New Thinkpad T25 - Anniversary

[emonect]

I have a dream ...

The new Microsoft Suface Book 2 width 3:2 display und 15" with a Thinkpad keyboard ...

https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/17/164 ... -processor

Would be my dream come true ...

HELLO LENOVO !!!! Please listen !!!

[Thinkpad4by3]

Hi valued (not really) customer,

We dont care

-Lenovo

(Not actually affiliated with Lenovo, just assuming)

[jdrou]

I have a dream ...

The new Microsoft Suface Book 2 width 3:2 display und 15" with a Thinkpad keyboard ...

https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/17/164 ... -processor

Would be my dream come true ...

Leaving aside the keyboard, Surface Pro/Surface Book series still has one major issue for me: non-upgradeable storage. You can't buy a 256GB version and upgrade to 512GB/1TB/2TB later. Especially significant because SSD prices are expected to start dropping again next year. Giving it more powerful CPU & GPU just makes that lack more painful because it means more things you could run if you had enough storage. Slight compensation is that they've finally updated the SDCard slot to UHS-II so you could use it for secondary "permanent" storage.
Otherwise the SB2 is indeed very tempting.

[Puppy]

There is long thread about it Short version, Lenovo can't make any innovation because is stuck by selling crap components in high volumes.

Forget ThinkPad, there is no future if you want anything else than a generic laptop using cheapest mass volume components available. Even those B-grade 3:2 displays that Microsoft throws away and being used by Chuwi to build a $300 3:2 laptop have better overall quality/parameters than ThinkPad 25 one

[Summilux]

The new Microsoft Suface Book 2 width 3:2 display und 15" with a Thinkpad keyboard ...

https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/17/164 ... -processor

Oh boy, oh boy... I just realised just how big this news is

But the biggest new feature is that the new Surface Book 2 comes in two sizes, 13.5-inch and 15-inch. The smaller model has a 3000x2000 display and the larger one has a 3240x2160 display, both being touchscreens and compatible with the new Surface Pen and Surface Dial.

https://www.gsmarena.com/microsoft_laun ... -27778.php

And just a few days ago some people were claiming that Lenovo could never offer a square-ish laptop with a full-sized keyboard because there are no 3:2 screens bigger than 12" on the market !

If have very little hope of Lenovo trying to procure these displays, but if 51nb could 3D-print a dock featuring a Classic TP keyboard (to replace the standard MS dock with the ugly keyboard), or just scavenge the display and make a whole new TP around it, it'd be sweet

[NonesensE]

Dang, reading those news, I just realised the 13.5" version has the same width as a 14.1" 4:3 screen. I just need to come up with an ingenious way to fill the 2.5cm excess height, then this would be a nice screen for a 14" T70. And I could skip the search for a 14" UXGA screen that only resulted in a broken-by-transport screen yet :/

[RealBlackStuff]

That 2.5cm excess would be a prime location to install all those many control LEDs, just what everybody wants!

[unix_joe]

And just a few days ago some people were claiming that Lenovo could never offer a square-ish laptop with a full-sized keyboard because there are no 3:2 screens bigger than 12" on the market !

Does “some people” refer to a certain shil poster on the Reddit ThinkPad subforum? Because I’m fairly certain that is controlled opposition at this point, considering the party line copy/paste answers he has in defense of everything Lenovo does these days.

[Summilux]

Does “some people” refer to a certain shil poster on the Reddit ThinkPad subforum? Because I’m fairly certain that is controlled opposition at this point, considering the party line copy/paste answers he has in defense of everything Lenovo does these days.

Two or three of them, actually There's the well-known main one, and I think the others just parrot the arguments which he keeps repeating.

I still have a certain respect for the main poster, because although he has vested interests which lead him to be unreasonably uncritical (at a time where Lenovo is critically dumb and should be duly castigated for that), at least he is consistent in the points he's making and keeps his composure. Too bad we aren't in the same camp.

[axur-delmeria]

I just need to come up with an ingenious way to fill the 2.5cm excess height, then this would be a nice screen for a 14" T70. :/

Maybe a 3D-printed bezel? 2.5cm is quite a lot of space though. Even shoehorning a webcam with a sliding cover won't take up much space.

[gofishus]

The SurfaceBook 2 keyboard is NOT a thinkpad keyboard.. and the ports are lackluster and no removable battery. So no it can't replace a Thinkpad.

[Summilux]

The SurfaceBook 2 keyboard is NOT a thinkpad keyboard..

Hence the enticing idea of replacing it with a Thinkpad keyboard.

and the ports are lackluster and no removable battery. So no it can't replace a Thinkpad.

But there hasen't been a real Thinkpad in a long time, so this would in effect be better than what can be procured right now.

[gofishus]

The SurfaceBook 2 keyboard is NOT a thinkpad keyboard..

Hence the enticing idea of replacing it with a Thinkpad keyboard.

and the ports are lackluster and no removable battery. So no it can't replace a Thinkpad.

But there hasen't been a real Thinkpad in a long time, so this would in effect be better than what can be procured right now.

Aside from the 3:2 display I don't think anything else the SurfaceBook has is better than the ThinkPads right now. The ThinkPad P51 is IMO the most 'traditional' of all the ThinkPads that Lenovo currently offers (retro keyboard of T25 notwithstanding) - it has a massive 10 ports with an express card slot, removable battery and traditional roll cage.

[NonesensE]

Hence the enticing idea of replacing it with a Thinkpad keyboard.


But there hasen't been a real Thinkpad in a long time, so this would in effect be better than what can be procured right now.

Aside from the 3:2 display I don't think anything else the SurfaceBook has is better than the ThinkPads right now. The ThinkPad P51 is IMO the most 'traditional' of all the ThinkPads that Lenovo currently offers (retro keyboard of T25 notwithstanding) - it has a massive 10 ports with an express card slot, removable battery and traditional roll cage.

And proper hinges! Doesn't take advantage from this by larger batteries that stick out of the back, though.

[NonesensE]

I just need to come up with an ingenious way to fill the 2.5cm excess height, then this would be a nice screen for a 14" T70. :/

Maybe a 3D-printed bezel? 2.5cm is quite a lot of space though. Even shoehorning a webcam with a sliding cover won't take up much space.

Maybe, but probably not, I'd probably use milled plastic blocks. Making a 3D-printed bezel look good is very difficult. I'd split the space in e.g. 1cm at the top and 1.5cm at the bottom of the frame. But after all, I'd prefer to keep the whole display area. No need to fit a webcam into one of those spaces. If I need one, I can still put it in place of the bluetooth module.

[theterminator93]

All this talk of 3D printing parts... I don't know what the enterprise grade $30,000 machines produce, but from what I've seen, the sub-$10,000 3D printers I've worked with all produce results that leave a bit to be desired in terms of a finished product. Anything that comes off of one needs a lot of work after the fact to smooth out the extruder lines/artifacts in the result which can be very tedious and time consuming.

[Thinkpad4by3]

CNC machines that are sub 5K can create great results.

This guy made a quite professional looking 15" 4:3 laptops, though the specs might leave something to be desired .

[NonesensE]

My mill is not CNC, unfortunately (and I'm not a professional with it). In the office, I could use my employer's 3D printer, a 60k€ machine that produces excellent results - as a polyjet printer, they are brown-ish semi-transparent, though. And I haven't built a 3D model yet, except for the 127 film spool on thingyverse, a pretty simple model. So in theory, I have both options, but both aren't ideal and I have not enough time to master them.

[RealBlackStuff]

That's the nicest C64 concoction I have ever seen!
That guy did a great job.
I had my (regular, multi-piece) C64 last century, in the early '80s.
A keyboard/CPU, a power supply, a monitor, a tape drive, 2 floppy drives, a matrix printer and a rather empty bank account.
Compared to that, this T25-Retro is dirt-cheap!