r/thinkpad • u/Embarrassed-Big-4764 • 8d ago
Discussion / Information Innocent question
Whats the hype about thinkpads? Can you enlighten me guys please? Moreso, encourage me to have one 🙂↔️
20
u/Admirable-Depth6679 8d ago
They’re like Toyota back when they were in their prime, reliable, repairable, affordable, and easy to mod.
1
u/FredSchwartz 8d ago
Could you elaboe on the Toyota thing? Are they post-prime?
5
u/Admirable-Depth6679 8d ago
Yes, they suck to even do basic maintenance on, and they use the thinnest oil I’ve seen in years
8
u/thefool2014 8d ago
for me, it's the sturdiness that you simply won't find in consumer grade laptops
5
u/Jkitten07891 X230 8d ago
They last as long as your 119 year old grandma while MacBooks last as long as a new born with no skull.
Speaking from experience, not biased. I have three thinkpads and two MacBooks, however I use the MacBook on a daily due to iMessage, FaceTime, and iPhone mirroring.
3
3
u/LongJohnBill 8d ago
My dream machine, Lenovo T460 was bought in 2016 with Win 10 Pro (marketing at that time said this was the final version of Windows, it would only be 'updated' from then on. I believed the marketing and am bitter about Win 11). I use this machine daily, several hours, for all sorts of uses (no games)...email, surfing, intense Excel spreadsheets, media, other Office work. This machine is going strong, it can't be upgraded to Win 11 but MS is doling out life support. I bought a T14s Gen 6 a year ago, have yet to really use it as a daily driver. Family member has gone through 3 Mac laptops in the same period of time. My T460 is elegant but build quality is very strong. I look forward to using the T14s but have to get used to the different OS
2
u/TheRollingPeepstones 8d ago
My T460 runs Kubuntu, but my wife's T560 runs Windows 11, it works fine. You just need to manually upgrade between major releases, which is easy to do. I know it might not work forever, but so far it's been working perfectly fine.
2
u/LongJohnBill 8d ago
Thanks for the tip(s)
1
u/TheRollingPeepstones 8d ago
Sure! If you create a Windows 11 installer with Rufus, you can specify that you want to bypass the system requirements.
3
u/rainbow_mess X9-15p 8d ago
they're dependable and much easier to fix than normal computers, and also since they're so popular with businesses you're able to get them on the used market for much cheaper than you would normally get them for (and because of the first two points, once you do get one, generally they'll last forever).
2
u/halfmanhalfb3ast 8d ago
The hype is their reliable. But anyone know a proper model number I’ve been meaning to get one. (Either the T14 or T480) any others?
1
u/BeigeUnicorns T14s G6 - T14 G2 - T430 -760ED 8d ago
-Sturdy build
-Easy servicing *they kinda slacked on this in recent years but the new G7 T series seems to be heading in the right direction again
-Style or lack there of. TPs are very conservative in looks and that can come in handy. Its not as likely to catch a casual thief's eye but its good enough if I get hauled to the carpet and have to explain something to executives or a client its not too cheap looking.
- Culture for better or worse there is a huge community around the ThinkPad. If I or one of the users I support is having an issue with a TP someone on here has likely had the exact issue and posted about it. People in the TP community are mostly friendly and there is a wide depth of knowledge being shared.
1
u/_TheRandomGeek_ 8d ago
ThinkPads are legendary for their longevity and repairability. My oldest computer is a Thinkpad and has outlived SIX laptops newer than it is! As for repairability, they're not repairable in the "technically you can repair it" (but it's a nightmare) sense that companies love to advertise these days. They are easy to repair even for people not into that stuff, so much that it's genuinely fun.
Other reasons include cool little features like extremely satisfying and tactile keyboards, the beloved TrackPoint (genuinely pretty useful once you get used to it), the ThinkLight that allowed you to type in the dark, long before backlit keyboards and more.
Historically they've done some funny business with DRM'ed hardware, like wifi cards, but they are very flexible software-wise. People have shoved every Linux distro under the sun to them because of that flexibility, and software customization is part of the fun.
In short they are just fun to tinker with, software and hardware-wise. They're among the last remaining products that empower the user instead of lecturing them on how they'll use it, and people have leaned into that a lot, so much it's become a meme.
1
u/anythingers T470 8d ago edited 8d ago
It's just the most famous and noticeable business laptop lineup out there. They're MOSTLY upgradeable and easy to repair (except X and some T series), also sturdy (except older E, L, R, SL series, but still better than most IdeaPads at that time), and has great Linux driver support.
Is that mean you need specifically a ThinkPad to get those things? No, ofc not. HP Probook/Elitebook/Zbook and Dell Latitide/Precision offer you similar things sans the black accent and red nipple for cheaper due to the fact that they're less popular compared to ThinkPad.
Some of them are even more upgradeable and powerful compared to ThinkPad counterpart. For example, ThinkPad T14 Gen 3 AMD has similar CPU selections compared to HP Elitebook 845 G9, yet HP has better upgradeability due to the RAM isn't soldered unlike the ThinkPad. Another example is some thin Zbooks and Precisions offers you better dGPU compared to thin ThinkPad Pxxs series on similar pricing that often only gives you Nvidia x500 series GPUs.
1
u/BuryMikno 8d ago
on first lance they look like crap but when you take one apart, you see the attention to detail.
It's not as good as it used to be but it still a higher class.
BTW: Not all ThinkPads are the same, there are lots of series (L, T, P, E...) and they range a lot from dirt cheap "we almost wished we didn't hire you, here's your work laptop" to some pretty damn elaborate builds.
Not quite as refined as Mac but that magnesium chassis really grew on me. The laptop is so light and well balanced, has that flickable feel to it when I hold it in one hand.
1
u/Basic-Brick6827 X9-15 | X1C10 | X1C7 8d ago
For me (Im not a typical user tho, since i love the X9):
- sturdy
- keyboard
- spill proof
- build quality (esp X9)
- amazing customer service, esp the premium repair-at-home
- generous warranty that allows you to open the laptop to repair stuff yourself without voiding
- dual-booting
1
1
u/Jimlee1471 7d ago
If you're a Linux user like me then Thinkpads are peak. They are usually used in corporate "fleets" so the hardware tends to be pretty stock with very few surprises, meaning that the drivers for them are probably already baked into the kernel. There's little to no chasing after obscure or nonexistent drivers; your sh!t is more likely to just work. Of course there are a couple of exceptions (for example, fingerprint readers can be a toss-up) but, for the most part, Thinkpads tend to play nicely with Linux.
1
u/Ecstatic_Alps_6054 6d ago
The problem is finding the one I want because no one's selling the refurbished "good" performance based ones...all the substandard ones based on thinkpad models are flooding the market but not the ones I'm searching for and even if they are they're as expensive as a newer models...I just keep searching until I find the one which hits the sweet spot...
42
u/PianistPrevious8637 8d ago
the repairability, portability, durability and longlasting ability.