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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

#151

Post by yourapostasy »

mattarm wrote: post #87
yourapostasy wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s likely more a function of the OS’ “It Just Works” factor than the hardware, and Apple’s grasp upon that factor is increasingly fragmenting and growing more tenuous because mobile form factor products and profits have taken leadership focus off of the overall product ecosystem experience. The ascendancy of Macs in technical staff ranks commenced simultaneously with the ascendancy of Linux in the datacenter. The…

> That’s likely more a function of the OS’ “It Just Works” factor than the hardware... That is exactly my observation. When the good power Mac laptops came out a lot of my ThinkPad Linux laptop using co-workers jumped ship. Number one reason stated: battery life. Number two reason stated: suspend works reliably. Number three: it is POSIX/UNIX-ish enough that it is familiar and I can do my job.

> …and I can do my job.

Apple came close to capturing developer mindset at that time. Carting around a Unix workstation in a laptop, and if you spent the money to max out its memory, be able to simultaneously emulate a small Windows laptop at that time was a game changer for those who could leverage that kind of power.

Unfortunately Intel started slipping and Apple couldn’t really push laptop boundaries as much soon after.

Apple’s new architecture opens up that possibility again by decoupling from Intel, but I’m not sure Cook’s vision sees the advantages of a 128GB RAM MacBook Pro.

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

#152

Post by JonChesterfield »

heeen2 wrote: post #112
MeltedVoltage wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have found that it is often dust in the port that makes them feel loose. Cleaning them with a little brush (like the ones that come with an electric shaver) made a lot of difference for me.

The port on my phone started to feel loose to the point where charging became an issue. The dust and lint was compressed so much that nothing short of a steel needle helped.

You can get a small magnetic adapter that plugs into the port, then a corresponding charging lead with a magnet on the end connects to that. This is easier to plug in while not looking (e.g. driving) and has the side effect that the port doesn't fill up with lint since it has the magnetic plug thing in it all the time.

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

#153

Post by abudabi123 »

Sometimes you see mentioned limited runs on certain Thinkpad models where the insides can all be upgraded to more current performance levels. I'd love to be able to ship my Thinkpad somewhere and I get to choose the not Intel/AMD CPUx86, rom based OS genode/sel4, Plan 9 Legacy OS userspace environment for recreational programming Emacs CL.

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

#154

Post by rjh29 »

jagger27 wrote: post #148
rjh29 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mechanical keyboard types presumably can't use any laptop keyboard without feeling ill and needing to lie down for a while. The Thinkpad keyboard provides a great typing experience for 99% of people.

Not sure what prompted that kind of snide response. I think most ThinkPad keyboards are lovely to use. All I pointed out is that millimetres and fractions of millimetres are very easy to detect and that the travel difference between the most fancy mechanical switch and even the maligned butterfly switch is only about 3mm. That is to say that travel distance is not the most important metric in what makes a keyboard ni…

It was snide, I apologise. I just found it weird to compare laptop keyboards to mechanical switches since they're never going to be in the same ballpark.

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

#155

Post by lproven »

rjh29 wrote: post #154
jagger27 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure what prompted that kind of snide response. I think most ThinkPad keyboards are lovely to use. All I pointed out is that millimetres and fractions of millimetres are very easy to detect and that the travel difference between the most fancy mechanical switch and even the maligned butterfly switch is only about 3mm. That is to say that travel distance is not the most important metric in what makes a keyboard ni…

It was snide, I apologise. I just found it weird to compare laptop keyboards to mechanical switches since they're never going to be in the same ballpark.

Why not?

Why not laptops with mechanical keyboards again? It was basically 100% of laptops from the 1990s for a decade or two.

Is choice a bad thing? We can choose OS, we can choose editors and desktops and so on... but if you want a portable computer with 1cm of key travel and a click: well, it sucks to be you, so GTFO and STFU.

I detest chiclet keyboards. At some point soon all my decade-old Thinkpads will wear out and everything newer, including Thinkpads, is nasty thin-and-light plastic junk.

To quote my favourite Tumblr post ever:

https://canadiangold.tumblr.com/post/675666527469568000/i-do...

« I don’t WANT my laptop to be the Thinnest Model Yet

I want a battery that will outlast the sun, a screen big enough to blind the person behind me, more USB slots than there are apple fanboys in the bay area, a fucking disc reader/writer.

[...]

I will pay extra for it to be heavy enough to bludgeon someone to death. »

Even the optical drive is negotiable, TBH. But the drive bay would be handy. Give me both SATA and NVMe for a honking great spinning disk.

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

#157

Post by lproven »

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…

I think you're getting your models muddled.

The X200 has no trackpad.

The X220 has one as well as its trackpoint.

Both have been called "the best laptop ever made". I have both. Both are good, but the 220 is more flexible and for me 100% usable today.

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

#158

Post by lproven »

elvis70 wrote: post #33

I just resurrected my old T410 from 2010 which had a "FAN ERROR" at boot. I just unscrewed and screwed back a screw that was attaching the fan, I guess, and it went back as on the first day. My T60 from 2007 never had a problem and is still kicking.

Interesting. I must try that. My X200, W500 and T61 all give fan errors.

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

#160

Post by samatman »

rejectfinite wrote: post #111
samatman wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>Extendability was valuable when RAM and hard drives got cheaper faster than CPUs As someone who runs local VMs on Windows, this is still true. I would like 32GB RAM and 1-2TB SSD storage locally. >It's not surprising to see normal coders using a machine that just gets out of the way. Tinkpads still do this? My first is my work machine, a T490s about 2 years old? I haven't done anything to the hardware itself. No rep…

Fortunately, we don't need to explain why no one is buying ThinkPads, because people still are. My laptop is specced at 64GB and 4TB, fwiw.

I'm content with explaining why they aren't as popular, since they so clearly remain a good choice for a smaller group of developers. I don't know anyone using a ThinkPad who isn't enthusiastic about it.

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