My Laptop

My Laptop

  • mdo  k3tan
  •   General
  •   March 31, 2021

Just over a year ago, I purchased a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad X230 off eBay. I've been using it everyday as a daily driver. It has its pros and cons which I'll go through, but so far, it has been the best laptop I have owned.

Here are the specs.

  • Make/model: Lenovo ThinkPad X230
  • CPU: i5 3320M 2.6GHz
  • RAM: 8GB DDR3
  • Storage: 128GB SSD
  • Cost: AUD $256.91

I have since upgraded it to 16GB DDR3 RAM and the other modification I have made is flashed the BIOS with Skulls. I tried using QubesOS but in the end opted out - it was just too much for my needs and only had 8GB of RAM at the time.

In terms of operating system, I landed on Pop!_OS. It has the "it just works" factor to it. It runs incredibly well for all my needs.

In terms of pros, this has been the cheapest laptop I have ever bought. I'm expecting this laptop to last for a long time. Thinkpad's have a reputation of being built to last. So far, it's lived up to that, keeping in mind it's a refurbished computer. I like the screen size. Upgrades can be made with minimal fuss. Battery life is good for when I'm on the go as well. For all of my browsing and bitcoin needs, this laptop has been excellent.

In terms of cons, there's a few. My biggest gripe is the trackpad. It's just completely rubbish, but I am comparing it against a Macbook Pro. It has an old school VGA port, no HDMI port. The webcam isn't great either. The laptop itself is quite bulky and thick.

I would like get a new laptop at some stage, but a couple things hold me back.

  1. I'd want to figure out how to flash coreboot/libreboot on to whichever laptop I decide on. This will take a bit of time and effort.
  2. I see nothing wrong with my existing laptop. Everything works perfectly, I can't justify getting a new one. Other than some additional comforts, there really is no need to fork out money on another laptop.

Some features I'd like in my next laptop would be a better trackpad, slimmer design, higher screen resolution and USB-C charging.

But for now, I will continue to use this one.


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