Video Proof that a Lenovo ThinkPad is More Durable than the Internet

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Fifteen years ago the ThinkPad was born, and to celebrate today we dropped a ThinkPad and soaked it (live on camera) and it survived. What didn't survive was our Internet connection to broadcast this live to you as we promised. But the Lenovo ThinkPad 15th Anniversary video is now up and you can still register and watch to get a chance to win the $5,000 ThinkPad Reserve.

A bit of a mea culpa on our part first. We promised to bring everyone the event live at 2:00 p.m on October 10th and many people logged on at that time. Our sincere apologies to those that sat there staring at a blue screen on their computer. The ThinkPad folks from Lenovo were all lined up and ready to go at the right time, but our Internet connection broadcast uplink crumbled at precisely the time we needed it. We tried to fix things and truly go live, but eventually decided to shoot the video in a live manner that could be posted later. Thankfully some of you still submitted questions that we received and were able to ask the ThinkPad design group.

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That said, the content of the ThinkLive video is still very relevant, no need to watch it live for it to be cool. The ThinkPad design folks from Lenovo really know their stuff and gave an interesting talk and demonstration. In the above video sampler we've posted to YouTube you can see a small portion of what was covered. The ultra cool part was watching the water drain from the bottom of ThinkPad after Matt Kohut purposely spilled water on it. You'll have to watch the full video to see that. And don't complain, because if you register you could just win that ThinkPad Reserve you see in the video as well (worth $5,000, and it smells really good). See here for our contest rules, we'll be drawing a winner on November 2nd, all you need to do is register and watch to be eligible.

It will be interesting to see where the ThinkPad is fifteen years from now. The ThinkPad will still be black and durable, we predict that much. And it'll probably be much more durable and predictable than the flaky Internet that will be crumbling under the weight of us all trying to watch hi-definition video at the same time on our Super Duper HD web connected TVs. Well, here's to the year 2022 and 15-more years of ThinkPads, NotebookReview.com will try and sort out our live part of the act and get it right for the 30th ThinkPad Anniversary ThinkLive event!

 

Lol, why does mass anticipation always backfire?

 

Technology sucks

 

Well said, we should abandon it all.

You know the saying, if something can go wrong...

We just didn't come up with a back up to the part we knew might go wrong (and it did).

 

Awesome, my love for the thinpad will never change (if the thinkpad never change LOL)...
The connection is real bad BTW, I cannot connect to it.

 

I had a chance to watch it earlier and it was a pretty good video. My heart almost skipped a beat when I watched him drop the Thinkpad from about 2-3 feet off the ground... and it was even crazier when he poured water all over the keyboard - that was definitely no "ordinary" spill.

 

Really? Mine has been pretty good recently, you need a decent broadband connection to view it. Also, if you use IE instead of FF you have the option of Windows Media Player or Real Player. FF is RealPlayer only. I'm finding Windows Media player version is less demanding on the bandwidth but not as crisp.

 

I watched it later, and it was good. A little short in my book, but oh well. The one thing I had a problem with at first was that they weren't scripted and they didn't seem to speak too well, but then I realized that it was much better this way, it was real people, giving real thoughts, not some marketing hype. I have a feeling my next computer will be a thinkPad (dreads the black after having two really well designed computers).

 

Right, there were no teleprompters to help out the presenters. And most of them are engineer/marketing guys who didn't take acting or speech classes. I thought Matt Kohut (blonde haired guy that dropped the ThinkPad) was good on camera though -- he's a really nice guy, I actually was on the same flight on him coming home this evening and got to chat with him a bit. He's a pleasure to talk to.

 

that's probably the reason why. I have a pretty good bandwidth. Maybe FF was the reason...Thanks

 

Thanks! Even though I have to risk contamination from the Internet , the WMP version works a lot faster than Real Player!

 

The blue screen was ironically fitting.

 

OK, so I did not bother registering to watch the full video, but your teaser does show that new widescreen X-series Thinkpad. I have only one question.

When ?

 

Quoted for truth.



I've always wanted to do that. But yeah, it was kinda funny. Especially if you turned up the sound, then you could still hear that annoying music.

 

Look, a 701C!

*hugs his 701C*

I remember thinking that the 701C was the coolest thing in the world when I was a kid and I read about it..

 

On behalf of many, thanks very much for putting great effort into the ThinkPad 15th Anniversary presentation.

The Webcast was, of course, way too short. Still, it offered a glimpse into the culture behind the product (and the blogs!)--a good beginning.

There are probably 500 relevant questions that might have been asked of this team; here are five:

1) Why did it take a year for Lenovo to offer 200GB HDs on TPs, and why, even now, are they not configurable with the 14" T61-models?

2) Why is 256MB of video memory unavailable for T61p 14" units?

3) What does it take for Lenovo to coax better LCD technology (say, today's equivalent of IPS/FlexView) out of its display suppliers? Why does Lenovo always seem to let Dell do the major innovating (say, LED backlighting)?

4) When will Lenovo develop the industry's leading, Web-based, build-to-order configuration system, where each component and subsystem is explained in detail and all possible system configurations are always reflected (even if back-ordered)?

5) How about a ThinkPad UMPC or Windows Mobile Pocket PC (PPC) to show OQO, Sony, Samsung and HTC who's boss?

Again, many thanks for the ThinkPad teaser, folks. We look forward to the next installment in this series.

--BAM

 

2 more question,

1. What is the model number of thinkpad in the video?

2. why lenovo sells thinkpad at 50% higher price in india then rest of the world!

 

Not true - in Australia on some models there is nearly a 100% higher price compared to the US price. On the other models it is at least 50% higher

 

More than 1000 euro price difference between the T61P with a T7500 and the one with a T7700. For 1000 euro I could buy two T7700s and still have money left.

 

I don't know about you, but it made me instinctively cringe when the water was poured into the Thinkpad keyboard. I was waiting to hear a "zap" and a puff of smoke........

 

All good questions and thanks for the feedback. We'll see if we can find a way to get more questions answered.

 

...the stream always stop exactly when he is about to spill the water. It took the media player about 5 minutes for re-buffering without any improvement to the stream....

 

I'd like to also stress number 3. Lenovo needs to get on the LCD manufacturers to start providing better screens. Either better TN panels or get them to spread some IPS loving from the HDTV market.

 

I hear Andrew laughed at my 9 cell battery question eh?...well i did too cause the way he said it...uhh...well...didnt make much sense since there is a 9 cell for a T61....what i put for the question was...will there be a 9 cell battery for the 14in widescreen lol..not whole T61 series since..uhh..there is a 9cell for most T61s except 14in wide

 

Me two but its great to see it didnt . I am seconding guessing on the fact of getting a thinkpad

 

Is there a durability difference between Widescreen and Standard?

 

Yeah, I think Andrew should of added 14" wide at least. Made it sound like the 15" and 14" standard doesn't have a 9 cell option.

Its a shame that we didn't get a straight answer out of them though.

 

Thank you so much for interviewing the engineers/designers and not the marketing team! Just because they didn't command the camera as well and/or gave short answers (except the competitive analyst he was awesome ) didn't take away from what they were saying at all.

Very informative.

 

Excellent piece of journalism - good control and management of the forum!

I used to support Thinkpads in RTP, NC when the Butterfly 701C, 500, and 750 came out. The 701 was an incredible piece of hardware and one of my inspirations to go back and get my engineering degree. 3 yrs later I came back to IBM on their Mobile Ops team and worked with many of the designers ( I series days, remember those?). Shortly after I broke down and bought my own Thinkipad, an X20. Bear in mind I had been given a 750, 770, 600, 600X's prior by work each traded of course for the next gen. I was hooked myself and have been with the TP brand ever since - minus a few HP and Dell variants (short lived). I just got the T61p last month to replace mt Z61p and am happy as a fiddle. This truly is THE best laptop I have ever owned. Rigid as hell!!

Anyway, enough rambling. Good interview. Was well coordinated and appreciated! A+++