Digital Compass

The Classic Never Go Out Of Style

Opinion - Why I daily an old ThinkPad

Jake L, 15/06/2025

Four years ago I decided I had a need for a relatively lightweight laptop with decent battery life that I could cart around instead of my gaming “laptop”. I didn’t really have anything in mind but decided on a smaller form factor with a focus on battery life. So I hopped on Gumtree and had a poke around.

Being post COVID there wasn’t a huge selection available, and old Macs were oddly expensive. For a moment I considered a new entry level laptop but they all looked awful and were slow even in demo mode. It seemed like my only option was an old business grade laptop, which I could find a few within my budget. A ThinkPad with USB-C charging caught my eye, something that was still relatively uncommon. I went and had a look and walked away with a very clean entry level ThinkPad T480 for $300.

I didn’t realise how lucky I had been. It was quiet, held charge, and had a very nice keyboard. It sported an efficiency focused 8th Gen Intel i5, 8GB of RAM and a 500GB mechanical HDD. The latter of which was making me question my life choices. Updating Windows took all night. This laptop was $1500 new a few short years before so all things considered I had done well, not even mentioning all the ports I had at my disposal. I soon set about giving it the love it deserved.

I ordered a new battery, more RAM and an SSD to drag it into the current decade. It was now I began to realise why even now these laptops were well regarded. A few screws and about 10 minutes later everything was in. I even re-pasted the CPU while I was in there. It was now ready for whatever I could throw at it and I’d only spent $450 total. It was built like a tank and was far faster than anything available new for even close to that money.

At first I was glued to my desk most the day and it didn’t see much use, basically only when travelling. It was also nice to have something to play with – without risking anything I cared about. But over time something happened, being able to browse on the couch or start typing something up at the library and finishing it at home was liberating. It turned out that most of what I used computers for didn’t need much grunt. Web browsing, study, coding and all that could be done on a potato. I was never worried about battery life, nor was I worried about dropping a $300 brick on the floor. I took it to friends places for AoE and to my parents to troubleshoot their internet.

These days my desktop is now collecting dust and my ThinkPad is used almost daily. A testament to it’s build quality, but also to how far computers have come that a dated and lower spec machine can accomplish most peoples needs. I’ve moved to Linux on it now and it still feels new. It boots fast and handles my tab obsession with ease.

The reason I’m talking about this is not just the value proposition, but that these laptops are a dying breed. The ability to upgrade or replace parts is becoming a thing of the past, as corporations continue to maximise profit and streamline production. This is leading to a world where the only way to upgrade a laptop will be to buy a whole new one, meaning if this laptop was shipped with it’s crippling HDD now it would be useless.

There’s a name for useless computers: E-waste. Not only are these old business laptops faster, new systems are intended to be cheap in every sense of the word. Retail stores are lined with these budget machines, built cheap with poor materials and weak hinges prone to snapping. It’s a perfect storm where they aren’t reliable, and can’t be fixed. If one of the letters on the keyboard fails the whole machine is compromised.

Then there’s the financial impact these products make on those who can least afford it. A budget laptop built to only last a year or two may seem like the only option for some, resulting in another $500 purchase when it inevitably breaks. While these old business laptops can continue to be relevant for a decade or longer, mine is legitimately faster than it was out of the box. Time has shown these machines can take a beating, and will outlive the budget models that follow them all this time later. If you are in the market for a laptop and can follow tutorials (or know someone who can) you owe it to yourself to consider a used business laptop and perform modest upgrades to them to keep them from the trash heap.

Now has never been a better time for this. Windows 11 has made so many completely capable laptops “obsolete” (but that’s a story for another time) so businesses unloading their old tech. For a bargain you can get a highly repairable and robust laptop that will last you many years into the future. You can do your bit to fight planned obsolescence and minimise e-waste.

At 8 years old my ThinkPad is getting an update, I’m finally replacing the keyboard with a $40 backlit one (two screws and you don’t even have to open the laptop to do it) after years of complaining. This thing has been my companion through thick and thin now and I will hold on to it as long as I can. Turns out a cheap ThinkPad off Gumtree was one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

I talked a bit about ability to repair, e-waste and planned obsolescence. I will absolutely be doing deep dives into those topics and more as editorials in the future so stay tuned.
Also, if you’re looking for a used laptop here’s a short list of models you can rely on:

Factor in the cost of an SSD at a minimum and consider a battery or extra RAM if needed. You might even find examples by resellers who have already done all of this for you which is a wonderful idea if you’re not inclined to poke around under the hood.

Further Reading