Project ThinkPad
Totally jumped on this r/thinkpad bandwagon and picked up an old T440 (circa 2013) for $115. It had a little work done to it before I got it, but not much. Also came with the wrong charger and a missing TrackPoint (ie. "red nub"). Seller got that sorted out pretty quickly and I got to work.
Starting specs:
- Display: 14" 1366x768 LCD
- CPU: Intel Core i5
- RAM: 4gb
- Storage: 128gb HDD
- Trackpad: absolute shit
New specs after the upgrades, and rough costs:
- Display: 14" 1920 x 1080 display ($60)
- CPU: Intel Core i5
- RAM: 12GB ($25)
- Storage: 1tb SSD from PNY ($60)
And a few more upgrades:
- New CMOS battery and cable ($7)
- New keyboard with backlight ($40)
- New proper trackpad ($25)
- Replacement red nub TrackPoint ($5)
- Additional weird-ass charger ($20)
Notes:
- I didn't realize 4GB was soldered to the board, so could only add one 8gb stick for a total of 12gb. Should be plenty for Linux though
- Charger uses some dumb proprietary connector, but luckily you can still find them cheap
- Trackpad replacement was tedious, but actually easy
- Keyboard replacement wasn't as bad as I thought it would be
- Screen replacement went ok, but the glue holding it together has to be peeled apart which was a huge pain in the ass. Constantly felt like I was going to break it.
- Was able to install Arch on it the first try. Very little tinkering to get things working.
- Only issue I can't figure out yet is getting the backlight on the keyboard to work. Could be hardware or software, or just user error.
Project Details
- Year
- 2025
- Tags
