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IBM Thinkpads now in Titanium
Darksoftnet writes "Lenovo (who now owns IBM's PC business), has introduced a new shade to the Thinkpad range with the launch of a Z-Series laptop that comes both in a "classic black" case
or a "special-edition" brushed titanium cover."
Actually, it goes to 14 on both my four-year-old X21 (which I'm typing this post on) and a brand new (shipped 2005-09-09) R50e that I was setting up for a friend.
For more design history of the thinkpad, check out the "Thinkpad Genesis Series" on:
. 236.10.htm
http://www.thinkpads.com/Genesis3.htm
http://www.thinkpads.com/Genesis%204.htm
Richard Sapper is the German designer who designed the famous Artemide Tizio lamp (which also shares the Thinkpad's red controls and silver hinges).:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/euwcm/ho_1988
As for doing ``something cool with Linux and PPC'', here are a few things to chew on:
- Linux runs like a charm on both ThinkPads and Apple notebooks. ThinkPads actually do a bit better, as they use supported wireless cards, whereas Apples have the cursed Broadcom chipset.
- The main difference between the x86 and PPC CPUs is that x86s go faster, whereas PPCs are more energy efficient.
- Of course, the CPU also affects what proprietary operating systems you can run. PPC allows you to run Mac OS X, whereas x86 allows you to run Windows.
- However, you probably don't _really_ want either operating system. Windows is junk, and OS X is great in theory, but is unbearably slow compared to Linux. Just my experience, of course.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
You may not have noticed this using a USB wireless network adapter, but the built-in ibook wireless doesn't get signal very well. I have an IBM thinkpad 600E with a Belkin PCMCIA wireless card. I get 80-90% signal in places where my wife's ibook get's none. I think Apple wants to sell lots of airport stations. (This is with a linksys B router).
It would be interesting to hear from others who work at companies which are "IBM" houses (Thinkpads and Thinkcentres etc ...). Is there talk of dropping Think* brands now that Lenovo is making them?
My company switched to Dell within a month of the sale. As one co-worker put it: It's like giving up your BMW for a Civic
Thinkpads have a reputation the workplace for reliability, performance and build quality; the corporate standard (usually HP) pales in comparison
Not anymore. Since Levono has taken over, the quality has gone downhill. The company I work for has had a 20% failure rate with the laptops since Lenovo took over. On top of that, it now takes 6 - 8 weeks to get one because they're shipped directly from China. The same goes with their desktops. The company I work for orders around 2,000 computers a year, and this is unacceptable.
IBM ThinkPads have traditionally omitted this small homage to Redmond, but it looks like this model may see them conforming at last.
Oh well, my next laptop will be a Powerbook anyway.