Lenovo is doing a reversal when it comes to the repairability of its ThinkPad T series: The new Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 features two SO-DIMMs and a user-replaceable internal battery. To prove its progress in modularity, the Chinese manufacturer had it reviewed by iFixit - the new ThinkPad laptop scored a near perfect 9.3/10.
Well I look forward to seeing the result. Quite frankly the t14s we have is stupid, the easily replaceable keyboard of the t460 days are long gone, and the WiFi card that has failed 3 times already within my company is glued to the mobo. Anything that lets me do a quick repair myself instead of having to phone a call centre and book a technician will be highly appreciated.
But they no longer sell it with Linux as an option, both in the US and UK, which is just disappointing. However, they are selling their laptops in India with the option to choose your OS.
I’ve sorted the laptops by newest, but the filter is kinda broken, because it puts the older product as the topmost result, which is weird.
Here’s the link to the US webpage (Linux) with all Lenovo laptops available for Linux. As you can see, there’s only one device available, which is the Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 11.
Here’s the link to the Indian webpage, (No operating system) with all Lenovo laptops available for Linux. You have a choice between 53 devices. If you want specifically the Thinkpad, the choices drops down to 40, which is still not bad.
Some of the laptops are slightly outdated by one generation, which isn’t a bad thing per se. As you can see, Z16 Gen 2 isn’t available with Linux in the US, but it is available in India. There’s also P14 Gen 4 with Linux in India, but sadly, they don’t sell with Linux in the US. I did not check the other series, but I’m assuming that there’s also the E series and the T series with current and modern generations available.
The only issue is that they’re expensive, almost double the original cost - the Z16 Gen 2 costs around ₹186,854 ($2,255) in India, but in the US, it is around ₹1,06,400 ($1,284). Honestly, I would have bought a cheaper AMD Phoenix/Hawk Point Thinkpad from the US through my blood relatives to avoid paying the high import duties, if not for this Windows-exclusive nonsense. Maybe the HP Elite-book or the Dell XPS looks really good right now, given how they have great Linux support, although I still don’t trust both these brands.
I think this comment deviates from the topic of the post, so you should create a new post on !asklemmy. From what I understand, your key requirement is:
choice to buy without OS, or with Linux/BSD/DOS
budget-friendly
You also need to mention your use-case, your budget-range, and if you want a specific processor brand? Like for example, do you want to just use browser, do you want to code, or do you want to do 3D-related projects?
You can even add more specific requirement. Like for example, I want the latest Zen 4 CPU with modern RDNA 3 GPU, so I am being careful to only pick the AMD 7040 and 8040 series, and not the 7020, 7030, 7035 and 7045 series based laptops. Or if you’re okay with purely soldered RAM (not upgrade-able), half-soldered-half-SODIMM (somewhat upgrade-able) or purely SODIMM (relatively higher degree of upgrade-ability) config? Also what about the storage size?
Collect your requirements and create a new post over there.
Isn’t it possible for you to buy it from the US through your relatives and to install linux yourself ? If it’s anything like the older models I have, everything works out of the box with most popular distributions.
I assumed that I would get a 7040/8040 series for cheap. Turns out that it is pretty damn expensive. I am supposed to spend under 600$, but I’m kinda hung over those Zen4 mobile processors and their amazing iGPU.
I would have bought a 7440U or a 8440U with 16GB of RAM, but laptop with that particular processor isn’t available anywhere.
My second choice was supposed to be a 7540U/8540U with 16GB of RAM, and sure, there’s a few laptop with this, but the PRO variant of this processor is extremely expensive. So far, haven’t seen any normal variant. Maybe the HP ProBook 455 is the only device that comes close to my requirements?
My reason for avoiding Windows is that it costs ₹5000 to get the Home edition. I could spend that money to upgrade the process from a Ryzen 3 to a Ryzen 5.
Right now, I feel like the ThinkPad is IdeaPad rebranded, so maybe it isn’t worth getting the device. It still resembles the old brand, but some of it’s personality has been stripped off. The XPS is always expensive, so that’s out of question. Elitebook is the HP equivalent of Linux devices, but expensive. The ProBook is basically budget Elitebook, which could be a better value for money. But I really don’t trust HP, I feel like their products are of a poorer quality and that their customer service is bad.
At least there will be a somewhat usable laptop to upgrade to when my T480 falls apart. Too bad they went for a small, internal battery. I really like having a big, hot swapable battery that lasts all day. I don’t see any mention of an SD card slot either.
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