One gripe I have with Lenovo keyboards is that the Fn key is at the left-most edge of the bottom row. Per my muscle memory, it's the Control key that ought to be there, not Fn.
They're trying to ape the Apple layout. I agree, it's annoying.
ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
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Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#72I wish lenovo would make a modern 700c, nice and thin, no trackpad, 11" screen and three mouse buttons. Would be the ideal portable for me.
Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#73The fibrous Trackpoint is still my absolute favourite. For folks who want more in-depth backstory, going all the way back to the beginning and the origin of the "ThinkPad" name see: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/483933.ThinkPad I really wish that there would be a true heir to the mantle, and a return to some of the original ideas, esp. the early stylus models and variants such as the TransNote --- if Lenovo wou…
> (need to find time to buy an updated one (and a spare) w/ USB-C) Once you find a TrackPoint keyboard model that you like, buy spares, since you might have a hard time getting a good design in the future. For example, they went to a lot of trouble to develop TrackPoint keyboard SK-8855, with community input, and then discontinued it. To cries of anguish, scalpers and price-gouging on last remaining stock, and, years…
The other option wasn't IBM keeping the business, it was IBM discontinuing it entirely.
Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/07/30/hill7.jpg Doesn't this photo show an inverted T?
I think a “normal” inverted T consists of half-height keys (i.e. used on most current laptops). ThinkPads used slightly higher arrow keys for a while, not sure about now.
A normal inverted T is what is on a standard desktop PC keyboard: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Arrow_ke...
While half-height arrow keys have become common on laptops, that's probably not what GP (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44769440) meant by "normal".
ThinkPads generally use slightly smaller keys for the arrow keys, but still significantly taller than half-height, like for example here: https://p3-ofp.static.pub/ShareResource/560x450/SSNP/4Y40X49...
What people really want is a full-height inverted T like on this Lenovo gaming laptop: https://p1-ofp.static.pub//fes/cms/2025/05/21/uft1eixrszoryp...
Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
No one asked for a 16:9 thinkpad though.
I did. I like having two documents side-by-side and I think it works out well on a 1920x1080 (or 3820x2160) display.
Guess I’ll blame you for ruining laptops then.
1080 pixels is too little vertical space to read documents.
Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#76golf tee (aka soft rim cap) trackpoint ftw
Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe that impression comes from the laptop feeling “hollow” more than it does from it being light. This could probably be engineered around by doing things like holding the battery up against the laptop’s palm rest with a rim of TPU or similar between the battery and the case to deaden vibrations and make it feel more “solid”.
Haven’t some products been found to have weights inside just to make them feel more premium?
I asked the kids not to unwrap their xmas presents.
Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#78I think optimising for thinness is a stupid goal. I get wanting to reduce weight , but volume and mass are two different metrics. Thicker laptops can have better cooling, bigger batteries, easier maintenance, a bloody ethernet port, and probably better keyboards. For some reason Lenovo has made the ThinkPad keyboard worse with every new generation. They're still better than other laptop keyboards, but my goodness the…
When something is large and light, the consumer view is that it is cheaply made. That's a problem when trying to sell an expensive product.
> When something is large and light, the consumer view is that it is cheaply made.
That depends on the context. If it also looks cheap and squeaks when you pick it up, the impression is that it's made of junk plastic rather than the wrought iron and solid gold presumably being used by the competition.
Whereas if you can give the feel that the thing is from the future with titanium alloys and carbon fiber (even if it's really still just aluminum and plastic), people get a different impression.
Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#79> "It's very difficult to make a seven-row keyboard anymore because of the aspect ratio of the display and the whole arrangement of the pieces on the inside," he said. "It's a decision that was not made lightly, however. I still like the seven-row keyboard and, as aspect ratios change, and they continue to change, I don't know. Maybe someday somebody will be interested in it again." The sad part is, the Framework 13…
The Framework keyboard is precisely why I haven’t bought one. The mixed height arrow key thing sucked on the touchbar MacBook Pros, they suck on FWs too. The second the 13 gets a normal inverted T, I buy one. In the meantime, I’m waiting on a display converter board to show up from China so I can install a modernish 1440p display in my T420.
What should I be doing with my x220? Where are the good thinkpad resources these days.
Re: ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
No one asked for a 16:9 thinkpad though.
16:9 displays were inevitable due to the economies of scale form the TV industry. It's a shame they had to be 1366x768 for so long. I remember many eons ago in the last 2000s to early 2010s when I wanted a 16:10 monitor for my PC and the price difference between 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 or between 2560x1440 and 2560x1600 was massive, that it made no sense to get the few extra vertical pixels of the 16:10 unless you we…
We’re talking 13 to 15-inch screens in laptops. I do not believe for one second that there were economies of scale in those screens in the 2010s with those sizes. People were not buying 13-inch TVs more than they were buying laptops. What happened is that desktops switched to 16:9 for economies of scale and the manufacturers switched on laptops for marketing purposes.
Look at how Apple never went 16:9 except for one model, the 11-inch MacBook Air.