In November 2023 I, almost impulsively, purchased an IBM ThinkPad x60 Tablet, a laptop that was released exactly 17 years earlier. I have been using it since then nearly on a day-to-day basis. Here are my thoughts.
The main downside of this laptop is not really the old hardware, but the fact that the CPU architecture is i686. This means you're confined to using 32-bit operating systems and software, which have started to disappear for a while now. Let's take Anki for example. Anki is a great flashcard program that uses spaced repetition systems to help the user better memorize information. I can not use Anki on GNU/Linux operating systems as the latest version of Anki (Version 2.1.15) is not compatible with the new timezone handling system implemented into newer versions of Anki, require to synchronize one's collection with other devices. In order to use Anki on this computer I have to have a Windows 7 installation with a more modern version (Version 2.1.35-alternate) of Anki that does support the new timezone handling, yet lacks some newer features.
Another bummer is that some GNU/Linux distributions do not support 32-bit architectures, Take Arch Linux for example, while it may not be my distribution of choice, it no longer officially supports 32-bit.
For me, this x60 is a perfectly usable computer. I don't do any heavy tasks and this laptop behaves well. Then again, I use almost exclusively "minimalist" and unusual software (i.e I use LaTeX instead of a mainstream word processor like Microsoft Word).