[ltp] Help needed with choosing the right ThinkPad

[tomtom at tutanota.com]

Thanks again to all sharing their knowledge and opinions here!

28. Juli 2020, 17:26 von monnier at iro.umontreal.ca:

>>> any thinkpad will run any form of linux perfectly.
>>>
>> Alas, I think that is an overstatement.
>> Last time I checked (quite some time ago, admittedly, so I'm happy to be
>> corrected), most Thinkpads required non-free drivers, e.g. for their
>> wireless network cards.
>>
True. Even if you do use proprietary drivers, some things can require some research and work to get running. I've made the experience with bluetooth...  but I would agree that getting Linux running smoothly on a Thinkpad is probably easier than than on an "average Laptop", or the chance that it runs smoothly out of the box is higher.

> PS: BTW, it seems like the T450s *does* support 16GB SODIMMs and while
> they're not super-common, I found such dimm on newegg (which even
> explicitly mentions T450s) for about US$140, so the memory size limit is
> really 20GB.
>
Yes, I also found that it supports 16GB DDR3 SODIMMs, even though Lenovo doesn't officially say that. Just like the T61 officially wouldn't support 8GB of RAM, which it does. But I find the price for these modules rather high, it would be almost a third of the price I would pay for the T450s, for about the same price I can get 32GB DDR4 SODIMMs. RAM modules of an older generation, especially big ones, are usually more expensive than the newer one of the same size.

So in terms of RAM, I tend to the X270, I would have 16GB to begin with and for about the same money I would spend to upgrade the T450s to 20GB I could even go up to 32GB (which the X270 seems to supports, inofficially). That seems way more than needed in everyday life, but for video editing it could be useful.
One thing I like about the T450s, though is the option to use two SSDs - one 2,5 inch and one in the M.2 slot. As far as I understand, there should be the same possibility with the X270, but I found much less information about it. 

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