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Comment by sacnoradhq | Hacker News Reader

Lenovo Thinkpads were already on the side of repairability, but that declined after the Apple cargo-culting that began around the time of the T470. The T480 had dual batteries, 1 removable and 1 internal. The T490 was even more enshitified with only 1 internal battery and a lower runtime.

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They held my laptop in repair for almost three weeks to get a replacement keyboard, then tried to charge me over £1000 GBP (near the cost of the laptop) to replace the mainboard citing "water damage". The laptop was fine except for the keyboard.

I'm getting a Framework next and will never buy a Thinkpad again.

This is classic Lenovo. No one knows how shit they are until you have to deal with their repair services.

The trick you see is to buy 2 of them off a 3rd party seller with damaged boxes and stick one in the cupboard. This costs the same as buying 1 new one directly usually. You can usually recoup a fair chunk of the cash by selling whatever dead one you end up with.

(Got 2x T14 gen 3’s for £700 each)

I've used Lenovo (and IBM before them) for over 20 years and have never had to deal with their repair service.

I did upgrade my t470 (more ram, bigger external battery), which was a bit of a pain removing the case, but did the job.

Ouch. Forget that. I had on-site repair with parts for 3 years. Had one repair during COVID due to a blown charging circuit. They had it for a month and replaced it.

Out of warranty, I stocked up on parts from AliExpress. Need a spare CPU fan? I think I have 6. ;@]

I really miss the replaceable battery of my old Thinkpad. I had high regard for Lenovo for a long time, but somewhere around 2017 or so (wasn't buying laptops that often, I'm not sure what year it started) they really declined, and now Thinkpads feel like cheap plastic crapware with low customizability and a bunch of locked down components.

What frustrates me is that I bought 3 of them after they started to decline because I trusted the brand so much. My consecutive disappointments is one of the main reasons I no longer trust corporations or branding anymore.

Switched from a T420s to a T480s and now I really don't know what's next because I definitely lost any trust in Lenovo

Framework laptops?

I'll likely get a framework as my next laptop. I'll accept the lack of a trackpoint, but at least i'll get a laptop i can trust for some years to come.

I did the same thing and although it seems like a trackpoint is essential, trackpads are really good now and there isn't a huge difference imo.

Aren't there heat issues? I really like their models but I am already annoyed from the heat of my t480s (using it on the sofa a lot)

Mine gets a little hot, but as long as you don't block the vent it's fine. I have one of the early 11th gen ones.

I have the same story with Optima car batteries.

I miss thick laptops and phones. I'd gladly pay for just "a higher tier phone but twice as thick/bigger battery". There are few more rugged phones but mostly bottom end specs...

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