First steps after buying a used Thinkpad

[Thinkpad2024]

I've just ordered a used X1 Extreme Gen 2 to have as a backup. Aside from making sure it has all the updates, is there anything else I should do upon receiving it, before I start using it? Should I wipe and reinstall the OS for security reasons?

[dcfbf]

First thing I do is to test if everything on it works.
I open up static colors to make sure that there's no dead pixels or backlight bleed.
I try out all the ports and all the keys on the keyboard

After that, I change the thermal paste and clean it.
Make sure to clean it. You do not know what the previous owner did with it.

Aside from that, I upgrade with whatever I have on hand and yes run all the updates.
If there's a bios mod for the machine, I usually also install that.
I don't see any reason to reinstall the OS if it's fresh and there's no accounts on it.

[Thinkpad2024]

Thanks. How do you "open up static colors"?

[dcfbf]

When you boot the system up, press F10 to get into Lenovo diagnostics
You can also reach Lenovo diagnostics by pressing enter to get into the startup interrupt menu and then pressing F10

From there, you can do the display test which will show you static colors and other patterns to test for the display

Edit: This only works for Thinkpads newer than 2012. If you get a ThinkPad that's older or if you don't want to be poking around in diagnostics, you can use https://www.eizo.be/monitor-test/.