IBM ThinkPad celebrates 15th birthday
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 19th 2007 1:42PM
posted Jul 19th 2007 1:42PM
If you were looking for any reason whatsoever to hop into a celebratory mood, why not join IBM (or would it be Lenovo these days?) in celebrating the 15th birthday of the ThinkPad. Of course, tech historians are likely to bicker over the ThinkPad's true day of emergence, but reportedly, the IBM 2521 (later renamed the 700T) ThinkPad holds the honors of being the first of its kind to ship in July of 1992. Interestingly enough, one could argue that this very machine was actually more akin to a tablet PC than a bonafide laptop, but it proudly donned the ThinkPad logo nevertheless. So, ThinkPad owners, today's your day to gift that oh-so-industrious machine of yours with a few extra moments of rest, but before you do, why not let us know what model you're partying with if you're in the club?[Via jkOnThRun]
X41 Tablet baby, I guess a distant relative...
Woot! T60p Widescreen!
701cs, 390e, 570e, and T40;
happy 15th thinkpad!!!!!
15" T42p & 14.1" T43p
I would have had an X61 right now, but ever since IBM went Lenovo, I ditched it for a Gateway E295.
What a moron. Go from the best laptop in the industry to the second worst. Good job.
R51
R51
I'm keepin' it real with my T30. Still going strong after 4 years.
R31, baby, kickin' it old school. Bought a T60p this summer but returned it because Vista blew chunks. Plus, now that they got rid of the classic multicolor IBM logo, there's no point in owning a new one.
T61, 2.2 Ghz centrino core 2 duo pro, 14.1 " widescreen, 2 GB ram, vista ultimate, nvidia quadro nvs 140M
first thinkpad, for college. happy bday baby
happy birthday, ThinkPad!!! (I'm writing this on my T61 - 14.1" WXGA+, X3100 graphics, winxp)
Also a high school graduation gift. ;)
Typing from a R50e at work (missing certain other "white" laptop at home :P ).
The good: very rugged, solid feel
The bad: ugly, battery life of 2 hours :(
T42. It turns 3 next month... =)
X22 here - 256MB RAM, 800MHz processor, no optical or floppy drives. Running Debian and still going strong!
I love ThinkPads... ;)
My first laptop was a ThinkPad.
T60 with Intel Core 2 Duo and 2GB RAM
T43 and T21 - best, most durable laptops I've ever used. I've been tempted by MacBooks, but nothing feels like a T-series. And I freakin' HATE touchpads...the TrackPoint FTW.
T42p 2373-Q1U
Awesome machine. I've had it for 2.5 years, was about to get an XPS (10 pounder, yuck!)
Oh, I also have two x30s. Both work great after 4+ years.
I have an R40 and a T60. Mmmm.
755 x21 and x60t
I'm on my third: 755c -> 600x -> T42
I have loved every one, but the 600x was so much better built than the T42 and the newer ones that it still makes me a bit sad. The 600x is still going strong, too.
600x -> T40 -> hopefully T60P
IBM T41p
My best laptop without a doubt ... 3 years after buying it, it still looks brand new ...
T30 - strong after 4 years
ThinkPads rock!
Thinkpad 570e
Maxxed out to 320MB RAM, 453MHZ P3 Coppermine, WIFI G, 2.5MB NeoMagic Video
Installed Debian Etch with Gnome. Much better than Ubuntu. Works better in Linux than in Windows, minus hot-mount/unmount of the dock.
IBM T41p
My best laptop without a doubt ... 3 years after buying it, it still looks brand new ...
T40, and now a new X60. The T40 still works great after 4.5 years.
BTW: these are Thinkpads we are celebrating, so allow me to party by firing up another spreadsheet.
All our company buys are Thinkpads ... good machines. I hope lenovo keeps the quality going .. and Congrats Thinkpad!
X40 "ebay special." 3+ lb laptop.
awesome stuff... T42 here!!! happy birthday baby!! :D
Former T42p (2373-GVU) user
Currently rocking the T60 (2007-C4U), last Thinkpad with the colorful IBM logo on it!
Both excellent machines, although my current T60 is nearly crippled with all the SMS shit IT put on it...
Watch them pull a Dell and kill off the line on it's birthday...
X24. it is a good little machine.
T43, got it from work. Piece of junk, so incredibly slow.
My long history with ThinkPads:
700c, 750c, 701CS (remember the 'butterfly' keyboard?), 755CV, 760E, , T20, T22, T30, T40, T42, and now, a T61. ThinkPads have always had the best keyboards, period.
Started with a 600E; Saved my arse when I feel off my skateboard at 30mph, literally... my butt fell on it and it only cracked the case and crashed the HD (was running because I was listening to mp3s on it at the time). New HD and it ran like a champ until I got a T42. Then a T43 (good enough graphics to do moderate gaming on) and now I'm on a DualCore T60. Someday I'll get a T61, whenever we get our shipment...
But yeah, Thinkpads aren't the prettiest or lightest, but they get the job done and stand up to a lot of abuse!
There's something especially cool about riding a board using a ThinkPad as an mp3 player!
X21 in the past......T61 now.....
TP ROX
X60 Tablet high-res version...woot! love it
T42 from work when I was with IBM last year. Just got a T61 widescreen to replace my broken VAIO.
FYI...my T61 came with the multi-color IBM logo like Thinkpads of yore, I think cuz it came from IBM's employee purchase plan :)
Weeeeeeee
R51e dude ^^
Sporting the T30...crashes windows non-stop but runs ubuntu flawlessly...who knew?
A30, still rock solid 4 years on...
I'm using my G40 workhorse. It's been through a lot and keeps on ticking!
Using X40 for 2 years now... n still up and running fine.. and Dad using X41t...
Happy Birthday IBM Thinkpad!!!
Happy User,
Syafiq
560 > T23 > X20 >R51
LENOVO
X41 tablet, just got here used a few months back, best $300 I've ever spent, much better then my old ECS G731e, much liter and a way better battery life.
The thing I wish is that they had a way to both middle click and still have scroll, maybe tap to click and hold to scroll or something. Or to set press to select to middle click
The only other issue I've had is probably just my machine, but the wireless doesn't seem to stay connect, it will randomly disconnect for a very short period of time, I wouldn't even have noticed if it wasn't for google talk sending my status message to people seemingly randomly and the "network connected" bubble popping up constantly. It also breaks downloads, it's pretty annoying but most of the time I'm just programming on here or reading news so it isn't bad.
I've got a new T61 with a 2.0 ghz C2D, 4gb ram and a nVidia NVS140m. It's my first ThinkPad (and first laptop) and so far it's been great.
T21, a brave little knight.
I've got an T43, work @ IBM.
701cs.. w/ that HUGE old dock, that was 400 times bigger than my tiny little 701.
also a 390e, great work horse back in the day.
to this day, i can't STAND the touchpads on most laptops.
I've still got an IBM Thinkpad 750p that ran pen windows. I think I bought it sometime in 1992 or 1993.
I've not tried to do anything with it in the past few years, so don't know if it would still work.
My T61 came with the classic red-green-blue IBM logo on it too. I'm no employee, but I do remember making a special request.... I think...
I currently have a T42, just bought used from IBM. Only laptops I've ever spent my own money on were ThinkPads except my first NCR Safari.
755CE
560E
770ED
380D
240x (only one bought new)
Borrowed T30
T42
Every time I think I want another brand, I keep going back to ThinkPads.
z60t FTW!
X41 Tablet rocking OS X 10.4.8 and loving every moment of it.
i gots me a good ol 600e, dual booting 2k and 98se the two best windows OSs of all time!
My work has bestowed upon me a trusty T60 (no widescreen for me)...it is still a pretty decent beast for my work use and the battery life is awesome!
Wow, I had a 700, T20, T22, T30, T40, T42 and now an X40 - getting ready to get an X60 soon. Each one has gotten better.
X60 - sinful, finger-rockin tablet!
T41p currently
I love thinkpads...especially b/c of the eraser mouse thingy they have in between the keys so I don't have to move my hands while switching between typing and mouse movements. It's actually the #1 reason I choose thinkpads.
240x 450mhz Celeron...heh, thing won't die no matter how much I try to abuse it, dual boots xp and xubuntu
T60p - loaded, rugged and fast! The last with the multicolored IBM loglo. Replaced my dearly departed (not as rugged) T41p which replaced my aged but indestructible 600. C'mon Lenovo, don't let us down.
Sadly the only thinkpad I own is a 390e that I for for like $70 over a year ago. I don't use it for much at the moment, but it's destined to be a digital picture frame.
600 and X22. Both working well, but could use a little more processing power.
T30, T43p, and a T60. still among the best laptops that money can buy, lenovo or not.
Mine is a Thinkpad A22p running Debian Linux, that is 7 or 8 years old. I've replaced the hard drive, and that is the only thing that has ever gone wrong with this machine. Thinkpads are bulletproof!
t43p yea lets see if it behaves in its terrible 2s or if it goes to the compy ER yet again, its tough and portable, but windows is not tough enough...
Happy Birthday ThinkPad. My first ever laptop was a 560x, one of the slimmest laptops I have ever seen.
I read Engadget every day with my T23 which I LOVE. When I set it down on a table I'm always mystified with how beautiful and professional it looks, not cheep and toyish like some Dell Inspiron...
It may be the age of the machine (6 years now) but I've found my beautiful laptop to be less and less reliable. Although, having replaced a hard drive and a system board, I can say that ThinkPads are some of the easiest laptops to service.
Happy Birthday to the ThinkPad, I hope your strong, classic styles continue. Maybe tonight I'll let my T23 sleep...
I just got a new R61 BUT it crashes all the time, I'm thinking about calling them up and finding out what is going on. We had a 755c back in the DAY, but went with Dell for the last 8 or 9 years....
X61 Tablet rocking the classic IBM Logo!
T42 15.1" WXGA 1.8 Ghz 2GB ram 60GB 7200RPM
T40 14.1" WXGA 1.6 Ghz 1GB ram 80GB - 7+ hours battery life on day 1
T21 (mostly retired), T60p (faithful workhorse)
Very happy with a T22 running Ubuntu/Win2000 and T30 running XP Pro. Lost one motherboard, one harddrive and one powersupply over 8 years which I consider very acceptable for a primary machine.
Intermittent wireless networking issues can often be traced to a loose antenna connection.
X61 Tablet for Virginia Tech engineering.
ThinkPad X30. It's 4 years old, but still works like new. It looks almost like new, too.
I guess it's pretty difficult to find such a robust machine nowadays.
I love my IBM x40. It comes everywhere with me and works like a charm (and it still turns heads despite being 3 years old).
Happy Birthday!
600X, T21, T23, T40, T43, X60 :)
T43, free courtesy of my employers...a little company known as IBM :D nice to feel the love
Happy b-day TP!
600
T20 (still humming (sort of) @ 7 yrs old!)
Z61t
On a T60 now (a week old). Love the Thinkpad line! I've owned them all the way back to 360c (Yeah, that was a 386!). Great machines! This is my first 'Lenovo' variant though, we'll see how it rolls with my punches. :)
Good (old) T43p, best Lappie around!
Would love to have the choice of working OSX on it! Would be perfect!!
OSX with TrackPoint, Dockingstation... a dream!
Nilz (Munich, Germany)
A31p and X31. Typing from X31 now.
Thinkpad Z61p :P Yes, I'm a freak.
I started life long ago with the butterfly keyboard IBM 701! Eventually, I upgraded to a 560, the first ultralight thin Thinkpad. I took that to Antarctica on research. It was BENT as checked luggage, with pieces broken off, and I when I pressed the power button it kicked on and ran perfect. Since then I have purchased nothing but IBM Thinkpads. I am now on the X61 Tablet PC, the first true all Lenovo machine. Sadly, it has been in repair for the same failure three times already. I am not sure they are as robust now as they once were. My eyes are open for a new laptop manufacturer that puts prioritizes testicles over fancy shiny stuff.
Better late than never, T42p.
15" SXGA+ Core Duo Thinkpad T60p, baby. Haven't used anything but Thinkpads and likely never will. ;)
Happy Anniversary!