0-20k Cheapest best laptop for college? Thinkpad t480 or?
- Thread starter Rezep
- Start date
-
- Tags
- college laptop thinkpad used laptop
- Status
Rezep
Galvanizer
I suppose you asked this rhetorically lol. 2nd and third point I don't care much but yes it is true about the 1st and 4th point with regards to the screen (which is what I'll be looking at literally all the time) along with the good quality build and light weight.
Update :- Going to buy a refurbished/used thinkpad t480s, with an i5 8350u and 16 gigs of ram (seller will install it, I'll also check if it's the same as the one soldered on or close enough to it)
Attaching some images that I asked from him
Battery max capacity is lower than designed but expected since it's a used corporate laptop (or maybe the battery limiter is on, will see)
Attachments
Last edited:
Rezep
Galvanizer
Just bought a t480s locally for 29K. Going to install windows 10 iot ltsc on it. It's in good condition. Will update pics of it soon here.
Last edited:
Rezep
Galvanizer
Rezep
Galvanizer
Writing a short review so far and I have no complaints aside from expected scratches and marks on the thinkpad which I don't care much (until I start staring at it for like 5 minutes lol). The ones on top near the webcam are apparently from a sticker which was scractched off, and a few sort of dents on the bottom and the right side of the screen but they don't affect the screen itself in anyway.
And my oh my, the thinkpad software just works doesn't it? Downloaded commercial lenovo vantage from the windows store (which I activated via powershell by typing like one sentence) and it just does everything seamlessly without me having to bother about finding any compatible update or it breaking and screwing everything up.
Trackpad and trackpoint work great, CPU performs good and so far I have had it run hardly anything intensive so it has been very silent.
16 gigs of ram really does feel freeing as well and with the low bloat ltsc, it's even better.
Battery I've capped it to 50 to 90%, so it doesn't start charging until it drops below 50 and stops charging at 90% (since I mainly use it outside). Haven't had a problem at all so far (albeit it's only 2 days) and will continue to see how it continues to work.
The laptop was much lighter than I had even expected (since I had recently used a THICK thinkpad of a friends a week ago) and it's just a breeze to carry around (but I really need to be a bit more careful as I'm quite clumsy flinging my bag here and there)
SSD is a WD m.2 something something 240 gigs and it boots up well within 15-20 seconds.
Trying to think of any other points that I can bring up but not too sure since I don't write reviews much so if anyone has any question feel free to ask!
Ahh, the touchscreen is surprisingly useful IF YOU REMEMBER TO USE IT. Yes I still mainly feel it's a gimmick but it does oddly have it's purpose at times when I find it annoying to use the trackpad or nub and remember that I can just click on the screen with my finger.
www.pcmag.com
Onto the seller himself Mr Rebin, found his ad on olx and had contacted him around a week or a week and a half back. Responsive and good seller. He's not currently reselling refurbished laptops full time in bangalore and currently does it part time along with his current job but told me he would eventually do so in the future.
Something that I liked compared to other sellers that I had a chat with was that he actually has a fair amount of knowledge of computers/laptops. Most (not all) refurbished sellers I've talked to don't really seem to know much about what they're selling aside from the basic script "i7 is superb" and the market price of the laptops that would suggest the performance expected with it.
Secondly when I had asked him if he could upgrade the ram to 16 gigs (by adding a 8gb ram stick along with the soldered 8gb), I had asked him to specifically add the same/equivalent brand ram so that there wouldn't be any compatability issues and he followed it through. He even shared pictures of the new ram stick that he ordered as well as a Video Recording of him installing it to my laptop without me asking which was good of him to do so.
He also came to my house on the time as agreed upon and setup the laptop in front of me, running through the bios hardware tests etc which took around 40-45 mins and was in no rush. He also gave me a personal warranty of 45 days from his side but even if anything occurs beyond that period, he said that he would help me resolve any issues too. Also has contacts with regards to spare lenovo parts so if the battery ever goes patoot, I should be able to replace it with an official part easily.
I believe he still has like 2 more t480s available with him so incase anyone is interested they can ask me for his contact details. There's other laptops as well. I'm not giving a full blind recommendation, I still need to see how his support after selling the lappy to me is but if you're in bangalore, I'll suggest him for sure for a face to face deal.
Another note about the laptop itself, I haven't felt such childlike curiosity and joy in a long time with technology now. Partially becaue I never owned a laptop before but because it is honestly such a clean looking black laptop along with it being rather strong in it's specs even for today along with messing with windows installations, ISO files, cracking office (I haven't done them in years and it feels exactly like 2019 when I built my first desktop by myself) and that thinkpad brand ownership pride making me feel like I'm a heartless corporate honcho already lmao
Also, I had to get this.
And my oh my, the thinkpad software just works doesn't it? Downloaded commercial lenovo vantage from the windows store (which I activated via powershell by typing like one sentence) and it just does everything seamlessly without me having to bother about finding any compatible update or it breaking and screwing everything up.
Trackpad and trackpoint work great, CPU performs good and so far I have had it run hardly anything intensive so it has been very silent.
16 gigs of ram really does feel freeing as well and with the low bloat ltsc, it's even better.
Battery I've capped it to 50 to 90%, so it doesn't start charging until it drops below 50 and stops charging at 90% (since I mainly use it outside). Haven't had a problem at all so far (albeit it's only 2 days) and will continue to see how it continues to work.
The laptop was much lighter than I had even expected (since I had recently used a THICK thinkpad of a friends a week ago) and it's just a breeze to carry around (but I really need to be a bit more careful as I'm quite clumsy flinging my bag here and there)
SSD is a WD m.2 something something 240 gigs and it boots up well within 15-20 seconds.
Trying to think of any other points that I can bring up but not too sure since I don't write reviews much so if anyone has any question feel free to ask!
Ahh, the touchscreen is surprisingly useful IF YOU REMEMBER TO USE IT. Yes I still mainly feel it's a gimmick but it does oddly have it's purpose at times when I find it annoying to use the trackpad or nub and remember that I can just click on the screen with my finger.
How to Check the Health of Your Laptop's Battery in Windows
Whether you're still running Windows 10 or upgraded to Windows 11, a Windows battery report will help you keep tabs on the health of your laptop's battery.
Something that I liked compared to other sellers that I had a chat with was that he actually has a fair amount of knowledge of computers/laptops. Most (not all) refurbished sellers I've talked to don't really seem to know much about what they're selling aside from the basic script "i7 is superb" and the market price of the laptops that would suggest the performance expected with it.
Secondly when I had asked him if he could upgrade the ram to 16 gigs (by adding a 8gb ram stick along with the soldered 8gb), I had asked him to specifically add the same/equivalent brand ram so that there wouldn't be any compatability issues and he followed it through. He even shared pictures of the new ram stick that he ordered as well as a Video Recording of him installing it to my laptop without me asking which was good of him to do so.
He also came to my house on the time as agreed upon and setup the laptop in front of me, running through the bios hardware tests etc which took around 40-45 mins and was in no rush. He also gave me a personal warranty of 45 days from his side but even if anything occurs beyond that period, he said that he would help me resolve any issues too. Also has contacts with regards to spare lenovo parts so if the battery ever goes patoot, I should be able to replace it with an official part easily.
I believe he still has like 2 more t480s available with him so incase anyone is interested they can ask me for his contact details. There's other laptops as well. I'm not giving a full blind recommendation, I still need to see how his support after selling the lappy to me is but if you're in bangalore, I'll suggest him for sure for a face to face deal.
Another note about the laptop itself, I haven't felt such childlike curiosity and joy in a long time with technology now. Partially becaue I never owned a laptop before but because it is honestly such a clean looking black laptop along with it being rather strong in it's specs even for today along with messing with windows installations, ISO files, cracking office (I haven't done them in years and it feels exactly like 2019 when I built my first desktop by myself) and that thinkpad brand ownership pride making me feel like I'm a heartless corporate honcho already lmao
Also, I had to get this.
Last edited by a moderator:
Rezep
Galvanizer
Yep this one had some sort of hardware key in it but I wanted ltsc version anyways so I ditched it. Always gone the high seas whenever I can. Bios was fully unlocked as well
If you're referring to the internal one, yes I think it's removable but not in the modular pop in pop out way.
- Status