THINK: A brief history of ThinkPads, from IBM to Lenovo

[Sam Medley]

@Ken: My recommendation is to repair the T420. Unless you're doing heavy processing tasks or graphical work, it'll be more than enough for office work. Repairing the hinge will also be cheaper than buying a new laptop, and the T420 will keep on kicking for a long time.
Or upgrade to a T430 and swap out the keyboard if you're a little more daring (requires a BIOS flash). I'd honestly avoid anything after the T430 - it'll all feel like a downgrade from the T420.

[ros]

7th gen Lenovo X1 carbon finally enlisted...but no ice-lake

[Ken]

@Sam Medley:  Thank you.  Took your advice and replaced the hinge on my T420s, reconnected the screen port to the video cable (which had partially disconnected when the hinge broke) and viola!  It works.  Then set the nvidia graphics card as the only graphics source, thereby avoiding the Intel graphics chip entirely, and screen brightness improved.  No need yet for a newer T series or X series. Thanks.

[pixel]

Long time lurker, first time commenter here.

My first Thinkpad was T20. It was love love at first boot. Currently use X220 and R400 and love them both. R400 would have been my ideal laptop, if it had IPS panel and sometimes did not struggle with modern script heavy web-sites.

I totally understand why Lenovo does what they do. Bear with me, I will try to explain.

When the 'retro-ThinkPad' surveys were published, I was really happy, only to be disappointed when it was clear it's just keyboard mod for T470 (correct me if I wrong, please).

As laptop-money moved from business to consumer market, they try to maximize their profits. What would might have happened if they refused to change? Nothing any of us would like, I reckon. Look at Harley&Davidson and their struggle.

That being said, what I do not understand is their caching out on the famous 'ThinkPad' name...

Do regular consumers really know the name?
Does slapping 'Thinkpad' label on tripped down consumer-grade laptop's lid really help sell more units?
Were 'old school' ThinkPads to arrive, would we, the 'ThinkPad' enthusiasts, actually put our money where our internet comments are?

I do not know about the first two questions, but since the economy of scale wouldn't be in place, I am worried that many would not want/be able to afford to buy one. Am I wrong?

Also, could it be they run the numbers and found out the market for thicc Thinkpads simply is not there?

[krasulozaur]

I started with R40 (works to this day), then I bought T43 (3 pieces, for the company and home - all functional), now I use X201. I don't know what to do next, I need a replaceable battery - I often use it in places where there is no access to electricity. I care more about the resistance and size of the equipment than its weight.

[noLenovo]

I am typing this from a first notebook 4276-37U W520 bought after looking at review here. By then there were no tests like PWM for LCD panels. Now dealing with motion blur on dedicated age old 1000M graphics, because quirky intel HD3000 fiddles even more with the graphics and eyes. Like many it has come with noisy caps and adapter. Kurzgesagt it is a machine full of serious sinister failures compared to many established  pro or conventional competitor models from dell or mbp.