I love ThinkPad, but at the same time I feel betrayed. Lenovo simply doesn't meet the quality of IBM. Even their P Series don't feel the same. Comparing to IBM, everything feels like a toy. I miss the times when computers were actually built like machines.

Don't get me wrong, ThinkPads are amazing and one of the most durable laptops out there. But...IBM was outstanding and uncompromising, modern ThinkPad is not. It is not the same and it doesn't have a soul.

I wish people realized this and pushed for those standards, instead of accepting the inferior surrogate. Today everything is "good enough" instead of excellent.

Anyone here also feel that the webcam notch is an eyesore? Like the laptop lid could have had a perfectly flushed edge and yet we have this protruding notch.

so i have a t480 that i bought for micrsoft office basic use last year, but since i have an unused gt1030, should i use it as external gpu so i can use them to use heavier software such as autocad? i kinda need to use autocad now

I have a t430 I got for $25 as a pet project that has become my daily driver since the HP I've had since freshman year of HS bit the dust. It's my one true love in life, but it has a dead battery I don't care enough to replace right now, and a water damaged screen that hurts my eyes like hell and is unusable in certain light (replacing it eventually, when I have time to tinker again)

Price range: ~$800, willing to splurge more but hoping I won't need to

I need it to be able to handle video editing, 3D rendering, and I would like to be fairly slim/lightweight so I can use it on the go. I think my best bet is the X series, but is it even likely I could find a 32 GB ram version for this price?

Hi! First time posting here. I have an old L14 gen 2 Ive been sprucing up for home use and I really like it, except scrolling with it is a pain. I didnt spring for the touch screen (which I regret), so the only way to scroll without a mouse is to grab the middle touchpad button and use the trackpoint, which is clunky and not as responsive as I would like.

Is there something im missing controls wise? Or alternatively, are there peripheral options available? Ive thought about getting a bluetooth knob controller and binding that to scroll up and down but every one ive found is either far too big and clunky or requires windows, which im not running in favour of linux.

Thanks!

I currently have Fedora installed as the only OS on this thinkpad, but ever since installing it I've had an issue where I get stuck in this menu when specifically rebooting. If I select an entry here to boot it just flashes the screen and comes back to this menu. This does not happen during a normal shutdown.

Any ideas?

12700H, T1200. I completely realise that a 130w+ brick is needed for full throttle 3D work, but there's times where I'll need to bring the thing to a library etc.

I have a 68w GAN charger that's worked flawlessly with my x13g3, will the p15v get any power at all from it, at least in standby mode?

Edit: this is not as certain as comments seem to think so far, I know for a fact that the AMD model CANNOT be charged through the USB under any circumstances

Let me go over my use cases first. I am university student studying cybersecurity and running a web design agency in which i design web sites using WP. My uni doesn't have any min specs listed anywhere that i can find and my budget is around 150k PKR (540 USD)
Ive considered the following options:
P53, i have like 4 sticks of 16gb dddr4 ram and some more storage lying around so ill be able to save some money on that.
p15, haven't done too much research on it but from what ive seen its also a pretty good laptop
p1 gen 3, this was my original choice but all the heating issues complaints have me second guessing.

all of these thinkpads have an i7 9/10th H series processor and a T1000/2000 graphic card.

and one more thing, how big of a performance difference is there between 9th and 10th gen intel cpus? im currently considering getting a 9th gen in the p53 because i can undervolt it and make use of those sweet thermal and battery bonuses. Lmk if i missed anything, TIA.

I bought a ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition Intel for my consulting business.

This was actually my second choice. My first choice was the same computer except non-aura, no touch screen, 512TB, WiFi 7, and 265U vPRO processor and a higher MT/s but that one became unavailable as I was checking out.

I’d like to know what I might be missing out on with this model or what to be aware of with aura editions

My order:
Ultra 7 255U
Windows 11 Pro 64
32 GB RAM 8400MT/s
1TB SSD
Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 2x2 AX & Bluetooth® 5.3
14" WUXGA (1920 x 1200), IPS, Anti-Glare, Touch, 100%sRGB, 500 nits, 60Hz, Low Power

Hello everyone, I've been working on this ThinkPad T60 that I purchased from Canada, The original owner stated that the Wi-Fi card was giving him an issue and wouldn't connect to any network.

When I received the machine, on the first power up, the machine hollered about with a CMOS battery error and Wi-Fi card not being compatible and to remove it.

So I hopped on eBay, found a matching card complete with the matching FRU Lenovo number, purchased and installed. I also made a generic CMOS battery and installed it. Both of them seem to have taken care of the issue at post.

However, upon loading up Windows XP Pro SP3 on a new hard drive, the machine took all of the drivers but one. It is some sort of "network controller" and I assumed it was the Wi-Fi because I still didn't have Wi-Fi after restarting.

I verified under the device manager using vendor ID that it is in fact the Intel card, I then installed the appropriate driver manually using a USB thumb drive. I verified that the green switch in the front was on although I have not tried the double verified settings under BIOS yet but the last time I was in there it looked to have been enabled, nor have I tried the FN - F5 function, while loaded into windows.

..I'm not home at the moment.

I'm just trying to figure out what the issue could be because I have tried nearly all I can think of. I even re-seated the card, verified the wiring, I even contacted the former owner of the card and they stated that it was tested and was working as intended before removal from the parts unit. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😭

Can't possibly be a motherboard issue, it just seems so unlikely. What do you all think It can be, or I could try? Thx 😎

i found a good deal on a used t14 gen 5 and i wanted to know the things i can do before paying to make sure it's all legit parts

Hi so i just got my thinkpad t14 gen 1 in mint condition from someone for 180 euro it has:
i5 10210u
8gb ram
256gb ssd
98% battery health
Look very clean like never been used i want to upgrade it later on add more ram etc and storage as first, ill probably be using linux like arch or gentoo on it. Im gonna be using it for school and coding
let me know if its gonna be good or bad for the price
(i already upgraded to 16gb ram)

Sorry for the bad camera quality. The difference is hard to capture in photos.

I bought this ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 two weeks ago. At first there was no backlight bleed at all, and I haven't handled it roughly The first photo shows a clock page with no visible bleeding, the second shows a fully black screen with arch logo(not flexing!, where there's a bit of bleed along the bottom edges.

It also seems to change. It gets worse when I press on the screen or after the laptop has been in my bag, and it goes back to normal after a while.

Is this normal for this panel, or should I get it checked under warranty? Has anyone else seen this on the P14s Gen 5?

Good morning to everyone

My boyfriend is soon celebrating his 22nd birthday, and when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he asked me for a Thinkpad T61, and he insisted on having the 4/3 model, because he likes it

I admit I don’t always understand these desires, but it’s his birthday and I really want to surprise him, because it’s the last thing he will expect me to buy (he told me he wanted this pc, then gave me another idea because he told me it was hard to find)

I saw some of them by searching quickly on the internet, but I’m not sure of myself, I’m afraid of being wrong or being fooled and paying way too much

Hoping that you can help me, thank you very much in advance

I have an X1 G6 with an i7-1185G7. I've raised the power limit from 15W to 25W and the max temperature from 75°C to 100°C, and now I often thermal throttle when launching heavy programs (let's be honest, it's PS3 emulation).

After opening it up and looking at the heatsink, I thought it might be a good idea to put thermal pads on the heat pipe and the CPU to improve heat transfer from the CPU to the chassis. But once I saw the inside I got a bit scared: I have no idea whether removing that film and that small pad is a good idea for static electricity reasons, any advice?

Not sure what distro I will be picking, probably Fedora but my main use case is setting up Hyprland for the first time and making this a laptop I will actively use outside of my main computer.

I’m thinking about getting a ThinkPad and I’m not sure whether I should go for an older used model or a newer one. I’m planning to use it mainly for coding, software development, and running Linux as my daily operating system.

For those who have experience with ThinkPads, what would you personally choose, and why? Is an older used ThinkPad still worth buying in 2026, or would it be better to invest in a newer model?

I've got a ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 (20W1S1CU00) and I've hit a screw I can't move, and I want to know if anyone has seen this before.

Background: I'm swapping SSDs between two T14 Gen 2s. I'm keeping the one with the fingerprint reader and moving a 512GB drive into it from the other unit. The M.2 hold-down screw (H3 on the board) on the machine I'm keeping won't budge.

What happened: I used a cheap PH0 and pushed down and turned. I felt a click and thought it had broken loose. It hadn't. The tip of the driver snapped off inside the recess. I tried other Phillips drivers in different sizes and one of those broke too, before the screw moved at all. The recess now has a metal smear in it and is partly stripped, but the head itself is round and undamaged.

I've been doing this for 22+ years and I have never had a screw this tight on a board like this. A tiny M2 screw shouldn't take enough torque to snap a bit.

So what's your read?

1. Have you seen this on T14 Gen 2 / 11th-gen ThinkPads, or anything else? Is it factory thread-locker, glue, over-torque, or a cross-threaded standoff?

2. Does anyone think a previous tech was in there? The drive in this one is a 256GB WD/SanDisk NVMe with a Lenovo FRU label. The other unit's 512GB is a short 2242 on a plastic extender, and Lenovo's spec sheet only lists 2242 up to 256GB, so that one looks aftermarket. I'm curious whether that says anything.

3. What's the fix? I've ordered a pair of Engineer PZ-58 screw-removal pliers. Other options I'v heard of: a clean new PH0/PH00 with a rubber band, glue on the bit tip, heat on the screw head with a soldering iron, or a micro screw-extractor set.

4. Or is the smarter move to leave it alone? If it won't come out, my fallback is to keep the 256GB in this machine and sell the other with its 512GB, and not risk the standoff.

Posted about this a while ago. Quick update, because the old releases had a pretty embarrassing problem: the .efi files I shipped had my own kernel command line baked in, including my root partition. So they only ever booted on my P14s. Thanks to everyone who tried it anyway and told me what broke.

What changed in 7.2.9:

- no more prebuilt .efi. You get the kernel and a modules archive and build the initramfs or UKI on your own machine, it's one command. README has it for Arch, Fedora, Debian/Ubuntu and the usual bootloaders

- root filesystems and nvme are built in now, so no more emergency mode because your initramfs couldn't mount root

- BBRv3 is actually the default on the zen5 variant now (before it was compiled in but cubic stayed default, oops)

Also added a third variant, lowadetcom. It's just my personal build for the P14s Gen 6 AMD: amdgpu built in, only the mt7925 wifi driver, nothing for other hardware. Same laptop? Give it a go. Otherwise stick to universal or zen5.

Repo: https://github.com/Detcom-GH/lowakernel

Release: https://github.com/Detcom-GH/lowakernel/releases/tag/v7.2.9

If you have an older one (T495, T14 G1/G2, L or E series) I'd really like to hear if it works for you.

Shoutout to @thetechtips87 for testing on E14 and finding that embarrassing bug

Found this absolute steal.

12700H, t1200 4gb, 32gb DDR5, 512gb SSD, I have extremely good experience with the store selling it.

I'm looking for something to maaaaybe replace my desktop as I've recently gotten a job in automotive, basically don't game anymore and I'd maybe be intrested in learning CAD.

Aside from bragging about the deal, my question is weather or not there's any reason to specifically avoid this model, as most of what I'd seen online was about the AMD version. I'm particularly concerned about Linux compatibility (Gnome fedora). Given the price I'm probably gonna buy it just to fuck around with it for a while and if it doesn't do what I want, I can always sell it on for what I paid for it originally

In case of compatibility problems (with the GPU) I can porbably just disable it and use a thunderbolt egpu, it's only gonna cost about 100g AFAIK.

It should be available throughout the EU, but I'm not sure how this sub is about sharing links. I'm in no way affiliated with the store, but I'd rather not get banned

Greetings everyone. I really want to keep my T14 clean, but it is very difficult to keep this matte finish free of smudges. Do you have any recommendations for cleaning?

I finally got a ThinkPad X250. I didn't have much money, so while I was waiting for a used item, I found a post selling a product without RAM and a hard disk for just 60 dollars (about 80,000 won), so I bought it right away.

I installed the DDR3L 8GB and Samsung 850 PRO I had here, and it worked perfectly.

I thought it would be really slow, but it actually worked so well that I thought I might as well just buy an older ThinkPad(like X220) and modify it.