Which current model has the "old school" legendary ThinkPad build quality?

I mean very rugged, quality design with excellent keyboard with no flex, etc.

 

The X201 is probably closest.

 

I was one of the unlucky many that bought a T400 with the newer keyboard and insufficient keyboard backing support—but I became one of the lucky few that received a replacement T61 NMB keyboard as a result of Lenovo finally seeing the error in their ways. Lenovo, supposedly, has since rectified this by enhancing the keyboard supports.

 

i would go with T400, T500, R400, etc you can get one quite cheap from outlet.lenovo.com

 

Off the shelf, I don't know. But having bought a R400 and fiddled around with it (under warranty - replaced palm rest (twice), keyboard), it is very close to what I remember of the original TP quality.

Maybe I was just a bit unlucky to have to go through all this. But I suspect that is not the case due to minor design changes that have been made and which are very well known (for example, the keyboard).

 

i'm curious as to why you think an x201 would be the closest.

 

What does "'old school' legendary ThinkPad build quality" even mean. I think many of us agree that the design build quality wise has improved (internal structural support) but fit and finish has seen some better days and is hit or miss at times.

The x30x series was suppose to show off that the ThinkPad design team "still has it". So I suppose you could say that pays homage in both fit and form. But it is the same people designing them so what is really being asked?

 

How's the build quality of the W701ds?

 

X, T, or W series minus x100e.

 

The t410s.

 

Those are the real Thinkpads to choose from.

I have an X200s - great computer except it has a little too much flex in the keyboard compared to the T and W series.

 

So you noticed the flex too! I recently saw one at a store and was trying out its keyboard and noticed the same thing!

 

The ThinkPad 770-series. The keyboard alone, is still lightyears ahead of todays flimsy-whimsy keyboards.
The ThinkPad 600-series coming in at second.

 

I would say out of all of the current Thinkpad offerings, the X301 is the closest to the way Thinkpads used to be (build quality wise).

Mine has a simply fantastic keyboard with NO flex, and all in all just *feels* better than most any Thinkpad I've ever used.

 

x301 and T401s gotta be it.

 

I have a T410S & X201. The X appears to be better built.

 

Compared to the X200 I saw, my R400 (and my friend's T400) is better built. But then again, it is a matter of perception.

 

this is the answer
t410s is very solid

 

OP: Chances are that most people in this thread (a few excluded) haven't experienced many ThinkPads of the "old school" IBM time, so take the comments with a grain of salt

 

How can you even compare a 770 to a 600!? I would hope that 770 was built decently considering its girth. You can't evaluate build quality on an absolute scale, there has to be consideration to strength vs size, which the 600 has the 770 beat hands down.

 

x301, with the caveat that I haven't tried a 12" X-series since the x61 and my T410s is on a UPS truck and still two days out. Either of those may be fantastic choices as well, but the x301 is easily the best built Thinkpad that I've used and I've owned and handled a ton of them going back about 8 years.

-darren

 

Nice to hear you have a new T410s on it's way !
A little "off topic", but would you mind posting how you like the T410s quality wise vs. the X301 when you get it ? That would be really great !

Thanks !

 

Will do - stay tuned!

-darren

 

That's true. I haven't touched X301 or T4xx, but can say for sure - W510 is not even remotely close to the ruggedness of my IBM R40. I can step on its lid, throw it from several feet on a concrete floor and let my daughter dance on it knowing that there's absolutely no chance to damage the system
(the HDD will die from the shock but that's all).
Has anyone tried similar tests with x301 or T410s?

 

I would try that "standing up on it's lid" test on my X301 . . . . . BUT if I do it, and the screen does not survive, I'll be out of almost $2800 lol

So in short, no way will I take that chance

 

haven't tried the standing test, but the X301 survive mostly intact when i dropped the laptop from several meters when climbing a ladder.

Depending on where you stand on the top case, the screen may or may not crack.

No one is going to deliberately do these tests on a X301 unless they have too much money, on a R40 is another case, since these machines are on the last leg of their life. I guess if we could do the test against the 8740w or M17x then that is another thing.

 

Haha! Good one! I can stand on M17X - it's super solid. Won't throw it down from any height since it's too heavy and will most likely die and kill the floor in the process. As for the HP - it should meet the declared MILSTD-810G standard and should withstand up to 1000kg of pressure on the lid, survive falls on the edges from several feet, etc. I prefer to take their word for it, but won't do the tests, especially since it would definitely create some deformations in the case.
Tempting, but - no

 

My summary became quite long, so I've started another thread. You can find it here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...graphics-first-impressions-compared-x301.html

-darren

 

I think it's fair to say that most Thinkpads fall into this category if you want to be literal.

But in my opinion, there's something cheap-feeling in terms of tactility in all of them of late - goes for the X300, T400s and X201T which are my recent Thinkpads. That could be excused if there was some panache in the design, but these machines have the design charisma of a breeze block.

 

If you want some panache, why are you getting ThinkPads? Personally, I like ThinkPad design, but I'm probably in the minority on that one. If you want some charisma, get a skin.

As for the quality, my X200 is as solid as any other ThinkPad I've used. There's nothing cheap about it.

 

I bought the X201T for the function it offered, not for the looks. However it would be nice if it did actually look from this (well, technically the last) decade - When I see it, I start hearing Wham! and feel a need to reach for a giant can of Aqua-net.

I did - and you know what, I'm somewhat amazed but the X201T at least actually looks worse with skins.

I use a lot of others, and I have to say the moulding tolerance/fit hasn't been the highest I've seen, and it seems to be an ongoing downwards evolution as I work my way through Thinkpads that the tactile nature of the moulding texture lends a cheap scratchy feel, rather like Sony's misfires in '08 - although a bit worse.

The main 'claim to fame' seems to be the rock-solid keyboard base, but this kind of works against me as the key landing feel isn't the smoothest I've had of late.

 

i guess that is down to personal preferences and opinions. I am not sure what is cheap feeling on the X300 or T400s. Can you be more specific in regard how you evaluate quality and cheapness according to your standards. Also, in your opinion what is a high quality laptop that has a quality feel to it?

 

It's also down to experience. See above for clarifications as to my objections.

 

^^ Why do you need so many notebooks?
M6500 and 8740w are almost identical hardware wise...
BTW, how do you compare the build quality between the two?

 

Because I can?

Hmmm. That was a bit glib. Let's try that again.

I like having a machine that does what I want in a particular niche. I don't like compromising too heavily with a 'do-it-all'. I've typically wanted an ultralight for when I want to travel light, a thin-&-light for general-purpose travelling use, until recently a 15-inch-class machine as a carryable mobile workstation, and an actual mobile workstation.

The 15-incher requirement has gone as mobile workstations have become more manageable in terms of weight, and thin-&-lights become more capable. The ultralight is a problem. I still want one for ultimate mobility, but there's nothing out there at the moment which offers the sort of specs I'm looking for given that my thin-&-light, i.e. the Sony Z11, has started to me to demand that an ultralight be, well, better than what is apparently available at the moment.

But you're basically looking at at usually 2-3 classes of machines, and I usually put one in each of my major centres of work - home, office, the other office. But then I also run a range of OS X apps - and that means I need to repeat the above for OS X by inflicting Apple hardware on myself.

So my personal complement at any one time over the last half-decade is usually between 12 - 15 notebooks spread out ove 3-4 sites. And that doesn't cover notebooks I buy for other needs, not for me to sit in front of directly.

This has changed over the last year though because my business is in the toilet and I need to economise on all aspects. But I still don't like being inconvenienced - so I'm trying to strike a balance at the moment.

So far, it hasn't quite worked out - I still have 18 notebooks (I think?) in total at the moment for solely my own use, not including the SZ's (which are last year's discards but pressed back into use for non-portable duties). The lone Envy, by the way, is a sort of dedicated Spotify client. I looked at other ways to do this, but a notebook seemed like the best idea and I wasn't buying an ugly/basic one.

But I am planning to extend the use of the notebooks I buy this year - definitely to 2, and possibly even 3 years. The Macs I intend to run into the ground or I cease OS X use, whichever comes quicker.

That's been somewhat complicated by my decision to get into tablet computing this year, and to trial this over an extended period. So I've basically ended up with two different machines - and yes, three each - in the mainstream thin-&-light category. A such, the Z11's have been semi-retired at the moment, and what will likely happen is that if this tablet experiment is ultimately a failure, I'll go back to them. The X201 is probably the heaviest 'everyday' machine I've had in, well, the last half-decade so I'm not very happy about that right now, plus it has a few other issues - but I'm sticking it out because I'm starting to warm in a big way to OneNote, which would be much less useful on e.g. the Z11's.

Hope that explains my rationale to you.

*

The 8740w is a hedge to the trouble-laden (mainly in terms of Customer Service) M6500's. I'm still deciding what to do with these. Not at all happy with Dell, although I could like the M6500 a lot. I'd say the build quality is slightly higher on the HP in terms of suitability for the role. The M6500 has a more Apple-like build quality - but there are actually many things I like about both. If everything was equal (i.e. if Dell CS wasn't a complete joke) and I was choosing as part of my ensemble as now I'd still pick the M6500 as a more capable all-rounder. However as a workhorse, especially if it was going to be your only machine, I'd almost certainly pick the HP unless you need the options/capability unique to the Dell.

 

It does!

That's interesting to hear. I was debating between M6500, W701 and 8740w and went with the later because of the screen and a huge discount offered by a rep.
I wonder what options unique to Dell did you mean?
When comparing the the two, I found that HP actually offered more (better screen [DC2], M7820 - unavailable for M6500 at that time, i7-840QM, FX5000M support for future upgrades, etc) for less $$$.

 

1.8 kg for a X201 indeed is too heavy...

 

With the sticky-out battery which makes it actually usable, it's 2Kg's.

2Kg is my absolute limit for an everyday portage machine, and it's a very noticeable increase in the bag over the 1.4Kg Z11. For 2Kgs these days I'd like to see 8-10 hour maximum ekeing runtime. The X201T gets 6 - although I haven't yet tested properly with the X25-M's I put in over the weekend. But it's a tablet, what can you do? It's not like there's hundreds to choose from. I wish Sony would do one.