Bluetooth works great. Debian w/ XFCE (pulseaudio). But, there is some config on a fresh install:

# apt install blueman pulseaudio-module-bluetooth  

# nano /etc/pulse/default.pa  
add:  
load-module module-switch-on-connect  

# nano /etc/bluetooth/input.conf  
change:  
IdleTimeout=0  

Canadian here… in spring, 10C is shorts and t-shirt weather, eh?

Always wipe and do a fresh install. If you’re installing Linux, its unlikely that the refurbisher will have installed your flavour of Linux anyway. If you want to dual-boot with Windows, most business ThinkPads come with a Windows Pro licence - just download the ISO and install it fresh, then install Linux.

Refurbished ThinkPads are awesome!

• Availability - ThinkPads are very popular in corporate environments and are generally replaced every 2-3 years. Although mostly Intel CPUs, there is a wide variety CPU+GPU available from lightweight to high performance.
• Tough + well built + last forever
• Easy to upgrade/repair. They’re very user-accessible and its simple to upgrade RAM or SSD/M.2 drives. Plus, because they are so popular in the corporate environment, replacement parts (from batteries to WiFi+Bluetooth chipsets to trckpads) are very available and cheap.
• Well supported in most (if not all) linux distros. Graphics just work, trackpads just work, WiFi just works.
• Cheap.

Sent from my ThinkPad T580 (with both an internal and removable battery, I get 10+ hours of battery life)

Now and then I think of when I was in power
Like choking people with the Force until they died
But then you told them all my history
And took away my masculinity
And had my character portrayed by subpar actors.

https://youtu.be/qJlbPXZEpRE

You’re right! We need more cowbell Debian. I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is Debian!

Fuck you, Rudy!

mmm… squishy

I’m currently using a T580 (i5-8350U). The refurb model cost me $440CAD. It has a 15.6" screen, backlit keyboard, came with a 512GB NVMe drive and 16GB of RAM. It charges with a 65 watt USB-C cable. It also has dual batteries (one is internal, the other is hot-swappable) and together give me 10-14 hours.

I’ve been using it for 8 months now and its been absolutely fantastic and no laggy performance or thermal issues. Zero driver issues on install. I run Debian/XFCE.