This is almost true... except for the RAM part... have atleast 8GB of RAM if you are doing programming....
Regarding thinkpad laptops...
thinkpad T420/520, T430/530, T440p/540p are the best options. you can find them below 200USD on ebay...
DO NOT buy T420s, T430s, T440 and T440s.. They come with ULV CPUs which lacks the performace...
You can upgrade the RAM upto 16GB.... also you can upgrade the CPU(processor) to a quad core CPU...
ADD a SSD and you have a laptop with great performance that does not break the bank....
A Thinkpad T440p/T540p/W540/W541 with a 4930mx/4940mx CPU has the same performance as a 8th gen i7 8565u CPU...
Also W520, W530, W540/W541(W stands for workstation) are great machines... RAM can be upgraded to 32GB in W series laptops....Has NVIDIA quadro graphics .... but they are expensive....
These machines are built like tanks... They have excellent build quality......
Most of these stands for thinkpad L series except for the build quality.... they are not as good s T series or W series but still better than most of the consumer series laptops...
I managed to get a thinkpad T540p with 16GB of RAM for 197USD, thinkpad L430 with 8GB of RAM for 50 USD, thinkpad T420 for 41 USD from ebay... (excluding shipping and import taxes)..all of them came with i5 processors...
The T540p was like an unused new machine...
The L430 had some little cosmetic wear....
The T420 has some noticable cosmatic wear(does not affect the performace) .... and came with a bad keyboard... I managed to find a good used keyboard for Rs 2000...
If you are planning to buy one, refer the below link... It has some great information that you won't find elsewhere....
https://www.truefla.me/free-stuff/used-thinkpad-buyers-guide