lets get this out of the way, no I am not using this as my only machine

but with that out of the way, lets discuss the extent of which you could use an older machine

i picked up this Thinkpad X61s primarily for its keyboard, it uses the old style keyboard that hasnt been seen since the XX30 series released

(unless you count the thinkpad 25 but thats very expensive and i have read that it doesnt quite compare

here are the specs for the machine

Core2duo @ 800mhz-1.6ghz

1Gib RAM

1024x768 display

approx 4 hour battery life

i have changed some settings in the bios

set to lowest clock speed (800mhz)

one core disabled

xrandr auto sets resolution to 800x600, believe it or not this looks decent enough and means the iGPU doesnt have to work as hard

this was all done mostly to increase the battery life and reduce heat, it still gets quite hot however, so i think a repasting will be in order eventually

as of writing this i have Seamonkey open on the Pleroma instance i have joined and the neocities dashboard open and slypheed email client also open, battery is at 56% with approx 3 hours left

things like web content load slowly compared to my desktop, however for a 2007 ultra slim laptop its still quite quick, even with the battery saving changes i've made

i should also mention incase you havent read the other sections of this site yet that i am running devuan linux with the openbox desktop environment, i use custom keybinds for things like moving windows