Thinkpads

[Leslieann]

modern media is all widescreen.

If the primary task is to watch movies, then maybe a Thinkpad wasn't then best choice in the first place.

The point of resurrecting an old ThinkPad would be the screen's aspect ratio ... and of course the keyboard.

I understand some people like the old ratio (and the keyboard), but you are paying an VERY heavy  price for those two items.

I am a thinkpad fan-boi. But, truth be told, keyboard alone does not justify to tolerate the other low spec hardware, particularly the old materials in batteries. I am writing this with my favorite custom keyboard wired to the T460s docked with a nice high res display. I will never be able to do the same with my old X61T even with the upgraded mother board. My current setup has a dedicated graphics card, 20G or RAM the fastest NVme SDD. What motivation I may have to retroing to my old TP for a price?

They do have NVME and can handle equal amounts of ram, but the processor price goes up from $740 depending on generation and model (they have newer), so you really do get a modern board. You also have to spend a bunch for a "rare" IPS display for it if you want a modern screen and none of that does anything for weight, thickness or battery.

By the time you get done with everything I have little doubt you could dump $1500 into it, which is just INSANE for an old system. I refuse to spend that much on a new laptop, much less a used one. I've had new laptops worth more than this, I just did not pay that much for them.

Then again, I also don't walk around with a $1000 brand new cell phone, much to the surprise of my customers.

[ideus]

@leslieann: Totally agree on your point. The retro feeling does not justify the complexity of sourcing everthing to update the old system enough to compete with an otherwise decent modern system.I can dump the retro feeling for something useful for my work.