2mo ago

Help Me Choose Between Some Refurbished Lenovo ThinkPads for An Upgrade

I'm considering upgrading my laptop and giving my current one to someone else. I'm looking for a device with a 15.6" FHD display, at least 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, HDMI, USB 3.0, and an audio jack, all within a budget of under 500€.

I've found some refurbished options at a good price, and these two seem like the best choices:

Lenovo ThinkPad L590: 15.6" i5 8365U, 8GB RAM, SSD 256GB, Full HD, Grade A
Lenovo ThinkPad T580: 15.6" i5 8350U, 8GB RAM, SSD 256GB, Full HD, NVIDIA GeForce MX150 2GB, Grade A+

Which one would you recommend?

5 comments

I'd personally take the T series over the L series. I personally have a T430 that's still kicking around. T series are business-grade laptops and tend to be more durable.

T > L, that's about it.

I’m not familiar with European pricing. But in general avoid refurbished thinkpads of that age. You’re paying twice the price for a laptop that someone wiped physically and software wise. If you’re capable of reinstalling windows and handling a paper towel then just buy a regular “used” machine from eBay or your l local facebook marketplace equivalent. There’s not really much that goes wrong with these machines, and that’s why people buy them.
That said T580 all day long. The L series are the cheaper built machines, and the 90 series in general are basically just 80 series but worse.
- At least in Germany, refurbished sellers have to give you one year of warranty for those used PCs. The few Euros (the difference isn't too big) more could be worth it for that extra security.

Just so you know, L series is the budget, while T is the flagship. Even if one might excel on paper, you may find its build quality to be lacking.
In short: I'd go with T580.