If it's the keyboard you're attracted to, x230s can be picked up for ~200$, and the x220 classic keyboard+palmrest bolt right on. My x230 has an i7 w/16GiG and msata ssd for a whole lot less money than this retro thinkpad.
The keyboard is important, but so is the rest of the laptop.
The i7 in the x230 is much, much less power efficient than this one. The 16 GB of RAM is 1600 MHz DDR3, not DDR4. The msata SSD is decent, but it's designed to be just a cache drive by default and isn't a proper NVMe PCIe drive. It (remarkably) has USB 3 and Displayport, but no USB C or Thunderbolt. The battery in a used $200 laptop will likely be in need of replacement. And the display is the worst part: a disgusting 1366x768 with terrible colors and a weak CFL backlight, instead of a decent FHD or WQHD IPS LED.
The price is great, the keyboard is awesome, the display and various internals can be upgraded to be modern enough for now, but there are a lot of drawbacks to be aware of...says the guy with a T430 :)
I have a samsung evo msata ssd in my x230, it's the primary disk and the HDD bay is vacant. Not sure what your point is about it primarily being a cache - it's whatever you configure it for. And the display is LED IPS, but you're correct on the resolution.
I think for the money savings the x230 w/x220 kbd is attractive. People run egpu setups with them as well for gaming.
I use one of these, with a 2tb HDD in the 2.5" bay. It's plugged into a big screen most of the time. Makes a good, inexpensive portable desktop. A 12" 16:9 screen is pretty useless for doing anything apart from checking mail or watching videos, unfortunately. A 12 16:10, or 3:2, would be better.
Yes, though I haven't done it myself. Search Google for nitrocaster fhd. I think you lose docking port functionality, as the mod steals the external display lines.
The i7 in the x230 is much, much less power efficient than this one. The 16 GB of RAM is 1600 MHz DDR3, not DDR4. The msata SSD is decent, but it's designed to be just a cache drive by default and isn't a proper NVMe PCIe drive. It (remarkably) has USB 3 and Displayport, but no USB C or Thunderbolt. The battery in a used $200 laptop will likely be in need of replacement. And the display is the worst part: a disgusting 1366x768 with terrible colors and a weak CFL backlight, instead of a decent FHD or WQHD IPS LED.
The price is great, the keyboard is awesome, the display and various internals can be upgraded to be modern enough for now, but there are a lot of drawbacks to be aware of...says the guy with a T430 :)