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How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

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Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#31

Post by agumonkey »

706f6f70 wrote: post #4

I'm amazed that there is no mention of the sheer repairability of these devices. I don't think I will ever encounter a laptop line that is generally so user-accessible. A couple of regular screws and you pop the case. A few more and you can replace the entire keyboard. The hard drive was held in by a single screw in most models and you could easily swap it in without even popping the entire case. The RAM had it's own…

~repairability, don't forget that IBM software support processes caused some things to be near impossible hard. Like swapping drives or wifi chips.

Other than that they're quite neat.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#32

Post by _emacsomancer_ »

8draco8 wrote: post #6
706f6f70 wrote: post #4

I'm amazed that there is no mention of the sheer repairability of these devices. I don't think I will ever encounter a laptop line that is generally so user-accessible. A couple of regular screws and you pop the case. A few more and you can replace the entire keyboard. The hard drive was held in by a single screw in most models and you could easily swap it in without even popping the entire case. The RAM had it's own…

Unfortunately they are going away from that. X280 the same as X1 series do not have easily swapable battery (you can still replace it but you have to get inside of the machine). X280 also don't have Ethernet port even tho there is a room for it. They are replacing SD card readers for useless microSD card readers. X280 have also soldered RAM with no expansion slot. Thinkpads was and to some extend still are great mach…

And presumably that unfortunate trend will continue. Unless enough of their big business customers protest loudly, and I don't know to what degree such customers still care about these things.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#33

Post by rchaud »

706f6f70 wrote: post #4

I'm amazed that there is no mention of the sheer repairability of these devices. I don't think I will ever encounter a laptop line that is generally so user-accessible. A couple of regular screws and you pop the case. A few more and you can replace the entire keyboard. The hard drive was held in by a single screw in most models and you could easily swap it in without even popping the entire case. The RAM had it's own…

Regarding repairability, the mid-2000s Dell Latitude line (D600, D620, D630 etc) had similar repairability as well. I worked at my college's IT helpdesk back then and the repairs were easy to make for even student employees whose only reference points were the Dell Service Manual and a couple of training sessions.

I am curious to know if that is still the case.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#34

Post by lorenzhs »

8draco8 wrote: post #6
706f6f70 wrote: post #4

I'm amazed that there is no mention of the sheer repairability of these devices. I don't think I will ever encounter a laptop line that is generally so user-accessible. A couple of regular screws and you pop the case. A few more and you can replace the entire keyboard. The hard drive was held in by a single screw in most models and you could easily swap it in without even popping the entire case. The RAM had it's own…

Unfortunately they are going away from that. X280 the same as X1 series do not have easily swapable battery (you can still replace it but you have to get inside of the machine). X280 also don't have Ethernet port even tho there is a room for it. They are replacing SD card readers for useless microSD card readers. X280 have also soldered RAM with no expansion slot. Thinkpads was and to some extend still are great mach…

It's a compromise. You can still get a T480, which does all the things you list afaik. But I'm glad that I can also get an X1 Carbon, which is much thinner and lighter. These things aren't achievable without making some compromises. And for how integrated they are, they're still incredibly repairable. Here's the hardware maintenance manual for mine (X1 Carbon 5, last year's model): https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/x1_carbon_5th.... It includes instructions how to replace virtually every part in the machine. Broken screen? Fried mainboard? Broken TrackPoint? This is how you replace it.

The more annoying change (imho) is how hard it's become to replace the keyboard. That used to be really easy, remove a handful of screws, slide out the keyboard, and unplug the connector. Now it requires disassembling the entire machine, at least for the X series.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#35

Post by knaik94 »

I have a w520 and while the graphics card could use some help from time to time, I splurged for the i7 quad and it's still keeping up with most of what I come across today. My favorite part is how well it handles bad head management. I know I shouldn't but using it on bed sheets isn't really an issue, it does make hell of a sound though. Sounds like an airplane.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#36

Post by lorenzhs »

keldaris wrote: post #29

A bunch of old X220 machines are still my only laptops to this day because I simply haven't found anything better since. Every modern laptop I've seen is vastly inferior in some aspect I care about - terrible keyboards, fragile cases, zero maintainability, no Linux support, etc., the list goes on and on. Apart from better CPUs and displays, most laptops have objectively regressed in the metrics I actually care about.…

I used my T420 until last year, and it's a wonderful machine. But the new keyboards aren't as bad as they were in the beginning any more. They're actually good keyboards now. I just wish they had seven rows. But if that doesn't convince you, maybe have a look at the so-called X210. It's an X201 mod with up-to-date hardware, the laptop equivalent of a sleeper car.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#37

Post by tjoff »

706f6f70 wrote: post #4

I'm amazed that there is no mention of the sheer repairability of these devices. I don't think I will ever encounter a laptop line that is generally so user-accessible. A couple of regular screws and you pop the case. A few more and you can replace the entire keyboard. The hard drive was held in by a single screw in most models and you could easily swap it in without even popping the entire case. The RAM had it's own…

Wasn't that pretty much standard in the old days?

Many keyboards just had a latch and then you could remove the keyboard without using any tools. Thinkpads was just slower to get rid of that than the most of the brands.

Miss it dearly though. Pretty much all my devices are forced to be obsolete because of non-replaceable batteries.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#38

Post by romed »

syntaxing wrote: post #25

Owner of a "Thinkpad" X62 here. The most surprising part of the X series from Thinkpad is how serviceable it is. The repair manuals are all online and does not require any special hardware. The OEM replacement parts are extremely abundant online at a reasonable cost. I think when my current laptop becomes obsolete, my next laptop will probably still be a Thinkpad.

I actually had a hard time finding a legit OEM cooler for my X60 after it failed. Found one offered with the right SKU finally and it was electrically and dimensionally correct but it’s actually the part for some other machine and incredibly the BIOS reads out some data from the fan and complains at boot that it’s got the wrong part. Still works though.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#39

Post by romed »

csmattryder wrote: post #15
userbinator wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the last IBM Thinkpads were in the X60/X61 era. I have an X60 with a mix of IBM and Lenovo branding. Everything after that was Lenovo.

Huh, TIL. I'll assume I'm right to give them a second chance, maybe it's just the X1 that's going awry? I've read a lot of reports about the X1's 2013 models that describe the issue that occurred to mine. Like I say, I love Thinkpads, even with this blip - my next laptop will still likely be a Thinkpad, be it IBM or Lenovo.

It was possible until quite recently for businesses to order Lenovo machines with IBM branding.

Re: How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017)

#40

Post by kitsunesoba »

rchaud wrote: post #33
706f6f70 wrote: post #4

I'm amazed that there is no mention of the sheer repairability of these devices. I don't think I will ever encounter a laptop line that is generally so user-accessible. A couple of regular screws and you pop the case. A few more and you can replace the entire keyboard. The hard drive was held in by a single screw in most models and you could easily swap it in without even popping the entire case. The RAM had it's own…

Regarding repairability, the mid-2000s Dell Latitude line (D600, D620, D630 etc) had similar repairability as well. I worked at my college's IT helpdesk back then and the repairs were easy to make for even student employees whose only reference points were the Dell Service Manual and a couple of training sessions. I am curious to know if that is still the case.

Late 2000s Latitudes and Precisions were extremely repairable, too. I have an old Precision M4400 that’s had around a third of its parts swapped out at one point or another and it’s a real dream to work on. Having also worked on a T60p, a T61, and a T400, the Precision was by far the nicest of the four to repair.
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