[anddt]

Currently using a T490s (win-based on WSL, work machine) and a T480s (Fedora, upgraded to 24gb ram) for personal projects and they're both fine machines. The T480s runs a bit cooler after a repaste than the T490s but I'd say they can handle fine whatever I throw at them.

[ihateolives]

Sure, but both are older models and have (T480s) roughly half the performance of M1 base model. For some things (in Photoshop/Lr) the difference is even greater.

[anddt]

Yes, both machines are not too recent (by now I'd expect to find them for cheap on ebay) but they support my workloads more than well. I work in ML and they're fine for general Python programming and exploratory data analysis. I spin a VM for anything that requires more memory/threads.

I'd would probably buy a beefier laptop from Tuxedo Computers or Slimbook if I needed more performances hoping to win the Clevo/Tongfang QC lottery (my T480s was fairly expensive in Italy 3/4 years ago).

So I guess that it ultimately boils down to the type of workload that OP deals with.

edit: poor grammar

[kramerger]

People specifically prefer older Lenovos for other reasons than raw performance (cost, keyboard, max ram, Linux support, ...).