Are classic ThinkPads actually better than new ones?

I used a Thinkpad T510 or 520 in school.
That thing even had a coffee gutter in case I spilled coffee on my device during class!
I still regret getting another laptop

Yes.

I bought a refurbed T410 in 2018 as a beater mobile PPT machine. It ran perfectly for 6 years. It was just retired in 2024. There's something to be said for being built like a tank.

wow, mate's using Kdenlive for video editing. Its rare to see kdenlive in the wild

Edit: Oh, you fixed the "ThinkPad's" in the title, nice!

An oldschool IBM Thinkpad was the first computer I ever used. My father used to work for IBM and I learned how to type in my first webpages, learned what email was, and more in 2002. I'd never even used a mouse besides that eraser mouse for several years and I got good at using it for Starcraft and other games, nowadays I can't use that mouse to save my life haha

I got a T14 Gen 3 i7 Thinkpad last year for $400. The only "problem" with it is I don't know the BIOS password and can only install WINDOWS on it. Sadly replacing the motherboard is the only way to get a new BIOS password on the Gen3's...

That's a great desktop picture

I recently swapped my SSD out in my T480. Also did a battery upgrade in my retina MacBook Pro from 2013. My T480 is from 2020, so 7 years newer than the MacBook Pro, and holy shit what a difference. I broke a few pixels on the display by accident on the Mac and got three blisters from having to saw the battery glue off with a piece of string. The MacBook Pro used 4 different kinds of screws with incredibly useless differences, like four 3,7mm screws and five 3,8mm screws. That's in length. There is literally no reason to have a 0,1mm difference in the screw length in your fucking laptop.

I enjoy using the MacBook Pro quite a lot, and I only did the battery swap to be able to use Affinity Photo without having to use Windows, but people spouting the whole "new thinkpads aren't nearly as good!!!!" are just spreading bullshit. Yes, laptops were more servicable 25 years ago than they are today. ThinkPads are still extremely servicable though, even new ones compared to an 11 year old Mac.

I drive a 1993 Volvo 940, it's not a surprise that it's much more servicable than a modern car. My girlfriend drives a 2006 Volvo V70, it's 13 years newer than mine and almost just as servicable. But not quite. Doesn't make it a bad car in any sense, people just can't get over that things change (for the worse).

i really enjoyed my thinkpad collection, i am currently working on getting a fully upgraded t430. Currently i have a t480, t480s, x1 carbon 6th gen, x1 carbon 7th gen, x260, x270 and t14 gen 1 ryzen cpu. i really enjoyed having the collection, it quite fun great laptops. the x260 and x270 i will just use as it is, 256gb ssd 8gb ram i7 and i5 cpu. i dont know if i want to get a thinkpad older than t430 atm.

Thinkpads are supposed to be like classic cars. Easy to repair, tons of features, connectivity, and **as much performance as you can cram in there**. And that give you the ability to build them from the cheapest to the most expensive spec!!!

For that body style of T14/P14s just stick your fingers in between the gaps of the hinge and the bottom and you can easily rip off the bottom without destroying it.
Also replacing the main board on these newer machines are so much easier. So while replacing ram isn't as easy it takes easily 1/4 the time to swap the whole board on these newer machines VS the "good" thinkpads. Same for repasting the machine, some of them you have to remove the main board to get to the heatsink which SUCKS.

Not every modern thinkpad is right on the mark imo. Some of them aren't good. But most of them are, and all of them are a cut above the regular laptops I've used. I love my old thinkpad yoga. Thing feels like a brick shithouse compared to my ASUS TUF gaming laptop which is literally cracking down the middle because I pick it up from the side with one hand instead of both hands.

Thinkspads just fluke Honda of the laptop world

ThinkPads are good candidates for a Forever Laptop BUT if one cannot change the CPU-GPU-Mainbord, that is only wishful thinking --- and ThinkPads are no exception. But the older models are still the best and most durable.

I have looked at laptop models like Framework, Pruism, MNT, Rugged Laptops. While fully agreeing and supporting their brand ideology, they are unfortunately still lacking. Availability for DIY components is either sketchy, incomplete, lacks compatibility even with own brand, out of stock items, and most are prohibitively expensive for most people. The other common known branded companies offer little more than half a dozen upgrade-able components at most, and are not worth mentioning.

As long as the world revolves around money, that is the unfortunate situation.

To-date the best candidates for forever laptops that are accessible to most people would be the pre-2013 ThinkPads, with a few other brand notable exceptions..........but unless one can live without the latest bells and whistles laptop, and opt for Linux, this may be problematic. These are for the digital minimalists :)

My knowledge about computers is rudimentary, but If I had to build or purchase the ideal laptop that is mass marketed and environmentally friendly laptop, it would be this:

A BASIC model like a Chromebook, affordable to most people, and with flexibility to allow further upgrades if needed.

Similar to the IBM style ThinkPads with all modular components available as DIY ready-made mix and match.

Affordable components, not with some components individually costing more than your average laptop.

AND working with rechargeable 18650 batteries you can purchase from your local town store, which can be installed into the laptop much like we do with batteries for radios.

We may get there, but looks like its going to be one heck of a long arduous process..........

I wanted technical specs not not a novel

The newer ThinkPad issued in 2024 uses welded RAM, and if this breaks, you either throw it away or spend big with your Lenovo vendor. I would not buy this.

Switched from a mac to a Lenovo t16 which I've installed Linux on. So far it's the best laptop I've ever owned.

I just seen this video today. I used to work for IBM back in the 80's (1981-1984), I was the second youngest Jr. Programmer to work for them the first being Bill Gates (he was 16 at the time). I had a T43 Thinkpad which was the last to be produced by IBM. At any rate the reason why most manufacturers don't want people to work on their machines is a sales gimmick. At this time I own a Lenovo X1-Carbon which to me is one of the worst laptops that I have ever owned. No upgrade options unless you have the right tools to take off the cover. I would give anything to be able to have another T43. I always used Linux due to MS's Big Brother syndrome became public knowledge. I maxxed out the RAM and got a new drive for it. It was the best laptop that I have ever owned in the more than 5 decades of experience in this field. I love the way that you expose the greediness of IBM and it's successors. The best Windows is Windows 98 SE. But that is the past. Now Linux breathes new life into old machines. Antix Linux could run their 32-bit version easily on the T43 or even Puppy Linux. Have great day and thanks for the walk down memory lane.

Unless you are doing video editing, 8GB RAM is plenty for everyday use so there is much less need to upgrade memory these days, but it is nice to upgradable hard drives as new bigger, faster, and cheaper drives are coming out all the time.

I tend to consider the P and T series machines to be the "actual Thinkpads" and the X, E and L series to be just laptops with ThinkPad branding.

I bought a refurbished T40 (1.5ghz P4, 2GB mem) back in 2007 with XP Pro. Best laptop I ever had.

The E series was the last with the original small form factor. They should bring it back. 11 inch screens max.

the gen 5 p14s and t14 have 2 upgradeable so dimm slots with a limit of 96gb. i think that's great

is the t480 model good?

I just want a lenovo for strictly music production (making trap beats and all that) like DAWS...what would be a wise choice? People only talk about gaming indont care for, i dont want an apple either. Please help

I use the E470 got it for 106$ i will use it till it dies, is perfect💪👑💰✈️

Ah... No?

The P14s is great except the usb-C charging port connected directly to the motherboard, that's an obvious point of failure.

When I was in high school I bought a commodore calculator that could be programmed with a formula. I thought that was so cool until they came up with the PET computer. The PET used a cassette tape as a drive mechanism. Yes they were slow but they were awesome to a wide eyed student. My father had an IBM computer in his business to do spreadsheets for his inventory. That IBM was ten feet long and four feet high. It is amazing to me how rapidly all of the modern solutions have become. I believe that future computers will be a very small form factor with virtual solutions to enter information and will be commonly available to the public. Where will we go from there? We have to be very careful because future solutions can have serious consequences.

I am still using a almost 10 Years old ThinkPad. That old thing might not have the computing power to gaming, but it just glides through work stuff. Out in the field,dusty environment, typing away at the airport trying to get that report submitted back to HQ asap. plenty of rough treatment over the years, just chuck it on top of the cabin in planes. i love Thinkpad, they're a work buddy.

You don't quite understand the difference. 30 years ago, the IBM thinkpad was a $10000 dollar laptop for top business execs. That's why it's built like a space shuttle. Lenovo cannot do that today, the price of the laptop would be outside of the competitions.

stinkpad

Ya SEE - Lenovo out lives Apple 100 to 1 Try that Apple / Lenovo never die or at least they have a hard time trying to. LoL
Lenovo is like the Energizer Bunny - They keep going > Going > GOING!!!

You can call the T60 or T61 the last REEL THINKPAD if you want, and if you wanna draw the line at the Tx30 keyboard I think that's fair, although I think the actual keyfeel of the chiclet is still fine even if the layout is worse. However, the Tx40 series unironically ruined the line. Other than the warcrime level trackpad button integration, where is the hinge latch? Where are the volume buttons? What's up with the hinge design? Why is it so floppy?

Through the late 2000s Lenovo launched a bunch of "Edge" Thinkpads which are basically a Thinkpad but gutless. Chassis flex like mad because they lack the metal stiffeners, hinges that screw into the body's top bezel and crack often, cheaper plastics, no dedicated buttons for anything, no Expresscard... they're still better than an HP Pavilion or a Toshiba Satellite of the era, but they are cheap computers. Lenovo basically grafted the Edge design onto the main series of Thinkpads and they lost a lot of distinguishing factors. Lenovo has also done their best to make the current keyboard even worse than the Tx30 series...

amazing and very complex video! the whole IBM history intro was so interesting

Got a hand me down Lenovo t420 and it’s awesome. Getting long in the tooth but a great machine running Linux mint. Had to get a college laptop for the kid and he got a refurb L series. Totally adequate.

just bought a l380. I was not in the hype, and was just looking for something beter than my acer swift 1 of 2017. My oh my, I am a fan, now. 24h after. Everything is replaceable ! Itlooks like I got by mistake the equivalent to a leica for a photo amateur.

the nipple is dumb and ugly

Great IBM/Lenovo comparison tutorial. I love the retro look of the IBM laptop. After my Macbook Pro and Macbook Air laptops died one after another I finally ended my years long chapters with Apple products. I moved back to the PC/Android worlds with no regrets. The first PC laptop I purchased after I recycled my Mac laptops was a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad T470. From the moment the laptop arrived I was blown away by the machine's simplistic design. The look was sharp, the machine was powerful and easy to work on. It was everything I was looking for in a laptop. Its truly the best laptop I own to date. I'm looking to purchase another laptop as a backup. Maybe T480 or something from the X series? Not sure yet. One thing I am sure of my next laptop will be a refurbished Thinkpad.

I miss my T42

yes

The older think pads with the fat ass keyboards were beasts. Fk your slick modern designs.

not just thinkpad, older laptops were beasts.

I got two modern ThinkPads this year. One an L380 yoga and the other a T480. The L380 had such a horrible coil whine I returned it. Then, I bought a T480 to replace my T430. It dropped from 4-5 inches and started the same coil whine. I can use Linux on it and there's little to no coil whine, but Windows is a different story. I could use my T430 as a football and it'd be completely fine.

Now thinkpads devolved into closed "modern slim design" with 3/4 ports . Where are the chunky monsters with a real dock (an not the lame usb-c bloc) + multiple indicators leds and a variety of legacy ports .

I love thinkpads but I think with the most recent model, I think they're lacking fully replaceable RAM because RAM will go bad at some point and replacing the entire mainboard just sucks and is more expensive