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Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by chx on Monday October 21, 2019 @06:11PM (#21318058)
Note you can get (very) old ThinkPads for a pittance which will be a much better platform for running Linux. Many actually prefer the T420/X220 for its keyboard and the performance is not as bad as one would think from the eight years passed since its release. As https://www.hardocp.com/article/2017/01/13/kaby_lake_7700k_v... attests from Sandy Bridge (2011 ThinkPad) to Kaby Lake (2017 ThinkPad) IPC only grew by 20%, the big changes were in efficiency allowing the move from 35W CPUs to 15W CPUs. Also, if you are just slightly handy, you could use the T430/X230 with the old keyboard hacked onto them. If you are even more handy, you could install a converter board and a full HD screen. If you are doing this to a T430s with an i7 CPU without an nVidia GPU you even get Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt 1 for sure but still, a converter allows you to attach TB3 devices. A T430s hacked so is basically the poor man's ThinkPad 25 which is the pinnacle of laptops. (Not counting the T480-ThinkPad 25 Frankenpad which is nuts.)
Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by elipsey on Monday October 21, 2019 @06:15PM (#21318099)
I am typing this on $150 refurbished x230, I also have a t440s with a retrofitted IPS screen, and t450 touchpad.

shhhhh..... stop telling the other hackers, they will buy them all! XD

Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by imglorp on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @07:51AM (#21322574)
So the t450 touchpad is compatible with the t440s? Tell me it has real buttons and doesn't tilt the pad to click!
Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by elipsey on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @05:40PM (#21328755)
Most indeededly!
Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by 0xfaded on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @02:11AM (#21320794)
My t440s screen just died :(
Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by elipsey on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @05:43PM (#21328781)
/hugs. don't despair, you can get a new one for 40 bucks. that's what's so great about these things!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-Lenovo-ThinkPad-T440s-14-Laptop...

Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by kop316 on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @08:39AM (#21322895)
Heh, I just bought an x200 for the same reason. I was able to retrofit Bluetooth, Wifi, the Hard drive to a new SSD, flash libreboot, and put in 8 GB or RAM. Debian + XFCE is amazingly fast on it

Oddly enough, I am having an issue with the keyboard though. I unplugged it and when I replugged it in, keys stopped working. Repeating that process made a lot more keys stop working as well. I have a feeling that's just because the ribbon cable was old though, so I am replacing the whole thing.

Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by m4rtink on Monday October 21, 2019 @06:44PM (#21318379)
The 520/420 is also easily upgradeable - in my T520 running Fedora, I have:

- switched the i5 CPU for i7-2860QM, doupling thread count while mostly keeping per thread performance

- maxed RAM to 16 GB

- put in SATA3 SSD to the 3.5 inch position

- put in a high capacity 3.5 inch spinning hard drive to ultrabay instead of DVD drive

- put in a small m2 SSD to the SATA2 m2 slot because why not

This is still my main computer, driving two full HD monitors from its docking station.

Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by chx on Wednesday October 23, 2019 @08:56AM (#21334108)
- you mean a SATA3 SSD to the 2.5 position - a high capacity 2.5 inch spinning hard drive in the ultrabay - an mSATA SSD in the mPCIe slot it's not m.2

I had a similar setup in my T420/T420s (I moved to the T420s when the first full HD boards didn't work well for the T420 and then came the sudden thaw in the keyboard winter, the ThinkPad 25).

Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by bitL on Monday October 21, 2019 @07:51PM (#21318879)
W520 was the best old ThinkPad - still old-school keyboard, Full HD, 32GB RAM, 2x HDD/SSD.
Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by silon42 on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @02:58AM (#21320997)
I find T480 quite decent, compared to alternatives at least (Dell XPS, MacBook Pro)
Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by chx on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @03:40AM (#21321170)
I posted https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/dd2i3y/can_we_tal... a few weeks ago:

> You can get still in warranty, good spec machines below 600 USD on eBay from reputable sellers, returns accepted. Extending the warranty for 1-2 more years is 50-100 USD. So, for all intents and purposes it's new. This machine is not worse than the T490, in fact it's better in some aspects like two memory slots and two batteries. It costs like half the T490 and just as good!

Discussion mentioned Europe but eBay has a nice global shipping program so you can just buy from ebay.com but also ebay.co.uk has similar prices...

Re:Samsung Kills 'Linux on DeX' with Android 10 Rollout by vuln on Tuesday October 22, 2019 @12:21AM (#21320353)
I love my x220 i7, 16GB RAM, 500GB Samgung EVO Pro... The thing flys..