What's next in T series?

[ckotan]

I am in the market for a new ThinkPad. I've had 770, A31p, R40, T60p, and am currently a fan of the T60's.

While I want to get a good deal, I'd like to avoid buying a T61p now if a T62 or T70 is a few months away that will blow the doors off the current models. Any idea what's in the wings for 1Q08 or 1H08? Should I look at something beside the T-boxes?

(My t60 belongs to the company)

I want a couple of new TPs for self and wife - mostly on the Dock / external monitor, keyboard, mouse. But love the ability to grab the tp and sit outside while hammering the keyboard or use on the road.

Thanks,

Charlie

[Rochefort]

I am in the market for a new ThinkPad. I've had 770, A31p, R40, T60p, and am currently a fan of the T60's.

While I want to get a good deal, I'd like to avoid buying a T61p now if a T62 or T70 is a few months away that will blow the doors off the current models. Any idea what's in the wings for 1Q08 or 1H08? Should I look at something beside the T-boxes?
Charlie

Hi Charlie
I've had too, 770,600 (my beloved), T42p (wonderful IPS screen) and, like you, I'm waiting for a new one
Surely new TPs will come with Penryn !?
I'm waiting for SSD ,LED screens ......wait'n see !

[ducky2802]

Im really enjoying the T60 and havent found too much compelling reason to upgrade to the T61 for the very reason that, well, I dont see much need to move on up to santa rosa. Im really hoping that penryn (isnt that the chipset that does away with the fsb???) will coincide with a new thinkpad model, preferably with LED lighting. Im sure there are sooo many reasons to not use led backlit screens especially concerning color reproduction, but the way I see it, a cool running LED and the energy savings it would bring would help me switch on over to the newest T6x in a heartbeat... not to mention X6x if it also switched to LED backlit screens.

And while were at it... bring back the 3 year factory warranty as standard!!!

[mattbiernat]

i suspect the T62 will be as ugly as T61 and T60. i'll wait for T7x series. i do like the rock solid feel of my T60 thou.

[ulrich.von.lich]

I think they will bring back the red-blue-red stripes on the keyboard sometime in the future. Glad they are listening to us. Maybe they should get rid of the windows key too. I will be very excited to see the new T series.

[RasmusP]

As a matter of fact, I would not miss the windows key. A lot of great shortcuts uses it. Win+M, Win+R etc. Of course, one could configure it via the keyboard program. One kinds of get used to the small win key on the X60 keyboard after a while.
Maybe they should just use another symbol.

[Growly]

Sorry to dig this thread - but is there any word?

Having forked out NZD$4500 for a T61p in about August, I'm thinking it must be time for the new series to come and ruin my joy.

What's more, if they've fixed all the problems and made it look like a ThinkPad again, I'd like to know when I have to start habitually cutting myself in saddened rage.

/edit: Actually, come to think of it, I spent the the end of 2005 and the better part of 2007 trying to find a ThinkPad that looked and felt like a ThinkPad, ended buying a nice T43, then an overpriced crappy T43p, and then finally 'settling' for a T61p... and now they're going to burn me. I can feel.

[censored] materialism - get away from me!!!

[Dimitri_P]

I'd like to see:

-oled screen
-quad core
-solid state drive
-blueray drive
-integration of most of wireless standrds in one laptop
-video (seriously don't care; give me good screen instead)
-firewire 3200
-usb 3
-14" (non-widescreen)
-would love to see integration of some sort of solar panel, to charge, while not in use [perhaps place it on the bottom; turn over, to charge ]
-sensor screen would be interesting
-magnesium alloy chassis, covered in carbo fiber
-4gb ram +; 8gb would be nice
-DVI out, and perhaps S-VIDEO out if possible
-backlit keyboard (?)

that's about it what I can think of for my dream ThinkPad, hopefully T8's ;-D

[arlab]

Awesome list

Seconded. But still prefer Widescreen. A built-in camera would be nice too.

[Paul Unger]

I'd like to see:

-would love to see integration of some sort of solar panel, to charge, while not in use [perhaps place it on the bottom; turn over, to charge ]

why not just on the top of the lid so it could charge while in use?

[Dimitri_P]

I don't see how it can fit there to maintain overall structural superiority introduced with t61 models.

they had a presenattion with bike was puching on that lid, without the screen being damaged at all.

[lophiomys]

I've read about young companies which work on printing
thin film solar cells on glass panes... that could be an option,
even though I think it's a bit too early for that.
I doubt most of the time there would be enough light source
to charge the inefficient electronics currently in use.

IMHO I would go for maximum energy efficient components and
software, which would make good use of a std-sized battery!

[Paul Unger]

I was thinking more along the lines of a flexible panel like this.
15.4V, 200mA, 270 x 330 x 1.13mm, 94 gram. Just stick it to the top of the lid and wire it in I'll keep dreaming.

[ducky2802]

Casual reading on solar energy tells me they are wanting very much to go the way of dispersing electromagnetic material in paints and finishes to generate electricity, as it is MUCH cheaper than the espensive silicon substrates in current solar cell arrays. Problem is, I think they are only at around 6% efficiency rates, and though time will provide innovations, I wonder if it will make it into the next gen Tx series... maybe 3 or 4 gens maybe possible.

In the meantime, I wouldnt mind a 4hr+ battery life without dimming the screen all the way down or having to stick one of those extended batteries...swapping between integrated and dedicated video graphics on the fly could be a feasible solution for the next gen T series.

[onix]

My suggestions/comments would be the following. OLED might have lifetime issues, another low-power, high-contrast display technology might be a better choice. HD/Blueray write-able drive (no standard yet adopted). 14" WXSGA+ (1440 x 900) - the overall laptop would be smaller than a 14.1" SXGA+ (1400 x 1050), since the pixel density is higher with the WXSGA+. An integrated 1MPixel+ cam would be great. No DVI/S-Video... just gimme HDMI 1.3+ and I'll take care of the rest.

Don't care about top end graphics, as long as it can play H.264/ACC in HD at 25F/s+, and select a processor of very low voltage for low power - power dissipation goes as Voltage-squared.

I'd like to see:

-oled screen
-quad core
-solid state drive
-blueray drive
-integration of most of wireless standrds in one laptop
-video (seriously don't care; give me good screen instead)
-firewire 3200
-usb 3
-14" (non-widescreen)
-would love to see integration of some sort of solar panel, to charge, while not in use [perhaps place it on the bottom; turn over, to charge ]
-sensor screen would be interesting
-magnesium alloy chassis, covered in carbo fiber
-4gb ram +; 8gb would be nice
-DVI out, and perhaps S-VIDEO out if possible
-backlit keyboard (?)

that's about it what I can think of for my dream ThinkPad, hopefully T8's ;-D

[hdahl]

As a matter of fact, I would not miss the windows key. A lot of great shortcuts uses it. Win+M, Win+R etc. Of course, one could configure it via the keyboard program. One kinds of get used to the small win key on the X60 keyboard after a while.
Maybe they should just use another symbol.

Does it mean that you have less need for the Windows key than for instance for the scroll lock key?


Best regards,

Henrik Dahl

[mattbiernat]

how about making everyone happy and including an option for having or not having the windows key.

[onix]

I am saddened to see no mention of Lenovo Thinkpads here:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10173

A 2.1GHz Penryn is sure to consume a lot of power on a laptop....

[hdahl]

how about making everyone happy and including an option for having or not having the windows key.

Why shouldn't it be all keys which are optional? For instance weight could be saved by having only one control and shift button and probably somebody would be claiming it would be good. It could also be an option with a keyboard like you see on a cellular phone where pressing a key only three to four times would bring you the desired result.

What is it which is so difficult with this Windows key. Is it for instance because it gives the man an indication that there are other men who've got more success than him, a difficulty to the reptile brain of the man?


Best regards,

Henrik Dahl

[hdahl]

I am saddened to see no mention of Lenovo Thinkpads here:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10173

A 2.1GHz Penryn is sure to consume a lot of power on a laptop....

Why are you saddened about that?

I think it's more sad with the small amount of memory in the machines.

I also think it's more sad to observe that presumably it's old fashioned 32 bit OS'es.

Perhaps it's actually such home editions, for kids to play games and so on.


Best regards,

Henrik Dahl

[qviri]

What is it which is so difficult with this Windows key. Is it for instance because it gives the man an indication that there are other men who've got more success than him, a difficulty to the reptile brain of the man?

It takes space on the bottom row. I haven't been watching the T series, but I do know both sets of Ctrl and Alt keys are visibly smaller on X6* than on previous X machines. This is why people are having problems with it.

[lophiomys]

The Windows-Key makes the Ctrl and Alt key signifcantly smaller.
And if you hit the Windows-Key by accident annoying things happen.
I need the Ctrl and Alt keys a lot during daily work,
and I do not understand why Lenovo would not offer an
alternate, old style keyboard without the Windows-Keys
as an option.

[pianowizard]

So, no one knows the answer to the OP's question? This is what s/he asked:

While I want to get a good deal, I'd like to avoid buying a T61p now if a T62 or T70 is a few months away that will blow the doors off the current models. Any idea what's in the wings for 1Q08 or 1H08?

[qviri]

Those who know are bound by NDAs. Those who don't know, blog.

[hdahl]

The Windows-Key makes the Ctrl and Alt key signifcantly smaller.
And if you hit the Windows-Key by accident annoying things happen.
I need the Ctrl and Alt keys a lot during daily work,
and I do not understand why Lenovo would not offer an
alternate, old style keyboard without the Windows-Keys
as an option.

Are the ordinary keys too small for hitting or what??

The Ctrl and Alt keys are not smaller than the ordinary keys despite there's also room for the windows keys.


Best regards,

Henrik Dahl

[onix]

Latest news:

http://www.electronista.com/articles/07 ... enryn.tip/

No mention of the Windows key

[dr_st]

Are the ordinary keys too small for hitting or what??

The Ctrl and Alt keys are not smaller than the ordinary keys despite there's also room for the windows keys.

I was upset when I got my first keyboard with a Windows key, back in 1997 or so. I was annoyed whenever I was hitting it by accident. One adjusts to it quickly, though, and even learns the benefits of having this key for some handy shortcuts. Once you understand that it's not going to go away, might as well make use of it. Now I much prefer my T60 keyboard with builtin Windows key to my T42 keyboard where I had to lose the right Alt key in order to have Windows key capabilities.

[cj3209]

Here's my wish list:

I would like sturdier LCD screens that don't get white spots so quickly - I've had these white spots on many of the thinkpads that I've used.

Better battery life would be great as well; why should we be satisfied with 3-4 hour battery life? I don't think battery life has increased in the last 10 years...How about 7-8 hour battery life? Also, I hate the extended batteries protruding out like that.

I would also like a thinner profile with less protrusions as well - sort of like the macbooks...

CJ

[onix]

Tell them to stop making faster processors and bloated OS's that require it... problem solved.

Imagine how low power one of the early Centrino's would be if it was fabbed on a 45nm process, and it ran some sub 50MB version of Linux. You'd almost get your 7-8 hrs. there. We'd have to work on the display and GPU next...

Here's my wish list:

Better battery life would be great as well; why should we be satisfied with 3-4 hour battery life? I don't think battery life has increased in the last 10 years...How about 7-8 hour battery life? Also, I hate the extended batteries protruding out like that.

CJ

[mattbiernat]

Tell them to stop making faster processors and bloated OS's that require it... problem solved.
CJ

[/quote]
... not quite solved... tell them to stop making bloated software as well. compare the system requirement of MS office 97 versus MS office 2007.