3 ms·

I'm surprised there hasn't been a spiritual successor of the original ThinkPads from a premium small-scale producer in Shenzhen (that I'm aware of), given the a

by byw 6y ago

I'm surprised there hasn't been a spiritual successor of the original ThinkPads from a premium small-scale producer in Shenzhen (that I'm aware of), given the amount of niche mom & pop phone/PC producers over there. (I know there's a company that puts new chips in old chassis, but it'd be great to see new chassis from scratch as well).

phonon 6y ago
Huawei MateBook X Pro?
- SahAssar 6y ago
  Seems to be lacking a lot of what made the old thinkpads great in comparison to modern laptops like repairability, great keyboard, ruggedness, matte screens, great linux support, etc. The matebook x pro seems more like just another modern ultrabook.
  - blaser-waffle 6y ago
    After taking a look myself, I agree with the above -- it looks like a wannabe MacBook. Hell, the name "matebook x" even implies not-quite-Macbook. Which is exactly what the old school Thinkpads are not.
nikanj 6y ago
GPD Pocket et al?
emptyparadise 6y ago
How I'd love to see something like classic ThinkPads again: completely self-serviceable and upgradeable with plenty of parts and lots of support available. So sick of glue and crazy proprietary chips and boards.
- close04 6y ago
  Hardware became a commodity over the past 2-3 decades. It gets replaced, not serviced. And most people got used to not caring about getting something serviced beyond a few consumables (like a battery). It's hard to stay afloat selling to a niche so not many companies try. On the other hand the pace of evolution has slowed down and upgrading stuff is less of a necessity today. So most people no longer feel the need to pay for flexibility, they'll go for other things like design, thinness, weight, etc. Phones probably showed the way, they became the ubiquitous computing device and for anyone born in this era they simply set the standard fro all other devices. I miss my ThinkPad 600x for example but not necessarily because I could (and did) tear it down and build it back over and over again. But also because it seems today we're sacrificing a bit too much for the sake of design. Like impossible to use keyboards, lack of ports, everything glued, etc. because anything else will make the device a bit thicker or heavier.
- dTal 6y ago
  Modern ThinkPads are still best-in-breed for that (the T-series, at any rate). They still come with full service manuals and individually available spare parts, which can often be swapped between similar chassis. And the T480 is one of the last remaining holdouts against soldered-everything and razor-thin.
sidpatil 6y ago
There's the MNT Reform, which is an effort to make a highly serviceable and modifiable laptop. https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform#products-top https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform#products-top
1MachineElf 6y ago
51nb is a premium small-scale producer in Shenzen that is kind of doing this. Instead of making new laptops from scratch, they create modifications to existing ThinkPads. For example, the X62: https://www.notebookcheck.net/X62-Laptop-Review.211598.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/X62-Laptop-Review.211598.0.htm... Here's their website: https://51nb.com/portal.php https://51nb.com/portal.php

by byw 6y ago

phonon 6y ago

Huawei MateBook X Pro?

SahAssar 6y ago
Seems to be lacking a lot of what made the old thinkpads great in comparison to modern laptops like repairability, great keyboard, ruggedness, matte screens, great linux support, etc. The matebook x pro seems more like just another modern ultrabook.
- blaser-waffle 6y ago
  After taking a look myself, I agree with the above -- it looks like a wannabe MacBook. Hell, the name "matebook x" even implies not-quite-Macbook. Which is exactly what the old school Thinkpads are not.

nikanj 6y ago

GPD Pocket et al?

emptyparadise 6y ago

How I'd love to see something like classic ThinkPads again: completely self-serviceable and upgradeable with plenty of parts and lots of support available. So sick of glue and crazy proprietary chips and boards.

close04 6y ago
Hardware became a commodity over the past 2-3 decades. It gets replaced, not serviced. And most people got used to not caring about getting something serviced beyond a few consumables (like a battery). It's hard to stay afloat selling to a niche so not many companies try. On the other hand the pace of evolution has slowed down and upgrading stuff is less of a necessity today. So most people no longer feel the need to pay for flexibility, they'll go for other things like design, thinness, weight, etc. Phones probably showed the way, they became the ubiquitous computing device and for anyone born in this era they simply set the standard fro all other devices. I miss my ThinkPad 600x for example but not necessarily because I could (and did) tear it down and build it back over and over again. But also because it seems today we're sacrificing a bit too much for the sake of design. Like impossible to use keyboards, lack of ports, everything glued, etc. because anything else will make the device a bit thicker or heavier.
dTal 6y ago
Modern ThinkPads are still best-in-breed for that (the T-series, at any rate). They still come with full service manuals and individually available spare parts, which can often be swapped between similar chassis. And the T480 is one of the last remaining holdouts against soldered-everything and razor-thin.

sidpatil 6y ago

There's the MNT Reform, which is an effort to make a highly serviceable and modifiable laptop. https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform#products-top https://www.crowdsupply.com/mnt/reform#products-top

1MachineElf 6y ago

51nb is a premium small-scale producer in Shenzen that is kind of doing this. Instead of making new laptops from scratch, they create modifications to existing ThinkPads. For example, the X62: https://www.notebookcheck.net/X62-Laptop-Review.211598.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/X62-Laptop-Review.211598.0.htm... Here's their website: https://51nb.com/portal.php https://51nb.com/portal.php