If buying a ThinkPad for personal use, buy one second-hand.

Why?

ThinkPads are mostly used by large corporations with procurement policies meaning they are replaced every 2-3 years. They're treated with care by (most) employees as it's company property. And spend most of their lives in air conditioned offices - little harsh environment.

The same of printers (you probably don't need a monster sized Zerox, but smaller colour laser jets can also be picked up). The same of mostly any corporate hardware. Procurement managers often don't know what to do with 'outdated' machines.

If you don't need the latest, go second-hand corporate turnover. And spend the $500 saved somewhere more useful.