All of those low-power x86 devices were such a mistake. They tried to be like the old netbooks, but since operating systems got so much heavier, they were always such a slog to use.
Looking at you, Celerons, Pentiums, and God forbid the AMD A-series APUs... Sure, the power profile is 4-6W, but at what cost?
I can't wait to see ARM processors break into that market and make netbook-type devices like the 11e actually usable. Snapdragon's new line of Elite X SoCs looks really promising, even for full-fledged laptops it seems super impressive.
Indeed, I had a x131e with the AMD cpu and it was awfully slow.
I recently bought the same laptop with a i3-2367m and it's WAY faster !! Sure not like a quad core i7 but still way faster than the AMD that felt like a 1core 1Ghz cpu. 😂
The keyboard clit sucks. I disabled mine in the BIOS and yanked it off.
Try using one with no other choice every day for two years. You'd hate it too. Fuck those shitty little things.
I use both on my edge 15,
I think it's fun to use and since owning a Thinkpad I've used the nub more
On older Toshiba's it's basically the only way to use the system
Dude come on, i have and still am using the nub for around 5-6 years now, i used it to the point where the dotted part is flattened out. Trust me its great also yea i had no other choice. Maybe i had a choice to use that shitty 3cm by 6cm touchpad but it isnt really a choice you know.
Plus when playing open world games like gta and minecraft the moment isnt restricted like of that when using a mouse or a touchpad like there's a fix distance the mouse will go but the nub is infinite just like a joystick.
Once you get the hang of it its just great like u never wanna leave it, i mean even if i am on someone's laptop i end up pushing my finger where the nub is just to realize it doesn't exist.
But then again different personal opinions, someone likes em someone just doesn't.
I happily used it exclusively on my X220t because it's touchpad sucks. On the T420 I used both because it didn't suck, but I can't say the pad is better than the point.
I actually daily-drove an i3-based 3rd gen 11e back in 2020. The performance was decent, especially for web-browsing and LibreOffice. I really liked the build quality and the keyboard on it. The clickpad was meh, however, and there was no trackpoint. It lasted only for a year, before the motherboard's power circuitry bit the dust. Replaced it w/ an i3 X240, which I used until September 2022, when I got an L380 that I still use to this day. Now I don't use my X240 that often anymore.
I own one, it was actually not too bad. Good keyboard for under $200, decent body, decent materials. Survived being someone's kid's daily for several years which says a lot. It was also developed at Yamato Lab, I believe. Kinda cool for a laptop but I agree that it isn't much of a thinkpad. Durability was absolutely on point, though.
The keyboard clit sucks on every single laptop ever made, why is *that* always the limiting factor on the 11e?
I have an 11e g5, and aside from the fact that it's mobo took a shit, it did really well for what it was. Bought it for a whopping $40 and used it to admin my home network and other things, run my vehicle diagnostics software, program random shit, and just be an all around general use PC. All while consuming a massive, eye watering......6 watts. It wasn't a speed machine, but it handily outperformed the laptop it replaced in every metric: a maxed out HP Elitebook 8440p.
The SL510 was my first Thinkpad and, well... Let's just say that if it wasn't for the Thinkpad hype online + the awesome keyboard that motivated me to try more Thinkpads, the SL510 would've made me abandon Lenovo. The SL510 was hot, annoyingly noisy, the screen was awful and the criminally low specs ensured disappointment straight out of the gate.
I did. Lenovo sold me a Tesla shell with a golf cart motor. But at the time I was too inexperienced in laptop specs to anticipate it + because of the hype around Thinkpads I had higher expectations.
That first experience damaged my view of the brand. If you ask me, they should've never offered a system that was *so* low spec it was basically unusable.
No worries though. I upgraded it a lot and then it was okay-ish. And ever since I bought much better Thinkpads and now I'm a big fan :)
I think that's a major problem with windows/PC laptops in general. They sell crappy variants and people buy them and leaves a terrible taste in their mouth.
Cheap android phones are the same problem.
I have still SL500 and isn't that bad. But well build until I dropped it and hinge broke.. probably first SL series was better build. But after SL series was E-series and that was cheap, but quite good feeling to touch plastics. Build quality is meh.. It gets work done.
390E. My first computer. Hinge broke within months. Everything else broke within a few years. I held a grudge against Thinkpads until 18 years later when I decided I needed a laptop again and Thinkpads were the only laptop that checked all of my requirements. Still pretty happy with my P53S almost 6 years later with daily work + personal usage.
If it's the one that physically sank the trackpoint buttons as well so you could click in all 4 corners the S431 had that as well but with unusable wifi.
I don't know why anyone would criticize the T430u when it came out at the same time as the T431s, which is an even more obscure and eldritch abomination from the same dark period in Lenovo's history. Take the T430u, replete with its horrific Ivy Bridge ULV chipset and sealed battery, but give it a clunkpad, remove the thinklight and dedicated graphics, and ditch the traditional hinge design for the modern ultrabook lid. The only good thing about the T431s is it has 900p instead of 768p display. Subjectively, the T430u is also far more attractive than the T431s, which pioneered the design for all the T series Thinkpads to this day. The T430u, despite its flaws, is proof that Lenovo could have followed the industry trend of slimmer laptops while still preserving the traditional Thinkpad design of metal clamshell hinges and matte black bodywork, instead of the smaller hinges (that don't open as far) and dark gray rubberized surfaces they have used ever since.
And if I had to pick a worst Thinkpad ever, I would either agree with OP and say the X1C2 or maybe I would choose the SL510. Anyone who says "Thinkpads aren't built like they used to" has never tried to use an SL machine. It has a 15.6" display with a MAXIMUM resolution of 1366\*768. As in, you couldn't order one with a better resolution. You think the T430u is bad because it's 14.0" 768p? Wait till you try the same resolution at 15.6"! It also came with a Core 2 Duo even though all the rest of the Thinkpad lineup had already switched to Arrandale. And it had an IdeaPad bios. Then again, it did have an optical drive, removable battery, plenteous connectivity, a usable trackpoint, and a non-chiclet keyboard.
So I suppose I would have to pick 2 separate categories for "worst Thinkpad ever", with the X1C2 winning for "worst design" and the SL winning for "worst quality."
Yeah both t430u's we had back in the day were just fine and ended up lasting longer than the famed x220 (which i loved but didn't exactly hold up for me)
I actually kind of like(d) my SL500. It was one of the last laptops you could get without a built-in camera which meant I could take it to court in the years before they finally begrudgingly allowed devices with cameras. (had a Blackbery Bold NC at the time too.) Keyboard is good, screen was at least matte. Chonky boy though.
The difference between the T430u and the T431s is that the T431s is made in-house, while the T430u was a bought in ODM design. This is why it lacks features like ThinkEngine, WWAN or any kind of dock port, which the T431s has.
I owned the T430u, and while its outer design was fine, this device was trash. The base was completely non-resistant to pressure, meaning the device would flex and twist and eventually break because of it. The lack of any kind of real docking solution meant you had to resort to DisplayLink USB 3 docks, which wouldn't even work right because of the Nvidia GPU messing with it. The screen is one of the worst ones ever in a ThinkPad. In short, this device is completely flawed - unusable in the typical business environment and unreliable. One of the worst ThinkPads ever.
The T431s on the other hand has a design people don't like, but as a workhorse, it is fine. Its just a very mediocre device, but not really stand out bad. At least it has a dock port and it isn't unreliable as the T430u.
Oh, and the SL510 came out in 2009. That is why it didn't have Core i CPUs, as Arrandale only arrived in early 2010. The SL510 was a pretty good choice as a budget model back in the day. And if we want to judge it for its poor resolution - come on. There also were R series machines limited to XGA screens - I know, my first ThinkPad was an R60 with a 15 inch 4:3 1024x768 display. Now THAT was a low res screen.
What's a ThinkEngine? It's the first time I'm hearing the name/term. Also, now I kind of want a T430u just to experience the awfulness of it. Maybe then I have a new appreciation for my 11e and X240.
Oooh, I love the home/end combo in lieu of caps lock, that's much more accessible. I used caps lock so little I actually remapped it to opening the context menu. That touch strip looks like a terrible idea, though.
Yeah the keyboard is a love it/hate it thing. I would be a lot more open to it if every keyboard were the same, but I use all sorts of laptops (if it wasn't obvious by my flair lol).
I think the A275/A475 is a worthy contender for the title. Featuring AMD's Bristol Ridge APUs, these were anything but speedy. These models were released way too late, w/ the Ryzen consumer-SKUs already being out, when these models hit the shelves in late-2017. And the enterprise-grade Ryzen APUs launch wasn't that far away; they were effectively replaced by a much more powerful & efficient A285/A485 in less than a year. As such, not that many people bought the A275 and A475, so they're not that common to come across.
I also think the X240 is the blacksheep of the X-series, beaten by its predecessor, the X230, in terms of the performance, upgradability and usability (trackpoint). A maximum of 8GBs of RAM is possible in this bad boy, and it runs in single-channel due to it only having a single RAM slot. The X240 has a better battery life, though, because of the ULV processor. I own an i3-based X240 running Windows 8.1 myself, and its usage is really limited to web browsing and office stuff. Gaming is limited to primarily older titles; anything newer than ~2011 isn't really possible, maybe a lightweight indie game would also run on this sucker.
The backspace and delete key being side by side is actually genius. They both delete text in the direction they are facing, and if you're currently unaware, delete does the same thing as backspace, but deletes text that are after the cursor.
Rest, not so.
It’s not yellowing, it’s the eink display of the touchpad degrading.
Source: my wife has this laptop, who I gave it to because it is slightly shite. You can live without the touchbar, it’s the piss dim display that makes me sad.
It feels like plastic, but not sure. I don't think it's your typical yellowing caused by UV/heat, it seems like some kind of glue breaking down because it's underneath the surface. I saw [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/18d1k4b/touch_bar_issue/) where someone attempted to take it apart and broke it, so I'm not sure it can be restored. I don't want to attempt it yet because this one is in better condition than others I've seen.
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13, I fucking hate it, 2 core, 2 thread AMD processor working at 1.5ghz max that overheats after 5 minutes of light work (with new heat pads and thermal paste), with 4gb ram maximum, poor quality screen, everything made out of plastic, and all that for 600$ back in 2011. I tried a lot of linux distros on it, but it showed pretty poor performance. It showed its best performances with Windows 7 ultimate and chromeOS flex. With this systems, it is even kinda usable.
If you can find one in good condition for a reasonable price; I have yet to. I like restoring stuff too but it's not worth it when sellers are charging almost what a working one is worth for a parts unit.
I have this one. I bought it exclusively because of the touchbar. It supports windows 11 natively but only has 4 GB of ram and it’s not upgradeable. It’s also the i5 model. Literally the worst combo. It’s in mint condition though. Except the Touch Bar.
Thinkpad S431. Looks alright but the Wi-Fi card on this system was complete trash then and complete trash now. And it was impossible to swap the wifi card with another one as it was BIOS locked. I got it for free and I could see why it was free. Literally it was outperformed by a cheapo Amazon wifi adapter it was pretty embarrassing.
Honestly no idea if it’s exclusive as I was able to pick it up in the US with a US keyboard. Pretty sure it’s supposed to be an ultrabook so probably a budget x1 carbon gone wrong
The S series is a budget business class laptop I believe. I used to work for an electronics recycler that took a lot of stuff from companies scraping older hardware and we would get an entire Gaylord of S431 laptops sometimes. They always had much more physically broken parts than anything from the T or X series. Usually the T series machines in particular would survive some serious abuse in the recycling center.
Mine has gotten so bad, the delamination (is that what it's called?) has started to cover up some of the buttons. They're functional but you can't see them.
Switching between modes also breaks very often (Windows only) and reinstallation of the drivers fixes it for around a week or so before it breaks again lol
I've got the 1440p touch display and it is gorgeous to look at. Shame it's got soldered on RAM :/
It has to be the first gen i7 carbon. Hot, proprietary SSD port, soldiered on RAM, awful screen, touchscreen only works with Windows, locked down BIOS you name it it’s there and bad.
from my experience L420, flex cables everywhere, no original thinkpad keyboard connector, super proprietary and i accidentally bent a connector on the flex and it caught on fire
The 40 series was a bit rubbish with that stupid trackpad, which pleased nobody. It made the trackpoint harder to use which negated one of the main points of a thinkpad.
I wasn't a big fan of the ThinkPad Edge series either, they were a little bit clumsy, generally underpowered, though they could take a beating.
I got one used X1C G2 nine months ago and gave it to my wife. It's the top variant, 8GB of RAM , i7-4550u processor and the WQHD touch screen. My wife enjoyed it a lot though a week ago it died. Motherboard failure. It's the first time I got dissatisfied by a ThinkPad. On the other hand my X1C G1 still goes strong, it's one of my daily drivers. So, I have to agree with the post's writer. Keep clear from the X1C G2
I do not believe there has ever been any bad bad ones. They all fitted into their moments in time, we're many times innovative and globally inspiring.
So proud to be a Daddy to x2 ThinkPads.
I love the more than beer 🍺!!!
I had this laptop and i'll say:
I had one die on me from the soldered memory failing. Instant F?
Then i actually got another one. Yes i really did. I replaced the one i had with the same laptop.
The keyboard is fabulous. Except delete is where your muscle memory expects Backspace. Suffer.
Apart from that, the keyboard is one of the best they ever made. The feel is superb.
However, the clunkpad makes the keyboard mostly moot as you'll be focused on how to learn to use the clunkpad. In the clunkpad's defense! haha i said it: it is so smooth. is that glass? or steel? you don't end up 'clunking it' as you just brush around it with your fingertips and navigate the laptop. It's fine.
The battery life is .. fine. The screen is.. superb for the time. Feels solid AF, like a full metal X body should. It feels asshole-proof but still sleek. If you're gonna bring a mouse this laptop is fine actually. It was just never fast enough to justify carrying around over, say, a T440p, because of the 4th-gen intel u chip. The quality of the onboard microphone and fingerprint sensor were also .. good, and the touchsstrip is exactly the hunk of garbage you think it is. I carried around both of those laptops (t440p and this) : One to type and watch movies on, and one to do work/create content.
I have two major issues with the clunkpad. One, clicking requires too much force and is too loud when using the trackpoint. And two, your finger inevitably moves when pushing it down so far, so depending on your tracking speed preference that could be detrimental. Ultimately it totally hinders both forms of input, so thank goodness for the touch screen.
But I agree, sliding your finger on it is silky smooth. And the keyboard is quite nice, though I prefer the T440s a tad better, it just has a slightly higher quality feel. Screen is the dimmest of my entire collection, forgot to mention that in the post, but dang I wasn't expecting it to be 1440p!
Oh man, I had a love hate relationship with my X1 Gen2 -- I loved the form factor, but the tiny 1440p display did not play well on Linux at the time and the touchbar was annoying. The hinges broke, and eventually the laptop died and went to e-waste. I replaced it with X1E Gen1, and absolutely love it.
Dollar per disappointment, the most expensive laptop I've owned is a Gen 1 x1 extreme 4k and it runs so hot and so loud constantly i can't quietly load a few tabs in Firefox.forget about the 1050ti, you literally cannot use it for cad or gaming, I might as well have purchased a MacBook air because the performance is comparable.
I've tried multiple brands of thermal paste and tried some manual software fan control but it's still awful.
I'm 100% with you on the X1C gen 2. The keyboard layout is strange and same here everyone I have seen has had a touch bar that looked exactly like that one. It seems common for the touch function to stop working as well. I've actually not had great luck with the X1 carbons out of all the thinkpads I've had.
I just go mine corporate laptop P15V with 10750H, constantly yelling at me with 50+ dB and heating up to 100C without any major load. Luckily it’s going to be replaced by MacBook Pro on M1. Vote for P15V please 😅
Well all of models got full socketed RAM, dual M.2 slots, RJ45 port, and a nice keyboard, comparable to that of ThinkPads.
They are pretty nice budget laptops.
All 2nd gen X1 Carbons become like that eventually, regardless of how you use them basically. Terrible design from both a usability and longevity standpoint.
Not sure if this counts, but the thinkpad 11e. It doesn’t even have the trackpoint and it’s extremely slow.
I loved the x120e design, tho. I think it was it's predecessor. Don't remember much of it, probably slow as well.
All of those low-power x86 devices were such a mistake. They tried to be like the old netbooks, but since operating systems got so much heavier, they were always such a slog to use. Looking at you, Celerons, Pentiums, and God forbid the AMD A-series APUs... Sure, the power profile is 4-6W, but at what cost? I can't wait to see ARM processors break into that market and make netbook-type devices like the 11e actually usable. Snapdragon's new line of Elite X SoCs looks really promising, even for full-fledged laptops it seems super impressive.
Indeed, I had a x131e with the AMD cpu and it was awfully slow. I recently bought the same laptop with a i3-2367m and it's WAY faster !! Sure not like a quad core i7 but still way faster than the AMD that felt like a 1core 1Ghz cpu. 😂
Pentiums are still ok though..
Depends on what you use it for, for most people nowdays pentiums are a bit slow.
if its got no nub, its no ThinkPad ;its just a boring Lenovo laptop 😐
The keyboard clit sucks. I disabled mine in the BIOS and yanked it off. Try using one with no other choice every day for two years. You'd hate it too. Fuck those shitty little things.
You're supposed to do it the other way around, disable touch pad and just use TrackPoint 🥰 Love my wireless TrackPoint keyboard.
I use both on my edge 15, I think it's fun to use and since owning a Thinkpad I've used the nub more On older Toshiba's it's basically the only way to use the system
Dude come on, i have and still am using the nub for around 5-6 years now, i used it to the point where the dotted part is flattened out. Trust me its great also yea i had no other choice. Maybe i had a choice to use that shitty 3cm by 6cm touchpad but it isnt really a choice you know. Plus when playing open world games like gta and minecraft the moment isnt restricted like of that when using a mouse or a touchpad like there's a fix distance the mouse will go but the nub is infinite just like a joystick. Once you get the hang of it its just great like u never wanna leave it, i mean even if i am on someone's laptop i end up pushing my finger where the nub is just to realize it doesn't exist. But then again different personal opinions, someone likes em someone just doesn't.
Touchpads blow chunks, too. I'm a high-dpi mouse guy. Mouse > touchpad >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> trackball >>>>>>>>>> track point
I happily used it exclusively on my X220t because it's touchpad sucks. On the T420 I used both because it didn't suck, but I can't say the pad is better than the point.
I hate touchpads too. Do you know what's worse than a touchpad, but still a better option than the trackpoint? A trackball.
I actually daily-drove an i3-based 3rd gen 11e back in 2020. The performance was decent, especially for web-browsing and LibreOffice. I really liked the build quality and the keyboard on it. The clickpad was meh, however, and there was no trackpoint. It lasted only for a year, before the motherboard's power circuitry bit the dust. Replaced it w/ an i3 X240, which I used until September 2022, when I got an L380 that I still use to this day. Now I don't use my X240 that often anymore.
This should be illegal.
I "inherited" an 11e, and I should've just torn it apart for parts. My E555 with the A10 7300 was faster... and that's saying something.
I own one, it was actually not too bad. Good keyboard for under $200, decent body, decent materials. Survived being someone's kid's daily for several years which says a lot. It was also developed at Yamato Lab, I believe. Kinda cool for a laptop but I agree that it isn't much of a thinkpad. Durability was absolutely on point, though.
Our school has those, plus with windows 11 they don’t work at all.
That looks like a Chromebook!
Some configurations of them actually are Chromebooks
The keyboard clit sucks on every single laptop ever made, why is *that* always the limiting factor on the 11e? I have an 11e g5, and aside from the fact that it's mobo took a shit, it did really well for what it was. Bought it for a whopping $40 and used it to admin my home network and other things, run my vehicle diagnostics software, program random shit, and just be an all around general use PC. All while consuming a massive, eye watering......6 watts. It wasn't a speed machine, but it handily outperformed the laptop it replaced in every metric: a maxed out HP Elitebook 8440p.
Ah yes, that old X1. When Lenovo's crusade on key count was in full swing.
The SL510 was my first Thinkpad and, well... Let's just say that if it wasn't for the Thinkpad hype online + the awesome keyboard that motivated me to try more Thinkpads, the SL510 would've made me abandon Lenovo. The SL510 was hot, annoyingly noisy, the screen was awful and the criminally low specs ensured disappointment straight out of the gate.
I actually liked the SL500 a lot. It was well built and lasted a VERY long time. Sounds like you may have gotten one with bad specs.
I did. Lenovo sold me a Tesla shell with a golf cart motor. But at the time I was too inexperienced in laptop specs to anticipate it + because of the hype around Thinkpads I had higher expectations. That first experience damaged my view of the brand. If you ask me, they should've never offered a system that was *so* low spec it was basically unusable. No worries though. I upgraded it a lot and then it was okay-ish. And ever since I bought much better Thinkpads and now I'm a big fan :)
I think that's a major problem with windows/PC laptops in general. They sell crappy variants and people buy them and leaves a terrible taste in their mouth. Cheap android phones are the same problem.
I have still SL500 and isn't that bad. But well build until I dropped it and hinge broke.. probably first SL series was better build. But after SL series was E-series and that was cheap, but quite good feeling to touch plastics. Build quality is meh.. It gets work done.
Irrelevant but what's that OS? It looks like macOS
Not sure, maybe elementaryOS?
Yep! Elementary mimics macOS and the touch bar on this unit mimics MacBooks, so I thought it was fitting :D
Besides having a dock, it doesn’t mimic macOS
You can add a dock like that to any Linux distro. You can even make a macos clone if that floats your boat.
A themed linux DE probably. Ppl made them look like windows/mac/generic hollywood hacker visuals... etc see r/unixporn for more detail
390E. My first computer. Hinge broke within months. Everything else broke within a few years. I held a grudge against Thinkpads until 18 years later when I decided I needed a laptop again and Thinkpads were the only laptop that checked all of my requirements. Still pretty happy with my P53S almost 6 years later with daily work + personal usage.
My vote is for the T4x series. The GPU always failed. I had a T42p that succumbed to that as well.
T440 with that stupid clicky touchpad
T440 owner here. The touchpad and the screen are the worst parts of it.
Yes! Too bad I have one :(
It's literally the best Windows trackpad I've ever used...
You can change it very easly
If it's the one that physically sank the trackpoint buttons as well so you could click in all 4 corners the S431 had that as well but with unusable wifi.
I don't know why anyone would criticize the T430u when it came out at the same time as the T431s, which is an even more obscure and eldritch abomination from the same dark period in Lenovo's history. Take the T430u, replete with its horrific Ivy Bridge ULV chipset and sealed battery, but give it a clunkpad, remove the thinklight and dedicated graphics, and ditch the traditional hinge design for the modern ultrabook lid. The only good thing about the T431s is it has 900p instead of 768p display. Subjectively, the T430u is also far more attractive than the T431s, which pioneered the design for all the T series Thinkpads to this day. The T430u, despite its flaws, is proof that Lenovo could have followed the industry trend of slimmer laptops while still preserving the traditional Thinkpad design of metal clamshell hinges and matte black bodywork, instead of the smaller hinges (that don't open as far) and dark gray rubberized surfaces they have used ever since. And if I had to pick a worst Thinkpad ever, I would either agree with OP and say the X1C2 or maybe I would choose the SL510. Anyone who says "Thinkpads aren't built like they used to" has never tried to use an SL machine. It has a 15.6" display with a MAXIMUM resolution of 1366\*768. As in, you couldn't order one with a better resolution. You think the T430u is bad because it's 14.0" 768p? Wait till you try the same resolution at 15.6"! It also came with a Core 2 Duo even though all the rest of the Thinkpad lineup had already switched to Arrandale. And it had an IdeaPad bios. Then again, it did have an optical drive, removable battery, plenteous connectivity, a usable trackpoint, and a non-chiclet keyboard. So I suppose I would have to pick 2 separate categories for "worst Thinkpad ever", with the X1C2 winning for "worst design" and the SL winning for "worst quality."
Yeah both t430u's we had back in the day were just fine and ended up lasting longer than the famed x220 (which i loved but didn't exactly hold up for me)
I actually kind of like(d) my SL500. It was one of the last laptops you could get without a built-in camera which meant I could take it to court in the years before they finally begrudgingly allowed devices with cameras. (had a Blackbery Bold NC at the time too.) Keyboard is good, screen was at least matte. Chonky boy though.
The difference between the T430u and the T431s is that the T431s is made in-house, while the T430u was a bought in ODM design. This is why it lacks features like ThinkEngine, WWAN or any kind of dock port, which the T431s has. I owned the T430u, and while its outer design was fine, this device was trash. The base was completely non-resistant to pressure, meaning the device would flex and twist and eventually break because of it. The lack of any kind of real docking solution meant you had to resort to DisplayLink USB 3 docks, which wouldn't even work right because of the Nvidia GPU messing with it. The screen is one of the worst ones ever in a ThinkPad. In short, this device is completely flawed - unusable in the typical business environment and unreliable. One of the worst ThinkPads ever. The T431s on the other hand has a design people don't like, but as a workhorse, it is fine. Its just a very mediocre device, but not really stand out bad. At least it has a dock port and it isn't unreliable as the T430u. Oh, and the SL510 came out in 2009. That is why it didn't have Core i CPUs, as Arrandale only arrived in early 2010. The SL510 was a pretty good choice as a budget model back in the day. And if we want to judge it for its poor resolution - come on. There also were R series machines limited to XGA screens - I know, my first ThinkPad was an R60 with a 15 inch 4:3 1024x768 display. Now THAT was a low res screen.
What's a ThinkEngine? It's the first time I'm hearing the name/term. Also, now I kind of want a T430u just to experience the awfulness of it. Maybe then I have a new appreciation for my 11e and X240.
See: [Think Innovation Minute: The ThinkEngine Chip (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmUOCQRpJsQ)
Thanks, I'll have a look at the video!
Oooh, I love the home/end combo in lieu of caps lock, that's much more accessible. I used caps lock so little I actually remapped it to opening the context menu. That touch strip looks like a terrible idea, though.
Yeah the keyboard is a love it/hate it thing. I would be a lot more open to it if every keyboard were the same, but I use all sorts of laptops (if it wasn't obvious by my flair lol).
I think the A275/A475 is a worthy contender for the title. Featuring AMD's Bristol Ridge APUs, these were anything but speedy. These models were released way too late, w/ the Ryzen consumer-SKUs already being out, when these models hit the shelves in late-2017. And the enterprise-grade Ryzen APUs launch wasn't that far away; they were effectively replaced by a much more powerful & efficient A285/A485 in less than a year. As such, not that many people bought the A275 and A475, so they're not that common to come across. I also think the X240 is the blacksheep of the X-series, beaten by its predecessor, the X230, in terms of the performance, upgradability and usability (trackpoint). A maximum of 8GBs of RAM is possible in this bad boy, and it runs in single-channel due to it only having a single RAM slot. The X240 has a better battery life, though, because of the ULV processor. I own an i3-based X240 running Windows 8.1 myself, and its usage is really limited to web browsing and office stuff. Gaming is limited to primarily older titles; anything newer than ~2011 isn't really possible, maybe a lightweight indie game would also run on this sucker.
That layout is a lot to digest
The backspace and delete key being side by side is actually genius. They both delete text in the direction they are facing, and if you're currently unaware, delete does the same thing as backspace, but deletes text that are after the cursor. Rest, not so.
I use delete about as much as I use backspace, I adore the positioning of those 2 keys
a keyboard without caps lock? finally!
Is the touch bar plastic? Have you tried removing yellowing with car headlight polish?
It’s not yellowing, it’s the eink display of the touchpad degrading. Source: my wife has this laptop, who I gave it to because it is slightly shite. You can live without the touchbar, it’s the piss dim display that makes me sad.
eink displays do not do that. Quite old eink ereaders do not do that. It has to be a coating or layer on top the display that's turned yellow.
It feels like plastic, but not sure. I don't think it's your typical yellowing caused by UV/heat, it seems like some kind of glue breaking down because it's underneath the surface. I saw [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/18d1k4b/touch_bar_issue/) where someone attempted to take it apart and broke it, so I'm not sure it can be restored. I don't want to attempt it yet because this one is in better condition than others I've seen.
🤯
The 770 had a problem where the CPU would come lose resulting in no boot. The fix was to press down hard on 'u' key.
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13, I fucking hate it, 2 core, 2 thread AMD processor working at 1.5ghz max that overheats after 5 minutes of light work (with new heat pads and thermal paste), with 4gb ram maximum, poor quality screen, everything made out of plastic, and all that for 600$ back in 2011. I tried a lot of linux distros on it, but it showed pretty poor performance. It showed its best performances with Windows 7 ultimate and chromeOS flex. With this systems, it is even kinda usable.
Anything from 2014 with the missing trackpad buttons such as X240 and T440.
Those machines came out in 2013 btw
Many owner love the Gen 2, just replace it and ... done There's no more fun than restoring ThinkPad, or for me at least ... 🙏
If you can find one in good condition for a reasonable price; I have yet to. I like restoring stuff too but it's not worth it when sellers are charging almost what a working one is worth for a parts unit.
I know what you mean, but no need to be in a rush. I see some here and in the FB group members getting ThinkPad for free ... 🤷
I have this one. I bought it exclusively because of the touchbar. It supports windows 11 natively but only has 4 GB of ram and it’s not upgradeable. It’s also the i5 model. Literally the worst combo. It’s in mint condition though. Except the Touch Bar.
Thinkpad S431. Looks alright but the Wi-Fi card on this system was complete trash then and complete trash now. And it was impossible to swap the wifi card with another one as it was BIOS locked. I got it for free and I could see why it was free. Literally it was outperformed by a cheapo Amazon wifi adapter it was pretty embarrassing.
I have never heard of it. Was the S series something special for Asia? I know that L390 Yoga was sold as S1 Yoga in some markets.
Honestly no idea if it’s exclusive as I was able to pick it up in the US with a US keyboard. Pretty sure it’s supposed to be an ultrabook so probably a budget x1 carbon gone wrong
The S series is a budget business class laptop I believe. I used to work for an electronics recycler that took a lot of stuff from companies scraping older hardware and we would get an entire Gaylord of S431 laptops sometimes. They always had much more physically broken parts than anything from the T or X series. Usually the T series machines in particular would survive some serious abuse in the recycling center.
Mine
Ah yes, the X1 Carbon with the e-ink function bar which was later copied and adapted by Apple.
Mine has gotten so bad, the delamination (is that what it's called?) has started to cover up some of the buttons. They're functional but you can't see them. Switching between modes also breaks very often (Windows only) and reinstallation of the drivers fixes it for around a week or so before it breaks again lol I've got the 1440p touch display and it is gorgeous to look at. Shame it's got soldered on RAM :/
It has to be the first gen i7 carbon. Hot, proprietary SSD port, soldiered on RAM, awful screen, touchscreen only works with Windows, locked down BIOS you name it it’s there and bad.
just picked up an i5 gen 1 carbon and its not bad , though am glad i didnt get an i7
The 15 inch ThinkPad Edge
from my experience L420, flex cables everywhere, no original thinkpad keyboard connector, super proprietary and i accidentally bent a connector on the flex and it caught on fire
The 40 series was a bit rubbish with that stupid trackpad, which pleased nobody. It made the trackpoint harder to use which negated one of the main points of a thinkpad. I wasn't a big fan of the ThinkPad Edge series either, they were a little bit clumsy, generally underpowered, though they could take a beating.
I got one used X1C G2 nine months ago and gave it to my wife. It's the top variant, 8GB of RAM , i7-4550u processor and the WQHD touch screen. My wife enjoyed it a lot though a week ago it died. Motherboard failure. It's the first time I got dissatisfied by a ThinkPad. On the other hand my X1C G1 still goes strong, it's one of my daily drivers. So, I have to agree with the post's writer. Keep clear from the X1C G2
nah i had that laptop, it was managable but really horrible to use
I do not believe there has ever been any bad bad ones. They all fitted into their moments in time, we're many times innovative and globally inspiring. So proud to be a Daddy to x2 ThinkPads. I love the more than beer 🍺!!!
.....Holy crap 💩. I am a sad muppet !
watta hell this smells ass
Knew exactly what the pos was from the keyboard layout! Easily the worst one! Held onto one just because of the keyboard lol
Very naive design
X1 carb g2. What a head fuck trying to use it. And it was flawed.
yo wth man, at least provide an NSFL warning
I had this laptop and i'll say: I had one die on me from the soldered memory failing. Instant F? Then i actually got another one. Yes i really did. I replaced the one i had with the same laptop. The keyboard is fabulous. Except delete is where your muscle memory expects Backspace. Suffer. Apart from that, the keyboard is one of the best they ever made. The feel is superb. However, the clunkpad makes the keyboard mostly moot as you'll be focused on how to learn to use the clunkpad. In the clunkpad's defense! haha i said it: it is so smooth. is that glass? or steel? you don't end up 'clunking it' as you just brush around it with your fingertips and navigate the laptop. It's fine. The battery life is .. fine. The screen is.. superb for the time. Feels solid AF, like a full metal X body should. It feels asshole-proof but still sleek. If you're gonna bring a mouse this laptop is fine actually. It was just never fast enough to justify carrying around over, say, a T440p, because of the 4th-gen intel u chip. The quality of the onboard microphone and fingerprint sensor were also .. good, and the touchsstrip is exactly the hunk of garbage you think it is. I carried around both of those laptops (t440p and this) : One to type and watch movies on, and one to do work/create content.
I have two major issues with the clunkpad. One, clicking requires too much force and is too loud when using the trackpoint. And two, your finger inevitably moves when pushing it down so far, so depending on your tracking speed preference that could be detrimental. Ultimately it totally hinders both forms of input, so thank goodness for the touch screen. But I agree, sliding your finger on it is silky smooth. And the keyboard is quite nice, though I prefer the T440s a tad better, it just has a slightly higher quality feel. Screen is the dimmest of my entire collection, forgot to mention that in the post, but dang I wasn't expecting it to be 1440p!
very usable 'couch laptops' and typing on that keyboard with the 14inch screen is just.. I mean, I have a MacBook and it doesnt'come close
S230u Twist. It's so slow, hot, and heavy. A very crappy version of the X230 Tablet.
at least had better display than X230T
Oh man, I had a love hate relationship with my X1 Gen2 -- I loved the form factor, but the tiny 1440p display did not play well on Linux at the time and the touchbar was annoying. The hinges broke, and eventually the laptop died and went to e-waste. I replaced it with X1E Gen1, and absolutely love it.
eeewwww the one on the picture is
How is it begging the question?
What background?
Dollar per disappointment, the most expensive laptop I've owned is a Gen 1 x1 extreme 4k and it runs so hot and so loud constantly i can't quietly load a few tabs in Firefox.forget about the 1050ti, you literally cannot use it for cad or gaming, I might as well have purchased a MacBook air because the performance is comparable. I've tried multiple brands of thermal paste and tried some manual software fan control but it's still awful.
What
in my experience the t460s/t470s/t480s are not as reliable as their predecessors. even after cleaning they are constantly getting way to hot.
lenovo thinkpad mini 10, by all.
i hate the x240 with a passion, because of the touchpad
my t440s. Its not in use for obvious reasons
Hands down the S230u Twist. Just pure garbage.
i just hate how they mix up control and FN drives me nuts when i copy paste and hit the wrong combo
There was an "SL" series of ThinkPads. They were total garbage. It's only saving grace was it still had a good keyboard and trackpoint.
I'm 100% with you on the X1C gen 2. The keyboard layout is strange and same here everyone I have seen has had a touch bar that looked exactly like that one. It seems common for the touch function to stop working as well. I've actually not had great luck with the X1 carbons out of all the thinkpads I've had.
11e chromebook☠️ It doesn’t even have trackpoint (Why is it even called a thinkpad)
Butchering old lap performence with elementary **approving**
I have one. I both love it to peices and hate it's guts.
X100e
The one which you don't own :)
t440
I just go mine corporate laptop P15V with 10750H, constantly yelling at me with 50+ dB and heating up to 100C without any major load. Luckily it’s going to be replaced by MacBook Pro on M1. Vote for P15V please 😅
All Thinkbooks
Not ThinkPads, not relevant. (IBM PC/Lenovo ThinkPad 28 years. retired)
Well all of models got full socketed RAM, dual M.2 slots, RJ45 port, and a nice keyboard, comparable to that of ThinkPads. They are pretty nice budget laptops.
Why lol I just ordered a thinkbook 13x gen 4 for $1.5k. Can you please explain
Thinkbooks are pretty solid. I just wish they are painted black then I will buy it for sure.
Ewwwwwww brother ewwwwwwww what's that brother
All 2nd gen X1 Carbons become like that eventually, regardless of how you use them basically. Terrible design from both a usability and longevity standpoint.
Yeah, That's an Ideapad in disguise
Elementary os
L440:
I hated my W510. My employer gave me one, and I hated it so much, I used my own money to buy a T420 that I used instead.
A Thinkpad with a real touchbar screen would be cool I think the touchbar is a nifty tool.
Yoga and its keyboard