6730b

Lately came across 2 Thinkpads at interesting prices, both landed on my table. Nice to have something new to look at, and re-awake my humble skills in os installation \ setup \ tweaking etc, long time not done anything in that dept. Set to replace 2 ageing (10+ years) win 8.1 laptops. E14 gen5, Ryzen 3, 300 nits\45%, 16\250 GB, w11 pro. No power champion but very capable for all light tasks, browsing, streaming, music etc. SH but never used, only 200 usd. P14s gen5, Ryzen 7, 400 nits\100%, 16\1 TB, key light, fingerprint, w10 iot ltsc. Nice machinery for 1000 usd (nearly 50% off, Lenovo webshop). Both: cool & silent (normal \ light use), excellent keyboard, build quality feels good, lightweight, great battery times, fast charging.

! :O) 10 ltsc iot 2021 installed & alive. On a brand new Lenovo P14s. 2nd 14" Thinkpad in 3 weeks, appreciate format \ weight \ keyboard etc. Both at great discounted price. No OS when bought, used Rufus & iso. One single hurdle, no wifi !? Apparently no compatible driver in this 10 ltsc iso. As having no wired router available right here, fixed using usb internet tethering from a phone, downloaded initial updates\drivers, wifi came to life. After the usual zillion :O) downloads \ updates \ restarts, everything fine. Immediate activation with valid key. Local account & O&O shutup, of course.

Going to try 10 ltsc iot 2021, with "grey" keys, on 2 laptops. Will report how it goes.

Twun Peaks

Recent small job, swapping those 'candlelight' halogen H4's to led H4's, which needs 'acceptance' from the electronics. Not a normal canbus on this old van, but some rough sensor that detected a total lamp failure. After some funny experiments found out the car was happy with just one single resistor (67 ohm, so no heat\drain) in parallel on one circuit. The Philips H4, not the strongest among leds but standard size so fits wo trouble (the stronger H4 leds got a large fan at the connector end). Now got light like if bought a new 50.000 $ car :O)

Came across an inexpensive Lenovo Think E14 gen5 16gb, as new + "give away" price. Low specs AMD and not the 100% rgb display, but still impressed with what it delivers, Will fit all needs for travel \ basic photo editing \ office tasks \ internet browsing-music-videos. Good build quality, 2x SSD slots. Low weight, great keyboard feel. Silent and runnig cool. Good battery time. Excellent 1st impressions during some days of use. Was 1st personal setup & use of win 11, used it for a short time without o&o shutup + Firefox without ublock ...madre de dios !! But after activating the remedies it became quite supportable. Will keep 11 for a while to gather some experience (= how to disable a ton of trash), but 10 LTSC is planned. An initial (very positive) test of Thinpads here, before eventually some day getting a more top of the line model.

Update, Thinkpad 14 \ 14s, models with the best displays + recent gen., looking interesting. Low weight, ok battery (for my use), endless configurations. Am investigating.

Just an anecdote, visiting lenovo.com 😮

ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 ? Anyone knows about the bulid quality ? Am believing they are quite sturdy. Some good deals currently. Do not need any super-processor \ graphics, or mega battery time. Example, 32gb, 1 tb, probably decent display (400nits) matte, low weight. https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpadp/lenovo-thinkpad-p14s-gen-5-14-inch-amd-mobile-workstation/21me000ruk

Thanks, could be excellent, but nearly zero LG stuff sold around here, and certainly no SH recent. Found a few antiques, this neanderthal model looking great :O)

^^^ Thanks+ for input. Came across an available SH Dell Precision 5470 i7-12800H, 32GB, 1TB SSD, RTX A1000. IPS 500 nits like my 5540, great display. Reading about it. Maybe interesting for the right price. https://aecmag.com/workstations/review-dell-precision-5470/ ^^^ crazy prices when new !?! £3,119 (Ex VAT). The like new sh one is listed for (converted to £) 850.- Easy access to inside is a plus.

Beach Boys My older sister used to play them all day long :O) ps, those happy songs in the US, as the Vietnam war raged.

ok... so no good 14" exists :0)

Sooner or later will have to send the trusty old Latitude E7440 to the retirement home, a miracle it's still alive. Looking for a good replacement. Thinking Dell, been behaving great here for so many years, but of course should not rule out HP \ Lenovo. Got the Precision 15 for 'serious' work, great device. Am seeing very good SH deals regarding getting another one, but want something smaller \ lighter to move around, like the E7440. SH 'not too old' ok, bright + matte display, decent battery time (when new, can replace), will get w10 ltsc but should be compatible w11 (...maaaaaybe one day). No need for super-fast processor or graphics, lightweight, silent during non-heavy use. Any great & solid 14" recommendations ? Thanks.

Another one done, must be closer to the 15th since getting the Precision. All well, did not need the valium :O) Impressed by Dell for providing regular security updates for quite old machines ...and without any bricking.

Grok, the marvelous Psycho-AI. Feeding off any X extreme\false content adored by Psycho-Musk in his vision of free speach. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/pixels/article/2025/11/19/french-authorities-charges-x-over-holocaust-denial-comments-by-ai-chatbot-grok_6747630_13.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/11/17/grok-elon-musk-s-ai-spreads-far-right-falsehoods-about-2015-paris-attacks_6747550_7.html

Been thinking about this for a while, for 1st time visitors things looks pretty slow here. Reason, only socalled 'Posts' (which imo should be called 'Topics') showing, but the real, total activity (number of replies) not listed. F.ex. 'Offtopic", a meager 68 'Posts', but in reality contains many 1000's replies (which I'd call Posts). Attached, an other forum software's main landing page, boards showing real activity immediately.

P 5540 doing very well, soon 5 years of ownership and regular use. Far from the fastest laptop in the world, but so trustworthy and damn stable. With the great matte display on mine, lots of nits, very satisfying. So good for photo editing and other graphic work, which is it's main use.

10 ltsc 1809, did the october update a while ago. And the november update today upon release, as started to trust MS's updates involving ltsc... All well, as always :O) Going toward 5 years with no MS plagues, no nags & harassments, no changes, no problems. Just a stable os that runs my chosen applications.

Remembering the early days of ssd when everybody needed valium before powering up their machine ? The fear of 'using up' their 2500$ drive after 1\2 hour of writes :O) Amazing longevity for some components, my e7440's 15+ years old 256 msata (C:\ OS), 92% life left, 13700 power on's, and never a hickup.

Another heavy one with those beautiful vocals. Am still wondering where, why, how this 'singing' style was invented - But always enjoying listening to musicians\energy\compositions\songs\arrangements\sound. Some quite Immense work behind each track. Aephanemer - Le Cimetière Marin Bloodline

Still alive! Daily use with browsing, email, streaming music and more. Usually on 24\24 for weeks at the time. Battery not exploded (yet), 40% wear. 10y 8m running the original 8.1 install. & MS still providing daily Defender updates (!) Operating System Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit Computer type: Laptop Installation Date: 04.02.2015 09:46:48

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Almost Cut My Hair Live 1974

Retro times :O) America - A Horse with No Name

! https://www.theverge.com/news/785544/microsoft-windows-10-extended-security-updates-free-europe-changes