Read this if you're thinking about upgrading to a W530....

[wrybread]

I'm a longtime T530 user, and I've always wanted to upgrade to a W530, mostly for the extra 16 megs of RAM. I finally did, and there's a *massive* drawback: you have to use the giant and heavy 170 watt charger. Anything else will only charge the laptop when it's closed and not being used. Ugh!

The T530 is already huge and heavy by modern laptop standards, but I find it totally worth it. But I'm having serious second thoughts about my new-to-me W530 now that I have to carry around this giant brick as well.

Anyway thought I'd mention it in case anyone else was thinking about making the move to a W530.

And if anyone has a suggestion for an alternative to the 530's (Thinkpad or otherwise), I'd love to hear it. I love the large ~15" screen, and I love the large keyboard. Numpads are dealbreakers for me, as are clunky touchpads. Love the solid feel of the T530/W530. From any era (after the T530) including new.

Edited to add: I just did a mod to allow my W530 to accept 90 watt charger. So far so good, details here:

viewtopic.php?f=70&t=131940&p=854481#p854437

[schen]

It sounds like you've pretty much come up with your own answer,...... which is to go back to a Pre-*40, "T" Series. Anything else appears to violate one of your core tenants.

* Nothing with a 15" screen after the *30 has a centered screen (no numpad).
* If you don't want to carry the "W" brick, you're only left with a "T". That is, unless you want to compromise by carry a "T" brick to keep it charged when mobile and use the big "W" brick when you're back at your work area.

[wrybread]

Well Macbooks for example meet my criteria, but I'd prefer to avoid them.

There must be others.

[schen]

Absolutely there are! But I thought you were just looking at the different ThinkPads. So, let's start at the beginning; what do you want to do with this machine?

[wrybread]

About the most taxing thing I do is light video editing, and never higher rez than 1080p. No gaming. A W530 easily meets my processing needs, and a T530 mostly does. Dual boot Windows and Linux Mint so Chromebooks and things like that are out, as well as Atom style lightweight processors.

[schen]

About the most taxing thing I do is light video editing, and never higher rez than 1080p. No gaming. A W530 easily meets my processing needs, and a T530 mostly does. Dual boot Windows and Linux Mint so Chromebooks and things like that are out, as well as Atom style lightweight processors.

With that use-case, I'd go one of 2 directions:

• The original W530 and live with the huge brick or carry a 90w to travel because they are such cool machines!
  Build-up a T530 as nice as I can, maybe even create a eGPU by using the Express Card slot and the nicest screen I could cram in there. Also, use the mSATA socket for a nice OS, SSD, then a big 2.5" SSD for everything else

Otherwise, I think, I'd have to do a 2015 MacBook Pro (the last upgradeble year)!

[wrybread]

It just seems impossible that Apple is the only one making decent modern fullsize laptops.

[wrybread]

Some nice *looking* ones here, I wonder how they are from a usability standpoint, especially the touchpad. And durability.

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-15-inch-laptop

[schen]

I've been down with COVID for the last 2 weeks, so I've actually watched quite a lot of Youtube lately. Apart from ThinkPads, here's some thoughts from MHO.

* I have deep suspicions of Dell (even their professional lines) going back to my days of working in IT, in the they tend to not hold up, and find some way to break.
* After, ThinkPad, I like HP, quite a lot and have a number of my current clientlist on either the ProBook or Elitebook machines going back to the Haswell/Broadwell generation. Unfortunately, they tend to come at a premium. I will say though that in the last few years, there's always a jewel if you take the time to dig for it.
* Razer, if you like Mac, but wants to run Windows.
* Asus (Zenbook, Zephyrus) seem the most innovative and have their finger on the pulse of the highend market, but hard to tell if it's going to be a few years and out. Can't argue with the innovation though.
* Apple, I'm starting to warm to the M1 series.

That's what I've got in the non-ThinkPad world.

[wrybread]

All good tips. For now I modded my W530 so it works with 90 watt chargers. Phew. Deets here:

viewtopic.php?f=70&t=131940&p=854481#p854437