Are you satisfied with ThinkPad series

Title says it all Just want to hear ThinkPad owners opinions. I'm going to purchase my first ThinkPad (Edge S430) in late Summer.

By the way, this subforum is so so so quiet :/ why so ? and is Lenovo driver support that great that there isn't a thread for drivers here

 

Yes, I have owned;

T60, T61, Z61t, X200 Tablet, X201, T410s, and soon X220 Tablet. I can tell you my most favorite ThinkPads are the _60/61 chassis where they still had LCD rollcages. That generation seems the most solid to me. My T410s was way too flimsy as by _00 generation, Lenovo eliminated the LCD roll cage. T60 is probably my favorite, 4:3 SXGA+ panel. I also don't fancy Lenovo's new supplier of keyboards, feels totally different. I absolutely hated my T410s keyboard, absolute rubbish. X201 and X200 were okay, still the old styled keyboards.

 

i'll let you know tomorrow when my Thinkpad L520 arrives!

 

That's cause I rule with an iron fist. Dissent will not be tolerated.

I consider my X220i to be as good as any ThinkPad I've used. The fact that it cost $750 shipped makes it even more amazing.

 

Did you put in an mSATA SSD inside it?

 

Yes, I was satisfied with my R60 and now I am very satisfied with my L520 (wich has a very good HD+ screen in contrast to the R60, wich had an awfull XGA Screen).

 

Really varies from machine to machine... like ZaZ, I'm really happy with my x220 vanilla, but I'm less enthused about the x220 Tablet.

Overall, though, I suppose someone is doing it right if I'm more ThinkPad than Latitude these days...

 

It seem to me that there seem to be driver or some strange conflict at the initial launch, but in the period of couple week to a month most driver/bios bug are fixed if not all.

 

I have the x201 tablet, and the things I don't like is the keyboard (could be a unique problem). It has very high potential, but for my unit it's poorly placed and contained some flex on different spots. I fixed most of it by putting layers of duct tape beneath. Also the drivers for the Wacom unit are poorly made.

Otherwise so does my computer have an beautiful PVA-display with extra strong backlights, anti reflective treated and with a Wacom layer. By far the best display I have used in harsh light conditions. The computer is lightweight, cool, quit and overall has very good ergonomics. I am overall satisfied and my next computer will be an ThinkPad.

 

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I am unsure about the Edge series, but I absolutely love my first Thinkpad ever, a x220. I moved from a Mac, and I do not regret it one bit. It feels more durable than my previous Macs and doesn't suffer from overheating and noise like those laptops did. The trackpad is not as nice, but I have grown to prefer the nub. Still, on occasion I do miss the large trackpad. It is fast, quiet and lasts a long time on one charge. The keyboard is not backlit, but the overhead light is actually preferable once you start using it since you can review other papers while working. Everyone knows about the keyboard, and it is indeed a delight to type on. The only annoying part of my experience has been trying to order my laptop at the best sale price possible. The web site frequently changes deals so you never know if a better price will be offered the next week. Regardless, the x220 has been my favorite laptop that I have owned, and I plan on purchasing another Thinkpad (in lieu of a Mac) in the near future.

 

I love my X220. Beyond the horrible aspect ratio+resolution and lack of lid latch, I would say its the best Thinkpad I've owned so far.

 

Ba da ba da da, I'm lovin' it!

Really love having the W520; strong enough, powerful enough, and pretty enough (lol) for my needs. Paired with an Intel 320 (and more RAM, i suppose) definitely makes it a powerhouse. It's also the first computer I've used with a decent display (last laptop was 768p, and the family desktop has a 19" 900p display). When I first got it, I was also surprised that the claimed battery life was...true. Seven hours on a machine of this caliber? Insane!

 

love the thinkpad for:

simple design, keyboard feel, solid screen hinges.

 

Love to hear all the positivity, seems like everyone is into X220 huh
I'm starting to like the way the keyboard is designed, I'm kind of leaning away from the chicklet trend.
And the ThinkPad series does appear very professional (every single model !) and appropriate for business setting.

Is it true that all ThinkPad laptops that ship with an internal WLAN card have a wireless device whitelist built into the BIOS ?

 

I think most laptops (not just Lenovo) have wireless card whitelists. By that, I mean WiFi, not WWAN. Typically, you can use whatever WWAN card (Verizon, ATT, etc) you want.

 

Not for the x201t. Some cards barely work and some even gives you blue screen. I did a lot of research about this before the purchase of an WWAN card for my x201t.

wild05kid05:
Yes, the x220t seems solid and would be my next computer. However, the down point is the strange aspect ratio of the display.

 

Im quite content with what I have, however, my next laptop, no matter if its ThinkPad or Latitude or EliteBook or Edge or what not should have 14" FHD screen squeezed in 13" or smaller form factor and weigh 1Kg, be built to last and last 24h on internal battery
Yeah, that probably means Im getting myself new laptop around 2015?

 

I've used nearly every ThinkPad made, with the exception of the 500 series, the X2x series, and the T3x series.

I used my first ThinkPad back when the 750cs was a fancy new ThinkPad.

I used my most recent ThinkPad to type this message.

You can probably figure out my general opinion of the ThinkPad line.

That said, I recommend that you don't let the "Edge" series influence your opinion of ThinkPads too much. They're far closer to generic IdeaPads than they are ThinkPads -- though to their credit Lenovo is working to fix that with each iteration of the Edge line.

 

I think it is great, the S430. To me ThinkPad still means business, no matter it's Edge, T, L , X, W

 

You may think ZaZ is joking. He isn't. *Shudder*

Basically. Most Thinkpads dating way back to Pentium M days have a full complement of drivers for Windows XP, and newer laptops have Windows Vista and Windows 7 drivers as well. The driver site also isn't likely to go down, so we don't need to mirror the files either.

I love both my Thinkpads. Durable, pack all the performance I need (although I would always love more graphics performance!), manage heat well, have great ergonomics and battery life, etc, etc.

 

I should think it goes back farther than that. When XP was released I think the Pentium III was the top processor. I remember building some Duron desktops back then. I would think anything with at least a Pentium III should have XP drivers and anything with 2k should work too. I wouldn't be surprised if they released drivers for some older ThinkPads either.

 

Perhaps; I didn't bother checking. Lenovo does a great job with keeping the drivers for its Thinkpad line reasonably up-to-date, and makes it ridiculously easy to find the full set of drivers for each machine.

 

I currently have the R400 and X201 and I use them a lot. They hold up well to how I use them. No complains thus far. Yes, I do like ThinkPads and am very satisfied with their performance.

And, unless something drastic happens to the ThinkPad machines, my next laptop will also be a ThinkPad.

 

Or, maybe not!

 

The laptop you are looking at seem to be a decently spec, but make sure you could tolerate the screen. As it seems that one major downfall of Lenovo is that they give you some of the crappiest screen in the industry.

 

I guess Lenovo just earned another customer hehe... How "crappy" they are ? I will be hooking it up to an external screen at home anyway...

 

t61 4year
0 BSOD
SATA2 unlocked
drop above 1.5 m 5+time
5ghz wifi
matte screen(with crap color -.-,brightness is horrible,)
70% max battery capacity (battery always in,either sleep,reboot twice a month..)
in bookbag commute 4/hr 5day/week for 3 year.
Still running
Pretty nice considering the amount of abuse.
2+fan death though

 

Umm, yeah, X1 seems pretty tempting, but Ill pass and wait for something even better to come to the market for acceptable price range !
I want better battery life and screen resolution in my next ThinkPad, either way my next laptop is going to be so called business line and if Lenovo keep the ThinkPad design that they have at the moment it might be ThinkPad again

 

loved my T61. Just got a E420 and so far it's like my T61 and my girl friend's MacBook some how copulated resulting in this !

 

I'm digging my brand new x120e! My mom and my brother have thinkpads too that are all pretty nice.

 

I have a T500 that I acquired Sept 2008. It's my only pc - gets a lot of usage. Stays on 24/7 and used for gaming regularly. No problems so far - upgraded HD, CPU, RAM since I bought it. Re-pasted 3-4 times but no issues with fan repair. Only real issue is a dead battery - died pretty much short of the 3yr mark. Debating on getting a replacement vs waiting for the W540.

 

first thinkpad was a t61 and its still going strong coming to 5 years this summer. a bit disappointed since i want a new laptop for the heck of it but this thing is solid!

 

That is indeed one of the problems associated with buying ThinkPads. It's a good problem to have but....

 

I own what I can only assume are two less popular thinkpads (z61t and x1) and have been happy with both. As long as you research and choose the correct thinkpad for your needs, not sure you can go wrong. (for example, an edge e420/e520 probably wouldnt survive me......i actually broke the keys on one in an office depot.....) Also, it helps that I felt I got a good price (x1), which took a bit of patience/stalking.

 

The worst thing about thinkpad series?

getting addicted to trackpoint and the switched crtl/fn key. It is like a drug. And so fun when see people who cant use the trackpoint @ all

 

Call me a noob but I always thought the trackpoint works like Blackberry point thingie... If not I still want it to be like that

 

Huh? You mean like the trackpoint or trackball? Haha I know what you mean though, it might be old school compared to all the touch screens, or touch pads for laptops, but it works!

 

I have a thinkpad edge 15 ( the first generation ). It's fine
I might also look forward to the s430 or e530 if the graphics solution is powerful enough to handle SKYRIM

 

I'm typing this on my 5 year old ThinkPad T61 bought second hand (with the Intel GPU). Still going strong and feels just as tough, I'm very fond of this model as I yet to come across any reliability issues with it. Though I can't say I share the same feelings with my ThinkPad T420, had hinges failed within 5 months (and waited over a month for IBM to take it in), still having random startup issues on some occasions and had a stuck pixel from Day 1...