Lenovo ThinkPad

Long-term owners

I used both my thinkpads for 8+ years, generating $$$ for me. Build quality matters a lot when it comes to longevity

Mar 2026 · comment

I've been using enterprise thinkpads for the past 15 years and never had issues with wifi, or suspend.

Jan 2026 · comment

Other than that, the rest of them have worked great, even some 20 year-old ones I still have and use.

Jan 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

• HP EliteBookRecommended for running Linux reliably, with upgradable RAM and storage, solid build and good repairability. Common caveat: the cheaper screen options are weak and prone to ghosting.26recommend
• Dell Latitude 7490People recommend it for being robust, easily upgraded, long-lasting and well supported on Linux and BSD. Critics mention its weight, RAM faults and hardware design flaws.5recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 551 comments. Each links to the original.

1. the Thinkpad trackpad really isn't that bad (the trackpoint getting randomly stuck in a non-neutral position is a common thing I've experienced though)

   Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “MacBook Neo Is a 'Shock' to the PC Industry: Asus Co-CEO”

2. new ThinkPads, which are on sale pretty regularly, end up being much nicer, solidly built, more performant, and with an awesome warranty

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “I'm a laptop weirdo and that's why I like my new Framework 13”

3. I have a couple lenovo's and its hit/miss, but my 'good' machine has an AMD which after a bit of tuning idles with the screen on at 2-3W

   Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Discontinuation of ARM Notebook with Snapdragon X Elite SoC”

4. Thinkpads have excellent Linux support, ludicrously bad color gamut, questionable build quality generation-to-generation

   Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “The Myth of the ThinkPad”

5. Used thinkpads and the glut of EBay parts for them reach about 85% of what Framework does for me, and at half the price.

   Recommends · Aug 2026 · in “Fixing a Bricked Framework Laptop”

6. An old Thinkpad I could self-insure for quite cheap because I had the ability to replace any component failure myself.

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “My MacBook Keyboard Is Broken and It's Insanely Expensive to Fix”

7. for the price I can get used thinkpads (and replace the battery if needed) and not have to deal with the crappy parts

   Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Chuwi Minibook X: the netbook we deserve”

8. the hardware feels solid, the keyboard (while not one of the legendary classic Thinkpad keyboards) is nice to type on

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Building a macOS app to know when my Mac is thermal throttling”

9. I used both my thinkpads for 8+ years, generating $$$ for me. Build quality matters a lot when it comes to longevity

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “MacBook Neo”

10. Get a used beaten down old Thinkpad that people on Reddit confirm to be working with Linux without any drivers.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Asahi Linux with Sway on the MacBook Air M2”

11. Plastic, especially high quality plastics combined with a magnesium chassis in a ThinkPad, is way more durable.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Lenovo's New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability”

12. pre-owned ex-corporate ThinkPads are sold for very little, usually about 20 percent of the price of a new one

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Should You Buy a ThinkPad?”

13. One thing in favour of Lenovo and Thinkpad then and now is that you can download all the field service guides

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Linux on the Fujitsu Lifebook U729”

14. I just had my 25th ThinkPad anniversary, which started with a ThinkPad that was 5(?) years old at the time

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “ThinkPad: From IBM's Bento Box to Lenovo's AI Workstations”

15. With my personal experience, I can always recommend my friend to by ThinkPad, new or secondhand are fine.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Should You Buy a ThinkPad?”

16. ThinkPads have nicer keyboards, but they stopped doing the more traditional IBM layout several years ago

    Mixed · Apr 2026 · in “Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman”

17. I've been using enterprise thinkpads for the past 15 years and never had issues with wifi, or suspend.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “2026 will be my year of the Linux desktop”

18. I'm really pleased that we will now be able to fix them without having to change the whole motherboard

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Lenovo's New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability”

19. Quality isn't what it used to be, but the serviceability and on-site repair warranty is still amazing.

    Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “Used ThinkPad Buyer's Guide (2019)”

20. Other than that, the rest of them have worked great, even some 20 year-old ones I still have and use.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Spirit of ThinkPad”

21. Almost any Linux distro will work find with any Thinkpad and has done so for almost two decades now.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Apple Just Lost Me”

22. Lenovo does provide parts and detailed instructions to repair almost every aspect of their machines

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “I'm returning my Framework 16”

23. Compare to a thinkpad keyboard FRU. They have fluid drains and still cost $99 for a top-end laptop.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Apple's MacBook Neo makes repairs easier and cheaper than other MacBooks”

24. You can also get a refurbished thinkpad with Ryzen and 16gb of ram for 400€ or so on european Ebay.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Migrating to the EU”

25. It's a fabulous machine. I appreciate that it has linux kernel modules dedicated to thinkpad family

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “ThinkPad: From IBM's Bento Box to Lenovo's AI Workstations”

26. even a year or two old on eBay will be pretty heavily discounted. I would suggest going that route.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “ThinkPad: From IBM's Bento Box to Lenovo's AI Workstations”

27. Lenovo's attempt to frog-boil its ThinkPad buyers until they're convinced that features like trackpoints and quality keyboards can be excluded

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line”

28. Lenovo has set their part selection and engineering design to "best value for the company" rather than "best quality for the end user"

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Lenovo's New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability”

29. a Thinkpad BIOS update ended up destroying both undervolting and overclocking, and required a "chip-clip" programmer to revert

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Lenovo's New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability”

30. It was Lenovo ditching the classic ThinkPad 7 row keyboard with the Ivy Bridge models c. 2012 that really pissed people off

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Fixing a Bricked Framework Laptop”

31. the discomfort, or after a while, even the pain when using the trackpoint, is something very noticeable on modern thinkpads

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “Framework Laptop 13 Pro”

32. there was a BIOS bug where if you toggled two different settings without rebooting inbetween, it bricked the motherboard

    Criticizes · Aug 2026 · in “Fixing a Bricked Framework Laptop”

33. They used to be genuinely great, now they coasting on brand name and simply not being as bad as most laptops.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop”

34. my work thinkpad would have completely broken speakers, mic, and webcam if I waited on updates too long

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Im note going crazy. Right? Windows disabled WiFi when postponing updates”

35. They are not particularly better in feel, thermals and screen quality against its cheaper alternatives

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Apple Introduces MacBook Neo”

36. Getting things to work the first time is hit or miss, but once they work, they tend to continue to work without too many surprises.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “I replaced Windows with Linux and everything's going great”

37. on those the UEFI Capsule mechanism (which allows passing firmware updates from booted OS to firmware) works just fine

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Code-execution flaw in UEFI firmware threatens most servers on planet Earth”

38. Find out what the minimal system requirements for that program are and get something that meets or exceeds them.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: I haven't had to buy a Windows computer in 20 years”

39. Also not on modern "plastic" thinkpads, people in the office walk around with them only holding at the screen.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Spirit of ThinkPad”

40. The touchscreen was great on the train because it was faster (for many things) than reaching for the trackpad.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and Touch”