A few years ago I wrote a post about getting a used, beat-up T420 laptop when I was broke. I had needed something that could edit audio better than the machines I had. But when I bought that T420 I realized how amazing the keyboard was and totally fell in love with it.

Well I'm less broke now and I thought it might be a good time to get a new Thinkpad. But first I thought maybe I should upgrade the one I had.

The problems: My Thinkpad had a busted corner, a slow HDD, and only 4GB of RAM.

The solutions: I bought a new cover on eBay, and an SSD card and another 4GB stick of RAM on Amazon.

I took the computer apart and switched out the cover: no more busted corner! Although now when it closes the spring doesn't snap into place and lock the hooks, so I have to slide it into place.

I also installed Void Linux.

And I bought a broken T410, thinking I could fix it (I haven't yet). But I put its better-condition keyboard into the T420, and now it basically looks brand new, except for some wear on the screen that you can only really see when it's shut down.

A bit more detail: I actually bought a fresher-looking T420 for a decent price on eBay plus a dirt-cheap T420 that was busted to hell but still functional on kijiji, and I took them all apart and swapped the parts around, also incorporating the keyboard and RAM from the aforementioned T410.

With the extra RAM and the SSD card, this computer runs like a dream.

I also have a T570 now for coding and for streaming to the TV. And I ordered a bargain-priced T430 to see how it feels to type on the "new" style keyboards. I enjoy typing on the T570 but the travel isn't as deep as the T430, and it's weird typing off-center on the 15-inch laptops.

Moral of the story: Old thinkpads are the gifts that keep on giving.