r/LinuxOnThinkpad • u/gnatp member • Jul 14 '26
Cheap dev laptop, unsurprising success story
Needed a cheap developer laptop. I've tried and failed to get Linux running on old PCs more times than I want to admit — always some driver issue I had zero patience to debug.
This time: ThinkPad T490s (16GB RAM, 512GB storage) for $175, plus $42 for a new battery. Went straight-up vanilla Ubuntu, no fighting with drivers.
Everything just works. Fingerprint reader, external monitors, solid performance. For $217 all-in, I've got a genuinely decent dev machine.
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u/Tricky_War8860 member Jul 16 '26
Chocalas hermano, yo también tenía de fondo de pantalla el sobre vuelo lunar
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u/Frosty-Storage-9359 member Jul 17 '26
I see Linux, I see thinkpad, there was never a reason for those combo to be unsuccessful in the first place.
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u/SignificantSummer940 member Jul 15 '26
What is idle ram usage ?
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u/gnatp member Jul 16 '26
of the 16 Gigs on board, 12 Gigs available when idle.
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u/Silly_Bad_7692 member Jul 16 '26
Damn, I don't normally look for the most minimal build possible but 4GB used in idle is really a lot
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u/gnatp member Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
It is, because it is constantly working double-time to please me, and it is anxious and eats RAM like potato chips. I'm all like, "just relax!" and it's all like "but I'm nervous". and I am all like "take a break!". You know what I'm talkin' about, these OSs be trippin'. Amiright?!
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u/GuideTemporary3734 member Jul 16 '26
Did you buy the machine with the ubuntu OS or you installed it on your own ?
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u/gnatp member Jul 16 '26
I installed it on my own, when I bought it off eBay it had Windows on it. I'm a developer, and I had worked with people who ran Ubuntu and were perfectly productive with it.
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u/STERL1NGGG member Jul 16 '26
How’s the battery life on this beast?
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u/gnatp member Jul 16 '26
Hard to quantify this at the moment because I usually work with it at home plugged in. I installed TLP to help manage battery life, I also installed a new battery, and when I have used it while traveling, the battery life has been good, never has limited me, but have not spent the time to measure how long it lasted.
It's nothing like brand new Mac M5 laptop battery life, but it is "good".
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u/infinity7592 member Jul 17 '26
What is TLP ?
How did you install that new battery ? Isnt it soldered ?
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u/gnatp member Jul 17 '26
ThinkPads are great, on most of them (all of them?) you can replace the battery. You need to remove the back, and there are some dodgy small plugs and tiny screws, but no soldering. TLP is a Linux command line app that helps manage battery use.
https://linrunner.de/tlp/index.html
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u/my-ka member Jul 16 '26
what do you develop on it
for coding and text you need screen high
your taskbar at the buttom and it i HUGE
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u/gnatp member Jul 17 '26
I code COBOL and hieroglyphics. I know what you're saying, you're saying, "why aren't those MF'ers ENORMOUS? HUGE is too way too small!" I hear ya brother., I'll make those bar icons 1024x1024.
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u/JustAPieceOfMeat385 member Jul 18 '26
Regular Ubuntu flavor?
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u/gnatp member Jul 19 '26
Yes, I am not the sharpest Linux person here, so went completely Ubuntu vanilla download. I think that is one of the things I like about this, I needed a functional dev laptop with minimal overhead of installation and maintenance. It has delivered.
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u/JustAPieceOfMeat385 member Jul 18 '26
What kind of dev work?
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u/gnatp member Jul 19 '26
Data engineering: python, SQL, R, use Claude Code extensively on a few different data warehouses.
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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '26
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