WTF is a ThinkPad?
They are a brand of laptops made by IBM from 1992 and then by Lenovo from 2005 to now. it is one of the oldest laptop line/brand, being surpassed by the Toshiba/Dynabook Satellite.
Why does my T60 say IBM then?
IBM was looking to sell their PC division because of it’s profits falling since the 2000’s. In December 2004, Lenovo agreed to purchase, while IBM took a 17% stake in Lenovo. The acquisition was finalized on May 2005, & they were able to keep the IBM branding til 2010. On IBM branded ThinkPads built after 2005 you will see on the bottom label that the machine was “built for Lenovo”. However in 2007 Lenovo decided to remove IBM branding on ThinkPads.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2007-01/13/content_782841.htm
https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/ibm-sells-pc-group-to-lenovo/
So ThinkPads built before May 2005 are real IBM ThinkPads then?
Mostly yes, but there are exceptions.
ThinkPad 700 & PS/55 Notebooks – Ricoh helped IBM Japan with their chip & IC density for those laptops
550BJ & 555BJ – These were actually Canon NoteJet laptops w/ a different color & trackpoint
iSeries – IBM gave Acer manufacturing duties for a cheaper 300 class machine
300 – Zenith Data Systems originally, but IBM later took over due to the crappy build quality & returns
235 – Chandra laptop clones, made by RIOS, IBM & Ricoh’s joint venture that IBM kinda walked away from
LG ThinkPad – Some T & X series (maybe more?) were built or licensed by LG so IBM can enter the SK market.
RS/6000 N40 (Type 7007) – Tadpole built a laptop for IBM using a 603 PowerPC CPU, precursor to the 800 Series
Misc – Some PIII and P4 era ThinkPads had parts built by Foxconn, Quanta & Winstron, even motherboards.
T42 – Some say “Made for Lenovo”.
Some IBM non-TP Tablets (after 730TE & before X41) were reskins of… Hitachi or Panasonic machines.
https://www.ardent-tool.com/8543/8543.html
https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=128125
https://m.blog.naver.com/yallge/220708255491
How can I tell which ThinkPads are older, newer and old old?
I feel like there are about 5 different eras of ThinkPads.
1992 to 2000 – 3 digit model names w/ suffixes, + iSeries w/ 4 numbers
700C, 355XD, 240X, 560E, 600X, 850
– Bento Box design, most systems have no palmrest & trackpoint buttons at the edge
– Screens are small from 7.7″ to 14″, some monochrome & DSTN panels among TFT.
– Tooless access to system components, the lid latch would double for the keyboard retainer.
– These are the thickest machines, w/ the bottom casing being the frame.
– Some laptops had keyboard feet/kickstand to give hands an ergonomic angle to type on
700 - Top of the line, w/ a disc drive (usually) or Pen-Tablets
MCA - C52 = 700 > 720 | / 600
AT - 750 > 755 > 760 > 765 > >> T20
\ 770 >> A20p
701 > ??? >> S30
Pen - 2521 ~ 700T > 710T > 730T | >> X41T
Japan \ T22SX \ 9103 > ??? >> TransNote
500 - Portable focused notebooks, w/o disc drives
500 > 510 > 530 > 535
\ 560 > 570 >> X20
NoteJet > 550 > 555
300 - Budget & Entry level laptops, some w/ multiple disc drives
N45sl > 300 > 350 > 355 >
\ 360 > 365 > 380 > 390 >> A20m
\ 385 >> R30
\ 340 > 345 ~ 310 >> A20e
~ 755 = 370 \ 315
5523-S > N23sx > 320 > 330
200 - Smaller than 500, for Eastern Asia markets, tiny keyboard
/ 220 > 230 > 235 > 240 >> X20
200 Prototype ~ PC110
800 - PowerPC CPU, expensive, for developers, w/ AIX or OS/2
RS/6000 N40
\ 800 > 820 > 821 = 822 = 823
\ 850 > RS/6000 851 > RS/6000 860
iSeries - Acer built ThinkPads for economy & multimedia
i14xx
i17xx
i12xx > i13xx > 130
i15xx
i16xx
i18xx = A20
i1124 = 240
i1157 = 570
Pre-ThinkPads
PS/2 Line
MCA - P70 > P75 - Luggable
\ L40 SX - Luggable
\ CL57 - Notebook
\ N51 - Notebook
PS/55 Japan
MCA - 5545-T
\ 5540-T > Note N51
\ CL57 SX
AT - 5535-S ----- 700C
T20 > T21 > T22 > T23 > T30 > T40 > T41 > T42 > T43 > T60 > T61 >
T400 > T410 > T420 > ….. > T490 > T14 Gen 1 > T14 Gen 2
2000 to 2009-ish – T/R/A/X/G/S prefix w/ 2 digits & sometimes a suffix:
1st alphanumeric character means class or system type
2nd alphanumeric character meant chassis
3rd alphanumeric character meant… upgrade from original?
4th alphanumeric letter was a system variant (performance, eco or slim)
- T20, X22, S30, G40
- A30, R50, T42
- A31p, R50p, T42p – Performance models
- A20e, R50e, R61i, Z61e – Lower cost, economy models
- X40T, X61T – Shortened for Tablet version
- X60s – Slim down model, & ULV CPU
- TransNote???
2008 to 2019- Lenovo made T/R/X/W w/ 3 digits & suffix
1st alphanumeric character means class or system type
2nd alphanumeric character means screen size
3rd & 4th Alphanumeric character means Intel Core generation*…
5th & 6th Alphanumeric characters means system variant
- Core 2 Duo T400, X200, W700
- 1st gen T410, W701, X201
- 2nd gen – T420, W520, X220
- 6/7th gen – T470, X270
- 7/8th gen – T480, X280… yeah it gets fucked
- X300 & X301 are the exception to the rule, as well as X1 & X1 Carbon
2019 to present
1st alphanumeric character means class
2nd & 3rd alphanumeric character together means screen size sometimes
Lenovo went part mode and thus I cannot fucking even explain all of these in any simple matter.
What is the T/R/A/P/X ThinkPads? Why do some of them have an “s” at the end?
If you’re looking for a daily driver and not a classic ThinkPad, then starts here.
T Series is the main line of ThinkPads, although they aren’t flashy like the flagship X1 Carbon, they are made to be no-nonsense business, built for mass corporate fleets. These are not entry level laptops when new, but are deals when it comes to the off-lease market because of how many are thrown onto the market. These come in two laptop screen sizes, T14 or T4xx series are in 14″, and T15 or T5xx are 15″. Prior to the T400, there was the T60 & T61, which were available in 14″, 15″ and both in widescreen or square-ish 4:3 aspect ratio, which all came with Core 2 Duos. Before that there was the T40 line with Pentium Ms, then the T30 with a Pentium 4M, and the T20 line with Pentium III-M….
A Series originally started as a lower level laptop from the T Seried. Priced above the R Series (which was made by Acer), the A20 series had one base chassis size, but had 12″, 13.3″, 14″ & 15″ screen choices… They had workstation variant, but was discontinued after the Pentium 4-M Era. Years later with no association, Lenovo had brought the A275 & A475, which were based off the X270 & T470 laptops, but with AMD processors and didn’t have IPS upgrade options. There was a A285 and A475 but that was it, as Lenovo later just had an AMD variant for their T14 and X13 machines without a differentiating model number.
T Series w/ “s” suffix is the upgraded ultrabook or slimline variant of the of T400 and T14 machines. Prior to the T440, they were a completely different machine, having no interchangable parts other than RAM, Storage, & keyboards, additionally they had soldered CPUs. From the T440 and onward, the “s” designation meant that the machine had higher base specs than the non-s. Although you can configure it with more RAM, CPU and/or storage, some screen options were not available on the non-s T400 or T14 machines.
S Series, there are three different eras. Originally the S30 was to commemorate the PS/55 note 10 year anniversary. This had two models, S30, S31 and an iSeries variant i forgot about… but it was smaller than the X20 machines available at that time. Later Lenovo sort of bought back the S line, by having the SL series laptops in 13″, 14″ & 15″ form factors. These were basically a shiny version of the Edge line of ThinkPads, which were entry level machines. Later Lenovo made the S230 Twist as an ultrabook variant of the X230 that had some design queus from the X1 Carbon. Lenovo did make 14″ & 15″ S440 and S540 for the European market, but sales didn’t go well and it was discontinued.
E Series or Edge ThinkPads are the cheapest machines you can buy that isn’t the X100 series… Not much to say about them, as they suck, have no magnesium frame, or really great features other ThinkPads have other than a trackpoint & shitty keyboard.
T, X, A, or R Series with the “i” or sometimes “e” suffix, these were the bargain bin, entry level thinkpads. They came with Celeron or i3 CPUs, hardly any RAM, or storage and were generally not sought after.
X Series originally started as the 12″ small form factor laptop. It was a mix of the 500 and 200 series machines, and had similar specs to a T Series, but had soldered CPU instead. In 2008 Lenovo brought a new X Series model as the successor from the ThinkPad Reserve, the X300. They were sort of a pre-ultrabook machine, similar to the small Sony Vaio P series but were made to go against the MacBook Air. IMO they have the best keyboard for any Lenovo machine has to offer.
X1 & Carbon are the successor to the X300 series machines. it is the lightest Ultrabooks the ThinkPad line offers, and is the flagship of the ThinkPad line. Some later iterations have a carbon fiber styled lid, and the X1 Extreme variant is a 15″ model with dedicated graphics, akin to the XPS 15.
T Series w/ the “p” suffix meant for performance. These for the most part came with higher CPU clocks, higher RAM and better screens as standard. This is true for the T40 line to the T60 series, which can be in 14″ or 15″ form factor. Lenovo got rid of the p suffix in 2009, did not offer a 14″ workstation and instead offered the 15″ W500 and shortly offered a 17″ W700 series s workstations. Lenovo brought back the p suffix for the 2013 T440p and T540p, however it only designated that the laptops had a removable CPU. Those machines can have the same CPU/RAM/Storage specs as the non’p variant. Later Lenovo would introduce the p suffix with the T460p, which had a quadcore CPU and dedicated graphics.
But the “p” suffix ThinkPad originated from A Series when IBM first transitioned away from the Bento-Box era laptops. However the big upgrade from the A20 line from the A30p was the introduction of the Flexview panel, IBM’s first IPS screen made by DBU, and later IDtech or LG. After the A31p, there was no A40p or A50p, so the T40p had the flexview panel, and for a short time there was a R50p, that came with SXGA+, UXGA, or outrivaling the T Series, a QXGA panel..
R Series ThinkPads was the budget ThinkPad line, first made by Acer during the R3x series, which succeeded the iSeries line. R40 is either LG or Acer, however R50 which is similar to the T40, was built by IBM. This time, instead of the magnesium frame implementation, IBM used a thicker plastic hassis for rigitity. When Lenovo took production, they had the R60 alongside the T60, notably the R Series would lack touchpads, but in later iterations it was just about standard, making touchpadless palmrest uncommon. in 2009 there was a R400 and R500 laptop as cheaper alternatives to the T400 and T500, but ultimately had no successor.
Whats so great about the keyboard?
ThinkPad purists love the 7 Row keyboard layout, which began in 1992 w/ the 700 & ended with the T420 & X220. The keyboard feel from the 700 series line was premium to type on, and for purists, muscle memory had never had to be changed. The 7 Row keyboard mimicked the Model M format, with the 7th row having Esc isolated from function keys. On the top right, the 7th row had PrintScreen, Scroll lock, & Insert. Additionally for document navigation, the page up and home button was natually above the Page Down & End buttons respectively. Famously like the Model M keyboard, IBM purposely did not include a Windows Key, instead it had a longer Ctrl key to fill the gap. The windows key was introduced with the Z60 and then the T60 laptop, but by then Lenovo had taken over. However during IBM’s era, the iSeries did have a Windows key on it’s 7 row keyboard, and funny enough, the Zenith built 300, had a 6 row keyboard layout, which was kept from Richard Sapper’s design prototype.
For purists the T/W/X*30 (Ivy Bridge ThinkPads) were disliked for many changes from the previous models, however the last straw was due to it having the 6 Row keyboard layout from the ThinkPad Edge or E & L line of ThinkPads. It was a chiclet style keyboard, which had “island style”. This added difficulty to cleaning the keyboard, because the old style had no frame in between either keys, as well as the keys being harder to pry out. Lenovo’s reasoning for chiclet style keys was that it wouldn’t be able to have a backlit keyboard option like the flagship X1 has.
What is the last great ThinkPad, is it the T43p, T60, T420, or T440p?
This comes strictly from opinion from enthusiasts and purists.
T43p because it was the last IBM made ThinkPad before Lenovo takeover.
T60p because some models had the IPS screen option which would be gone from the T61, and it also had a better build quality, which was especially noticeable when tested side by side when it came to the lid opening, keyboard feel & was heavier. That always means stronger.
The T420 is liked because it had the 7 row keyboard, and the T430 series had brought battery white lists, meaning it wouldn’t accept non-OEM batteries. These were a great bargain for everyone, as they cost as low as $20 to $60, now you’d have to pay $50 to over $100 from Lenovo directly. Also the T420 was nicknamed “DankPad” because of the 3 digit numbers, it’s where I got this website name.
T440p, T540p, & W540 or W541 were the last ThinkPads to have a socketed CPU & a CD/DVD drive that can be replaced for a storage drive caddy. Although they have other cut corners from the T430, some dislike the slightly different shade of black these machines have, as they are slightly browner than usual. Additionally they were disliked for having the “clickpad” which got rid of the 3 button layout for the trackpoint, but you can swap the clickpad from **50 series machine if you want the normal 3 buttons & touchpad.
https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=125033
https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=130020
So you can’t upgrade ThinkPads now?
Storage? Basically all ThinkPads can have this upgraded from, AFAIK, 11e chromebooks are the only ThinkPads which had soldered storage & couldn’t get upgrades.
Screen? This requires a deep dive, but 2013 and later ThinkPads have an HD or FHD IPS screen. Some have HD, HD+, FHD, FHD IPS, 3K or 4K options. For the most part you can go from a bland TN base panel to IPS, AVHA, or AFFS screen. Those have the nice “wide viewing angles”, however it depends on what screen you get, so it’s best to research panelook before buying.
Memory? Yes for the most part all ThinkPads except the super thin ones like the X1 & X13 line have RAM upgrade paths. Some of the recent Ultrabook T & X Series have only one RAM slot available to upgrade, but otherwise they’d have two RAM slots for upgrades up to 16GB or 32GB depending on CPU limitations. From there 17″ and 15″ P Series Workstations (not the P50s line), have four RAM slots for upgrades, and most W Series do, except for the Core 2 Duo W700 and W500. You just about had two RAM slots to upgrade from all the way back to the 700C.
Next upgrade would be memory, which most ThinkPads can have this upgraded on.
Processors are now soldered on all ThinkPads since 2014 to 2021, unless Lenovo introduces a upgradable-fuckup like the Alienware Area-51m.
Processor? Newer models from 2014? No. 2013 to about 1998 ThinkPads had socketed CPUs except for X Series, X1 Carbon, & S line machines. Even at that, you were not really able to upgrade to a newer CPU generation, just one from the same generation.
Graphics? Nope. W7xx, P5x and P7x do have a MXM GPU, but Lenovo have a whitelist which doesn’t let you upgrade to other graphics cards, unless it’s the one supplied to that specific ThinkPad model. You can’t even use another graphics card from another manufacturer or older thinkpad…. it has to have the be within the part numbers that system came with. That’s extremely shitty when you compare it to Dell Precision & HP Elitebook which offers better flexibility, especially so when you can use video game graphics cards from MSI, Alienware & Asus. other than that, all other thinkpads have soldered graphics, and quite a bit of them have integrated graphics. Some old IBM Bento box ThinkPads have graphics cards as a daughter card, but I don’t know if those can be upgraded…
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2020/5/13/21256845/alienware-area-51m-r1-r2-specs-upgradable-parts-gpu-dgff-limited
Sources