Yes, I would buy one. But it's 6+ months and Lenovo hasn't started producing them.

In 2013 Lenovo annouced the T430, were they destroyed their ThinkPad brand with this aweful keyboard and touchpad, etc: http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/thinkpad-t431s-laptop-new-des...

And David Hill (the autor of the ThinkPad Time Machine? 2015 blob post) is mentioned in the 2013 article.

Nothing will come of it.

The ThinkPad's target audience was business users and geeks.

Both of whom favor MacBooks in this day and age.

> Both of whom favor MacBooks in this day and age.

So you probably live in California or something. The rest of the world keeps using Lenovo Thinkpads just fine. Just look at their sales figures, they are not losing ground by droves or something. Macs are no replacement for Thinkpads in any way.

What are you getting from a Thinkpad that you wouldn't get from a Macbook Pro? It's not price. If you spec out a similar one, in a lot of cases, the MBP beats it in price. The things that matter -- performance, battery life, display, weight all favor the MBP.

I've tried finding a Windows laptop that comes close for personal use. I ended up getting a MBP and putting Windows on it like a lot of developers.

Thinkpad T550 Ultrabook $2,399.00

Intel Core i7-5600U Processor (4MB Cache, up to 3.20GHz) Windows 10 Home 64 15.5" 3K (2880x1620), IPS, with WWAN Intel HD Graphics 5500 16GB PC3-12800 DDR3L (2 DIMM) 512 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA3 Intel 7265 AC/B/G/N Dual Band Wireless + Bluetooth Version 4.0 Up to 14.8 hours of battery life with 3 cell + 3 cell batteries Starting at 4 lbs

Macbook Pro 15 $2,499.00

15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display 2.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz 16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM 512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage Intel Iris Pro Graphics + AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2GB GDDR5 memory Force Touch trackpad

* Heat management: Thinkpads just don't heat up in harmful ways. I have seen way too many Macbooks that can't be handled when they heat up or the continued stress degrades some component * Keyboard with a Delete key * You can install Linux on a Thinkpad trivially and have it ready for use. The MBP just isn't there * The chassis stands up to a lot more abuse, not just aesthetically (because the MBP frames scratch up just by looking at them the wrong way) but in terms of actually resisting falls. * With the newer models you can replace the external battery while running, and if you get the larger batteries you can run your machine for a full 24 hours.

Thinkpads certainly heat up if you're running Linux rather than Windows.

Yes, but if you install tlp the situation is somewhat better.

Well I'd never personally buy a brand new Thinkpad. Against a new mac or dell it's not a super great deal.

But if you like to tinker, Thinkpad is really your only option. It has widely available and inexpensive user replaceable components(screen, chassis, RAM, SSD, keyboard, mousepad, etc). Lightly used thinkpads are available for a few hundred bucks on ebay. I picked up a year old T440s with I7, 12gb ram, and 256gb SSD for $400 last year.

Also hot swappable battery, wide linux compatibility, spill proof keyboard, awesome industrial design.

> I've tried finding a Windows laptop that comes close for personal use. I ended up getting a MBP and putting Windows on it like a lot of developers.

Well a lot of developers actually use Linux, and Lenovo hardware support for Linux is much better than the non-official Linux support for Macs, for one.

Plus, Thinkpads are way more robust than Apple's products. They can drop, be trampled over, and still work just fine. They are made for the road, not just to shine in Starbucks.

Thinkpads are highly replaceable as well. You can open them up and change about every part inside, because they are made to be modular and easy to service. No need to go to your Apple Store to have your battery replaced.

On top of that, used Thinkpads can be extremely cheap and still work fine for YEARS after that. You probably will replace them before the hardware actually fails.

Thinkpad still has a pretty hardcore following among linux users..

Linux users are statistical noise in the user base. If they're the only ones seriously interested, Lenovo management will look at the numbers and decide it's just not worth it.

Hey, maybe someone can Kickstart a 3D-printed retro ThinkPad case for modern laptop system boards.

In the US, yes. My understanding that desktop linux is rather popular in asia, russia, and eastern europe, and I've seen that lenovo offers thinkpads with linux pre-installed outside the US.

Sounds like shades of this comment:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6322397

"The original iPhone was a conversation starter, just like the iPad when it came out. You can pull out a Thinkpad from 10 years ago in a full Starbucks if you like, but most people wouldn't enjoy doing it - and even apologize for it, if they got curious stares."