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back to article Lenovo spits out retro ThinkPads for iconic laptop's 25th birthday

After teasing techies for months, Lenovo has finally unveiled the ThinkPad 25: a laptop designed to mimic the look and feel of the legendary IBM ThinkPad but with all modern components. This 336.6 mm x 232.5 mm x 19.95 mm ThinkPad 25 has the seven-row keyboard beloved by ThinkPad devotees but which Lenovo dumped in 2011, the …

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    1. fobobob
      Reply Icon

      Re: Wouldn't a drive-locking accelerometer be problematic in space?

      It would need to be reprogrammed, of course, but an SSD might be a more sensible cure, methinks. I do not, however, know what ill effects SSDs might encounter with increased radiation exposure, as hard disk media seems less likely to be impacted.

      1 1 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Informal

    Yes, a female friend usually preferred the "informal" name for the Trackpoint mouse, and I suggested that was the reason she liked using it so much (my Micron laptop at the time had both trackpoint and touchpad).

    0 1 Reply
  3. Matt_payne666

    I dont see the appeal...

    I have a T450, I think - 15" sandybridge i7 with 8GB RAM its big... aesthetically and physically... yes its got the silly think light... but nothing to write home about...

    then earlier this year I have a X260 to replace it with - 7th Gen i7, 16GB RAM and a 500GB SSD... considering how small it is, its big!

    I do concede, the keyboard is good... but I just cant see how people get all wet over them!

    0 1 Reply
    1. jrd
      Reply Icon

      Re: I dont see the appeal...

      Here's what I like about the business-class Thinkpads:

      Keyboards are generally very good

      Machines are usually easy to service, and upgrade

      Good documentation available and easy to get parts for

      Usually, Trackpoint and trackpad and decent buttons

      Big user base means pretty likely to find a solution to any problem you encounter

      Robust, reliable, well built and last a long time

      Usually reasonable selection of ports

      No one thing makes me think I must buy a Thinkpad but whenever I look at the alternatives, they always seem to be missing features I want, even if they have better screens, higher performance and less weight.

      1 0 Reply
  4. billdehaan

    Everything old is new again

    Blackberry is back again.

    There are new Nokia phones coming out.

    The Palm name is being revived for PDAs.

    Even a new Psion Revo was recently announced.

    I'm surprised there's no 25th anniversary Sony MiniDisc player yet.

    I'm getting nostalgic for the good old days when I wasn't nostalgic all the time...

    2 1 Reply
  5. JulieM Silver badge
    Pint

    I love mine

    The Thinkpad is basically an industrial tool. It is designed to do a job of work, and to do it well. Not like some of the crappy computers you see out there; which seem to be designed to look as though they were designed to do a job, by someone whose actual experience of that job goes no further than "seen it being done, thought the tools were ugly".

    My own Thinkpad -- an Edge 15; now running Xenial Xerus, having been upgraded a few times from Oneiric Ocelot -- has been flung around in a rucksack on buses and trains, sat on by cats and even opened too close to a candle (evidenced by just a slight smooth spot in the otherwise rough texture). And yes, I'm fully aware that by many standards it's hardly a "real" Thinkpad! But the HDD is being a bit slow, after one drop too many; and I'm now torn between buying myself a whole new Thinkpad that might not be as good as this one, or spending rather less on an SSD (more drop-proof, as well as faster) and a pair of 4GB SODIMMS (it has two 2GB ones in it) just to see if I can get another 5 years out of this one.

    Icon: Another case of one drop too many .....

    1 1 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I love mine

      I went the SSD route on my T61p a couple of years ago, and haven't looked back.

      3 1 Reply
  6. Steve Evans

    No Thinklight?!

    *wails*

    3 1 Reply
  7. gharris999

    The display is still 16x9 which makes this ThinkPad 25 nothing but a disappointment. How about a PROPER reto laptop with a display aspect ratio that allows actual work to be done?

    3 1 Reply
  8. Concrete Gannet
    Boffin

    How to fit old keyboard in newer Thinkpad

    People have worked on retrofitting the old seven-row keyboard in newer Thinkpads:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzmm87oVQ6c

    http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Install_Classic_Keyboard_on_xx30_Series_ThinkPads

    1 0 Reply
  9. Concrete Gannet
    Thumb Down

    Why oh why only 1080 ?

    All other specs for computers advance over time. Why are we so locked into 1920x1080 for screen res? I understand it would cost more, but I for one would be willing to pay a premium. Everything else about the Thinkpad 25 is fine, but that screen res is a dealbreaker.

    3 0 Reply
    1. fobobob
      Reply Icon

      Re: Why oh why only 1080 ?

      I have a strong preference to 16:10 screens, and a 1920x1200 screen is really all it takes to appease me. I'll even take two discolored, dim 1280x1024 monitors turned sideways and live with the bezels, if given the opportunity. I especially dislike working with 1080p content on 1080p screens... that extra 120 pixels of height for WUXGA make it seem absolutely massive by comparison, the benefits far exceeding the slightly over 10% gain in total pixels. There have been many times when I have taken work home with me just so I can use my own screen, as my company has been a bit slow in upgrading monitors to suit our current product.

      3 0 Reply
  10. Allonymous Coward

    Still running my T500 here

    I bought it second hand seven or eight years ago. Since then it's had two new SSDs (first a speed upgrade, second for capacity), more RAM, and three new power supplies when the cables give up. Surprisingly still the same battery though - I don't use it on batteries a lot.

    Running Ubuntu MATE. Fan sounds a bit like a chainsaw these days but other than that the darn thing just won't die. And much as I'd like to I can't really justify buying a new one until it does.

    Side note: I particularly like the T5xx-series as a compromise between full-size machines and portables. Nice big screens and keyboards. My work-supplied T440 is nowhere near as nice, though that may also be because the T440 is the worst ThinkPad ever made.

    1 0 Reply
  11. Z Ippy

    One Work T420 has outlasted Three Personal Dells!

    It is now over 5 years old (an i5) and is still ok, having been upgraded in 2016 to Windows 7. I have had to change the battery once.

    In that time, I have had 3 Dells for personal use, they have all had problems, which effectively wrote the machines off, mainly to do with the power socket failing and requiring a solder or new motherboard and this includes an XPS model which died 1 month after the 3 year extended warranty expired. The other two were Inspirons.

    Not going to buy a Dell ever. Would consider a ThinkPad for personal use, but as they are expensive, I might have to go for a re-conditioned one.

    0 1 Reply
  12. Richard Neill

    Still a shortscreen though

    Nice to get the keyboard back. But I'd still pay double for a machine with a full height 16x12 screen rather than the 16x9 that this one has ... and it's not even a retina display like the X1 carbon.

    3 0 Reply
  13. Schultz
    Stop

    ThinkPad 25 has the seven-row keyboard, the familiar nipple mouse and a special logo and design ...

    So that's one hit in 4 tries.

    I want the trackpoint but I don't care about the logo or the design - and I learned to like the chiclet keyboard. What I want instead is a good screen (my ancient netbook outshines every Xnnn Thinkpad screen by miles). And make them robust again. The Lenovos look similar to the old Thinkpads, but they are much much easier to break. It took a good tumble with the bike to crack a corner of the old X40. The newer ones damage so easily that every year-old model seems to be missing a corner.

    1 0 Reply
  14. Matthew Collier
    FAIL

    Funny (but sad) review...

    This:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxQGhqF60zE

    His presenting style cracks me up (lots of swearing (but it's funny)), but he's accurate in his condemnation of this new Thinkpad.

    As he says, check out the 1080p 16x9 screen :( and the crappy U CPU (check out the CPU Benchmark score, it's pretty shocking!)

    And again, as people have said, no proper indicator lights, no hardware buttons etc.

    Such a missed opportunity. I was waiting to see the specs, I've decided to buy an old (2011) W520 and upgrade that for relative peanuts in cost (and will run a modern linux pretty damn quick (don't need any games)). I really like the old keyboards, this is the newest old Thinkpad with a reasonable sized screen that you can buy, sadly... :(

    (I bought a fairly recent E550 too, but it's crap compared to the "proper" Thinkpads... :( )

    Probably going to have to spend some serious money next time to get a decent keyboard (via a "gaming" laptop).

    1 0 Reply

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