Retro ThinkPad Classic

Given that many of the current large camera companies are releasing retro styled Camera with modern specifications, and making big bucks out of it. Do you think Lenovo should bring back a modern incarnation of an 'old' ThinkPad for a limited release run, just for old time sake? IF so, which ThinkPad and what sort of specifications do you want in it?

 

Of course I voted "yes" and my preference would be a T4x unit of some kind.

Specs are anyone's guess. Just give me an updated, high-resolution IPS panel and I'm happy.

Since Lenovo won't do it, private enterprise is working on it:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=110787

If Lenovo wanted to resurrect one of their own ThinkPads, X30* series would be a prime contender.

 

Lets do a KickStarter campaign and get Lenovo's attention. Since Lenovo spends quite amount of dosh on marketing (i.e. the Ashton Kutcher campaign). We can approach the Lenovo Marketing about our campaign, and ask them to weigh in to help this project, they get more free advertising. Win win for both of us. Much like the phoneblok marketing campaign which generated lot of interests.

https://phonebloks.com/

We need to get some ThinkPad heavy hitter to support our campaign.

 

I like the idea and have fond memories of older Thinkpads but not sure if I can get behind it because IMO computers are all about their guts, not the way they look (sorry Apple fanboys . My fondness for past models have usually been down to how they enabled me to enhance my productivity or skills, and the only design aspects that really made a difference were keyboard, display and overall size/weight. Older keyboards were arguably better (though I tend to quickly adapt to new versions), the newest displays are (finally) on par or better than the older ones, and overall size/weight has improved vastly.

I'd be all over a phonebloks idea for the newest machines, however. Give me a T440p case without an optical drive and I could cram lots of good stuff into it! Better GPU, couple of 2.5" drives, bigger battery... that would be fun

 

All very valid points, no questions asked.

Having said that, for my personal needs I still vastly prefer a 4:3 aspect ratio when an appropriate panel is fitted. The size/weight aspect - within reason - is a non-issue to me. I used to lug around an A31p in IBM padded case with a couple of accessories...

I would also argue that a X30* with refreshed guts and an improved LCD could be an attractive proposal, since it weighed less than the current T440s, and did include a media drive...

 

Maybe I am partial because I am currently taking a class in survey design. The post is good, the poll not so much. In order to vote I would need to know what and when is considered a "classic" Thinkpad and what is not? I could go on and on but everyone has a different opinion and those change drastically. When Lenovo took over vs IBM? When they keyboard changed? When the screens changed? (Does anyone remember when the red distinctions on the Trackpoint on the T60/T61 were removed. I remember I told myself Thinkpads were not the same and some other people did also. Lo and behold the red distinctions came back and many people on here consider the T6x series classic Thinkpads. I then fazed out of computer world and saw a T420 at work and said wow Thinkpads are still Thinkpads. Sort of, still don't know how years later the T series got thicker (.2inches) and heavier by .2 or .3 pounds than my T43 was in 2005 and 2006. That can't be explained/excused at all.

 

This is somewhat of a gray area. Here's how I see it:

The last IBM ThinkPads were R52, T43/p and X41/T, using 16V adapters and having no Windows key on the keyboard. One should bear in mind that a significant portion of these machines was produced after the PC Division was sold to Lenovo in May of 2005. My T43p (August of 2006, US built) originally had a Lenovo insignia on the clear plate.

I don't know what you mean by "screens changed", but the first widescreen ThinkPads were Z60m and Z60t, using a 20V adapter and sporting a Windows key, so clearly a part of what I deem to be Lenovo era.

 

It would be nice if Lenovo did offer a Classic range of their ThinkPads. I think they should've introduced some sort of one off special retro model on the ThinkPad's 20th anniversary - a missed opportunity.

 

They did offer a "20th Anniversary" model, but in Japan only. No clue on what it looked like, but from what I'm gathering it wasn't really "retro" of any kind...

 

oh my God. I remember the Z series. Those were crazy bad in terms of reaction. The first (and last?) non black or dark Thinkpads. Those came out a year or two after I got my T43.
I mentioned the screen change actually because someone above me mentioned how they would like 4:3 factors screens back. And I had not even thought of that. So yeah whenever the screens changed from 4:3 to whatever it changed to people could say that is when Thinkpads were no longer Thinkpads. Was just mentioning how everyone will have a definition of Thinkpads and definition of modern vs old. It could vary by model to. Comparing an R series to a modern T etc. A non servicable X1 Carbon with chiclet keyboard to a serviceable W series with chiclet keyboard? The list could go on and on.

 

Not all of the Z series had Titanium lids, a vast majority sported conventional black ones.

I own a (heavily upgraded) Z61m with a Ti lid, and it's a fabulous machine for its age. Webcam, WWAN, all nine yards. Likely one of the most loaded ThinkPads ever, even before my upgrades. Heavy as a sin, though.

Personally, I had no problem with the introduction of widescreen units until the conventional 4:3 got discontinued. That move got me rather upset, to say the very least.

You're absolutely correct. To each his/hers own. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was the keyboard layout change on *30 series...

 

I don't mind having a second IBM T43p, this time with 2013/2014 technology components. Same IPS screen is fine. Definitely, absolutely same keyboard. And, of course, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

Parallel thought, and this has been raised here before: A "modernized" X301 would be awesome, likely besting the various "s" offerings today.

 

Problem with resurrecting the 4:3 screen is that I've become used to the dimensions of machines with 16:9 or 16:10 screens and if resolution can offer me the same number of pixels vertically on a 16:10 screen then I'm happy. And this coming from someone who hunted down one of the 4:3 models of the T61 just to keep that ratio's magic a few more years (finally, six years later, Lenovo now offers as many vertical pixels as that SXGA+ T61 screen on a 14" model. Way to take your time, Lenovo

Some would argue the 600E was the last "classic" Thinkpad, but IMO that was too close to the old IBM "stinkpad" era of cranky proprietary hardware.

Haven't used an X301, but sounds like it could be a contender for upgrade resurrection. not sure I'd vote for the T4X series as the "classic" mule since I seem to recall many gripes about the build quality. The T2X series arguably had a bigger fanbase after the initial shock of the T20 wore off.

 

I wouldn't mind anything up to the *20 series, heck, I can even tolerate the *30 keyboard if it's necessary. But no Trackpoint buttons on the *40 series? That's crossing the line.

 

It's not a huge deal, but I definitely like the older TP look as well... everything else being equal, I'd definitely pay a small premium to get the classic styling back (especially if it means dedicated touchpad/trackpoint buttons!).

 

Yeah, the lack of Trackpoint button does hurt a bit. But since I am buying the T440s I guess it is still considered a Thinkpad to me. It will be interesting to see what changes again over the next 4 years/life of my T440s.

 

Everyone's already on the right track. It'd also be retro at this point to bring back the uniform Thinkpad black color as well as the rubberized finish that's gone in this latest generation. The new gray color and lack of coating are butt ugly and don't give the old grip. Add blue enter button as well. Think light is another candidate, shines light on the document sitting next notebook as well as the keyboard.

 

I'd like an updated X301 since it's the perfect size and weight for me.

The keyboard can be chiclet, but it must be the 7-row, classic layout with Ins/Del/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn in their proper place.

Real, classic TrackPoint buttons are a given as is the ability to turn off the touchpad completely.

Keep the ThinkLight. No lighted keyboard to bother me with its glare.

Keep the bay so that I can slide in a second battery. A better screen would be appreciated, too.

 

While it's true that a 14" FHD offers more vertical pixels, because the screens are more squat, the pixel density is much higher. That cuts effectiveness of the screen because text is too small for a lot of users who will need to bump up the DPI to use it.

My dream ThinkPad would be a 13/14", probably closer to 14", sub four pound SXGA+ IPS LCD with mSATA SSD and hard drive options. An optical drive is not needed for me. I don't mind the new chiclet keyboard, but dedicated trackpoint buttons are a must.

 

Bring back the X301!!! Still love mine, and recently started using it again

 

Until i lay my hands on a 40 series Thinkpad, i will avoid making such close-minded asumptions.

I do personally prefer the 30 to the 20.

 

Obviously, we can give Lenovo some ideas and tentative suggestions, as to what we want.

So maybe we could do a website to promote our ideas and see how much social traction we can get. If you are serious about retro Thinkpad and what not, then this time to promote the idea through your social media network to show Lenovo that we are serious about this whole enterprise.

The Kickstarter account will allow us to gather the fund to approach the people whom has a definitive say on this matter within Lenovo, to show them that it is feasible to release a retro ThinkPad model that is funded by the community. I think this is a paradigm shift in the whole computer industry, a community funded computer project for the enthusiasts.

So do we have any suggestions for website name?

 

T43? I miss the REAL retro thinkpad:



I'm serious. They could totally make something like this with a haswell CPU, and maybe a 768/1080p widescreen.

 

Double post. Mods please delete. Sorry!

 

Oooohh... Can I keep dreaming (again) about a classy TP.

- It's has to be death black
- Bento box design
- 7 row keyboard
- Somehow bulky but not heavy (ultrabooks are for wimps)
- Vintage power on button (see below)
- And in my book it MUST MUST HAVE something similar to this:

 

x3** series, perfect size, socketed cpu, hd screen

 

I would really like a modernized X301. The X301 is hands down the BEST laptop I have ever owned ( and I still own it ! ). Just needs to be upgraded to todays specs.

Also, for a website idea, how about www.retrothinkpad.com, or www.thinkpadbacktobasics.com

 

Could not agree more. http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/681991-second-hand-thinkpad-x301-owners-thread.html

 

I must say that I'm somewhat surprised with the amount of love shown for X301 in this thread...although I did always say that it was one of Lenovo's finest moments, regardless of its imperfections.

So, guys and gals of Lenovo, a ThinkPad of your own design has surpassed all of its IBM ancestors in popularity as shown in this poll. My hat's off to you.

The real question is: are you going to do anything about it?

I'm not holding my breath...

 

Thinkpad X341 Anniversary Edition incoming in 5...

 

Nah.

X357 sounds a lot better. Lightweight but deadly...

 

Don't know where the 7 comes from. 5 would mean Broadwell.

 

We should have an X350 and a special edition called the X357 Magnum in gunmetal gray aluminum

 

Keep the idea coming. Does anyone here have skills in Maya or AutoCAD?

 

As most people will already know, I absolutely love the X301 and I plan on using it for as long as possible.

Now in my opinion the X301 is already close to perfect and is mostly plagued by outdated hardware. However, even the average John Doe can upgrade their X301 with means available to anyone. First we take a look at the down sides of an X301:

-Processing power (seems to be the biggest problem)
-Display (people want a hi-res IPS)
-Missing ports (no expresscard, no USB 3, no SD card)
-Mediocre battery life
-Slow SSD

So let's say you want more CPU power. There is only one way of achieving this: Overclocking. Details are mentioned in the owners thread. Basically you can get a SU9400 to run at 1,86GHz or 2,13GHz and a SU9600 can get you up to 2,4GHz. This should provide enough every-day performance for at least the next few years.

Now the display issue is a bit tricky. There is only one IPS/AFFS Display available in this form factor and it only has 1280x800. Nevertheless, if you are addicted to good displays like me, you will happily take this panel over the original one any day. Details regarding this mod are once again mentioned in the Owners Thread. Just let me tell you, I have been working on this for months and it's still not finished. For this mod you will probably need help from more experienced John Doe's, as it requires to completely take apart the panel and put it back together again.

Next on the list are the missing ports. Most people can live without ExpressCard, but USB 3.0 is getting more common. The only way of getting USB 3.0 in the X301 is by sacrificing one USB 2 Port and the Wireless USB card. What you need is a mini PCIe USB 3 card. I'm not sure where you can buy this but I'm sure it exists. (you can get a USB 2 version from HWTools) It needs to be half size. Then you need a male to female cable which you direct to one of the USB 2 Ports. Now remove the USB 2 Port and solder the Female end of the cable there instead. Now you have USB 3.0. If you want an SD Card reader in addition to USB 3 you will need to sacrifice the WWAN module and install this unit instead: MR04 (MiniCard adapter for SD card)
You will need to remove the keyboard everytime you want to use it.

Now sadly, the medicore battery life can only be improved with a new battery. Even then, if you want more than 4h, you will need the expensive bay battery, which gets battery life up to about 7h. You will need to remove the DVD drive though. Now I stumbled across a peculiar offer on ebay, an aftermarket battery, claiming to offer 56Wh instead of 43Wh. It seems to be a normal 6c. Now I'm not sure if they are serious, but if so, then you can get 5-6h with the standard battery alone if you use this aftermarket unit. I might order one and try it. (my 6c has 35Wh left)

The slow SSD can easily be fixed. The original Samsung is one of the worst SSD's out there. What you want is either a Crucial C300 (like mine) or an Intel X-18M G2. The latter is still widely available for decent prices (around 100 bucks for the 160GB version) Both SSD's are very fast and really improve the overall performance dramatically.

There are some other tricks and hacks to improve your X301, but I think this is what most people are after. If you are interested in the other hacks and tips on creating the perfect X301, just tell me. I dare say I'm an expert on this unit.

 

Dear lenovo, just put in haswell and a decent screen (the same HD+ res) in the x301. And don't mess with any of the other stuff. That for me would be the perfect retro thinkpad.
I got an x301 after bronsky started the second hand owners thread (I didn't even need a new laptop) and ever since then my T530 has been seeing a lot less use. I just love it.

 

I like the way you think!

 

He'd be referring to the .357 Magnum, a type of handgun.

Anyway, on topic, I don't actually hate the island-sytle keyboard idea in general. It's just that Lenovo managed to screw it up pretty badly. Key layout, missing certain critical keys, etc. If Lenovo comes up with a new Thinkpad with roughly the same layout and keys as the older Thinkpads, island-style or not, I'd consider buying another Thinkpad. Right now though? Nah...

 

I will probably get bashed to hell for saying this, but for people who come from other laptops, they will have a MUCH easier time adapting to the new Tx30/Tx40 layout. Anyone who grew up with older Thinkpads would probably not understand.

 

Oh we understand and none of us elders will bash you for stating what you just did.

Here's the problem though: people who wanted a 6-row layout to begin with, always had numerous other options.

Those of us who have gotten accustomed to the 7-row one, now have absolutely none, and that outright sucks.

 

Nah, I agree. IMO, I think that's the whole point of this new design style. Doesn't mean that the newer users aren't wrong, though .

 

Here's how to fix the current ThinkPads; give me back my classic ThinkPad keyboard (like T6x), give me back high resolution IPS panels, simplify down the model/tiers, offer ULV processors on all models, make Windows 7 standard on all ThinkPads, eliminate 2.5" bay completely (mSATA SSDs on all ThinkPads), make them thinner, no more air filled batteries, get rid of clickpads.

 

I'd like to have a classic W700 remake with 4930K and GTX 780M SLI. :thumbsup:

 

I do wish Lenovo went back to the older days of T6x/T4xx. Everything was much simpler, T4xx 14" mainstream ThinkPad, T5xx 15" mainstream ThinkPad, Wxx 15-17" workstation DTR, X series ultra portable, X series tablet well the name says it all.

Honestly all I want from Lenovo is an X260t with a ULV Skylake i5/i7, 16 GB RAM dimm, no 2.5" bay instead 512 GB mSATA, MBA thinness, a non X220t styled airfilled battery, but a denser 4-5 cell with like 70-80 WHr, and at least a 3k screen as a mid range option with 4k as a top dog model. I honestly wouldn't mind paying 2-3k for a convertible tablet if it met all those requirements, instead the current Helix and last generation X220/X230t aren't exactly everything I want in a convertible tablet.

 

Gaming cards in a workstation? Yikes.

Not to mention 780M SLI would toast that thing completely.

 

I'd pick a T43 over all that fancy crap anyday. People are just too picky these days.

 

They should also redesign the tablet alignment guides (the 2 small guides at the keyboard bezel). Those were just poorly designed on the X220t, I lost count of how many times I have to superglue them back.

 

I've never been terribly fond of mainstream T series ThinkPads. X series is what separated it from everything else, from the good battery options, super bright/IPS screens, relatively thin to what Dell/HP offered for their business convertible tablets, and price. 2570p directly from HP is like 2000-3000 dollars. Basically I want what X220t minus the flaws.

I don't get what you mean people are too picky these days. All I ask from Lenovo is to bring back the older days (X61t had SXGA+ option), as well as giving it an ultrabook profile. I don't think that's really too much to ask, it's not like I was asking for MXM card in a 12.5" convertible tablet. People picky is like those 700-800 dollar laptops with a new generation i7, mid range dGPU and a low resolution screen and people complaining it's got a low resolution screen and the dGPU is too weak. Picky is people complaining about a 400 dollar bottom of the barrel trash laptop having a crappy screen or the iGPU can't play the latest games. And it's not like I said I wanted the price to be uber cheap, if a laptop costs 2-3k and has all I want, then I will buy it. Same reason I bought my Alienware M17x R2, it was top tier gaming laptop with all the nooks and crannies.

 

That's pipe dream, really. And forget the Kickstarer thingy, it wouldn't work at all unless hardware-competent people already came up with most things designed (I have the Novena team in mind), but anyway:

- X220 keyboard
- 4:3 screen ideally, could make do with 16:10 or 16:9 in an X301 frame
- LATCHES ON THE LID
- STATUS LEDs, PLENTY OF THEM, like on my T60
- Of course, latest gen Intel CPU, with two mSATA slots, SD card reader (can ditch the optical reader), plenty of USB 3.0 ports, DP, HDMI...
- Of course a removable battery
- An Ultrabase too
- Oh and the "Thinkpad" logos in the right direction

 

I tried out the new clickpad on a Thinkpad Helix at a Microsoft store a few days ago. I'm not going to act like the one on my X220 is great but the clicking mechanism really felt and sounded cheap, and the trackpoint buttons really don't have any definition. I don't know if I would ever get used to them.

I don't see any reason they can't have dedicated trackpoint buttons and not still have a large clickpad with all the remaining space. If only..