[solatic]

It's really sad that Lenovo has driven the design into the ground. I have a X201 running NixOS, that I still use from time to time, and I pulled it out recently to show it to friends. Physically speaking it's a revelation.

Three USB ports? Check. Because even today, one port permanently has a YubiKey Nano, one port permanently has a Logitech Unifying nano receiver, and I'll probably be charging my phone out of the third at some point and I'd rather not lose either of the two nano dongles because I had to temporarily unplug them and misplaced them in the process.

Mobile radio? Check. Because who likes to fiddle around with pairing their phone to their laptop when they're on the train?

Drainage ports if you have a minor spill? Check.

Drainage ports in the dock, which match up with the drainage ports on the laptop itself? Check

Dock allows you to charge an extra battery while the laptop itself is charging? Check.

ThinkLight in the screen to illuminate the keyboard without requiring you to bump up the brightness on the screen and take a bigger hit to battery life? Check.

Mechanical latch on the right side, where your hand is naturally located, allowing you to push the screen up with your right hand on the right side of the machine, and push down on the bottom half with your left hand on the left hand side of the machine? Check.

Six-key home/end/insert/delete/pgup/pgdwn cluster that mirrors that on a desktop keyboard? Check.

Dedicated page back and page forward buttons, baked into the arrow key nav cluster, so that you don't need a two-key combo to go back and forward? Check.

TrackPoint lets you mouse without removing hands from the home row? Check.

LED status indicators for disk and network usage? Check.

Physical WiFi switch? Check.

10/10 repairability? Check.

All Lenovo needed to do was to refresh the processor etc. every year, maybe introduce new ports as they came out, and not screw around with a formula that didn't need to be changed. Sigh.

[paol]

> Six-key home/end/insert/delete/pgup/pgdwn cluster that mirrors that on a desktop keyboard? Check.

I miss this so much. Laptop keyboard layouts are usually a disaster. Lenovo was the shining exception[1], then they went and fucked it up for no apparent reason.

[1] If you excuse the wrong placement of Ctrl and Fn, but from the x10 generation onward this is swapable in BIOS

[stiGGG]

This is why i love Macs, IMHO the keyboard layout is superior than everything else. home/end/insert/delete/pgup/pgdwn can all be done without specialized keys (and faster because you don't have to move your arm). I am using the small Apple keyboard that matches the one from the Macbooks on my desktop since over 10 years and never ever want such a big clunky board back on my desk like most PC users still use.

[leppr]

Personally I find it easier to push a single key that's slightly up above the number row, than have to press both a modifier and a key in the lower right corner of the keyboard. This also gives me more freedom for window-management key shortcuts.

[organsnyder]

After seven years of hassle-free service, I upgraded from a T410 to a T480. I miss a few things (mainly the non-chiclet keys and the Thinklight), but otherwise the T480 is—not surprisingly—better than the T410 in almost every way, while retaining much of the heritage and features that led me to purchase my T410 back in 2010.

[post_break]

The T480 is the last of its kind after they butchered the X280. I still have my X230 and use it once and a while but my XPS13 running High Sierra gets more screen time for me.

[tadfisher]

The X210 from 51nb is a fantastic upgrade, with i5-8250u or i7-8550u processors, M.2 slot with NVME support, DisplayPort output, support for 32GB of RAM and eDP displays. I'm running NixOS on it as well. Matthew Garrett even ported Coreboot to it[1].

[1]: https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/50924.html

[_emacsomancer_]

The ability to use Coreboot is part of what makes this extremely appealing. I've stopped at the 30 series because this is the latest one that could be Core- or Libre-boot'ed. And to have the form factor of a X20* (preferrably the X200 than the X201) with a recent processor and DisplayPort output and high RAM possibilities is extremely tempting.

[fyfy18]

Meh I have a T470s that has most things here, compared to the Apple equivalent it's got plenty of connectivity and physical ports built in without the need for dongles. I wouldn't mind having a hot swappable battery though...

[wolster]

Wouldnt that be a T470? :)

[a_bored_husky]

My T470s matches that description.