How IBM’s ThinkPad Became a Design Icon (2017) • Hacker News Board

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

#71

Post by tadfisher » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 5:55 PM UTC

solatic wrote: post #45

It's really sad that Lenovo has driven the design into the ground. I have a X201 running NixOS, that I still use from time to time, and I pulled it out recently to show it to friends. Physically speaking it's a revelation . Three USB ports? Check. Because even today, one port permanently has a YubiKey Nano, one port permanently has a Logitech Unifying nano receiver, and I'll probably be charging my phone out of the t…

The X210 from 51nb is a fantastic upgrade, with i5-8250u or i7-8550u processors, M.2 slot with NVME support, DisplayPort output, support for 32GB of RAM and eDP displays. I'm running NixOS on it as well. Matthew Garrett even ported Coreboot to it[1].

[1]: https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/50924.html

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

#72

Post by marpstar » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

lqet wrote: post #61

Last year, I decided to build an X62 (Thinkpad X61 or X60 with custom hardware) after reading about it here [1]. Shipment of the modification kit (some plastic parts + a new mainboard) took 2 months from China to Germany. It took me a while to find a brand-new screen as a replacement for the original 1024x786 screen (which has to be modified, including some minor metal-working). After roughly a year of heavy daily us…

I bought an X60 for college in 2006. The only complaint I ever had was the 1024x768 display. No CD-ROM, I'm too lazy to build an X62 but I love that it is a thing.

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

#73

Post by paol » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 5:58 PM UTC

solatic wrote: post #45

It's really sad that Lenovo has driven the design into the ground. I have a X201 running NixOS, that I still use from time to time, and I pulled it out recently to show it to friends. Physically speaking it's a revelation . Three USB ports? Check. Because even today, one port permanently has a YubiKey Nano, one port permanently has a Logitech Unifying nano receiver, and I'll probably be charging my phone out of the t…

> Six-key home/end/insert/delete/pgup/pgdwn cluster that mirrors that on a desktop keyboard? Check.

I miss this so much. Laptop keyboard layouts are usually a disaster. Lenovo was the shining exception[1], then they went and fucked it up for no apparent reason.

[1] If you excuse the wrong placement of Ctrl and Fn, but from the x10 generation onward this is swapable in BIOS

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

#74

Post by gritzko » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 5:59 PM UTC

organsnyder wrote: post #64

rainhacker wrote: post #53

Any recommendations of Thinkpad model to buy in 2018 ? I can wait if anything promising is coming in 2019.

For me, the "vanilla" T-series is the best compromise for weight, build quality, and repairability. My personal laptop is a T480, and it's an excellent machine. Very portable, screamingly fast, very good screen (I have the high-res IPS variant). If you want a bit more premium feel and lighter weight, the Txxxs (e.g. T480s) is a bit thinner than the regular T-series, and feels a bit sturdier (so I've heard, anyways; m…

The new x1 extreme / p1 is notably missing.

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

#75

Post by Joeri » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:12 PM UTC

My lenovo experiences thus far have been mixed. Had a work-provided s540 which was rubbish. Fragile case with blemishes straight out of the factory, so-so performance and battery life, and the main board cracked (literally) just outside of warranty.

Replacing that I got a t460p which I’ve had for 2 years now, and that is an amazing machine. Very good build quality, light and compact, while having excellent performance (i7 6700 hq, 32 gb, dedicated graphics), quiet under load and excellent battery life. And it looks like those old-school thinkpads, which is cute.

I had heard the T series is good and the S is not, but it’s amusing to experience that myself.

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

#76

Post by organsnyder » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:16 PM UTC

gritzko wrote: post #74

organsnyder wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the "vanilla" T-series is the best compromise for weight, build quality, and repairability. My personal laptop is a T480, and it's an excellent machine. Very portable, screamingly fast, very good screen (I have the high-res IPS variant). If you want a bit more premium feel and lighter weight, the Txxxs (e.g. T480s) is a bit thinner than the regular T-series, and feels a bit sturdier (so I've heard, anyways; m…

The new x1 extreme / p1 is notably missing.

Good point. I don't have enough experience with them to speak knowledgeably. They're basically slimmed versions of the P5x series, right?

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

#77

Post by gwicks56 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:16 PM UTC

Joeri wrote: post #75

My lenovo experiences thus far have been mixed. Had a work-provided s540 which was rubbish. Fragile case with blemishes straight out of the factory, so-so performance and battery life, and the main board cracked (literally) just outside of warranty. Replacing that I got a t460p which I’ve had for 2 years now, and that is an amazing machine. Very good build quality, light and compact, while having excellent performanc…

I have the exact same laptop. I really like it. I purchased because my x220 lasted forever. In fact it's still running fine as my back-up and travel computer. And in case of emergency, I can always beat an intruder to death with it, whilst running a 10 min gradle build.

Thinkpads have annoyances, but they are cheap if you don't mind upgrading everything yourself, and they are indestructible in my experience. Plus for coding day, having a thinkpoint greatly adds to my productivity. Shame the screens are usually rubbish.

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

#78

Post by InclinedPlane » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:18 PM UTC

One time I was using my T60 on the floor and managed to tip an entire full glass of water right into it, absolute worst case scenario. I turned it off, pulled the battery, drained it, let it sit for about a day to dry then checked if it still worked. It was totally fine. Another time I had a T43 sitting on the high arm rest of a couch, open, and knocked it onto the floor where it fell directly on the corner of the display. It was also fine.

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

#79

Post by tomjen3 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:20 PM UTC

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…

I am typing this on a (keyboard attached to) Lenovo P51, which has a user swapable m2 disk (and space for one more, plus an SSD), user upgradable ram, user swappable battery and I can install a SIM card, should I want to.

The only thing I can't do, which I could on my last thinkpad, is to add a 9-cell battery.

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

#80

Post by Waterluvian » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:21 PM UTC

lqet wrote: post #61

Last year, I decided to build an X62 (Thinkpad X61 or X60 with custom hardware) after reading about it here [1]. Shipment of the modification kit (some plastic parts + a new mainboard) took 2 months from China to Germany. It took me a while to find a brand-new screen as a replacement for the original 1024x786 screen (which has to be modified, including some minor metal-working). After roughly a year of heavy daily us…

The one problem I have, rational or not, is just how worn out those laptops look over time. The plastic gets all shiny and worn down and the thing just starts looking greasy.

That's probably the only thing I miss from my older macbook.