I am from Kerala and looks like the monsoon season has already started early and its only going to get worse, so with frequent power cuts and thunders, I am not able to work as much as i usually do on my PC. So I am thinking about buying a laptop but I have not had the greatest experience with laptops in the past so i would like your advice on how to proceed with this
for context: I bought a macbook air a few years ago but i didnt really use it because the power cuts wasnt as bad after a few days of buying it. It stopped after about an year or 2 and it would cost almost as much as getting a new device to fix. It was a loss of 1L because i dont think i finished even 1 project with it. I was not the biggest macos fan and the screen size may have been a bit small for me.
So I am not too keen on getting a new expensive laptop again, inacse i dont use it.
I really loved the macbook's build and battery life. As someone who previously only used cheap dell and hp laptops it was mind blowing so that would be something to consider. I understand i wont get the same battery life on a non arm cpu.
after researching a bit i think getting a refurbished thinkpad would be my best bet since its cheap and has good build quality. I have no idea about the battery life because i got conflicting information on the internet.
A youtuber said i would have to change the battery to get a decent battery life which is fair but when i asked the sellers about it, They couldnt confirm if it would help. It makes sense that i would get better battery life if i change the battery but i wanted to confirm with someone who has experience with this.
some pieces i have rounded up are:
1. T14 i5 (10th Gen) Gen 1
I am a freelance dev and the most i would do with this would be to run vsCode with around 10 chrome tabs and with terminals open in the background and the occasional scripts compilations. I use debian so i cannot go with Arm CPU (not that it is available at this price range lol).
I would like to take this laptop places so a good build and battery life are the only requirements.
What do you think would be the best option for me?
Refurbished T series are perfect except for the battery which i think would make getting a laptop useless if i have to always connect it to a power outlet to use it.
There was a power outage again right now and i had some time to think about it and i think ill go with a refurbished thinkpad (if we can get the battery life up with new battery and linux os) since its cheap and, if i end up not using it again, i can just give it to my cousin. If i do end up using laptops more, i can new good thinkpad later (i read good things about t14s series and maybe snapdragon x will properly support linux later). This should be good for an year or 2 atleast if what i've heard of thinkpads are true.
from the available options what do you think would be best?
Gen 1
Pros:
Pros:
Or should i look into another option altogether ? like a different laptop brand or model or something?
TLDR: Would new battery fix (or help with) the low battery life of refurbished gen 1 & 2 thinkpad T14 , Which should i get out of the 1 & 2 options?
There was a power outage again as i was formatting and proof reading this post lol, please excuse any mistakes
--- this is supposed to be a reply / comment but its being merged to this post ---
btw could ThinkPad owners please share their battery life experience?
i asked ai to fix grammar mistakes before posting but it also responded to my question and i think it had some good insight so posting that here too:
""
Regarding your main question about battery replacement:
for context: I bought a macbook air a few years ago but i didnt really use it because the power cuts wasnt as bad after a few days of buying it. It stopped after about an year or 2 and it would cost almost as much as getting a new device to fix. It was a loss of 1L because i dont think i finished even 1 project with it. I was not the biggest macos fan and the screen size may have been a bit small for me.
So I am not too keen on getting a new expensive laptop again, inacse i dont use it.
I really loved the macbook's build and battery life. As someone who previously only used cheap dell and hp laptops it was mind blowing so that would be something to consider. I understand i wont get the same battery life on a non arm cpu.
after researching a bit i think getting a refurbished thinkpad would be my best bet since its cheap and has good build quality. I have no idea about the battery life because i got conflicting information on the internet.
A youtuber said i would have to change the battery to get a decent battery life which is fair but when i asked the sellers about it, They couldnt confirm if it would help. It makes sense that i would get better battery life if i change the battery but i wanted to confirm with someone who has experience with this.
some pieces i have rounded up are:
1. T14 i5 (10th Gen) Gen 1
- 16gb ram
- 256gb ssd
- they claim minimum 2 hours battery life
- 1 year warranty and 6 month battery and keyboard warranty
- 28800 inr
- 16gb ram
- 512gb ssd
- not sure about the warranty / guaranty
- they claim above 2 hours battery life
- 36k inr
- 16gb ram
- 256 ssd
- this is currently selling for 1.35L but its an open box or return or something so they are selling it for 73.5k with warranty
- while this seems like a good deal i am not sure about spending 74k on a laptop incase i wont use it again like the macbook air
I am a freelance dev and the most i would do with this would be to run vsCode with around 10 chrome tabs and with terminals open in the background and the occasional scripts compilations. I use debian so i cannot go with Arm CPU (not that it is available at this price range lol).
I would like to take this laptop places so a good build and battery life are the only requirements.
What do you think would be the best option for me?
Refurbished T series are perfect except for the battery which i think would make getting a laptop useless if i have to always connect it to a power outlet to use it.
There was a power outage again right now and i had some time to think about it and i think ill go with a refurbished thinkpad (if we can get the battery life up with new battery and linux os) since its cheap and, if i end up not using it again, i can just give it to my cousin. If i do end up using laptops more, i can new good thinkpad later (i read good things about t14s series and maybe snapdragon x will properly support linux later). This should be good for an year or 2 atleast if what i've heard of thinkpads are true.
from the available options what do you think would be best?
Gen 1
Pros:
- cheaper
- closer to me so buying and if needed repairs would be easier
- good enough for my use case
- really good customer support
- older than gen 2
Pros:
- Newer and more powerful cpu
- newer device
- extra storage
- based in chennai so would be harder to buy it and get it fixed if needed
- i dont really care about the performance of the cpu as i dont need a lot of power for my usecase, I would consider the cpu a plus only if it has extra battery life
- 8k inr more + expense of travel to chennai
- extra storage is also not a pro for me since i dont use much storage and i most probably would have to change the ssd to something newer anyway on both laptops
- customer support couldve been better
Or should i look into another option altogether ? like a different laptop brand or model or something?
TLDR: Would new battery fix (or help with) the low battery life of refurbished gen 1 & 2 thinkpad T14 , Which should i get out of the 1 & 2 options?
There was a power outage again as i was formatting and proof reading this post lol, please excuse any mistakes
--- this is supposed to be a reply / comment but its being merged to this post ---
btw could ThinkPad owners please share their battery life experience?
i asked ai to fix grammar mistakes before posting but it also responded to my question and i think it had some good insight so posting that here too:
""
Regarding your main question about battery replacement:
- Yes, replacing the battery in a ThinkPad typically significantly improves battery life
- You can expect 4-6 hours of real-world usage with a new battery on Linux (with proper power management)
- ThinkPads are known for being easily serviceable, including battery replacement
- The price difference isn't justified for your use case
- Local support is valuable
- 11th gen vs 10th gen Intel won't make a noticeable difference for your workload
- The money saved could go towards a new battery and SSD if needed
- Before buying, confirm:
- Battery is replaceable (should be for T14)
- Genuine battery availability and cost
- Consider installing TLP or power-top on Linux for better battery management
- The 28.8k price point leaves room for upgrades while still being significantly cheaper than new options
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