Just discovered this forum, looks great! I've used several ThinkPads over the years, the first back in 1993 (Windows 3.1 - maybe 3.11 Windows for Workgroups, hard to remember which now).

I know Lenovo agreed to purchase the PC business from IBM back in late 2004, and took over sometime in 2005, but still used the IBM name for a while. I was wondering: anyone happen to know which model was the last actually manufactured by IBM?

Thanks!

Good question. I'd hazard a guess at T43 because mine was built in 2005 and has the IBM logo on it, and no mention of Lenovo. My wife's T43p was built in 2006 and has the IBM and Lenovo logos on it.

Sorry, I forgot to say, "Welcome to the forum."

I once heard that the last ThinkPad of IBM was the x41. But I don´t really know if that is true

I really don't know which one is the last, but:

If Lenovo took over thinkpad line somewhere in late 2004 or early 2005, then according to ThinkWiki page, you can find the "group of suspects" if you follow the timeline...

2005 group (or one of them) is most likely to be first one manufactured by Lenovo...

Also, IBM allowed Lenovo to use IBM branding after TP line purchase, and they (Lenovo) were using it until somewhere in 2007 (I think)...

I'm sure there is more knowledgeable forum member that knows which IBM TP is the last for sure...

I believe the T43p was that last ThinkPad completely designed and built by IBM, the Lenovo-made T60 was its successor. I could be wrong about this, though.

Welcome to the forum!

I believe Lenovo had a hand in the design of the T4x too ... The T60 was when the transition truly happened. Maybe the X3*/T3*/R4* series was the last when thinkpads were 100% IBM. I maybe wrong, I'll wait for the more knowledgeable members to chime in

AFAIK, T43/p are officially the last IBM-designed units, however, many of them were actually produced by Lenovo, although IBM badges are still in place...so they're somewhat of a mixed batch, and without much rhyme or reason, you can't even judge them by production date with 100% certainty...

It would be fairly safe to say that T42/p were the last T-series with no direct connection to Lenovo.

However, most of these were built in the same Foxxcon factory that Lenovo still uses today.

As for T60/p, the very same designer team that was behind T4x series was responsible for these...at least to the best of my knowledge...

And who then sets the rules?

Looking at the archive of Thinkpad-related announcement at engadget.com, the X41 was the last announced by IBM (Marin85 mentioned this already) and the X41 Tablet was the first announced by Lenovo.

Thanks very much for the greetings, and for all the information and links. So far, looks like somewhere between T42 (May 2004) and X41 (April 2005)? Since IBM and Lenovo were already working together, it's especially hard to see quite where one left off completely and the other took over.

I figured if anyone would know, it'd likely be someone here . . . perhaps there are still some who haven't weighed in on this yet?

Great to find this forum, so many folks with so much TP experience in one place. The ThinkPads, from my more limited experience, truly have been some great machines.

Thanks again,

John

Make no mistake about one thing, though: by A3x/T3x generation (late 2002/early 2003), most of IBM's production was moved out of Mexico to China....there are T4x machines in existance that were built elsewhere (including UK), but these are rare exceptions to an overwhelming general rule...

The last machines made by IBM were the T42 and some T43s (my dad had a T43 and the COA was registered to Lenovo, but still had IBM on the bottom), the R52's and the X41's. There were some T/R/X60's with the IBM Thinkpad logo while the new logo was being designed. If you do get a new thinkpad, I think the logo sticker is the same shape as the IBM stickers so you can swap them out if you want (knew it was possible with the T/R/X60's, don't know about newer models).

So, is it then actually possible to recognize which ThinkPad was designed by which company only by reading the COA?

T43/p are likely the most confusing batch, since it always seemed to me that they were just slapping them together with whatever parts they had in stock at the moment...

I've got four of these in my house right now, three of them being ex-Lenovo demos/testbeds/executive units...

The youngest of the batch, a true-blue demo with meaningless model number, untraceable serial, test BIOS and DOS license has IBM logos throughout. Date on the sticker is January of 2007

The middle two, both produced in mid-2006, have Lenovo logos on palmrest, lid and pretty much everywhere else...

The oldest one (August of 2005, the only retail-originated unit, and the one in my signature) has proper IBM logos...

I could go on and on with T6x/Z6x machines that were mix and match as well, but there's really no point in doing that, the way I see it...

Fact of the matter is that the bottom of my 701C states "Made in USA" and it has been a long time since I've seen a significantly newer ThinkPad with the same origin...

I read somewhere that the X31 was the last fully IBM X series, but that info could easily be fallacious. shame about outsourcing though... just in general (not intended to be anti-lenovo, as IBM outsourced their manufacturing too, after a point).

Well i can tell ya that my T60p has the IBM logo =)
so that was probably one of the last to have it......

I´d like to think that and also to be able to recognize a ThinkPad by its logo, but that is unfortunately not possible. As stated above, many ThinkPads designed by Lenovo come with "original" IBM logo As for T60(p) in particular, I would suggest you to take look at the back side of your lappy and read everything carefully

Cheers

Marin

Including the documentation All my T60p and Advanced Mini Dock manuals are copyright 2005/2006 by Lenovo. The boxes the T60p and dock came in also say "Manufactured for Lenovo." They have no IBM logo. The invoice is from Lenovo Canada but underneath that is "An international company uniting IBM's PC Division and Lenovo Group."

Some T61s were also available with the IBM logo. The new R/SL/T/W/X*00 series are the first where the logo is Thinkpad only (and not even physically compatible with the old IBM logo).

But already the T/R/Z/X60 were manufactured strictly under Lenovo.

IBM sold it's PC division to Lenovo in 2Q 2005. At that time the T4X series was in full production. So, the last IBM models off the line were the T4X'S. As part of the deal, the IBM PC research and development facilities in Yamato, Japan and design center in Raleigh, N.C., U.S.A., became part of Lenovo. So in effect, the newer T6X's and beyond were (and still are) designed by 'some' of the same people who designed the original IBM Manufactured Thinkpads. Even before the Lenovo deal was sealed, IBM outsourced the production of some of it's Thinkpads (T43/R51) to Chinese firms in 2004. Check the label on the bottom of your machines .
http://www.jlmpacificepoch.com/newsstor ... 75_0_5_0_M

http://www.pc.ibm.com/ca/thinkpad/anniv ... story.html

Mine too, purchased in spring '06...

Around 2007, non-IBM Thinkpad logos started getting into the picture, and they were mixed with IBM logos. I have two T60s, both from summer 2007, one with "Thinkpad", one with "IBM". T61s could be purchased with the IBM logo all the way till early 2008, from certain sources.

I bought my R60 in mid 2006, and it has IBM logo, but it is made by Lenovo (all x6x series are)...

And my T60p was made in August 2006 yet it came with an IBM ThinkPad sticker. It seems the transition from IBM to Lenovo happened gradually.

I saw this on an article (a review for a t61 I think) a long time ago, and it said that the new thinkpad label was only on either machines destined for a corperate enviroment, or else CTO models. I know that it was a t61 because my dad had just got one, and me being me went and looked for reviewes of it. So I guess non CTO models had orginal IBM logo and label (My dads is from work and has thinkpad logo)

I believe the distinction between which machines should be shipped with the classic IBM logo and which ones with the new ThinkPad logo was based on the brand popularity and Lenovo marketing strategy in the different world regions they operate.

craigmontHunter is pretty much correct. Lenovo put 'Thinkpad' stickers on models destined for their corporate customers in a push to tie the Lenovo name with the 'Thinkpad' brand, and to get away from the 'IBM' name/branding. Lenovo had an agreement with IBM to use the 'IBM' brand/name for a period of 5 years, but whether or not they actually used it was of course optional.

And how did Lenovo determine which Thinkpads to ship with the IBM logo? Or was it rather random? Interestingly, here in Germany I have never seen a T61 unit with the IBM logo, while AFAIK in the US there were/are plenty of them shipped with the IBM logo.

Straight from the horse's mouth: http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=85