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_posts/2014-05-25-new-acquisition-thinkpad-x220.markdown
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author: einar
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comments: true
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date: 2014-05-25 19:15:10+00:00
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layout: post
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slug: new-acquisition-thinkpad-x220
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title: 'New acquisition: ThinkPad X220'
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wordpress_id: 1325
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categories:
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- Linux
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tags:
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- hardware
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- KDE
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- laptop
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- openSUSE
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---
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Recently I was looking for a laptop: the previous one I had (an Asus EeePC 900) was almost dead (the fan broke, and the idea of dismantling everything to get to it wasn't appealing). When looking around, I had the following requirements:
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* It needed to run on Linux **well**. No exceptions.
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* _Portable: _ at home and at my workplace I have rather powerful machines, so a desktop replacement was not needed.
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* A decent amount of performance, so that when I was on the road, I could do some development
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* 64 bit processor: mainly a pet peeve, so I could run [openSUSE Factory](http://software.opensuse.org/developer) and [the latest KDE master](http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:KDE_repositories#Unstable:SC_aka._KUSC_.28KDE_trunk.29)
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* VGA output port: as part of my teaching duties I need to connect to VGA projectors in the university classrooms.
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* Resonably long battery life.
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I had been looking since last year, and to be honest, I was initially interested in the so-called _Ultrabooks_, but the price (€1000 upwards) and some limitations (non-replaceable battery, WTF?) made me reconsider.
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In August 2013 I had the pleasure of trying out a ThinkPad X220. Light, portable, decently powered and with an **excellent** keyboard. The problem is that, aside being out of production, it had a cost of € 1500 or _more_. It was then it I recalled that the market for used / refurbished ThinkPads is going strong..
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Fast forward to two weeks ago, and I found an offer on eBay that hit the right price: it wasn't the lowest, but it was in the EU, and even if US based sellers had lower prices I had no intention of selling my organs to pay import duties.
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Everything went out smoothly and I got the unit in about 5 days.
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[{: .center-image}](https://www.dennogumi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_20140525_202729.jpg)
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To be fair, the condition I got it was quite nice, with only very minor scratches around (after all, it was used). The specs:
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* i5 2540M processor (SandyBridge)
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* 4G RAM
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* 320G disk
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* Intel HD3000 graphics
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[](https://www.dennogumi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_20140525_202838.jpg)
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As you can see, this model lacks some of the fancier extras, such as the fingerprint reader. It also misses Bluetooth, but my plan is to buy a daughterboard online and install it myself.
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As soon as I got it, I wiped the Win7 install (no need for it there) and proceeded with the openSUSE install. I went straight for Factory, adding [KDE:Unstable:SC](http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:KDE_repositories#Unstable:SC_aka._KUSC_.28KDE_trunk.29) and KDE:Unstable:Extra for the latest and greatest software from KDE. Everything was rather painless.
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After install, I spend the following day tweaking the setup to obtain the best power saving: I installed DKMS, followed by [acpi-call](https://github.com/mkottman/acpi_call/) and [tpacpi-bat](https://github.com/teleshoes/tpacpi-bat) to regulate battery thresholds.
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More fiddling with DKMS was needed to get [tp_smapi and a patched hdaps module](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/tp_smapi) to install, so that the kernel could see the laptop's accelerometers to activate the HD shock protection in case (enabled through [the hdapsd daemon](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Hard_Drive_Active_Protection_System)). Lastly, [tlp was installed ](http://software.opensuse.org/package/tlp)and configured to provide additional power saving options.
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[caption id="attachment_1328" align="aligncenter" width="225"][](https://www.dennogumi.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/IMG_20140525_203404.jpg) The laptop running on the "Leisure" activity[/caption]
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On the KDE side, I configured Plasma with two activities, one for leisure and personal development, and the other for work-work activity.
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The net result? I'm **very** satisfied with it. Light, portable, durable and with pretty good battery life (I went past 4h and it had still 10-14% in). This will certainly won't make me miss my 900, which was my travel companion for years.
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