Active Protection System was probably the most underrated feature of older ThinkPads. It parks the hard drive's read-write head whenever the accelerometer inside the laptop senses a shock.
https://redd.it/1hp1cq6
@r_thinkpad

Joined the club (installing win for bios update only) lol
https://redd.it/1hp1ztl
@r_thinkpad

Update my thinkpad
https://redd.it/1hp0ndr
@r_thinkpad

The definitive guide to improving your ThinkPad user experience

>"Fine, I'll do it myself. Because that's what men of fortune do"
©️ Albert Newton

If you are in the market for a ThinkPad - let's assume you want to buy a cheap T480 - it's important to know how you can make it work better than how Lenovo had envisioned it. I have acquired a fair share of experience with my two T480's and other laptops over the years, and I want everyone to know how they can realize their laptops' full potential.

With this post, I hope you aren't going to make any excuses not to apply the many tweaks that would make MacBook owners (as well as Arch users) blush with how good the now 6 year old laptop can become with the tweaks that only need 30 minutes to apply.

# Annotation

1. First set-up
2. Upgrades
3. Undervolting and optimising the CPU
4. What else to do

# First set-up

Let's face it, most of us here are unapologetic Windows users. Linux is too niche for us all, because it's still at 4% market cap, and there's not much software made for it. Even if you need Linux for something, all you really need is Linux Mint, no Arch or anything, and most likely you're just going to use a VM. Not to mention that Linux would be awful for watching videos and for browsing the web, as web browsers run faster on Windows and use a lot less power when playing videos.

As such, a few of the tips here would be for Windows only. But experienced Linux users that you are, you should be able to apply as much tweaks listed here as possible. With that out of the way, let's go through the process from the very beginning:

Imagine that you bought yourself a second-hand ThinkPad T480 for 150 USD with an Intel Core i5-8250U, 8GB RAM, a 256GB SSD and a Full HD 1920x1080 screen. The batteries have 30% wear, leaving you with around 35 watt-hours (35Wh) of battery capacity, there is no BIOS lock, and it's not enrolled into a corporate network. You'd want to:

Update the Thunderbolt firmware. Get a spare USB drive, boot into Ubuntu 24.04.1 LiveUSB (no need to install Linux on the drive, you only do it once and forget it), connect to Wi-Fi and run these commands in the terminal:

​

sudo apt update
sudo apt install fwupd
fwupdmgr refresh
fwupdmgr get-updates
fwupdmgr update

Install Windows 11 23H2 without pre-installed apps and with various tweaks applied. Starting from the T480, you would want to use Windows 11 because it's better to use than Windows 10. Do not let it update to version 24H2, at least for now, because there are reports that it's making systems run even slower than version 21H2, which in turn runs slower than 23H2.
Apply tweaks with an [Optimizer](https://github.com/hellzerg/optimizer/releases/latest). If, for one reason or another, you couldn't find the best custom Windows 11 version that has various performance tweaks and (some of the good versions are locked away behind a language barrier, mostly used by Russians), you can apply more tweaks with the Windows Optimizer. Keep in mind that some of the tweaks may not be useful for you, as you'd want to retain Windows Copilot, driver updates, and keep the "Enhance Privacy" tweak disabled because it would disable the fingerprint scanner. And yes, disable those pesky automatic Windows updates.
Disable Virtualisation-Based Security for undervolting to work, which you'd apply later on. I recommend you use the "Windows" key on your keyboard to quickly launch apps from now on - press the Windows key and just start typing "Hyper" for "Turn Windows features on or off" to appear in the search menu, and press Enter. It's incredibly useful and makes you more productive. There, disable the following things if they are enabled:
Hyper-V
Microsoft Defender Application Guard
Virtual Machine Platform
Windows Subsystem for Linux (I hope you are not going to use it, because it's better to just use VirtualBox instead. WSL requires VBS to be turned on. But if it's a deal-breaker for you, then you might want to install Linux on bare metal

alongside Windows and boot into that instead).
Reboot. After rebooting, with the same quick app search method using the Windows key, go into "System Information" by typing "sys" and make sure Virtualisation-based security (in System Summary section) is Not enabled:

https://preview.redd.it/b91gbfffqu9e1.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=efecdf673463e5006b81497a7b812f1beb48d86f

Install and run Lenovo Commercial Vantage. You can get it from Lenovo's website or the Microsoft Store (you don't need a Microsoft account for this). Set it up, disable automatic startups. Then go to the "Device" tab -> "Power", and set the following:
Battery Charge Threshold. Set it to 75% for Battery 1 (it's your internal battery) and to 80% for Battery 2 (your external hot-swappable battery). Check the 5 percentage points checkboxes, the "start charging when below" setting should be grayed out.
Disable Airplane Power Mode and disable "Auto detection"
Disable Easy Resume. You'll set your own settings up later yourself.
Check other settings in Lenovo Commercial Vantage. You might or might not swap the Fn and Ctrl keys if you're used to the other layout. There might be other settings you may like.
Go into Intel Graphics Command Center (you know the drill). If it's not there, are the iGPU drivers installed? Try lowering your screen brightness - if it doesn't decrease, then you don't have iGPU drivers and must install them. If it's still not there, then install it (can also be installed via Microsoft Store easily). Then go into "System" -> "Power" -> disable "Dynamic Refresh Rate Switching" and "Display Power Savings" when On Battery. No longer will the screen look bad with the contrast being off, and it won't flash the screen or lag when on battery. It would be frankly useless to us, after we do the next section:

# Upgrades

Now that the tedious part is done, it's time for the slightly less tedious part of picking the upgrades for the T480. The upgrade roadmap should be like this:

1. Upgrading to 32GB RAM. On the ThinkPads with two RAM slots, this can be done by getting two sticks of 16GB SO-DIMM RAM on the second-hand market. The most cost-effective option would be the DDR4-2666 sticks for the T480, because they are very common on the second-hand market and from my experience, they may be even cheaper than the DDR4-2400 sticks just because they're more common. They're also likely to be 2x8R sticks (with 2 rows of 4 chips on each side, making it 16 Ranks), which will be the fastest kind of RAM you can put in your ThinkPad to get the best possible performance. while saving a lot of money. On other ThinkPads that are more modern than the T480 and which have only 1 RAM slot, you may want to buy at least a 16GB RAM stick and up to a 32GB RAM stick.
2. Repasting the CPU with Honeywell PTM7950. This one's self-explanatory, you need a 10x13mm patch of PTM7950 on the CPU die and a bit of thermal paste on the smaller PCH die near the processor. No need to apply PTM7950 on the PCH. You can even keep the PCH die completely dry with nothing applied, it's not supposed to heat up anyway.
3. Buying a 61++ aftermarket battery with 72Wh capacity for some obscene battery life. On the T480, you can use several different kinds of external swappable batteries, which are:
61: 24Wh Li-Po standard battery
61+: 48Wh Li-Ion 18650-cell expanded battery that pertrudes from the side (lifting up your keyboard for better typing experience and letting you easily grab the laptop in one hand by acting as a handle)
61++: 72Wh Li-Ion 18650-cell expanded battery, which has the same dimensions as 61+, but uses much better battery chemistry to get 50% more capacity in the same size, with denser and slightly heavier cells.

Now, where do you buy this battery? Since original OEM 61++ batteries are no longer produced since 2022 because the T480 is EOL, and since the remaining OEM batteries cost almost as much as a whole laptop does (they go around for $110-140), you can only buy the non-OEM

The definitive guide to improving your ThinkPad user experience

>"Fine, I'll do it myself. Because that's what men of fortune do"
©️ Albert Newton

If you are in the market for a ThinkPad - let's assume you want to buy a cheap T480 - it's important to know how you can make it work better than how Lenovo had envisioned it. I have acquired a fair share of experience with my two T480's and other laptops over the years, and I want everyone to know how they can realize their laptops' full potential.

With this post, I hope you aren't going to make any excuses not to apply the many tweaks that would make MacBook owners (as well as Arch users) blush with how good the now 6 year old laptop can become with the tweaks that only need 30 minutes to apply.

# Annotation

1. First set-up
2. Upgrades
3. Undervolting and optimising the CPU
4. What else to do

# First set-up

Let's face it, most of us here are unapologetic Windows users. Linux is too niche for us all, because it's still at 4% market cap, and there's not much software made for it. Even if you need Linux for something, all you really need is Linux Mint, no Arch or anything, and most likely you're just going to use a VM. Not to mention that Linux would be *awful* for watching videos and for browsing the web, as web browsers run faster on Windows and use a lot less power when playing videos.

As such, a few of the tips here would be for Windows only. But experienced Linux users that you are, you should be able to apply as much tweaks listed here as possible. With that out of the way, let's go through the process from the very beginning:

Imagine that you bought yourself a second-hand ThinkPad T480 for 150 USD with an Intel Core i5-8250U, 8GB RAM, a 256GB SSD and a Full HD 1920x1080 screen. The batteries have 30% wear, leaving you with around 35 watt-hours (35Wh) of battery capacity, there is no BIOS lock, and it's not enrolled into a corporate network. You'd want to:

* **Update the Thunderbolt firmware.** Get a spare USB drive, boot into Ubuntu 24.04.1 LiveUSB (no need to install Linux on the drive, you only do it once and forget it), connect to Wi-Fi and run these commands in the terminal:

​

sudo apt update
sudo apt install fwupd
fwupdmgr refresh
fwupdmgr get-updates
fwupdmgr update

* **Install Windows 11 23H2 without pre-installed apps and with various tweaks applied.** Starting from the T480, you would want to use Windows 11 because it's better to use than Windows 10. Do not let it update to version 24H2, at least for now, because there are reports that it's making systems run even slower than version 21H2, which in turn runs slower than 23H2.
* **Apply tweaks with an** [**Optimizer**](https://github.com/hellzerg/optimizer/releases/latest)**.** If, for one reason or another, you couldn't find the best custom Windows 11 version that has various performance tweaks and (some of the good versions are locked away behind a language barrier, mostly used by Russians), you can apply more tweaks with the Windows Optimizer. Keep in mind that some of the tweaks may not be useful for you, as you'd want to retain Windows Copilot, driver updates, and keep the "Enhance Privacy" tweak disabled because it would disable the fingerprint scanner. And yes, **disable those pesky automatic Windows updates.**
* **Disable Virtualisation-Based Security** for undervolting to work, which you'd apply later on. I recommend you use the "Windows" key on your keyboard to quickly launch apps from now on - press the Windows key and just start typing "Hyper" for "Turn Windows features on or off" to appear in the search menu, and press Enter. It's incredibly useful and makes you more productive. There, disable the following things if they are enabled:
* Hyper-V
* Microsoft Defender Application Guard
* Virtual Machine Platform
* Windows Subsystem for Linux (I hope you are not going to use it, because it's better to just use VirtualBox instead. WSL requires VBS to be turned on. But if it's a deal-breaker for you, then you might want to install Linux on bare metal

alongside Windows and boot into that instead).
* Reboot. After rebooting, with the same quick app search method using the Windows key, go into "System Information" by typing "sys" and make sure Virtualisation-based security (in System Summary section) is **Not enabled**:

https://preview.redd.it/b91gbfffqu9e1.png?width=524&format=png&auto=webp&s=efecdf673463e5006b81497a7b812f1beb48d86f

* **Install and run Lenovo Commercial Vantage.** You can get it from Lenovo's website or the Microsoft Store (you don't need a Microsoft account for this). Set it up, disable automatic startups. Then go to the "Device" tab -> "Power", and set the following:
* Battery Charge Threshold. Set it to 75% for Battery 1 (it's your internal battery) and to 80% for Battery 2 (your external hot-swappable battery). Check the 5 percentage points checkboxes, the "start charging when below" setting should be grayed out.
* Disable Airplane Power Mode and disable "Auto detection"
* Disable Easy Resume. You'll set your own settings up later yourself.
* **Check other settings in Lenovo Commercial Vantage**. You might or might not swap the Fn and Ctrl keys if you're used to the other layout. There might be other settings you may like.
* **Go into Intel Graphics Command Center** (you know the drill). If it's not there, are the iGPU drivers installed? Try lowering your screen brightness - if it doesn't decrease, then you don't have iGPU drivers and must install them. If it's still not there, then install it (can also be installed via Microsoft Store easily). Then go into "System" -> "Power" -> disable "Dynamic Refresh Rate Switching" and "Display Power Savings" when On Battery. No longer will the screen look bad with the contrast being off, and it won't flash the screen or lag when on battery. It would be frankly useless to us, after we do the next section:

# Upgrades

Now that the tedious part is done, it's time for the slightly less tedious part of picking the upgrades for the T480. The upgrade roadmap should be like this:

1. **Upgrading to 32GB RAM.** On the ThinkPads with two RAM slots, this can be done by getting **two sticks of 16GB SO-DIMM RAM** on the second-hand market. The most cost-effective option would be the **DDR4-2666 sticks** for the T480, because they are very common on the second-hand market and from my experience, they may be even cheaper than the DDR4-2400 sticks just because they're more common. They're also likely to be **2x8R** sticks (with 2 rows of 4 chips on each side, making it 16 Ranks), which will be the fastest kind of RAM you can put in your ThinkPad to get the best possible performance. while saving a lot of money. On other ThinkPads that are more modern than the T480 and which have only 1 RAM slot, you may want to buy at least a 16GB RAM stick and up to a 32GB RAM stick.
2. Repasting the CPU with **Honeywell PTM7950.** This one's self-explanatory, you need a 10x13mm patch of PTM7950 on the CPU die and a bit of thermal paste on the smaller PCH die near the processor. No need to apply PTM7950 on the PCH. You can even keep the PCH die completely dry with nothing applied, it's not supposed to heat up anyway.
3. **Buying a 61++ aftermarket battery with 72Wh capacity** for some obscene battery life. On the T480, you can use several different kinds of external swappable batteries, which are:
* **61**: 24Wh Li-Po standard battery
* **61+**: 48Wh Li-Ion 18650-cell expanded battery that pertrudes from the side (lifting up your keyboard for better typing experience and letting you easily grab the laptop in one hand by acting as a handle)
* **61++**: 72Wh Li-Ion 18650-cell expanded battery, which has the same dimensions as 61+, but uses much better battery chemistry to get 50% more capacity in the same size, with denser and slightly heavier cells.

Now, **where do you buy this battery?** Since original OEM 61++ batteries are no longer produced since 2022 because the T480 is EOL, and since the remaining OEM batteries cost almost as much as a whole laptop does (they go around for $110-140), you can only buy the non-OEM

aftermarket batteries that are being assembled in China. But should there be any concerns about the safety of using aftermarket batteries? Absolutely not. You should buy it from either AliExpress, or eBay, or some other e-commerce platform near you, and they usually cost $30.

You'll have the best luck on AliExpress from China, not only because the shops there usually have the cheapest and newest (not degraded in storage) and best-quality batteries for the T480 straight from the factory, but because of AliExpress' buyer protection, in case something goes wrong and you would want a refund. You're least likely to get a battery pack that is "unsupported" by the T480's BIOS, or which has other problems, as the sellers there now test the batteries before they ship them out. **But don't overspend on KingSener batteries,** because as far as we're concerned, they're made at the same factory yet commend a pointless markup. Otherwise, they would always have the highest capacity, but that isn't the case. As always, **look at the reviews.** [**Here's mine**](https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/1haz4yg/t480_nonoem_batteries_are_great/)**,** too bad I can't put a direct link to the exact AliExpress seller I got this from because of filters or something. You'll need to look for it with the same screenshot in the review that I used in my post that I linked above. The only downside to buying from AliExpress is that it would take a long time to ship (because it only ships by land due to Chinese safety policies), and your country may impose tariffs.

When the battery arrives, do the following:

* Don't turn off the laptop, if your internal battery is connected, and If you got your battery from AliExpress just disconnect the external battery and connect the new battery. If you got your battery from elsewhere (especially if there were no reviews), or if you don't have an internal battery in the first place - you need to connect the charger to the laptop and replace the battery like that.
* **Make sure both battery locks are engaged all the way**. Lock 1 not only holds the battery in place, but disables battery communications and the battery stops reporting its state like battery percentage and capacity - it disappears in Windows. But if you disengage it while running, the laptop will continue running from the battery. If the internal battery is present - it'll start using that, and if only the external battery is connected - the battery icon will disappear and the laptop would think that it's running from AC power and switch to the AC power mode and will start draining the battery faster. Lock 2 just holds the battery. Most non-OEM batteries have their hulls milled out not as precisely as original packs, so you have to force the locks to engage after connecting the battery. This does not happen with original batteries, it's as easy as reloading a pistol.
* Check if the battery appears in Windows. Best to check the battery stats in HWinfo64 in the Sensors section.

If, in the now-exceedingly-rare chance you have a battery that does not show up in Windows or is "unsupported" when you turn on the laptop (or your unfortunate enough to receive one recently) - there's a way to revive it without any special tools, but that's beyond the scope of this post. In short, the battery is likely deeply discharged below 9.6V and if it was stored discharged like that, it may have degraded considerably, so you might not want to use it in the first place unless you successfully revive it, you recalibrate the battery in Lenovo Vantage to get the actual battery capacity, AND you can get a sizeable partial refund from the seller for shipping a battery that's untested, not turning on, degraded and not up to spec, otherwise try to return it and don't bother with it.

# Should you get any other upgrades

**No,** because you have to be a realist and understand that it's not viable to upgrade the ThinkPad T480 to the teeth to try to make it something it can never be. You'll still be bottlenecked by an aging CPU, and the first thing to be the bottleneck would be

the slow Intel UHD Graphics 620 iGPU, which is now a strictly video-out iGPU for watching videos and some movies, not much more. Not even buying the upgraded heatsink is worth it.

Well, except for maybe a **512GB NVMe SSD**. But don't put anything into the WWAN slot, neither a 5G modem nor the 2242 whitelisted SSD, it's useless due to the unnecessary power draw while on battery. Upgrading the T480 to 64GB RAM is also possible, but is really unnecessary due to the comparatively weak processor. 64GB RAM belong only in workstation laptops.

# Undervolting and optimising the CPU

**Undervolting is very underrated for laptops.** [**You get a lot of benefits with undervolting.**](https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/1frf71d/i_beg_you_to_undervolt_your_thinkpad_p52p53_other/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) This will be what will improve your user experience the most out of the free methods. Coupled with other CPU optimisation efforts, with the press of just a few buttons, you'll get:

* Better performance, more so on battery
* Better battery life
* Less heat on AC power
* A lot less fan noise
* A laptop much more useful than a MacBook Air of the same era that costs more

So, what do you need to do to achieve this?

1. **Disable VBS as mentioned above.** Undervolting will not work if Virtualisation-Based Security is enabled.
2. [Install ThrottleStop.](https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/) Version 9.7 is out now. Copy it the unpacked folder to a place like Program Files.
3. Run it and follow the visual presentation of what to do:

[Click on the image to make it larger](https://preview.redd.it/fd10zietpu9e1.png?width=1529&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9ce3d6950a963ee9f879fbdef423297d6b50f63)

1. **Go into Task Scheduler.** Create a new Task to make the program run on startup. **Set it to run with highest privileges.** Run it on log on (not when the computer starts). Select the ThrottleStop executable file for the task to start it up. In "Conditions", uncheck everything. Also, I don't yet know how to prevent Windows from terminating it when you unplug the laptop after booting it up for the first time, so check if it's running once in a while.
2. [**Install ThinkPad Fan Control ver. 63**](https://thinkwiki.de/TPFanControl)**.** Choose it to launch on system startup. A ThinkPad must exercise humility and not make much noise, it's a humble worker unlike the all-talk-no-show and good-for-nothing MacBooks. It should also make our fingers warm when the blood is barely circulating there while we're on our computers for long periods, so that they don't get too cold. It's a feature.
3. Type in "tpf" into Windows Search and select "edit TPFancontrol.ini". Scroll down to "Smart Mode" section at the end of the file. You should set the following values, let's assume Smart Mode 1 will be winter mode, and Smart Mode 2 will be summer mode:

https://preview.redd.it/hmjsa5vqpu9e1.png?width=214&format=png&auto=webp&s=f6b2aa7ead5339a775d8b20e1e0fdf2f881fa3a2

I don't want to alienate other ThinkPad owners, so here are the tips for other laptops:

* Regardless of what your laptop is, an Intel one or a Ryzen one, even if it's a ThinkPad - please **do not disable Turbo Boost** to reduce the temps. Instead, do a combination of setting a CPU temperature limit, setting a reasonable TDP and PL1 and PL2 boost values, and [**using Windows' built-in feature for reducing the clock speed for single-core and all-core workloads alike**](https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/how_to_add_or_remove_maximum_processor_frequency.html)**.** The latter part is going to be particularly useful as another lever to pull to make the factory-overclocked CPUs, like Ryzen 6000 series and Intel's 9th Gen and above less hot, when setting a temperature limit and a TDP limit doesn't entirely help, and when disabling Turbo Boost outright does too big of a hit to the performance.
* **If you're a lucky owner of a Ryzen 4000 series laptop, use the Universal x86 Tuning Utility** as a substitute for

ThrottleStop\*\*. You can set a per-core undervolt on all Ryzen 4000 APUs\*\*, and possibly also Ryzen 5300U, 5500U and 5700U APUs. Starting from Ryzen 5000, undervolting is only possible on Ryzen 9 APUs, like the 5900HX/HS, 6900HX/HS, 7940H/HS/HX and others. Not sure about Ryzen AI 9 series.

# What else to do

* Master the art of using the touchpad with the overhead buttons which are designed for the TrackPoint first and foremost. It's surprisingly comfortable, like even more comfortable than with the fabled (read: overrated) MacBook touchpad or the (both good and horrible) Apple Magic Mouse. For that, you should **increase mouse sensitivity (pointer speed)**. And yes, you can start typing "sensitivity" to quickly find "Mouse settings" in Windows' system settings. Windows Search had finally become good with Windows 11, you can't do that in Windows 10.
* **Disable Windows Defender entirely** with a GitHub script. This may be controversial, but if you, like me, have also noticed how many resources it consumes and how you get no malware, or you simply know that [**antiviruses are useless**](https://youtu.be/mE7CCZCgRB8) \- then delete it. Forget undervolting, THIS is how you get the best performance improvements. Not to mention that I haven't had any malware in the 2.5 years since I disabled the antivirus. Needless to say I pass all my employer's trivial cybersecurity training and phishing tests. Complete lack of self-preservation instinct is my motto 🎶
* Buy a 65W GaN USB-C charger to get rid of the bulky and heavy stock 65W Lenovo charger.
* Drive responsibly. Think responsively.

https://redd.it/1hp66cy
@r_thinkpad

New to me T480
https://redd.it/1hp6f1d
@r_thinkpad

Officially part of the club (take 2)!
https://redd.it/1hpak6n
@r_thinkpad

looking into buying my first thinkpad, overwhelmed by choice...

i've been lurking on this subreddit and searching just about anything and everything to find what model would fit my needs best, but i'm still completely lost lol

my asus vivobook is starting to die after only a few years with it so i want something sturdier from a brand that isn't known for their laptops having power issues after a while, and the thinkpad seems to be the best option

i primarily use my laptop for work so it gets dragged around everywhere with me, but its heavy as fuck despite looking to be a pretty thin laptop (about 4 pounds!) and i need something more portable than that

i'll also probably use the laptop for some light-ish gaming from time to time whenever something new catches my eye (never anything too demanding though, i have an actual pc for that) and some graphic design work for my job, so i dont want a screen that is too dull

with how many thinkpads there are that could fit these qualifications, i have no idea what i should even be looking for! i'm leaning towards an x1 carbon gen 11 but im not sure if that's the best option because i'm so new to the world of thinkpads and im not tech savvy lol

also if you have any ebay sellers that you've used/trust for refurbished thinkpads, let me know! thanks :)

https://redd.it/1hpbk0a
@r_thinkpad

proud owner of a new X1 Carbon G9

https://redd.it/1hpdybw
@r_thinkpad

What is this
https://redd.it/1hphbur
@r_thinkpad

Got a deal for a T14s Gen 2. Buy or not?

https://redd.it/1hpier7
@r_thinkpad