Why a Cheap ThinkPad is More Fun Than a Raspberry Pi

• ThinkPad X200t SSD Ins...
Merry Christmas everyone, today we go over why a cheap used ThinkPad is a better value than something like a raspberry pi if you are looking to have a dedicated machine to mess around with.
If you enjoyed please leave a like and consider subscribing for more content!

[@KingASE88]

No idea why so many new people are seeing this video now after 3 years but welcome lmao. Should I make another video? Would you want to see a video on the psp go? (I think I’ll make a video roasting some of the idiots in this comment section first while I work on new scripts) PSP Go Video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/noa4dXecmb2bb6csi=I25T5Dw-y0nDOBog

[@BabaYaga0584]

yt new algorith pushing new creaters videos with less views

[@rupenparthu9209]

dk man just got this in my recommendation

[@256Bits]

you should make more videos

[@sebysebyt12]

wanted to say same thing youtube is on drugs again

[@animationmann6612]

Slap a new Video so we can watch it after 3 Years

[@Lim95]

“single board computer” _pulls out a Wii_

[@KingASE88]

If you check out my channel you’ll see I put a single board computer in that wii

[@SuperFranzs]

The Wii can run Linux, and you can run a webserver on the Wii OS using Homebrew.

[@SergeyVolkov]

wii has only one board inside? so its fine

[@bachibak]

​@@SuperFranzsinstalling octoprint on a Wii when

[@mistymysticsailboat]

⁠still a WILD idea, lol

[@YeloPartyHat]

Electricity usage is a huge consideration for hobby projects such as those usually requiring a Raspberry Pi

[@XxXMrSisterFisterXxX]

this and the size. if you're getting an SBC to use as a PC, sure, maybe a ThinkPad makes more sense. To hobbyists though, which are the target demographic for the Pi, SBC's make more sense. there are already tons of options out there for people interested in robotics, networking, or just making a retro console. they only need a keyboard and mouse for a very short period, and anyone interested these hobbies probably has those already

[@mabmarsh7370]

Exactly, Raspberry pi runs on a portable powerbank

[@95cardboard]

as well as a lack of gpio pins for arduino and other modules

[@hershfam]

thinkpad prices after youtube pushes this video after 3 years 📈📈📈

[@knighthawkhomelab]

Stonks! lol

[@user-lp5lj5jg2y]

ebay listings for used thinkpads are like $100-400 it's crazy

[@stormsith5169]

​@@user-lp5lj5jg2y 100 is good bro

[@HIDLad001]

They are too expensive for what they are. Eventually people will stop paying this much and the prices will go down

[@Aeglos15]

I miss the days when you could buy a second-hand X200 Tablet for $30. In my opinion, one of the best machines released under the ThinkPad name.

[@Pseudometrik]

It’s still 40 bucks-ish in my country yea

[@Aeglos15]

@@Pseudometrik Prices on them seem to have finally come down but still maybe not $30 for a working machine.

[@GraDays]

30$? Wow. Here in Italy it's impossible.

[@Aeglos15]

@@GraDays That's a shame. Between Craigslist, eBay, Facebook Market Place, and a couple of other places, you could get some great deals. The computer I'm using right now is a salvaged Lenovo ThinkPad T420s I've been using for probably 5 years that my former employer had in a recycling bin (no one had an issue with me taking ownership of the device from the bin after asking for permission; some coworkers salvaged SEVERAL machines from the bin). There was absolutely nothing wrong with the machine. I purchased an SSD and some memory and am currently running FreeBSD (previously ran Debian) on it with no issues.

[@LCMG4M1NG]

In Germany, it costs over 200 Euros​@@Aeglos15

[@mjdxp5688]

I have a bunch of old laptops lying around, and I'm always finding new ways to have fun with them. Around a year ago I made a home server out of one of them which mainly serves as a pihole. I've also had a lot of fun SSHing into it from various other computers, from my phone to my main PC to even a Wii. Just last night I decided to try installing Gentoo on my previous laptop, and it's been a lot of fun!

[@yzdatabase4175]

Overkill to run just PiHole?

[@mjdxp5688]

@@yzdatabase4175 Better than letting it sit around and do nothing

[@parodio1]

SSHing into a server is a very weird way to have fun

[@Blox117]

@@parodio1 i ssh'd into ya mom

[@alokmurmu7682]

Sir give me one of them i don't have any computer or laptop 😭😭😭

[@gorrrroto]

Lovely to see the such a will to reuse still perfectly functional computers :))))

[@rontarrant]

I've gone through a few of these and what's most delightful about them is that the resale value is nothing to sneer at. The last one I bought used and then sold it for about 1/2 its value after using it for nearly four years. Currently running through my first Yoga variation, an X380 complete with touch screen. Tons of uses, even with Windows 10 still installed... I use it as a book reader, controlling my Canon T2i in an overhead rig, and (with the included pen) sketching... just to name a few.

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

I'm still rocking a maxed-out T530 as a daily driver (next to my gaming desktop) and it's been a bunch of fun upgrading it waaay beyond what was originally possible, most importantly replacing the trash-tier 900p-zero-contrast LCD with a decent 1080p one for peanuts, throwing a quadcore i7 at it, and the obligatory mSATA (not 2.5") SSD. Did some other mods to it as well but I don't want this to end up as a wall of text. Unless you're doing something that requires GPU horsepower, it's surprisingly easy to forget you're sitting in front of a 10+ year old machine at times (performance wise)

[@jumbledfox2098]

Do tell more!

[@TheFront3164]

Thank you so much because of you I can now find better displays for my old laptop :)

[@lsudo]

wait, that thing has a non-soldered cpu?

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

Strangely bot-sounding replies here 🤨 "find better displays for my old laptop"? i didn't even mention a panel model. "hopefully making a vid"? I haven't uploaded any videos in years, nor did i mention i would.

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

@ All fullsize thinkpads up to 3rd gen Core i-series (so up to T530/T430/L530/L430/W530) have a socketed CPU. Exception to that rule are the 12 and 13.3" subnotebooks (X series, so X220/X230/X240 etc) where it's always soldered. The 15" version of the T540p and the workstation version W540/W541 still have a socketed 4th gen CPU, but the 14" versions (T440(s/p)) are soldered. Anything newer than those is always soldered "thanks" to the stupid ultrabook standard pushed by intel, making upgrades basically impossible

[@AMAL_AMPZ]

Who all got this video as recommendation?

[@taylorsapp8195]

3 years later? Yeah lmfao

[@AMAL_AMPZ]

​@@taylorsapp8195 same here 🙌

[@xxduanxx3999]

Same hhhhh

[@AMAL_AMPZ]

@@xxduanxx3999 cheers 🍻

[@ry7hym]

yessir over here

[@zhyakoxalid6892]

I found this video to be really enjoyable, it may have been your narration and the fact that I have a Thinkpad now. Thank your for this video, you earned a subscriber

[@LoranBriggs]

I bought a "renewed" lenovo T480s from Amazon recently and have been quite happy with it.

[@CenturionKZ]

That machine is relatively new and powerful

[@michaeltagor4238]

​@@CenturionKZrelatively? Buddy you can give it to a law student in college and it'll do fine it's an awesome machine

[@UrbanistBlooms]

I big factor left out is the GPIO pins which I don't think the Thinkpad has an equivalent too unless you hookup a USB Arduino

[@reold]

This is the point. The raspberry Pi boards aren't meant to be your daily driver for programming or similar. They are supposed to be a hackable compute module for your projects. They are a more powerful alternative to Arduinos, Esps etc

[@BruceNJeffAreMyFlies]

Is that any more difficult than directly connecting to the motherboard of a laptop, though? the GPIO of a laptop isn't going to be very different to an arduino or other microcontroller dev board, anyway. If you can do it on a laptop, you can surely do it on a 3 dollar stm32 through usb.

[@petrlaskevic1948]

​@@BruceNJeffAreMyFliesThe problem then is in communication between the Arduino / stm32 and the computer. With time sensitive things like pwm driving motors, communication over serial could be a big slowdown + the computer is not real time by any means - but even that can be improved - ie cnc linux). If you're not doing time sensitive stuff, like you only blink an LED every once in a while then it's probably ok

[@BruceNJeffAreMyFlies]

@@petrlaskevic1948 You would want to use the microcontroller for things like PWM 'speed', and simply have a signal between the pc and the microcontroller to trigger it - rather than having PWM go straight through. If you want to get to that level of precision, that you speak of, you would be hard pressed to find it on a laptop that doesn't specifically have those added features already. It's not often you find a laptop with even a dozen spare I^2C ports, like an arduino has.

[@alexk4894]

I'd recommend FT2232 board. It can be configured as a regular GPIO controller, but also supports SPI, i2c, UART and JTAG. There are plenty of boards with different pinouts and additional features

[@oynamaqe892]

Seen so many videos about old laptops, amazing to see people reusing old but functional hardware. I'll probably get one for running klipper on my 3d printer

[@ajoshdoingthings541]

I'm currently figuring out the voltage regulation to get my old laptop's hardware and two batts from an old UPS into an even older suitcase which originally housed some sort of laser measuring device. Mounting holes, stand-offs and theoretically even a screen are already in place (will get rid of the last one though, the laptop's display is more power-efficient and a fair bit higher resolution). Ultimately that's gonna be my astro photography setup's brain part, hence the mobility aspect

[@oynamaqe892]

@@ajoshdoingthings541 Woah that is impressive. I've always been interested in cyberdecks, mostly because I love mechanical keyboards. Maybe I'll build something like you are in the future, probably something themed like an old terminal computer. Good luck with your photography!

[@GresSimJa]

I'd personally get another device to run Klipper on. System requirements are fairly low and runtime will be high, so you'll want to save power.

[@scroombler]

you hit the nail on the head. So many ways to get your hands on a decent used laptop

[@JosephJinjang]

Would love to see videos showing GPIO options to go along with those cheap laptops. After all the GPIO interface is one of the key features of a Raspberry Pi. Would be cool to read sensors and turn on relays with a ThinkPad. Done that during the Pi shortage using a USB Arduino and an old laptop.

[@ajoshdoingthings541]

I mean you could use internal PCIe or USB headers or maybe even break out some unused connector's pins

[@OlegAryutkin]

easy enough to add a USB to GPIO adapter. Also parallel ports are essentially GPIO.

[@BruceNJeffAreMyFlies]

Is there any reason you'd not want to use an arduino , or an stm32 or something? I don't really see how that would be any less convenient than physically connecting to the motherboard.

[@OlegAryutkin]

@@ajoshdoingthings541 you can't use PCI(e) or USB for GPIO. doesn't work like that. the closes PCs get to GPIO is parallel port which I last time saw in a 2005 thinkpad.

[@ajoshdoingthings541]

@@OlegAryutkin if it doesn't work like that then how comes that PCIe is basically just a bunch of serial pins set up to run in parallel (x4, x8, x16)? And then how comes that there are cheap-ish PCIe-to-GPIO cards that sometimes even come with windows-compatible drivers? And how comes that decently functional PCIe-to-"Printer port" cards are a thing and available fairly cheaply? Why do USB-to-Parallel dongles exist then as well? And plenty open source projects of using arduinos to translate the parallel data into USB-readable data exist and work as well, how comes that? Really just curious since your statement directly contradicts the existing evidence of it being done in reality in a variety of ways

[@bijanshadnia3620]

Great video! Just picked up my first Thinkpad recently. In love with my T420

[@Teodor-ValentinMaxim]

You are right, an old, cheap thinkpad provides more value if you plan to use it as a standard machine, but I believe the main reason of why would you want a raspberry pi is to do IoT.

[@zqmlk]

Good point but I guess people use Raspberry for the minuscule power draw, no fan noise and the fact the form factor is so versatile.

[@NEONDaydreamer]

Love to hear Synthwave/Retrowave in the background

[@PaintballBoomer]

Been running a T420 with an SSD and Majaro KDE for a while now. Gets more use than my Ryzen gaming rig. Great video dude.

[@randomgamingin144p]

i think you are missing the point, the whole point of the pi is not its price, its that it is good for certain it projects (for example, a portable wifi router) its not a computer replacement, and while it can act like one, its pretty terrible value these days (though the efficiency is also a reason, but the laptop doesn't really consume that much more power) its not supposed to be a cheap mini pc.

[@mlindelithaboncube7344]

u r so right..i got mine in 2013 back then when i was at collage and it worked till this april 2024 and it was a t420...it did not break ....i jus upgraded to a beast of a desktop...it ran for 16yrs and was an i5 with 8gb ram..i started using that with windows seven ,signeded up for ms insider and got win 8 ,developer preview...ran every os, i learnt computing on that thing ...and still today i am a genius bcoz i worked on that imb f---ker 20 t0 30 yrs ahead of its time...

[@englishrupe01]

Been saying and doing this for years, now, too. But one of the reasons why SBC are chosen is GPIO, for projects. But, yes, for everything else, i 100% agree.

[@rayjaymor8754]

Dell Latitudes have a similar build quality and haven't been hit by the same price premium of the Thinkpads. I got a 5480 that I would argue is pretty similar to a T480, including USB-C charging and USB-C graphics output (meaning it works with my triple screen dock) and it's been sensational with running KDE Neon. Cost me $100AUD and after about another $100 AUD in RAM and NVME upgrades I have a rig that is absolutely capable for modern web development. The main benefit of the T480 over the Dell though is the dual-batteries which the Dell lacks unfortunately.

[@TheHackedXP]

Took a gamble on a T440s that was untested on eBay for $35. After another $10 for a charger, it booted up with no issues! Got an i7-4600 4c, 8GB RAM, 1 500GB HDD and a 16GB SSD (and 2 - that’s right - full sized batteries) for roughly the same total price that my Pi 4 cost when it was new. You just can’t beat the performance of Linux on x86. The Pi is definitely cool for tinkering with (much more so than the Thinkpad), especially because of the exposed GPIO, but using it as a daily driver is difficult because of the lack of support for ARM for a lot of packages. I just installed Gentoo on my Thinkpad and it’s so nice to use that I’ve been neglecting my MacBook in favor of dailying Linux. In short, Thinkpads are so worth it

[@michaelenelmar]

One of the biggest advantages of the Pi is it's huge community support and that they work all the same way. I have tons of micro SD cards (and some usb drives) with different operating systems and different versions. Almalinux is one of my favourites. It's a Red Hat clone and you can learn to use industrial server software for free. I also swap the ssds of my old laptop, but it's not close to be as universal as with the Pi.

[@4ktrash4lyf]

I actually really want one of these. so cool actually. Especially the final IBM ones just for nostalgia reasons.

[@mattbanak8917]

I've had an old Thinkpad running as the control plane of my home Kube cluster for years now, thing's a beast and there's always a screen and keyboard right there when I really need it. Great video!

[@mongee3614]

Ah hell yeah! Some home playing in the background

[@bummers]

While I love thinkpads, your use case is clearly not meant for what a raspberry pi is for, which is custom embedded io implementation.

[@orterves]

I think the video agrees with you, his point was people are also using the Pi where a cheap laptop would be a better fit

[@user-si6kk5wy4y]

Agreed 100% People do Not appreciate older laptops as much as they should, and an rpi is meant to be used for specific usecases, that make use of its small form factor, embedded io, and lower power draw.

[@Soupie62]

Weight, and battery life, are factors if you are mobile. Thinkpads also vary in thickness, depending on the model.

[@NyanCoder]

I think both choices have their own pros and cons, tbh

[@mrstephanwehner]

The impressive thing about a Raspberry Pi, to me, is the power usage. How much power does a ThinkPad use?

[@99corncob]

My everyday driver is a ThinkPad W510 with an i7 cpu, a machine manufactured between 2010 and 2015, running Linux. I bought it used, and it had been heavily used. I have since replaced the keyboard with an OEM model but everything else continues to work like new. For me, the superiority of these old workhorses over newer computers is clear. The keyboard is one obvious factor: It is great, and vastly better to type on than the low-travel Chiclet keyboards that almost all new laptops seem to have. It is fast, offers all the storage and I/O that I need, and I have no plans to replace it.

[@That1WeirdKid404]

bro just went trough puberty in 2 seconds 2:24

[@SgtP4in]

When I was in College robotics, we would buy several cheap, used ThinkPads, setup a fresh install of Ubuntu on each, and they became the main control computers for our robots.

[@tyrantfox7801]

GPIO pins are the biggest reason why people get these SBCs

[@willk7184]

Nice bonus is thinkpads have some of the nicest keyboards ever made.

[@AndruXa]

For me the energy consumption / bulkiness is what tips the scale. In all other aspects using an old ThinkPad is better

[@Dizzie20vt]

Got myself a x121e running mint myself. Really fun to use

[@supergrafxengine4620]

Agree! Better value and more powerful ....and it is thin enough.

[@309electronics5]

It lacks the in software control ability of the gpio of a raspberry pi..but with some effort and some programming you might be able to hook a arduino or rpi pico with some opensource software and have it be controllable through software

[@TheTrebel]

This is type of content I love

[@jonathan_emmanuel]

yu-utsu mentioned, opinion accepted 👌

[@jonathan_emmanuel]

nah just kidding, these laptops have an immaculate amount of vibe and nostalgia growing up knowing how theyre built like tanks

[@TalmidAndy]

All this still holds true even in 2024 except I would argue that it is the price rather than the value of older hardware that has increased making the likes of many current SBCs, like the RPi5, and mini/micro PCs the better option when considering the price to capability factors.

[@mjdxp5688]

Don't forget that you'll need a mouse, keyboard, and a monitor for something like a Raspberry Pi, but a laptop is essentially an all-in-one.

[@TalmidAndy]

@@mjdxp5688 If you SSH into the SBC you can access it from any device that has either terminal software or a web browser. If you have one daily driver device, be at a tablet or a laptop, you can use that to run any number of SBCs without having to fit a display, keyboard, and mouse to each one. I run OpenWebRX with several SDR receivers attached on an RPi entirely headless as all control and operation is via a web interface and SSH. The same goes for PiStar and several applications.

[@dishcleaner2]

I got an old T420 with an i5 back in the day. I installed an SSD and put Arch on it. That thing flew like absolutely nobody's business.

[@aamiddel8646]

You overlook the main benefits for Raspberry's. You have GPIO's and dedicated IO like i2c. Try to connect a led to a Thinkpad or any laptop.

[@georgegriffin6114]

I used to think that; but I realized I could just get a cheap microcontroller dev board and write some simple bridge firmware to play with whatever I need to.

[@aamiddel8646]

@@georgegriffin6114 Sure. But then you have two devices..

[@309electronics5]

​@@georgegriffin6114simple bridge firmware. Sure i doubt lots of people want to write that but maybe some opensource firmwares exist

[@randomgamingin144p]

plus its portable too and very efficient, you can just plug it straight into a phone (although with the pi 4 it may throttle performance) and run a vnc server and you have it working basically anywhere. also works well as a portable router etc the raspberry pi is not a computer replacement, its something completely different

[@fltfathin]

@@georgegriffin6114 that is only valid now when esp and pico goes as low as $3, back then dev-boards are around $20 even arduinos. honestly people who don't use the GPIO have no reason to use raspi but damn the industry don't have any reasonably priced SFF/ SBC that rivals raspberry pi,

[@BangorMaker]

I'm with you on this. my only issue is finding gpio, or trying to embed devices into any laop, or think pad. a disk caddy can make some space. I've managed to hijack the finger print reaers IO port in the past to replace it with things like gps or gyro.

[@RowdyDandy]

Got a used ThinkPad X280 for coding, has 8GB RAM, i5 8350U 4 Cores and a 512GB SSD, also 4G Module, Smartcard reader and Thunderbolt 3 usbc Port. Paid 240 Euro for a refurbed one with 45W charger included. Such a robust laptop that has win 11 support, very nice. In my Opinion the best allround machine for everything except for gaming.

[@junipersprites2167]

I know absolutely nothing about computers, but when my K-12 started requiring students have laptops, I had the jankiest ThinkPad bought for $50 from a company offloading old tech. It worked out well until the power supply gave out. I had to duct tape the battery to the computer (because it kept popping out) and could only use it plugged in. I would have to fully shut down and boot up between each class. Good times.

[@CriticalThinker-42]

You've convinced me to start looking for a bargain ThinkPad to play with. I never saw the appeal of the RasPi, seems like a toy to try and see what you can push it to do. I'm retired, with more than enough hobbies, life's to short for that. Thanks! -mike BTW this is the first time "The Algorithm" brought your video up.

[@LuisPipoComunica]

This content is golden

[@mukagedek4010]

got the old lenovo laptop too (not thinkpad) and now it's awake as home server on my local network

[@mraziiczech]

Thinkpads are the goat. I have T440S and use it as home server. Mainly as NAS and jellyfin server. Very good and recommend it.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

Another great option for a small portable laptop for tinkering (though not nearly as powerful) would be the myriad of Atom netbooks that you can often get cheap or even free. They carry all of the benefits of older laptops (upgradable and easily serviceable hardware and a surprising amount of expansion for the price) but in a tiny form factor :D

[@911Salvage]

Nope. Atom CPUs are too slow for typical desktop use. They also have a 4GB RAM limit, which is very tight for modern operating systems and applications. Their memory controllers only support single-channel DDR2 RAM and their SATA controllers only support up to SATA 2.0, which exacerbates the performance situation.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

@@911Salvage 100% disagree. They are absolutely slow but I have almost a dozen of them with varying Atom processors from the first-generation single-core models that max out at 2GB of DDR2 in single-channel up to the newer BayTrail Atoms with 4 cores and much newer architectures. They are ALL completely usable for basic tasks. I even daily-drove my first-generation Atom Asus Eee PC Netbook with 2GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD. It's not going to win any performance awards and getting YT to run smoothly requires a lot of tweaking but it can 100% be done. As a collector, tinkerer, and custom builder of all things Intel Atom I will simultaneously tell you that these systems are very weak and low-performing but they are also often hamstrung by poor hardware choices and even poorer software choices and they have a lot more life left in them than people give them credit for (yes even the really old and slow single-core first-generation Atoms).

[@911Salvage]

@@xPLAYnOfficial of course anyone _could_ use any Atom-powered PC, as long as he/she has a lot of patience and/or time. 🤣 Trust me, those Atom-powered computers are a waste of money.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

@@911Salvage I disagree but you do you :)

[@scarm_rune]

​@@xPLAYnOfficial "getting YT to run smoothly requires a lot of tweaking" at this point you're just coping

[@CelticVampireQueen]

thinkpads cost a lot which is exactly why I just used an old Chromebook that no one wanted for this. They are even cheaper than Thinkpads and the newer cheap ones can literally boot USB drives, which is how I got mine to run Debian.

[@DamnMascus]

Heard HOME - Above All in the end, instant subscribe, and great video!

[@Featherwhisker2]

To anyone who cares: Older dell boxes that don't use BTX are also great for tinkering The E-series Latitudes with Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge and older are also good

[@yy98833]

I have a x220 model thinkpad ,installed win7 64 bit and 512 ssd and 16 g ddr3 ram. It works very well, I use to programming, entertainment and more, And now I am planning to replace the battery for it

[@edstar83]

Install Linux on it. I did.

[@GingerNingerGames]

Old toughbooks are the same. I use mine for coding microcontrollers. Worth noting, I put an SSD in my toughbook, dual booted windows and linux, always ran linux, needed windows so I swapped in an old HDD to install tiny 10 on, and the performance was identical. The CPU in that old toughbook is slower than the HDD.

[@Psikeomega]

This is exactly why for the last 20 years i havent gotten rid of any of my old computers. I did previously use a Odroid XU4 as a cool little computer to take places in my pocket where i knew a monitor keyboard and mouse were where i was going. But i always had a laptop with me most of the time and it became redundant. Now im passing this mindset of reusing old equipment down to the kids since if its nuat fir schoolwork, a 10-15 year old laptop is perfectly capable and not a huge loss if it gets broken lost or stolen. For the most part its just a matter of finding the right flavor of linux to run on them.

[@KasioKalkulator]

I’ve got a cheap one for school, once I discovered kali Linux and C++ I knew this small cheap laptop can take down a whole network if operated correctly

[@laughingvampire7555]

to me, the sweetspot of laptop design was the 4:3 IBM thinkpads with the 7 row keyboard

[@erenoz2910]

The appeal for single board computers for me is their lightness and the fact that they come with GPIO pins. I treat them like a more advanced Arduino with Linux for my hobby electronics projects.

[@isuckatthisgame]

I own L512 (btw, this laptop has the single best keyboard ever made by man). I use it for studying and personal projects. It does have some drawbacks cus modern Windows system eat a lot of performance and it struggles after some time so you have to keep your system relatively "clean". But I dual boot Zorin OS Lite version and Win10 for utility and service programs I don't have on Linux. Overall it's a good, cheap option for a student developer or any hobbyist.

[@adam872]

Haha. I knew I was a trend setter when I kept my old T60 and ran Ubuntu on it.

[@erikferguson71]

Old laptops make awesome retro gaming machines. I use Linux Mint with Retro Arch.

[@ericmintz8305]

Also, you might find one at a garage sale, and if you are extremely lucky, a friend might have one gathering dust.

[@tommymairo8964]

Also, those ancient hardwares might not support AES-NI and might only support upto 16GiB RAM, which makes it a huge pain if you use it as a primary workstation 😢

[@Exlcusive]

Great work! May look into one of these instead of the new Pi.

[@adriannewgentmusicdesign2104]

except, the main reason many people will choose a raspberry pi or other similar small devices is because of the size and the fact that they want to run scripts that dont need screen and keyboard and mouse ... but yes, if people want to practise coding, getting a device that actually already has a screen, keyboard and all you need to do so will save you a lot of clumsy and timeconsuming moments. usually the devices run faster than the rasperry pi as well.

[@uhhuh5934]

T420 is still a great laptop. I bought a x220 too and am having lots of fun messing about in arch.

[@lasbrujazz]

I use x86 thin client as OpenWrt router at my house. While it fares okay, it only has 2 cores, it starts to slow down. Might be replacing it with these old ThinkPads, considering I tend to do everything with Docker on it, from web server to home media.

[@Siphoni]

Excellent video!!! Thanks so much! I would love to see a video about buying a used thinkpad in 2024 and upgrading it or something like that!

[@parodio1]

Different use cases. Raspberry works better as a low-power server, to have your programs running 24/7, or for hardware/electronics/IoT tinkering

[@BruceNJeffAreMyFlies]

Low power, yes. The rest, no; Not better, just a little different.

[@jimtekkit]

I have my fair share of Raspberry Pi SBC's but I agree with the cheap laptop idea. These days you need to pay extra for active cooling and a decent power supply to make a Pi work, plus the SD card and micro port adapter cables. All those extra costs add up. A used thin client PC or laptop with a more powerful x86 processor is cheaper, has more expansion options and they're much better suited for desktop use.

[@FoxInkling]

As someone who has a Toshiba Tecra Z40-A I can confirm it's more fun than a Pi

[@jacky0926chan]

Yeah, I agree with you; I just got a pi4B, and it's funny after I received it, I always looking for a laptop rather than those micro computers again, and I also believe I can get more out from a old laptop rather than pi

[@SlashcamStudios]

I wholeheartedly agree with this video.

[@tomschmidt381]

Old video but I agree used Thinkpads are a great value. My wife and I have had great luck purchasing off lease computers on eBay. We each have a T520 Thinkpad running Win 10 in addition to our daily driver desktops. In addition I'm using a T420 as a poor mans home server. I installed an SSD as the main drive and stuck a 2TB HDD in the DVD slot for file storage. In the past I would recycle an old desktop when we had to upgrade Windows but this time wanted lower power consumption so switched to a laptop. Being a Thinkpad fanboy of course chose a Thinkpad. Recently I had to change hosting services so took the opportunity to redo my web site. Purchased another T420 to use as a test bed and as a spare if the one we are using as a home server dies. It only cost $70 on eBay including shipping.

[@freddyhardware840]

I have an x220i in a x220 body that I used to carry with me around. However, I found a Lenovo B590 with no power supply in my brother's office collecting dust. After I found out that it works on a spare x220 power supply, I replaced the HDD with SSD, found a spare 8Gb RAM, and put the HDD on a spare CD caddy, I basically have a new/old laptop at the cost of an SSD 🙂. I carry that most of the time now and connected the x220i to a 24" monitor on portrait mode I use for reading documents and web comics. I still have a spare Acer ES14 with Linux Mint, a HP Split (i5) x 2 that I hate because it's never worked properly, and a HP Pavilion (i7) laptop which doesn't have a power supply that I'm thinking of using as a server. I'm thinking why would I spend money on a raspberry Pi when I have laptops I can use to play around.

[@smorrow]

"An X220i in an X220 body" - so, there's a sticker that's different? Or is there something else I don't know?

[@StellarStoic]

Well the point of SBC's is low power consumption and that's why I will never swap my Pi's with a laptop :) And yes I agree, thinkpads are timeless.

[@LugW0rm]

So basically main tradeoff is size and energy effeciency.

[@thedead_meme]

who got this recommended in late 2024?

[@simonmeszaros2770]

i guess rpi has different use case. ofc laptops have always been here and served its purpose and can substitute well any computer, but to feed laptop one needs power plug, space for placing it and will be missing gpio. On the other hand i dont much like rpi being used as a computer either, for me it was always a low cost solution to run some machine. With prices of pis going up it all started to blur and pi2040 seems to brought on table what means compact and low power computer.

[@frozeneye100]

Cool. Cool cool. Power use may be a consideration.

[@slipperynickels]

my workbench laptop is an old laptop that was $250 new running only a tty, since i just write code and flash firmware with it. absolute best workbench pc.

[@crsv7armhl]

Lol I also saw this now, despite it being made 3 years ago. My go to is End of Life Chromebooks that can run Linux. I get them for about $30 (I have 4 Samsung Chromebook 3's all with 4GB of ram, running Arch, Manjaro, and Debian for different projects)

[@owen75]

I found my i7 x270 for only $50. It helped me to finally do my first hackintosh experience!

[@alimfuzzy]

I have a bunch of free thinkpads just sitting in the garage. A lot of the times when you leave a company they dont care about the older laptops they just turn off your access and let you keep it. you can probably go to any company and offer to buy a bunch of them next to nothing.

[@badfeng]

The Pi 4 was a sh*tshow for me. Weird bugs and I eventually bricked it somehow, despite doing nothing crazy with it. In comparison, I set up one of those super tiny Dell boxes with zero issues. Pis always sound like a good deal, but the cost of a case, power supply, etc. add up. I'm looking at skipping the Pi 5 in favor of other options given that there truly are a lot of amazing options out there now.

[@BijanIzadi]

Ummm. The captions are a bit... strange

[@c101vp]

Some time ago, I found a Toshiba laptop in the trash. It was an intel i5-2410M laptop with 8gb of ram and a hard drive, and it was decently fast. I swiftly replaced the hard drive with an ssd and used it to experiment with arch linux. I've managed to make it look very much like windows 7, to the point where my family members couldn't tell a difference upon first glance. And by installing the vulkan-intel package, it can also run games, quite decently as well. The battery life is absolutely horrible but overall I'd say it was a great deal. Should probably get around to using it to learn to code someday

[@BlackHawk2029]

I came to this same conclusion while looking at setting up a raspberry pi 4 as a dedicated Kali Linux box to learn ethical hacking with. End up getting a used Thinkpad X250 instead.

[@adrianTNT]

X250 👌

[@iNeedVitamins]

Been trying to fix my thinkpad in the last 2 weeks because without connected Lan to rPi you can't do any pen testing because you need to kill wpa supp and network manager so you can't rely on ssh, needs an external monitor

[@AProbablyPostman]

Now you just need a pair of linux socks and you're all set!

[@johnwiiu7005]

I have the x220t as my daily driver. It does all I need! Lovely machine but I had a hard time finding good quality replacement batteries. The majority of them are pure chinesium breaking at first sight.

[@hueywallop2461]

In terms of value for money, a refurbished desktop can really beat the PI. The old desktop already has a power supply, case and cooling fan.

[@chronorus]

You've made a good point.

[@TheFront3164]

Bro I really like the design of Thinkpad but can't buy one right now because I don't have money right now. Will surely check in the near future thanks!