I Will Be Throwing Away My Computers.

If you want your computing to be as efficient as possible, you should have as little as possible. Here I plan downsizing and ask for a way to do everything more efficiently. Is there actually a decent computer with a trackpoint, ultrabase or dock which can handle livestreams and is still easily repairable?... I.e. without planned obsolescence?

Coreboot, 1080p screens, MSATA and a decent on-board mic and webcam are pluses, but the goal is to totally eradicate the need for two computers.

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[JeannoC]

Luke in 2021: I only use old computers.
Luke in 2022: I throw away computers

[c.deg.]

Luke has a neurotic relationship with his machines. No carpenter worries about having one or two spare hammers.

[wheezybackports]

"It's such a pain to have multiple computers." That is the most first world problem I've heard in a long time.

[bpnn]

t480
1. trackpoint - present
2. dock - get usb-c dock/hub
3. repairability - last thinkpad with dual battery (external one is hotswappable I think?), RAM not soldered
4. livestream - it has 8-gen intel cpu (4 cores) might be enough? dunno
5. 1080p - present
6. coreboot - probably not
7. msata - there is a slot for WWAN/2242 SSD but it's pcie/nvme i think not sata
8. mic/webcam - good enough for video calls

[definitelynotrohan]

I can totally imagine luke using his feet to turn on the desktop

[BibAE]

Luke, this is just a perfect opportunity use your sponsorship to team up with Buc-ees and design the Buc-pad complete with a new Lin-buc’s operating system.

[MrMessiah]

Sorry Luke, but your options are very severely limited by the Trackpoint requirement. I ran into this problem myself and had to end up compromising with my current computer (System76 Lemur Pro). I believe the Trackpoint is patented and so Lenovo is the only company that has them other than Dell's knock-off (which they seem to have killed off recently).

If you're ok with buying a questionably sourced chinese hack-thinkpad, I would look into XYTech and his X2100 and X330 models. They're both based off of the X2xx series of thinkpads, but with modified 3k x 2k screen resolution, and a custom-built motherboard running a modern processer in the X2100s case and a re-soldered upgraded sandy bridge processer in the X330s. He also offers Coreboot on the X330, and last I talked to him (over a year ago now) was trying to port Coreboot to the X2100s motherboard.

Good Luck with your search!

[bigfish]

"I want to stop thinking about it"

Lists the most complicated demands known to Man.

[hyperTorless]

Finding the perfect laptop with all the handy options of the best laptops ever made : a lifetime
Compiling an old version of OBS : 2 hours at most
?

[mskiptr]

Also, please do not literally throw them away. Just sell them or give them out.

[proudalbanianjcdenton]

Have you tried reinstalling an older version of obs?

[fumble]

Tbh the real answer is to stop streaming and smash the desktop with a maul

[afivey]

If you're looking to get all these things together in a way that's as serviceable as an old Thinkpad but isn't as tied to old-thinkpad specs I think the ugly but practical solution is... building a PC into a small flight case, using some some mechanical USB keyboard that has a trackpoint. Yeah, it looks weird and yeah you get gawkers coming over to talk to you instead of leaving you alone to do your work if you're in a cafe or airport or something.

[BowDown]

the t440p is very based, it's the last one where pretty much every part is replaceable, and you can coreboot it.
the trackpad that comes with it is garbage and doesn't have physical buttons for the trackpoint, but you can replace it with the t450 trackpad which does have them and it works perfectly fine. a lot of t440ps are sold with the trackpad already modded for pretty much no price difference.
i don't know whether or not it can be docked though because i don't use one

[soty]

For your sync issues, i would highly recommend setting up a storage server that all your devices can work from. It's pretty much your own personal cloud and you can access it even when you're away.
For a more portable mic i would suggest a "lavalier" microphone.They are built to be clipped on to your shirt and you can use it either directly by recording with your phone in your pocket or you can connect the mic to a dongle and record wirelessly.

[AB-nsix]

The trackpoint requirement sort of limits you to Lenovo, Dell Business line (Dell QA is garbage IMO) and HP business laptops. The framework would fit the bill for repairability. The new Lenovo machines might have something for you, but a lot have soldered in memory. The HP Dev One might be the closest you can get to everything you need. USB C docks exist for all machines, both first party and third party.

[pach]

Hey Luke, look at the T480, you can change the modern keyboard to the classic keyboard, and it has a docking station.

[whitebeartigtig]

I would personally recommend a Dell Precision 3510 for your use case. It has a trackpoint, support for a normal docking station (none of that USB C nonsense that replaced them, although it does have a thunderbolt 3 port so they work if you want it), plenty of power - 6th gen quad core i5/i7/Xeon E3 and a AMD FirePro W5130M GPU (if you choose to get the one with the dGPU). There is an option for a 1920x1080 display, do get that one as it will have significantly better colour accuracy. This machine doesn't have mSATA but you do get a 2280 NVMe slot and a 2.5 inch drive bay so that more than makes up for it. The microphone and webcam should be fine too. Streaming shouldn't be an issue at all given how powerful the specs are. These laptops shouldn't be too expensive these days with them being a little older, parts are readily available for them and they're pretty damn powerful especially considering how thin it is.

I wish I had gotten a 3510 over a 3520 when I chose my new laptop, unfortunately it dropped the traditional docking station and if you go with the bigger battery (like I did) you also lose the 2.5 inch drive bay. Otherwise, the laptops are very similar.

[DVRC]

This problem reminds me of a solution: distributed computing. Back in the day, computing centers had "big irons", and the workstations were just a graphical terminal, and when more power was needed, the big iron would get upgraded (storage, CPU, RAM, ecc) and the workstation continued to work.

This was the idea behind Plan 9, and the forerunner UNIX v8 + Blit predated this, influencing also commercial UNIXes and their window systems (X11, NeWS).

A thing like this would be feasible, but has a drawback: you need to be hooked to the network

[holymegadave]

Using your feets as hands to showcase your tech is so based!
Hands are like the mouse, who needs them when you have a good pair of feets xD. Luke is slowly moving towards a life without computers.