I also have two X220 machines, and I use them more than the X200 now. They still work perfectly, while my X200 is getting flakey. (Although with its SSD and 8GB of RAM, it runs Alpine very well indeed and could be a daily driver.)
The X220 has a slightly shallowed screen; that's a weakness. But mine are 100% usable: between them, I run Haiku, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Ubuntu, and Pop OS, and all of them go like stink and are daily-drivable on this 2011 hardware.
Good Speakers,
Oled Screen
Good Keyboard,
32GB ram+
That's my 4 minimum requirements for a laptop nowadays. As I don't just work on my laptops, but also listen to music/podcasts and watch video content.
If that is good enough, I will put up with a bad screen.
Good speakers is very nice to have, I admit, but I do not do podcasts or videos. I do listen to the radio a lot, however.
I do not own a single laptop with 32GB RAM. That I don't care about. My desktop does, but the biggest laptops are 24GB, which was massively cheaper. Most are 16GB which I find enough for even quite intensive use.
I have an X230 which was upgraded with a quad-core CPU (i7-3612qe), 16gb RAM, SSD, and 1080p screen, and it makes a pretty decent around-the-house laptop. I'd rate it pretty highly; it's not quite as fast as my 6th gen X1 Carbon but the X1 is starting to get quite flaky.
"Best build quality" is the most important part. If you never got to handle one you are missing out. Glass and Solid milled aluminum. Silicone wrist pads and grip. 4:3 screen ratio. high quality keyboard. Rock solid 360 screen hinge.
Hardware is essentially a high end cellphone from 2016, which isn't a powerhouse but still does everything I would ask of a chromebook in 2026. Batteries are all generally going well.
Repair-ability is a challenge, but I want to work on that. You can mod it to run windows or linux. Stock it runs chromeos, linux subsystem, and android apps. It has a "feature" where if you keep in developer mode it auto-wipes itself if anybody else tries to boot it (hitting anything but the un-indicated ctrl-d at the boot screen initiates powerwash). Great for international travel.
It isn't a good choice for "power" but dominates every other aspect of "being a good laptop". It was too expensive for the chromebook market back then, but now you can pick them up for $200 and hand them to your parents and stop getting asked to fix their computer.
bryanlarsen · · focus · HN ↗
While there won't be many there definitely will be some; I know of an ~8 year old Chromebook currently in active use.
blamestross · · focus · HN ↗
TheqO · · focus · HN ↗
lproven · · focus · HN ↗
I know of two "best laptops ever made":
Drew DeVault says it's the X200:
<a href="https://drewdevault.com/blog/Fucking-laptops/" rel="nofollow">https://drewdevault.com/blog/Fucking-laptops/
« The best laptop ever made is the ThinkPad X200, and I have two of them. »
He has a very strong case. I own one. It is certainly one of the best ever.
On the other hand, Brad Taunt says it is the X220:
<a href="https://btxx.org/posts/x220/" rel="nofollow">https://btxx.org/posts/x220/
« The X220 ThinkPad is the greatest laptop ever made and you’re wrong if you think otherwise. »
Ulaş Türkmen agrees:
<a href="https://okigiveup.net/blog/why-thinkpad-x220-is-the-best-laptop-ever-made/" rel="nofollow">https://okigiveup.net/blog/why-thinkpad-x220-is-the-best-lap...
I also have two X220 machines, and I use them more than the X200 now. They still work perfectly, while my X200 is getting flakey. (Although with its SSD and 8GB of RAM, it runs Alpine very well indeed and could be a daily driver.)
The X220 has a slightly shallowed screen; that's a weakness. But mine are 100% usable: between them, I run Haiku, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Ubuntu, and Pop OS, and all of them go like stink and are daily-drivable on this 2011 hardware.
TheqO · · focus · HN ↗
That's my 4 minimum requirements for a laptop nowadays. As I don't just work on my laptops, but also listen to music/podcasts and watch video content.
lproven · · focus · HN ↗
If that is good enough, I will put up with a bad screen.
Good speakers is very nice to have, I admit, but I do not do podcasts or videos. I do listen to the radio a lot, however.
I do not own a single laptop with 32GB RAM. That I don't care about. My desktop does, but the biggest laptops are 24GB, which was massively cheaper. Most are 16GB which I find enough for even quite intensive use.
maximilianburke · · focus · HN ↗
lproven · · focus · HN ↗
Life is too short for modding machines I want to be daily drivers, like fitting an X220 keyboard to it.
blamestross · · focus · HN ↗
Hardware is essentially a high end cellphone from 2016, which isn't a powerhouse but still does everything I would ask of a chromebook in 2026. Batteries are all generally going well.
Repair-ability is a challenge, but I want to work on that. You can mod it to run windows or linux. Stock it runs chromeos, linux subsystem, and android apps. It has a "feature" where if you keep in developer mode it auto-wipes itself if anybody else tries to boot it (hitting anything but the un-indicated ctrl-d at the boot screen initiates powerwash). Great for international travel.
It isn't a good choice for "power" but dominates every other aspect of "being a good laptop". It was too expensive for the chromebook market back then, but now you can pick them up for $200 and hand them to your parents and stop getting asked to fix their computer.