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This is my newest computer and my workhorse laptop. The 14 inch size perfectly fits with most backpacks, so I take this one with me if I need a computer on the go.
In my opinion, one of the best laptops ever manufactured. Good keyboard with a trackpoint, a lot of ports, easily swappable parts, a lot of disk slots, powerful enough for me, has a DVD drive, very well built. On top of that, I got mine for a very cheap price. I think it's only weak point is the screen, which is an below-average-to-average TN LCD. Good enough for genreal usage but not the best screen by any means. The touchpad is very small, but the trackpoint more than makes up for that.
Ivy Bridge CPUs aren't the newest, but with Linux and 16 gigabytes of RAM, this laptop still feels very powerful - modern websites run well, I can open a lot of programs at once, compile stuff and so on. I don't think I'm going to be upgrading this one for quite a long time. In fact, it's so powerful I found myself easily distracted by opening too many tabs at once. With Windows 10 or 11, it would likely feel a lot slower though.
The integrated GPU can run a surprising amount of games at playable framerates after turning down the resolution (to 640x480) and settings. Unlike discrete laptop GPUs, integrated GPUs tend to run much cooler and be more reliable - this one is no exception.
This is one of the last ThinkPads with a mechanical lid latch and a LED to illuminate the keyboard. I wonder why wasn't that LED a thing in more laptops? Guess backlit keyboards are more flashy (and much more overengineered).
Overall, if you're a Linux user and you don't rely on some kind of bloated proprietary software, I think it's a great idea to get a T430 if you need a cheap laptop.
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