What laptop do you have?

[Lomax]

One little party trick you can try if you're lucky enough to have an X series Thinkpad is to turn it over and carry it by the lid while still open. Not only won't the screen crack - there isn't even any flex, and the much heavier base is easily supported by the hinges. I would not recommend you try this with any other laptop - and of course will not be held responsible if doing so with a Thinkpad causes damage either... But these machines really are something else. It's just sad that there's no market for them any more - truly something to enjoy while it lasts.

[nctnico]

Always Dell from their 'for business' section.

[MrSlack]

Also

[Lomax]

Moar

[Lomax]

Random page from the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the X200 series - they even show you which way to turn the screws

Edit: Yes, page 104. The HMM for the X200 is 280 pages long! Suck on that Apple, with your zero pages of hardware documentation  

[MrSlack]

The HMMs are amazing. Also the little known video service tutorials (x220 demonstrated here):

https://www.lenovoservicetraining.com/showcase?sid=623&key=TGVuZw==

Also you can dismantle and reassemble the entire thing with just a swiss army knife with a philips driver on it!

[Lomax]

the little known video service tutorials

Oh nice, I didn't know about this!

you can dismantle and reassemble the entire thing with just a swiss army knife

And the single(!) screw that retains the (externally accessible) harddrive has a coin-friendly slot width - they are the only laptops I know of where you don't need any tool to swap the harddrive.

Edit: I realise this has turned into a bit of a Thinkpad wankfest. Sorry! Will stop now and allow the less fortunate to confess

[Lomax]

Ok, ok, ok, just one more thing @MrSlack @reagle @kaz911 and the other Think-fans here - did you see Errol Morris' documentary half-hour long advert for IBM?

 

Pretty excellent stuff, as can be expected of Morris, and a Philip Glass soundtrack always helps!

[MrSlack]

Never seen that - thanks for posting!

Nothing wrong with a ThinkPad wankfest. Need something to balance the Apple ones.

Ironically my evening is repairing my wife's 2011 MBP which is overheating (again). At least there's no glue in that one.

[Lomax]

I dunno if you saw the image I linked to earlier, but here's a Thinkpad that has suffered a little "overheating", from external causes:



Still going I see.

My office got badly flooded once (leaking roof), and I had left my T43p open and in standby mode my desk - which turned out to be directly under where the water came in. When I got there the next day the laptop was completely waterlogged, absolutely drenched, and although I took some basic steps to try and rescue it (battery & HDD out, keyboard off, placed sideways on top of a gently warm radiator) I fully expected it to be deader than a dead thing. I left it like that for a few days, plugged the bits back in, and it booted straight up like nothing had happened. All keys working too, That's after spending 12+ hours virtually submerged in a pool of water. Still works perfectly today, three years later. The LCD monitor and keyboard that were also on my desk were both write-offs. I dunno how they've designed the membranes for the Thinkpad keyboards, but they handle liquid spills amazingly well - usually a membrane keyboard is completely destroyed by even minor spills; the liquid seeps between the layers and corrodes the contacts, sometimes eating up the thin deposited traces too. The only way to save them is immediate disassembly, cleaning and drying the membranes one by one, which is a fairly labour intensive (and boring!) undertaking.

[MrSlack]

They're pretty water resistant. I carried my X201 in a Karrimor Sabre bag which I incorrectly assumed was waterproof. Had condensation ask over it but was fine. Poured orange squash in it too. Plus I have three kids who like to get and kill everything. Amazing devices.

[Armxnian]

Well if quality has been declining since the 201/220 then I don't see a point in waiting for the x260 skylake update.

I was going to get a surface book, but it feels like pissing away money. The XPS 15 seems like a better deal in terms of specs. Quad core vs a dual core with HT, higher resolution screen, USB C, gtx 960m, all for the same price. But at the same time it's heavier, and battery life should be worse from the higher tdp components alone. Feels like a desktop replacement laptop, which I don't really want.

[blackbird]

My primary laptop is a Thinkpad T420s. It is small enough to carry around (mostly between home and uni) and big enough to work comfortably at.

I use Ubuntu Gnome (currently 15.10) with Window$7 and Solaris 10 & 11 in a Vbox. I use W7 only when I absolutely need to (like fpga synthesis via Altium because I need to for study).

My T420s has an Intel i7-2620M on board with (currently) 8Gb of RAM, 256Gb SSD and 750Gb HDD. It also includes an extra videocard (Nvidia NVS4200M).

The laptop is primarily used to view EEVblog video's, beside this, I also use it for my study, usually (embedded) software development and documentation.

It is my first Thinkpad but it will be not my last. I like the quality, its robustness (albeit not a ruggedised laptop) and the speed (for what I need).

[HighVoltage]

My Thinkpad W520 is my main workhorse.
It has two graphics modules installed, and depending on what software you run, it automatically adapts.

One other great thing with ThinkPads are the docking stations.
I have a few of them and leave them an my clients place with an extra screen
And when I arrive at a customer, I arrive with my own notebook and just set it on the docking station
Nothing to hook up and always works perfectly.

I have so  much good experience with the high end T and W series of the Thinkpad's I would not even look for another brand.

[Tom45]

Just to pile on, I've been using Thinkpads since the 701c butterfly.

Current one is a W550s with the 3K display.

Before that I had a T61p for many years. Would have upgraded sooner, but Lenovo was in their unloved "Clackpad" keyboard phase so I just waited. When they finally announced that the buttons were back, I jumped on a new W550s.

[Kilrah]

MacBook Pro Retina 15".
Thin and light compared to similar machines in its range, and good enough flexibility to go from 6-8 hours run time on light loads (web browsing) to full on power that will drain the battery in 1.5h but deliver the punch when needed.

But that's of course complemented by a nice high end self-assembled desktop and 40" 4K screen. I've used the MBP with external screen and peripherals, it runs well but still far from the same level of comfort/responsivity.

[tszaboo]

Well if quality has been declining since the 201/220 then I don't see a point in waiting for the x260 skylake update.

I was going to get a surface book, but it feels like pissing away money. The XPS 15 seems like a better deal in terms of specs. Quad core vs a dual core with HT, higher resolution screen, USB C, gtx 960m, all for the same price. But at the same time it's heavier, and battery life should be worse from the higher tdp components alone. Feels like a desktop replacement laptop, which I don't really want.

It's not like they are actually making a difference with the newer X200 series. They recieve the mandatory CPU update and the look and feel downgrade. Really there is no point to upgrade from a x220. I guess they realised that they shot themselves in the foot, making something that will last a decade performance and quality wise.
And now every company tosses away laptops after the 4 year tax and warranty period. So why build something that lasts?

[ryanscott6]

I have a Lenovo Yoga 12.  It's pretty nice but I'd like something a bit bigger.  I'm a big fan of the Yoga design since you can flip the screen around.  I don't use it in tablet mode often but it's really nice when you need it.

[nazcalines]

2008 macbook going strong here. Maxed out ram and and an SSD. Main apps are Eagle and gcc for ARM dev. Also use inkscape for enclosure layout/graphics and Octave. Battery only lasts an hour, but once that's replaced it should be good for another 2-3 years.

[bills]

Lenovo G770 6gb ram,1tb hd,win10, 2.4ghzx2
old but works well

[steve30]

I have a Macintosh PowerBook G3 (Lombard) with a 333MHz G3 Processor, running MacOS 9.2. Might put Linux on it at some point to complement MacOS.

I also have a rather nice Toshiba Libretto 100CT running Windows 95.

I do ponder getting an IBM ThinkPad at some point to add to my computer collection .

[Lomax]

I do ponder getting an IBM ThinkPad at some point to add to my computer collection .

Considering the impressive vintage of your other devices (I always wanted a Libretto!), may I suggest the Thinkpad 600X as a fitting candidate?

[steve30]

I do ponder getting an IBM ThinkPad at some point to add to my computer collection .

Considering the impressive vintage of your other devices (I always wanted a Libretto!), may I suggest the Thinkpad 600X as a fitting candidate?

Ooh, looks nice .

[Lomax]

Ooh, looks nice .

It's my impression that the 600X is the model that would get the most votes in a "greatest Thinkpad ever made" poll (though the 701C, with its innovative "butterfly keyboard" is a serious contender). Having owned and used (up) a great number of different Thinkpads, the 600X would get my vote at least. The fact that they were made by IBM, who treated their workers with some measure of dignity, at a time when the floodgates to products made by slave labour had already been thrown wide open, only adds to the magic. The build quality lives up to its £2000 (not adjusted for inflation) price tag - if anything it feels like it must have cost even more; the mechanics are almost surreal, like some priceless gadget from a nuclear power station or a space ship. It also manages to get the size just right; at 13.3" it's wide enough to fit a full-size keyboard (and boy, what a keyboard!). and have enough room for an optical drive, and it's just light enough at 2.3kg to remain transportable. Of course, the technical specifications are woeful by today's standards - a 650MHz PIII, a maximum of 576Mb RAM, just 4Mb graphics RAM, USB 1.1, PATA HDD interface, no HDMI or even DVI output, no built-in LAN or WiFi - but with a slim Windows 2000 installation (or some lightweight Linux distro) plus Firefox and VLC (and a network card of some sort) it would still be quite usable for 90% of the things I do on my laptop today. Which is quite remarkable, when you think about it.

Edit: It does have an internal Mini-PCI slot, which can be used to add a LAN or WiFi interface (maybe even an SSD?), as well as two CardBus slots. It is also possible to upgrade the (socketed) CPU, to a maximum of 850MHz, though these are extremely rare and hard to find.

[kaz911]

There is no W550, only a W550s. The new high power 15" mobile workstation is the P50. There's also a 17" Workstation ThinkPad now, the P70.

Both have proper TrackPoint and trackpad dedicated buttons back. Also Intel's new Skylake mobile Xeon E3s (so ECC RAM in a laptop that's not a huge Sager, finally).

Also take a look at the Dell Precision 7510 and 7710 for mobile workstations.

Ohh - thanks for correcting me - I had not spotted that their new workstations are P models - I had just checked the W (workstation) page and nothing there but the W550 (s) - Now I have put a P70 on the wish list but my god you have to save a lot to afford it!

/Kasper