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Comment by jbeard4 | Hacker News Reader

I’m still on my 2012 W520 as daily driver. Runs Ubuntu 22.04. It’s a tank - it just won’t die. And if something does wear it, it’s easy to repair or replace.

I’m actually thinking of purchasing a X220 or X220T as a smaller, more portable model of the same era. To me, this era of thinkpad is the pinnacle of laptop design. Unsurpassed. Robust and practical.

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I've stockpiled a few W520 units, in case I ever need that upgrade step. The huge 170W power brick is the reason not to just move to it now, since I have a fleet of 90W AC adapters I've been using for everything since the T60.

I've also wanted to get X220, for more portable, but still matching keyboard. (I currently have some X200 units, with better displays than X220 usually has, but different keyboard layouts. They'll be a bit of work to sell, for the upgrade, since I'll have to replace the custom Coreboot that's on them.)

> The huge 170W power brick is the reason not to just move to it now, since I have a fleet of 90W AC adapters I've been using for everything since the T60.

Can't you get a barrel connector on top of a modern GaN adapter? It should be much smaller!

Good question. The W520 wants 20V (at up to 170W). Looks like the newish USB PD standard can supply 20V in addition to 5V. So maybe it could be done with a current/forthcoming consumer USB PD wallwart, without needing to add additional power circuitry?

> So maybe it could be done with a current/forthcoming consumer USB PD wallwart, without needing to add additional power circuitry?

You may need a circuit to negotiate the USB-PD, then to ouput 20V from that, but it should be possible.

It could even be a very interesting project: expose an artificial resistance on the barrel plug to simulate the Lenovo AC wattage resistor by matching what the USB-PD can deliver.

If you end up using an X220 you will regret it. You’ll never be able to use a different laptop again. Absolute masterpiece for its time.

Yes. I used an x200 which was unfortunately damaged. I tried to repair it but it didn't recover. I bought an x230 off ebay. It was a factory demo piece which was refurbished. I did that in 2014 and did so because Ineeded one urgently. I replaced it about a month ago with an X1 carbon. The battery is shot and it overheats when I run too much on it. However, for day to day stuff, it's superb. Runs Debian and chugs away without many problems.

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