To me, the biggest downside with most modern ThinkPads is the sealed battery. Even if the other components in your laptop are in top condition, the battery will eventually lose capacity. On old ThinkPads,you simply swap it out. Now you need to unscrew the bottom lid and do it yourself (or send to Lenovo or 3rd-party shop if you're not good with a screwdriver). Second biggest "perishable" component is the keyboard, particularly if you do heavy typing. Ease of change varies by model. Some you can change from the top, while others require you to open the bottom and remove certain sections before gaining access to the screws holding the kb. I did a lot of research to ensure the model I recently ordered could have its kb changed from the top.

My old X220, purchased late 2011 (Intel Sandy Bridge era) is still running strong. Came with 2yr warranty at the time, iirc. I never bothered renewing anything. Replaced the 9 cell battery about 3 times and I switched out the keyboard once. Upgraded to a faster SSD around 2014 or 2015. Also gone through about a dozen trackpoint nipples. All done myself (so easy even an incompetent politician could do it). Screen is a bit washed out now, but overall it's been running without issue. I run Arch Linux on it currently. Still flies for most daily tasks, though it obviously suffers with playing some HD x265 video or bloated Electron/Javascript stuff - not much lag per se, but the fan goes full blast. One thing I like about old matte screen laptops is they can go really dark at their lowest setting, which is great working at night with the lights off. New laptop displays are still too bright for me even at lowest settings. Same for phones. On my iPhone, I always turn on the "reduced white point" accessibility setting before I go to bed. If not sure kena eye-rape if wake up midway to answer messages or emails.

I doubt my new X390 will last as long as my X220, but if I can get decent use out of it for half that time (say 4-5 yrs), I'll be content. Not hapy, but just content. I don't expect much from most modern laptops, tbh. I was lucky because I was able to get 3yr accidental damage protection and 3yr battery add-on for extra RM1 included in the price, along with the standard on-site warranty. The day I bought, only the X390 and T490 had these options included for RM1, though I think it changes every few days. Not sure if the AMD models (X395, T495) have the same offer or not.

Also worth noting that not all ThinkPad series are built the same. The X, T and W/P series are made a bit tougher, closer to the old ThinkPad standards. The E and L series are more like IdeaPads dressed up as ThinkPads. Lastly, that MIL-Spec thing is bullshit, whatever the series. ThinkPads are probably more rugged than your average MacBook Air or HP Envy, but they're definitely not "military grade". The only MIL-Spec laptops are Panasonic ToughBooks.

This post has been edited by G-17: Sep 2 2019, 10:57 PM

Right now (3rd Sept 9:15PM) the Lenovo site has gone crazy. See the new price of the X395;



WTF?! I checked, and that price is with the lowest specs (TN panel, slowest processor, 8GB RAM) so it’s not even upspec model. Something is definitely wrong.

Worse yet, I logged in to check my order status (X390) and the stupid thing is now saying “action require to remove credit block, please contact support”… Already contacted my bank and they never block anything and the transaction history is still showing the money being credited. Wtf!! Need to contact Lenovo support tomorrow morning. Hope it’s just some website issue. If this order tak jadi I’m going to be very very pissed.

This post has been edited by G-17: Sep 3 2019, 09:28 PM

The weird thing is all other laptops are still same price. Only the X395 and T495 prices have jumped like mad. Maybe they have some special coupon for these two model at checkout that brings the price down again? At the moment, the AMD models are more expensive than the Intel models, which doesn’t make sense.

Ah, that makes sense. The X395 price during SCHOOL/WEEKEND/MERDEKA offer time was really good, so maybe Lenovo got more orders than expected. Still funny though - now the Xseries page says "starting at RM2,9xx" atthe bottom but there's no model at that price now. First time visitor sure confused

LOL, when I was in school, any student with a basic laptop was considered rich already. If it was a ThinkPad, student was probably from rich tycoon family.

Great that you received it before leaving. Hope it serves you well.

Right now (9PM onward, 9 Sept) prices of X395 and T495 seem to have dropped again. Not as low as a couple of weeks ago; X395 starting RM3,265 / T495 starting RM3,407, so if you up-spec either model with the usual upgrades (Ryzen 5, 1080p, 16GB, 256GBNVMe, 65W charger) will probably touch $4K mark. There's also a new T495s. Coupon code is "NINE", so I'm assuming it's from 9PM to midnight today only?

This post has been edited by G-17: Sep 9 2019, 10:41 PM