Thinkpads Forum

The mechanism as I see it is: TP Fans gave input to create TP 25, Lenovo released the cool PC as an 'epitome' of 25 years, and I was lulled into a false sense of 'maybe newer TPs are pretty boring after all' and 'traditional KBs look way easier and familiar to type on'. For the newer generation of fans, TP 25 actually caused us to rethink and reject the new styles Lenovo pushes out. Quite unfortunate! Lenovo's biggest mistake. And because of TP 25, I have to do all this hardware analysis and forum posting...how ridiculous.
What does not go very well is my TP addiction. Originally begun after the TP 25 release, it was based on this logic: if TP 25, the epitome of 25 years ends up with those specs which some consider overpriced and old, then I better get those specs – which included the usual i7, 512GB, 16G, and T420 layout of the KB. Is my bias that leans towards traditional KBs based on the fact that TP 25 was released with it? Yes.

Now, there's obviously more to it. I also note how I have used the trad KB a lot before and definitely like it design-wise more than the current bland ones. L420 showed that bad layout with trad keyboard and I thought that to be lesser than the current styles. But the 7 row KB of T420/TP 25 just looks better.

The problem with T25 is that it lacks other Thinkpad "features" which are:
- easy to repair with cheap parts available
- easy to upgrade to something familiar without need for readjustment. I remember when I upgraded from A21p to T42p and no one noticed I have the new laptop (which was a good thing as I didn't want to bring attention I have something that costs like 2-3 salaries at the time)

Say you buy T25 now. After 2 years you spill water on it and need to replace keyboard. If it's not available in your country and you bought it from abroad or ebay, you will already have downtime waiting for keyboard, if you will be able to buy one. After it's outside of warranty there will be no keyboards available unless Chinese start making knockoffs. And if you want to upgrade in 3-5 years you will again have to go back to 6-row keyboard as there probably won't be a T26 or T25 G2. Thus the T25 is less useful as a daily driver, it's more an expensive collector item.

Regarding repair: that's Lenovo's problem, not mine. I have five year NBD ADP warranty.

TP25 is/was Lenovo cashing out on nostalgia. Nothing new. Car and musical instrument manufacturers have been doing it for decades now.

Effects? Some people are happy owning it and Lenovo is even happier having them part with their $$$$. So it's a win-win, really.