New purchase decision - Aesthetics

[sona1111]

Hello guys. I have been working with my thinkpad t60 happily for many years. Its survived two falls off of the car roof, one screen replacement and one motherboard replacement, and feature wise it has everything I could ask for.

As happens from time to time with tech though, It seems that some limitations have arisen which means I may need to consider purchasing a replacement in the next year or so. Mainly I am looking for three upgrades - possibility for lots of additional ram (16gb+), and a quicker processor, at least quad core, and 3g/4g support

Generally looking at new lenovo selections, some things seem to be missing. I recently temporarily obtained a new T series laptop (I forget the number offhand) from work, and it has a number of problems. (according to me) It was missing:
-the keyboard of the T60 (where all of the keys are right next to each other, not mac style)
-the leds (none whatsoever, I need at least a hard drive activity led)
-a usable mouse (this thing has a huge trackpad which also clicked. Very annoying to use)
-thinkpad STYLE (boxy, black, no curves)

I also noticed this thing had no access bays on the bottom or sides, likely really tough to work on.

Can anyone recommend a t60-esque laptop for the modern user? It seems like lenovo went off track but Its too early to judge based on seeing one laptop.

[ajkula66]

You may want to look into T420/520 and W520. Those are the last ThinkPads to feature both a 7-row keyboard and conventional TrackPoint.

Unfortunately, all of them are in the 16:9 widescreen format.

Happy hunting.

[600X]

Like George said, the last ThinkPads with traditional keyboards were the X220/T420 series. There is a rumor that Lenovo will release "classic" ThinkPads with Broadwell, called the T1 and W1. I wouldn't get my hopes up too high, but if it turns out to be true then that's probably the closest you will get to a modern classic ThinkPad. It has the island style keyboard but offers the very nice 3:2 aspect ratio and is geared towards performance. (presumably full voltage CPU's, 16GB RAM already soldered + free slot(s))

Also, while the current ThinkPads may not be black, they are boxier and have less curves than the previous Core i models.

-thinkpad STYLE (boxy, black, no curves)

[Summilux]

Generally looking at new lenovo selections, some things seem to be missing.
[...]
Can anyone recommend a t60-esque laptop for the modern user? It seems like lenovo went off track but Its too early to judge based on seeing one laptop.

I'm so sorry for your loss. You are welcome to mourn with us faithful Thinkpad appreciators, for no such thing is on the horizon.

Funnily enough, just yesterday I thought to myself:
"What if a decade from now, some of us gather and offer Lenovo to license the legacy Thinkpad design (under a different brand), or at the very least the 7-row keyboard.
That sure wouldn't harm their business and would even provide them with the opportunity to make money off a discarded design. OTOH that would allow us unblinded users to update our machines without compromising the true Thinkpad experience, and for a relatively fair price."

There is a rumor that Lenovo will release "classic" ThinkPads with Broadwell

What?! Seriousl-

It has the island style keyboard

... ha ha oh wow, I knew that was too good to be true.