I Love The Thinkpad Design

Except the Thinkpad Edge!

The Obento design of the Thinkpad is on par with Sony Vaio design (call me crazy!)!


P.S. Macbook Pro is overrated, Powerbook G4 was the greatest laptop invention for Apple and lol at Macbook Air!

 

I love most of the Thinkpad, I also like the soon-to-be release e420s. The one with the real chrome and glass display, along with the matte finish.

Unlike you I think the Vaio design isn't that great and Macbook Pro design are vastly superior.

 

Edge doesn't seem that "Thinkpad" style, should've been Ideapad.

Macbook Pro has this black plastic all over its screen which makes it look ridiculously ugly unlike the old Powerbook G4.

And premium vaio models has a nice design and quality build, the recent low-end ones look ugly and shiny to my taste.

Thinkpad and matte body all the way.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds the Thinkpad design to be pleasing. I still remember going to a computer show in the late 90's, looking for a laptop, and setting eyes upon a little 560X sitting on a vendor's table. Amid the sea of shiny, colorful laptops, that slim black box captured my attention, much to my mother's chagrin. She protested, saying I shouldn't get the ugly one, but I came home with that 560x, and it started an addiction.

I'm on my 5th Thinkpad now, and I don't see me switching from the wonderful matte world any time soon.

 

To me classic Thinkpad has a very conservative grace to it.

 

ThinkPad design is simple, elegant and timeless, not subject to the whims du jour. If compared a ThinkPad from 10 years ago to one offered now, the new one is a bit slimmer and lighter, but they basically look the same except the Windows key, especially now that Lenovo has brought back the button stripes.

Personally I like the Mac design. They simple and elegant in their own way. The Air is one fast little machine and a very good portable. If were to consider something outside a ThinkPad, the Air would definitely be on my short list.

 

yes, ThinkPad design is great, from my s30 to X301.

check this concept design back in 2003 YouTube - ThinkPad Houdini

I hope they release this to market.

 

My my you're an old-timer unlike me.

Indeed, Thinkpad is like a rolls-royce or an aviator sunglasses, only gets better when it gets older.

Also about the matte, I have a trusty Sony PS2 back from 2001 and recently I am reusing it to play some titles I didn't have the chance to play before (Okami). The thing is that the original PS2 design has a matte finish which looks far more beautiful than the glossy PS3.

True, and the new ones didn't go far off from the older models.

That what made the Thinkpad superior and unique among the other laptops.

Gonna change my mind abit after having a 2nd check on Macbook Air, it's awesome looking and well-made, but it's overpriced (thanks to it being an Apple).

What makes me hate Apple is how their systems are closed to their own products.

Nice concept, love how you can extend the hinges of the screen, just make the screen with 16:9 aspect ratio and count me in!

 

You are the first person I know that is praising the 16:9 aspect ratio on a laptop.

 

Hehe.

A wide-screens fan since 2001.

Not saying 4:3 or 16:10 are bad, but to me the wider the better (For youtube, movies etc), and I hope they release a 21:9 ratio Thinkpad in the near future!

 

For the longest time I did not like the ThinkPad design. I thought they looked all alike, the only real difference was that little model number written in the bottom right hand corner of the LCD.

But of course that was me being a 10 year old kid, and my first ThinkPad was a T20 with a Pentium 3 I did not like my real first laptop at all. As I kept on playing laptop games, my parents confiscated it from me. I always thought Alienwares and Falcon NW were cool, til I saw the price tags and realized my gaming desktop crushed them all.

Years later after realizing how great ThinkPads were, I bought one for office work and boy do I love ThinkPads.

 

Thinkpad as a 10 years old, you're spoiled!

Never had a laptop myself till I was 15 years old and it was a Vaio Z1 and man I loved it, though I gave it to my elder brother and when I asked him to return it to me, he refused to give it back to me *sigh*.

Now my Vaio Nostaliga strikes back and torn between a Vaio F and a Thinkpad T510.

 

I hope neither Google nor Bing index your original post :wink:

 

Hahahahahahaha.

But for real those 21:9 are awesome!

Too "wide"!

 

"Never had a laptop myself till I was 15 years old"

This gave me a giggle because I was over 60 when I got my first notebook.

Renee

 

Had a t30 when I was 13, while it run hot it serve me a long time.

 

Classy, IBM days Thinkpad hehe.

 

Haha I know, come to think of it I wonder where they hid the laptop. Sucks because my next laptop was a Pentium 2 Toshiba laptop then I knew I really missed my ThinkPad...

 

Toshiba laptops are disguisting.

Having a 3,5 years old toshiba satellite that's I've taken to the maintenace due to black screen of death, and it was driving me nuts since the 1st day I bought it in 2007.

Time to upgrade to a T510, waiting for the best deal out of it.

EDIT: Nvidia 512 GPU ruined my dreams hehe, gonna wait till I attend Architecture school then I'll buy me the latest T-series or previous year W-series, just hoping I can save enough money for either.

 

What I find amazing about the ThinkPad design is its utter simplicity and its uncanny understatement. The black box reminds me in many ways of the monolith in A.C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey" - simple, utterly inscrutable, and mysterious.

I also like the all black interior - the blood-red trackpoint, the red-lined "wings" - very cool! There is something neat and well-ordered (in a friendly way) about the layout. The firmness of the keyboard (after I had it replaced by IBM/Lenovo) is excellent. It runs cool and is in an oddly "humanoid" way, quite reassuring.

I also must be in a minority when I say that I love the asymmetrical way in which the screen is laid out (at least on my R400). I used to think that it would bother me, but I'm afraid, I'll miss it in the later gen machines (like the X201) which don't have them.

In conclusion, I'm afraid I've kinda spoilt things for myself by opting for ThinkPads - I am now thoroughly biased in favour of them.

 

It's all about the Black Box!

Sexy, sleek, elegant and timeless beauty.

And the asymmetrical screen is rather weird to me.

 

I got to confess, the first time I saw a ThinkPad is when I was 14 years old working in a bank as part of a school employment program for 2 weeks. When a guy brought out his old ThinkPad (can't remember which model, it had a Pentium MMX processor and it was 2002 back then!) to show some spreadsheets (rocking on Windows NT 3.5) I thought it was the most hideous thing ever! I thought to myself "Ewww, i'm definitely not going to be seen in one of those!"

Fast forward almost 9 years and i'm the proud owner of 2 ThinkPads, being my 4th and 5th overall - I think that kinda explains it all really!

 

Hahaha to the above. That was initial reaction to ThinkPads. I was like who the heck would pay 2 grand for this?? Then years later I buy a ThinkPad for office use.

 

The thinkpad design is in a league of its own. The only other machines that match its elegance are dell business models.

 

I have found these design-related blogs both instructive and entertaining:

• Design Matters Classics
• Design Matters Design & Culture
• Design Matters Design News

 

Haha I gotta totally agree with this statement. I like D series Latitudes over the newer E series (yes I owned an E series). Form meets function eh?

 

While I love the old d series the newer e series look pretty darn nice. Just cant beat that business class look and feel and there definitely are ZERO alternatives for those of us that use a computer for more then 8 hours a day.

 

Yup absolutely agree that business is the way to go, even if you are a student or a light user. And the funny part, mainstream business laptops hardly cost anymore, sometimes less than consumer models. People only care about how much GB of RAM and the hard drive space lol.

 

Sadly Dell ruined the E6x20s' aesthetics.

I am another fan of the Thinkpad design (I don't own one, I own a Latitude but hope to own a Thinkpad in the future). It's classy, matte black, and I like the bright color accents (red Trackpoint and buttons, yellow power plug, green LEDs, etc.) My Dell pretty much only has three colors, silver, black, and blue, and it's mostly muted.

 

I've wanted a Thinkpad ever since my dad brought home his work-issued T42--I loved the different color accents and overall look (as a side note, I wish Lenovo color-coded the Function key row light gray like IBM's old Thinkpads used to have). When it came time for me to buy my first laptop, though, the Thinkpads (at the time, the T60 was about to be released, I think) were far too expensive for me to afford.

A few years later, though, and Thinkpads were finally within my budget when it came time to get a new laptop, my T500. Just added an X120e cousin as well

 

I saw my first thinkpad in the early to mid 90s and since then I have lusted after the icon. It wasnt until the t400 that I could afford one that suited my needs. Couldnt be happier nwo that I have an x200s on the way!

 

One problem I am going to have with ThinkPads (from the R400 onwards) is that I don't think I can (or, more precisely, will want to) sell any of them as and when I upgrade to newer/ different models. At the end of the day, I may end up like, among others, Lead_org who seems to have a huge number of old ThinkPads in their collection.

 

MidnightSun, x120e is like baby cousin compared to big daddy T500 lol.

Yeah I am thinking about more ThinkPads...they will be assimilated into my laptop collection! Resistance is futile!

 

I wish this ThinkPad-mania would have started with the x301. But at that time I was too broke and now this machine is not available readily in brand new condition to buy (or, at least, it is difficult for me to source given my current location).

 

Im like that with all of my computers. I literally use them or loan them to family until they die. Im hoping I wont have to upgrade from my t400/x200s combo for at least another 2-3 years. Plan on extending them with SSDs, but as long as a computer I buy runs Ill own it one way shape or form and it will be used.

 

lol I would like an old school IBM one for like print server computer. We still have an old LaserJet 4L circa like 1993, still works but driver support...ends at XP lol.

Did all SXGA+ ThinkPads back then have the IPS screen or would it have to be listed?

Maybe lead_org can lead me in the right direction of buying old school ThinkPads.

 

Not all of them had Flexview panels back then, only certain 15" models, like the T43p and T60p. And they were expensive!

It's pretty hard to find them these days, especially in mint condition. If it was your own machine, you'd take really good care of it. But being expensive business-class laptops, those ThinkPad gems were mostly assigned to corporate citizens, who traveled and abused them like crazy.

 

Darn, that sucks. Looks like no old school IPS ThinkPads for me hahaha. Way to ruin it for me Kaso.

Oh yeah I don't doubt IPS panels are crazy expensive. I heard DreamColor2 is over 1000 if you crack it, though it is RGBLED lol.

 

Id rather take a qxga thinkpad.

 

Right when they were transitioning from the T60 to the T61, they were offering the SXGA+ IPS as a free upgrade on the T60. As I recall, you could get a T60 with the FlexView for about $900. It's just a different world these days. Few are willing to drop $2k for a notebook any more.

 

True that, especially how the Hardware technology is moving fast nowaday, it's useless to drop 2k$ on a computer, knowing that in a year a newer model with much better specs and sometimes a cheaper price is released, never ending cycle (except that I've read speculations that hardware improvement will slowdown abit and the focus will be swapped into the Software departement (e.g. 3D UI, Fast improving OS).

 

The hardware improvement will not slowdown anytime soon, the moore's law still have a few more decade left.

 

But you know it's progressing in a crazy pace, which makes me sad knowing that the expensive machine I buy now will be something of medium spec next year (or even in less than that).

 

I would if I could get the EXACT laptop I want and need.

Not everyone upgrades their laptop every year. The year to year upgrades are 10-20% increases and not huge. I spent ~1500-1600 on my vostro over 3 years ago and I still have an use it and Im a power user. My t400 is 2+ years old, but was only 1100. Im trading my SXPS for the x200s thats coming in and plan to keep it for a while.

My point is that keeping up with the jones will always hurt your wallet and will cost alot more then buying a 2k+ laptop every few to several years. I must admit that I hate the way laptops are going price and quality wise. Sure you can but laptops for ALOT cheaper these days, but the manufacturing quality is alot worse. Seems like pricing is geared towards making laptops near disposable. Hope this trend doesnt continue or Ill start fearing bringing my laptop with me when i travel outside the relative safety of my home.

 

I can see your point there.

I am the type who spend medium to premium price on a laptop that lasts me for long (at least till the next big windows OS release, unless it malfunction before to the point the repair will cost me alot).

And about the laptop quality, best thing to do now is buying a business-focused laptop since those are the best quality in the market in term of the build quality.

OFFTOPIC: A T520s would be a nice addition to the Thinkpad line.

 

Why? Such a computer would have neither great portability nor great performance/connectivity, would cost more, and have half the battery life

 

Very good advice! I think there is something to be said to be a generation behind the current crop of devices (unless of course your work demands it). In this context, I have been thinking about the X220 and X201. While the IPS screen of the X220 and the almost 12 hr battery life (on a 9 cell) sounds very attractive, I ask myself: (1) will the SB chip actually help me in doing what I am currently doing better? Given my usage profile, the answer is no. (2) Is the IPS screen mandatory? My current machine does not have it and I find myself not really inconvenienced. (3) Do I need 12 hours of battery life (I would not opt for the slice for the X220 because it would increase the weight) on the 9-cell battery for the X220? Not likely, given my work profile, I could do with 7-8 hours of battery life.

So, should I keep up with my imaginary neighbour who has ordered for the X220 just to be at the "bleeding edge"? My heart tells me yes, but thankfully my mind, which also controls the purse strings, says, no - get a well spec'ed X201.

 

My next laptop purchase Id like to go all out for once and see how long I can stretch out a top end computer. I imagine Ill be able to keep it for pretty long seeing as my average priced computers last 2+ years.

As long as the tool accomplishes the job then generation doesnt matter. If an x201 suits your needs then by all means get that instead of the much more expensive x220. Heck its 2011 and I just traded my 2010 well equipped XPS for an x200s. But I will say with 100% honesty that if given the choice of a x201 or x220 it would be tough as the 20+ hours of battery life on the x220 would be very tempting. Speaking of which I wonder what Ill get with my x200s. I wonder if I can break into the 6w range or maybe lower.

 

I am just a thin & light style guru.

 

But you know what...while I do nothing more than heavily use browsers, use Office, Email, music and video, I don't think I even need a machine like the X201 (or for that matter the current machine that I am using). So, why am I buying ThinkPads when a much cheaper machine would do all what I want to?