[ltp] Why do you love your ThinkPad?

[Michelle Klein-Hass]

On Monday 06 June 2005 09:35 pm, Paul Cuciureanu wrote:
>  .. let's assume for a second, each of us is one of those people that keep
> ranting on forever about their computers, etc..
>
> Why do you Love your ThinkPad?

OK, let me count the ways.

1.) ThinkPads are *built*. Aside from Apple laptops, IBM laptops (and by that 
I mean *true* IBM, not Acer-built crap with an IBM badge slapped on) are the 
best built, most intelligently designed laptops on the planet. Solid as a 
rock, built to last. If I hadn't sent my 365x off to live with a friend in 
the UK I'd probably still be playing around with it now. It would probably be 
running Debian in console mode, but it would still get some use.

2.) ThinkPads are intelligently designed. Look at the average ThinkPad. Then 
look at the average product of any other manufacturer of x86 laptops. The 
ThinkPad suddenly begins to look like a classic, while the other stuff looks 
chintzy. Think Jaguar XKE or Mercedes Gull Wing compared to a Chevy Pinto, or 
compared to a Honda with the decals, the small wheels, the coffee-can 
muffler, the lowered chassis and candy-apple red paint. 

3.) I rarely see people toting around 5-year-old Dell laptops. They are 
usually goners after 2-3 years of beating on them and lucky if they make it 
that far. However, go to a Linux convention and you will see a parade of 
vintage ThinkPads.

4.) ThinkPads are the best documented laptops in the world, at least until 
Lenovo took them over. I don't know what will happen next to that wonderful 
knowledge base on the IBM site. Somehow I doubt it will be maintained by 
bottom-line conscious Chinese execs.

5.) No laptop does Linux better. And the community surrounding Linux on 
ThinkPad is magnificent. It's only getting better as resources like ThinkWiki 
grow and grow and grow.

I love my ThinkPad. Hopefully I'll be able to afford a pre-Lenovo Pentium M 
ThinkPad in a couple more years. Then again, Apple's announcement of Macs 
with Intel Inside (R) makes the future look pretty wild. MacOS X, x86 Linux 
and Windows on the same laptop? Sounds like heaven to me. Where do I sign 
up???? ^_^
-- 
Michelle Klein-Hass
Box 2273, Van Nuys, CA 91404-2273
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