Thinkpads Forum

What was the very last IBM version of Thinkpad?

That depends on the definition.

made by IBM not lenovo.

That depends on how you define "made".

I think Lenovo had its hooks in around the T40-T43 era?

I feel like the T40 was about the 1st of when Lenovo started interfering and the 43 would be the end result.

Do you guys think earlier?

Glad I finally have a pure bred.

At one point I was under the impression that Lenovo was involved in the manufacturing of some Thinkpads even when they were still under IBM; however, I cannot find any data sources to confirm this at the moment, so it may be false.

What is known is that the first laptop released under Lenovo is the X41 Tablet. It is also true that some late T42 and T43 series already had Lenovo branding, since early 2005.

The first complete series refresh under Lenovo is the *60 series (Z60, T60, R60, X60). However, the design for these obviously started under IBM, and it shows in their similarity to their predecessors. In later years, the design elements would gradually change. X61 and X60 are basically identical, but T/R61 already have some noticeable differences from T/R60, and so on and so forth.

The last series that could have been had with the IBM logo (although the rest of the branding was always Lenovo) are the *61 series.

IMO the telltale sign is the presence of the Win key in the main Thinkpad lineup. From what I remember, IBM still held a grudge against Microsoft after the OS/2 breakup, and resisted including the Win key in Thinkpad keyboards.

From what I know...

The completion of the sale of the IBM personal computer division to Lenovo was completed in early 2005 (May, I believe). At the time, the T43 was being manufactured for IBM and was labeled as such. After that, it was manufactured for Lenovo - but by the same companies. The T60, which was already well into its development before Lenovo completed the purchase of IBM's PC division, was released after the sale and thereby all production T60s are "Manufactured for Lenovo".

To "ease" the transition to the buying public, product branding/labeling was initially the same as it was when ThinkPad was an IBM trademark, with exception of "manufactured for Lenovo" on the bottom, rather than "manufactured for IBM". Most (not all) T43s look the same from the top, whether manufactured for IBM or Lenovo - the difference will be on the bottom label.

As time went on, they slowly began to add Lenovo branding to the product (e.g. having lenovo added to the nameplate under the LCD, then early in the T61 run, replacing the "IBM ThinkPad" badges on the LCD and palm rest for "ThinkPad T Series" (or whatever series) badges).

By the time the T400 and similar generations were relseased, all traces of the IBM branding were gone.

The thing was Lenovo had the rights to use the IBM name on their PCs for a time frame of about 10yrs once they bought out the IBM PC division (for $20 bil.?) - they didnt use it that long as it seems people accepted the Lenovo name faster than they expected.

I spend a long time on the T40-T43 series at various workplaces although I dont own one now.

I think that about the T60-T61 series Lenovo was already all in, I dont remember any IBM badging at that point - I do remember that you could still buy a lot of IBM branded desktop PCs and LCDs at that time.

One of my R50p even says Lenovo on the underside.

This will always be debated and it depends on branding really.

My A31 is branded the same as my T41. Both have made for IBM and made in China and I consider the T4x series to be the last true IBM Thinkpads. I don't think Lenovo was making design decisions on that series. But my X61 has both Lenovo and IBM branding and this was what prompted me to purchase it. Lenovo bean counters might not have been making design changes even then and the 60 and 61 series might still be mainly IBM designed as the same teams were designing them.

All this might affect collectability of these laptops in the future and personally I like the IBM Thinkpad badge. To me the lid and palm-rest branding makes a difference to collectability.

axur-delmeria wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 24, 2020 9:53 am

IMO the telltale sign is the presence of the Win key in the main Thinkpad lineup. From what I remember, IBM still held a grudge against Microsoft after the OS/2 breakup, and resisted including the Win key in Thinkpad keyboards.

Maybe not. I have a black IBM external keyboard here (that I'm mistyping on) and it has a winblows key. FRU 89P8530.

cadillacmike68 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 24, 2020 8:45 pm

Maybe not. I have a black IBM external keyboard here (that I'm mistyping on) and it has a winblows key. FRU 89P8530.

I did mention Thinkpad lineup.

I believe the last truly ibm made thinkpad was T60 eventhough it had lenovo branding on it.

axur-delmeria wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 25, 2020 5:22 am

cadillacmike68 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 24, 2020 8:45 pm

Maybe not. I have a black IBM external keyboard here (that I'm mistyping on) and it has a winblows key. FRU 89P8530.

I did mention Thinkpad lineup.

It was marketed and sold as a ThinkPad keyboard, hence its black colour. I don't know the date though, it could be as old as 2005. My wife's only says ThinkPad on it (the keyboard that is).

The T42 was the last T-series ThinkPad made by IBM; our old T42 had "IBM" embossed on it.

The T43 was launched under Lenovo.

Peter Linu wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 24, 2020 2:48 am

What was the very last IBM version of Thinkpad?