Some of you caught my screwup between MB and GB about halfway through the video... yes, I misspoke (actually I miswrote the script and just read what I wrote). The X41T actually has one GB of RAM, not either four or one MB. I deal with so many computers that measure their RAM and storage in KB and MB, it's easy to mess that up once in a while. I'll post any other corrections I need to here.
@@gloriousstereo Living near one of the main facilities, no longer in use, there are still pads and signs that turn up in estate sales. I just bought a wooden desk plaque with "THINK" on it from the 1950's.
The story goes that the saying "THINK" was popularized when Thomas Watson was working at NCR Corporation. Watson was incredibly bored during a sales meeting and got up, complaining that the real problem was that nobody was thinking. He then wrote "THINK" in large bold letters on one of the ubiquitous company flipcharts. When he became the leader of IBM, it became the company's motto.
Can confirm that a guy with an IBM logo on his shirt came to fix my Lenovo ThinkPad just a few months ago, this was in Norway. I asked him about it and he said that they do that from time to time if they are free for it, but otherwise they send sub-contractors. Usually they serviced servers and mainframes.
Boy, I miss the days of all the buttons, lights and doohickeys! Thinkpad user for 20 years, working in IT with free access to decommissioned units. I knew the switchover was muddy but I didn't know it was THAT muddy. Cheers, from my P52 of which I have no immediate plans to replace anytime soon. Great video!
I'm a ThinkPad fan too, I own a W510, a W541 and now a P53, all three i7 with Quadro video of different generations. But my writing machine is one that took me a while to find and restore, I'm talking about a 2000 IBM ThinkPad Transnote with Windows 2000 that works perfectly with the pen and everything, it's the rarest and most revolutionary ThinkPad I've ever seen, I'm going to make a video of it in a few days, it reminds me a lot of the X41T in your video but in a vintage sense. Great video!
I've been a ThinkPad user since the 90s, and the bigger deliniation for me is the transition away from the 7 row keyboard. After that, the ThinkPad just didn't feel like a ThinkPad anymore.
this makes the X230, T430 and W530 an interesting case, as it's possible to retrofit a 7 row keyboard taken from a T420 or T410 in them and have it work, but none of these machines ever shipped with a 7 row keyboard from the factory
I have to say.. I have never noticed the keyboard issue when upgrading between generations, until it was pointed out to me by the community discussions. I had all of them, from original to current
One of the simpler explanations in the expanding Lenovo ThinkPad range is this: X/T and higher are designed in Japan, L/lower are designed in China. Also, any large company tends to have a polynomial curve of expanding their laptop lineup and then shrinking them and then expanding them again, so it's always possible that the more economical ThinkBook line will eat up the lower ThinkPad line. (Owner of ThinkBook 14s Yoga and ThinkPad Yoga 260 by the way)
Thank you for this cool history retrospective of IBM and Lenovo. One aspect that make ThinkPad special is indeed the on-site warranty (3 years by default in EU). I also saw it in action with my P72 bought in 2018 (and that I still use to this day, still a beast for what I need it for and in pristine condition) when one of the two fans stopped spinning (in that case the laptop still boots and work in a degraded mode where the remaining fan is spinning at full speed all the time). After opening a ticket online, Lenovo immediately shipped at home the cooling subsystem part (which includes both fans and the pipes) from China, then a technician came at home to make the replacement. I vaguely remember he told me he worked for IBM. He had been repairing ThinkPad (and other stuff) for 25 years and although he never disassembled a P72 yet (was more used to T480 and smaller models) he did the disassembly and reassembly in 25 mins or so, which is no small feat as the P72 had to be almost entirely disassembled with its many screws and connectors.
26:09 The big disadvantage for artists who want one of these old Wacom-powered convertibles: Color and actual image processing power will be lacking. Not to mention battery life. I like the swivel top concept better but otherwise you'll probably want a much newer convertible for art. I checked, my 2021 ThinkBook 14s Yoga is still using a Wacom digitizer with 4096 pressure sensitivity levels, so it's not like convertibles are entirely going the way of finger touch anyway.
The IBM Thinkpad was one of the best PC laptops ever made. I think the last IBM branded ones that I own are my X61s and X201 from about 2008/09. I don't own a Lenovo Thinkpad, but people I know that do are quite happy with them. Weird thing is that my X61s actually has both the Lenovo and IBM nameplates on it. It says IBM on the palmrest and top lid, but says Lenovo on the screen bezel and bottom case.
Lenovo took over from IBM in 2005. X61s and X201s were well within Lenovo period. You're strange X61 is probably a Lenovo that has had parts replaced from earlier IBM models, but I'm unsure what to think after this video
The service is tops. My colleague's Lenovo ThinkPad laptop went on the fritz and needed the motherboard replaced but they couldn't source one. It took too long and triggered a replacement process. So he got a new laptop. Then 3 weeks later, he got a note that they found a replacement motherboard and would be sending it back fixed to him. He offered to send back the new laptop but they couldn't accept it because there was no process for that. He asked whether they wanted to keep his fixed laptop as a loaner. Lenovo said they can't. So he ended up with 2 laptops for the inconvenience of losing the use of his for 4 weeks
i bought an x61t for my final year of college, around 2007. used the tablet mode for taking notes in lectures, and when reading or studying. Also used it to display and write on handouts - the profs already stopped printing them. Laptop mode functioned just fine. I got the 1400x1050 res for that 12 in display - the basic 1024x768 would have been insufficient. the keyboard was excellent for those long essays. even with the extended battery i had to plug in quite often but that was normal for most laptops at the time. after i graduated i switched back to desktop pc. still i played with it for a few years and managed to put windows 10 on it. but at that point the performance was impractical, and the hardware was starting to die. i still have it in storage but i doubt it will get any use again. it does however bring back a lot of memories as i literally spent more time with it than with anything else, or anyone, during that year.
I have always been of the partial opinion that the "last" IBM Thinkpad was the Z61p... I realize the Z61s were more like T60s, I seem to remember the T61 was already being delivered to our employees well before the Z61P I had custom ordered finally got delivered after being back ordered for a while. I liked it so much, I bought one for personal use when I left that company. So, yes, I might be a bit biased with my opinion. I have a Thinkpad 340, a Z61p and a P71 with the 4K screen... two are still used regularly, running Slackware's bleeding-edge -current software. Needless to say, I never had an issue following the Thinkpad from IBM to Lenovo... I never loved IBM, I loved the Thinkpad... and especially love the TrackPoint. Lenovo has demonstrated it's ability to make a decent computer... I got my mother a Lenovo (granted, at a deep discount). So, as long as Lenovo keeps making Thinkpads with TrackPoints, they are part of Thinkpad lore... at least in my humble opinion. Toshiba and Dell also had their own version of the TrackPoint years ago... so I liked those, too. Especially the Toshiba... they were a tough laptop back in the day. I forget what model it was... maybe a Satellite 440 or 460.
Appreciate the details you provide. A lot of people figure it is a simple conversation that IBM could do no wrong and everything they built was perfect. The truth is way more complicated.
I went through 3x Thinkpads (12 years of 'hard' corporate use) and they were great! However, my latest T14 is a piece of crap. Plastic fantastic and regular blue screens of death. When Lenovo took over fully quality demised quickly. Heck, even NASA switched to HP notebooks. That says enough.
My Asus N56 has been running 24/7 for 13 years. I’ve done a couple of upgrades to the RAM and the storage but never experienced any major issues. Older laptops were made to last. I’ve seen new laptops from all major brands breakdown after a couple of years.
Thanks for a trip down memory lane. My T60 and X200s are the coolest laptops I've ever owned. The T450 also served me well, although it felt more like an ultra book than a rugged Thinkpad. They had so much character and I felt like a hacker whenever I pulled them out. Unfortunately the temptations of ARM has made me switch to MacBook Air M1 and it's just far more practical, while being as dev-friendly as Linux. I have to admit it's soulless and feels like an appliance, as watching this video made me miss my ThinkPads.
I worked as on site support for a VAR that sold Lenovo about 10 years ago. What I found interesting was when we ordered replacement and RMA desktop parts they would come from IBM and not Lenovo
I have many amazing stories and adventures with my T42 with a firegl. Remember getting up to 5hours of battery life, and that little light on the top of the monitor really kept me going in the middle of the night. I remember my buddy and I did our first outdoor lan with these playing starcraft.
Was ist eine wunderschöne Reise in die Vergangenheit der späten 90er. Als ich anfing als netzwerkadministrator zu arbeiten, mit novel Servern und IBM thinkpad für außendienstmitarbeiter. Obwohl wir als Server und Desktops nur compac einsetzen, waren in dem Laptop Bereich eine Alternative zum IBM think pad. Schönes Video
I wasn't even close to old enough to have an original IBM ThinkPad but still have my Lenovo ThinkPad from 2015 and it's still my home server to this day.
My Toshiba Tecra A8 is very similar in design to the X41T. Chunky case, same keyboard with trackpoint and large access panel on bottom for ram/hdd and CPU (yes CPU is in a socket heh!!). The keyboard is the reason I still use this A8 as my main driver today. It can handle YT video at 1080P just fine and any other task even though it's only a C2D at 2GHz with 4Gigs of RAM. When this thing finally gives up I have another nice one to replace it... top of the line Toshiba Portege Z30T-C with all options as standard (retail was $3700), picked up for only $350. Together with the dock (got for $20) it's a very nice laptop for general day-to-day use.
IBM has some professional services where it does on-site repairs of devices. Apple even uses IBM to facilitate repairs at business offices. There are a number of companies that carry out these repairs at customer sites, and one of them is just IBM. Where you see IBM doing these repairs depends greatly on where you live and how close that is to some metropolitan areas. It’s certainly possible that some people see IBM carrying out repairs while some others see more regional services companies.
Excellent video. You produce such quality! Makes me wish I owned an IBM back in the day. Beautiful machines. Those blue XP screens are absolutely delicious in contrast to the black cases and red accents on those IBM tablet-style convertibles. Wow. Works of art, really. I imagine a world where Gary Kildall wasn't out flying his plane and CP/M and DRI became DOS and Microsoft. Gary. not being much of an entrepreneur, has no interest in helping out the clones and IBM eventually just buys the OS from him and the clones never crowd out IBM and we end up with two worlds - Apple and IBM, instead of IBM compatible. Just fuel for thought.
I own 5 thinkpads starting with 2004 model T42 “made for Lenovo by IBM” - the one that still has no Lenovo logos anywhere. Then 2009, 2013,2016, 2021 models. All of them still work fine despite bad abuse. Dropped and smashed into, one of them was literally punched hard, one had beer spilled onto… The ultimate business machine. My latest one is the P1 and it’s a tank. I’m in IT, and have many machines, Mac, hp, dell, asus… my personal machines are always thinkpads.
I got really lucky and snagged a ThinkPad X41 Tablet in mint condition for just $25 right before the COVID craze. I mainly use it for playing retro games like NFS Porsche, HOMM3, Disciples, and a bunch of other classics. It’s also my go-to for the retro LAN parties we throw every now and then. The only downside is that here in Ukraine, I can't find a replacement battery. The original one only lasts about an hour, which can be a bit limiting during those gaming sessions. Still, it's an amazing piece of tech for the price!
just got myself an older T14 Ryzen 5 Pro 4650U refurbished... looking forward to putting it to work. I haven't had a laptop in awhile and I miss the old family Thinkpad from when I was a kid. Yeah, we were light on space so we had an old IBM thinkpad floating around the apartment lol. I even played EVE Online on that thing!
I picked up an X200 Tablet back in 2014. Still running, but it barely handles W10 these days. About to add some Samsung RAM, a OCZ SSD, and swap to Mint 22. I only use it for minimal interweb browsing and creating business estimates and invoices. Hopefully it'll be the last computer I own. I can't explain it I just really like it. Maybe because it has a stylus and I'm a Note user due to the stylus? Personally, I use DeX (Note 9) as my daily. Especially since it's hooked up to my main TV. Anywho, that was an enjoyable lil video. Thanks sir.
I have (deep breath) a T60 (with the big 4:3 screen), 2 T61s (one with the nvidia graphics in it), an X200 (with the dock that adds a optical drive), a T510 (that I am trying to scrub the melting rubber paint off of), and a T480s I picked off of Amazon. We also have 2 Ideapads, which aren't terribly impressive, and the wife also has a Chromebook (our son used one all through high school). Apart from the Ideapads, they've all been pretty decent (and the Ideapad I used wasn't that bad, although the touchpad has died for some reason). Everything is running Windows 10, except for the X200 which is on 7 (because after 7, Microsoft fatally messed up the pen usefulness), and the T60 (it has some software on it that I can't get to work on anything else -- and it's the only one I have IBM branded). All in all, I've been really happy with them.
The IBM ThinkPad TransNote was something that was a phenomenal product, and still intrigues a lot of people. I don't find anyone ever talking about it though.
Hi. Mine is a 380D (1997?) / 80 MB RAM / OS/2 WARP / (proudly) made in Mexico. It looks and works fairly well. I have installed NT 4 and both SuSE and Red Hat Linux. And I still work on it, just for pleasure. Greetings. (By the way, I also have a PC 5170, and runs MultiMate, Word 4, WordPerfect 5.1, Quattro Pro - that is a tank!)
I'd probably say the ThinkPad was truly dead round about when we lost the 7 row keyboard, the spill-proofing, the magnesium alloy midframe and the useful HMM document which actually contains FRU listings. That wasnt the end of the decline though, the batteries got sealed away inside, the reliable docking port was replaced with USB-C jank, display bezels turned into stickers that are ruined after removal, the X series dipped down to 1 sodimm slot before eliminating user replacable RAM all together and the keyboard deck is now so thin that the trackpoint is painfully unresponsive. They've even pulled the same shit as Apple by riveting the keyboard into the palmrest on the newest models. It now takes a complete disassembly to swap that out.
Excellent video. I'm a bit of a ThinkPad fan myself. My first ThinkPad was the T61 14" widescreen. It did not have the IBM logo. I have about 7 ThinkPad's currently, the newest being the L460. I don't have the T61 anymore. Some notes: 1. For me, the last IBM ThinkPad is the T61 with the IBM logo. 2. You said the X41T has a dual core CPU. Not true. It has a Pentium M CPU which is single core. 3. The X41T has a hard drive whitelist which means it will only accept certain hard drives and nothing else. 4. Centrino basically means the CPU and Ethernet and wireless are all Intel-made. 5. Later on, Intel introduced Centrino 2 (or Centrino Duo) which is the same as Centrino, but has a dual core CPU.
Yeah that's the 701, very expensive nowadays if you can find one in good shape. That model in particular seems to almost always be completely falling apart when they come up for sale, and it's usually not even the keyboard mechanism that's the problem.
I bought an old L540. Adding a used SSD the specs are better than most Chromebooks and it's been fun to load and play with Linux. It's a little heavy but it's sturdy! I use the smaller ones as dedicated music streamers.
18:33 I suspect you originally meant to say gigabytes, as 4 MB would barely run Windows 95. Out of my vintage 1990s throwaway laptops I've acquired, the IBM and Toshiba ones stood the test of time better than other brands. I find them still usable even today for some tasks.
While I love Thinkpads, I honestly don't care if it's IBM, or Lenovo as long as it's a quality product that does the job I need it to, and they still do that which why I buy Lenovo laptops, and Thinkcentre Tinys. Also great video 👍
I'm still using my X61 Tablet with maxed out specs. On my desk I still spot a W701 and X301. Both currently work fine except the batteries are no longer sold anywhere including AliExpress. Currently, I'm looking for the thickest ThinkPad, the hard to find G40.
My question is: why do PC users leave those ‘Intel Inside’ and other stickers on their computers after they buy them? The factory puts them on, so a dealer can pull a new computer out of its box for display, and buyers can see what features it has. But once you buy it, it’s yours, and you can remove them. Yet I see them all the time, still stuck on computers, even after several years of ownership. Weird.
Ive had Dell laptops and even some unheard of brands out of curiosity . But i keep returning to Lenovo thinkpads. There is something about them that just works.
My brother got a used X41 Tablet for use in college, so this would have been 2010 give or take. If my memory serves the seller was the Cleveland Browns (came from their facilities in Berea). Now I don't know what specifically they used it for, but I suppose I can imagine some use cases.
cleveland browns is one of those names you could almost think it's made up thanks to pop. culture. oh well at least they weren't working on an old boat
@ModernClassic you should look up the X201 Tablet its exactly that same 2in1 Design but is both a Stylus and Finger for the touch screen, with the bonus of being capable of windows 10 at least on the i5 in mine.
I had an IBM ThinkPad x60 with an external "dock" that you could put an external gpu in for a long time.. A question for ThinkPad aficionados/experts, what is the last model of ThinkPad that had a "dock" like that? I might like to get something like that again.
I have been an Apple user since Apple // but I quit and went to PC in 1995 and then back to Apple in 2006 until now. However I always loved the idea of a Thinkpad Carbon X1 so I bought one in 2020 thinking it could replace my 9 year old MacBook Air. The X1 Carbon is great computer, but the sound quality is horrific. I know I can use headphones or external speaker but it spoils the experience for me. After a few weeks I bought a new macbook. I use the Thinkpad once a week as I have a payroll program that only runs on windows, but from Jan 2025 that will in the cloud and I can use any browser. I will keep the Thinkpad, I used it this year when I went touring Europe on my motorcycle and it’s an ideal machine for travel. I bought a mint condition x61s on eBay just for fun and though it’s got a horrible screen, that keyboard is amazing. I keep that with Windows 7 on as I have a car diagnostic program that needs an older version of windows. I always felt that the x61s was the last real IBM even though badged Lenovo.
The Active Protection Graphic always kills Me. With the Airbag coming out of the screen of the laptop. One of if not My favorite IBM graphics. The Absurdity of it is just, WOW.
I upgraded a Lenovo SL510 with an SSD and Linux Mint: MATE Edition. I then upgraded to 8Gb of DDR3 RAM. I love it. It runs like a champ. Kiss Windows goodbye. Embrace Linux. God bless Linus Torvalds and Eric S. Raymond.
I have a 6th Gen X1 Carbon (8th Gen i7) and my wife has a 4th Gen X1 Yoga (8th Gen i5). I bought them off lease/refurbished for less than a cheap Dell or HP. Theyre borh stellar machines that still perform great running Windows 11.
Thinkpads were the most desirable pieces of technology in my group of friends between about 2003-2007. But they had some severe drawbacks people tend to forget now: - first of all the price.. a similar specced machine from other manufactureres was less then HALF the price of a ThinkPad.. as a student you could get a 50% discount (I think that program still exists today) and they would still be 500 bugs more then a similar Dell machine.. - they had mediocre displays (at that timeframe) with bad reaction times and an overall grey tint to them - and they were bad for gaming (because you couldn't get them with gaming GPUs) the build quality was something else though- especially when they still had the magnesium cases
Some of the non-ThinkPad Lenovos were actually pretty decent - I've had a couple of 3000 C200s, and whilst the specs were a bit behind the times in some areas, they were built to almost the same standard as the ThinkPads were, even if the keyboard wasn't on par. It is also amusing how some of the later "IBM" ones had both IBM and Lenovo logos on at the same time.
I always thought the 600X were the last ThinkPads actually made by IBM, although from the sound of it, it was the last line commercially available that was made by IBM. Mexico, Ireland, or Singapore, they were still IBM-owned factories (I assume). I think the i Series were outsourced to Acer. At least that is what I recall reading back in the day. And when they switched over to the T/A/X, they were outsourced to Lenovo. I didn't own any TAXi ThinkPads, so I don't know for sure, but a hint would be the country of manufacture. Anyway, 600X would be my response to being the last IBM ThinkPad, for reasons stated above. But that's only if the topic comes up. I agree that it's kind of a moot point. My latest pickup is a used P1. Love it and recommend it. PS. "Walk-em", not "Way-com".
Thank you for pointing out the Asus ROG Flow X13 and how there's no equivalent ThinkPad even close in terms of Performance, Weight and Price... A machine with similar specs that can run Adobe Premier + After Effects easily (or DaVinci Resolve) does not exist in the ThinkPad lineup for that weight class. There's been a severe lack of dGPU models. If Asus can do it, Lenovo should be able to.
I don't honestly think there's a comparable model to the ROG Flow X13 from anybody. The newer models have 4060's in them and they're from last year now. Nobody else is doing that in a 3lb 2-in-1 subnotebook. I will say that $999 even for the one I got was a deal. I still see this same model for $1,299 or so now and it's more than a year later. So normally I know they're not quite that cheap.
ANYONE who was around in 2005-2009 remembers the IBM to Lenovo drop in quality that has only continued to today (except in its very highest end laptops). I had the X31, X41, X61s, X300, X220, X230, X250 before abandoning the X series until my X1C gen 10. The X61s (the last to be designed by IBM and the last to be overseen by David Hill) was the last good IBM ThinkPad. As time went on each model got worse and worse until it became consumer grade trash. Even the warranty got worse and worse until today where "next day" means "in a few days or so, maybe". Lenovo completely ran the ThinkPad brand into the ground.
I only had 3 thinkpads. I love them. one was stolen. I don't know the model off the top of my head but my first is running windows 98SE on it and I have it in a bag in the closet. It still works. The second was my T500. I got it for free from a guy who was recycing computers for scrap that he got from a catholic school in southern Louisiana. It has 1 month of warranty left and a messed up bios. So I got it fixed for free from Lenovo and it was running Windows 7 and Ubuntu for a long time and then a full arch build before it was stolen when someone broke in one day while I was at work. Now I have a lenovo T480 running LinuxMint.
6:55 You say that like there is a "Viable" option to run a laptop mouse with, LoL Once a TracPoint Fanboy ALWAYS a TracPoint fanboy!!!! Absolute Truth!!
The problem with premium work laptop is always the price, there is a reason why ThinkPad enthusiast doesn't just willy-nilly buy latest X1 carbon Gen 11 or last gen, most of people i know bought gen 7 or 8 on cheap, those laptop is always on sale from office clearance, still usable. The point is most of average user doesn't want shove $1000-2000 for a laptop with no gaming (or apple) moniker attached to it, and those would've are corporation or offices with money.
I will gladly admit that my preferred Models of Laptop are ThinkPad AND Qosmio, the only two computers that do NOT let you down Still using a T420 in 2024 as a perfect portable desktop
I'd consider the final thinkpads that had real IBM DNA had 1) 7-row keyboards 2) blue enter key 3) Magnesium alloy used in their frame/body 4) non-"chiclet" style keys. As soon as all of that was gone... it was cheapened down to nothing. Modern thinkpads are a joke, all the worst design decisions copied from everyone else, difficult to take apart and fix, I just cannot recommend them anymore vs before they were class-leading.
Some of you caught my screwup between MB and GB about halfway through the video... yes, I misspoke (actually I miswrote the script and just read what I wrote). The X41T actually has one GB of RAM, not either four or one MB. I deal with so many computers that measure their RAM and storage in KB and MB, it's easy to mess that up once in a while.
I'll post any other corrections I need to here.
That explains why your eyes are constantly moving left and right as you read it.
The Think Pad was the notepad given to employees starting before WW2 to encourage them to write their ideas down.
Achktually that makes it the first ThinkPad.
(Sry, i just had to. :D)
IBM themselves had branded think pads for employees. You can find them for auction.
@@gloriousstereo Living near one of the main facilities, no longer in use, there are still pads and signs that turn up in estate sales. I just bought a wooden desk plaque with "THINK" on it from the 1950's.
The story goes that the saying "THINK" was popularized when Thomas Watson was working at NCR Corporation. Watson was incredibly bored during a sales meeting and got up, complaining that the real problem was that nobody was thinking. He then wrote "THINK" in large bold letters on one of the ubiquitous company flipcharts.
When he became the leader of IBM, it became the company's motto.
Can confirm that a guy with an IBM logo on his shirt came to fix my Lenovo ThinkPad just a few months ago, this was in Norway. I asked him about it and he said that they do that from time to time if they are free for it, but otherwise they send sub-contractors. Usually they serviced servers and mainframes.
Haha that's cool. What did he fix?
@@Cyba_IT He replaced the keyboard, a few keys had died. They don't make them like they used to …
Boy, I miss the days of all the buttons, lights and doohickeys! Thinkpad user for 20 years, working in IT with free access to decommissioned units. I knew the switchover was muddy but I didn't know it was THAT muddy. Cheers, from my P52 of which I have no immediate plans to replace anytime soon. Great video!
I'm a ThinkPad fan too, I own a W510, a W541 and now a P53, all three i7 with Quadro video of different generations. But my writing machine is one that took me a while to find and restore, I'm talking about a 2000 IBM ThinkPad Transnote with Windows 2000 that works perfectly with the pen and everything, it's the rarest and most revolutionary ThinkPad I've ever seen, I'm going to make a video of it in a few days, it reminds me a lot of the X41T in your video but in a vintage sense.
Great video!
I've been a ThinkPad user since the 90s, and the bigger deliniation for me is the transition away from the 7 row keyboard. After that, the ThinkPad just didn't feel like a ThinkPad anymore.
this makes the X230, T430 and W530 an interesting case, as it's possible to retrofit a 7 row keyboard taken from a T420 or T410 in them and have it work, but none of these machines ever shipped with a 7 row keyboard from the factory
I still haven't forgiven them for that.
I cant get over how bad the new keyboard are in comparing to the x220 t420 year series, those were the last ones.
I have to say.. I have never noticed the keyboard issue when upgrading between generations, until it was pointed out to me by the community discussions.
I had all of them, from original to current
I luv me p52 tho
One of the simpler explanations in the expanding Lenovo ThinkPad range is this: X/T and higher are designed in Japan, L/lower are designed in China. Also, any large company tends to have a polynomial curve of expanding their laptop lineup and then shrinking them and then expanding them again, so it's always possible that the more economical ThinkBook line will eat up the lower ThinkPad line. (Owner of ThinkBook 14s Yoga and ThinkPad Yoga 260 by the way)
Actually... I'm really happy to see a new Modern Classic video. Very well done and interesting, as always.
Thank you for this cool history retrospective of IBM and Lenovo.
One aspect that make ThinkPad special is indeed the on-site warranty (3 years by default in EU). I also saw it in action with my P72 bought in 2018 (and that I still use to this day, still a beast for what I need it for and in pristine condition) when one of the two fans stopped spinning (in that case the laptop still boots and work in a degraded mode where the remaining fan is spinning at full speed all the time). After opening a ticket online, Lenovo immediately shipped at home the cooling subsystem part (which includes both fans and the pipes) from China, then a technician came at home to make the replacement. I vaguely remember he told me he worked for IBM. He had been repairing ThinkPad (and other stuff) for 25 years and although he never disassembled a P72 yet (was more used to T480 and smaller models) he did the disassembly and reassembly in 25 mins or so, which is no small feat as the P72 had to be almost entirely disassembled with its many screws and connectors.
26:09 The big disadvantage for artists who want one of these old Wacom-powered convertibles: Color and actual image processing power will be lacking. Not to mention battery life. I like the swivel top concept better but otherwise you'll probably want a much newer convertible for art. I checked, my 2021 ThinkBook 14s Yoga is still using a Wacom digitizer with 4096 pressure sensitivity levels, so it's not like convertibles are entirely going the way of finger touch anyway.
Im not a "Wacom-user" myself but i follow the drawing tablet scene evolve, i have couple friends that will pay
@@woldemunster9244 I have reservations on the dream device you mentioned, but maybe it can be cheap?
Well researched. Informative. Thought-provoking. That’s what makes this channel great. Quality research producing quality content.
I subscribed to your content waaay back on a separate account for the p50 review. Every video that you make, I enjoy. Thanks a ton
The IBM Thinkpad was one of the best PC laptops ever made. I think the last IBM branded ones that I own are my X61s and X201 from about 2008/09. I don't own a Lenovo Thinkpad, but people I know that do are quite happy with them. Weird thing is that my X61s actually has both the Lenovo and IBM nameplates on it. It says IBM on the palmrest and top lid, but says Lenovo on the screen bezel and bottom case.
Lenovo took over from IBM in 2005. X61s and X201s were well within Lenovo period. You're strange X61 is probably a Lenovo that has had parts replaced from earlier IBM models, but I'm unsure what to think after this video
The service is tops. My colleague's Lenovo ThinkPad laptop went on the fritz and needed the motherboard replaced but they couldn't source one. It took too long and triggered a replacement process. So he got a new laptop. Then 3 weeks later, he got a note that they found a replacement motherboard and would be sending it back fixed to him. He offered to send back the new laptop but they couldn't accept it because there was no process for that. He asked whether they wanted to keep his fixed laptop as a loaner. Lenovo said they can't. So he ended up with 2 laptops for the inconvenience of losing the use of his for 4 weeks
This video turned out to be absolutely fantastic!
It’s like you read my mind: I asked myself the same question many times, thank you for the thoughtful analysis. Italian IBM fan here
i bought an x61t for my final year of college, around 2007. used the tablet mode for taking notes in lectures, and when reading or studying. Also used it to display and write on handouts - the profs already stopped printing them.
Laptop mode functioned just fine. I got the 1400x1050 res for that 12 in display - the basic 1024x768 would have been insufficient. the keyboard was excellent for those long essays. even with the extended battery i had to plug in quite often but that was normal for most laptops at the time.
after i graduated i switched back to desktop pc. still i played with it for a few years and managed to put windows 10 on it. but at that point the performance was impractical, and the hardware was starting to die.
i still have it in storage but i doubt it will get any use again. it does however bring back a lot of memories as i literally spent more time with it than with anything else, or anyone, during that year.
Hey, I didn't even know you were uploading again, now there's some videos for me to catch up on. Welcome back, hope you're doing well!
I have always been of the partial opinion that the "last" IBM Thinkpad was the Z61p... I realize the Z61s were more like T60s, I seem to remember the T61 was already being delivered to our employees well before the Z61P I had custom ordered finally got delivered after being back ordered for a while. I liked it so much, I bought one for personal use when I left that company. So, yes, I might be a bit biased with my opinion.
I have a Thinkpad 340, a Z61p and a P71 with the 4K screen... two are still used regularly, running Slackware's bleeding-edge -current software. Needless to say, I never had an issue following the Thinkpad from IBM to Lenovo... I never loved IBM, I loved the Thinkpad... and especially love the TrackPoint. Lenovo has demonstrated it's ability to make a decent computer... I got my mother a Lenovo (granted, at a deep discount). So, as long as Lenovo keeps making Thinkpads with TrackPoints, they are part of Thinkpad lore... at least in my humble opinion.
Toshiba and Dell also had their own version of the TrackPoint years ago... so I liked those, too. Especially the Toshiba... they were a tough laptop back in the day. I forget what model it was... maybe a Satellite 440 or 460.
Appreciate the details you provide. A lot of people figure it is a simple conversation that IBM could do no wrong and everything they built was perfect. The truth is way more complicated.
I went through 3x Thinkpads (12 years of 'hard' corporate use) and they were great! However, my latest T14 is a piece of crap. Plastic fantastic and regular blue screens of death. When Lenovo took over fully quality demised quickly. Heck, even NASA switched to HP notebooks. That says enough.
My Asus N56 has been running 24/7 for 13 years. I’ve done a couple of upgrades to the RAM and the storage but never experienced any major issues. Older laptops were made to last. I’ve seen new laptops from all major brands breakdown after a couple of years.
Thanks for a trip down memory lane. My T60 and X200s are the coolest laptops I've ever owned. The T450 also served me well, although it felt more like an ultra book than a rugged Thinkpad. They had so much character and I felt like a hacker whenever I pulled them out. Unfortunately the temptations of ARM has made me switch to MacBook Air M1 and it's just far more practical, while being as dev-friendly as Linux. I have to admit it's soulless and feels like an appliance, as watching this video made me miss my ThinkPads.
I worked as on site support for a VAR that sold Lenovo about 10 years ago. What I found interesting was when we ordered replacement and RMA desktop parts they would come from IBM and not Lenovo
Yep, my replacement P50 keyboard was in an IBM box too...
I have many amazing stories and adventures with my T42 with a firegl. Remember getting up to 5hours of battery life, and that little light on the top of the monitor really kept me going in the middle of the night. I remember my buddy and I did our first outdoor lan with these playing starcraft.
Was ist eine wunderschöne Reise in die Vergangenheit der späten 90er. Als ich anfing als netzwerkadministrator zu arbeiten, mit novel Servern und IBM thinkpad für außendienstmitarbeiter. Obwohl wir als Server und Desktops nur compac einsetzen, waren in dem Laptop Bereich eine Alternative zum IBM think pad. Schönes Video
I wasn't even close to old enough to have an original IBM ThinkPad but still have my Lenovo ThinkPad from 2015 and it's still my home server to this day.
16:36 - As Yngwie Malmsteen once said, "Less is not more! MORE is more!" 😁
My Toshiba Tecra A8 is very similar in design to the X41T. Chunky case, same keyboard with trackpoint and large access panel on bottom for ram/hdd and CPU (yes CPU is in a socket heh!!). The keyboard is the reason I still use this A8 as my main driver today. It can handle YT video at 1080P just fine and any other task even though it's only a C2D at 2GHz with 4Gigs of RAM. When this thing finally gives up I have another nice one to replace it... top of the line Toshiba Portege Z30T-C with all options as standard (retail was $3700), picked up for only $350. Together with the dock (got for $20) it's a very nice laptop for general day-to-day use.
Got a T470 for my engineering studies and works perfect for autocad, inventor, proteus, etc
I'm going to be on the lookout for those older machines. A slow boot time doesn't bother me too much with a computer meant to be a workhorse.
IBM has some professional services where it does on-site repairs of devices. Apple even uses IBM to facilitate repairs at business offices. There are a number of companies that carry out these repairs at customer sites, and one of them is just IBM. Where you see IBM doing these repairs depends greatly on where you live and how close that is to some metropolitan areas. It’s certainly possible that some people see IBM carrying out repairs while some others see more regional services companies.
Actually, I largely agree with this assessment 😏. Straight facts and observations without the unfounded speculation or "politically correct" history.
Excellent video. You produce such quality! Makes me wish I owned an IBM back in the day. Beautiful machines. Those blue XP screens are absolutely delicious in contrast to the black cases and red accents on those IBM tablet-style convertibles. Wow. Works of art, really.
I imagine a world where Gary Kildall wasn't out flying his plane and CP/M and DRI became DOS and Microsoft. Gary. not being much of an entrepreneur, has no interest in helping out the clones and IBM eventually just buys the OS from him and the clones never crowd out IBM and we end up with two worlds - Apple and IBM, instead of IBM compatible. Just fuel for thought.
I own 5 thinkpads starting with 2004 model T42 “made for Lenovo by IBM” - the one that still has no Lenovo logos anywhere. Then 2009, 2013,2016, 2021 models. All of them still work fine despite bad abuse. Dropped and smashed into, one of them was literally punched hard, one had beer spilled onto…
The ultimate business machine.
My latest one is the P1 and it’s a tank. I’m in IT, and have many machines, Mac, hp, dell, asus… my personal machines are always thinkpads.
I got really lucky and snagged a ThinkPad X41 Tablet in mint condition for just $25 right before the COVID craze. I mainly use it for playing retro games like NFS Porsche, HOMM3, Disciples, and a bunch of other classics. It’s also my go-to for the retro LAN parties we throw every now and then.
The only downside is that here in Ukraine, I can't find a replacement battery. The original one only lasts about an hour, which can be a bit limiting during those gaming sessions. Still, it's an amazing piece of tech for the price!
I had, and loved, a T30 Thinkpad! (c2002)
just got myself an older T14 Ryzen 5 Pro 4650U refurbished... looking forward to putting it to work. I haven't had a laptop in awhile and I miss the old family Thinkpad from when I was a kid. Yeah, we were light on space so we had an old IBM thinkpad floating around the apartment lol. I even played EVE Online on that thing!
Wow this really opened my eyes, i used to diss lenovo as a school laptop type thing kinda like chromebook but nope pretty good laptop choice!
I picked up an X200 Tablet back in 2014. Still running, but it barely handles W10 these days. About to add some Samsung RAM, a OCZ SSD, and swap to Mint 22. I only use it for minimal interweb browsing and creating business estimates and invoices. Hopefully it'll be the last computer I own. I can't explain it I just really like it. Maybe because it has a stylus and I'm a Note user due to the stylus? Personally, I use DeX (Note 9) as my daily. Especially since it's hooked up to my main TV. Anywho, that was an enjoyable lil video. Thanks sir.
Use the Lenovo Commercial Vantage to regain the ThinkPad style UI. Also, the Commercial Vantage does not have any ads.
I have (deep breath) a T60 (with the big 4:3 screen), 2 T61s (one with the nvidia graphics in it), an X200 (with the dock that adds a optical drive), a T510 (that I am trying to scrub the melting rubber paint off of), and a T480s I picked off of Amazon. We also have 2 Ideapads, which aren't terribly impressive, and the wife also has a Chromebook (our son used one all through high school). Apart from the Ideapads, they've all been pretty decent (and the Ideapad I used wasn't that bad, although the touchpad has died for some reason). Everything is running Windows 10, except for the X200 which is on 7 (because after 7, Microsoft fatally messed up the pen usefulness), and the T60 (it has some software on it that I can't get to work on anything else -- and it's the only one I have IBM branded). All in all, I've been really happy with them.
in the mid 90's I remember my SYSCO foodservice rep using this for the food orders! when they come into the restaurants Nifty!
Great to see you again
No way I found a fellow aviator that also has a passion for vintage computing 👀
9:10 after the SL500 they sure did fix the SL Series because my SL510 is still going strong without a hiccup or crack in sight
The IBM ThinkPad TransNote was something that was a phenomenal product, and still intrigues a lot of people. I don't find anyone ever talking about it though.
It's been on my shopping list for a while. They're not cheap if they're complete (which they kinda have to be). But someday I hope to have one.
Hi. Mine is a 380D (1997?) / 80 MB RAM / OS/2 WARP / (proudly) made in Mexico. It looks and works fairly well. I have installed NT 4 and both SuSE and Red Hat Linux. And I still work on it, just for pleasure. Greetings. (By the way, I also have a PC 5170, and runs MultiMate, Word 4, WordPerfect 5.1, Quattro Pro - that is a tank!)
380D was my first!
I'd probably say the ThinkPad was truly dead round about when we lost the 7 row keyboard, the spill-proofing, the magnesium alloy midframe and the useful HMM document which actually contains FRU listings.
That wasnt the end of the decline though, the batteries got sealed away inside, the reliable docking port was replaced with USB-C jank, display bezels turned into stickers that are ruined after removal, the X series dipped down to 1 sodimm slot before eliminating user replacable RAM all together and the keyboard deck is now so thin that the trackpoint is painfully unresponsive.
They've even pulled the same shit as Apple by riveting the keyboard into the palmrest on the newest models. It now takes a complete disassembly to swap that out.
I had a T61p purchased new in Sep 2007. It had the IBM logo and shipped from China. It had the ever so useful Wireless USB. 😊
IBM sent one of their veteran techs from the Southbury, CT facility to repair a Thinkcentre for my IT customer recently.
Excellent video. I'm a bit of a ThinkPad fan myself.
My first ThinkPad was the T61 14" widescreen. It did not have the IBM logo.
I have about 7 ThinkPad's currently, the newest being the L460. I don't have the T61 anymore.
Some notes:
1. For me, the last IBM ThinkPad is the T61 with the IBM logo.
2. You said the X41T has a dual core CPU. Not true. It has a Pentium M CPU which is single core.
3. The X41T has a hard drive whitelist which means it will only accept certain hard drives and nothing else.
4. Centrino basically means the CPU and Ethernet and wireless are all Intel-made.
5. Later on, Intel introduced Centrino 2 (or Centrino Duo) which is the same as Centrino, but has a dual core CPU.
Wish I had the 486 one with the butterfly keyboard that my dad had gotten from work.
Yeah that's the 701, very expensive nowadays if you can find one in good shape. That model in particular seems to almost always be completely falling apart when they come up for sale, and it's usually not even the keyboard mechanism that's the problem.
I bought an old L540. Adding a used SSD the specs are better than most Chromebooks and it's been fun to load and play with Linux. It's a little heavy but it's sturdy! I use the smaller ones as dedicated music streamers.
Great video. I have an X61s. T420, and X270
24:46 Isn't there a version for thinkpad? (Lenovo Commercial Vantage)
That X41T screen hinge, control layout and locking clip are basically unchanged in my 2010 X201T.
18:33 I suspect you originally meant to say gigabytes, as 4 MB would barely run Windows 95.
Out of my vintage 1990s throwaway laptops I've acquired, the IBM and Toshiba ones stood the test of time better than other brands. I find them still usable even today for some tasks.
Yeah I actually miswrote it and just read what I wrote, like Ron Burgundy.
While I love Thinkpads, I honestly don't care if it's IBM, or Lenovo as long as it's a quality product that does the job I need it to, and they still do that which why I buy Lenovo laptops, and Thinkcentre Tinys. Also great video 👍
I'm still using my X61 Tablet with maxed out specs.
On my desk I still spot a W701 and X301. Both currently work fine except the batteries are no longer sold anywhere including AliExpress.
Currently, I'm looking for the thickest ThinkPad, the hard to find G40.
My question is: why do PC users leave those ‘Intel Inside’ and other stickers on their computers after they buy them? The factory puts them on, so a dealer can pull a new computer out of its box for display, and buyers can see what features it has. But once you buy it, it’s yours, and you can remove them. Yet I see them all the time, still stuck on computers, even after several years of ownership. Weird.
I often wonder why people peel them off! It just seems wrong.
It's essentially like rebadging your car. Some people want to show off they have a top tier i9 or Ryzen Pro, but most people don't care
Ive had Dell laptops and even some unheard of brands out of curiosity . But i keep returning to Lenovo thinkpads. There is something about them that just works.
My brother got a used X41 Tablet for use in college, so this would have been 2010 give or take. If my memory serves the seller was the Cleveland Browns (came from their facilities in Berea). Now I don't know what specifically they used it for, but I suppose I can imagine some use cases.
cleveland browns is one of those names you could almost think it's made up thanks to pop. culture. oh well at least they weren't working on an old boat
Workstation laptops are awesome. I had a stream of HP workstation laptops and they were all ridiculously powerful.
@ModernClassic you should look up the X201 Tablet its exactly that same 2in1 Design but is both a Stylus and Finger for the touch screen, with the bonus of being capable of windows 10 at least on the i5 in mine.
"with the bonus of being capable of windows 10"
Gross.
I had an IBM ThinkPad x60 with an external "dock" that you could put an external gpu in for a long time.. A question for ThinkPad aficionados/experts, what is the last model of ThinkPad that had a "dock" like that? I might like to get something like that again.
The W500 iirc
IBM Mexican ThinkPads are actually better than the made in the states.
IBM plant in el Salto, Mexico was actually own by IBM itself.
I love my thinkpads!! I have a shelf of them, they're definitely my favorite laptop that's available!!
🇬🇧 👍🏽 October 2024
Awesome video sir - thank you for taking the time to make it.
I have been an Apple user since Apple // but I quit and went to PC in 1995 and then back to Apple in 2006 until now. However I always loved the idea of a Thinkpad Carbon X1 so I bought one in 2020 thinking it could replace my 9 year old MacBook Air. The X1 Carbon is great computer, but the sound quality is horrific. I know I can use headphones or external speaker but it spoils the experience for me. After a few weeks I bought a new macbook. I use the Thinkpad once a week as I have a payroll program that only runs on windows, but from Jan 2025 that will in the cloud and I can use any browser. I will keep the Thinkpad, I used it this year when I went touring Europe on my motorcycle and it’s an ideal machine for travel. I bought a mint condition x61s on eBay just for fun and though it’s got a horrible screen, that keyboard is amazing. I keep that with Windows 7 on as I have a car diagnostic program that needs an older version of windows. I always felt that the x61s was the last real IBM even though badged Lenovo.
The Active Protection Graphic always kills Me. With the Airbag coming out of the screen of the laptop. One of if not My favorite IBM graphics. The Absurdity of it is just, WOW.
I upgraded a Lenovo SL510 with an SSD and Linux Mint: MATE Edition. I then upgraded to 8Gb of DDR3 RAM. I love it. It runs like a champ. Kiss Windows goodbye. Embrace Linux. God bless Linus Torvalds and Eric S. Raymond.
wow. how do you not get keyboard marks on the screen??? mine has keyboard marks on the anti glare coating of the screen
I have a 6th Gen X1 Carbon (8th Gen i7) and my wife has a 4th Gen X1 Yoga (8th Gen i5). I bought them off lease/refurbished for less than a cheap Dell or HP. Theyre borh stellar machines that still perform great running Windows 11.
My work had a Thinkstation tower that messed up a few months ago, and an IBM guy came to fix it.
what's the highest android-x86 that you could get running on that t41 thing?
Thinkpads were the most desirable pieces of technology in my group of friends between about 2003-2007. But they had some severe drawbacks people tend to forget now:
- first of all the price.. a similar specced machine from other manufactureres was less then HALF the price of a ThinkPad.. as a student you could get a 50% discount (I think that program still exists today) and they would still be 500 bugs more then a similar Dell machine..
- they had mediocre displays (at that timeframe) with bad reaction times and an overall grey tint to them
- and they were bad for gaming (because you couldn't get them with gaming GPUs)
the build quality was something else though- especially when they still had the magnesium cases
Believe it or not I am watching this on an IBM X31 in win xp using Oprah
Some of the non-ThinkPad Lenovos were actually pretty decent - I've had a couple of 3000 C200s, and whilst the specs were a bit behind the times in some areas, they were built to almost the same standard as the ThinkPads were, even if the keyboard wasn't on par. It is also amusing how some of the later "IBM" ones had both IBM and Lenovo logos on at the same time.
you have to make an entire video dedicated to the x41t
Got an X201 - it's solid!
i Still have my P50 with 32 GB RAM and 1TB NVME SSD. It is A Running Desktop Replacement.
Thank you for that Video.
Same here. Just turned 8 years old. Daily driver.
I hate trackpoints. Excellent video!
When I got my Thinkpad x60 tablet use everything was pretty much still alright apart from the latch.
That latch is just always broken by default
Who's here that still remember the butterfly keyboard?
I always thought the 600X were the last ThinkPads actually made by IBM, although from the sound of it, it was the last line commercially available that was made by IBM. Mexico, Ireland, or Singapore, they were still IBM-owned factories (I assume). I think the i Series were outsourced to Acer. At least that is what I recall reading back in the day. And when they switched over to the T/A/X, they were outsourced to Lenovo. I didn't own any TAXi ThinkPads, so I don't know for sure, but a hint would be the country of manufacture.
Anyway, 600X would be my response to being the last IBM ThinkPad, for reasons stated above. But that's only if the topic comes up. I agree that it's kind of a moot point.
My latest pickup is a used P1. Love it and recommend it.
PS. "Walk-em", not "Way-com".
Thank you for pointing out the Asus ROG Flow X13 and how there's no equivalent ThinkPad even close in terms of Performance, Weight and Price... A machine with similar specs that can run Adobe Premier + After Effects easily (or DaVinci Resolve) does not exist in the ThinkPad lineup for that weight class. There's been a severe lack of dGPU models. If Asus can do it, Lenovo should be able to.
I don't honestly think there's a comparable model to the ROG Flow X13 from anybody. The newer models have 4060's in them and they're from last year now. Nobody else is doing that in a 3lb 2-in-1 subnotebook. I will say that $999 even for the one I got was a deal. I still see this same model for $1,299 or so now and it's more than a year later. So normally I know they're not quite that cheap.
ANYONE who was around in 2005-2009 remembers the IBM to Lenovo drop in quality that has only continued to today (except in its very highest end laptops). I had the X31, X41, X61s, X300, X220, X230, X250 before abandoning the X series until my X1C gen 10. The X61s (the last to be designed by IBM and the last to be overseen by David Hill) was the last good IBM ThinkPad. As time went on each model got worse and worse until it became consumer grade trash. Even the warranty got worse and worse until today where "next day" means "in a few days or so, maybe". Lenovo completely ran the ThinkPad brand into the ground.
I only had 3 thinkpads. I love them. one was stolen. I don't know the model off the top of my head but my first is running windows 98SE on it and I have it in a bag in the closet. It still works. The second was my T500. I got it for free from a guy who was recycing computers for scrap that he got from a catholic school in southern Louisiana. It has 1 month of warranty left and a messed up bios. So I got it fixed for free from Lenovo and it was running Windows 7 and Ubuntu for a long time and then a full arch build before it was stolen when someone broke in one day while I was at work. Now I have a lenovo T480 running LinuxMint.
I installed Commercial Vantage on my x13 and it's got the black and red color scheme.
waht model thinkpad is this one @ 19:03
If it's really 19:03 that you mean, it's the X41T.
6:55 You say that like there is a "Viable" option to run a laptop mouse with, LoL Once a TracPoint Fanboy ALWAYS a TracPoint fanboy!!!! Absolute Truth!!
I once had a laptop catch fire while I was using it, so rest assured there's ALWAYS a way it could crap out worse!
Awesome video.
I watched this on a refurbished P53 with an OLED touch screen
The problem with premium work laptop is always the price, there is a reason why ThinkPad enthusiast doesn't just willy-nilly buy latest X1 carbon Gen 11 or last gen, most of people i know bought gen 7 or 8 on cheap, those laptop is always on sale from office clearance, still usable. The point is most of average user doesn't want shove $1000-2000 for a laptop with no gaming (or apple) moniker attached to it, and those would've are corporation or offices with money.
Even if I had unlimited money, I wouldn't buy the latest ThinkPads because of that fugly Communications Bar 😀.
I will gladly admit that my preferred Models of Laptop are ThinkPad AND Qosmio, the only two computers that do NOT let you down
Still using a T420 in 2024 as a perfect portable desktop
I'd consider the final thinkpads that had real IBM DNA had 1) 7-row keyboards 2) blue enter key 3) Magnesium alloy used in their frame/body 4) non-"chiclet" style keys. As soon as all of that was gone... it was cheapened down to nothing. Modern thinkpads are a joke, all the worst design decisions copied from everyone else, difficult to take apart and fix, I just cannot recommend them anymore vs before they were class-leading.
I think Doslab electronics makes SSDs that replace those tiny hard drives
the 00 series blueprints where pure IBM tho