[HN Gopher] ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
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ThinkPad designer David Hill on unreleased models
Author : LorenDB
Score : 147 points
Date : 2025-08-02 12:40 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theregister.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theregister.com)
| mananaysiempre wrote:
| > "It's very difficult to make a seven-row keyboard anymore
| because of the aspect ratio of the display and the whole
| arrangement of the pieces on the inside," he said. "It's a
| decision that was not made lightly, however. I still like the
| seven-row keyboard and, as aspect ratios change, and they
| continue to change, I don't know. Maybe someday somebody will be
| interested in it again."
|
| The sad part is, the Framework 13 has a 3:2 display (with a
| stupidly large bottom bezel, too, for good reasons), but still
| uses a bog-standard modern laptop keyboard, including (unlike the
| ThinkPad) the miserable half-height arrow keys. They did bother
| to make a Copilot key, though. Just not a better keyboard.
| walterbell wrote:
| _> aspect ratio of the display_
|
| Meanwhile, Apple sold 500+ million HiDPI 4:3 displays on iPads.
| Do they have a supply chain lock on 4:3 screens?
| mananaysiempre wrote:
| Possibly. It's hugely expensive to order a completely custom
| screen, and I know Framework waited for a long time for a
| better 3:2 display to come onto the market after the initial
| one--the current better panel is actually a compromise that
| loses some pixels to rounded corners, which is fine but IMO
| not "pay $270+tax+shipping for the upgrade" fine. Looking at
| the specs of the screens, I'm almost sure that both the
| original 2256x1504 one and the rounded-corners 2880x1920 one
| are actually identical to the ones in the Microsoft Surface
| (changed to a matte finish), so it's Microsoft footing the
| custom-screen bill in this case. (I've heard we're not
| getting small phones for a similar reason: you would need to
| sell a lot of phones to justify a new screen, and all the
| small-phone people will still begrudgingly buy a large one if
| there are no small ones.)
| cosmic_cheese wrote:
| The big selling point of the higher tier FW13 screen option
| is that it's conducive to 2x/200% UI scaling, which is
| surprisingly rare in x86 laptops and is desirable under
| Linux. Fractional scaling displays technically work but
| have some notable quirks, where 2x scaling has worked
| flawlessly for a long time.
| masklinn wrote:
| I'm pretty sure it's just that 16:9 are so ubiquitous they're
| by far the cheapest option.
|
| Hell, Apple shipping millions of 4:3 should keep them
| reasonable affordable. Same with 16:10 back when those were
| still a thing (because of the notch Apple now uses 9:5.85
| displays to retain a rectangular 16:10 fullscreen).
| ginko wrote:
| No one asked for a 16:9 thinkpad though.
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| 16:9 displays were inevitable due to the economies of scale
| form the TV industry. It's a shame they had to be 1366x768
| for so long.
|
| I remember many eons ago in the last 2000s to early 2010s
| when I wanted a 16:10 monitor for my PC and the price
| difference between 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 or between
| 2560x1440 and 2560x1600 was massive, that it made no sense to
| get the few extra vertical pixels of the 16:10 unless you
| were loaded and money was no issue.
|
| Even 4k 16:9 monitors a few years after launch, were cheaper
| than 16:10 2560x1600 ones which have already been on the
| market far longer. Crazy.
| 4ad wrote:
| I call BS on that, as Macbooks somehow always kept being
| 16:10. In fact you could easily buy 16:10 panels, I know
| because for many years I upgraded old 16:10 Thinkpads with
| modern displays.
| FirmwareBurner wrote:
| Nothing what I said is BS, the price differences on
| external 16:10 monitors were significantly more expensive
| than 16:9 ones. Look it up.
|
| _> old 16:10 Thinkpads with modern displays._
|
| Yes you're talking about the really old 16:10 ones from
| the mid to late 2000s, right before they switched to 16:9
| cause they were cheaper to make due to the HD TV era. Add
| then today they switched back to 16:10.
|
| So no, it's no BS that scale allows for much cheaper
| products, but Apple could stick to 16:10 since they never
| catered to cheap and it would probably cost them more in
| SW dev and tooling to reengineer their OS GUI and chassis
| for 16:9 than to keep the production lines as is since
| their product line back then had like 3 laptops total.
|
| And maybe start with good faith before screaming BS. No
| need to be rude just because people have different
| opinions and experiences than you.
| rs186 wrote:
| And worth mentioning that Apple, unlike most PC
| manufacturers, don't have 100 different models, with 20
| different configurations of each model lying around.
| Their 13" laptop has always had the same 2560x1600
| resolution (until recently).
| criddell wrote:
| I did. I like having two documents side-by-side and I think
| it works out well on a 1920x1080 (or 3820x2160) display.
| wpm wrote:
| The Framework keyboard is precisely why I haven't bought one.
| The mixed height arrow key thing sucked on the touchbar MacBook
| Pros, they suck on FWs too. The second the 13 gets a normal
| inverted T, I buy one.
|
| In the meantime, I'm waiting on a display converter board to
| show up from China so I can install a modernish 1440p display
| in my T420.
| mananaysiempre wrote:
| The "normal" inverted T is just another variation of the same
| suckage as far as I'm concerned (slightly worse, if anything,
| because I tend to wear away the paint--and eventually plastic
| --on a tiny left-arrow key faster than on a normal one). Look
| at the photos in TFA[1] for how good arrow keys are arranged.
|
| [1] e.g. https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/07/30/hill7.jpg (the
| presence of a Break key almost makes me cry)
| normie3000 wrote:
| > https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/07/30/hill7.jpg
|
| Doesn't this photo show an inverted T?
| notpushkin wrote:
| I think a "normal" inverted T consists of half-height
| keys (i.e. used on most current laptops). ThinkPads used
| slightly higher arrow keys for a while, not sure about
| now.
| nrp wrote:
| We have 1.5mm key travel, the keyboard is replaceable, and the
| vast majority of our keyboard artwork options don't have a
| Copilot logo.
| mananaysiempre wrote:
| All true. My previous laptop was a 2014 MBP, and the two
| basically feel the same. I'd say the MBP's layout is
| marginally worse because of the stupid power key and the
| half-size left and right arrows, and of course the MBP's
| construction makes your life hell if you spill liquid on the
| keyboard and need to replace it. (Framework's prohibition on
| freight forwarding makes my life difficult in the same
| situation, but that's a me problem--I should have taken the
| hint that I wasn't wanted when I was jumping through hoops to
| buy it in the first place.)
|
| It's not a bad keyboard. As far as laptops of the last decade
| go, it's even a good one. But the up/down arrows sucked on
| the MBP and they (though not left/right) suck on the FW13, I
| expect(?) because a rectangular keyboard ends up cheaper than
| one with protruding arrows.
|
| Furthermore, my (grandparent) comment was about how vertical
| shrinkage made the keyboard smaller but the FW13's taller
| screen didn't restore the missing keys, and if half-size
| up/down arrows just suck to use, Home/End/PgUp/PgDn hidden
| behind Fn suck to a Pavlovian extent: I didn't realize how
| much the MBP trained me out of using them before I had to use
| an older ThinkPad for a bit that had them on separate keys. I
| won't even mention Ctrl-Break except to look in its direction
| wistfully.
|
| Finally, the Copilot key is of course a distraction. I don't
| know what it actually sends on those keyboards, but if I can
| map that to Compose I couldn't care less about what's drawn
| on it. It's just sad that, after everything, that distraction
| is what ended up being the first substantial change to the
| FW13's keyboard.
| nh2 wrote:
| Please just give us an option to buy a 7 row Thinkpad
| keyboard with Trackpoint.
|
| There are talented keyboard makers like Tex that already
| pulled this off, making better hardware than Lenovo itself,
| and you could instantaneously win most Thinkpad users over,
| likely permanently.
| spankibalt wrote:
| Turn the ThinkPad X12 into a modernized _and_ more maintainable
| HP ZBook x2 G4, complete with EMR stylus. Keep the size or make
| it even smaller. Offer a bunch of first-rate keyboard options.
| For both machine 's got the best form factor in that size-class
| there is: _the detachable_ , the evolution of the convertible
| of yesteryear. It's really not hard to figure out.
|
| Whatcha get instead? Garbage like silly rolling-display
| laptops. Or even worse, _The Homer_ of the laptop world: these
| bizarre contraptions with two or three foldout displays. It 's
| just missing a cup holder.
|
| Framework borked it here as well. I just don't understand why
| you waste time, energy and money on developing and building a
| substandard machine (Framework 12) in an outdated form factor.
| raffael_de wrote:
| There is something about the classic Thinkpad design which
| strikes me as more than just nostalgia. More like a Jungian
| archetype. Honest, virtuous and sturdy. The ultimate example of
| form follows function. The Stroke 8 of computers. A masculine
| counterpart to the femininity of Apple products (nttawwi).
| WillAdams wrote:
| The irony is, back when Steve Jobs first came back to Apple
| from NeXT, the Apple press on at least one occasion complained
| of him using a ThinkPad, even stating it was running Windows
| 95, w/o considering the NeXT compatibility list, that that
| model was on it, and that it actually ran NeXTstep and
| Lighthouse Design's Concurrence.app for presentations.
| marttt wrote:
| > More like a Jungian archetype. Honest, virtuous and sturdy.
|
| +1, comparison of the day for sure!
| WillAdams wrote:
| The fibrous Trackpoint is still my absolute favourite.
|
| For folks who want more in-depth backstory, going all the way
| back to the beginning and the origin of the "ThinkPad" name see:
|
| https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/483933.ThinkPad
|
| I really wish that there would be a true heir to the mantle, and
| a return to some of the original ideas, esp. the early stylus
| models and variants such as the TransNote --- if Lenovo would do
| a version of their Yogabook 9i under the ThinkPad brand and use a
| Wacom EMR stylus and put a Trackpoint on the keyboard it'd be an
| instabuy for me --- as it is, I use a Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro
| 360 and only get a Trackpoint when using my docking setup w/
|
| https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd026745-thinkpad...
|
| (need to find time to buy an updated one (and a spare) w/ USB-C)
| neilv wrote:
| > _(need to find time to buy an updated one (and a spare) w /
| USB-C)_
|
| Once you find a TrackPoint keyboard model that you like, buy
| spares, since you might have a hard time getting a good design
| in the future.
|
| For example, they went to a lot of trouble to develop
| TrackPoint keyboard SK-8855, with community input, and then
| discontinued it. To cries of anguish, scalpers and price-
| gouging on last remaining stock, and, years later, people
| selling filthy broken used ones for more than they cost new.
|
| https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd005137-thinkpad...
|
| I don't think Lenovo has quite the same design sensibilities as
| IBM ThinkPad team had:
|
| * "You, the user, want to throw away IBM's famed keyboards, and
| have a chiclet keyboard as the only option." (No.)
|
| * "You want to remove the function keys that aren't necessary
| for Twitter." (No.)
|
| * "You want to remove the tactile cues from TrackPoint buttons,
| so it looks more sleek, for your TikTok scrolling." (No. This
| is not a mindless "content consumer" device. "Think" is right
| there, in the name.)
|
| * "You want to remove the TrackPoint buttons altogether, from a
| workstation laptop, so you can get RSI from clicking with your
| thumb on the touchpad below instead." (No, and now I think you
| are just trying to sabotage all the smart people who were using
| ThinkPads before.)
|
| I'm still surprised that IBM was even allowed by the US gov't
| to sell ThinkPad to China. It was beloved fleet tech of US big
| business and government, as well beloved by techies
| ("innovators"). And maybe also a source of technology
| excellence pride, like fewer companies are now. Imagine the
| iPhone business being sold to China. Or Cisco being sold.
| Uvix wrote:
| The other option wasn't IBM keeping the business, it was IBM
| discontinuing it entirely.
| jmclnx wrote:
| All I need is the trackpoint, I would never consider buying a
| laptop without one.
| michalpleban wrote:
| I have never used the butterfly keyboard 700C (my first ThinkPad
| was the 365X) but I immediately fell in love with the trackpoint
| since day one. I will never go back to a mouse. Fortunately you
| can buy USB keyboards with trackpoints so that's what I'm using
| for my desktop. It's also kinda funny when other people ask me to
| use my computer, and then hunt around my desk for the mouse ;)
| p_ing wrote:
| Is anyone aware of a similar type of article for the ThinkPad
| Power 800 series?
|
| I know the trackpoint was popular but I could never get used to
| it; the pressure I felt I needed to apply eventually hurt my
| fingertip.
| mxuribe wrote:
| Man, i love me some Thinkpad laptops!
|
| For me, its the overall sturdiness, the historic ability to more
| easily swap out components, and the keys and keyboard combo. I
| haven't had so many Thinkpads as others have had, but of the few
| i have owned, i think so far the T420 from i think circa 2011 (?)
| seemed to have the best balance of sturdy boxy goodness and
| wonderful keys and keyboard. While i would not say that i am a
| keyboard snob, i can certainly appreciate differences between the
| different types of keyboards like chiclets, or mechanical
| dedicated keyboards, etc. I'm sure beyond functional aspects,
| there is no doubt a nostalgia that i feel for these machines that
| is solely based on emotion...but who cares, since i always get
| more value than whatever i paid for them!
|
| On another aspect to this, it feels like Framework laptops has a
| chance to perhaps capture at least some of the positive sentiment
| that folks have/had for Thinkpads. I mean, sure, the swap-ability
| of the components is the most obvious comparison...but, i think
| Framework has also fostered a following by a community, that, if
| they play their cards right - and produce good, solid products -
| can turn into a successor to Thinkpads. I mean, obviously
| thinkpads are still here and all...but the folks at Framework
| have a big chance here, and i welcome the competition (since we
| all win as consumer if there is good, solid choices in the
| marketplace). Let's hope both Thinkpads and Framework (and any
| other competitors) keep moving the needle forward to empower
| users with more options for good solid design, easy/self-repair,
| component swap-ability, sturdy/dependable hardware, and fair
| pricing!
| karaterobot wrote:
| > Hill said that the X300 is the favorite ThinkPad he worked on,
| not only because of its thinness, but also because it proved
| that, under Lenovo, he could build an even better product than he
| had for IBM.
|
| > "There was a giant scare that this Chinese company was going to
| destroy ThinkPad, and it was going to become cheerful and ruin it
| and all this kind of stuff," he said.
|
| 'As good' can mean different things.
|
| My first two laptops were IBM Thinkpads. In 2000 or so, I was
| carrying one in my hands down some concrete stairs. I tripped,
| bounced the laptop down 2-3 stairs, then landed on my knee on top
| of it. No visible marks, and it booted right up and worked
| flawlessly for years afterward. This was with a platter hard
| drive, too. I don't remember the X300, but the current Lenovo
| Thinkpads don't strike me as being quite as robust as the tanks
| they used to make.
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| The forced redesign story was the icing on the cake. You never
| redesign a best selling item. If you try, the changes will be
| made to you.
| garciansmith wrote:
| I miss the ThinkLight (and the dual-light idea he had sounds
| great). Useful when working in a dark environment to look at
| papers and whatnot, or just to provide a nice amount of ambient
| light to smooth out the contrast between the screen itself and
| your surroundings. Most modern laptops have backlit keys, but
| those don't help in those cases; they are pretty much only useful
| for people who can't touch type.
| bobson381 wrote:
| I actually used to work at a place that had regular power
| outages because it was remote and ran on hydropower. We had a
| bunch of old think pads with the think light at the time that
| were standard staff issue, and they were awesome for working on
| any technology or system stuff when power was out but wireless
| was on with the UPSs. Such a cool feature and I do wish they
| still had it. Along with the locking lids, the 430 and 530s
| were tanklike.
| marttt wrote:
| Yeah, it has got me "in the zone" for writing many times. On a
| side note, I also like the "click" when I close the lid on my
| T42. Mentally balancing for sure :).
|
| I bought a used P50 for our son, and while it's allright (even
| the keyboard -- although it doesn't give that _particular_ feel
| of the T4x era keyboards), it lacks both of those extra-
| relevant features. No click on closing, and a mere backlit
| keyboard. But, that 's life!
| Melatonic wrote:
| Exactly - the light was far more useful than just for
| illuminating the keyboard
| Izkata wrote:
| > However, at this point, the Soft Dome design has won out with a
| rather large, flat top that's filled with dots for texture and an
| easy grip.
|
| I've only ever used the original eraser head and the current soft
| dome, and remember the original being nice because it was tall
| enough to tilt my finger slightly and push, while the current one
| is annoying to use because they're too short to do that and my
| fingers get almost no grip on them and slip around.
| esseph wrote:
| You can order packs of different shapes and sizes on Amazon
| tonydav wrote:
| I can't have a laptop without the trackpoint. But why can't my
| fulloption P16 gen2 have a working suspend sleep S3?
|
| It's a furnace in my backpack.
|
| Also why lose the RJ45?
|
| Sadly there is no better laptop.. - ecc - trackpoint +3buttons,
| could be without touchpad - camera shutter privacy - smartcard
| reader - 2 nvme (<3 zfs mirror) - big battery
|
| <3 NixOS
| dehrmann wrote:
| A general takeaway from this is that there were a number of
| innovations that made sense at the time, but as the landscape
| changed, they lost their utility. The butterfly keyboard wasn't
| needed once screens got larger. The switch to widescreen mean the
| 7th row of keys competed with the trackpad for real estate. The
| lid latch was no longer needed as screens got lighter. Top-of-
| screen keyboard lighting got replaced by backlighting.
|
| Don't get married to once-smart ideas that no longer make sense.
|
| Also surprised there was no mention of docking HDD heads when the
| in-device accelerometer (I think this even predates the Wii and
| iPhone) detects a drop or the keyboard that had drain holes that
| bypass the much more expensive motherboard, protecting it from
| spills.
|
| And I'm glad there was no mention of the adaptive keyboard
| (touchscreen F keys) that Apple also tried and failed at making a
| thing.
| ktallett wrote:
| I question why the butterfly keyboard wouldn't be needed once
| screens were larger. I use a MNT Reform and a mechanical
| keyboard is still vastly superior.
| duskwuff wrote:
| You may be thinking of butterfly _keyboard switches_ , which
| aren't what is being discussed here. The Thinkpad "butterfly
| keyboard" was a design which moved pieces of the keyboard
| around to make a keyboard wider than the laptop pop out when
| the laptop was opened. This video has a demonstration:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVrpRgKS2x4
|
| The purpose of this design was to allow a small laptop, with
| a small screen, to have a near full-size keyboard. Once
| larger screens forced laptops to become larger as well, this
| design was no longer needed.
| ktallett wrote:
| Ah yes! My mistake. I didn't realise that was what that was
| called. I did have one of those for a little while as a lab
| computer as it beat the size requirements allowed into the
| lab. I mean it was old for it's time when I used it but
| plugged in, it would do text files and csv.
| Melatonic wrote:
| I'd take a Thinkpad without a trackpad all together - I always
| disable mine in the bios anyways.
|
| Still also prefer thinklight to backlit keyboards but that's
| less of a necessary
| rs186 wrote:
| Interesting that we have tons of interviews, podcasts and books
| about how Apple design their hardware and software, but barely
| anything when it comes to other PCs or OSes. I have read some
| books and they are disappointing.
| dehrmann wrote:
| > There was a giant scare that this Chinese company was going to
| destroy ThinkPad
|
| It's been long enough to say that Lenovo really did right by the
| Thinkpad name. I recently switched from an X1 Carbon to a Macbook
| Pro because of Windows issues, and I miss the Thinkpad is built
| and feels. The case isn't as sharp, I prefer the trackpoint,
| plastic is weirdly more durable because it can flex, and all the
| parts are replaceable.
| scrlk wrote:
| > When designing the 25th anniversary ThinkPad, which came out in
| 2017, Hill brought back the ThinkLight, but he actually wanted to
| have - for the first time - two LEDs instead of one. The dual
| lights would have eliminated shadows and provided even better
| illumination, but unfortunately, this effort proved too costly to
| make it into the final product.
|
| Dual ThinkLights appeared on two models - W700 & W701:
| https://youtu.be/LSHP7VRs0bI?t=658
|
| There was also a dual screen variant, which had a secondary
| screen that popped out to the right of the primary screen:
| https://youtu.be/mzhZH9LK1ac?t=26
| ktallett wrote:
| Too costly to have two LEDs? I question if that is the case.
| scrlk wrote:
| The 25th Anniversary ThinkPad was a modified T470. I assume
| that the cost issues were related to a requirement to
| minimise the number of case modifications required from the
| stock T470. Incorporating a ThinkLight would require a
| redesigned display lid.
| drooopy wrote:
| I love how he also doesn't care about the X9.
| divbzero wrote:
| I still have my 2005 ThinkPad X41 which has both a TrackPoint and
| a ThinkLight. The laptop has a dead battery, but works as good as
| new when plugged in.
| marttt wrote:
| On my trusty T42 (bought ~10 years ago for about 30 euros) the
| GPU finally died last winter (heavy, unreadable screen flicker
| during every slightly more intensive task). It has an IPS panel
| which itself still seems to be in order, though. Luckily, I
| accidentally saw a similar one (no IPS, though) for 26 euros,
| so I'm rocking again.
|
| Those 4:3 screens and T4x series keyboards are really hard to
| let go, and if your activities allow for more text-oriented
| operating systems (I installed 9front on mine, but used to be a
| dedicated Tinycore Linux user, and the T42 is also nice with
| the various open source DOSes we have these days), they're
| still perfectly capable machines for 90% of relevant tasks. CF
| cards make very nice poor man's SSDs, so the machine is also
| very quiet with this setup, so far the fan rarely turns on.
|
| As for my previous T42, I think I really squeezed a lot out of
| it, including using it to produce (and, on a few occasions,
| record live) 1-hour radio shows for my country's public
| broadcasting (honored to contribute to a "landmark" series
| where high production quality is a must). It was always fun to
| think that here I am, working on a 30EUR 15-year-old machine,
| whereas other guys are doing their exact same montages on
| 2000EUR Macbooks -- and regarding the resulting production, the
| radio listener will notice no difference whatsoever. :)
|
| Obviously, though, this is a geek thing, those Macs probably do
| make a lot of sense for serious audio production.
|
| It's completely crazy, though, how you can get a more or less
| perfectly working (!) Thinkpad for 25-30 euros, whereas that
| same brand new machine cost something like 2k in 2007.
| jtwaleson wrote:
| I believe you can reflow the soldering on the GPU on the T42
| by heating it up, this was a common problem.
| penguin_booze wrote:
| One gripe I have with Lenovo keyboards is that the Fn key is at
| the left-most edge of the bottom row. Per my muscle memory, it's
| the Control key that ought to be there, not Fn.
| normie3000 wrote:
| This can be switched in BIOS.
| scrlk wrote:
| Starting in 2024, Lenovo adopted the 'conventional'
| control/function key layout for ThinkPads.
| jtwaleson wrote:
| The keys are identical though, so if you're careful you can
| swap the physical ones back to the proper way ;)
| dralley wrote:
| They're trying to ape the Apple layout. I agree, it's annoying.
| elric wrote:
| I think optimising for thinness is a stupid goal. I get wanting
| to reduce _weight_ , but volume and mass are two different
| metrics. Thicker laptops can have better cooling, bigger
| batteries, easier maintenance, a bloody ethernet port, and
| probably better keyboards.
|
| For some reason Lenovo has made the ThinkPad keyboard worse with
| every new generation. They're still better than other laptop
| keyboards, but my goodness the margin is shrinking.
|
| And while David Hill may claim that Lenovo TPs are as good as (or
| better than) IBM's, the number of repairs mine have had tell a
| different story. Since the x230, every single ThinkPad I've owned
| had to have its mainboard replaced. Sometimes even twice.
| somanyphotons wrote:
| Thickness does change the ergonomics when typing
| al_borland wrote:
| When something is large and light, the consumer view is that it
| is cheaply made. That's a problem when trying to sell an
| expensive product.
| cosmic_cheese wrote:
| I believe that impression comes from the laptop feeling
| "hollow" more than it does from it being light.
|
| This could probably be engineered around by doing things like
| holding the battery up against the laptop's palm rest with a
| rim of TPU or similar between the battery and the case to
| deaden vibrations and make it feel more "solid".
| al_borland wrote:
| Haven't some products been found to have weights inside
| just to make them feel more premium?
| cosmic_cheese wrote:
| In cases where there's no component that would naturally
| add weight in the right place, yes.
| Elfener wrote:
| The trackpoint and the nice keys are one thing, but what I really
| want all laptops to have is dedicated home/end/pgup/pgdn keys and
| in a normal-looking layout (as in 7-row or as in a full
| keyboard).
|
| I find it weird that even framework has gone with a keyboard
| where a bunch of keys are missing.
|
| (Sent from my Thinkpad T410)
| boomskats wrote:
| I'm just gonna leave this here
|
| https://www.tpart.net/about-x210ai/
| bArray wrote:
| > However, Hill said, he thought about putting a butterfly
| keyboard on a netbook when they were a viable product category in
| the late aughts.
|
| I _really_ want to see sub-11 " notebooks again. They were super
| cool travel laptops.
|
| > The dual lights would have eliminated shadows and provided even
| better illumination, but unfortunately, this effort proved too
| costly to make it into the final product.
|
| Ridiculous. Function must be allowed to win sometimes.
| goosedragons wrote:
| GPD has some. Particularly the GPD Pocket 4. 8.8" Notebook with
| a AMD HX 370 processor and up to 64GB RAM. Can even work as a
| KVM.
| spankibalt wrote:
| https://archive.ph/rJprW
| yc-kraln wrote:
| Definitely had fun as I was scrolling the article with a
| Trackpoint using the scrolling button. 100% my preferred way to
| laptop.
| dekhn wrote:
| In England the nub was referred to as the nipple.
|
| I had a series of think pads. I think the last one was a t61p
| running Lennox and it was truly glorious. I can't remember if it
| was that model or an earlier one which had a battery known as the
| tumor which stuck out the back. You could hibernate the laptop
| and swap in another battery and turn the laptop back on and keep
| working without rebooting.
|
| Everything since then for me has been MacBooks or Dell laptops.
| Neither brings me as much joy.
| ofalkaed wrote:
| I wish lenovo would make a modern 700c, nice and thin, no
| trackpad, 11" screen and three mouse buttons. Would be the ideal
| portable for me.
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