Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

General Questions, Rumors, Real news & More
Post Reply
Message
Author
Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#1 Post by Whitieiii » Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:39 pm

Like the title says I'm looking for the best ThinkPad or other business grade laptops for $150 or less that is going to be the best in portability.... It would also need to have a low res screen (1366x768?) and be fast enough to not get too out dated in 5 years when it can be replaced again considering I can't replace it but every 5 years when I go back home over seas to visit.... I'd love to add an SSD in the machine but that would be too much for not enough space... What do you guys recommend?
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#2 Post by Whitieiii » Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:41 pm

It would only be used for web browsing and watching YouTube videos mostly
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

RealBlackStuff
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 23812
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#3 Post by RealBlackStuff » Tue Jan 23, 2018 4:46 pm

X220 or X230, preferably with IPS HD LCD.
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

pianowizard
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 8545
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:07 am
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#4 Post by pianowizard » Wed Jan 24, 2018 8:49 am

Whitieiii wrote:
Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:39 pm
the best in portability
Do you need the laptop to be light AND small? Or do you just need it to be light? How many pounds would be too heavy for you, and how big would be too big? These days there are 15.6" laptops weighing less than 3 lbs.
Whitieiii wrote:
Tue Jan 23, 2018 2:39 pm
It would also need to have a low res screen (1366x768?)...It would only be used for web browsing
Why does it need to be 1366x768? Web browsing is so painful on 1366x768.
RealBlackStuff wrote:
Tue Jan 23, 2018 4:46 pm
X220 or X230, preferably with IPS HD LCD.
I just noticed that the OP has an X220 for sale: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=125086 . He also already has a T440s. Thus, he seems to be looking for something different from both the X series and the T4##s. I guess the only "best in portability" Thinkpads left are the X1 Carbons? It's impossible to get one for <$150 though.
Dell Latitude 7370 (QHD+, 2.84lb); HP Pavilion x2 12-b096ms (1920x1280, 3.14lb); Microsoft Surface 3 (1920x1280, 2.00lb);
Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF (Core i5-6600); Acer ET322QK, T272HUL; Crossover 404K; QNIX QHD2410R; Seiki Pro SM40UNP

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#5 Post by Whitieiii » Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:07 am

No the x220 won't work since it's too old already... It would have to last at most another 5 years and I don't trust it to make it that long... It Needs to be portable enough to take on a bus to the city or to the coffee shop as that's their only internet connection.... I'm sending it off to family the Philippines and only go there once every 4-5 years so it would need to make it that long without any upgrades... My T440s costs too much to begin with and is too big to take around comfortably... I'm maybe thinking of a 12 or 13 inch laptop... Doesn't need to be a ThinkPad it can also be an elitebook or similar just has to be a business class machine and not a consumer level machine.. even a lower end business class machine like the E/L series ThinkPad or HP Probooks or similar would be a good choice but I don't really know what to get yet... I say it needs a low res screen because most of my family in Philippines is over 65 years old and they really have a hard time seeing the tiny text on the screen.... What do you guys suggest? I'm not affrad to build a laptop from a bin of parts
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

NonesensE
Sophomore Member
Posts: 138
Joined: Mon May 29, 2017 6:28 am
Location: GF/BS/OHA, Germany

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#6 Post by NonesensE » Thu Jan 25, 2018 5:38 am

X220 and X230 are quicker than their successors because starting with the X240, Lenovo used 15W ultrabook processors in the X line. And the X220 can be equipped with 3rd party batteries, the X230 won't charge them. So the X220 is actually the most future-proof X series thinkpad you can get, at least in the price range you mentioned.

Newer laptops seem quicker because they are equipped with SSDs. Put one into the X220 (and maybe upgrade the RAM to 6 or 8 GB) and it will be good for the next 5 years.
Sometimes coming over from the German forum...
X62s 3rd batch, [s]T61[/s] T70 14" 4:3 1st batch

pianowizard
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 8545
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:07 am
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#7 Post by pianowizard » Thu Jan 25, 2018 8:55 am

Whitieiii wrote:
Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:07 am
I say it needs a low res screen because most of my family in Philippines is over 65 years old and they really have a hard time seeing the tiny text on the screen.... What do you guys suggest?
Are you sure they want a laptop? Many retired folks would rather have an Apple or Android tablet with a keyboard attached. Lighter, easier to read, easier to operate, instant-on/off, and usually longer battery durations. For "web browsing and watching YouTube videos mostly", I personally would prefer a 4:3 tablet over a 12" laptop with a short, low-res screen. In terms of lasting another 5 years, Android 4.4 from 2013 still works perfectly well today, so I bet if you get a tablet with Android 7 or 8, it will be good for at least 5 more years.
Dell Latitude 7370 (QHD+, 2.84lb); HP Pavilion x2 12-b096ms (1920x1280, 3.14lb); Microsoft Surface 3 (1920x1280, 2.00lb);
Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF (Core i5-6600); Acer ET322QK, T272HUL; Crossover 404K; QNIX QHD2410R; Seiki Pro SM40UNP

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#8 Post by Whitieiii » Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:48 pm

pianowizard wrote:
Whitieiii wrote:
Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:07 am
I say it needs a low res screen because most of my family in Philippines is over 65 years old and they really have a hard time seeing the tiny text on the screen.... What do you guys suggest?
Are you sure they want a laptop? Many retired folks would rather have an Apple or Android tablet with a keyboard attached. Lighter, easier to read, easier to operate, instant-on/off, and usually longer battery durations. For "web browsing and watching YouTube videos mostly", I personally would prefer a 4:3 tablet over a 12" laptop with a short, low-res screen. In terms of lasting another 5 years, Android 4.4 from 2013 still works perfectly well today, so I bet if you get a tablet with Android 7 or 8, it will be good for at least 5 more years.
Ya they would need a place to offload their cameras as well so I'm going with a windows laptop... That's why I'm not able to put an SSD in this machine because a 500gb SSD is too much money even for use in my own personal machines
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

pianowizard
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 8545
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:07 am
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#9 Post by pianowizard » Thu Jan 25, 2018 5:58 pm

Whitieiii wrote:
Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:48 pm
Ya they would need a place to offload their cameras as well
Photos can be transferred from a camera to an iPad or Android tablet too. Just do a Google search to find out how.
Dell Latitude 7370 (QHD+, 2.84lb); HP Pavilion x2 12-b096ms (1920x1280, 3.14lb); Microsoft Surface 3 (1920x1280, 2.00lb);
Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF (Core i5-6600); Acer ET322QK, T272HUL; Crossover 404K; QNIX QHD2410R; Seiki Pro SM40UNP

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#10 Post by Whitieiii » Thu Jan 25, 2018 6:07 pm

They don't have enough storage... Want a laptop with a 500gb HDD
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

MikalE
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1451
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 9:51 pm
Location: Marissa, Illinois

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#11 Post by MikalE » Thu Jan 25, 2018 7:24 pm

T510, or T520 if you shop carefully.
A31p P-IV 2Ghz, 2MB, 2653-R6U
T500 T9600 2055-BE9
T510 i5 4384-DV7
T510 i7 4349-A64
T520 i7QM 4242-4UU Highly Modified
T16 i7 1260P 21BV000SUS

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#12 Post by Whitieiii » Fri Jan 26, 2018 4:54 am

MikalE wrote:T510, or T520 if you shop carefully.
That's definitely too big of a device plus I've already got a T410 with a failing display
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#13 Post by Whitieiii » Fri Jan 26, 2018 4:57 am

pianowizard wrote:
Whitieiii wrote:
Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:48 pm
Ya they would need a place to offload their cameras as well
Photos can be transferred from a camera to an iPad or Android tablet too. Just do a Google search to find out how.
Plus most of them do not want any touch screen as they don't like it.... They even have basic non-smartphone phones with texting keyboards
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

dr_st
Admin
Admin
Posts: 9695
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 6:20 am
Location: Israel

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#14 Post by dr_st » Fri Jan 26, 2018 5:51 am

Whitieiii wrote:
Thu Jan 25, 2018 4:07 am
No the x220 won't work since it's too old already... It would have to last at most another 5 years and I don't trust it to make it that long... It Needs to be portable enough to take on a bus to the city or to the coffee shop as that's their only internet connection.... I'm sending it off to family the Philippines and only go there once every 4-5 years so it would need to make it that long without any upgrades...
You're kinda setting yourself up for failure with this list of requirements. With a budget of $150 you cannot expect to get a new (or even a couple of years old) business-grade laptop, much less a compact and portable one. Probably an X220/X230 is really the best you can get. You may get an X240, with its poor trackpoint/clickpad combo, if you are lucky, but performance-wise, it would not necessarily be an upgrade in performance due to the low-clock low-voltage CPU and single-channel RAM.

Overall, I agree with NonesensE:
NonesensE wrote:
Thu Jan 25, 2018 5:38 am
X220 and X230 are quicker than their successors because starting with the X240, Lenovo used 15W ultrabook processors in the X line. And the X220 can be equipped with 3rd party batteries, the X230 won't charge them. So the X220 is actually the most future-proof X series thinkpad you can get, at least in the price range you mentioned.

Newer laptops seem quicker because they are equipped with SSDs. Put one into the X220 (and maybe upgrade the RAM to 6 or 8 GB) and it will be good for the next 5 years.
Except I would add that if you are willing to tinker a bit, then you can apply the EC mod to the X230 to add support for charging X220 (and third party) batteries + 7-row keyboard (if your family cares about it). This makes X230 slightly preferable to X220 in terms of future-proofing, since you get a newer GPU (with proper Win10 support) + USB 3.0 across the entire line-up (and not just the expensive i7 models as on the X220).

Performance-wise I think you have nothing to fear even 5 years down the road for the tasks you mentioned. Ever since Sandy Bridge, the CPU performance boosts have been incremental without significant leaps; I am using an X220 (i7-2640M), T430s (i7-3520M) and TP25 (i7-7500U) as daily drivers, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Most of the time, CPU usage is single digits while browsing or watching offline videos; some HD Youtube videos bring it to double digits (especially on battery or with other tasks running), but still typically does not even utilize a single virtual core.

Just to compare some random benchmarks (7-zip MIPS rating):

Code: Select all

i7-7500U:  10821
i7-3520M:  10172
i7-2640M:  9298
i5-540M:   7408
C2D T7250: 3723
The jump between first and second generation Core processors is about the same as between second and seventh. The jump between Core 2 Duo and first generation Core i5 is double that.

Last comment: generally, I support the idea of getting business-grade, since it is more likely to physically survive 5 more years; however, most likely does not mean "guaranteed". Upgrades aside, it can just die of a sudden hardware failure.
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

pianowizard
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 8545
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:07 am
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Contact:

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#15 Post by pianowizard » Fri Jan 26, 2018 8:48 am

In conclusion, just keep your existing X220 (i.e. retract your for-sale ad) and pass it on to your family. By limiting your budget to $150 you have very few options, even if you included tablets in your search. The X220's i5-2520M has a benchmark score of 3583, which will still be sufficient in 5 years for YouTube, web browsing and viewing photos, assuming you'll upgrade its current Windows 7 to Windows 10. Windows 7 would not only "expire" in two years, but also gradually deteriorate in performance. Windows 10 is a solid OS, better than 7 IMO, but make sure you disable the nearly 100 settings that would slow it down and/or compromise privacy. I bet you can force that stuck HDD out and upgrade to 500GB. Don't worry about breaking that 120GB drive, as it's worth no more than $10.
Dell Latitude 7370 (QHD+, 2.84lb); HP Pavilion x2 12-b096ms (1920x1280, 3.14lb); Microsoft Surface 3 (1920x1280, 2.00lb);
Dell OptiPlex 5040 SFF (Core i5-6600); Acer ET322QK, T272HUL; Crossover 404K; QNIX QHD2410R; Seiki Pro SM40UNP

wujstefan
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1343
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 8:38 am
Location: Tarnow, Poland

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#16 Post by wujstefan » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:31 am

Hp elitebook 820?

Should be in price range, has a nice display (a bit dimmer than it's think-counterpart), comes in cheap, sports better specs starting of hd4400 and 4th gen i5.
Too many thinkpads not enough time!
(stable under reduction)

Whitieiii
Junior Member
Junior Member
Posts: 468
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:54 pm
Location: Kingston, WA

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#17 Post by Whitieiii » Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:51 am

And that's all in for $150?
My Collection:
A30 Pentium 3 512MB ram 60GB HDD Win 98SE
HP 8460p 2nd gen i7 8GB ram 500GB HDD Radeon 6470m Win 7
T440p 4th gen i7 12GB ram GT 730m 1TB SSD Win 10
X1 Extreme Gen 2 16GB ram 1650 M-Q 1TB SSD Win 10
x260 6th gen i-series
Mum's T440s 4th gen i5 8GB ram 300GB SSD Win 10

wujstefan
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1343
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 8:38 am
Location: Tarnow, Poland

Re: What is the bestest ThinkPad or business laptops for $150 or less?

#18 Post by wujstefan » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:05 am

Have in mind that your expectations are strict, and make the whole business pretty complicated :D
Too many thinkpads not enough time!
(stable under reduction)

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “GENERAL ThinkPad News/Comments & Questions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests