My ThinkPad: From Purchase to System Setup
Everything I set up on my refurbished laptop.
Introduction
Hello folks, this is Ana Chica and today I want to talk about my ThinkPad.
More specifically, I want to cover everything from considerations for buying (giving tips so you buy safely) to the dual boot I set up with Windows and Debian. I hope you enjoy it.
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How to buy used/refurbished laptops without falling for scams?
Initial considerations
Buying a Used Laptop: An Experts Guide on What to Check, Where to Buy, and What Models are Best
Before you start buying any laptop, it’s a good idea to search for some models taking into account your needs and, above all, your budget:
- Which software do you plan to use?
- Will you use this machine for work?
- Do I plan to play any games?
- Does this machine give me the possibility to upgrade?
- Are its parts expensive or hard to find? (screen, keyboard, battery, etc.)
- Does this line have any problems frequently reported by users?
- Do the keyboard keys sink quickly?
- The laptop hinge?
- The charger?
Yes, it’s some work to do this, but when you don’t have extra money you have to research.
These are some necessary questions to ask. Look for channels that make recommendations, talk to friends who have experience, and research a lot — really a lot.
Buying on a marketplace
The only experience I had was buying my ThinkPad on Mercado Livre and it was relatively smooth; the seller sent many photos and answered my questions calmly.
Maybe this video can help a bit more:
HOW TO BUY USED THINGS ON THE INTERNET WITHOUT GETTING SCAMMED | Properly scavenging!
To buy this laptop I basically followed these steps:
- I got to know this laptop line well;
- I researched prices thoroughly;
- I read the descriptions;
- I looked for well-rated sellers.
That’s it — evaluating these things and digging around well, I believe it mitigates possible scams.
I believe these tips can also help when buying on other marketplaces.
But there’s one type of purchase these tips might not cover: when ordinary people are selling their items.
In that case, you’re really more limited and will have to take more risk with the purchase, but I think you can still make good deals. Research well, and ask the seller all your questions before making payment.
Good luck.
Testing the laptop
First impressions
Now that the laptop purchase is done, it’s very important to test the device to know if everything is in order and to find out whether you’ll have to make a scammer seller’s life miserable (let’s hope not).
The first thing to check is the device’s physical condition: look at everything, including the keyboard, ports (USB, headphone, etc.), and whether it looks heavily scratched. Pay attention if the keys seem crooked or recessed, if the ports are missing pins — look closely at everything.
Once we’ve ensured the laptop is in good condition, we can talk about the charger. Check if the cable isn’t fraying, if the connector pin is bent, and if it charges the machine — this is definitely the most important part, since a charger that doesn’t charge makes no sense, right?
BIOS
- Check if any password is set (preferably it is not).
- Find the Computrace setting (it should be disabled).
Ports
Test all the laptop’s inputs — USB, Ethernet, etc. — to confirm they all respond.
Keyboard and screen
Open a text editor and test every key to ensure they work correctly.
Put several solid-color images (blue, red, green, etc.) on a USB drive to see if the screen shows any defects.
Battery
The simplest way to test the battery is to unplug the laptop and see how it behaves when it’s not receiving charge.
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A more detailed way to check this on Windows is to open the command prompt and type:
powercfg /batteryreportThis command will generate a battery report for the laptop.
To calculate battery health:
Full charge capacity / Design capacity * 100
RAM
To run tests I’ll use memtest86+, which is an open-source tool focused on this.
Just put the tool on a bootable USB drive and run the test — it takes a while but it’s part of the process.
There are some GPU tests but I didn’t do them, bye, xoxo.
Dual boot with Windows and Debian
Since I bought this laptop I wanted to have Linux and Windows on different SSDs, so after months of saving money I finally bought a new SSD.
(image of the day I installed the SSD)
The SSD is from GoldenFir; I looked for one that was affordable and well-rated, and that was it.
One thing I wanted to do before installing Linux on the other SSD was to allocate the partition that previously held my Debian to the Windows partition, which for some reason I couldn’t do, but this video helped me:
How to extend drive C without deleting the recovery partition | Recovery partition in the middle!
After solving that, just put the distro on a USB drive, install from the USB, and select the disk where the system will be installed.
No mystery.
Optimizing Windows
I want to show everything I did to try to make my Windows less bad.
Installing without connecting to a Microsoft account
The first thing is during Windows installation: we need to run two specific commands so we’re not forced to sign in with a Microsoft account.
If you want a more detailed explanation, see this video:
But basically, at the country selection screen:
- Use the shortcut keys Shift + F10 to open the command prompt;
- Type OOBE\BYPASSNRO at the prompt and press Enter;
- It will restart and return to the same page;
- Open the prompt again with Shift + F10;
- And type ipconfig /release.
If you followed these steps, the next step Windows will require an internet connection and continue with a limited installation. Remember to uncheck all those permission junk options that appear — nobody needs that many permissions.
Done — you now have Windows without a Microsoft account.
Group policy configuration
This part was the most tedious by far — my goodness, terrible.
In this ET video he provides a PDF with many screenshots of the settings he uses in Group Policy. Could I read everything to understand it? I could, but honestly I was too lazy, so I just copied his config.
I CAN ONLY USE WINDOWS 11 LIKE THIS! INSTALLING AND OPTIMIZING WINDOWS
It’s also a good idea to disable memory compression if you have 16 GB of RAM or more, since it’s kind of useless — open PowerShell as administrator and run:
Disable-MMAgent -mcThe Ultimate Windows Utility
This tool is well known so I won’t go on much; here’s the command to access it:
irm christitus.com/win | iexThere’s not much mystery: go to the essential tweaks section and select the standard option. There are many other advanced settings to do, so it’s worth reading the documentation before doing something risky.
🤯I made MY WINDOWS ‘LIGHT’ with ONE SCRIPT! (WinUtil)
Final
I didn’t see much need to optimize Linux since it’s already pretty clean, but if over time my Debian becomes sluggish I’ll make content showing how to optimize it.
I hope this content helped you — if you liked it engage with it (like, comment, and share).
That’s it, thanks.
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