ThinkPad S431

[Puppy]

New ThinkPad S431 with touch screen. Notice it is announced as ThinkPad (classic) model, not Edge, not IdeaPad.
http://www.channelprosmb.com/article/le ... h_optional

(heart-attack warning before opening the link)

[Adda]

That's just dumb, plain and simple.

Oh wow now they made red lines on the touchpad, now no one will notice the missing buttons, stupid...
Looks like a Edge to me, this has nothing to do with a ThinkPad, [censored] I'm tired of this crap, someone do something, don't these people understand anything at all?

[Puppy]

The only question remains .... WHY ?

[omnivertex]

It's clearly couldn't be ideapad since there is thinkpad word written on it.

I hope this one is really worthed as their skimpy promotional chicks. Simply irresistible eh?

[twistero]

It is an S-series. Not the end of the world yet.

[ajkula66]

It is an S-series. Not the end of the world yet.

The world has ended with the keyboard layout change last year, at least when it comes to ThinkPads...

[Adda]

The world has ended with the keyboard layout change last year, at least when it comes to ThinkPads...

Yup, and just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, skimpy women present a 'irresistible' piece of junk with 'ThinkPad' written all over it.

To me it looks like Lenovo is doing everything they can, to get rid of their traditional costumers.

[mattdocs12345]

Notice that this is the S series. This is the same series as the S230u aka Thinkpad Twist. There is still hope that the T and X series will look more traditional.

[yak]

Notice that this is the S series. This is the same series as the S230u aka Thinkpad Twist. There is still hope that the T and X series will look more traditional.

Many of the recent changes in T and X series first appeared in budget lines so there is no hope.

[Ibthink]

Many of the recent changes in T and X series first appeared in budget lines so there is no hope.

Oh, are you really sure?
- ClickPads: First appeared with the X220, the ones made out of Glass they first a with the X1 Carbon, the new 5-button ClickPad appeared first on ThinkPad Helix.
- Rubber Lip around the Display: Appeared first on ThinkPad X1 in 2011
- Drop-Down Hinges: First appeared with the X1 Carbon on ThinkPads
- Thin display bezels: Re-appeared first on X1 Carbon
- Backlight Keyboard instead of ThinkLight: First appeared on ThinkPad X1
- Flipped ThinkPad-Logo: Appeared first on ThinkPad Helix
- New color ("Graphite Black") also appeared first with the Helix
etc.

So no, most of the changes did not appear first on the budget ThinkPads. The only ones are maybe the 6-row chiclet keyboard (appeard first on Edge series and X100e in 2010) and the blinking red i-dot, which appeared first with the ThinkPad SL series in 2010.

[yak]

Thanks for correcting me, I was thinking mainly of the keyboard. I guess the real question is how many features from the budget series ended up in T/X.

My feeling is that a broad change to an existing feature shared by different series (like the beyboard) ends up in all of them. So I have little hope that T/W/X will retain the TrackPoint buttons.

[Ibthink]

Sure, that was always the practice for Lenovo - try a new feature with one new product, see how the users like it, and then decide if they use this feature on all lines.

A good example is the original X1: They had several new features introduced there: Chiclet keyboard (first time for a classic ThinkPad), Backlight, Gorilla Glass etc. . The feedback on the keyboard and the Backlight feature seemed to be extremely good, so they transfered it into all ThinkPads. Other things like the Gorilla glass were not very well recognized, so they did not use that on future ThinkPads. Or the glass touchpad they used with the X1 Carbon: They feedback was good, so we will see it on all ThinkPads this year (with integrated TrackPoint button though).

Personally, I won´t judge the new TrackPoint buttons until I have tried them. The first feedback from the very few people who have tried it isn´t that bad, so I am optimistic (since you are German too, see: http://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/157369 ... t-Bildern)).

And about this new S series: I am sure there is a market for it, and it has some nice features (the OneLink port), but I think Lenovo should use the Edge branding for this, like on the older Edge S430. It has much more in common with the Edge series than with the main ThinkPad series (T/X/L/W), just look at the design.

[Summilux]

The world has ended with the keyboard layout change last year, at least when it comes to ThinkPads...

Ditto.

Now I'm not surprised anymore; change of colour, semi-disparition of the trackpoint, etc. are just logical steps in watering down the Thinkpad brand and turn it into a Macpad. Huh.

But I have to say that the presence of a touch screen isn't shocking to me, and it wouldn't be even if it were to be found in an IBM-made Thinkpad. I know that it's kind of ridiculous on a non-flipping screen, but after all the technology itself has been around since forever on certain X models...

[pianowizard]

after all the technology itself has been around since forever on certain X models...

I had a Fujitsu laptop from the Windows 98 era that had a multitouch screen, and also a couple of HP's Jornada handheld PCs of the same vintage.