News Lenovo teases retro-themed ThinkPad

"In recent years, Lenovo's ThinkPads have gradually shifted away from the blocky style"

I'm not sure I believe that comment. Sure, they're updated the keyboard and attempted to make their devices more sleek, but compare an image of the Lenovo T520 (2012) with the IBM A20 (2000). Twelve years brought us a bigger device, a touch pad, and the Windows key.

 

The problem is that it doesn't feel all that retro, because:
a) As mentioned above, the designs haven't actually moved on that far. Thinkpads still tend to look fundamentally "Thinkpad-y".
b) The older ones were built so well that a lot of people/businesses are still using them.
The main thing that stands out as a throwback is the logo.

 

Back in the day, when I was going through a laptop phase, thinking I didn't need a desktop any more, I used to drool after the IBM Thinkpad designs, their keyboards were the mutts nuts compared to all the rest.

 

I have a Lenovo Thinkpad on my desk at work - it doesn't look all that different to my old Pentium 3 powered IBM Thinkpad from way back when.

 

I'm still rocking my X41 with the addition of an SSD, it's plenty good enough, despite what you would think eyeing up the 1.4Ghz processor. I would be interested in an "oldschool" styled thinkpad, assuming they put a decent keyboard on it.

 

A modern update of the design classic 701c with 'butterfly keyboard would be nice

 

Retro themed seems like an odd description for this given that the design in question has been used up until very recently. The X220 I have sat to my left looks very similar and is sporting a core i5.

Granted their most modern designs look slightly different with Chiclet keyboards but they still look similar enough.

 

I still use my X60 ans X60s all the time. Great bits of kit that just keep going

 

I was at work the other day helping with moving to our office, and while in the loft passing everything down, I found one of the original IBM ThinkPads. I said "Wow, this thing's so cool" and passed down to my colleague. What did he do?

He threw it on the floor and broke it.

 

The T520 is actually what they' re calling retro there, and what most of us ThinkPad users consider to be the absolute best generation of ThinkPads (aside from the removal of the dedicated touchpad buttons).

The issue is the absolute horribleness that are the current **40/**50 machines: chiclet keyboard (and only 6 rows at that, instead of the awesome 7), no thinklight (you can read a book or a report using the thinklight.. not so much with backlighting), no physical touchpad buttons and (even worse) no physical trackpoint buttons (I hear they reverted the trackpoint buttons on the new **50 machines...), clips to hold the now mostly plastic chassis together, soldered RAM, UEFI whitelist crap, glossy screens, no rubberized paint, a damn focus on being thin...

All in all, a lot of ThinkPad users are looking elsewhere (I myself only do Dell Latitude/Precision these days...) and pining for our beloved all purpose, all ergonomics, little style, bash-someone-in-the-head machines.

 

I'd be interested in one, i've been looking after a new laptop since my current ones screen is on its way out. The one thing that puts me off of modern laptops is the whole 'thin & light' design concept, give me bulky and robust any day.

 

You can genuinely have both though (for a given level of performance anyways...). Recently bought a Dell Latitude E7450 for my dad, and used a bunch of Dell XPS13s of varying generations over the years - both are built incredibly well, but are also very thin and light machines but tough enough to put dents in things if you're not careful...

 

I don't know; work gave me an X240 and I think it's delightful! It still feels incredibly solid, it's really fast, the screen and keyboard are great, it looks super slick and the battery does 13 hours.

 

I've used a T440 and an X240 on and off, and aside from the core specs (CPU, RAM, mobo, screen, battery), I was sorely dissapointed with both - don't get me wrong, they're fantastic laptops, they're just very underwhelming as ThinkPads.