[ltp] Help needed with choosing the right ThinkPad

[Stefan Monnier]

>> In terms of budget, I found the two discussed models at around the same
>> price, with the T450s a bit cheaper but with only 8 GB of RAM (with 4
>> soldered to the board). As it seems, upgrading it to 12 GB would be rather
>> easy and cheap, but upgrading to 20 GB is rather expensive, as 16 GB sodimm
>> ddr3 is rather rare and the prices high. Or does anyone know a good source
>> for it?
>>
>> 12 GB would probably be totally enough most of the time, but I'd prefer to
>> have the option to have more.
>
> I would not stretch the RAM too much. I recently replaced my 8 year old T520
> (8GB, 1TB SSD) with a X1Extreme Gen2 (16GB, 1TB Nvram), both running
> Tumbleweed.
> I mostly do office and packaging work (local compilations before checking in
> to OBS) , with 1 or 2 VM for testing. Even on the T520 is mostly some RAM left
> in boring state. On the X1E I did not use swap space so far

Then again, IIUC the OP is still using a T61, so he probably wants his
new machine to last another 10 years.  Maybe 12GB is plenty right now,
but will it still be in 2030?

BTW, talking about planning for the future: my past experience is that
it can be worthwhile upgrading your RAM before you actually need it:
the price of RAM sticks can increase once it becomes very old
technology (and hence harder to find).  So keep an eye on the price of
those 16GB DDR3 sticks ;-)


        Stefan "who still doesn't notice much difference between his 3GB
                T60 and his 8GB T61, FWIW"