Which ThinkPad?

[barneyrussel]

Hi all,
I am still searching for the information that i need but thought that i would ask on here as the choice is a little confusing, the HP ENVY laptop that i bought used four years ago (I7 core, 12 GB ram, 1 TB HDD) is still going but i am thinking about its replacement, apparently a used business laptop is the way to go for me, ThinkPad's seem to have a good reputation for longevity, i will only have around £200 to spend, everyone says the T480 is good but i was hoping for a 15.6 in screen so is the T530 as good even though they are over ten years old now, i only need it for searching online, watching YouTube videos etc, nothing too heavy, i am not really computer literate but did manage to fit an SSD to the HP laptop after watching a video (monkey see, monkey do!) and should i be concerned about a laptop that i cannot access the bios on like on some of these laptops in case of any issues later on? also what are peoples thoughts on Windows 11, i am running 10 but not sure how that will be affected after October,
TIA for any information.

[dr_st]

Welcome to the forum!

I moved your topic to the General Thinkpad sub-forum, since it is, after all, a question about the laptops, not the forums.

If you're looking for something like the T480, but with a bigger screen, there is the T580. If you specifically want a centered keyboard (no numpad), look into P1 / X1 Extreme first generation machines.

All of these would run Windows 11 and I would suggest that over Windows 10 nowadays.

[ZaZ]

I would say in 2025 that getting one of the low watt quad cores, which means a T580 or newer, is the minimum most people should buy in terms of processing power. If you want to save a few bucks you can look at the E or L series. They'll be a bit heavier and use more plastic, but still well built. If you get the 1080p LCD option you'll receive a good, not great, IPS screen.

[barneyrussel]

Apologies, i didn't realize that i had replies, thanks for moving my post to the correct sub forum and for the welcome,

That information is helpful in narrowing down my search. a T580 sounds good, would it be best to try and find one with an I7 processor or doesn't it matter and is not being able to access the bios on some a problem please? i only ask as i saw that usually ex business laptops don't have access,
Thanks.

[RealBlackStuff]

There is little difference in processing power between the T480/T580 i5 and i7 CPUs.
Make sure you get an i5-8xxx or i7-8xxx CPU and NOT an i5-7xxx.
Depending on intended use, you can also get them with nVidia MX150 discrete graphics (dGPU).
For T480 it is generally recommended to stay with the integrated graphics (iGPU), as the dGPU version on those models runs HOT.

Do NOT buy a laptop with locked BIOS.

[barneyrussel]

Ok, thank you for the information,

I did come across a few sites explaining how to gain access to bios on the thinkpads, if its definitely a no no to buy a locked one then that sounds like a better idea, i haven't been looking for too long although many ex business ones seem to be locked but it is a question i will ask if it is not listed in any descriptions.