Once upon a time, I had a loyal ThinkPad T470.
Specs?
💻 i5-6300U
🧠 16 GB RAM
💾 ADATA LEGEND 710 512GB on a M.2-to-SATA adapter (because native M.2 wasn’t a thing, and yes, no screw, classic ThinkPad moment).
Still, it worked - barely held together, but it did.
Then, after one of those nights, the ThinkPad decided it had enough.
No power, no signs of life. Just... silence.
Enter: a new hope.
🖥️ HP ZBook 15 G6
💪 i7-9850H
🧠 32 GB RAM
🎮 NVIDIA Quadro T2000 Max-Q
⚡ WD BLACK 512GB NVMe
💸 1699 zł (~$465), bought via Allegro Smart from Malanet.
It arrived, it booted, everything looked good.
Until...
I tried installing Arch Linux (of course),
but the BIOS was locked down like a government server.
Secure Boot enabled, BIOS options greyed out, no way to disable anything.
And I had no chip flasher, no mood for soldering.
So I messaged Malanet.
They said:
"Ship it back, we’ll unlock it for free. We’ll cover shipping both ways."
📦 I sent it.
2 days later - it returned.
But then...
🤡 No SSD.
The WD BLACK? Gone.
Just a sad, empty M.2 slot.
No big deal.
I grabbed the ADATA from the dead ThinkPad,
unscrewed a random screw from its motherboard (because yes, it fit),
slotted it into the ZBook, and installed Arch Linux like it was nothing.
Then I contacted Malanet:
"Hey, your SSD didn’t make it back."
They replied:
"Whoops, sending it now."
2 days later, InPost delivered again.
They used a regular small parcel instead of a mini one -
💸 InPost got that extra 5 zł (~1.20 USD) for no reason.
While installing it, I discovered something magical:
💡 "WAIT… there’s a second M.2 slot?!"
Boom.
✨ DUAL SSD MODE ACTIVATED ✨
ADATA for Arch Linux.
WD BLACK for whatever else I want.
And yes, the ThinkPad screw is still holding strong.
Big thanks to Malanet for BIOS unlock + SSD fix.
Shoutout to InPost for delivering my packages without crashing them lol.
And eternal respect to the ThinkPad screw, still doing its job in a completely different machine.