ThinkPad T430

Not a stupid question, but the T430 will mostly be a lateral move from your x230 - similar generation CPU, just heavier - capable of installing MORE storage drives if you sacrifice the Ultrabay. But i'd anticipate ~2/3 hours on battery with that very inefficient CPU gen. I'm not totally sold on the

"Am I losing a lot compared to the regular T430" The main thing you lose is the ability to upgrade the CPU because the CPU in a T430s is soldered whereas in a regular T430 it's socketed and can be upgraded. The only thing you really gain in a T430s is a slightly lighter weighing laptop (1 pound less

If you're not interested in pain olympics or being the type of person who defiantly claims "I am successfully using an even older computer than you!" then the oldest you want to run is an intel core 8th generation or amd ryzen 2nd generation CPU. In ThinkPads specifically, that means the #80,#90, #9

The T420/T430/T440P are the last older ThinkPads that can have the CPU upgraded. They max out at quad core 8 thread CPU's (3rd gen for T420/T430, 4th gen for T440P), with archaic dGPU's or even more archaic integrated graphics. The CPU's, while not unusable performance, don't deliver good battery li

Should have been here 5 years ago when they last could be upgraded to keep up with ultrabooks of the time. Today, they just feel like cheap options for people that sometimes spend more than they're worth upgrading them They were cheap and fast 5-10 years ago when upgraded as CPU performance stagnate

I've had 3 thinkpads die, all the "cheap" E models, They're all plastic construction so the feel way cheaper than they are, far too fle6when carry them around to inspire any confidence. Back in the days of the T430 they were like tanks but these days, just cos it has the ThinkPad logo doesn't mean a

T430 is almost fifteen years old. I probably wouldn't unless you plan on treating it like a collectible or using it as a fundamentally vintage computer. It will run Windows 11 but it won't be pleasant. You can upgrade it into being less bad but you'll spend enough on the upgrades you coudl've just b

One more thing to be aware of, if you hypothetically buy a T430 it'll come in a configuration that was reasonable and cromulent fifteen years ago. You can, in fact, swap the CPU to a quad-core model, you might find one with discrete graphics, they can run 16GB of graphics and a SATA SSD. Doing all t

I actually had a X230 as company laptop many years ago, and I really liked it... but I had a docking station at work and home, so I had nice big monitors and didn't have to live with the low resolution panel in the X230. Using a docking station meant I got the same performance as the T430, and a muc

Age and lack of use can kill off laptop rechargeable batteries quicker than regular use in some cases. I had a "NIB OEM extended battery that i bought direct from Lenovo with my x201 - planned to keep around to give it second life without having to buy a clone battery down the line. 3 years later, w