Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 15:36:04 -0600 From: Chad Perrin <perrin@apotheon.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Lenovo ThinkPad -- good as IBM? Message-ID: <20080519213604.GB1129@demeter.hydra> In-Reply-To: <6e5cf6a70805191312q20ad657fr8872e1cbb2ff1da9@mail.gmail.com> References: <6e5cf6a70805191312q20ad657fr8872e1cbb2ff1da9@mail.gmail.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
--iFRdW5/EC4oqxDHL Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 04:12:56PM -0400, Joachim Rosenfeld wrote: > I had an IBM ThinkPad T41 that I was using until recently. It was rock > solid, ran FreeBSD perfectly, handled all abuse I threw at it (I dropped > it a couple of times), and generally did everything I needed it to do. >=20 > I switched jobs so I had to return that T41, so I'm thinking about > buying a ThinkPad of my own. >=20 > Since the T41 however, IBM has sold its ThinkPad line to Lenovo. I've > only heard anecdotal stories about Lenovo, and its largely been about > driver compatibility. >=20 > Can anyone comment on whether or not Lenovo has maintained the IBM > quality standards for the ThinkPad line, whether or not a Lenovo would > make a good FreeBSD laptop, or suggest some alternatives? Thinkpads are by far my favorite laptops -- I've used them for MS Windows, Debian GNU/Linux, and FreeBSD. My current Thinkpad is the first Thinkpad on which I've installed FreeBSD. It's an R52 that I got from Lenovo, though it was early enough that they were still using the IBM imprint on Thinkpads. It's most excellent. The only problem I've had with it is suspend/hibernate issues. If Thinkpads have declined in quality at all since Lenovo took over, they're still probably head and shoulders above everything else (with the possible exception of Mac laptops -- but I don't want a Mac laptop, for a number of reasons) for general-purpose laptops. Of course, there are also special-purpose laptops out there with which Thinkpads never could compete, like Toughbooks and TEMPEST-hardened laptops, but those are edge cases. In general, Thinkpads are all I use, and all I recommend, for running open source operating systems. Research a given Thinkpad before purchase, though. Check what graphics adapter it has in it, of course, and what it's using for wireless. There will always (until hardware vendors wise up) be cases where specific hardware components aren't fully supported *yet*. In general, though, any Thinkpad configuration more than about eight months old should be very well supported. --=20 Chad Perrin [ content licensed PDL: http://pdl.apotheon.org ] Marvin Minsky: "It's just incredible that a trillion-synapse computer could actually spend Saturday afternoon watching a football game." --iFRdW5/EC4oqxDHL Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkgx8sQACgkQ9mn/Pj01uKXYAACeMkmkTt77OOqUn7SBDIpWwH3C BJ8An0YgRuPUcJaZNwqCsssDuy2QaOhV =Td1q -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --iFRdW5/EC4oqxDHL--
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20080519213604.GB1129>