I’m unemployed and my current laptop died. Is ThinkPad T480 still the goto and does it still work for software development? Thinking of getting a Framework but I don’t want to spend that much right now.
Lenovo have progressively stripped away a lot of the features that made Thnkpads great. Rollcages, lack of a latch on the lid, steadily worsening upgradability, worse trackpads, worsening hinge design and poorer quality plastics across the board. T420-T430 would be my pick but I would also recommend used Dell Latitudes or HP Pro and Elitebooks
Check if https://freegeek.org/ works for you, they also have an eBay store
Looks like that site is dead and has being an AI slop domain squat.
Fixed the link, wrong tld, its .org Thanks for letting me know
I’d check Ebay for HP elite books, one gen old still has good performance, and fwupd pulls updates for them
Last I checked the highest spec of thinkpad t480 only has i7 8th gen with 4c8t, if you do a lot of compiling you probably gonna have to wait for a long time for medium to larger size projects, get anything with ryzen 6 cores or more instead
Yeah that’s my biggest concern
it’s fine but honestly there’s much better machines (performance wise) for better price these days, and the screen on T480 is usually pretty shit. i’d get something else if this is gonna be your primary machine.
Old Dells are cheaper and got great support
Gen 1 X13 currently go for 100-150 bucks, they are the best value but compiling time is gonna be pretty trash
What’s your budget? T480/580 are still good but they’re getting expensive.
Not sure. $200-300 is the range where I would almost certainly get one. If it’s more than that now then there’s other options I’d need to weigh.
5825u laptops are like $300 for the same amount of ram and storage as a T480. They are much faster and quite efficient.
T480s are around the $200-300 range. I will be honest, it’s not worth it at that point.
I’m personally on a refurb thinkpad t14. Works great
Funny, I just posted about buying a t480. I wont lie and say its the latest and greatest, but its a good machine. My main reason was the Linux support, but as others mentioned, Linux runs on just about anything.
I think it would depend on the kind of software you’re developing. If you’re doing web development, I’d say you’re good, game Dev, maybe not. There are also different models with diffrent specs. Some come with 8 gigs or sometimes more, some have a TN panel or an IPS, i7 vs i5 so just be on the lookout for what specs you want/need.
Buy a different thinkpad (an older gen T/L/E 14) (but check the upgradability), there is too much demand for it for it to be normally priced.
I wanted one in ~2023 and couldn’t find one under 300€, I then bought a Dell Latitude 5290 with the same CPU (i5-8350u) as the T480. The Latitude is working well enough, Dells (Latitudes and Precisions) are also a great thinkpad alternative - keep in mind they don’t have a trackpoint (since 2018).
Web Dev and JS Python then sure, t480 is fine. But t14 or something a bit faster for c++ or Rust etc with compiles.
Framework is actually cheaper if you think long. I mean ownership cost
My ideal laptop right now is the Framework 13 Pro which looks like a massive upgrade over their previous models but the configuration I want is like $2000 and it doesn’t ship until October anyways. There’s other configurations for $1000 or less refurbished then I could upgrade parts over time but I would end up replacing everything anyways. Repairing my Macbook M1 is also something I’m considering so I have an appointment tomorrow with the Apple store, but I’m guessing the entire logic board would have to be replaced which is expensive for a laptop that’s next on Apple’s axe list and is 3 generations older than the oldest laptops they sell, and while I like the laptop a lot the lack of repairability and official Linux support is really annoying as well, and I want a working laptop with a swappable SSD for security/business reasons anyways. Getting a cheap backup laptop that’s reliable is something I’ve been wanting for a while and would buy me more time to decide on a better laptop and find paid work.
If you’re coming from an Apple M1 and are considering a FrameWork and don’t want to get it, look at the ThinkPad P1 Gen 6/7. The T480 is old and won’t keep up.
are they though? you’re paying about twice as much and the upgrades/ parts aren’t much cheaper
does it still work for software development?
… Why wouldn’t it? Like you could do other things but not write code?
I’m mainly concerned about the old CPU being a lot slower at compiling larger projects than I realize or not being able to handle people’s latest JavaScript AI slop. If it can run Gentoo though then it should work.
For development? I’ve been using old Dell Latitudes. They are easier to work on than HPs, generally sturdy, and Debian runs great on them. You can get a used E7440 for next to nothing, and old RAM is still cheap.
