tech - God bless the AMD

>>10895
Are there any significant advantages to using an older model? (apart from the hardware and security)

>>10900
Cheaper, more durable, keyboard is better (x220t has the good kb though), worse specs at the price of better support. I like the screens better on the older ones. The most new ones are going to be the most restrictive to the power users (harder to take apart, more soykaf in the bios, etc)

So I was thinking about getting a Lenovo B50 laptop, it looks sleek, is relatively cheap, and has a nice display + specs. Any ideas on that? I was going to hook it up to a HDD enclosure with my animu and play it on my TV.

>>11892
Also I was planning on formatting the drive and installing Debian on it, since it comes with a boated Win7

I'm going to begin my Computer Science degree soon so I'm looking for a laptop I can take with me. I'd like to run some distro of GNU+Linux on it. Portability and durability are probably the most important things for me. I don't require anything fancy like a discrete GPU since I have a desktop for things of that nature but at the same time it would be nice if I could run some basic games like CS:GO at a decent frame rate if I wanted to, although this isn't a priority and I'm sure an integrated GPU could do this. Also a quiet fan would be nice since I'd be taking it to lectures.

Hijacking/considering this thread as Thinkpad general,

should I switch my x201 for a x220? Are the benefits large? I'm asking 'cause I didn't customize (as in, stick anything on) my x201 and I don't know if I need that upgrade or not really.

>>11929
If you don't know, you don't need.

>>11932
That's what I thought at first. I might need more computing power in the future, but I'll have (I hope ;_;) money for it by then...

>>8722
bump for this anon's question. I too have a freshly purchased x220 and am wondering if i should buy a cheap battery, repack my own or pay for some local company to repack it.

Using asus 1001pxd for work now, it does what i need, but still consider switching to some thinkpad eventually.

>>5900
Quick question, I have always purchased the ThinkPad Business class line, I have at least 20 thinkpads in my house right now, but at the moment I am looking for something that can get me around 10 hours in battery life on a charge, with the lowest battery settings etc.

I was really hoping for a ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but from what I have read, the battery life kinda is like kicking dead whales down the beach . Are those statements wrong? If they are, is there anywhere I can pick up an X1 carbon for less than $700? Are their any better alternatives?

Thank you!

>>11905
I would recommend a ThinkPad X230. People will argue for the X220, which, to be very honest is at a much better price point, but the integrated graphics in the X230 are the only ones that are really up to playing light Valve games like CS:GO. You can most likely pick one up for around $250-$300, I got one with two chargers, two new batteries, and a dock for $320 after shipping.

Don't know if this is the right place, but does mpv framedrop like crazy on anyone else's T60? (ATI gpu) If I launch mpv with --vo=xv it lags less, but uses up much more cpu which I would like to avoid.

>>12135
What driver versions are you using for the GPU? Some allow hardware acceleration and some do not.

>>12136
Using base drivers included with antergos, I can't seem to find a useable driver for the ATI x1300 gpu.

>>12137
radeonsi works perfectly fine with that gpu and you dont even need firmware blobs with it (and its based on x1600 and you have T60p).
Just use xv, its the best compromise between cpu cycles (correct, gpu decoding usually takes less cycles), tearless playback and combatibility (vdpau doesnt decode all codecs perfectly, some not at all and radeonsi drivers, last time i checked, doesnt support it fully).

>>12138
thanks for the tip!

>>12138
And it seeems you are trying to use gl layer, which eats gpu cycles pretty happily (in other words much more than xv does cpu cycles). In fact now that i think of it, rv530 does not support vdpau at all, so its out of question. xv layer is your best bet.

is it possible to install openbsd on librebooted x200?

What are your thoughts on UMPCs? I've been thinking about buying pic related, but they all seem hella expensive, even ones from the early 2000s.

>>12540
Look for Netbooks, not UMPCs. I got like 5 of them with a few different distros. I love them, but I can't say I'm a fan of the tiny ass keyboard.

I bought an X61 for 100 bucks, probably the best buy ever, I use it as my main machine right now.

It's powerful enough for the brewing soykaf I do, the hoarding of chinese cartoons and other stuff.
The keyboard is godly too, certainly not something I expected of a laptop.

Anyway I am looking to upgrade to a desktop, this thing allowed me to get a taste of Linux and I liked it.

I am using a T400 and an X200 Tablet, both are very good machines for generic computing.

>>12160
Probably, try it.

>>12540
I think they're really sexy — I've been looking for a device with a QWERTY keyboard (the kind you can type on with all of your fingers, not just the thumbs) that I can fit in a (big) pocket forever, but I've been unable to find anything affordable so far.

>>10017
Just search the net for a diagram of your thinkpad motherboard and remove it yourself.
Also, the microphone component seems pretty obvious to me(pic related).

>>10017
there is an LED that comes on if it is accessed and I dont think it can be circumvented

I have arch installed on a t420. It has a 60GB SSD and I could remove the CD drive for additional storage, but I'm finding that 60GB is plenty since I don't horde data.

I've had literally no problems with it whatsoever. It boots up within 10 seconds and runs faster than any non-linux computer that I've used.

Just bought an x60s and installed Plebian.

What now?

>>10017
black tape and a screwdriver jammed into the mic should do it, alternatively install gentoo

How can I buy a Clevo or similar directly from China?

I've been using a system76 panp7 for the last maybe 5 years. It's rock solid and even though it's finally failing now after two batteries, god knows how many chargers, I really liked it and could keep using this brand for a while, but don't want to pay an OEM reseller.

Alternatively, what laptop should I get if I'm willing to spend between 2-3k? This is what I'm looking for:

>CUDA-capable GPU
>biggest processor I can get
>minimum of 2 physical drive bays (fsck SSDs)
>ideally ultrabook form factor but I don't really give a fuarrrk about lifting heavy things, I want to optimize for using my computer not carrying it
>ideally long battery life but see above

I like the system76 oryx but worry it's just an overpriced chinese model that I could probably get if I cybed it up enough on alibaba.

Alternatively I could get a really good thinkpad, and if I do it in the next few months I get an employee discount from a tech company you've definitely heard of (#internlife), so it'd take a 3.5k purchase down to 2.75k or so.

I want this to last for the next 5-7 years and be a beast all the way until the fan starts dying like my poor panp7/W765CUH.

>>10568
EPROM

Based on your experience with used Thinkpads, how long do they last?

I wanna buy one to install Libreboot on it but don't have much money nor live in America. Do you think an used one would last me all college (4-5 years)?
Should I buy a new one? Just buy a completely different laptop?

Give me your advice pls.

>>13760
a used new ish one like something made 2012+ with ivy bridge or better.

Are there laptops with just great screens (IPS with a good sRGB percentage) that isn't geared towards gamers? I don't care if it even has a dedicated graphics card. I would sacrifice performance in a lot of departments.

Would be used for BSD.

>>13760
Thinkpads rarely just up and die. The only things I have had to replace are Hard drives, batteries, and fans, but if you get a model like the T61 or T61p, the GPU will become de-soldered after a while, and you will have to do a re-flow or replace the board. I would suggest getting a T400 if you are thinking of LibreBooting. They are fast, reliable, and cheap, even in Europoor (I have shipped them there complete for $80.) If libreboot is not as important to you, I would shell out an extra $50-$80 for a T420. They are plenty fast an reliable, and very cheap now.

>>13763
The older p series thinkpads where pretty nice in that department, (although I would not suggest going out and grabbing a T61p because of the aforementioned GPU issue.) Some of the W series thinkpads have pretty good screens, I really liked the 1080p screen I put on my W520. Other than that, the Dell precision laptop lineup is pretty good in that department. Also, people are going to dislike this, but the screen on the rMBP is really next to none in terms of resolution and color, although it may be out of your budget, but it has pretty good *BSD support.

>>13766
The Macbook was at the top of list of what laptop I would actually buy because it gives a killer screen and doesn't mark up too badly for hardware inside. (Lower end of the rMB/P series).

>>13767
Honestly, I would say go for it. Objectively, the hardware is reliable, high quality, and aesthetically pleasing.

If I could afford a 15" rMBP, I would buy one, but it is not really on the plate right now.

>>13766
Where do you import from?
I'm from Latin America and I can't buy from Ebay because the shipping is always 70$+ for some fuarrrking reason.

Looking around my country's websites I've found some good T400, T430 and T440s ranging from 120$ to 240$ but they all have shitty "lasts 1 hour" batteries, so I'll probably buy the cheapest and spend the rest on a new battery, unless the battery improves considerably installing Linux.

>>13769
I am an eBay seller, so I ship to south america and Europe from the US, and it really does not cost all that much.

If you could grab a T430 for around $250, and stick in a new battery, that would be a great machine.

>>13587
Bampu pantsu

Any advice?

Thinkpad or toughbook (or something else entirely)? I want to get a new laptop for college, but I'm going to try to be much less wasteful, since the last laptop I got was an alienware, and it still fuarrrks up regularly. I'll also probably be getting a new phone soon, on which I'd also like advice (in reference to compatibility between it and the computer, especially).

I'd really like a laptop which runs very consistently because of these previous issues. Speed is helpful, but only for normal use. I don't play computer games, but I do torrent a lot of stuff, as well as watch a lot of videos.

I also want to play around with a variety of OSs and distros, so a good functionality with that is important to me. I'm looking to get more into /cyb/ and crypto computer use in daily life.

The more adaptable the computer is, the better. That way, if I fuarrrk up, I can fix things by adding and/or removing hardware as necessary. On this same note, my preference is definitely for a laptop that doesn't come preloaded with a webcam and mic, since I'd have to waste time and possibly harm the computer by removing these.

I like the idea of a toughbook because I admire its ruggedness and portability. Who wouldn't want to use a laptop in the shower? I actually bought an old one without a hard drive because I thought I could expand its ram to make it functional, and I attempted to do so, but I couldn't manage to run Tails on it. I might try out something like DSL on it, though.

I'm definitely a newfag when it comes to hardware, so much so that I have no idea where to even begin to look for a source of intelligent opinions. If there are any lainchan approved sites, then please direct me to them. Otherwise, I welcome any and all opinions. My budged for all this is uncertain, but maybe somewhere along the lines of $1-2k USD.

>>13884
Toughfag here, get a 19 Mk5/6 if you need portability for college.

How is the battery life of your Thinkpad? Only used old ones with a desktop usage (always plugged on) and I will need something more powerful than my little Eeepc 1005ha. After more than 3 years of usage it still has a battery life of roughtly 7 hours. I fear something like this is not possible to do with bigger machine I'll be gladly wrong.

>>5907
Get out

>>13884
>>14208
another toughfag here, cf-19 mk5 reporting in.
i would definitely recommend this laptop, because:

> my battery lasts anywhere from probably 5-7 hours, and its not anywhere near new.
> i have dropped it on concrete many times.
> it has been rained on.
> no built in mic or webcam, physical switch to disable bluetooth/wifi radios, also bios options.
> touchscreen
> has a lot more than 3,000 hours of accumulated operating time, and still works flawless.

bad things:

> the "dual touch" model, which registers pen input and finger input differently, i haven't been able to correctly calibrate finger touch on linux, it still works, but not calibrated perfect(can scroll webpages with finger, also click links, but the closer to the edge of the screen, the more off the input is). the non dual-touch model apparently dosent have this problem in linux, touch input with the pen works fine either way, this is also not a problem in windows because of drivers.

thats my only issue with it, its a small issue, and only with the "dual touch" model. i am running arch, void, debian, and windows 7 on this laptop, so no problems in that regard. also, toughbook parts are all over the internet.

>>14480
fuck is a shitty filter, though.

shit, on the other hand, is rice as hell

>>14485
What the fuarrrk? Are the filters gone now?

>>14488
I guess not. Sorry.
And sorry for not saging.

>>14488
I think the trick is that the filters don't work at the start of the new line, probably because the filter code doesn't handle newline characters properly when checking words.

soykaf shit

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