Why do people keep going back to Thinkpad?

[Omineca]

For me:

• Linux support

• Keyboard

• Overall build quality

• Repairability

• Hardware Manuals

I've been using ThinkPads since the T40-series.

Reading through the forums, I definitely see the complaints about the more recent models. They've served me well despite -- or because of -- all the changes.

I have a ThinkPad Yoga 260 that I bought to replace an employer-provided Dell Latitude. No, it's not a classic. But it's on year three and I use it every day in both laptop and tablet mode. The keyboard and pen input are both excellent, the screen is nice (if a bit small -- I use an external super-wide monitor a lot), and it handles all of this zoom business with ease.

I'll be back again.

[ajkula66]

I'll be back again.

I probably won't, as surprising as that may sound.

Once I (hopefully) retire and move from my current residence, there will be a desktop with some type of IBM/Lenovo keyboard in my future. The "classics" will be preserved, of course.

[dr_st]

I probably won't, as surprising as that may sound.

I will, if and when they have another "anniversary" model with a proper 7-row keyboard. Until then, I have enough.

[ajkula66]

I will, if and when they have another "anniversary" model with a proper 7-row keyboard. Until then, I have enough.

Touche...

[iamdmc]

I probably won't, as surprising as that may sound.

I will, if and when they have another "anniversary" model with a proper 7-row keyboard. Until then, I have enough.

30th this year

Fingers crossed! And hoping it's available internationally this time

[Omineca]

I'll be back again.

I probably won't, as surprising as that may sound.

Once I (hopefully) retire and move from my current residence, there will be a desktop with some type of IBM/Lenovo keyboard in my future. The "classics" will be preserved, of course.

That sounds like a good choice to me.

You often get more of everything for your money with a desktop, your choice of monitors, and there's a world of keyboards to choose from. I've been tempted to pick up one of those Lenovo/IBM laptop-esque keyboards (probably one of the old T40-ish ones), but I also really enjoy mechanical keyboards. There's a company called Unicomp (https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/SFNT) that produces the old IBM-style buckling spring keyboards, but I suspect that's fairly well known around here.

The other thing about moving to a desktop is that it might limit your screen time a bit, which is a good thing, I think.

Edit: typo

[kfzhu1229]

There's a company called Unicomp (https://www.pckeyboard.com/page/SFNT) that produces the old IBM-style buckling spring keyboards, but I suspect that's fairly well known around here.

The other thing about moving to a desktop is that it might limit your screen time a bit, which is a good thing, I think.

Well I believe everyone that loves model M keyboard knows about Unicomp. Whether they like Unicomp's revival of the Model M lineup it's up to the individuals really.

You often get more of everything for your money with a desktop, your choice of monitors, and there's a world of keyboards to choose from.

Well you just get more freedom to choose from in terms of parts really. If you want a 4:3 screen, you can easily hook up a modern desktop to a 4:3 Dell Ultrasharp monitor or even a viewsonic or Trinitron CRT. While on a laptop you gotta shout out an extra $100-200 of money just to get a T61 frankenpad over something like a highly specced T500 or Latitude E6500, unless you are into the 51nb custom made motherboards.

[ajkula66]

If you want a 4:3 screen, you can easily hook up a modern desktop to a 4:3 Dell Ultrasharp monitor or even a viewsonic or Trinitron CRT.

Colour me ignorant, but only recently did I find out that Eizo offers a 1:1 1920x1920 IPS monitor. That just might be what I've always been looking for, although I'd have to see one in person before parting with $1500 which is the going rate for that baby...

[Omineca]

I'd have to see one in person before parting with $1500 which is the going rate for that baby...

Definitely. That's significant money.

Knowing that an entire year of working from home was upon me, I bought an LG 29.5 ultra-wide monitor in the summer. CAD $300. With shortcut key window-snapping (Win+arrow keys), it's easy to get two squarish (7:6) windows side by side.

[RealBlackStuff]

I'm still regretting that I sold my Northgate Omnikey/102 keyboard about 10 years ago.


I had it for about 20 years and AFAIK I sold it for more than what I paid for it when new!
The only reason to sell it was, that all newer keyboards had their F-keys on top rather than on the left.
I especially liked its large Enter key.

No Thinkpad keyboard has come anywhere near its quality, although the T43 NMB was a close contender.

[dr_st]

I especially liked its large Enter key.

This is my favorite layout as well. Both Enter and Backspace are big, and the slash key conveniently takes a chunk out of the right Shift key, which is still plenty big enough. I find this layout the best of all by far, but it is not standard, which means keyboards using it are rather rare.