Hello, dear reader!
In this post, I want to explain why I decided to not buy any new laptops or computers and why I chose an old ThinkPad X200s. But before I give my small review and specs, I want to tell you a short history of how I bought the X200s and then how I broke it.
History
I bought a used ThinkPad X200s with 4GB of RAM. It wasn’t in the best condition, but it was still fine. It had a good battery life, but it had two problems: the TrackPoint worked poorly, the middle mouse button didn’t work at all, and the other mouse buttons worked only sometimes. Despite this, I still liked it.
It was love at first sight for me. The great quality, amazing keyboard, and convenient typing experience all won me over. Plus, it’s not heavy and is very easy to carry. The seller even gave me a USB mouse as a gift :3
WiFi card, Libreboot, and Breaking the ThinkPad
I prefer to use free software, and the WiFi card that came with the ThinkPad had no free firmware, so I couldn’t use WiFi. I mostly use Ethernet, and it works great, but sometimes I like to use the laptop while lying in bed. I found a WiFi card that works with free firmware and bought it. I easily replaced the WiFi card, but when I tried to power it on, I got an error message: “Unauthorized WiFi Card Detected”. I had forgotten that manufacturers make whitelists for hardware, and there was no “easy” solution. I decided to install Libreboot and, as you can guess, it was a mistake.
I ordered a clip, and decided to use my Raspberry Pi 4B as a programmer. I had no enough experience, and I tried to connect the clip to the BIOS chip while the Raspberry Pi was on, which resulted in the BIOS chip stopping working.
It was a big mistake, and I regret trying to do that. It would have been better to just use an external WiFi adapter. After realizing that I killed it, I found another ThinkPad, and decided to buy and use it as is.
Thankfully, old ThinkPads are pretty cheap. I found another one, a bit more expensive than my previous one. I texted the seller, and they were in my city, so to save time, we decided to meet in person. We met, I checked if it worked and checked the charger, and I bought it. I brought it home, put the SSD from my previous ThinkPad in it, and it was really great. The condition was much better than my previous one, the TrackPoint and all buttons worked! I am writing this post from this ThinkPad while having no electricity.
Review and Specs
First of all, here are the specifications:
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo L9300 1.6 GHz
- GPU: Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset
- Screen: TN, 1280×800
- Storage: SATA3 HDD or SSD. It also has a card reader. Some people say it’s possible to use NVMe there, but I am not sure yet. I will write about this later if I find out for sure.
You might think that this CPU is old and can’t do much, but you’d be wrong. It works well and can handle:
- Simple tasks like web browsing, email, etc.
- Note about web browsing: Not all sites work well, some new sites with heavy JS code don’t work well.
- Playing 720p videos without any problems. Videos tested online using Invidious.
Even if you think it’s bad, keep in mind that it costs only $70-80 USD, and for that price, it’s a great laptop. In the USA, it can even be found for as cheap as $30-50 USD.
How I use it
I use two systems on it: Trisquel GNU/Linux and Plan9 (9front). I use it for:
- Email, IRC
- SSH to other machines
- Web browsing
- Playing videos
- Sometimes, for music
As for Plan9, I use it when I am relaxing and chatting on IRC. I like Plan9 and its RIO interface. I will write more about my experience with Plan9 later.
Why
After my bad experience with the ThinkPad X240 and MacBook Pro 2014, I decided that I have had enough of new laptops. I also don’t want to pay for power that I don’t use at all. The Core 2 Duo is enough for all of my tasks, and there’s no sense for me to buy something new. Lenovo has destroyed the ThinkPad brand with newer models like the X240, which have worse quality and fragile keyboards. They were also hot and loud, and a bit heavy for me.
What about the MacBook?
After my bad experience with the X240, I sold it and bought a MacBook, and it was a big mistake. I will outline the good and bad sides:
Pros:
- Screen
- Keyboard
- Trackpad
- Case
- EFI. It’s very fast, really fast. 1-1.5 seconds and you’re loading OS.
Cons:
- Price, $300 USD for this… (The hardware is much older than in X240, which cost $150 USD). All MacBooks are overpriced.
- Very bad cooling, in simple tasks like videos, it could get very hot: 70-80C, mostly 100C.
- GNU/Linux works poorly on it:
- Ethical distros don’t even boot.
- Laggy, unstable, and for some reason it loads the CPU a lot, just running Mate it could get load 30-40C (and yes, it gets hot 80-100C).
- Because all is bad with GNU/Linux, you’re forced to use macOS and it have its own problems, of course:
- Non-free software
- You’re forced to use Apple ID if you want to use their App Store, and Apple ID requires a cell phone number to register it.
- Very closed system, no customization, you can’t change DE, there’s no virtual terminals even.
- And more.
- Expensive hardware:
- New battery costs $150+ USD.
- New SSD costs $100-200 USD (depending on capacity).
This is why I decided to get rid of it.
But why X200s?
It’s cheap, and it does everything I need.
Pros:
- Price
- Case quality
- Keyboard
- Good battery, enough for 3+ hours (for me, it’s fine, and I have two batteries)
- If something breaks, it’s cheap to replace
Cons:
- Screen. It’s TN and not the best, but for me it’s fine.
Warning
All of the above is my personal opinion and experience. I am not saying that everyone should “throw away all their computers and buy X200s” or anything like that. If I am wrong somewhere, please feel free to correct me.
Also, this is the first time I am writing a blog, so it probably contains many mistakes.
Written by Alexa Hattori on 01.11.2023.
You can send comments to unixcat (at) anche (dot) no.
Thank you for reading.