Switching from Mac with Questions

[startac]

As the topic suggests, I'm switching to ThinkPads and (hopefully) OpenSUSE 12 from Mac.

I grew up using Macs and OS X/Apple hardware is where my comfort zone is, but I'm excited to learn a new OS and hardware (and join a community like this one). I feel I'm a bit late to the game now that the 220 is no longer in production and I'm ever so curious to use that legendary keyboard. I've been searching eBay and its hard to find a model that fits all my requirements. Mostly the wifi bit. Many come with RealTek card, which I'd like to avoid. I'm on a bit of a time crunch and have spent the last three days researching answers, but I have not found solid answers for them all.

So here are some of the questions I couldn't find a solid answer for:

-Will OpenSUSE 12 work with the ThinkPad goodies? (ThinkLight, biometric scanner, pointing stick, etc.?)

-Can the RealTek wifi card be easily replaced with an Intel one?

-Will OpenSUSE achieve the amazing battery times tested under Windows?

And now for an entirely subjective question:

I am aware of the MIL-Specs that ThinkPads are renowned for, but I feel better asking anyway.
My PowerBook G4 is still my primary computer. Its 9 years old and has never missed a beat through many trials. I'm only augmenting it with the 220 because at 17", it doesn't fit well on an airplane and PPC and Flash don't play nice.

Is expecting a 220 to last for 9 years asking too much? My recent experience with mobile PC hardware (Dell, HP) was anything but reassuring about that kind of longevity.

Thank you for your help!

[wolfman]

Welcome to the forum.

Can't speak specifically to OpenSUSE 12, but can to Ubuntu 12.04 - the ThinkLight and track point worked out of the box. My T420 does not have a finger print reader, so I can't comment on that. Regarding battery life, I get a little less, maybe 15-20 minutes, on the 6 cell than I would in Windows 7.

Regarding quality, yes, I think you can expect a reasonable life from your X220. I have an R40 that I bought early in 2004 and it is working fine (after having been on loan to my just turned 15 year old niece for 2.5 years). So 9 years is a good long time, but if you take care of the X220, I don't see why that couldn't be possible.

[startac]

Thank you for the welcome and information, wolfman. I've been told that Linux and Lenovo (and IBM) all play together better than some other manufacturers, so I'm happy to hear that Ubuntu 12.04 works so well.

My G4, even when new, was lucky to get more than 3 hours of battery, so even with 20 minutes less than Windows 7, I'll be very happy. Your R40 is around the same age as my PowerBook, that's great to hear its still going, especially after your loan. When it comes to my machines, I'm rather fastidious about care so I'll probably be posting a similar topic in 9 years.

Part of me is nervous about jumping into new hardware but from what I've researched about ThinkPads, the hardware is much more user friendly to upgrade and modify than any Apple laptop. I look forward to being more active around here.

[ZaZ]

Can the RealTek wifi card be easily replaced with an Intel one?

I'd suggest getting a Lenovo branded card as it won't boot otherwise without a BIOS hack.

[steveg47]

I'd suggest checking the Lenovo Outlet for a selection of x220's. http://outlet.lenovo.com

[startac]

Thank you for your replies. Yes, actually I finally learned that cards not on Levnovo's "White List" have to be hacked. I was able to find one suitable for an X220. It does not have Lenovo's logo on it, but perhaps its all in the firmware.

I was able to find a 220, at long last. Very exciting. I'm expecting it in the next few days.

[wolfman]

Good deal, I'm sure you'll be pleased with it. Did you get one with an IPS display?

[ThinkRob]

I don't know about OpenSUSE specifically, but I would venture a guess that most any distro from the last year or so will work well. Personally I use Debian Wheezy, but since that's still testing I wouldn't recommend it to a newcomer. (Not that it's going to break -- it's in its freeze so that's unlikely -- just that it'd be irresponsible to do.)

I don't think 9 years is too much if you treat your laptop well. You'll probably have to make some repairs along the way, because... well... that's life. But ThinkPads have full maintenance manuals and parts lists published by Lenovo -- a bit of a change from Apple, huh? -- so you can get a clear guide on how to repair or replace pretty much anything in the laptop. Parts are generally pretty cheap on eBay too, plus there's always the forums.

Of course it's also possible that you won't need to replace anything. If you treat your laptop well, you may never need to repair anything.

Back to Linux, briefly: I don't know if you use IRC (although you might want to start if you're diving in to the Linux world...) but if you do, I'm generally on Efnet and Freenode as ThinkRob if you need some help setting up Linux once you get your X220. I'd also recommend that you stop by the channels for your distro if you need some help -- people there tend to have a hell of a lot of knowledge and a lot of free time.

Best of luck, and enjoy the penguin.

[AGoodSolution]

As the topic suggests, I'm switching to ThinkPads and (hopefully) OpenSUSE 12 from Mac.

I grew up using Macs and OS X/Apple hardware is where my comfort zone is, but I'm excited to learn a new OS and hardware (and join a community like this one). I feel I'm a bit late to the game now that the 220 is no longer in production and I'm ever so curious to use that legendary keyboard. I've been searching eBay and its hard to find a model that fits all my requirements. Mostly the wifi bit. Many come with RealTek card, which I'd like to avoid. I'm on a bit of a time crunch and have spent the last three days researching answers, but I have not found solid answers for them all.

So here are some of the questions I couldn't find a solid answer for:

-Will OpenSUSE 12 work with the ThinkPad goodies? (ThinkLight, biometric scanner, pointing stick, etc.?)

You can keep BIOS boot support of the Biometric scanner but the prints are reliably enrolled using a functional version of Windows and Thinkvantage fingerprint software. using the biometric within SUSE and other flavors can require patching, it varies based on the flavor but I discourage it because I've been unable to find a sturdy LINUX implementaiton of it. Point of trivia, we've taken a build originally installed onto an X41tablet, then migrated it to an x201tablet. Had to update the chipset drivers and the rest of TabletPC drivers, but it boots the x201 and has two different ThinkVantage Fingerprint logon screens, the first one reports no reader, press Esc and the second Windows GINA appears ready tologon, that is sturidness!

-Can the RealTek wifi card be easily replaced with an Intel one?
You can repalce the RealTek, but you're leaving alot of advantages behind, the REalTek can be easily modified to exceed the orignal manufacuters wattage constraints and easily set to exceed FCC acceptable standards for mad range. WifFi hackers love RealTek chips because Intel cards practically require an exorcism to do the same thing. Whitelistting the BIOS is stragforward but like any surgery, has risks, a bricked BIOS can be recovered but connsider keeping your origainal WiFi adapter , itr would be my first choice anjd Intel cards dont' offer any ostensible advantages.

-Will OpenSUSE achieve the amazing battery times tested under Windows?

And now for an entirely subjective question:

I am aware of the MIL-Specs that ThinkPads are renowned for, but I feel better asking anyway.
My PowerBook G4 is still my primary computer. Its 9 years old and has never missed a beat through many trials. I'm only augmenting it with the 220 because at 17", it doesn't fit well on an airplane and PPC and Flash don't play nice.

Is expecting a 220 to last for 9 years asking too much? My recent experience with mobile PC hardware (Dell, HP) was anything but reassuring about that kind of longevity.

Thank you for your help!

[LegendaryKA8]

As far as general durability and all of that goes, if you treat your hardware with any type of decent care you will most certainly get nine years out of your X220. Personally I have a T21 that is around 11-12 years old. I've personally had the machine since 2004, so eight years under my care and it's still running. The most I've had to do to it was replace its original HDD about a year after I bought it and later on replace the LCD after a cat of mine jumped off of a shelf and landed right on it. I don't use it much at all these days but I do keep a hold of it as a backup machine. I also have a 380ED dating back to 1996 or so(IIRC) that also works just fine the few times I've played around on it.

Thinkpads were(and still are) built pretty durably. I think the only major problem you'll run into if you keep your machine in good order is eventually finding battery replacements. Computers last much longer than people give them credit for.

All that said, I'm curious as to how your experiences with the transition from OSX to Linux will be. I haven't really had any experience with Macs at all, but a friend of mine is offering me a slightly older iMac she has sitting around and I'm tempted to pick it up as a secondary machine, so I guess I'll also be learning a new OS that way, hehe.