4 ms·

The Thinkpad line has a cult-like following like Apple products. It would help in difficult times, but the brand needs to reinvent itself like how Apple did. I

The Thinkpad line has a cult-like following like Apple products. It would help in difficult times, but the brand needs to reinvent itself like how Apple did. I would certainly love to see new products coming out with Thinkpad quality, durability, user-friendliness (the Linux crowd), and support.

phil21 9y ago
It used to have a cult-like following. I'm know some still exist, but everyone I know who would have quit a job over not being able to use a Thinkpad has long since moved on. Including myself. Those that remain are the types who will use 10 year old laptops willingly. Lenovo ruined the Thinkpad brand entirely. I'm hopeful for this old school return of a "quality tank of a laptop with a real keyboard" but we'll see. Recent track record tells me this won't be super interesting. If I could get a modern-spec Thinkpad with a Macbook pro quality screen and the old school Thinkpad keyboard I'd be on board in a hot minute.
- jchw 9y ago
  I'm pretty disappointed with the specs on most Lenovo laptops anymore. Why does everyone put junk ULV processors in laptops nowadays? I'd die for a slightly thicker laptop that had good specs at a price that's more reasonable. No joke, you'd be much better with a used 2012 MBP than nearly any recent Thinkpad. I have an X1 Carbon that is just pathetic. With Apple going the direction it is, I really wish there was an alternative.
  - m_mueller 9y ago
    It seems to me Apple is correcting though, looking at recent announcements. They seem to have been listening pretty hard. If they correct their messy port situation then all is pretty much in order again IMO.
    - copperx 9y ago
      Except for a 17" version. The 17" MacBook Pro will never come back :(
  - currysausage 9y ago
    > Why does everyone put junk ULV processors in laptops nowadays? Because nowadays they are up to usual tasks while allowing long battery life and light, compact devices. If you want more than a U processor, the T470p and the P51/71 are for you (Core i7-7820HQ or even Xeon E3-1535M v6 possible).
    - jchw 9y ago
      I understand that _most people_ aren't going to need big processors. But truth be told, I had a lot of trouble finding something that even had a remotely good processor that didn't start over $1200. It feels like a lot of laptops marketed toward professionals are now coming with ULV, and that makes it hard to find laptops that are actually suitable for my heavy usage. (I since switched to a desktop because of this exact problem.) But, now that you pointed it out, the T470p looks excellent. Browsing their site, I would've never found this, or at least I certainly didn't a while back when I was in the market.
      - currysausage 9y ago
        > Browsing their site, I would've never found this I don't blame you, the Lenovo website is utter crap in almost every respect.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- m_mueller 9y ago
  Your recipy almost matches my dream laptop: 15'' ThinkPad, ca. 2005 era KabyLake quad or more cores, maxed out memory rMBP screen All thinkpad ports in their modern incarnations (gigabit ether, USB 3.1, hdmi), add 1-2 USB-C rMBP Touchpad before it became Forcetouch Essentially, give me the Ford F-150 raptor of laptops. And I'm saying this as a European ;).
  - Inconel 9y ago
    I'm currently using a 2013 MacBook Pro and my only interaction with the Force Touch trackpads has been in Apple stores, but what do you dislike about them? I haven't had a chance to try them for long enough to form an opinion and I'm curious about potential annoyances if/when I upgrade to a newer model. Personally I'd love to see the 12.9" 4:3 display from an iPad Pro in a Thinkpad retro.
  - qball 9y ago
    Funny that you say that; there's a project out there aiming to do just that (their last effort was a modern motherboard for an X61; this new one is for the T60). You can find it here (translated link): https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fforum.51nb.com%2Fforum.php%3Fmod%3Dviewthread%26tid%3D1721757%26extra%3Dpage%253D1%26page%3D1&edit-text= https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=y&p...
  - fouc 9y ago
    FYI, there's a setting that controls the forcetouch click, Light/Medium/Firm. If you set it to Firm, it will feel the same as before.
    - mikejmoffitt 9y ago
      "Firm" doesn't feel at all like it was before.

phil21 9y ago

It used to have a cult-like following. I'm know some still exist, but everyone I know who would have quit a job over not being able to use a Thinkpad has long since moved on. Including myself. Those that remain are the types who will use 10 year old laptops willingly. Lenovo ruined the Thinkpad brand entirely. I'm hopeful for this old school return of a "quality tank of a laptop with a real keyboard" but we'll see. Recent track record tells me this won't be super interesting. If I could get a modern-spec Thinkpad with a Macbook pro quality screen and the old school Thinkpad keyboard I'd be on board in a hot minute.

jchw 9y ago
I'm pretty disappointed with the specs on most Lenovo laptops anymore. Why does everyone put junk ULV processors in laptops nowadays? I'd die for a slightly thicker laptop that had good specs at a price that's more reasonable. No joke, you'd be much better with a used 2012 MBP than nearly any recent Thinkpad. I have an X1 Carbon that is just pathetic. With Apple going the direction it is, I really wish there was an alternative.
- m_mueller 9y ago
  It seems to me Apple is correcting though, looking at recent announcements. They seem to have been listening pretty hard. If they correct their messy port situation then all is pretty much in order again IMO.
  - copperx 9y ago
    Except for a 17" version. The 17" MacBook Pro will never come back :(
- currysausage 9y ago
  > Why does everyone put junk ULV processors in laptops nowadays? Because nowadays they are up to usual tasks while allowing long battery life and light, compact devices. If you want more than a U processor, the T470p and the P51/71 are for you (Core i7-7820HQ or even Xeon E3-1535M v6 possible).
  - jchw 9y ago
    I understand that _most people_ aren't going to need big processors. But truth be told, I had a lot of trouble finding something that even had a remotely good processor that didn't start over $1200. It feels like a lot of laptops marketed toward professionals are now coming with ULV, and that makes it hard to find laptops that are actually suitable for my heavy usage. (I since switched to a desktop because of this exact problem.) But, now that you pointed it out, the T470p looks excellent. Browsing their site, I would've never found this, or at least I certainly didn't a while back when I was in the market.
    - currysausage 9y ago
      > Browsing their site, I would've never found this I don't blame you, the Lenovo website is utter crap in almost every respect.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
m_mueller 9y ago
Your recipy almost matches my dream laptop: 15'' ThinkPad, ca. 2005 era KabyLake quad or more cores, maxed out memory rMBP screen All thinkpad ports in their modern incarnations (gigabit ether, USB 3.1, hdmi), add 1-2 USB-C rMBP Touchpad before it became Forcetouch Essentially, give me the Ford F-150 raptor of laptops. And I'm saying this as a European ;).
- Inconel 9y ago
  I'm currently using a 2013 MacBook Pro and my only interaction with the Force Touch trackpads has been in Apple stores, but what do you dislike about them? I haven't had a chance to try them for long enough to form an opinion and I'm curious about potential annoyances if/when I upgrade to a newer model. Personally I'd love to see the 12.9" 4:3 display from an iPad Pro in a Thinkpad retro.
- qball 9y ago
  Funny that you say that; there's a project out there aiming to do just that (their last effort was a modern motherboard for an X61; this new one is for the T60). You can find it here (translated link): https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fforum.51nb.com%2Fforum.php%3Fmod%3Dviewthread%26tid%3D1721757%26extra%3Dpage%253D1%26page%3D1&edit-text= https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=y&p...
- fouc 9y ago
  FYI, there's a setting that controls the forcetouch click, Light/Medium/Firm. If you set it to Firm, it will feel the same as before.
  - mikejmoffitt 9y ago
    "Firm" doesn't feel at all like it was before.