3 ms·

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 s

• 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.