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ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

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Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#71

Post by calvinmorrison »

jeffbee wrote: post #40
JamesAdir wrote: post #3

My Thinkpad X220 still going strong, and I miss a computer I can open up, replace or upgrade what's needed in an easy way. The form factor is good enough and I don't need or want this inch thin laptops just because one company decided it's suits them and fashionable. Unfortunately Lenovo doesn't really keep the brand and in the gazillion models they have on stock, there isn't one that can replace my X220 in convenien…

The X220 was for many long-time ThinkPad users the last good one. It had real keycaps and no trackpad. Too bad about the display, since the X220 was during the era that Lenovo was gaslighting buyers about how IPS panels simply could not be procured on the open market, right before Apple showed them to be liars. The X220 display is truly ghastly. Like some other X-series enthusiasts I consider the X61 Tablet with the…

This is probably my biggest pain point with my X220. 1366x768 isn't enough!

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#72

Post by samatman »

Beta-7 wrote: post #16

It's interesting how the ThinkPads used to be the tech person's™ laptop of choice because of their repairability and extendability, but nowadays most tech people (at least in the professional setting) are using Apple's MacBooks which are the opposite when it comes to repairability and extendability.

I think it's simply that the advantages of either of those features have become less compelling.

No one actually wants to repair their computer, although it's nice in the abstract for repair to be easy when it's necessary. I value reliability quite a bit, which is why I was unwilling to buy a second laptop with butterfly switches, lucky for me Apple didn't force me to make a hard decision. I also value being able to bring a broken machine to trained professionals, with the expectation that they'll repair it.

Fixing a broken laptop interests me about as much as fixing a broken toaster oven.

Extendability was valuable when RAM and hard drives got cheaper faster than CPUs. It's still frugal, at least, to get just a little of each, and pay market rate for the upgrade, rather than the Apple rate.

This is something I've also stopped caring about. It's just easier to get the machine I expect to need up front. When I want more machine, used MacBooks have a robust market, so I get a new one and sell the old one.

I enjoy soldering and wiring up little hacker machines, though I'm not good at it, but that's a hobby. It's emphatically not something I want to do in order to resume my professional work.

There's still a whole swathe of ThinkPad users who like the interface, use 'exotic' ports, are maintaining old motherboards which work fine for them, more power to them. It's not surprising to see normal coders using a machine that just gets out of the way.

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#73

Post by samatman »

gruez wrote: post #19
Beta-7 wrote: post #16

It's interesting how the ThinkPads used to be the tech person's™ laptop of choice because of their repairability and extendability, but nowadays most tech people (at least in the professional setting) are using Apple's MacBooks which are the opposite when it comes to repairability and extendability.

Sounds like the demographic of "tech person" changed. It used to be mostly hardliners back in the days of the thinkpad, but now it's filled with moderates who don't really feel too strongly about repairability and extendability.

I was around in the heyday of the ThinkPad, and this is (mostly) backward.

It was always the standard kit of the stereotypical scruffy Linux hacker, but it was mostly just a really good laptop. The connoisseur's choice, reliable, repairable, and IBM would come to you and fix it on the desk if you paid them.

A lot of that demographic have switched to MacBooks or one of the many ultrabook-type laptops of a similar design language, and what's left is the crew who valued the ability to hack on the machine.

They were always there, but they're most of what's left.

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#74

Post by boppo1 »

squarefoot wrote: post #61
scrlk wrote: post #24

Sadly they don't make them like they used to. Keyboards and repairability comes to mind. I don't mind the chiclet keycaps, but Lenovo really ruined the keyboard when they went from the 7 row layout [0] to the current 6 row layout [1]. Each new generation of ThinkPad reduces the travel distance of the keyboard - they've gone from 2.5 mm in the T420 (2011) to 1.5 mm in the T14 G3 (2022). 1 mm doesn't sound like on pape…

> I don't understand why Lenovo doesn't add an extra 1 mm to the thickness of their laptops, at least it would restore the reputation for typing feel on ThinkPads. Because, after years of advertising made by designers and not by technical people, for most potential buyers more thin = more modern so to remain in the game they have to adapt to the most idiotic trend today: make devices thin as credit cards no matter ho…

all they gotta do is make an ad like this:

person sits down at new thinkpad laptop

"It's so... thicc"

Narrator: we added an extra millimeter...

starts clacking on the keys and makes an O-face

*...for your pleasure."

the market is absolutely out there, zoomers love their mechanical keyboards.

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#75

Post by jagger27 »

scrlk wrote: post #24

Sadly they don't make them like they used to. Keyboards and repairability comes to mind. I don't mind the chiclet keycaps, but Lenovo really ruined the keyboard when they went from the 7 row layout [0] to the current 6 row layout [1]. Each new generation of ThinkPad reduces the travel distance of the keyboard - they've gone from 2.5 mm in the T420 (2011) to 1.5 mm in the T14 G3 (2022). 1 mm doesn't sound like on pape…

> they've gone from 2.5 mm in the T420 (2011) to 1.5 mm in the T14 G3 (2022). 1 mm doesn't sound like on paper, but you immediately notice the difference if you switch between them

Absolutely correct. For context, typical Cherry MX mechanical keyboard switches have a total travel around 4mm. We’re very sensitive to switch height.

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#76

Post by boppo1 »

jeffbee wrote: post #40
JamesAdir wrote: post #3

My Thinkpad X220 still going strong, and I miss a computer I can open up, replace or upgrade what's needed in an easy way. The form factor is good enough and I don't need or want this inch thin laptops just because one company decided it's suits them and fashionable. Unfortunately Lenovo doesn't really keep the brand and in the gazillion models they have on stock, there isn't one that can replace my X220 in convenien…

The X220 was for many long-time ThinkPad users the last good one. It had real keycaps and no trackpad. Too bad about the display, since the X220 was during the era that Lenovo was gaslighting buyers about how IPS panels simply could not be procured on the open market, right before Apple showed them to be liars. The X220 display is truly ghastly. Like some other X-series enthusiasts I consider the X61 Tablet with the…

the x220 has a trackpad, but it's kind of an afterthought. It's disabled on my machine.

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#77

Post by mhb »

JamesAdir wrote: post #3

My Thinkpad X220 still going strong, and I miss a computer I can open up, replace or upgrade what's needed in an easy way. The form factor is good enough and I don't need or want this inch thin laptops just because one company decided it's suits them and fashionable. Unfortunately Lenovo doesn't really keep the brand and in the gazillion models they have on stock, there isn't one that can replace my X220 in convenien…

I got an X1 about a year ago because I thought it would be a satisfactory replacement for an X220. The screen, sound and battery life are definitely big improvements, but the Trackpoint never worked well and the ridiculously thin keyboard was a real disappointment. When a few keys stopped working (after ~ 1 year), I improvised with a wireless Mac keyboard. It would be nice to get the keyboard working but it looks like that involves many tricky steps and very tiny screws and I resent having to fix something that is not pleasing to begin with.

I realized that the X1's great display, battery life and keyboard didn't make me as happy as the X220's amazing keyboard and operational Trackpoint. So I found a replacement battery which looked like it wouldn't catch on fire and I'm back to the X220. My new adventure is figuring out how to move Office 2019 from the old computer to the new one.

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#78

Post by zen_1 »

neilv wrote: post #67
zen_1 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=t43p+fan Looks like there are still some replacements kicking around. I've never seen a computer fan be repaired, and it seems the bearings all tend to fail eventually.

I've had good luck with the ThinkPad fans from eBay. A few tips to anyone doing the replacement: * Find the PDF of the ThinkPad Hardware Maintenance Manual (HMM) for your model. This will give valuable step-by-step instructions for disassembling the parts that you need to, and not the parts you don't. * Just buy the fan part, not the whole heatsink+fan assembly, even if the HMM tells you that the FRU is the assembly.…

Ebay has been great for thinkpad parts in general (I've replaced keyboards, screens and trackpads) as well as fans for other laptop models.

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#79

Post by JamesAdir »

squarefoot wrote: post #61
scrlk wrote: post #24

Sadly they don't make them like they used to. Keyboards and repairability comes to mind. I don't mind the chiclet keycaps, but Lenovo really ruined the keyboard when they went from the 7 row layout [0] to the current 6 row layout [1]. Each new generation of ThinkPad reduces the travel distance of the keyboard - they've gone from 2.5 mm in the T420 (2011) to 1.5 mm in the T14 G3 (2022). 1 mm doesn't sound like on pape…

> I don't understand why Lenovo doesn't add an extra 1 mm to the thickness of their laptops, at least it would restore the reputation for typing feel on ThinkPads. Because, after years of advertising made by designers and not by technical people, for most potential buyers more thin = more modern so to remain in the game they have to adapt to the most idiotic trend today: make devices thin as credit cards no matter ho…

One marketing campaign can change it in no time. Maybe not for the entire industry but certainly for Lenovo.

Re: ThinkPad’s 30th Anniversary: An Insider’s Perspective

#80

Post by rhn_mk1 »

causi wrote: post #20
jtwaleson wrote: post #8

I’ve been a bit of a Thinkpad fanatic ever since my dad got a T42p somewhere in 2004. I have been on Thinkpads since 2006. I bought old ones on eBay and now have a collection of about 15 machines. The 700c, two butterfly keyboard 701cs, the 240 and a lot more. I’m currently on a T495s. From my experience I can say that the “old IBM machines were reliable and well constructed” is not true. They were bulky and over tim…

Separate mouse buttons are such a better experience than a clickpad, though. It's enough I always 3D-print some button overlays for my laptops.

Are your designs available somewhere?
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