I wanted a cheap, small, serviceable Linux laptop. Something light enough to carry, easy enough to repair, and inexpensive enough that upgrades would still make sense. The Lenovo ThinkPad X250 was a good candidate because it has a 12.5-inch form factor, a proper ThinkPad keyboard, SSD upgrade options, replaceable parts, Ethernet, docking support and generally good Linux compatibility. I found one on eBay for around 130€ : an Intel Core i5-5300U model with 8GB RAM , a 128GB SSD , two batteries and an HD screen with a small bruise. The plan was simple: clean it, repaste it, upgrade the SSD, install Linux Mint, undervolt it and see how useful it could still be. This post started as my original 2019 notes about tweaking the Lenovo X250 in Linux. I have now updated it with a 2026 perspective, cleaner instructions, better internal links and a more realistic look at whether this old ThinkPad is still worth using. Related posts: Linux Home Server Security Checklist Docker Secu...
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