I have an old ThinkPad T42 coming my way. I plan to use it alongside my daily driver mainly for reading, emacs, and retro gaming. I will be dual booting a lightweight flavour of Linux (TBD) and Windows 98 on it.
However, I am a bit concerned about its ability to handle today's internet, with all of its heavy websites.
I would love to hear from those of you who are still using old ThinkPads (or other vintage laptops) in 2024. How do you make it work? Do you use lightweight browsers, specific configurations, or lightweight websites to get around the limitations of older hardware?
Are there any specific tips or tricks you can share for getting the most out of an old ThinkPad on the modern web?
Looking forward to hearing about your experiences!
You should not be using that computer on the modern internet. I mean, you can but it will not work well. Windows 98 should not be used on the web at all.
Linux should be fine but hard pass on unsupported Windows versions.
No web browser is even going to support modern https versions so you'll be safe.
Also malware is targeting modern machines, not old crusty ones so you'll have security through obscurity on your side.