Thinkpads are the rare exception. Most of (all of?) the screws are simple Phillips, and the manual provides good instructions on how to disassemble. I've worked on other laptops from other manufacturers; IIRC, I had a Toshiba with Torx screws. No manual, and it also took me forever to find the last two screws as one had a rubber stopper glued over it (that you had to half destroy to get out) and the other had a sticker placed over it.

MBPs have the weird "pentalobe" screws, AIUI.

ThinkPads are historically some of the most repairable laptops. They are essentially designed to be taken apart with a single Phillips screwdriver and no special tools.

Not any more. T470+ are horrible and they’ve started using glue in some of the newer X1’s apparently. I haven’t been blessed with a broken one yet though which is probably good.

That’s why I said essentially. They could do better, as could most in the industry. Competition is usually good in this regard for most laptops. The thinner they are, the less easy the repair can be.

That, and the service manual is online.

Even when asking about a part that was no longer available from them, I received a message from them about what to look for on EBay.

Most HP's and Dell's I've worked on were similarly simple to repair. Thinkpads are particularly good however :)