Retro ThinkPad Classic

+1

Lenovo really outdid themselves with the X301. I'm typing on one now. It's the perfect blend of classic ThinkPad and a sleek and modern design.

 

"My, My, My, What Boastin'!"

Spoiler

... so much that you guys just convinced me to buy a ThinkPad X301. Core 2 Duo U9400, 4GB RAM & 128GB SSD for £182 - I am preparing myself to be wowed.

 

Congratz, make sure you use a color profile (I'll send you the link) und upgrade the SSD to something faster like the Intel X18-M G2 or Crucial C300.

 

As I said earlier, attempting to use crowdfunding outright will lead to a failure; because there is no precise team to deal with, no proven experience, no credibility. People wouldn't pledge their money. And above all, Lenovo wouldn't care.

Because, yeah, there's a slight detail which should be outlined right away:
LENOVO IS A LOST CAUSE.
You cannot count on them when it comes to sustainable, classic notebooks. Everybody should have understood this by now. "You hated the X230's chiclets keyboard? Here, have more with our brand new X240! Now with a complaint-compliant trackpoint!".
Even if they miraculously released a special edition, that's all it would be, a one-time piece of hardware falling completely outside of the regular line up. Which means no classic design sustainability. And with the tablets eating up market shares, there'd be even less hope for that.

So. Lenovo being out, only us would be able to come up with a product that matches our expectations, our sense of legacy.

Threading on OP's idea, I was thinking that a TP Initiative (can't use the trademarked "Thinkpad") in the form of a website/forum would be good as a first step.
It would initially serve to gather design & hardware specifications, and see which ones are the most popular.
At the same time, it would help attract and pool users with specific hardware knowledge.
And at a later stage, this community would "get real" and incorporate into a not-for-profit association, mainly so that a moral person can deal with contractors. This is when the

Ideally, that would lead to a grassroots movement which would design its own components - like the Novena team - and then have them built by an ODM such as Quanta or Compal.
Realistically, that would see us come up with a well defined set of specs, which we would ask a contracted manufacturer to materialise. This is more feasible for a bunch of guys without expert knowledge on designing boards (i.e. able to make a PCB layout, code a BIOS from the ground up, etc.), pairing components, etc. But that's probably a lot more costly, so unless there's a lot of traction, that would mean the unit price of the laptop would be very high (taking the ODM consultancy fees into account).
In both case, we could use the crowd to get more funding. But only when we'd be on the verge to get the product manufactured, or at least prototyped.

All in all, very challenging... too challenging?

There would be ways to downplay some of these steps by, for example, reusing part of ODM internal designs either formally or informally (we take care of the chassis for compatibility with the an off-the-shelf board/screen/battery to be had separately, and also prepare a tweaked BIOS for it to accept our keyboard's layout).

 

Given that couple of Chinese forum members at 51nb.com has already designed and produced an Arrandale i Core motherboard upgrade for the T4x machines, i think our project is still feasible. We don't need ODM to this, if we do then the cost base cost would be at least couple of millions of dollars. There are smaller companies in China that can do the PCB design, and using some small electronic manufacturer they can also produce these boards in small batches (which is probably what happen with this thing if Lenovo doesn't take interest in this).

 

Best Thinkpad EVER, imho, was the 701c with the butterfly keyboard:



I would love to see this concept resurrected and updated a bit with newer hardware -- could redefine ultraportables if done right

 

That's very interesting, could you tell more about that? How were the feedbacks over this upgrade?

Anyone here speaking Mandarin who could get in touch with fellow Chinese Thinkpad users?

 

Especially with foldable screens right around the corner.
But that'd be beyond classic at this point... too daring for Lenovo.

 

This project has been going on for some time now. The first batch was only recently sent to a few customers in China if a remember correctly. Details regarding this project can be found here: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=110787

T70 boards will become available in near future. (T60 with Sandy-Bridge)

 

Danke. That's pretty good news!
Though on these versions there's no support for Ultrabase. But a bigger scale project, such as the one discussed here, would surerly address this point.

 

Lenovo is way too focus to becoming another Samsung to care about Thinkpad line, let alone "retro" Thinkpad. All they care about is Android phone and tablet at the moment.

 

Probably why X220 tablet will be the last ThinkPad I will buy, unless Lenovo dramatically shifts the ThinkPad line back to 2006/2007 era.

 

Sort of true for me as well. If I have to buy a new laptop, it'd probably be an older Thinkpad. Though I might stick to something like the T520 or something along those lines.

Or, if that's not possible, I'll switch brands. I was pretty impressed with the Elitebooks, given their flaws.

 

The newest ThinkPad in my possession is the X1. But I obviously didn't buy it because of its classic looks, I sold my X220 and had some money left. And the X1 is, this you can't deny, the highest quality ThinkPad from the Sandy-Bridge generation. My working machines are, for some reason, all from the last C2D line. I have an X301 and T500 and will soon be adding an X200t to my collection. And thus far, I think those will be my last ThinkPads I'm getting.

The newer models just don't cut it. I had the T440s in my hands as well as some other newer models like the highly praised X1 Carbon. Sure, they are good notebooks. But I don't want a notebook. I want a ThinkPad.

 

I'm up for helping out with any software design (ie bios and drivers). I'd kill to have a convertible tablet with a real keyboard, a high res screen, an accurate digitizer, and a hinge / latch mechanism that doesn't require superglue.

 

Then you probably want a Fujitsu Q704.

 

Haha yeah..

Don't those have some pretty bad throttling issues though?

 

who is left if TP is dead

 

HP EliteBooks are really good IMO. However they too are taking a turn for the worse if I look at their current designs/features.

What is left are basically fully rugged notebooks like Panasonic Toughbooks.