThinkPad X61, slaying people with granger(= builder) on "X" server. I often spammed the chat when I get a fancy kill (something like "you got killed by a trackpoint lul", with color). I wonder if anyone remembers it. Hahaha Trackpoint is like a joystick, very short but sensitive and accurate. The best experience was with a SoftRim cap, which significantly reduced the force required to register. Even better, using VIM and tiling WM completely eliminates any reason for my hands to leave the resting position on the keyboard. This was simply fantastic, and that's why I still have my X61 around. [1]: https://tremulous.net/

Yes Thinkpads are great, specially second hand ones. Many companies tend to replace them after a few years so there are a lot of them on the market, and they are generally quite cheap. Once thing to keep in mind however is the screen. At least for older ones, it tends to be bellow average (low resolution, low contrast, low fidelity colors, etc) as companies tend to "forget" to check the "good screen" option. It's obviously a generalization, there are some with good screens, but keep it in mind. I'm the happy owner of an x61, upgraded with 4Go of RAM and an SSD, plus a new battery, it still going strong. Personally, I'm always reluctant to pay a lot for a laptop. A laptop can, easily be stolen, fall one the floor, be damaged in any way. Cheap secondhand thinkpads fit my needs wonderfully in that regard. A few years ago, just 2 weeks after I bought my x61, I slipped on an ice patch, fall on it heavily and the screen was dead. I just bought another one, exactly the same, swapped the disk and I was good. It wasn't a big dent on my budget, it would have been a different story with a brand new Macbook Pro. Other notes: I've a thinkpad T460s (i7) at work, it tends to overheat a little, I would not recommend it. And there are a bunch of X1 carbons there to, they are not very reliable machines. Personally I would stick with the basic X2x0 or T4x0 models. Thinkpads are really easy to repair, easy to disassemble and there are a lot spare parts on ebay (keyboards, battery...) I couldn't

If you don't need the newest and fastest, I recommend a ThinkPad X201 (upgrade the LCD to an AFFS one if you like a little DIY), or you can go really hard and get an X61. Debian has worked great on both.

There’s nothing out there that matches the bold business look and feel of old thinkpads, my personal favorite being the x61. These machines are so well-built and beautiful, and I respect and understand the decision to try and keep them running. But I would respect a restomod more =)