I need to upgrade my laptop and one of the things I’m looking for is repairability/upgradability. I’ve been told thinkpads are good in this respect, how true is that? In terms of replacing batteries and memory, at least. I’m also looking at the frameworks, but those black friday deals are looking alright at lenovo.
With that in mind, any particular series of thinkpad (L, S, whatever) I should look for? I’m hardline against nvidia but is there a reason to pick AMD over Intel (or vice versa)? They both are privacy nightmares, right? And there is no “good alternative?”
The repairability is still good, you can get parts and there’s a manual published by Lenovo that will guide you on everything. But upgradability just isn’t there anymore. I guess in some of the high end P series like P1, but most have soldered RAM now. The AMD models even have soldered wifi cards. I like my P14s g4 AMD, and also my T14s g3 AMD from work, but I’m really looking forward to the progression of Framework, and also System76’s in-house design.
AMD currently tends towards running significantly cooler and quieter, and the graphics in the APU are far better.
Edit: I agree to avoid the E and L series, L is better than E if you absolutely must. But I wouldn’t. I’d also avoid the X1, they sacrifice way too much to be thin. The T series is really the sweet spot. T14s is tuned to run cool and quiet, and is only about 1mm thinner than the T14. The T14 is middle ground, and boosts a little more but sacrifices a bit of noise. I really can’t tell the build quality between the T14s and T14 in this latest design, the T14s used to use significantly better materials. The P14s is simply a T14 that supports more RAM and boosts even further.
The T16 and P16s are the same relationship at the 14 incher, but with a bigger battery and an offset keyboard with a numpad.
The X13 is the same motherboard as the T14s, but in a 13" design. The T14s and X13 also get dual USB4 on the AMD models, while the T14/P14s only get one. I think that carries over to Intel models with Thunderbolt, but I’m not sure.
The Z series is odd. Better touchpads, sleeker design, AMD only. The Z16 doesn’t have an offset keyboard. The Z16 is also the only option for discrete graphics from AMD. But… they’re not really Thinkpads, in a traditional sense. The materials aren’t as robust, and they sacrifice cooling some for thinness. I’d consider one a lot more than the X1 series, and I’m excited for the redesign in a few years.
The P series is really diverse, from the P14s and P16s that are really just rebadges the T series, to the P1 that is a serious workhorse. There’s quite a bit inbetween, but aside from the entry models, they’re going to be quite a lot less portable, more power hungry, be louder, and have worse battery. If they’re what you need, great, if not, eh.
I chose the P14s gen 4 AMD with 64GB of RAM. I’ll run some VMs at times, and the RAM will also help future proof me since I can’t upgrade down the road. I was back and forth between it and the T14s, but when I got my T14s at work I realized that this gen just isn’t any more premium than the T14/P14s. I popped in a 4TB Samsung 990 Pro, which is the only single sided 4TB drive with RAM that I know of.
Originally I ordered an OLED model, but the battery life was horrible. The 400 nit low power LCD is probably what you want. The 500 nit privacy guard has horrible viewing angles by design, and the 300 nit LCD is below average in color reproduction and uniformity. The T14s has a 300 nit low power with slightly higher resolution, I probably would have gotten that if the P14s offered it. I might swap later.