Just days after Lenovo Group Chief Yang Yuanqing hinted that Lenovo may be pulling out of the PC and Server markets in favor of focusing on datacenters and mobile devices, long-time Thinkpad designer and Retro Thinkpad Project Manager David Hill has announced his resignation from the company. Mr. Hill, who had been in charge of the original ThinkPad design in the early 90's and rose to the rank of Vice President of Design at Lenovo, states:
"I want to broaden my view and create the opportunity to do more in the field of design, not less."
The 25th Anniversary "Retro ThinkPad" project, which was in development for over two years and received over 13,000 responses from long-time ThinkPad fans, is still, for the time being, scheduled for an October 5th announcement. Could internal pressures to minimize costs have resulted in Mr. Hill deciding to take his name off the Retro ThinkPad project which he spearheaded for two and a half years?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @09:35AM (1 child)
If we can just gut older larger laptops and us their shells we're not far from our own modular laptops.
* The existing keyboard we like can be read using a microcrontroller http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-ThinkPad-keyboard-USB-adapter-with-Arduino/ [instructables.com] Use something like an nrf51888 and make it detachable bluetooth BLE.
* A 15.6 4k eDP screen (mostly shiny unfortunately and non-touch) can be had for $90 delivered LTN156FL02 to retrofit the original. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/15-6-inch-3840-2160-UHD-4K-LTN156FL02-LTN156FL01-LCD-Module-Panel-Repair-Diy-Kit-LED/32802234108.html/ [aliexpress.com]
* RK3399 based board (http://en.t-firefly.com/en/firenow/Firefly_RK3399/Specifications/ [t-firefly.com]) 4GB ddr (a bit low) 32GB eMMC has eDP ribbon for the internal panel, displayport and hdmi for external monitors 4k@60, usb3 that could be used for internal drives.
* plenty of space for a fixed tablet type flat battery to combine with the removable one for extra battery life and so you can swap batteries without needing to search for a power outlet.
We've been waiting for replacements for old 1920x1200 laptops for something like 10 years and when they finally get round to giving us more dots they remove half the keys, move others (and never to the place we've been remapping them for years) and go for thin over extreme battery life. I think they purposefully ship 'broken by design' products because if they actually gave us what we want we wouldn't have to by another for a decade and that's not a viable market in their eyes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @10:34AM
nrf51822 https://www.aliexpress.com/item/NRF51822-2-4G-Wireless-Module-Wireless-Communication-Module-Bluetooth-module-zigbee-module-DMX512/32726191346.html/ [aliexpress.com]