Thomas Vetere writes:
> Hello everyone, > > I was looking to get a laptop to run OpenBSD. The one I am looking at in > particular is the Thinkpad R51e (2005). I like this particular model > because it does not come with any extra hardware that OpenBSD does not > support in the first place (bluetooth, camera, etc.) My main concern is the > longevity that this model would have going forward. I already have a '94 > Thinkpad that cannot run the latest OpenBSD well because hardware support > was gradually dropped during code cleanups, etc (i.e. newer versions of X11 > removed support for my ancient graphics chip because it just wasn't worth > the time to maintain the code). Does anyone know, given the age of that > model, how many years I might get out of it with OpenBSD and its packaged > software before hardware support starts to drop? What is a good rule of > thumb for selecting a machine to run OpenBSD with respect to its age? > > Thank you for your help! I think that machine (R51e) is 32-bit only, so it doesn't have much runway if you're looking to keep up with Xenocara/X11 changes. I'd recommend looking for at least a slightly more recent Intel-based machine that's 64-bit. I know the x230's are popular and fairly user serviceable.
