New to me X250

[OneByteCPU]

I just picked up one of these in 8+ condition for $80. It came with the low-end LCD panel (meh), 8GB RAM, an i5-5300U CPU and a smart card reader. It had no fingerprint reader or HDD. Not that I care about the HDD as I had an SSD waiting around to put in it. The only thing that bugs me is that it did not have an internal battery. At least the external battery is in great shape. Must have been recently replaced.

It surprises me what a great performer this thing is. In using it, it feels as fast and snappy as my T480. I know that can't actually be, but for the sort of stuff I do there is no noticeable difference.

All in all, it's just a great performing little machine at a great price. Quite happy.

[RealBlackStuff]

I agree with that, nifty little laptop.
And for a decent price as well!
I got my X250 with i5-5300U, but 4GB RAM, FHD-touch and both batteries back in 2019 for $140.
It had fan error and a cracked base, so both were replaced (another $20).
But that was still a good price, even then.
My X250 usually sits in a cupboard, as I only use it while traveling.
For daily use I have my trusty T440p.
For any "intensive" work (about once every 2-3 months) I use an M900 Tiny.

[OneByteCPU]

My T61 has found a new role in the home theater room where I watch the Supercross races on Saturday night. My son also watches )in a different town) and we conference during the race over facebook with me using the T61 for it's large screen. He has my Edge 15 for the same purpose. So now the X250 takes over the T61's old job of being beside my TV chair. It will see use almost every day.

[ZaZ]

it feels as fast and snappy as my T480.

For most uses the SSD, not CPU, will make things feel faster.

[mikemex]

it feels as fast and snappy as my T480.

For most uses the SSD, not CPU, will make things feel faster.

That's why, despite my fondness of the classical Thinkpads, I've choosen to "upgrade" most of them to Skylake models. NVMe PCI Express really makes the machine feel snappy. And it only keeps improving.

SATA is a dead end by now...

[OneByteCPU]

Technically everything is an eventual dead end. SATA SSDs still have some pertinence. They give a lot of older machines a new lease on life.

I'll keep using my older ThinkPads until they can no longer do the tasks I have for them. Yeah, I know one day they will either give up, or the task will grow beyond their abilities, but that is true of even the very latest workstation models available. The cool thing about ThinkPads (especially X, T and up models) is they are so well built that they extend their usefulness longer than almost anything else around. Even my 14 year old T61 gets used regularly because it does what I need it to do just fine and it's still in great shape.

[madicetea]

For most uses the SSD, not CPU, will make things feel faster.

That's why, despite my fondness of the classical Thinkpads, I've choosen to "upgrade" most of them to Skylake models. NVMe PCI Express really makes the machine feel snappy. And it only keeps improving.

SATA is a dead end by now...

HAHA. I find that SATAs are slower than the NVMe drives on some of the fancier work machines we were issued during the whole WFH thing that never sees any end. Still, for not playing any intensive games on it (I did find it better to give up playing Genshin Impact on it) and just web browsing and word documents, I have found it generally alright in terms of speed and reliability.

I do feel I might have made a mistake in upgrading to an i7 as it feels the CPU throttles a bit more often than when I had the i5, but all in all, it's not been a bad experience.

Someday, though, when Windows 10 sees the end of its useful life and Windows 11 becomes normal, I might have to find other Operating Systems to put on these machines (Fedora is top of mind for this). Eventually, I think I will find I will be retiring my X61 and even the X250 in favour of something else. I gave the big ASUS ROG gaming computer to a family member studying at University (along with all 64GB of RAM in it), so I have some older Dells that I had before the Thinkpads, more modern Thinkpads, or some "fruit" laptops to choose between when that time comes in a few years.

My intuition is to check on what the Carbon series is like then -- when I was last in Japan, the Carbons were rather new, and some functional displays had a good look in the Bic Camera stores when I tried them. Being Japan, I think it was a steep 148,000 yen price tag at the time though (back when 110 yen / USD was more the going rate).

[David C]

I found this forum when I want to upgrade my X250. It is late but not too late. Really enjoy all your technical discussions here.
As we all do, I upgrade memeory and change HDD to SSD.

[OneByteCPU]

I found this forum when I want to upgrade my X250. It is late but not too late. Really enjoy all your technical discussions here.
As we all do, I upgrade memeory and change HDD to SSD.

Dude, that thinkpad is just a baby. I just gave mine to my daughter in law. She disposed of the 2018 Acer she got at Walmart the moment she tried the X250 *(wow it looks great, wow it's smaller and lighter, wow it feels so good to type on, wow it's so much faster, wow the screen looks so good, wow this thing feels solid..) With these machines, you can't judge just by RAM, CPU and disk specs. There is way more to a machine than that. The X250 had 8GB RAM and a 256GB SATA SSD. Nothing special, but it blew the much newer Acer out of the water.

My wife has the T450. These machines are just simply better than the rest (if you ask I will tell you how I know). They have been for more than 15v years. Basically since IBM kicked the ball over the LENOVO to run with by themselves.

Enjoy a great personal computing experience.

[David C]

I found this forum when I want to upgrade my X250. It is late but not too late. Really enjoy all your technical discussions here.
As we all do, I upgrade memeory and change HDD to SSD.

Dude, that thinkpad is just a baby. I just gave mine to my daughter in law. She disposed of the 2018 Acer she got at Walmart the moment she tried the X250 *(wow it looks great, wow it's smaller and lighter, wow it feels so good to type on, wow it's so much faster, wow the screen looks so good, wow this thing feels solid..) With these machines, you can't judge just by RAM, CPU and disk specs. There is way more to a machine than that. The X250 had 8GB RAM and a 256GB SATA SSD. Nothing special, but it blew the much newer Acer out of the water.

My wife has the T450. These machines are just simply better than the rest (if you ask I will tell you how I know). They have been for more than 15v years. Basically since IBM kicked the ball over the LENOVO to run with by themselves.

Enjoy a great personal computing experience.

I even can see the scene when reading your post. It's awesome. Yes, the only brand I ever used and is using NB is thinkpad since Thinkpad 600E from 1999/2000.
The most thing inspire me is the technical discussion atmosphere here.
I like to go through info here and check model mentioned here on Chinese local 2nd hand market app to see what it is. Yes, really enjoy experience and also the mechine Thank you!