Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by davexunit 4546 days ago
Thinkpads make rock solid GNU/Linux machines. I highly recommend the X220. It has some issues such as not being Coreboot compatible and needing nonfree firmware to drive the wireless chip. The former has no fix, but the latter can be fixed with a little hack and an Atheros chip.
3 comments
bluedino 4546 days ago
As an X220 it's a very nice machine but it's no in the same realm as the XPS or the Air/rMBP.

It has a great keyboard and underlying hardware. But it's also stuck with a low-resolution screen with terrible viewing angles, and is also as thick as a brick. The touchpad also leaves a lot to be desired but it does have the TrackPoint which is great.

The X240 will supposedly have a 1080p IPS screen but I'm not sure what the holdup is.

link
derekp7 4546 days ago
Does the x240 have the same screen dimensions as the x230? If so I wonder if you can use it to upgrade the 230 panel.
link
bluedino 4546 days ago
Chassis is quite a bit different, so probably not.
link
nextos 4546 days ago
I love x220, but they are far from perfect. Some serious glitches:

- Small & noisy fan - Awful trackpad (but awesome trackpoint) - Low resolution wide screen

I cannot understand why Lenovo is destroying the x2 series. Now they:

- Replaced the standard processor with a ULV one - Removed trackpoint buttons - Introduced island-style keys - Removed ThinkLight

They should have simply improved a bit the glitches i mentioned.

link
dmacvicar 4546 days ago
I love my X220 (work laptop). I use it as my main machine at work with the dock and two monitors. It is fast, responsive and very portable and the Intel graphics just work on Linux.

But I have a T410 at home and I am not very happy with it. The dock is unstable, it disconnects, USB dies. The stupid dock blocks the fan, and you do anything cpu intensive and it end shutting the system down because of temperature. The NVIDIA graphics never worked reliably with nouveau + dock + suspend (I have to use the binary driver).

And worse, it is an i7 (x220 is an i5) and it feels so slow compared to the x220.

link
davexunit 4545 days ago
Thinkpads seem to have taken a turn for the worse in the series after the x220. I should rephrase my recommendation to "older thinkpads". I don't know what I will use when my x220 is antiquated. I hope there's another hacker friendly laptop on par with it by that time.
link