Journey To A ThinkPad

I remember getting my very first laptop. It was a Toshiba Satellite 330CDT running Windows 95 though, it wasn’t my first choice. I really wanted an IBM ThinkPad. I had my eye on one that I really liked but the IBM ThinkPad was extremely expensive. I think it was around $3,000 whereas the Toshiba Satellite 330CDT came in around $1,700 or $1,800 in an all-in-one design. In the end, the Toshiba Satellite made the most sense and it turned out to be a good investment.

Since then, I’ve gone through numerous Windows laptops. I remember getting another Toshiba Satellite laptop after my first one broke and eventually switched over to Dell as they were more customizable. I recall my first Dell laptop had a modular bay which could be used to swap out a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive with a floppy drive (Yes, a floppy drive!) or even swap in a modular battery for extended battery life.

After my first Dell laptop broke, I bought another Dell laptop before making the switch to Lenovo. I finally came full circle and got myself a ThinkPad albeit was no longer an IBM ThinkPad but a Lenovo ThinkPad. IBM by then had sold off their personal computer line to Lenovo. To be clear, I didn’t switch to Lenovo simply to have a ThinkPad. I made the switch because I wasn’t satisfied with the configurations of the then current Dell laptop models available. The configurations on the then current Lenovo ThinkPads were better aligned with what I was looking for, what I needed and were within my budget.

My first Lenovo ThinkPad was a T460s. At the time of purchase, I configured the ThinkPad with an Intel Core i7 2.60GHz processor, 20GB RAM (maxed out) and a 512GB SSD. I even got the 14-inch IPS Touch display; however, in retrospect, I rarely used the touchscreen so I probably could have done without it and saved some money. It had the standard ports (USB-A, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, 3.5mm headphone jack, etc.), built-in wireless, a 720p camera and it came in around $1,700. Pretty good investment given it lasted about five years!

There were a couple of areas open for improvement; specifically, the display and touchpad. I think Apple Retina Displays and trackpads are significantly better than the displays and touchpads on most Windows laptops. I haven’t found Windows laptop displays that are comparable to the quality of the Apple Retina Displays nor have I used touchpads/trackpads on Windows laptops that are as responsive and fluid as the ones on the MacBooks though I do like the PixelSense display and touchpad on the Microsoft Surface devices.

When I finally retired my Lenovo ThinkPad T460s, I chose to stick with Lenovo and replace it with a Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 2.