[leapingdog]

I'm writing this from an older laptop, a Lenovo ThinkPad X121e from 2011. Intel CORE i3 processor, 8GB RAM, spinning rust disk. I bought it new, it was cheap and I liked the small form factor. It came with Windows 7 but has run a Linux MATE desktop environment for a long time.

From a compute perspective, this specification is adequate for what I use it for - primarily spreadsheets, letter writing and tax returns.

The main problems are with hardware/deterioration. The OS started displaying warnings about the battery so I run it off mains with the battery removed. I looked at replacement batteries but they are either woeful or expensive or both. I don't live in a hot climate but automatic shut-down due to overheating has started to become an issue. Anything CPU intensive is risky. Tweaking CPU throttling and monitoring via sensors hasn't helped. The built in screen stopped working but has mysteriously come back to life.

I've had my money's worth but I wouldn't buy a 2nd hand 10 year old laptop.

https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/pd015763-detailed... https://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X121e-N...