The Legendary ThinkPad T480s
I recently got myself an old Lenovo ThinkPad T480s for just $230—a real steal for this iconic machine. The model I got had the i7-8650u and 16GB RAM. Even though it’s about 7 years old, the ThinkPad T480s still holds legendary status among laptop enthusiasts. A quick search on YouTube and you will find a ton of recent videos praising its robust build, exceptional keyboard, and solid performance. There's almost a cult like following for this ThinkPad.
Right after purchasing, I opened up the laptop for some essential maintenance. I disassembled the heat sink/heat pipe/fan assembly and thoroughly cleaned the fan with a brush and compressed air duster. After cleaning off the old thermal paste from the heat sink and CPU using IPA, I reapplied some Kryonaut Thermal Grizzly paste to ensure optimal cooling performance.
Over the next two days, I set it up with Ubuntu and installed a bunch of development tools like Visual Studio Code, Python, Jupyter Notebook, and Arduino IDE. Additionally, I configured VirtualBox to run a Windows 10 Pro VM for flexibility.
To enhance seamless workflow between my ThinkPad and Mac, I configured Syncthing for effortless file synchronization and CopyQ for shared clipboard functionality. For backup, I am using Timeshift for system snapshots and Déjà Dup for user files. Installed Gnome Sushi and Imagemagick to make file preview work like on a Mac. It's also nice that the Ubuntu dock can be configured to look similar to a Mac.
On top of that, I also installed xremap to do some key remapping for things like copy, paste, quit, etc. to make Ubuntu work more like a Mac, just because the Mac is my main machine and all those key strokes are like muscle memory already. Keep having to change as I switch between using the 2 was a real pain.
That’s it, a brand new old ThinkPad. The ThinkPad T480s remains a fantastic laptop even after all these years, providing stellar performance and an exceptional Linux experience. It’s the perfect budget-friendly yet powerful laptop for developers, makers, and Linux enthusiasts alike.
Below are some videos you can check out:
