I recently found myself in a bit of a predicament. My beloved ThinkPad L440 was suffering from a serious issue - I accidentally injected 12V on the 5V rail of the left-hand side USB 3.0 port, causing the LCD backlight to immediately go out. After testing the LCD panel on another computer, it was clear that the issue was with the board itself. I was left wondering how I could trace the problem and replace the faulty component, and my frustration only grew as I began to suspect that a protection diode or an IC had been damaged.
It was clear that my trusty ThinkPad L440 was in need of some serious repairs, and I began to consider my options. While I could have spent the time and money to fix the broken component, I realized that it might be time to consider upgrading to a newer model. That's when I discovered the ThinkPad T460s, and I thus became a proud owner of the T460s.
The T460s offers all of the features that I loved about my L440, but with some serious upgrades, there's a little caveat though, less upgradability: while my older L440 allowed a CPU replacement, my new T460s has it soldered-in, same goes for RAM (I've got a 4GB soldered + 4GB SODIMM setup). The newer model boasts a sleeker design, longer battery life, and improved performance. Plus, as a Linux enthusiast, I knew that the T460s would be a perfect fit for my needs. Its hardware compatibility out-of-the-box with Linux makes ThinkPads just the great choice for all the penguin lovers and FOSS enthusiasts.
Of course, one of the biggest advantages of purchasing a second-hand ThinkPad is the price. I was able to get a great deal on a T460s in excellent condition, and I know that it will last me for years to come. And as someone who cares deeply about the environment, I appreciated the fact that I was making an eco-friendly choice by opting for a second-hand model rather than buying a brand new laptop.
You can get an used ThinkPad for VERY cheap on eBay or similar sites, but it all depends on the path you want to follow.
If you're into FOSS, you might wanna get a ThinkPad you can LibreBoot, like the X220 or T60 both of which range between $100-150 USD. If you want the newest features however you might want to consider something in the X1 Carbon lineup, or a X280 that ranges between $250-300 USD, in my case I'm somewhere in between those, so you might want to follow my steps and get either a T440p/L440 (both have same specs, but beware, the L440 CAN'T be installed with a FOSS firmware option like CoreBoot on the T440p) or a T460/T460s, both raging between $150-250 USD.
To finish this post, I want to finish with a cherry on top, and that is: it turned out the only issue with my older L440 was a shorted SMD fuse and a BIOS corruption, after reprogramming the BIOS and removing that fuse, my L440 continued working just fine! So really, God bless ThinkPads.
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