I would like to buy myself a second hand and install Linux on it. I was looking into ThinkPad T14 gen1 or gen2 devices because of their maintainability and repairability. I found one where I live with a Ryzen processor but it has the wrong keyboard. How easy and expensive would it be to swap this with US English? Are there any good alternatives to the ThinkPads? I fancy the X1 but don’t like the fact that I cannot change or swap anything on it. The T14 looks very bulky and unattractive but at least can have the RAM upgraded and the battery changed.
I fancy the Framework laptops, but don’t want to spend so much on a laptop. Especially the latest 16 inch with Ryzen AI CPUs.
The T14 G1 is at least cheap, like 350€ with the 400 nits low power display and the battery is at 99%. I guess with tlp installed and autocpugfreq I can get 5-6 hours out of it.
On the T14 (not T14s) it is easy. See https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/videos/nvid500443-replacing-your-keyboard-thinkpad-t14-and-p14s-gen-1-and-2-customer-self-service
Seems to be available from ~30USD https://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Keyboard-5N20V44072-5N20V43774-5N20X68864/dp/B0B3RV3LK5
ifixit has genuine parts for ~75USD https://www.ifixit.com/products/5n20v44072-lenovo-laptop-keyboard-genuine