I wouldn’t even call the left side a “tech” enthusiast. More like a fad or clout enthusiast…
A Thinkpad running windows is just disgraceful. Good hardware deserves good software
What are the options? Linux is meh on desktop. I love Linux and FreeBSD for servers but for desktop duty I still find Windows to be vastly superior.
Use Qubes like a normal person you freak! That’s the option.
Exactly. Mine shipped w/ Windows, but it never ran Windows (at least I never did). Installed Linux day 1.
I ran over mine with my car (by accident, of course) and it survived, I’m still using it even though I had to take some acrews out to relieve the pressure from the fan because it was hitting the case and sometimes I have to fold it a bit to the other side so it doesn’t make noises.
So I guess I’m the second one
Classic thinkpad battery health
it better be getting ready to be linuxed
No I was planning on using it with Nvidia drivers and secure boot.
Only a little bit. Genuinely go grab a laptop and try to get everything up and running with Nvidia drivers, secure boot, full disk encryption, and tpm unlock (server application, no typing password allowed).
It’s not particularly easy. (Except, somewhat ironically, with arch).
My experience was following the fedora instructions immediately broke the boot, following the opensuse instructions worked up until I had an unexpected power loss and then it wouldn’t boot anymore (truly bizarre as the thing that lost power was the external zfs drives not the os drive). Only arch had a fully sane and functional set of instructions.
Or just avoid nvidia in the first place and it mostly just works.
I’ve done it with Suse more than once, but not with ZFS. Using ZFS with Linux still tends to be a crapshoot. I’ve given up on nvidia; if they want to be money grubbing assholes they can get other people money, but not mine.
https://blog.entrostat.com/installing-nvidia-drivers-on-a-linux-laptop-with-secure-boot-enabled/
That’s not been a problem for a while now
Oh I know, and as of 2025 fedora even has it built in from what I read. We are truly living in the future.
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🎣
this is not funny. the computer on the right is using windows. put both of those pieces of shit in the same left panel and on the right put a logo that isn’t linked to some closed-source piece of trash
Secretly?
LONG LIVE LINUX
I’ve actually ran a server for a few weeks with a heatsink just sitting on the CPU with a dab of thermal paste.
I was waiting for mounting hardware. Thankfully it was a PGA so mounting pressure didn’t match much.
The scratches on my thinkpad aren’t flaws. They’re battle scars!
On the right, but with a solar panel.
The one on the right needs a surge protector.
Oh so that is how PC users overcome their shitty battery life.
Now, how do you overcome the shitty trackpad and screen?
How do I overcome the trackpad and screen? Well I use VIM and I use VIM
Personal Computer? Aren’t both images of a personal computer?
it’s so weird seeing this kind of gate-keepy tribalism in the wild still. loving the leash that keeps you in the walled-garden is cringe as hell.
Use a mouse like a smart person? The only people who use the track pad have no alternative at the moment, or are brainwashed by apple ads.
Laptops have terrible ergonomics. Hunching over a desk like that is pretty bad for you. Use an external monitor, mouse, and keyboard and you’ll remember how useless a tiny 16" screen and shitty unmoving glass pad can be as an interface.
Or the nub mouse! The pictured Thinkpad has a nub mouse and they’re adorable.
If you can master the subtle science and exact art that is the clitmouse, then yes it can be a pleasant experience. But even the nicest tent isn’t going to make camping feel like a Ritz Carlton.
There’s a third.
I took a dremel to my $20 case to install a front fan to cool my NAS drives. Taped that sucker right to the front bit of the face, and ran it that way for years.
It’s not quite as hardcore as this, so I’m not sure if I qualify for the second or third type.
I would argue this is the just the second kind
Is that a toaster?
No? A modded Deskmini. This cooler fits turbo mode of the Ryzen 7 5700G.
biblically accurate computer
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“Can you stack peltiers? NVM I’m gonna try.”
“Cooling sucks? Drill a hole here and here.”
No joke, that was the workaround for a gaming laptop i owned in 2010 i think?
I fried a graphics card in college because the electrical tape i wrapped around the custom paper clip heatsink retention clip came off and shorted something lol
I miss those days when my builds had that level of jank. Learned a lot really quickly lol. Now everything I own is impossible for me to hack into without completely fucking it up, or is so expensive that I’m just not going to try it. I used to hold a RAID 5 array together with tape. I’d never try that now. Oh, youth lol.
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I am the left one until the first scratch appears, at that point i manage to do worse than the Right one.
Looks at hp stream that’s been choking for 5 years in cnc shavings.
hp stream that’s been choking for 5 years in cnc shavings
Now here is someone who knows how to treat an hp
So I started going to University recently, and the amount of people I’ve had actively chastise me for how I treat my laptop has been shocking.
This is a tool to get things done, it’s not some precious gem, I bought a cheap laptop with the expectation that it’s going to get gross and crusty and I’ll have to hose it down once a year, I’m going to wing it around and drop it and clean the screen with my sleeve.
Craftspeople treat their tools with respect and consideration.
My tap and die set sit on a shelf, my lathe is in the shop. I’ve dropped my hammer from 150 feet because the tether broke and the most upsetting part was climbing the ladder down and back up.
It depends on whether you view it as a lathe or a hammer. My nice computer is at home, my computer that I sit in the park under a tree and code on, then set it on the grass while it compiles is in my bag.
It may be news to you but generally people cannot tell apart semen from just crusty dirt.
It’s probably why your laptop has been such a hit around the campus.
I don’t think even the bioengineers are brave enough to take a sample
Crusty…?
Jesus
There’s a reason my CS department had to ban food from the computer lab.
Yeah man, have some self respect and wipe it down regularly.
Treating a telescope like a jackhammer isn’t going to work well.
They just haven’t figured out your jackhammer just looks a lot like their telescope.
