Bluetooth works great. Debian w/ XFCE (pulseaudio). But, there is some config on a fresh install:

# apt install blueman pulseaudio-module-bluetooth  

# nano /etc/pulse/default.pa  
add:  
load-module module-switch-on-connect  

# nano /etc/bluetooth/input.conf  
change:  
IdleTimeout=0  

Always wipe and do a fresh install. If you’re installing Linux, its unlikely that the refurbisher will have installed your flavour of Linux anyway. If you want to dual-boot with Windows, most business ThinkPads come with a Windows Pro licence - just download the ISO and install it fresh, then install Linux.

Refurbished ThinkPads are awesome!

• Availability - ThinkPads are very popular in corporate environments and are generally replaced every 2-3 years. Although mostly Intel CPUs, there is a wide variety CPU+GPU available from lightweight to high performance.
• Tough + well built + last forever
• Easy to upgrade/repair. They’re very user-accessible and its simple to upgrade RAM or SSD/M.2 drives. Plus, because they are so popular in the corporate environment, replacement parts (from batteries to WiFi+Bluetooth chipsets to trckpads) are very available and cheap.
• Well supported in most (if not all) linux distros. Graphics just work, trackpads just work, WiFi just works.
• Cheap.

Sent from my ThinkPad T580 (with both an internal and removable battery, I get 10+ hours of battery life)

You’re right! We need more cowbell Debian. I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is Debian!

I’m currently using a T580 (i5-8350U). The refurb model cost me $440CAD. It has a 15.6" screen, backlit keyboard, came with a 512GB NVMe drive and 16GB of RAM. It charges with a 65 watt USB-C cable. It also has dual batteries (one is internal, the other is hot-swappable) and together give me 10-14 hours.

I’ve been using it for 8 months now and its been absolutely fantastic and no laggy performance or thermal issues. Zero driver issues on install. I run Debian/XFCE.