>>1069489 (OP)
I swallowed the libre-meme whole.
Have a x200 (IPS panel, LED Mod) and T500 (with modded quad-core QX9300, 1200p panel, LED mod, dual battery).
The GM45 generation of laptops have great support all around, even the dead intel branch for hardware decoded H.264 is being kept alive. So from that side, it's totally fine.
1080p videos run great even without hardware decode, games from the era of RTWC run 60fps. Played through RTCW on these laptops.
Cannot recommend it enough, a SSD is a must though, so 50 bucks won't do it. Also please don't confuse it with the x200s and get the 2.5ghz CPU. The Batteries in the laptops you buy second hand are usually 50% capacity. All the after market ones are crap, all of them. The big capacity originals cost 80$ plus shipping. So again, there is a bit more cost involved.
Lastly, everyone has the 65W power bricks. If you remove the battery and use only the power brick, then the CPU down clocks to it's minimum. You gotta get the more powerful power brick for proper no battery action, this threw me off the first time.