I think that Lenovo did the following:
1. They listened to their users.
2. They implemented the #1 most-requested feature (keyboard + trackpoint + better palmrest + light).
3. They implemented the #2 most-requested feature (IPS Screen 50 nits brighter than the T4x series @ 175 nits).
A lot of things in a T4x / T6x thinkpad are no longer needed - - -
a. Who needs an ultrabay when batteries last 9h ??
b. Who needs an extra HD slot when you have a SATA slot and an mSATA (or PCIe) slot or 128GB micro-USB drives?
c. Does a thinklight really add all that much value over a backlit keyboard? You can get a USB light for $3.99 from China.
Probably the #3 most-requested feature was to add a better display for programming and editing paper (16:10) but imho what we really wanted was a 3:2 display; you can buy a MacBook Pro if you want a 16:10 display. So it's not like you have no options if 16:10 is your thing. A 3:2 display would require a full chassis redesign and I don't think they have the $$$ or risk appetite for that - after all, Google just caved in - abandoning 3:2 displays - and made the new Pixelbook a 16:9 laptop ...
I wish they'd offer a machine with a *REAL* 3D graphics card, maybe a GTX 1050M for $2000 or $2100, I would be all over that machine in a heartbeat. The T41p, T42p, and T43p machines had a *REAL* 3D graphics, not a "pretend" 3D graphics chip like the GT 940MX. The MX series from NVidia has always had "BUDGET" (< $90) written all over it !!!!
My co-worker who loves thinkpads just bought 2 of these T25 machines.
THE PRICE IS COMPETITIVE WITH RETRO THINKPADS - Our T42/p with ATI 9600 on sale cost $2200 back in 2004 (MSRP =
$2900).
$1899 - 15%-off = $1614.15 for a T470 with a discrete GPU, PCIe SSD @ 512GB, and other goodies is an okay price, the keyboard is thrown in at no cost to users!
We can possibly look forward to franken-padding T25 keyboards onto T470 models and perhaps T480 models in the future ...