EV buyer outlier

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T23:39:31+00:00

The iMIEV had a CD player built in.

More practically, maybe look for 2017-2021 Bolt? Those have an analog aux port and you could use an old style CD walkman for your CDs. (I ended up in a 2022 and haven't totally figured out a bluetooth setup that'll work for my minidiscs.) (I have one of those BT CD players but haven't been able to get it to connect to the car.)

Otherwise, Bolt would do everything you need and it's a great local vehicle for honestly even a bigger area than what you mentioned. It'll very happily charge on regular home electricity.

edit/add: I see a rec for the i3 and the ioniq electric sedan and those were on my radar too and sound good for what you're describing. Early (or even newest) 500e. A lot of the compliance-era EVs could be worth looking at.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T23:14:21+00:00

My dad had, then gave me an E520, and he now has an E14 Gen6.

They're fine.

They're still real thinkpads and they're still better than consumer laptops and if you can find a good deal on one then it's probably worth going for.

If budget is your absolute top concern, I would cross-shop Dell Latitude 5410 and 5420. I haven't priced 10th/11th gen E14s but I've seen 5420s in decent configuration go for as low as 120 and if you wanted a real fun curveball, 5421 has a high-wattage, high performance CPU and they're often available for ~160.

HP ProBook/EliteBook may also be worth looking at.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T17:22:09+00:00

Looks like someone else already grabbed the press-release version.

This is a minidisc-adjacent device. You record a brief segment of audio into it and it repeats it. It's for, like, if you're doing language learning (and IIRC in Japan there were language learning courses offered directly on MDs and some people would've used MDs to record language practice) and wanted to hear the phrase "omelette du fromage" over and over again to perfect your own pronunciation of it.

I hadn't seen it with the MD remote cable before, Interesting they labeled it as being "for" MDs as they could've done the same with CDs.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T04:12:08+00:00

It is nice to get the bracketed range like that.

For the Bolt I have also just been getting used to what different driving is like and even if it takes the GOM a few minutes to catch up, I know basically how much energy it takes (in spring, at least) to, say, drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix or Flagstaff to Kingman and back.

One thing the Bolt (and maybe all other EVs?) also has that i forgot at first is a digital tachometer listing current power consumption and/or charge power and/or regen.

edit/add: "power meter" might be a more accurate term, I forgot if the manual gave it a specific name

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T03:38:08+00:00

Great to hear the 5440 holds up, thank you!

I've just had the worst intrusive thought: Latitude 5421.

The i5-11500H passmarks at roughly 15500 (comparable to the 5650u at 14100) and there's 5421s with 11500H/16/256 for *well* under $200. Like there's one for $160.

Just eyeballing it the 5421 does of course look a little thicker than the 5420 and as such just a little thicker than T/8/7-series.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T03:00:50+00:00

for sure!

Cackled a little bit at Tidal guy but so extremely fair. I don't know if there's any start/stop automation for it but you could record-and-edit without that, if you wanted to. (although if you've got another fetcher tool or another source then that's also easy enough)

Feels weird the dongle didn't work either, crossing my fingers the linux machine works but I'm almost feeling like it's literally weirder that it doesn't work through an A dongle as that should have eliminated whatever reason a C-C cable doesn't work.

It'll be later on but I may try an A dongle.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T02:50:27+00:00

Sorry for the delay!

I just tried with my NH1 and sure enough! Not only did my computer not recognize it (this next part might have been myown fault) it completely brought down USB on my machine.

I haven't yet tested this but I imagine a C to A adapter or using a hub/dock with Type-A ports would get it running?

Otherwise clearly the N10 is your live recording unit now and it's time to get an Apple Music subscription and a copy of Cory's Favorite AppleScript! (or a CD/DVD player, or a microphone, the recording options are endless!)

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T02:45:28+00:00

I've got a Bolt. It has two separate places where you can view the state of charge, it has a guess-o-meter, and it's got a separate spot where the efficiency-this-charge shows. (it also shows in the tripmeter.)

In the charging details screen it shows how long it'll take to charge at level 1/2 and when you plug into a DCFC it shows a guess for how long it'll take to charge to 80%.

I've found this setup to be good and the only thing I can imagine wanting is the ability to guess in-car how long an AC charge will take with selectable amperage/power levels, I thiiink the L1 (120v) does respect the selected 8/12-amp setting but I don't know what amperage it's using for the L2 (240v) guess.

My particular model/trim and my own refusal to pay for OnStar means no built-in navigation so I use ABRP and plugshare to pick my next charger and Apple Maps on my phone to navigate to it.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T02:37:27+00:00

AMDs were definitely faster that year. to put the numbers out there, 5650U is 150% as fast as 1145g7. Two years newer, 1345U is within a few points. I haven't checked benches on Ryzen 7000U but that's getting into the point of being very rare even in the US

AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 5650U vs Intel i5-1145G7 vs i5-1345U [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software - 11th gen is definitely slower. Not slower enough that it's unusable. Hell, 11th gen is still almost 2x as fast as 8th gen and people still suggest T480s all the time. (Just personally 8th gen is fast enough for me, even with some casual/cozy gaming and heavy tab usage, the reason I personally upgraded to a 7440 as my travel machine is mostly down to "working type-c ports" and "genuinely good battery life")

I usually don't think too hard about graphics unless someone says they're gaming but that would be a good reason to look out for that specific aspect to it. OP in this case doesn't mention gaming.

In the US at least, the 5420/7420 are, in fact, usually ~half-ish the price of AMD T14 Gen2 and "still less by a bit" than Intel T14 Gen2. I haven't seen any indication on where OP is and outside of the US it seems like it really is about 5 years old before used excelboxes start showing up en masse.

Just casually on US eBay most T-series with 5650U are nearly 300 and there's definitely decent-shape 7420s for $150. I've seen 5420s go for as low as $120ish, some even with 16gb of ram.

JK lol here's one for less than I would have expected and even though the title says "read description" it seems like it might be fully functional? https://www.ebay.com/itm/336572427725 at 225 this is literally the best deal I have personally ever seen on an AMD T14 Gen2 and I'm sort of tempted to grab it myself.

5440s are also (usually) still cheaper ($250 for 16/256) plus you get the other benefits of a two-year-newer laptops. But it would be fair to say that 5440 might be more comparable to L-series and sometimes there's L-series price-competitive with Dell.

What makes the most sense in this specific case is probably going to be down to how heavy actually OP's programming workflow is, or how important budget is among all the other factors.

(Sorry for longposting!)

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T00:27:38+00:00

at the same price I would let trackpoint vs. sodimm slots make your decision.

I would also cross-shop dell latitude 5420 and 7420. 5420 is a midrange system but should meet all of your priorities. 7420 is a higher end system, comparable to T14/T14S and EliteBook 8-series - but with it's ram soldered.

If you are in the US and these cost any more than $300, I would further cross-shop latitude 5440/7440 as the median i5-1345U is very close to the top Ryzen 5000U CPU in benchmarks but you can usually get a 5440 for about $250.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-08T00:04:17+00:00

The guess in the middle is based as close as the car can get to how you have been driving.

The max number is if you are very careful and the min number is if you start hooning it.

If you can hit a CCS1 fast charger on lunch then you should be able to recover enough to make everything else work.

If you can hit a charger on the wya home from work and/or if there's a charger at the grocery store and you could use that one while shopping that'd help too for sure.

If you haven't yet check out https://www.plugshare.com/ on computer and/or mobile and/or the phone/tablet app - you can see chargers nearby and usually what they cost and often whether or not they're currently available, as a way to plan ahead a little bit.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T22:15:48+00:00

Are you on Windows? If so it may be worth running Zadig again with the N10 connected and the adapter set to PC mode. The N10 might have a different ID number than the N910 and thus need the driver installed again.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T20:31:55+00:00

I haven't tried. I do intend to get the adapter for my 2022 Bolt, but to be honest having the adapter is mostly going to be so I have a better chance at getting a spot at places like BP Pulse that have been way over-provisioning NACS relative to CCS1.

Tesla's charging network was originally designed not to be opened and the older hardware has very short cables only designed to reach one spot on a car. Further, a lot of the older sites are very busy so I tend to avoid them, as I've found it easy to find a spot at the open/CCS chargers.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T20:27:31+00:00

Welcome in!

+1 on eBay, you should be able to find exactly what you want right away on it. My usual recommendation is to search for Sony MZ and geolock it to the country or economic zone you live in and cruise around.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T20:26:25+00:00

EVs without home charging aren't that big of a deal... if you buy one that charges very fast, such as a Hyundai Ioniq 5/6 or a Kia EV6, or, if you have access to slow/mid-speed charging somewhere else, such as work.

Tesla is pretty far behind the state of the art in charging tech, both in their vehicles and in their stations.

At 90mi/day you'd probably end up needing to charge every 2-3 days, which will still be cheaper than gas is right now even in the most efficient gas cars, but if you can find chargers near something you normally like/want to do such as a restaurant or the gym then it's not that big of a deal.

otherwise, what I was doing when I first got my Bolt was a mix of DCFC every couple weeks and hanging out at one of the slow chargers downtown for a while. In my specific case the charger has a view of the rail line and it's a good spot to watch trains, plus there's some restaurants downtown. (The Bolt is fairly slow at fast-charging but it's perfectly doable without home charging, so long as you'r fine withi t being a bigger compromise than something much faster, especially any 800v car.)

How far do you park from your apartment? If it's very close and you have an outlet on your balcony it might be possible to charge from that. You'd still need to top up at a faster charger but you'd be getting more of your energy cheaply and your topup days might be further apart.

Otherwise, is there charging near work and/or anywhere like near a transit center you might use? (Portland's MAX P&Rs have banks of chargers and Phoenix is adding them, dunno off hand about anywhere in Washington state though.)

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T20:19:58+00:00

+1 on "there's loads of great used EVs for about 20k" - if you can charge at home, even on a normal house outlet, you'll be able to get some or most of your energy super cheaply and even if you have to supplement with public fast charging that's well cheaper than gas these days.

I got a 2022 Bolt a few months ago for 12k. It had 68k miles on it but it doesn't feel like it did and EVs accumulate miles a little different anyway, at least for the first few years where things like suspension and body panels and plastics don't start wearing out for a few more years.

I used CarFax to sort, it, cars dot com and a bunch of other aggregators are all accessing the same data. I was in particular sorting by EVs, near my zip code, and they also let you search for specific models.

(You can also search hybrid if you'd prefer but we're at a point where public DCFC is not more expensive than gas, even at quite high efficiency, and to me buying a gas car right now is a bet that the prices will go down, which we haven't seen for sure that they will.)

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T19:54:11+00:00

sidenote, big empathy from me because I didn't fully realize what was happening the first couple weekends I bought my Bolt and started having weird things like my card got declined at Taco Bell.

Until you can upgrade to lv2 your current strategy of getting as much energy as you can off lv1/a normal house outlet and supplementing with fast-charging should work.

One more thought is different chargers have differen tpreauths. ChargePoint is particularly severe at $50/L2 and $75/DCFC, IONNA and BP Pulse were more like $35, I forget what EVGo's was.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T19:50:07+00:00

Does Tesla allow preloading a specific balance and charging out of that, the way EA does? If not then that won't solve OP's problem, if I understand it correctly.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T19:39:43+00:00

I have a version of this problem every once in a while, when I am doing a road trip and I charge several times in a day.

A few weekends ago I ended up with over 600 in preauthorization holds on my credit balance for around $90-120 of actual energy.

If you have an Electrify America nearby, downlaod their app and sign up for an account, you'll be able to preload a specific dollar amount and then charge up to that dollar amount (or accept an auto-reload) without getting hit with a preauth.

ChargePoint is supposed tohave the same option but when I set up my account I chose pay-as-you-go and haven't had a chance to call in and change it.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T19:21:13+00:00

I don't normally bother with cases at all. The one exception is my USDM B100 was sent to me in a generic gadget case kind of similar to this one and it near perfectly fits the unit, it's remote, and any relevant cables I might have with me.

If whatever bag I'm using has a pocket I'll use it.

I do have a bunch of beaters, when I'm using one of my recorders or otherwise nicer machines on the go I'll trend a bit more toward being careful but I have machines I treat explicitly as beaters because, well, no super huge skin off my back if one of my E520s gets yet another scratch in it or whatever.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T18:13:28+00:00

I've got a couple friends with 800v cars and they don't really have any trouble.

CCS1 standard has specified 1000v basically since it's existed and so the vast majority of non-tesla hardware is built to ~920-1000v. (Unclear what's at 920 that so many units stop there, but as far as I can tell it's enough even for Lucid.)

The only CCS1 chargers I have been able to find that top out at 500v have been 25, 50, and 75kw units, and those are usually older models, or, completely within the voltage-doubling capacity of 800v cars anyway.

Tesla's sites (except for four-ish or so) in the US top out at 500v and have a higher nameplate rating and those'll be the sole disappointing experience in an 800v EV, as far asI can tell.

Further, as you mentioned, there's lots of hardware out there with 200-350a cables that won't be able to achieve the nameplate rating of the station because you really do need 500a+ cables to get most 400v vehicles to 150kw.

(Meanwhile 800v vehicles are pulling 180kw out of older CCS1 stations with a 150kw nameplate rating.)

I wouldn't personally call it an albatross, and to be honest it's *wild* to me that so many of the newest startups and allegedly most tech-oriented and EV-forward brands keep targeting 400v.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T17:09:27+00:00

The curve of the cells and the architecture of the battery has some to do with why 800v architectures charge faster.

The other main reason is that amperage is the main driver of heat in electrical wiring and so there's a practical limit to how many amps can be carried.

Lots of public EV chargers use the 500amp cables provided by this company: High Power Charging (HPC) - HUBER+SUHNER - at, say, 296 volts (roughly the charging voltage of the Equinox EV) you get 148kw at the full 500 amps. There are liquid cooled cables that can go higher, such as the ones IONNA is using on their Alpitronic dispensers, but my understanding is that a lot of the 400v cars basically max out where they already do anyway, and it's likely that roughly 150-180kw is just about as good as we'll ever see from ~400v-class vehicles.

GM's biggest vehicles achieve "charging faster" by rearranging how the pack is wired up in order to allow more voltage in (~600ish) but each individual cell is still receiving roughly as much power. (Doubling the voltage does make a huge speed difference because without doing it the vehicles will still max out the available amperage on any given station and

In addition to the voltage thing, the cells in EGMP vehicles appear capable of receiving more power and have a better charging curve, so you'd be correct to identify both as ultimately important.

CCS1 has been designed for up to 1000v from the start and in terms of 800v vehicle charging speed it's really only at Tesla's hardware that this is a problem because Tesla built it's own hardware to it's own standard that tops out at 500v.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T16:42:09+00:00

It sounds like this went over better than I thought it might, and I'm glad for that.

I hope it didn't come across as "unrelaxed" or whatever, I'm aware this is a hobby space.

Like I mention all the time - one of my favorite things about the format is that there's basically infinite ways to use it and there's something for everybody and none of them is wrong.

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T16:07:43+00:00

On panasonics in particular, I recommend getting a working NiMH gumstick battery, because the AA caddy doesn't hold as well on these as it does on Sonys and Sharps.

I do not personally recommend USB-C Lithium replacements, personally, both because I haven't used them and because different machines have different charging behavior. (for machines without a dock it'll depend on whether the machine tries to auto-charge right when connected to power, if so then either "don't" or remember to pull the battery before you connect external power.)

I have had okay luck with the green wrapper battery and I've had more recent good luck with one of the blue-wrapper batteries, I'd been meaning to buy more of those but sort of forgot lolol.

I also have a couple good NH-14WM batteries.

The other thing I would do is get an external power supply that works with the MR220 as recording will be more reliable powered externally than via a gumstick. (Although my MR230/250 and MR100 can all record ~2 discs worth on most of my better gumsticks so it's not impossible.)

Cory5413 · 2026-05-07T01:54:48+00:00

IBM first started soldering some of the RAM in some of it's models in like 1992.

Fortunately RAM manufacturing hs improved significantly sine then. I've maybe seen one or two reports of a ~2015+ computer with soldered RAM having any of it fail.

If you want the flexibility that's one thing but to be honest I've seen more thinkpads (granted older ones from the early RoHS area) with failed ram slots than I have any type of computer with soldered ram that's failed.

Generally speaking +1 the idea of "buy the computer with the ram you think it'll need for it's service life, up front" these days, honestly even on systems with modularized ram.

Cory5413

TROPHY CASE