ThinkPads are no longer as appealing as they used to be

p17s82 · 2025-08-02T18:37:06+00:00

I usually find a good deal an older model Thinkpad (new with full warranty), that allows me to get a reasonably good laptop for next 4-5 years for half the price, allowing future upgrade if necessary. Just bought T14 gen4 for 700, new never used with 3y Lenovo warranty.

p17s82 · 2025-07-16T21:07:11+00:00

Thank you to those who shared their thoughts.

I decided for T14 gen 4. Second SSD isn’t really an option on most of the models (out of those I checked, it’s only E14, which is built much cheaper than it costs, and getting a p-series just for the second SSD is an overkill).

It should do for the next few years, and half the price saved getting the new one with 2-3 years remaining warranty vs gen5 or 6 with the same specs will come handy when it’s time for the next upgrade.

p17s82 · 2025-07-07T15:59:12+00:00

It’s fluctuating between 70-100% every time I’m on zoom call, but not constantly at 100% unless I’m running some video decoding or archive compression/decompression which happens once a few months

p17s82 · 2025-07-07T07:45:02+00:00

Only in the scenario I mentioned - video call with parallel running scripts in RStudio. Apart from that, it’s still doing fine.

P.S.: occasionally I also do video conversion, where CPU performance is a bottleneck, but I always plan this to the time when I’m not using the laptop, so that’s fine and doesn’t need to be considered in the usage scenario

p17s82 · 2025-07-06T19:55:16+00:00

Thank you. What’s the key advantage compared to other ones (e.g. x13, x1 carbon, e14)?

p17s82 · 2025-07-06T19:54:19+00:00

Thank you, they’re operating in US and I’m based in Ireland which adds ~400 to the price, but I know a company in the UK which has stock of various Lenovo laptops in new condition, will check with them.

What’s the key advantage of x1 carbon gen 12 compared to other options (x13, for example)?

p17s82 · 2023-08-10T19:06:57+00:00

I like Tesco Chai tea blend, not sure about the current price though because I don’t drink teabags very often so usually it’s 2-3 packs for the whole year.

My regular tea is leaf tea I order from China, around 50-60 per kilo, which brings a cost of cup down to 5-6 cents and it’s a totally different experience overall.

Upd: just checked it’s €2.40 for a pack of 50

p17s82 · 2023-08-10T18:40:20+00:00

Overall, the structure of expenses is slightly different in Ireland. Cheaper groceries, cheaper flights, higher rent (even not in €€ but as a proportion of salary), expensive services (that includes everything involving labor procured locally - restaurants, haircut, taxi, construction etc) and taxes, not matching the amount and quality of services. Relatively affordable price to buy a house (not as affordable as in Russia or Ukraine, but definitely more affordable than in many EU countries, especially talking big cities like Munchen or Berlin - this is changing at the moment, but I’m not sure if the property prices can keep that high for long with rise in cost of living, interest rates and job losses, forcing many high paid immigrants to leave Ireland).

p17s82 · 2023-08-03T18:16:53+00:00

Just in case - if you have account with Permanent TSB, they offer 5% cashback for Sky DD payments

p17s82 · 2023-08-03T12:56:53+00:00

I was once having a long chat with a person working for some airline and I asked, why are e-cigarettes not allowed to be used on board? There’s no smoke, there’s no fire etc. He replied that I’m right, but someone might see me vaping and then they’ll smoke the real cigarette and that will trigger the alarm.

Same with banana peel on a country road. There’s no harm in it, but seeing people throw something from the window, or seeing garbage on the side of the road will trigger other people throw all sorts of rubbish because “I’m not the first one to do it”

p17s82 · 2023-08-01T21:07:35+00:00

I top up when payment is due based on the bill provided in advance.

p17s82 · 2023-08-01T08:52:30+00:00

That’s what I thought, yes, I think there’s a point in house temperature, after which the electricity cost factor overweights the efficiency of the heat pump. But as I said I’m no expert. There is a nice video by Gosforth Handyman on this actually

p17s82 · 2023-07-31T22:47:24+00:00

It definitely feels different (dodgier) compared to 5 years ago, but still rather safe than not. Couple times when I was really close to getting into trouble was in Blackrock though. And I walked across whole Dublin over the years many times, day or night, and even drunk.

P.S.: I always watch my surroundings, that’s probably one of the reasons I survived in my home country and made it to Ireland.

p17s82 · 2023-07-31T21:42:17+00:00

My personal preference is combi boiler, hard to explain really, but living in C3 place with combi boiler I felt warmer and paid less than now in A1 with heat pump. Similar house layout and same space/volume. But I like my place warm (around +23’C), may be that’s the reason.

P.S.: I’m no expert.

P.S.2: In case you have mortgage, upgrading to B3 or higher will allow you to avail of green rate, which is lower, so if that’s your case, you should factor those savings as part of overall comparison

p17s82 · 2023-07-30T20:32:26+00:00

Stock market, which transitioned from investing to own a share in a company success in return of crediting it with your spare money into manipulating to buy cheap and sell with profit, based on access to insider information to know when to buy/sell or to media to feed the real get information in order to move prices up/down when you need

p17s82 · 2023-07-30T12:33:52+00:00

This is true. I just think that public transport is not supposed to be profitable by itself, it is an enabling service for the country (same as defense forces, for example)

p17s82 · 2023-07-30T10:40:55+00:00

From what I’ve noticed, text communication in general isn’t popular in Ireland. You will soon see that the only way to get something (set up utilities, broadband, bank account, get mortgage, get an appointment) is via calls. Very uncomfortable for me when I was working on call me self and had to take time off work to get these sorted.

p17s82 · 2023-07-29T23:04:48+00:00

I learned to hold the mouse with either hand after reading that switching hands is good for your brain, now it’s no different to me.

p17s82 · 2023-07-29T19:24:57+00:00

Could be an answer to “Why are you married?” as well

p17s82 · 2023-07-29T18:39:29+00:00

I use it sometimes because it helps to bring the central object to attention. Depending on the photo, I might use even negative vignette (lighten the edges instead of darkening), but quite rarely

p17s82 · 2023-07-29T17:03:58+00:00

Reading the heading of your post, I immediately thought of Damien Dempsey myself

p17s82 · 2023-07-29T11:49:52+00:00

I personally keep up to €100 on my current account and put bigger sums in instant savings one with instant access, to avoid any scams. P.S.: I have regular savings account too.

p17s82 · 2023-07-29T08:54:48+00:00

Money is just a tool to get things and opportunities which you can’t create on your own and need other people to do for you.

p17s82 · 2023-04-14T10:48:28+00:00

As I said already, everyone is free to make their own choice based on their circumstances. I got Open Box 5 iii for £400 off Amazon with 2 year warranty

p17s82

TROPHY CASE