Thinkpads Forum

I did not check too much around before ordering my new w530, but I probably should have. The w530 is newer and faster but my T61 wins in every other contest.

So what should I have got? The MacBook Pro is nice but everything is soldered and I need my second ultrabay drive.

Perhaps if I list what I do NOT like with my w530:
* The screen is much lower! Why? I never watch movies on this machine. I swap my dvd for another hard drive.
* The keyboard is a disaster. Why move Home/End/Insert/Delete? And what about the missing context key?
* And why no space between the F-keys? I used to be able to press the right one without looking.
* And all the indicator lights are gone! Alredy tried to log on with the caps lock key on too many times.
* The monster power brick isn't nice either but if the machine hadn't any other flaws I would accept it.

I guess beeing lazy and not looking at the laptop in a store before ordering was silly. But if I start walking around looking for a proper programmers laptop which machines should I look for?

stkris wrote: * The keyboard is a disaster. Why move Home/End/Insert/Delete? And what about the missing context key?
* And why no space between the F-keys? I used to be able to press the right one without looking.

You can express your opinion here http://blog.lenovo.com/products/why-you ... d-keyboard

This one looked OK


Samsung 700G7C 17.3" Full HD
GeForce GTX675,Core i7-3610QM,16GB RAM, 1.5TB HDD,Blu-Ray,BT,W7H


until I realized it has one of those ultra bright screens.

Sigh...

If you're very attached to the keyboard layout of your T61, then your upgrade options are pretty much limited to slightly earlier ThinkPads, like T400/410/420 and [T/W]500/510/520. AFAIK no other manufacturer offers a similar layout where PgUp/PgDn/Ins/Del/Home/End are grouped in their own block, and now that Lenovo stops, no one at all makes them anymore. (It would be great if someone can prove me wrong on this.)

If you also favor 4:3 screens a lot over widescreens... just keep using the T61.

Most T61's had 16:10 screens, only one rare variety of the 14" had a 4:3 screen. (There was a 2-month waiting list +$350 premium for that one.)

You can swap a W520's keyboard into your W530, but until a modified BIOS is made it's not fully functional. Look around the forums, there are people who exactly describe what happens when you do that.

I did look at it before I bought and it's the biggest reason I got a W520 instead

If you eBay it (or return it) you might get a 10% slower W520 with no money leaving your pocket. (You might even add to it). You also gain a full-size Displayport and an eSata/USB combo port.

twistero wrote:If you're very attached to the keyboard layout of your T61, then your upgrade options are pretty much limited to slightly earlier ThinkPads

I would not mind taking a knife/dremel to the w530 chassis if I could get the T61 keyboard over or a similar keyboard from a newish Thinkpad. I never think about resale value anyway - use my laptops until they die.

I would actually pay top dollar if someone made a 3rd-party QUALITY keyboard with classic layout for my w530.

jcvjcvjcvjcv wrote:Most T61's had 16:10 screens, only one rare variety of the 14" had a 4:3 screen. (There was a 2-month waiting list +$350 premium for that one.)

I wonder if it would be hard to rotate the screen 90 degrees and have a 9:16 screen?

stkris wrote: I would not mind taking a knife/dremel to the w530 chassis if I could get the T61 keyboard over or a similar keyboard from a newish Thinkpad. I never think about resale value anyway - use my laptops until they die.

Actually, dremelling is not even necessary: As jcvjcvjcvjcv said above, the keyboard for W520 (which still has a pretty much classical layout except double-height Esc and Del keys) fits physically in the W530. However, the keyboard mapping will be wrong for most of the function keys, and the 7th row won't work at all. Until someone come up with a hacked BIOS for W530 that implements keymap from W520, such a swap is useless.

stkris wrote: I wonder if it would be hard to rotate the screen 90 degrees and have a 9:16 screen?

Just put the laptop on its side and use an external keyboard.

You'll get horizontal tearing that way when scrolling through pages. That's nasty.

In my desktop setup there are two 90 degrees rotated 20" 1600x1200 monitors. It's nice, but not for reading while scrolling.

You should have expected some changes from when the T61 was out, things do change but human DO adapt!

Greg Gebhardt wrote:You should have expected some changes from when the T61 was out, things do change but human DO adapt!

Now I have had my 2530 for a good while and I am afraid I have not adapted well.

The low screen and the moved keys on the keyboard is a daily frustration.

And I have often had my laptop run out of batteries since the PSU connected led symbol on my T61 does not exist on the w530.

And numerous texts and files have been deleted since the delete key replaced the page up position. And some of those texts and files were lost forever.

Change is often good - but removing features on top-of-the-line computers is silly. They have lost me as a customer and I trash talk the Thinkpad whenever people ask me about it. And they do since I am well known in my field of work.

Precisely why I just bought a T420 and will not look at a T430. The keyboard was one of the many distinctive features that drew me to the Thinkpad line. Lenovo had to go and change a good thing. They could have offered the old keyboard layout as an option, even charge a few $$$ more. It would not have been that difficult. It would have gone a long way to keep a lot of us happy.