Building the ultimate ThinkPad!

Building a custom ThinkPad T440p with upgraded CPU and Arch Linux after retiring a 2012 MacBook Pro.

Key Takeaways

Older laptops like the 2012 MacBook Pro face thermal and upgradeability challenges.
Arch Linux can significantly improve performance on older hardware.
The ThinkPad T440p is a popular, affordable choice for a customizable laptop build.
Upgrading CPU and components can extend the life and performance of older laptops.
Careful selection of parts and troubleshooting are essential for a successful laptop rebuild.

What the video covers

The creator discusses daily driving a 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and its limitations.
MacBook Pro had poor cooling, limited upgradeability, and performance issues with macOS and Arch Linux.
The laptop’s display and audio quality were praised despite other drawbacks.
Decides to build a new laptop by purchasing a ThinkPad T440p for about $50 with some minor defects.
Initial impressions of the T440p include a poor trackpad which was later replaced with a better one.
The ThinkPad came with an i5 4210m CPU, 8 GB DDR3 RAM, and a 60 GB SSD, running Windows 10 initially.
Arch Linux was installed on the ThinkPad, improving performance and usability.
The CPU was upgraded to an i7 4910MQ, a powerful 4th gen Intel chip with 4 cores and 8 threads.
Additional upgrades like battery and SSD were considered to extend the laptop's lifespan.
The video includes details on troubleshooting, BIOS updates, and performance testing.

Chapters

Why did the creator switch from the MacBook Pro to the ThinkPad T440p?

The MacBook Pro was aging with poor cooling, limited upgradeability, and performance issues, prompting the switch to a more customizable ThinkPad T440p.

What operating system does the creator prefer to use on the ThinkPad?

The creator prefers Arch Linux for its performance and familiarity, having used Linux as their main OS for over 10 years.

What upgrades were made to the ThinkPad T440p?

Upgrades included replacing the trackpad, installing a larger SSD, upgrading the CPU to an i7 4910MQ, and considering a larger battery.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

This is my current laptop that I've been daily driving for about three years now. This is a 13-inch 2012 MacBook Pro with the Retina 1600p display, specifically the MacBook Pro 10,2. This thing has 8 GB of RAM, an i5 3210m, as well as 256 gigs of storage.

Speaker A

256 gigs of storage so obviously this laptop is getting quite old and as my workflow has been increasing it's been getting to the point where I can't even really use this anymore before I was running Mac OS on this and I'm not much

Speaker A

So obviously, this laptop is getting quite old, and as my workflow has been increasing, it's been getting to the point where I can't even really use this anymore. Before, I was running macOS on this, and I'm not much of a fan of macOS, honestly. Also, the performance just sucked. It was so slow with macOS on that thing.

Speaker A

lot more usable but there's still a lot of things that I would like to do that I just can't like for example I can't really record my screen without the CPU skyrocketing to 100% nor can I really watch 1080p YouTube without it

Speaker A

So I ended up putting Arch Linux on there, and it drastically improved the system performance. It was a lot more snappy, a lot more usable. But there's still a lot of things that I would like to do that I just can't. Like, for example, I can't really record my screen without the CPU skyrocketing to 100%, nor can I really watch 1080p YouTube without it stuttering or lagging or doing something stupid.

Speaker A

because it just doesn't have adequate cooling it's it gets very hot this thing sucks to really put on your lap sometimes in fact it got so hot that it warped my keyboard you can kind of see some warping around the left side of the

Speaker A

And there's a bunch of other things about this laptop that honestly make it just kind of hard to daily drive. Thing number one, because the entire chassis is made out of aluminum, and because it just doesn't have adequate cooling, it gets very hot. This thing sucks to really put on your lap sometimes.

Speaker A

resolution is 2560 x600 so that makes this a 2K panel and the colors look great on this display it's a really nice display really and another thing I can give to this machine is the audio because the built-in speakers are

Speaker A

In fact, it got so hot that it warped my keyboard. You can kind of see some warping around the left side of the space bar and in that area. Now, I give this laptop a lot of [ __ ], but there's a couple things I can really give to this laptop.

Speaker A

of spiff so it's really nice to see this on a laptop oh yeah and very quickly before I forget here's another thing that I just hate about this laptop and that's just upgradeability there is none pretty much the only thing you can

Speaker A

First of all, the screen is amazing. It's a 1610 panel, and the resolution is 2560 by 1600, so that makes this a 2K panel. The colors look great on this display. It's a really nice display, really.

Speaker A

the CPU because it's also solder to the motherboard thanks Apple planned obsolescence but today it's time to forget all of that and build a nice new [Music] laptop all right so I kind of fell for a meme on this one but hear me out for a

Speaker A

And another thing I can give to this machine is the audio, because the built-in speakers are actually pretty decent for a laptop. And this thing has a really nice DAC with absolutely zero noise. It even has a laser coming out of the headphone jack for Spiff, I presume, which I think is really cool.

Speaker A

this one was being sold for so cheap is because it had a few issues like for example the F3 key was missing and also the speakers don't work all right and I mean it's dirty but those are all minor

Speaker A

I'm actually quite a big fan of Spiff, so it's really nice to see this on a laptop. Oh yeah, and very quickly before I forget, here's another thing that I just hate about this laptop, and that's just upgradeability. There is none.

Speaker A

upgrades came in and that trackpad was freaking terrible so ordered a new one on eBay that is better with physical buttons and yeah that trackpad is one thing to look out for with these things because this ThinkPad well I mean this

Speaker A

Pretty much the only thing you can upgrade in here is the SSD, and even that you need like a very specific Apple-type SSD that honestly just completely doesn't interest me at all. I can't upgrade the RAM; it's completely soldered to the motherboard, and I can't upgrade the CPU because it's also soldered to the motherboard. Thanks, Apple, planned obsolescence.

Speaker A

at 2.6 GHz 8 GB of DDR3 and a 60 gig Kingston SSD also quick side note there are two versions of the t440p one that comes with the GPU and one that comes without the GPU mine doesn't have the

Speaker A

But today, it's time to forget all of that and build a nice new [Music] laptop. All right, so I kind of fell for a meme on this one, but hear me out for a second. For about 50 bucks, I went ahead and picked up a ThinkPad T440p, which honestly is a great price for this laptop because nowadays everybody and their mother wants one for reasons I will explain later.

Speaker A

but personally I don't really need it so I'm not missing out on much also while I was talking you might have noticed that the CPU is pinned to 100% this is a fresh install of Windows 10 it's been

Speaker A

But the reason why this one was being sold for so cheap is because it had a few issues, like for example, the F3 key was missing, and also the speakers don't work. All right, and I mean, it's dirty, but those are all minor issues that I can very easily fix.

Speaker A

swapped the 60 gig Kingston Drive there was in there for a 256 gig SSD then I popped in my trusty ventoy USB and instantly started installing Arch Linux so I suppose a lot of you might be wondering all right why Arch Linux and

Speaker A

So I ordered that, and it arrived, and the first thing I noticed was how god-awful this damn trackpad was. Actually, I was daily driving it for a little bit before I upgraded this CPU and the rest of the upgrades came in, and that trackpad was freaking terrible.

Speaker A

using it for the past I don't know 5 Years also so Linux has been my main operating system for the past 10 years I've been using it since 2014 so I'm definitely no stranger to a terminal and I feel very comfortable using Arch Linux

Speaker A

So I ordered a new one on eBay that is better with physical buttons, and yeah, that trackpad is one thing to look out for with these things because this ThinkPad, well, I mean this generation of ThinkPads rather, were the only ones to do this, and they instantly went back because everybody hated it.

Speaker A

Edition that is a Dro that'll never break on you it's a actual just works distribution but yeah I went ahead and installed Arch Linux with windowmaker and instantly it was so much faster honestly even though the I5 4210m the

Speaker A

So a little bit of info about this ThinkPad: this thing shipped to me with Windows 10 Pro with an i5 4210m clocked at 2.6 GHz, 8 GB of DDR3, and a 60 gig Kingston SSD. Also, quick side note, there are two versions of the T440p, one that comes with the GPU and one that comes without the GPU.

Speaker A

was actually pretty nice but of course I'm not going to stop here I bought a new CPU for this thing and for the CPU I went ahead and ordered the i7 4910mq here's some quick specs for that i7 this

Speaker A

Mine doesn't have the GPU, but the GPU that would have come in here, if anybody was wondering, is a GT730M with 1 GB of video memory, which isn't anything really to boast about by any means, but it would be nice to have.

Speaker A

4600 so you may be wondering wow that's hella inefficient right well I mean yeah I I guess so compared to Modern laptops with what they have now but honestly this CPU is still pretty comparable to a lot of the newer laptop chips and sure a

Speaker A

But personally, I don't really need it, so I'm not missing out on much. Also, while I was talking, you might have noticed that the CPU is pinned to 100%. This is a fresh install of Windows 10. It's been doing literally nothing. I have no idea what it was doing. It was probably updating in the background or doing something.

Speaker A

it and you can also upgrade the battery there's a n cell battery that's available for this thing as well so a lot of people think that this is pretty much the end of the line This is as high

Speaker A

But if any of you know who I am, you'll know that I don't like Windows, so I instantly put in some more RAM, swapped the 60 gig Kingston drive that was in there for a 256 gig SSD, then I popped in my trusty Ventoy USB and instantly started installing Arch Linux.

Speaker A

enough and if you can find one that's a decent price you can find one with an adapter board that converts it from a PGA a ball grid array to a PGA a pin grid array which you can fit in the CPU

Speaker A

So I suppose a lot of you might be wondering, all right, why Arch Linux? And for me at least, I like Arch Linux because I like to be able to customize everything that's on my machine with no bundled-in bloatware or garbage or anything like that.

Speaker A

get that option which again is a GeForce gt730m but if you want to do that it will work just good luck finding one now let's really quickly touch on the keyboard of course cf3 key is knocked off but I don't really care about that

Speaker A

Also, I know how to use Arch Linux really well. I've been using it for the past, I don't know, five years. Also, Linux has been my main operating system for the past 10 years. I've been using it since 2014, so I'm definitely no stranger to a terminal, and I feel very comfortable using Arch Linux.

Speaker A

ordered a backlit keyboard for the t440p as well and that's another reason why a lot of people like this laptop this laptop is extremely modular you can basically swap out every component in this for whatever upgrade you wanted and

Speaker A

I do not recommend using Arch Linux if you don't have any basic knowledge of Unix or Linux in general. So basically, if you're a dumbass, don't use Arch. If you're looking for something simple, I highly recommend Linux Mint Debian Edition. That is a distro that will never break on you. It's an actual just works distribution.

Speaker A

than most other thing pads like for example the screen this screen is pretty shitty this is the lowest tier screen you can get but you can just buy a new screen and install it and it will work and it will detect the new screen with a

Speaker A

But yeah, I went ahead and installed Arch Linux with Window Maker, and instantly it was so much faster. Honestly, even though the i5 4210m, the dual-core quad-threaded CPU that's already in this, I probably would have been happy with that as an upgrade, honestly. It was so fast, and I was actually able to do most of the things that I was just kind of using it for. It was actually pretty nice.

Speaker A

inside not only do you have the SATA port but in the top left corner you also have MSA as well as an entire CD drive you could play with and if you didn't want the CD drive you could just take it

Speaker A

But of course, I'm not going to stop here. I bought a new CPU for this thing, and for the CPU, I went ahead and ordered the i7 4910MQ. Here's some quick specs for that i7: this is a hell chip, obviously. This is fourth generation Intel, and this CPU has four cores with threads that's clocked at 2.9 base and has 3.9 Turbo with a 47 watt TDP.

Speaker A

you might be asking why and for me at least I like security I think security is cool I think it's stupidly funny that I can have a laptop with an encrypted hard drive and a modified bios that completely gets rid of the Intel

Speaker A

And for graphics, it's nothing too special. This thing has Intel HD Graphics 4600. So you may be wondering, wow, that's hella inefficient, right? Well, I mean, yeah, I guess so compared to modern laptops with what they have now, but honestly, this CPU is still pretty comparable to a lot of the newer laptop chips.

Speaker A

the BIOS and remove all of that plus add some extra features into my system that I didn't have before you can even set up a custom boot screen if you canile it into your bios which I think is so cool

Speaker A

And sure, a lot of the newer laptop chips consume less wattage, but honestly, it does not seem to be degrading the battery that much at all. I'm on the standard six-cell battery, and I still see over six hours of battery life when I'm constantly using it.

Speaker A

ton of Parts come in for this thing and it's time to get this thing pad actually fully upgraded okay I've never really done this before but you know I'm assuming it's going to be pretty easy just because think pads are you know

Speaker A

And you can also upgrade the battery. There's a nine-cell battery that's available for this thing as well. So a lot of people think that this is pretty much the end of the line. This is as high as you can go, but what if I told you you can push this thing even farther?

Speaker A

bottom but actually no I was hella wrong the little bottom part of the keyboard actually slides and then reveals six small screws which I probably should have searched up how to actually take apart the ThinkPad before doing it this

Speaker A

Meet the i7 4980HQ, and the keen-eyed among you might recognize this CPU from being in the 2014 MacBook Pro. But if you are lucky enough, and if you can find one that's a decent price, you can find one with an adapter board that converts it from a BGA, ball grid array, to a PGA, pin grid array, which you can fit in the CPU socket of the T440p.

Speaker A

and I installed the CPU again going from two cords with four threads to four chords with eight threads so I installed that and I got it all up and running but after I upgraded the CPU things just weren't working right all right let's

Speaker A

The 4980HQ, instead of being clocked at 3.9 GHz, is clocked at 4 GHz, but it also has Intel Iris Pro Graphics, which is actually better than the GPU that comes in the T440p if you get that option, which again is a GeForce GT730M.

Speaker A

stick so let's see if this works oh yes okay I also cleared the seos as well just in case so all right let's check this out there we go i7 4910 mq nice okay so I don't know what's wrong with

Speaker A

But if you want to do that, it will work. Just good luck finding one. Now let's really quickly touch on the keyboard. Of course, the F3 key is knocked off, but I don't really care about that.

Speaker A

into this right now so that's definitely why I'm getting that error there we go we're in oh you can see all eight threads here on WM CPU watch there we go look at that 4910 mq at 3.9 GHz oh yeah it's doing just fine okay so

Speaker A

This keyboard, one thing that I do care about that I really wanted was a backlit...

Speaker A

angry so I figured that I'd go and update the BIOS and so I went ahead and downloaded the new bios that's up here cuz this one's actually an older version of the BIOS yeah wow okay that was pretty loud even

Speaker A

like using Windows for the smallest tasks it's so [ __ ] clunky and awful update ThinkPad bios I guess I I have the [ __ ] does this mean is it charging or is it not what does it say when I

Speaker A

unplug it absolutely nothing that's that's not any different oh so it won't run off of the adapter because I have the wrong one I I only have the 45 WT adapters I don't have a 90 W the plot

Speaker A

thickens welcome to W 6 l l l repeater the time is 3 235 a.m. this morning so I ended up just ordering a 90 W charger So the plan is uh I'm pretty sure I have to resat the CPU to get this

Speaker A

thing to work but I'm going to go ahead and swap back in that 60 gig Kingston SSD so we can boot into windows and see if we can try actually updating the BIOS again and seeing if updating the BIOS

Speaker A

will fix anything but like right now straight up the second memory slot just doesn't work so it's not the mixed memory it's definitely definitely did work when I had the old CPU in there so thinking I might have to just reat the

Speaker A

CPU if the BIOS update doesn't work because there was a couple bent pins I mean it is in there and it is working but you know you never know hopefully just updating the BIOS will actually help it and fix it just

Speaker A

going to go right to the downloads and try updating this thing again yeah so speakers definitely work make sure the AC adapter is in yeah yeah yeah it's in now we reboot fans just ramped up to 100% oh it's flashing embedded

Speaker A

controller that's what it's doing dude what I do not care how am I using 2.2 gigs at idle what is going on okay yeah I'm going to just shut down this computer and never boot Windows on this thing ever again and put my Linux back

Speaker A

in here and then I'll test the second socket to see if maybe uh it started working after the BIOS update although I highly doubt that it will start working after that just because um I really don't think that that was the issue I

Speaker A

think it's probably having something to do with the CPU needing to be receed or something there we go okay it's definitely in there yep that's kind of what I figured would happen it still doesn't work so let's try reating the CPU really quick and

Speaker A

seeing if that'll make any [Music] difference here we go I don't see any vent pins or any reason why this is obviously not working I'll just reat it and hope for the best really hoping that did something because if that didn't do anything I

Speaker A

genuinely have no clue what I'm going to do next I at this point I'm past my return window for this CPU so the Stick of RAM is still in the second slot it was the slot that's having issues going

Speaker A

to try it again now oh yes okay I'm glad that's all I needed to do okay I'm going to go put in that other stick of ram then and then we're we're we're fully back I I I have the machine fully

Speaker A

built okay that worked yeah it just boots to the it works now we have 16 gigs of RAM isn't that great all right so remember when we were on Windows and how it was using like 2 and 1/2 gigs of

Speaker A

RAM at idle well right here we're sitting at idle we have some things open like we got this terminal open we got xos view here we got a bunch of dock apps running but we're using 500 megab of RAM and 205 of that is being used for

Speaker A

cash so I don't know who you are I don't care if you hate Linux or not but you you got to admit that's pretty impressive all right so with everything fully finished let's try playing some games on this okay I don't have a whole

Speaker A

lot of games installed on here but there's a few I want to try okay let's just start a local match we'll do assault I like assault now this game I'm expecting to run just fine you know this CS 1.6 anybody that knows the game it's

Speaker A

known for running on potato Hardware I also plugged into an external mouse and keyboard but uh yeah I don't have any my vinds but yeah it's it it is here hold [Music] on here we go yeah this is smooth 100 FPS the

Speaker A

entire time it's not like stuttering or doing anything stupid you know my last laptop it couldn't even run this so yeah this is this is pretty nice granted this is a single player server it's there's no nobody else in this lobby let me try

Speaker A

joining something that's multiplayer and see if I can maybe bring down the frames a little bit yeah see if I can find a server to get into um what's with that okay never mind okay let's play some CS Source this is

Speaker A

another game that I don't expect for it to have a whole lot of issues especially because you know it's a game from 04 but yeah well we'll see let's run the video stress test and then we'll get in game

Speaker A

after that hey you know what that's some that's some good frames that's some good FPS right there but yeah I know it's it's running [Music] great yeah look at that 202 FPS average that's pretty good let's hop into a

Speaker A

server all right so here it's like 150 FPS I'm look I'm seeing okay I'm lagging really hard internet not the best but you know it's kind of nice this is Chill I could totally just play this yeah no FPS not bad here at

Speaker A

all okay let's try slime Rancher so this game I don't think is native Linux I'm pretty sure this is running off of proton I guess we'll see all right so this is slime Rancher running on you know low settings and I mean it feels

Speaker A

fine I could play this this laptop is a lot more capable than I thought it would be for gaming quite honestly I've never had a good laptop or like a decent laptop and so gaming on a laptop is just

Speaker A

a completely foreign concept to me believe it or not but anyway let's try a different game I'm joining a very populated server right now I got like 300 ping dude oh this is going to be terrible dude I

Speaker A

suck what how much did I hit him for okay so I kill that guy just the other I didn't I didn't I don't know I'm just blind or something I didn't see the other guy you suck you suck I suck remember when I was younger

Speaker A

I used to play like nothing but Day of Defeat okay you [ __ ] Camp is this even a real server I mean they play like real people but it feels like like no one's talking usually when there's

Speaker A

servers that are this active a lot of people are are talking oh my [Applause] God holy all that's probably enough for this game all right that's cool that's like a that was a fully populated server too that was pretty fun but at least for

Speaker A

now it's the end of the video so thank you very much for watching this kind of chaotic video firstly I want to say thank you to everybody that's been supporting me on patreon it really does mean a lot and if you would like to

Speaker A

become a patreon member a link will be down in the description like if you liked it dislike if you hate thinkpads or if you hate this video or if you just hate me I have a lot of other projects

Speaker A

coming out soon so definitely stay tuned [Music]

Topics:ThinkPad T440pMacBook Pro 2012Arch Linuxlaptop upgradei7 4910MQcustom laptop buildLinux on laptopslaptop cooling issuesSSD upgradelaptop performance

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