Thinkpad thread.

[XX55XX]

My very first computer (which I got in 1999) was a used IBM Thinkpad 600. When it broke in 2000, I asked my father if he could source an IBM service manual so that I could fix it. He did, but I couldn't fix it, and ended up buying a Compaq Presario desktop. For the next nine years, I used desktop computers only.

When I was shipping off to college in 2009, I bought a MacBook Pro out of curiosity. It was a good machine, but a part of me wished I gotten a Thinkpad instead. I would say that over 70% of the students at my university used MacBooks - and while I also saw a lot of HPs and Dells, I didn't see very many people using Thinkpads in particular.

Last summer, I sold my MacBook and got a Lenovo Thinkpad T420. It's still my workhorse machine and is one of the most solid notebooks I've ever had.

Maybe when Ivy Bridge releases in June, I might get my hands on a T430s...

What are your experiences with Thinkpads? Perhaps the best thing about them is their retro 1990s aesthetic.

 

[trmiv]

They're tanks. My work was strictly IBM/Lenovo until we switched to Dell, then eventually multi-vendor. Right before the Dell switch a few years ago I got a Lenovo Thinkpad W500. I've had it for 2.5 years and now it's in awesome shape other than being a little dirty. Before that I had a T43 for two years that was in close to new shape when I turned it it. My warranty is up in June, and now that we're multi-vendor and can select from a bunch of different models, I will likely go Lenovo again this time

 

[capeconsultant]

I have an X1 and like it. Would love a 14.1 inch screen, maybe the X2! Best keyboard in the business!

 

[corkyg]

Started using T-Pads a few years ago with a T60. It still runs as well as it did when new. My current laptop is a T510. Much faster than the T60. Now my travel machine. It is approaching 2 years old. I'll probably replace it with a T530 when they come out. I find T-Pads to be solid performers. Have travelled with mine all over the world and never had a problem or BSOD.

 

[unokitty]

My X220 has been my portable machine for a little over the last two years.

Starting with a Zenith 486/20, I've had a variety of portable machines. I don't think that I'll ever buy anything other than another thinkpad. (I make my own desktops.)

I wouldn't want a portable as a fashion statement. Nor, would I want a machine that screamed "Look at me!" or "Steal this!."

Not that I would claim that the thinkpad is the perfect machine for everyone, its not.

But I wanted a machine that had a good keyboard. One that was portable and dependable. And one that wouldn't call attention to itself.

How much do I like it?

My work would have bought me a Dell. I paid for the Thinkpad myself.

Uno

 

[KeithCody]

IBM / Lenovo: T series, T##p series and the the newer W series, which replaced the T##p, are tanks. Durable, fast. Have all the features. You can a fine machine used, for $300 and not even have to worry about it. The dock is pretty cool. too.

 

[Pardus]

.

Maybe when Ivy Bridge releases in June, I might get my hands on a T430s...

What are your experiences with Thinkpads? Perhaps the best thing about them is their retro 1990s aesthetic.

Intel marketing Dpt: "Sir how are we gonna sell the rest of these over priced Sandy Bridge E processors when everyone knows the superior/cheaper Ivy units are only a few weeks away?"

Intel marketing Executive: "Don't you mean... a few MONTHS! Mwah hahhaha Mwah hahaha"

Intel marketing Dpt: "He he hehe he

 

[kevinsbane]

I have an Thinkpad x220. It is awesome. Ok, now that my inner fanboy is out, time to be a little more realistic.

I really like my x220. As far as laptops go, my priority for laptops is #1 portability, and secondly battery life, and then durability. This fits into my philosophy of how I use my laptop: anywhere and everywhere. The x220 fits all 3 categories really nicely. Less than 1.5 kg, small form factor (13" is probably the largest I will accept as a laptop), 6+ h battery life, rollcage + water resistant keyboard.

Second tier of things I look for in a laptop: computing power, excellent keyboard, and good screen. And trackpoint. Actually, scratch trackpoint in the second tier. Trackpoint belongs in my must haves in a laptop. Again, the x220 hits all of those things: full power i5 SB cpu, 8 GB ram, industry top keyboard and best-in-class IPS 768p screen. Wish i had more resolution though... but I'm surviving on 768p, and the IPS screen just blows away the TN version of the screen.

For those of you who wonder why I like computing power and run 8GB of ram in an ultraportable... well, I run CAD applications on my x220. And it almost has the same user experience due to the fact that I run an SSD in it.

I do have some gripes about it... the touchpad sucks. It's very very very mediocre. Useable, but mediocre and thus it sucks compared to the rest of the machine. As well, I wish it could be a little bit thinner as well.... although I do like the looks, there are other looks that I do like better.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

I'm still using a T61 15.4ws Core 2 T7500 1680x1050 as my primary computer. I upgraded the HDD to a WD Scorpio blue 640gb. What fascinated me is the CPU over clocks from 2.2ghz to 2.4ghz on single threaded workloads when it's plugged in. With 4mb of L2 cache, that CPU is holding up EXTREMELY well. The thinkpad is built so sturdy. I only wish I ha bought it with a discrete CPU. The intel IGP can do max res HD video, as well as 720P output very well, but gaming is not an option. Madden 08 does play well on it though!

 

[RU482]

Thinkpads, IMO, just feel more solid and look more professional than Dell/HP/Toshiba counterparts.

I am curious, on the Thinkpad you had in 99....what "broke"?

When I read that, I had an instant flashback to my first job out of school, (2 weeks out). 1998. I was pushing a test cart that had an IBM thinkpad notebook...which at the time was hot stuff. I hit a bump, and bluescreen...crash. I'm sure a 2.5" drive at the time cost more than my rent, so I was freaked! I assume it was under warranty, no one even cared, but man was I sweating for the next couple of days.

 

[zCypher]

I loved the T400, it had a 14" screen with, I think, 1440x900 resolution, pretty nice. The Core2Duo was really good too. I really loved the keyboard on that laptop, just amazing. My x120e has the best keyboard I've seen on a netbook, but I still prefer the T400 keyboard to it by far.

I think my next laptop will have to be another Thinkpad, but with at least an i5 in there this time.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

One of the biggest things besides the trackpoint that keeps me going back to Thinkpads is the fact that IBM (Lenovo?) publishes the HMMs for all their laptops. Makes repairs and warranty service that much easier. It would've taken me a lot longer to figure out how to swap my screen out if the HMM didn't exist.

 

[Meghan54]

I have a T420 w/i5 2520M cpu, damned Intel HD 3000 graphics (only thing I dislike about it), 8GB RAM, 128GB Crucial M4 SSD, matte screen (no damned glare like the glossy screens suffer from!) and love it. Solidly built, should survive most anything. Top has so little flex in it when opening, you have to try to get it to flex. Metal hinges....always wondered why other makers don't use them, having suffered repeatedly from broken hinges on lesser laptops. And forgot...the best damned keyboard on the market. You can take those stupid no feedback, no feel chiclet keyboards and dump them in the ocean. The Thinkpad keyboard just owns all other keyboards in laptops, hands down.



Gave my father-in-law my old T61, C2D 7300 cpu, 4GB RAM, 80GB Intel SSD, and he won't let it out of his sight....just loves it. It's still plenty quick and has no issues at year 4 of its life. Few other laptops can stand up do daily use and be issue free after 4 years.

 

[WackyDan]

I've carried numerous ThinkPads over the years, and by numerous, I mean more than anyone on this forum. I got my first true corporate type job in 1996 working under contract to IBM through a 3rd party company. I was issue a ThinkPad 701c butterfly. I left that job for Apple and carried a Powerbook for several months...

I then went back to contract work with IBM which involved heavy travel... and was issued a new ThinkPad every 6 months due to the fact we were part of their PC Division's marketing arm...Then I worked for Lenovo directly... and now I'm back to IBM doing software.

I've carried everything, two different 600's, a 380, A30, A31p, T20,21,22,23,40,41,41p,42,43,60,60p,61, Z61t, R61, X300, Transnote, and now a W510.

The T42, Z61t, R61 and now the W510 are my most long carried out of all of them.

I lost a drive on a T21 once... I think it was just the MBR and not the drive itself, but we replaced the drive and drove on. My 701c blew a modem... which was my fault... and my Z61t have the screen inverter go bad... which considering how much use it got 24/7 wasn't surprising. The 14' R61 was a tank, and that series was very close to the T in build quality... I dropped it onto concrete from four feet and it took some cosmetic damage and kept running just fine. I did have the USB bus on one of my T60's go bad.

My wife is still using the T60P I got her a long time ago.

So.. I'm a bit biased due to my work experience and having been on the payroll so to speak... I've had a lot of Thinkpads for short periods of time where you'd think they wouldn't break anyway, but I've had a few for quite a while... And none of them were desk queens - they traveled dam near every day of the week through airports, taxi's etc.

 

[amethgr8]

I did a custom built on Lenovo's site back in Feb. 2013, ordered it. $842 out the door. win7 pro, i5-3320 , HD400 graphics, 1368x768, 8gb ddr3, 320HD with the 6 cell battery. I do most my work at my desktop on my job, but my home desktop MB blew a capacitor and didn't justify buying a new one. my r60e purchased in 2007 was still going good but I had the money and better to migrate by choice rather than necessity.

I love it. the fan is quite. I elevate it when I use it at home. I've gotten used to the island keyboard. seems I probably don't depress the keys as hard or my angle is wrong and seemed to miss letters here and there and it was aggravating. I've googled this issue and there's a difference in the P/N number on the backlit vs thinklight. I have the thinklight. I still love it. I called tech support (still under warranty) and they just sent me a new one, don't have to send the old back. they have different P/N numbers so we'll see if I swap them at my next aggravation point.

 

[amethgr8]

I was leary of the pre-installed crap on the lenovos. back in 2007 after a couple years I had to have the hard drive wiped cause all the lenovo programs where more cumbersome than useful. this new on tho, not so bad. I took off some of the "affilliate" programs and it runs really well. I didn't do the higher gb HD of 500+ cause I really do more processing than storage. i like that I can go up to a 32gb ram and swap out my dvd for ssd if I want to grow further.

amy

 

[ultimatebob]

My Thinkpad T61 died a horrible death a few days ago when my wife spilled a class of iced tea on it while it was running.

Lenovo was smart enough to put drainage system on the keyboard, but she somehow spilled the tea right into the top left speaker vent and the exhaust vent for the CPU.

When I saw iced tea dripping out of external system board ports, I knew that it was a goner. At least I was able to rescue the hard drive from it.

So, mental note for male laptop buyers here... Make your wife and kids get their own damn laptops

 

[Ketchup]

I just turned in a T510. Had it about 3 years. There were plenty of things I liked about it - solid construction, plenty fast (as long as I wasn't running too many VM's at once), and the best power connection I have seen on a laptop. Unfortunately, I had more issues than most with that one: the screen went bad (just stopped coming on one day), an internal power issue that would make it randomly cut off, and the DVD drive just died one day. But I truly believe it was an exception to the rule.

I am pretty impressed with the new one, a W530. It's lighter, yet feels just as sturdy as the old one, faster (8 GB of RAM with 3 free slots, and an Ivy Bridge I7), much brighter screen than the other one ever had, and better battery life (6 hours vs 3). I have a good feeling this one will hold up better than the other one did.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

My Thinkpad T61 died a horrible death a few days ago when my wife spilled a class of iced tea on it while it was running.

Lenovo was smart enough to put drainage system on the keyboard, but she somehow spilled the tea right into the top left speaker vent and the exhaust vent for the CPU.

When I saw iced tea dripping out of external system board ports, I knew that it was a goner. At least I was able to rescue the hard drive from it.

So, mental note for male laptop buyers here... Make your wife and kids get their own damn laptops

A whole class? An entire CLASS of iced tea! Crazy!

On a serious note, I've spilled coke and water on the keyboard and nada. It still works perfectly.