When IBM threw in the towel and sold their PC line to Lenovo, that was the end for the ThinkPad. I knew it was. I knew exactly the direction that things would go: straight down.
I've been a ThinkPad user all of my life. They were always the best laptops and businesses swore by them exclusively. But what makes something the "best" in an era where the internal components of every PC are all made by third party companies?
Simply put: What made the ThinkPad the best was that it was the only laptop designed for SERIOUS WORK. They were well made, and they had a keyboard ideally suited for extended typing. I have owned and used several ThinkPads over the years and I've never seen one die.
Unfortunately, we live in an age where 99.9% of computer users have a computer only to play games. Turn back the clock 25 years and 99.9% of people couldn't afford a laptop computer. The people that owned one had a legitimate reason for investing in one: they had a job to do and the ThinkPad was the tool for business. It wasn't for screwing around.
Also unfortunate is that the majority seems to drag everything down to the lowest common denominator. Most people are not "power users". Most people have no idea what "good" is because they've never experienced it. Most people have low standards and most people settle for less today than generations prior. (Less quality, less service, less everything.)
Every change that Lenovo has made to the ThinkPad line has been more gimmick than substance, and they finally started to mess with their meal ticket when they touched the keyboard and started omitting the TrackPoint on low end Lenovo models.
Despite nearly everyone using TouchPads these days, the TrackPoint still wins. You can still navigate faster and easier using the TrackPoint (while keeping your fingers on the keyboard for typing) than you can with a TouchPad. The majority may prefer TouchPads, but it doesn't change the fact that the TrackPoint (in the hands of a user that knows what they're doing) is the superior technology and wins every time. (Little things like that get on my nerves. Most users aren't typing on their laptop so what would they know about the benefits of the TrackPoint over a Touchpad?)
It's a sad state of affairs. Where does a power user go these days to find what used to exist at IBM years ago? Is Dell now the business king of laptops?
