From what I gather it might be the best way for me going forward to have a new PC. I see them as low as $150 on amazon that come with windows so I'd have to nuke the SSD and install something like Mint on it instead.
Maybe we can get a fundraiser going for me so I can finally get a new laptop and put this 12 year old piece of junk to bed.
I bought a refurbished T480 for $200 back in March and installed Debian on it.
As a work laptop I use to console into servers, a second screen I watch youtube videos on, and something I take with me when I travel, it exceeds all of my basic computing requirements and I'd say it's definitely worth the money.
However it hasn't been a completely smooth experience. My Trackpoint has never worked, the trackpad sometimes doesn't wake up when I open the lid, and the laptop sometimes hangs and can only be saved by a hard reboot. Considering the performance I get 99% of the time I'm using it, it's a totally acceptable level of jank for the price point.