Thinkpads Forum

Self-explanatory subject line.

Either 14" 4:3 or WS is OK with me. I want a 4:3 but I'll take a WS. At this point I will just be happy when they start making them again - if they do . . . . (start ominous organ music)

Just my own 2¢ here, but ThinkPads are not a small part of huge part IBM anymore, where perhaps profit wasn't as big a point. Lenovo is in the business to make money. As much as people here and on other notebook forums bemoan the loss of the 14" 4:3 standard screen, which include myself as I think it is the perfect notebook form factor, that subset of people is too small to make a significant impact. As notebooks have become less expensive and more ubiquitous, most users don't care about the wide vs standard debate in my experience. Since just about every other manufacturer is going widescreen, it makes it more difficult for Lenovo to swim upstream. Sure they can become like Panasonic and make exactly their customers want, but they'll have to charge $2k+. I think there's more profits for them in catering to masses. Having said all that, I hope they find a way to get it done.

I should have looked in the general TP news/discussion forum. This was posted there on 4/22/08 (Earth Day!):
http://gizmodo.com/378504/lenovos-entir ... s-siblings
Says T61 replacement T600s start shipping on 6/3/08.
T61p's being replaced with newly-labeled W-series ("w"orkstation class); no ship date indicated.

link to TP forum thread:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=60522

Not too long to wait . . . at least for the new T61 equivalent.

17" "laptop"... LOL!!!!!

Who in their right minds would carry a behemoth like that around?

icantux wrote:

Who in their right minds would carry a behemoth like that around?

These are really not meant to be carried around, just moved on rare occassions...

Had you ever lifted a G4x unit, you would've instantly remembered the term "desktop replacement"...

All jokes aside, many people (myself included) prefer laptop form factor to any desktop, and do not mind having monsters. Personally, resolutions offered on a 17" will be the key for getting one or not, and they'll have to do a lot better than WXGA+ seen on IdeaPad for me to buy one.

FredGarvin wrote:Just my own 2¢ here, but ThinkPads are not a small part of huge part IBM anymore, where perhaps profit wasn't as big a point. Lenovo is in the business to make money. As much as people here and on other notebook forums bemoan the loss of the 14" 4:3 standard screen, which include myself as I think it is the perfect notebook form factor, that subset of people is too small to make a significant impact. As notebooks have become less expensive and more ubiquitous, most users don't care about the wide vs standard debate in my experience. Since just about every other manufacturer is going widescreen, it makes it more difficult for Lenovo to swim upstream. Sure they can become like Panasonic and make exactly their customers want, but they'll have to charge $2k+. I think there's more profits for them in catering to masses. Having said all that, I hope they find a way to get it done.

If they could make a profit at a $2000 price point for a 4:3 Thinkpad there's no reason not to do it. By being one of the only manufacturers to offer a 4:3 screen, Lenovo would have almost a lock on the market segment, and people replacing other manufacturers' 4:3 models would go to Lenovo.

Case in point: I've used Compaq Armadas and Evos for the last decade. HP doesn't offer a 4:3 screen any more. As a result I was all set to buy a T61p on the very day that the option was dropped. Now I have to look for one refurbished (and deal with Lenovo's horrendous Outlet salespeople who do nothing but tell me to look at the web site which doesn't give enough information).

The fact of reality is that 4:3 are considered old technology now and hardly any manufacturers will want to produce something that is not "popular" per se. For example, Lenovo might also have a "lock" on floppy drives, but who would buy them?

I do prefer 4:3 screen myself as well and most likely will keep my T60p for some time, unless, of course, Lenovo will have a thinner version of T-series with 17" WS which I can probably live with.

-- Andrey

MattB wrote:

FredGarvin wrote:Just my own 2¢ here, but ThinkPads are not a small part of huge part IBM anymore, where perhaps profit wasn't as big a point. Lenovo is in the business to make money. As much as people here and on other notebook forums bemoan the loss of the 14" 4:3 standard screen, which include myself as I think it is the perfect notebook form factor, that subset of people is too small to make a significant impact. As notebooks have become less expensive and more ubiquitous, most users don't care about the wide vs standard debate in my experience. Since just about every other manufacturer is going widescreen, it makes it more difficult for Lenovo to swim upstream. Sure they can become like Panasonic and make exactly their customers want, but they'll have to charge $2k+. I think there's more profits for them in catering to masses. Having said all that, I hope they find a way to get it done.

If they could make a profit at a $2000 price point for a 4:3 Thinkpad there's no reason not to do it. By being one of the only manufacturers to offer a 4:3 screen, Lenovo would have almost a lock on the market segment, and people replacing other manufacturers' 4:3 models would go to Lenovo.

Case in point: I've used Compaq Armadas and Evos for the last decade. HP doesn't offer a 4:3 screen any more. As a result I was all set to buy a T61p on the very day that the option was dropped. Now I have to look for one refurbished (and deal with Lenovo's horrendous Outlet salespeople who do nothing but tell me to look at the web site which doesn't give enough information).

FredGarvin wrote:the 14" 4:3 standard screen, which include myself as I think it is the perfect notebook form factor,

IMO, the current 14.1" widescreen Thinkpads aren't a good form factor mainly because the display bezel is too wide, making the entire machine too bulky. If Lenovo can make the bezel as narrow as that of the X4* or X6*, then more people would like the 14.1" widescreen's form factor.

...the 14.1" SXGA+ screens.

As mentioned in my 'hello' post earlier in the forum, I'm one of those who really can't stand this silly 'widescreen' business when it comes to laptops. When I found, initially, that the WXGA series was the only type of screen Lenovo had listed as available for new orders I was more than a bit disgusted, and started thinking "shop elsewhere."

As it turned out, that wasn't necessary. I had called Lenovo to ask an unrelated question. After answering it, the service rep asked if there was anything else he could do for me, and I replied "Not unless you're planning to bring back non-widescreen models of the T61's."

There came a brief silence, and then the guy told me that he thought he could still order one for me by going through a "back end" IBM/Lenovo web site that was available to him but not to the public.

After recovering my jaw from the floor, I took him up on this extraordinary offer. As it turned out, there were a few caveats. Linux was not an OS option, it would take a bit longer to ship, and it ended up costing about $150 more in the total bill. Other than that, he could customize it for me the same way I would had I gone through the public web site.

Thus was my order entered. It's showing an estimated ship date of June 6th, but I feel it's worth waiting for because I got EXACTLY what I wanted (well, other than the OS, but I can put W2K on it easily enough).

The moral of the story: Don't take "Sorry, not available" at face value. Sometimes, if you politely insist on what you want, it may still be obtainable.

Happy bit-shuffling.