Why Buying a Used Laptop Almost Always Makes More Sense: New HP Stream vs Used Thinkpad X1 Carbon
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2024
- Today we are going to put our good old purple square nightmare up against a cheaper used ultrabook. I bought this HP Stream 11 from Walmart for a total of $189 (including taxes) and for less than that I was also able to pick up and upgrade a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon (2nd gen) for only $179. In this video I am going to conduct extensive testing on both of these sub $200 laptops to show you that your best bang for your buck is almost always going to be from a Used enterprise or high end used laptop.
Note: We don't include the cost of the OS in these videos because OS choice is dependent on the user.
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the thermal paste on the x1 is probably quite old and needs to be replaced
First thing I did on a 2013 Thinkpad Yoga S1 I was given and now it's much cooler.
I think you might be right about that. It would have been a good idea to go ahead and replace that while I had the back panel open.
Thankfully being a Thinkpad, I was in and out in less than 10 minutes.
Came down here for this. Would have been fascinating to see both repasted with the same compound and head to head. Fairly sure the X1 would pull further ahead. Still, I imagine getting to the die in both cases wouldn't be too much fun, although probably easier in the X1.
@@AdamGillett Both repasted, why? The HP is a new machine.
I used to work for a college. I've seen a few buying the HP Stream because they liked the size and the price was affordable for them. After a few weeks of trying to use storage heavy engineering software, the students became frustrated and wanted to sell their underpowered laptops.
that's why I can get one for $20 plus shipping. ha.
Even a refurbished t420 would be so amazing
I'm using one right now.
@@noodle621 I got one a few days ago here in the UK.
Using t420 right now lmao
what about T400?
the t400, while a wonderful machine, is a bit slow for common everyday tasks
This pretty much mirrors my real-life laptop circumstances this year. For Christmas, my stepmother got me an HP Stream. Only 64 GB of storage, weak speakers, and the only redeeming qualities were the webcam and that it was convenient to carry for typing documents on the fly. A week ago, I bought myself a used ThinkPad x260 off of eBay for $109. 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD, solid speakers, and faster performance. I’m also purchasing another ThinkPad with no HDD to install an SSD with Linux Mint to tinker around with and get back into learning Linux.
2:58 not offended at all. Everyone knows the keyboard and trackpad of lenovo machines from that gen were absolutely garbage.
I agree, I have had several ThinkPads from this gen (X1 Carbon, T440, W540, T431s) and they all feel like the trackpad is mounted improperly and it moves quite a lot when clicked.
firewire honestly I have a late 2009 MACBOOK and the trackpad is garbage. I just use a mouse because it’s easier than using a thinkpad anyways.
T440? I have a few of them at work. the trackpad was a slab of plastic that felt like you were trying to write on an really bad uneven table. Hated the integrated trackpad/mouse button combo as well.
@@cyberuspunk or that red dot in the middle of the keyboard that everybody loves
The thing is that lenovo in this era put WAY better trackpads in its consumer laptops !! Had a g50-70 ideapad and this trackpad is the best compared to a precision m3800 and thinkpad x1
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
WHERE IS THE CAPS LOCK KEY ON THAT X1 GEN2?
I MEAN INTERNET WAS ALREADY INVENTED WHEN THE GEN2 CAME OUT.
IM SORRY FOR THE CAPS BUT I CANNOT TURN IT OFF BECAUSE I HAVE A LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON X1 GEN2.
I WISH I HAD A GEN1 OR A GEN3 OR LITERALLY ANY OTHER LAPTOP EVER MADE.
BRUH WHAT THE HELL THIS IS THE BEST COMMENT IVE EVER SEEN
Any other laptop ? Nah, an overpriced aging core2duo philco phn14545 with a cursed sis chipset wich wont run anything newer than xp nor linux without issues isnt better than that...
Also its chipset overheats and it starts to fail because of the bad bga solder.
And it cant even run a 1080p video :/
I was also looking for that but it is nowhere to be found
lol
The default is double tap shift to turn caps on/off (also the switch key has a light to indicate whether caps is on or off), but if you open up the function bar application you can switch caps to be either the home or end key. If you don't have the function bar application you can install Lenovo Vantage from the windows store and it will update all your drivers and install the app for you... maybe even a bios update.
I switch caps to the home key and its great. I didn't notice any keyboard flex either like in the video.
I didn't know that Lenovo had a touchscreen like a row for the function keys. This was made before Apple started putting in Touchbars in the newer MacBook Pros!
Hp workstation 8730w elitebook had a touch bar like strip above the function key row way back in 2009. also i think if anyone one wants to put a touchbar thats how it should be implemented - dedicated function keys + touch bar for additional functionality. but yea thats just my opinion.
Apple never invented anything
Screens on top of the keyboard was already a thing WAY before Apple released the touchbar
@@ajjaatarskywalker917 Please tell me more about the touchbar-like strip on the EliteBook 8730W. Is it user-configurable? Also, did HP put it on any EliteBook models after the 8730W? I was considering grabbing an 8770W and upgrading it at some point in the future.
@@TopHatProductions115 I am not sure if its user configurable and I dont have it with me atm. In fact I never fiddled with it much. I only used it to increase and lower brightness and volume. It really isn't that useful imo. Im more of a fn guy so yea. In my opinion get the 8770w and upgrade its cpu and gpu. But upgrading the gpu can be tricky as the gpu heat sink might vary with the model of mxm card u use. There are plenty of threads online that give thorough information on these upgrades, so read up if u wanna upgrade.
Your actually surprised 🤨
I bought a fully functional and fully loaded T420S Thinkpad on eBay for under $60, including shipping. Hi-res screen and USB 3.
How much ram did you add? What's the max?
Unfortunately it seems there is just this common "frown at used things" narrative today. My sub-$100 ThinkPad T430 despite having more processing power than the macbooks and other junk people use is constantly frowned upon by people who will always come up with an excuse as to why my machine is just bad. That's why so many people buy these "new" HP junk at retail stores, its because they can't fathom anything used.
Let the sheeple do what they want. Give more opportunities for the smart.
I think the big issues are laptops in general seem to drop dead much faster and are treated more rough so the second hand market for them is a really rough gamble, also if an average joe wants a computer to last they will often buy new because well its "new" they aren't going to do like in this video and open a laptop up and swap parts like many of us who know how to will.
I say this as someone who only owns used laptops (desktop PC is built from Scratch though)
@@SprattyD Yess. The only things that I buy new are hard drives/SSDs, power supplies, and keyboards. Everything else is usually used and well worn. The average consumer would probably never think that the chipped rubber surfaces and cracks in my T430 would indicate somehow a better product, but that fails to consider the other machines which are spotless with mobo failure or something else that has left them dead.
I've got myself cheapo T450 in pristine condition couple of days ago for next to nothing (£180 with 40A2 dock) - it's not like you don't see what you're buying :) Also was positively surprised that batteries were pretty much new as well (whoever used it rarely, if ever, used it outside of the dock)
I love my T430. I'll use it until it dies and then I'll fix it.
I gave it a thumbs up for the very excellent, barn-burnin' Lagavulin single malt at the 13:12 mark.
As a Thinkpad fan I'd suggest avoiding the x40 era clickpad "experiment" to anyone. Thankfully Lenovo fixed it back in the x50 era.
as a t440p user i'd say just replace the trackpad with t450's and its the x40 series becomes good, i can replace any part on this unlike the new ones.
@@Theironlefty its kinda a gamble tbh because the trackpad can either be a knockoff synaptics or alps, but if you're going to do that, i would suggest killing two birds with one stone and try and find one with a palmrest assembly, so you can have a backlit keyboard if you desire and the trackpad that is required
The L440 is the only x40 within my budget. Anything newer is above my budget
@@thenotred is the T430 in your budget? I just looked it up on eBay and it's around the same price as the L440. If it is, that's probably a better buy.
The x90 and newer too they aren’t modular as the older one and don’t get me started on a Thinkbook
Some don't like the keyboard on the X1C 2nd Gen but I found it very endearing even if it had a learning curve. I really enjoyed it when I had it in the studio.
I bought a used HP Elitebook 8440w back in 2015 for $125 on Ebay. I've only upgraded the ram to 8gb but I can put a quad core i7 and 16gb ram in it. Brushed aluminum finish... just a great machine
I bought a used T430 and love it. I upgraded the memory and threw in a large SSD, and it’s a beast as a daily driver and is good enough for light gaming.
Thinkpad guys might hate me but I bought a 2010 15” MacBook Pro for $175 upgraded the Ram & Storage and been using it daily for the last year and it’s been great 👍🏻
I keep torturing myself watching these sorts of videos and find myself disappointed seeing Carousell when it basically costs more than 2x in my country.
@@Seatux damn i feel ya deals here in canada sometime sucks too
Thanks for this video - very interesting. Personally, I love secondhand ThinkPads. At the moment I have an X250, X260, T450, T460s, T470, and a T470p. I'm also a huge Linux fan, so they're all running Linux :) I picked up every single one for next to nothing - real bargains. It's like a have a laptop for every occasion!
Oh cool. It's sad how much more Thinkpads are to comparable spec'ed options from places like HP.
Also, great place to buy laptops if you live in Australia, is Gumtree.
Got an Acer Aspire with 8GB DDR4 RAM, Dual Core AMD A9, with dedicated Radeon graphics, for about $150.
Runs CS:GO at 60fps at Med/Low 1080p, runs Minecraft flawlessly, and you can get some good 1080p video editing done with Hitfilm.
Great daily driver, and you can get similar deals like that if you've got a good week to watch and wait for a good ad.
dude i had an a9-9430 it was so bad it doesn't run CS:GO at med low 1080p 60 at all
How can you offend anyone saying that the chiclet keyboard of a ThinkPad sucks? It's the reason why people puts the *magnificent* T420 keyboard in the T430. It's a thing that it's universally agreed in the ThinkPad community.
Got a Thinkpad Yoga 12 for 150 quid! Pen, 1080p IPS touchscreen 2 in 1, 5th gen i5, 8gigs of ram and an SSD!
Wow, that's a deal. I just got a T450 with 16gigs of ram and a 500GB SSD for $175. Felt like a pretty great price. Really happy with it though I'm probably going to replace the internal battery and get a high capacity main battery soon because in particular, the internal one gets maybe 56% of its original capacity.
Lifetime ThinkPad user. There is a reason why combo buttons and that horribad touchpad didn't last long. They were universally hated by users and even Lenovo employees
I hate my touch pad but that what they make wireless mice for tho right lol
Normies buy the hp stream because “It looks pretty so it must run better” 🤣
The problem being that normies dont know computers are different and scared to take out a single screw
My sis bought a hp stream like 3 yrs ago now i use it for online school but its trash it cant even load my assignments so i use my phone for doong my assignments
@@tobytoyota6936 ok. Every time I try to fix my computers I fuck then up.
I am glad you nerds are so smart but I cannot fix this stuff.
Also I can put bench you nerd
@@mythicyt9428 Don’t use your dong on your assignments. 😅
I just recently purchased a similar Thinkpad setup with an amazing docking station for around $200 on Ebay. It's the best computer I've ever owned, and a premium experience in every way.
You could get an X220 for cheaper than the X1C and it can support 16GB of RAM.
nice preface...3:11 I can almost audibly hear everyone scream "how dare you!" haha
3:00 That's when I clicked Like
The HP stream like all "cloud books" (MS lingo for their laptops with > 64 GB storage, there are windows tablets with similar specs) due to the limited storage space forces the need to purchase of additional storage (memory card, the "hd" is a fixed emmc chip on the mainboard). The only three options I think the HP stream is better on paper is weight, battery life, and built-in bluetooth. It should also have Office 365 for a year, but if you use Open Source like Libre, so unless you're a power user, I won't recommend HP stream.
Its a shame that the X lineup is aways overpriced where i live (and actually all thinkpads, but the X lineup about 3x more)...
I like thinkpads, just cant pay a price from a 4th, and maybe even 7th gen intel i5's for a first or second gen thinkpad.
HP elitebooks? They are fine as hell too :-p
@@kitecattestecke2303 Yeah, latitudes, elitebooks, all these cool corporate laptops are really expensive.
A core2duo elitebook 6930p costs about the price of a 7th gen i3 lenovo ideapad.
I got a deffective one for "cheap", about 150 usd, but it doesnt work at all, probably dead chipset, but it came with a damaged case, no hdd, no ram, and no processor, the screen has some burn-in too. So yeah...not a good deal. I tested it with other working parts to no avail. I will try to get a hot air soldering station and see if its judt the chipset with either bad bga or internal bga.
@@eduardoavila646 Damn man that sucks. I wish I could send you something. ThinkPad T530 is available here 16GB RAM, i7, and 120GB SSD for $150.
@@samjackson7701 Wow! Its a great price for it! I wish the customs wouldnt block it.
To be honest, you're not missing out much - X lineup lacks dual (or even exchangeable) battery... T blows it out of the water IMHO.
From a ThinkPad fan:
We agree that 40 series ThinkPad trackpads are trash.
That keyboard is specific only to X1 Carbon 2
Yup. I've actually seen Thinkpad X1 carbon 2 that doesn't have that "touchbar-like" thingie and those have a much more usable keyboard layout. I believe that keyboard that you see featured in the video is an option and you can specify for one without that disgusting keyboard when you order one back in the day.
@@MixShadowlight U likely found one that replaced the keyboard.
I have been trying to convince anyone with a small budget just to go down this route. Some listen and get Lenovo laptops others buy heaps of crap that are not worth it :)
I got a refurbished 17.3 inch HP Notebook off Amazon for $430 back in August. It has a 1 terabyte hard drive, optical disk drive, touch screen, AMD processor, touch screen, and more. If a laptop ain't got a built in optical disk drive, that's a deal breaker for me.
I watched this video on a 2019 HP Stream 11. I got mine at Target as an open box for $126 right after black friday.
Not for battery life, and don’t buy a Chromebook (especially used/refurbished) because they will shut down on you in the middle of a zoom meeting. If you’re not broke, just buy a new laptop and replace when needed. Every Chromebook I bought wouldn’t even last me a month before I smashed it because it sucked so bad.
i have the x1 carbon 2nd gen and tested the keyboard flex on my unit and it was not NEARLY as bad as the video showed, i guess you just have to get lucky.
Watching this on my ThinkPad x200s that I bought used 4.5 years ago and that's still serving me perfectly fine. :)
I bought a used X1 Carbon 6th gen. Wow the keyboard and trackpad are much improved and i actually prefer it over my surface laptop.
Just throwing my 2 cents out there. I'm glad i didn't get a 2nd gen.
I did just this, bought a stream in a pinch. I just spent $175 on a used i7 T440P on eBay, and $100 on a 1TB SSD, and I’ll never look back!
You might have gotten the worst carbon generation, I got one and the screen would go weird after a few minutes use
Personally, I think the first generation X1 Carbons are worse.
why do you think it was $100
@@Zarrx seller in russia + too much vodka = not know how to price
Before even watching this video it's exactly what I did for a secondary laptop to my gaming laptop. I purchased a used Lenovo 11.6 inch. It looks just like this X1 Carbon the people that had it before that refurbished it even upgraded the computer for me! It came with 8 gigs of RAM and 128 GB SSD and I got it for 200. It had minor scratching. I went to Amazon and bought a sleeve to put it in for 10 bucks!! done I also have to agree that the touchpad are useless on them! But that's where you can get a cheap wireless mouse. I actually have a secondary wireless mouse should I keep kicking around so it didn't cost me anything!
Why buy an old laptop? 800$ got me an 6th Gen X1 Carbon, i7 8650u, 16gb, 512gb, QHD screen, and Jesus christ it's a freaking fast laptop. Worth it!
Finally someone said it. I just got a Dell Pecision 7520 with 32 GBs of ram, 4 GB dedicated Quadra m2200, i7 7700 hq, 256 gb ssd, 4K screen, in perfect shape for 280 dollars shipped. This is a professional work station that will run Blender, After Effects, edit 4K video, etc.
shit man, good deal
@@Zeroneii3 I know right. Fantastic keyboard, I love it.
@@XanarchistBlogspot where can I get myself one for that price
@@Zeroneii3 it was on ebay used.
Man there is a major issue with that X1 Keyboard lol. I have a ThinkPad (Albeit not that model) and you could push all day long and never get it to spring up and down like that. Great video, thanks.
the only upside of the HP Stream is that its an indestructable word processor for non-tech Uni/College courses. You can throw it in a bag and not worry about it breaking. Buy second hand if you want a word processor for lectures purely.
The one thing to note on eBay. If something is listed in a "parts and repair" category, it doesn't matter what the description says. Even if the seller lists the system in "great" condition. eBay will side with the seller the minute it goes into "parts or repair." This was a $40 lesson.
Agree 100%. For a tiny desktop the Lenovo ThinkCentre line is readily available.
Wish used thinkpads were as competitively priced in UK as they are in USA.
I just got a laptop. The laptop was a Dell from 2015 and it cost $150 and it is great! It has great specs with an Intel I7 CPU and many ports and it can run games great and I can run it as a workstation as intended many days in a row without it doing anything wrong. It is built like a rock and the keys are nice and clicky. Although I will admit some new laptops are bad, a lot of them are also good, like my other 2021 HP laptop which runs better than my Dell.
This is good to know. I’ve been seeing a lot of these around (second hand) and they look pretty but that’s probably the least important thing about tech. I love messing around with machines and I’m also big on recycling etc. so I’ll definitely be sharing this video. Plus, now I also know not to be tempted to buy that bright red machine I spotted on marketplace 😊
I've managed to do this with a Haswell laptop for $120 before - I have a Latitude E6440 I bought with backlight issues for $50. It needed some work (primarily a new screen, but I upgraded it to an HD+ screen assembly for $30; $4 more then the matched bare panel). Also needed a drive but I got a 240GB PNY SSD for $40.
Granted mine came with a i5-4300M CPU (4200M base, so minor upgrade from the factory), which I am completely happy with to the point I see no need to change it.
Since I work with Dell laptops a lot, the charger was not an issue for me but if you needed one plan to spend ~$20 for a used slimline adapter. The OEM ones are cheaper but not by much and I prefer the loop around cord design so it's worth it to me. My battery is a bit weak (31.6% health; ~1H 52M of run-time left), but I'm not going to change it until it gets worse since I don't need the battery to hold hours of charge. However, if you had to buy it you can get a aftermarket one for $30 or so.
I bought a T440p as a secondary laptop, it was 150$ on ebay, put in it an SSD, 16Gb of RAM, replaced the crappy trackpad and TN screen, and with a total of less than 300$ now I have a perfect laptop that became my main computer.
Yep, I've got an X270 for about $160, and it surprised me how awesome it is. It's really small, and portable, pretty fast with m.2 SSD and the i5-6300U, and it's battery life is a killer. It's keyboard is exceptionally good, and it really is built like a tank overall. Now I guess I'm a ThinkPad fan lol
Although I have desktops, my 'primary' machine is currently an IBM T43p purchased on eBay more than 7years ago. Some points to note before someone starts screaming at me.
1.I don't do gaming, etc. That machine is the repository for emails, financial files (scans, downloads, spreadsheets, etc).. Running XP. RAM maxed out HD upgraded (and am planning to do so again). I purchased 3 of them and am on the second one.
2. I use laptops as desktops because of space savings (and, if necessary, portability). I do not use, unless absolutely necessary, the inbuilt keyboard and pointing device(s). Too awkward. USB keyboard and mouse.
3. I source machines from eBay, the local university surplus store, Goodwill, and even dumpsters. I have gotten trashed machines completely intact and fully functional with no password protection.
4. I now do most of my video watching on wireless tablets (which I am doing right now)
5. I started using computers professionally in 1966 (look at my avatar/icon to see me seated at the console of 'my PC' in 1967) so don't try saying I'm a noob. I use computers for the assistance they provide in my life (and watching videos also)
I love how he says "da" instead of "the"
Well I must say - from all the compiling info from other people on laptops I must agree on these things
1 - Older is better in build quality
2- Business grade laptops are far superior than consumer grade , as you demonstrated with the HP so called toy....
3 - HP dose make a good business grade machine which would be nice if you could do a review on - the Elitebook 8460
4 - Cheaper build units are a waste of money to a pro user - less like you've shown use Linux instead of windows .
Again Awesome video - keep up the great work...
Cheers
Man it has been a while since your last video. Is everything OK? I hope so. BTW good to see you back.
I needed a cheap laptop in a pinch for a conference, $200 refurbished X250 on Amazon Prime. Amazing. Got the job done, and I ended up keeping it instead of returning it. Now I did have to change the thermal paste, because besides the obvious age, CPU temp was fluctuating rapidly, obviously the paste was shot. I think a decently handy end user could do this with a YT video. I upgraded the ram, 1080p LG panel, and threw in a used Samsung 850 SSD. So for $300 I have a damn good laptop that can easily keep up with a modern midranger.
I've had good and bad experiences on eBay, so buyer beware there. Prime takes care of you no matter what.
I bought a fujitsu lifebook ah531 with a second gen i3 for 35 dollards and it works amazing. In fact I wached your video in 1080p with no lag. I really recommend fujitsu lifebooks for school or for a workstation.
Fujitsu is way better than Lenovo nowadays I used Celsius H780 and it’s work amazing doesn’t feel cheap like P15
I got a used T500 for free about 4 months ago. It is old and definitely needs lots of care and parts, but I have great plans to prepare it for 2021. As I enjoy going down "the fun way" and don't have immediate need for it to be used productively, it will see upgrades one at a time.
Used is always the better way to go, as if it were a car. I bought a thinkpad t420 for $45 with a charger and made some upgrades like switching to an ssd and bumping the ram up to 8GB, runs like a charm. Does not even compare to my old hp stream, I was lucky that thing lasted me 5 years.
Those basic, inexpensive laptops are marketed for 'a child's first laptop' for carrying out basic tasks and are not intended for work or gaming etc. Basically you get what you pay for new or used
My mom and sister grabbed 5 HP stream 14's on a black friday sale like 3 years. I had to do a clean OS install on all of them and disable windows update on ALL of them and optimized them ALL to be a lil more snappy cuz the emmc memory in them are HORRIBLE. I have one of them now that I installed android x86 on and I have to say they work alot better with Android x86 and lynix than windows.
We have T series Thinkpads at work, I hate them. Lenovo makes relatively good performance laptops, but I usually find them physically unappealing. I love buying used/refurbished. My average track record has been gently used/refurbished electronics, one generation behind at 50% off retail. I have had Samsung Galaxy S3, S5, S7 and currently I own a S9, all about 50%. 5 years ago bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro, 50% off and I just got a Samsung Galaxy Book 2 $611, taxes and shipping all in. Last but not least, I bought a Dell XPS 15 4K Touch a couple years ago 50% off. Today more than one generation old, but still a kick ass little machine.
The x230, would be a cheaper alternative. Better keyboard, better trackpad, decently upgradeable.
I agree
Do you still have it? How's the stylus for drawing?
@@Glamrgrl104 No, but I'm a repairman, and have worked on them. I don't own an X series, because they don't have a dGPU.
this is exactly what i tell people, i bought an HP 640 G1 cost me exactly 100$ on ebay with an i5 and 8gb ram .. spent an extra $100 on an SSD plus another 8gb and wow its fast for $200
Seller linked in video didn't have any X1 carbons, but a good assortment of T and X series thinkpads. Most of those are a good choice and CHEAPER!
i totally agree with all you say...
once again, this is a really good video and i'm going to do what i do all of the time i'm going to tell my story about pro laptop love.
the first pro serie laptop i got that really impressed me was a gift.
it was the DELL Latitude E6500 because of it's build quality... that thing is really made for last forever it's really good and so easy to take off one screw to access to everything like memory, all the MPCI-E cards and all you need to replace in a really short time. to take off the screen, when the bottom plate is off you need to remove the screws that attach the hinges and unplug the cables that are all in easy access under that bottom plate so, for fast repair of a PC that need to be used right now with a spare screen assy it can be replaced in less than 15 minutes so for a pro who need his laptop now that's just awesome if the screen got broken. and, about broken screen, that laptop resist to a lot of bad treatment it's really made for las as i said but now, it's really limited specially if you buy the version with the Nvidia Quadro NVS160 that's going to not be able to play a video in full HD on youtube and, if you bought the version with the 1980x1200@60hz screen, you want that to be possible and it's possible (only if you have the version with the Quadro. if it's inltel HD you can't it's not really the same laptop), you can buy a motherboard for a DELL Precision M4400 and it fit in the laptop no modification need they are both the same and well... after than on ubuntu you can play full hd video with youtube (even now you still can but with something lite like LXDE.
now, i got a newer laptop that is a real killer it's the DELL Precision M6600. it have a full HD anti glare screen, backlight on the keyboard (as the latitude E6500 or Precision M4400), a really not bad I7 2820QM, and the original GPU was a Quadro 4000M.
i bought it for 200EUR (218.82USD) and i replaced it for a AMD FirePro 6100 with is way better (easy to get in the USA for something like 35USD i added a MPCIE SSD for 60USD and it was sold with no memory so i toke the ones of my old garbage laptop so, 8gb of DDR3 1333 and that thing is super powerful and totally kick asses of the new garbage you can get now for the same price. as the M4400, it's made for lase but it's a super big and heavy 17" laptop but for games.... it's still really good so, continue your video and doing that is also good because it's recycling so it's also good for our poor planet!
I got a $170 (it's now $150) Asus X441BA laptop new from Micro Center - it couldn't even SETUP Win 10, popped in an SSD and installed Ubuntu MATE. Runs like a champ!
If the previous owner never cleaned the heatsink or replaced the thermal paste, then there is a chance, that the hardware is already damaged or at the end of its life cycle (big problem with old gaming laptops). I bought 5 gaming laptops of the sandy bridge to haswell era, 3 of them had faulty graphics (1x vRAM, 2x core). If you don`t know how to repair these things, then don`t buy old stuff and save money for a new laptop with warranty. That is at least my opinion, based on my experience.
Likely just need to open and clean the cooling fan and exhaust port filter for the X1. Also if you can remove heatsink from CPU on that X1 it might be time for some new thermal paste.
I hate the trackpad on my 2nd gen X1 carbon. However, I didn’t have any problem with the keyboard despite the “special” touch functionality of the function keys. Also mine did come with a 1440p display, 8gb of ddr3 ram, and an i7 cpu. I recommend applying new thermal paste and cleaning cooling system thoroughly. The battery sucks too btw “2 hours of battery.”
I swear Microsoft must make Windows 10 free for manufacturers; in exchange they just collect all of our data. Also the OS use to be the expensive part of the machine $80-100, but I’ve seen full Windows 10 tablets for less than $100... I’m liking Ubuntu more and more
I got an elitebook 9480 about 9 months ago and it’s about in the price range and age of the carbon, imo hp has really good keyboards and trackpads in their corporate level devices.
If you took the fun route I took the amazing time route. Mine looked like it fell off a truck (broken screen, broken trackpad, case in really bad shape), the motherboard was good and I got a dead one and married the two devices. I got an i7 in rough shape for $40 and about another $60 for one with a dead motherboard and a perfectly working laptop was the result.
I'm sure I'm not telling anyone anything new here, but a fifth-gen trackpad with much better response and physical buttons can be picked up new on Amazon for $30 and will work with a Haswell-gen ThinkPad following a driver installation.
How about battery life? Like, everyone speaks about older laptop being a better value but what about the battery life? You buy a laptop to use it on the go.
Batteries aren't expensive (comparatively). Also, in most non-ultrabook segment exchangeable batteries are normal. Even in ultrabooks you can exchange them yourself (granted, you do have to pick the thing apart). It's just glued-together tablets (I'm looking at you Microsoft Surface...) or with glued/soldered-on battery (fuck you too Apple) that are poor second-hand products.
@@Micromation unfortunately, at this rate, it's only a matter of time that glued-in batteries will become the norm in the laptop market too.
@@MixShadowlight If average consumer had a brain he wouldn't support anti-consumer practicies with his wallet. But then again, we live in idiocracy.
... In the US. buying used elsewhere usually cost 2, 3 times more or even higher
Yes X1 carbons used cost 700euro here in Finland
sorry that your places add a stupidly high sales/import tax
I was lucky enough they someone was selling an i3 Lenovo l430 for 99 euros locally. I really needed a laptop at the time and I had like 3 days to buy one. It even boots faster than my pc with ryzen 1700x and nvme ssd.
ryzen 7 what?
@@halalphish4495 corrected
@@talonfluff actually laptops naturally losds faster i jave a lenovo with ryzen pro it loads fadter than my r5 2600@ 3.65 hhz
Quick Tip! Ensure that Windows 10 is running in UEFI Mode (rather than Legacy) on the ThinkPad as it supports UEFI and that will give you faster boots and slightly better performance. The Stream is running UEFI.
when i was younger my friends had blue hp stream's and i had an old hp g6 from around 2011 and its safe to say that the g6 demolished the stream's.
>2nd gen keyboard is a trainwreck
Buy an X1c1?
EDIT: That keyboard flex is *not* how mine is at all. May be a missing screw somewhere.
Don't buy the second generation X1 Carbon. The keyboard and touchpad are widely panned--no physical function keys or trackpad buttons, for example, and a replacement battery is expensive and difficult to install. (The keyboard and touchpad were wisely abandoned for the 3rd generation and beyond.) For a good used business class laptop, get the Dell Latitude e7450, which has a very nice keyboard and touchpad, and it is much easier to upgrade with much cheaper parts, including an old school battery that attaches from the outside. Just be sure to get the FHD display, and for a few more dollars you can find one with a touchscreen if you like that sort of thing.
Amazing video as always!
Dude! News flash! You never need to click on a touchpad. Thinkpad engineers know that since the T440/x240/X1 Carbon2 but people just never learn how to use a touchpad! Once again! You never need to click it, not once! Now you know.
I've had good luck purchasing off lease computers on eBay or local Craigslist seller. Replaced my wife and my desktops with HP Z230 upgraded to Win 10. Use an off lease Thinkpad T420 as a poor mans server and my regular laptop is a Thinkpad T520.
because of all these videos, prices of most of parts for upgrading the thinkpads have gone up.
I have a thinkpad l440, i think it’s the mist underrated thinkpad ever, i think it’s the best.
I had the HP Stream 13, i bought it 3 years ago. Back then i was too little and dumb and I didn't know anything about laptops. Since i needed a laptop for school i went shopping w/ my parents. As soon as i walked in i see this blue hp Stream 13 - and i as a kid loved the blue color. I want one and my parents bought it cause it was cheap. Now 3 years later i realized how underpowered it is. The 32gb storage on the Stream 13 while fast since its a solid state, was simply not enough for windows. I have only 1GB free now after installing basic programs. Thank god i wasn't on windows 10 tho, cause if I'm on windows 10 it's literally not enough because of the constant updates. Yet- i love it. It's because its a laptop you don't have to care about. You can throw it around and bang it around without worry. It's fine for school, and nothing else.
I avoid laptops with mousepads that have physical left and right buttons. The buttons are pointless and take up space from the actual trackpad.
He's actually right. I once owned this Asus laptop and it was brand new (This was a year ago) and that thing wasn't on my level. But when I got this Sony laptop (A couple of months ago) from my older brother and used, this thing obliterated that Asus laptop. So I suggest you get a used computer because it will be a better upgrade of what you have that's brand new.
To be honest, this x1 carbon sucks.
It's not that really upgradable and the battery isn't user swappable.
I personally bought a T440p for 190$ and I'm rocking it with some Nvidia gt7**m GPU and some i7 CPU.
I also was able to upgrade it from 1 SSD to 3 SSDs and the battery holds up to 7 hours if using the laptop for basic stuff.
DON'T install Linux on t440p before installing the latest version of BIOS or you will brick your laptop and you will have sent it to Lenovo for repair!
Yeah, I feel it's a good thing I did that upgrade before installing that on mine.
what kind of shitty bug BRICKS the laptop from changing the OS?
I totally agree with this video. Especially for students, they should learn to be frugal and smart.
My T440p has that same trackpad and I do have to agree that it is absolutely crap. I did hear that you can swap it out but I honestly can't be bothered at the moment. There's a few things I need to do such as install an SSD and new battery so maybe I'll do it all at once when I find some time.
Just bought a 1st Gen X1 Carbon to Hackintosh. Let’s go! EDIT: It has been a year since I posted this but I sold my X1C1 for a T440s to hackintosh.
The Carbon could do even better with either Optifine or Sodium in minecraft and the Streaming hot garbage would be at least bareable. The Carbon could also deal with a repaste and T450 trackpad(If it fits), too.
I thought the touch bar was an apple thing but no.
"I know a lot of Thinkpad fans are watching this so I'm going to offend you. The keyboard and trackpad on hp stream was bet_"
Thinplad fan: "Nooo, Don't you dare!"
😂😂
Dell Latitude 7200 series are excellent used laptops. I have a 7250 and a 7280, both used, both inexpensive and both look and function perfectly.
The stream 11 was my first computer... I still have it, and it is running Ubuntu 19.04.
honestly any trackpad on any laptop drives me crazy i don't know how people deal with those, i prefer a mouse for any computer, its just easier i find.
I spent 1100 on my mobile gaming laptop with a 7700hq and 1060 6g back in the day but my daily school laptop is a t460 with a 6300u and dual batteries, i picked up used for 190, shit gets like 16hrs of battery life 🤣
I take my 7700hq laptop to school lol
@@kydn3y I would but since I take a cheap ass thinkpad I can just throw my backpack no worrying
@@RoryEditsOfficial yeah true. But sadly I dont have another one.
How does the touch screen an stylus work on the 460? Is it smooth touch screen? Is it ips screen? Looking into a used surface pro 3 or 4 or thinkpad 260 for drawing, light gaming.
@@Glamrgrl104 er, dont think the typical t460 comes with a touchscreen I know it's available, but I dont think you're able to get touch screen with dual batteries, though I'm not entirely sure. I would definitely suggest the surface 4 over the others. Tho I'll let you know the surfaces and t460 cant even play osu very well, like its "acceptable"
The blue HP Stream 11 is much better than the purple model when it comes to looks.
"I know I'm about to offend ThinkPad fans, but the keyboard sucks"
As a user of the t420. I completely fucking agree the new ThinkPad keyboards are a fucking mistake.