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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: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday June 30 2017, @11:19PM (5 children)
Yeah, you're dead right on all of that. I cannot understand why Lenovo doesn't suddenly have the "holy shit this thing will print money!" realization and go back to the old design.
I refuse to believe it costs THAT MUCH MORE to put the old-style keyboard with regular keys and a 7-row layout back on. And there are plenty of 3:2 screens available--Huawai and MS are using them--so that "the industry is all 16:9" line has no legs anymore either.
I still have a Thinkpad T500, and although it's in dire shape, it still works. While I've switched onto a 12" latitude, an e6230, because the Thinkpad is just too heavy, that machine is the only one that "feels right." They just don't make them like that any longer.
Lenovo, if ANY of you are listening, if ANY of you can see this, PLEASE, bring back the old keyboard and a 16:10 or 3:2 screen and the green LED status lights. We LIKE the look. To us, it's the most beautiful design ever, precisely BECAUSE it is square, boxy, utilitarian, and tougher than Chinese algebra.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @12:19AM
Hey, me too. Still rockin' a T500 laptop! I think one of most important features of the T500 is the Hardware Reference Manual. Using it, I was able to replace loose hinges and also upgrade the CPU. Scary because I'm clumsy but I did it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 01 2017, @12:52AM
Lenovo has had a 3:2 Thinkpad for the past two years.
Nobody wants it because it's Windows 10 only.
The 7-row keyboard was done away with because they can use the same PCB for their desktop machines *and* their convertible laptops with the new layout. So it saves them about $20/machine.
It's a race to the fucking bottom.
Build yourself an X62 or a T70 Flexview if you want a retro machine.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday July 01 2017, @04:36AM (2 children)
What is the optimal screen ratio for developer work do you think? 4:3? 3:2? 16:9?
And size? 10" 11" 13" 15" ?
If our community wants a good laptop I think kickstarter is the way to go. Big corp has been brainwashed into the siren calls of Apple sect. So..
Chassi: Custom online order (not that expensive anymore)
Keyboard: Use existing separate that is plugged into the chassi, order custom one, or simply (ab)use spare parts for existing laptops.
Touchpad: --""--
Computer: Some kind of computer module, like Raspberry-Pi, preferably something much more powerful. Or again (ab)used spare part.
Screen: Existing module.
Power and charging: Off the shelf module or custom circuit board. Pretty standard really.
I think it's time to stop "please.. please.. Big corp make our wishes true" vs build as a community and run them over.
One obstacle may be copyright on the keyboard design. Dunno how much that would be an obstacle. But then China seems to ignore all that so..
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday July 01 2017, @06:46AM (1 child)
This seems relevant. I wonder how they are doing.
https://www.olimex.com/Products/DIY-Laptop/ [olimex.com]
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday July 01 2017, @07:49AM
With a price of 225 EUR it seems really nice. Especially considering ARM and no UEFI, TPM etc (I hope!). But they are "out of stock". So it doesn't seem like a viable solution. Otoh, if one could make spare parts for an ordinary laptop and with time it's completely made up of spare parts then that might work out too. Let's say people started make a lot of spare parts for one model of the Thinkpads, especially the keyboard would be useful. Then others might add new motherboards etc.