[drawnwren]

I went from a stolen 2015 MBP to an X230 (modified with an X220 keyboard) to a new MBP. With the thinkpads, the smaller screen and lower resolution will take some getting used to. Running a customized window manager in Linux is the best solution when it works but you shouldn't discount the amount of time you will lose to tinkering and random breakages.

My personal belief is that, for a working dev, MacOS is still the best deal running. The fact of the matter is that it will always work and any new software you want to install will have a well documented how to. Even if you don't want to run MacOS, I'd still probably recommend buying an MBP and dual booting linux on it. Thinkpads are great, the x220 keyboard is probably the best keyboard ever put on a laptop, but the screens are horrible, you will notice the RAM and CPU shortage, and battery life was an issue. Further, the form factor is not as small as an MBP.

If you are going down the Thinkpad route, the X62 is an interesting option custom made by an enthusiast group in Shenzhen. [1] Otherwise, Hackaday wrote a fairly modern Thinkpad buyer's guide [2]. One thing I would note is that upgrading the x230 keyboard to the x220 keyboard is trivial and only requires a jeweler's screwdriver and a few new parts (about $70). You can also upgrade the x230 screen to an HD screen but that is a significantly more complicated upgrade.

[1] https://geoff.greer.fm/2017/07/16/thinkpad-x62/ [2] https://hackaday.com/2016/10/28/apple-sucks-now-heres-a-thin...

[dpark]

> With the thinkpads, the smaller screen and lower resolution will take some getting used to

What takes getting used to is that Thinkpad screens are trash. :( I’ve been so disappointed in them. They start mediocre and decline rapidly with blotching and ghosting. I’ve used Thinkpads for my personal laptop and my work laptop and refuse to own another. My manager has a recent Thinkpad with an OLED screen which seems pretty good but I’m not willing to try another. I fully expect that in 6 months his OLED will exhibit ghosting or burn in.

[ajford]

Gotta say, I've used a fair number of thinkpads across the last 10 years, and I've never seen any blotching or ghosting.

I will admit that the older models had fairly crappy resolutions (I mean 1366x768 and 1600x800 was crap, and Lenovo held on to those resolutions far longer than they should), and pretty dim (I could barely use my X200t and X201 in the shade outside), but I feel most models in the last 2-3 years have made plenty of progress in that regard.

[pimeys]

I have the 25th anniversary model and while the screen is not the best colour wise, it's still much better than the older panels and for programming it's bright and sharp with no ghosting or blotching.

The keyboard and battery life are both best in class. Of course when the battery is worn out, you can buy a new one. This is possible with ThinkPads.

[dpark]

Battery life is not best in class in my experience, either. My manager who loves his new X1 Carbon with the OLED screen admits it’s got terrible battery life.

The keyboards are fine but not better than, say, MBPs from a couple of years ago. (Half millimeter travel on the latest MBPs is not great.)

[pimeys]

By installing and running tlp and having the 24 and 48 Wh batteries I get easily 11 hours of use on Linux with my T25. 7 watt average power use reported by powertop, but I mainly run i3, browser and tons of terminals...

T25 has the legacy 7 row keyboard which had no competition currently.

[nukeop]

As opposed to glossy displays? In 2017?

[dpark]

I’d definitely take a glossy display over a matte display with ghosting and blotching.

And anyway, Lenovo’s matte display technology consists of a slightly cloudy piece of adhesive-backed plastic sheeting stuck on top of the display. I don’t know why anyone is impressed with this. It’s not as if they actually have textured glass or even a proper screen coating. It’s contact paper that you can buy for pennies per square foot at Staples. It’s really awesome if you have a device that has pen input because the pen scratches up the plastic over time.

If you really want this, you can buy it aftermarket and stick it on any glossy display. You’ll end up with a better result than Lenovo if your laptop is using a decent panel to start with.