[shrek]

Anyone have one? Do you prefer the older or newer ones? What software do they run?

I have the following models: R60, T400, X230, T430, X61s, and X280. I like the older keyboards a bit better. The T400 had Libreboot installed but I have switched over to Coreboot. The X230 also uses Coreboot and has had the Intel ME stripped with me_cleaner (https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner). The X61s has the Middleton BIOS flashed for SATA2 and WLAN card whitelist removal. I run a variety of operating systems on them ranging from Devuan and OpenIndiana to OS X.

[Trippynet]

I have two. An X201 which is my favourite Thinkpad as it has a 16:10 display, classic keyboard, decent trackpad, plus all the Thinklight and other goodies, plus it has a Core i5, SSD and 8GB of RAM, so with a replacement battery it's still a capable machine even today.

I also have an X1 Carbon that I liberated from the trash at work (an older one). These days it has often become my laptop of choice for travelling - simply because it is a lot lighter than my X201, although the battery life on it isn't great these days (maybe about 2 hours).

[commodorejohn]

Running a T410 as my daily driver, was using an X201 before that. As Trippynet says, a proper keyboard and a display that isn't 16:9 make all the difference.

Whatever happened to that Lenovo survey from a few years back where they were hearing from all us cranks who value usability over trendiness?

[Trippynet]

Whatever happened to that Lenovo survey from a few years back where they were hearing from all us cranks who value usability over trendiness?

I remember that, it was for the "anniversary edition" ThinkPad they were considering. In the end, it was a massive disappointment. Despite loads of people voting for the classic keyboard, 16:10 or 3:2 display, trackpad with buttons, return of the status LEDs and all the rest of it, the final product was nothing more than a souped up T450 with the classic keyboard. Still had a 16:9 display, no trackpad buttons, no status LEDs, no ThinkLight. Keyboard aside, it was a massive, massive let down. And a pity too as I was really looking forward to it until they revealed the finished and watered-down turd that it was.

[commodorejohn]

Gahhh.

[shrek]

I agree that anniversary edition ThinkPads were a huge disappointment. One of the biggest (if not the single biggest) reasons for people using 10-15 year old ThinkPads with terribly outdated internals is because of the 4:3 aspect ratio of the screens. The extra vertical space makes them excellent for working with spreadsheets, documents, for programming, and for a lot of other work related tasks. 16:9 is simply awful and makes even basic web browsing extremely painful because all the content is smashed down into one thin little strip. 1366x768 and 1920x1080 displays have become standard and even the less tech savvy people that I know all hate them. There's so much wasted space with these more modern aspect ratios.

[Trippynet]

Agreed. I recently bought my wife a Huawei Matebook X Pro - primary reason was the 3:2 display. Unfortunately it's glossy, but with a decent matte screen protector added, that issue is mostly fixed. Meanwhile my work laptop is an HP Elitebook 830 lightweight. Compared to my wife's laptop, they've very similar in terms of dimensions, but the striking thing you notice when you compare them is the gigantic 3cm bezel at the top and bottom of the HP laptop's screen. On my wife's laptop, all that space is just extra screen instead of unusable black plastic. The difference is frankly staggering.