Background: I use this 11e I picked up off of Amazon's refurbished section back in 2019, intending to use it as a more durable replacement for when I went into the Peace Corps. It works great at home and fills all of my very casual computer needs. Currently my parent's computer is frustratingly slow for them and I'm thinking I can format this for them to use if/when I upgrade to a more durable and travel friendly option. I'm at home for the winter after travelling without a laptop all summer, so upgrading now would only benefit my parents being gifted this laptop. Otherwise, upgrading and looking into this is just me occupying myself while I'm at home. If there's advantages to waiting until I purchase another laptop, please let me know! At the longest, I think I won't need it until the Peace Corps restarts and sends me out, which may be up to 1-2 years from now. At the earliest, a part of me wants to start backpacking or bicycling Eastern Europe next spring. Time will tell.

Intended use: I want to travel with this, for short term trips up to digital nomadism. For me this means bike touring, travel backpacking (and hiking, to a much lesser extent), and daily use in a developing country (ie Peace Corps conditions). This means it will hopefully be rattling in a bike pannier for months at a time and run the gamut of humidity, dust, dirt, etc. Be in a backpack that will likely be tossed between buses and trains all day long, and so on. I know much of this will come down to how I protect and care for the laptop, but durability has led me to Thinkpad laptops, and size/weight has brought me to the X series. Any other recommendations (including to keep and use the 11e for this) are welcome.

Actual uses for the computer are pretty tame. It'll mostly be general web browsing, a lot of writing, running a blog, movies/streaming. I think the most intensive use it could have is photo editing, although this is still a hobby that's on my "want to learn" list. Possibly video chats for online tutoring, connecting with home, etc. There's a slim chance I'd want to do some video editing, but nothing too crazy. For booking tickets and doing research, etc. I do like my tabs, having 70 open at a time isn't unusual for me if that matters much.

Priorities, in some particular but not very strict order:

Durability - see above. I hope to put this through the wringer if all goes well. Are certain models or series more known for this? Less known for it? How equal are all thinkpads created.

Size and weight - Weight is important, as it'll always be on my back. Less than 3 pounds ideally, lower the better. Size, I'm comfortable with my 11e and anything smaller or thinner would be a plus.

Battery life - This is where my 11e flunks the most. I can maybe get 2-ish hours out of it. The higher the better here, especially because I'd expect to need it to last through power outages and unreliable electricity that's often seen in rural developing countries (as in, you know it, Peace Corps). Also it would be very nice not to be always tethered to a socket when I'm trying to find a place to work in random cafes. It looks like some of the thinkpads can go above 10 hours? That would be dreamy, relatively. I also see hot-swappable batteries are an option on some of them?

Cost - This priority is two-fold. First, I'm not on a crazy high budget. 200ish would be ideal, a good deal for less would be very nice, and 400 is probably the highest I can go unless there's a convincing argument. Refurbished and used options have treated me well so far, which is helpful, and I've been wanting to play with linux setups, so I wouldn't mind ones that don't come with an OS. Actually, that or a Windows 7 option is probably preferred.

Secondly, the weirder part of the cost priority, is that I'm not looking for anything so expensive I break my heart if its stolen, damaged, etc, and I can't reasonably replace it within my travel budget. I treat my gear well enough, and I do care for it, but I don't want to care about it. I don't like being so attached to anything that it's not functionally replaceable without concern, at least for this type of use. At home would a different situation.

Access to self repair, parts, upgradability, and/or janky repair shops - I don't have a super specific explanation for this one. I'm comfortable following some tutorials for self repairing and digging through maintenance manuals. The ability to upgrade and replace most parts seems important, but I don't know how similar or different thinkpad series are in this respect.

Other questions and notes:

Buying now versus later - Do the considerations of lifespan and price vary so much that it would make a significant difference if I buy it now or wait until I have the immediate use? I don't think the range of uses I intend for will change that much, but

Lifespan - This is more of a curiosity. I'm seeing a lot of the used and refurbished thinkpads are already years old, sometimes a decade old (I think, could be wrong). How long are you all getting out of these computers? How long, roughly, should I expect? How much should I prioritize or be concerned with upgradability and futureproofing?

New versus used, and generation age - I entirely expect to buy used for this, considering my cost priorities and also that the older models appear to fit my needs a lot better without a difference in weight. Are there benefits or things I'm overlooking for buying newer versions? How much should I be concerned about the laptop's generation? Is there a general age range I should stay within? I'm especially curious because I see some older first and second generation X1 Carbons for less than higher generation x270's, as repeated below.

Screen - As you might be able to tell, I'm hoping to use this in a lot of conditions, and particularly outside. Are there screen types that are more made for this? Is the difference so much that I should deep dive into it? Any other solutions or tips y'all have for it?

Sim Card/WWAN - I see some of these have sim card options, which sounds mighty useful to have for my intended use. Is there a good way to tell if used//refurbished options have this installed? I've seen some mixed results for people using that on linux systems, anybody have experience with that? I'm sure that would be a separate post whenever I'm actually setting it up.

X270, X280, and others - My initial searching led me to the x280, and the USB C charger seems ideal (one less cord and charging block to carry is a nice plus). the x270 looks nice with battery life, and I haven't dove too deep into other options in the 200's series, or other series. What are other major pros/cons/differences/series/models that I'm overlooking? I'm especially curious because I see some older first and second generation X1 Carbons for less than higher generation x270's. How significant is this difference?

As you can probably tell, I'm also looking for any blind spots in my priorities and what I'm looking for, so any and all advice is very welcome! Including on other brands and options that you know of. Seeing this post in full, I may be other thinking a lot, but I'm considering you all the experts and honestly, I get a lot of enjoyment of fine tuning travel gear like this, hahaha.