A Very Brief History Of The ThinkPad Laptop

We take a walk through two decades of ThinkPad history. This living museum was assembled for a recent event at New York's Museum of Modern Art celebrating ThinkPad's 20th Anniversary. Learn more: www.lenovo.com

[@Edmundostudios]

that butterfly keyboard is pretty slick.

[@ejpmonline]

Wow! 😱 Older thinkpads looks like alienwares and the butterfly keyboard is rad.

[@apfanco]

Kinda sad that they skipped the 755CD, The first laptop with an intergrated CD-ROM drive, that was really good for multimedia back in 1994.

[@SebisRandomTech]

I really want a new ThinkPad with all of today's specs....but the lack of a good keyboard and lower build quality of the newer ones is turning me away from buying one.

[@user-xv6mp1lq8l]

the T460 is really cool

[@DoogieLabs]

I have owned close to 20 ThinkPads in my life, I am currently using a T400. When it dies, sadly, my next laptop will be a Dell. A Thinkpad 755CD sits here on my desk running with Windows 3.11, it is connected to the freenode IRC network. I seriously miss that keyboard feel on a modern laptop. I hate touch pads, hate is a strong word and I wholeheartedly mean it. I can actually use the trackpoint while riding in a car, or standing on a train. Gone are the days of bold innovation, and no compromises policy on certain aspects of a machine. Now it's all about the bottom line. Companies used to not mind barely breaking even or even taking a hit on a product that jumped curves because of the excitement it generates for the brand. If you would stop butchering the Thinkpad, at least just one of them, there will be a whole new generation of naive people that will fall for buying your other stuff as well, even if it is crap. Your IBM Gravy train has derailed, and just like a night after hookers and blow you'll awaken to a headache with the stench of sweat and shame. You have nobody to blame but yourselves levono, and we're all very disappointed in you.

[@joko49perez]

just wait till octuber

[@Armadurapersonal]

Look into 51nb modded Thinkpads. They have made replacement motherboard for classic Thinkpads with modern specs. Like the X210, X62, etc.

[@143mailliw]

@@DoogieLabs If you ever need a new laptop, after your t400 dies, you could get a t420 or a t430 and replace the keyboard with a t420 keyboard

[@macroecon]

As everyone has already said, that butterfly keyboard is just pure magic. Would love to see one as a keyboard dock paired up with the new Lenovo 10.1" tablets, I think it definitely provide the ultimate typing experience in that compact form factor.

[@MrCrrispy]

Hehe, got my Thinkpad 700 back in 1992. 640x480 TFT display, was amazing compared to all those LCD's with awfully slow display updates.

[@JackBandicootsBunker]

Owner of an x60 Tablet. One of the last IBM ThinkPad models made while Lenovo was getting all the operations transferred from Big Blue after the buyout. I felt INSULTED by the Customer Service not being quite supportive of the fault I have with my tablet, and more so by looking at the current line-up model I'm using at work (L440). Lenovo has ruined the experience of the ThinkPad by trying to make it the MacBookPro of the Wintel ecosystem. You have the YOGA, the IdeaPads, why ruin the ThinkPads?

[@ericb7937]

They still look good today. Nice classic design!

[@Lenovo]

❤️❤️❤️

[@UglyMotherfucker114]

I'd love to see like a 20 year anniversary thinkpad (or maybe 25 year since the 20th anniversary is already over) with a rerelease of the original Thinkpad design (or maybe the butterfly since it's the coolest notebook ever), but with todays internal hardware

[@johnsmithers284]

Georg Plank Well you got your wish

[@gunner75171]

Even got a 30th anniversary Thinkpad.

[@Pasi123]

@@gunner75171 Sadly the 30th anniversary ThinkPad doesn't have the 7-row keyboard. It's just a X1 Carbon G10 with some cosmetic modifications

[@sphomerun]

Just curious why Lenovo is celebrating the ThinkPad 20th anniversary in 2012? One of our co-founders was actually working for IBM with NDD/higher ed and remembers marketing IBM ThinkPad laptops on U.S. college campuses as early as Spring 1991 with Windows 3.0 and Word for Windows (and dot matrix printers).

[@ralimba1778]

Now that is history!

[@StarIessNight]

I remember that "butterfly" laptop... heh... I was 12 years old and geeky. I had my eyes set on it and wanted it so bad. I remember it was around 3 pm and it felt like my father agreed to get it for me (my father had always supported my in my interest in computers and technology) but that laptop was waaay to expensive at that time. Anyhow, we came across my elder uncle on that day (who was my father business partner) and he heard me speak to my father about the laptop... He didn't say much words but his reaction was enough to make my father feel crazy for intending to buy that laptop. And I never got it. LOL. To this day I still hold this against my uncle ;p well, I think three or four years later my father ended up getting me a Compaq laptop. I was designing a website for my school using flash and incorporating virtual tours (360 degrees imagery). Man i was so ahead of my time! Miss those old fun days.

[@kosztaz87]

Where is the second half of this coomment???

[@smilecome1]

Beautiful ！

[@mcmh9523]

0:18 Heh, that actually looks like a modern Lenovo ThinkPad keyboard. And that's probably why IBM ditched it in favor of the classic IBM keyboard we all know and love.

[@jak2rocks]

I love my Lenovo ThinkPad SL500. I hope to get another ThinkPad sometime soon-ish. Maybe the Carbon X1?

[@DanielDJCRO]

Look at the keyboard on the first design model - it's very similar to the chiclet keyboard design they use nowadays. IBM was really ahead of its time.

[@tubeMonger]

Great video! A late comment. I've had three Thinkpads I think the first one (for me) was from 1998. Such a great, but heavy!, little laptop. These days I use Thinkpad W520, which kinda reminds me of that 1998 one as it is a bit on the bulky side. Great computers.

[@JEBProductions2011]

Watching this on my new Thinkpad so it understands its roots.

[@SMGJohn]

i still got my IBM ThinkPad T41p

[@EcchiBANZAII-desu]

Darn. Hoped to see my IBM R40 2681cag. Remember installing those ballin' Omega ATi drivers on it. NFSU ran so much better than with stock ATi drivers.

[@240pixel]

you can't get better than that. Love original IBM also love Lenovo. Good job guys. Still have working Pentium I 75 MHz desktop PC somewhere in my attic.

[@alkalaid6850]

apple : we made the best and first butterfly keyboard IBM and Lenovo: Hold my lawsuit

[@mz-wt8gw]

2:40 my granny have it and it workshop!

[@AKAIGXF71]

Super! I like S30!

[@douro20]

I had two Thinkpad 700s once which I picked up at a yard sale, intending to get one working but I never did.

[@mansourq6512]

I am one of The ThinkPad FANs so i have ThinkPad T42,X230,T430 and X1 Carbon I love them all

[@ChuiStrong]

Wow, 1992, they were using island style chick-let keyboards.

[@eveofneverland]

Why did you stop at 2001??

[@elektron2kim666]

Some older designs could be recycled. If the case is huge then it's for batteries and some tiny ARM motherboard can run for 2 years and there is room for solar panels as well. Maybe wheels and a vacuum cleaner....

[@Align700nitro]

They skipped a lot of models. My first IBM laptop is a 365XD. After that 560, 600E, T22, T41,X61t, X200, X200s, X201, X201s. It's so sad that I decided to say Goodbye to ThinkPad and stick with my beloved X201s as long as it lasts.

[@aledoprdeleuz]

Great video, but that camera makes me feel really nauseous...

[@RavinRay]

Several years ago a surplus warehouse here in the Philippines advertised a whole batch of ThinkPad Transnotes for sale and had I the money then I would have bought one, just for collection purposes.

[@nikolaidisharalambos6396]

Can we modify the body of laptop and put inside more modern specs hardware? Such a beautiful body does not manufacture nowadays designs

[@METECH101]

I also have a photo of an IBM that I have converted to Knight Rider

[@paulgjackson]

I love my T400's, T500's and gargantuan W701

[@jackmcslay]

0:30 Chew on that, Apple!

[@Inkling777]

I am impressed. Back in the 1990s, IBM was more innovative with its Thinkpads that Apple is today with its MacBooks.

[@rarinth]

I would like the new thinkpad that flips and turn into a tablet

[@BJSteigner]

Where is this located??

[@EstCrossings]

i was wathing that on a thinkpad t60

[@2fast4uspartan]

thinkpad t420 baby!!

[@calvinpeter713]

I love Lenovo

[@slametsupriyono8051]

Looking for A31p

[@victorvalansuela2]

what is with that camera?

[@catfree]

I hate the new Thinkpad keyboards but to its credit it still feels better than regular chicklet Also I like how they used the '1992' Thinkpad keycaps

[@satriyo796]

thinkpad master race

[@martinchingy]

gotta admit, the 701C's butterfly keyboard (0:11) was really really swag. even by today's standards, hats off. perhap's with today's technology and material design, a call for reproduction of the concept?

[@kaylamitchell1982]

ThinkPad 700 Vs X1 2018 speed and durability test!

[@wolfgangem1565]

for $140 I’m buying a 12” Lenovo X201 tablet with a first-Gen Core i7 and 8gb ram and I’m going to always have the docking station attached to it so it can be thick like the old days This is what I like, or at least the closest it gets My dream laptop has all the looks and feels of a thick old 12” thinkpad with a core i7 7500U or 7700hq, 16gb DDR4, a nice 512gb SSD a GTX 1050, and maybe a 1440p screen. I would be willing to pay more than $2000 for that

[@NathanChisholm041]

I still use my X220 i7 16gb ram and it still keeps up no problems! I will always keep it as it has the best design that none off the modern ones can touch!!

[@METECH101]

Am also a laptop designer,

[@RealNightFuryX]

Thinkpads are the best!

[@rarinth]

RealNightFury me

[@benhatto]

Y U NO BE IBM??

[@thackythac]

I am more of a perfectionist I guess and what I hate the most about the new Thinkpads is that they changed the color. I don't want a grey laptop I want a black one you know like the Thinkpads used to be known for =(..

[@cmarshall1018]

I own a 750Cs it no longer works though.

[@dasturchi809]

Hello.

[@fw870]

Why ibm/lenovo drop idea of butterfly keyboard after mid of 90s? It's so unreliable?

[@vojtechhubr7385]

Displays got bigger, so there is no need.

[@rarinth]

Why the trackpad still exsists. When it will be outdated

[@latelatecheung]

I like it, if u don't like it, why don't u go to buy other lap top please. Why all people want all lap top use same thing, it make no sense

[@rarinth]

Im questioning not complaining

[@mcmh9523]

Guys, let's wait until Lenovo unveils the 25th Anniversary ThinkPad. They said that it'll have a 7-row keyboard and classic ThinkPad design elements. Let's just wait by then, and decide whether we should buy the T25, or move to something like a Dell.

[@Guyc00l]

HUGE MICROPHONE

[@aurora-10]

you guys have really gotta stop selling these things to schools…it’s ruining their rep, the thinkpad i own is worlds better than our school thinkpads and they’re practically the same i have no idea what they did to the poor things but now everyone sees a thinkpad and believes they’re much more mediocre than they actually perform

[@thackythac]

Such a wonderful brand DESTROYED by lenovo. Truly sad. Keyboard: ruined, build quality: ruined, trackpad: ruined, trackpoint: ruined, they even ruined the color for crying out loud. Now where am I supposed to get a durable BLACK laptop that runs linux well? Thanks alot Lenovo. Just look at the many reviews on here to see what I am talking about. Adaptive keyboard? I mean who thinks this crap up??? I would be getting an X1 carbon if not for that horrible keyboard not to mention I doubt it would run linux well due to the adaptive part. I had both a Dell e6430 and a Thinkpad T430 and was amazed by how much more solid the Dell felt. Though Dell uses crappy touchpads and none of them come in BLACK. Oh well you can't have everything you want I guess.

[@ithinkabout4369]

+Basil Soufi New models are black again.

[@petrosmalk3150]

2018 and Lenovo is still selling their thinkpads with shit TN LCD displays!

[@overclock1993]

you boss is always cheap.

[@aretard7995]

you want a T420, T520, W520 or T60(p)

[@mareksliwa]

Meaningless words Lenovo! You bought IBMs ThinkPad division and ruined it. Bring back usable keyboards and non 16:9 screens. Until then you're just like an other manufacturer feeding customers hype.

[@ninjablox7264]

Marek Sliwa 4:3 is useless.

[@smorrow]

1. No it isn't. 2. Maybe by non-16:9 he means 16:10 or 3:2.

[@aretard7995]

@@smorrow There is someting called 5:4, right?

[@Shaun.Stephens]

@@ninjablox7264 Not when it's 15" UXGA (1600 x 1200) IPS like my T43p it isn't.

[@user-ty1bb7fj4f]

After lenovo buy Thinkpad. Thinkpad is not thinkpad anymore. Just chinses built normal laptop

[@vojtechhubr7385]

IBM ThinkPads used to be made in China too back in the day. Besides, you can get new Lenovo ThinkPads made in Japan. At least if you order them in Japan.

[@METECH101]

I am a big Thinkpad fan, check out my ibm collection, my mission is to collect every thinkpad.

[@slametsupriyono8051]

Me too

[@silitekmodder5681]

So you know all the old ThinkPad designs and still chose to copy Apple for your new ones? Wtf?

[@alienpolygon6926]

Thinkpad lost what made it great, now it's just another macbook clone line.

[@AyhamMahmoud-lg6fp]

2024 here

[@asowers1]

You are terrifying. Just saying.

[@TheSuperPsychoKiller]

I have never heard of a Thinkpad. Maybe because i'm not a money hungry corporate slave yuppie and don't aspire to be a corporate slave owner.

[@dasturchi964]

Hello.