Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

I'm a freelance web developer (Drupal/PHP/Symfony-Laravel). I need a 15" Full HD screen, preferably IPS. I need 16Gb of RAM and I want 2 drives slots (1 SSD and 1 huge HD). I need a webcam too, for my remote-work meetings.

I'm looking at the T520 for the keyboard, not at the 530 because since the 540 there is a numeric pad which comes handy.

I'm a bit confused by the upgradability of all those models. Some have soldered RAM and just 1 disk slot ? (speaking only about 2"5 slots)

Then, I'm concerned by the processing power especially since I need to run virtual machines (either the client's VM, all the time of my mission, or just occasionnal browers testing) and of course I'm running a whole bunch of more or less desktops apps (Firefox, Chrome, fully customized Atom, Slack, ...)

Which model would you advise me ?

Thank you

Once again, the T520 or W520 keep coming to the top of the used, but still very capable Thinkpad series for your purposes.

I don't think you will find an IPS screen for either of these models as they hadn't been developed yet, but there may be compatible replacements. Others here can advise on that matter.

I have a like-new T520 with all the bells and whistles I'm not ever likely to part with.

Alternatively, you can also get a faster W530 and do a keyboard swap and bios flash to have the same keyboard functionality as the previous models.