Thinkpads in 2020

2020 is just around the corner, and I have been messing with my Thinkpads again, as well as recommending, shopping for, and thinking carefully about Thinkpads in the coming year. For refrence, I have five Thinkpads of my own, a X1 Carbon (1st gen), X61, T61, X200 and X220. Of those, I only have daily driven the X1 and X220 for the previous year. These are the laptops I consider the limit for where to go shopping for Thinkpads. All the Core 2 Duos and 1st gen Intel Core devices are really starting to show their age in raw horsepower, as well as I/O capabilities. Other quality of life features are also missing, such as backlit keyboards, HDMI, Thunderbolt, USB 3.0+, full HD screens, and AC wifi. These going into 2020 are very noticible, as modern low cost devices often have some of these features at the same price as a used device. Even the great benefits of the old Thinkpads are hard to justify picking them up: better keyboard layout and typing experience, ability to neuter Intel Management Engine or Coreboot, better form factor, and availability. These older devices often do not have the battery life to keep up today (especially the older ultrabook processor models of X1s, etc). That doesn’t make these devices an automatic skip-over, but for similar prices what can you get in the Thinkpad line?

The old IBM laptops are not worth daily driving, too many comprismises in hardware and software (32bit). The first gen Lenovo X200 is probably where to go for Libre-minded individuals, although the more tech savy could go for a X220/X230. Beyond the X220 (or T420, but I will just use one letter to denote both of these models. The T is the bigger version of the X), there is the X230, which is the last one before the dreaded keyboard switch. Apart from that, pretty similar, and not a major body style change like the X240, which is reasonable. It and the X250 are very similar in price (smart shopping can get below $200 USD!), which seem the like the logical step to move to if just wanting a solid performing used laptop. But these devices aren’t really very special. The X260 are just getting under $300 USD, and for $250 on a great deal! This is really what people should be getting in 2020, as they are a great price for many modern features without any comprimises. The X270 is not a good deal yet, and the desireable X280 (due to less power consumption on the 8th gen Intel chips) is not yet on the used market, but the one to keep and eye out for towards the end of the year.

For the ultrabooks in the X1 series, there are really only a few options. The 1st gen is reliably found for ~$115 USD, and decent for the price, considering the form factor. Battery life and availability (new batteries are ~$50 USD) are what hurt this model. 2nd gen should be skipped due to poor quality. 3rd and 4th gen are practically the same prices, so 4th should be selected, and like the X260 has no comprimises and just the right price. 5th gen up are not really on the used market yet, but may be good picks by the end of the year.

I hope this helps anyone looking into Thinkpads this year. I have spent a lot of time researching this topic, and will likely be doing Thinkpads for a long time to come, given the hardware and durability available for the price on the used market. Linux support is often very good on these devices, hence why it has stayed such an important device compared to those similar models put out by competitors.