On 07/05/12 12:47, Jonathan Katz wrote:
On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Alexandre Souza -
Listas
<pu1bzz.listas at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Want a sturdy computer? Buy an IBM
machine. Ops, Lenovo :P
>
> Lenovo Thinkpad laptops sadly are sliding towards 'plastic crap' and
> away from the 'solid built IBM quality' end of the scale.
I have 3 Lenovo laptops in my possession, a T61 (from a former
employer) a T420 (on-loan from a current customer) and a G550. They
have consumer-grade and commercial-grade lines, with the T-series
being the commercial-grade. The T420 still seems of excellent quality,
even when compared to the T60/T61-era machines, and the T43 (T60
precursor and last of the IBM-branded stuff.) It has been sad to see
them go from metal (magnesium?) casing to plastic over the years, but
IBM had already initiated that change, IIRC. Given the abuse I've put
my T61 through (weekly commutes from IND to YUL, IND to MSP, etc.) it
has my vote of being a solid laptop. I don't see the T420 (current
Lenovo) straying too far from that mark. Both my "T" systems run
Windows 7. The "G" system is running Windows 8 preview.
The G550 is another story. It's a consumer-grade system with a 16:9
screen and 1366x768 resolution. It's body is solid enough, but I've
managed to have my DVD-ROM drive bezel pop off and go MIA. I can use
it for browsing the internet, but not much else.
I have a T61, and though it is heavy and seem solid, it is not as
technically well constructed as the IBM T42p it replaced. Things like
volume buttons are software controlled which presents problems for running
OS/2 on it. The builtin SD card slot didn't even work with the RH Linux
pre-installed on it. I loved my T42p, even having to replace the mother
board twice because it was so damn lite it was easy to pick up and carry
with one hand which flexed (and cracked) the mother board. I think the
Lenovos are better then most any other laptop I have seen, but they are not
quite as good as the IBM designed ones.
I have a Thinkpad x201 tablet which I haven't yet gotten eComStation
(Latest OEM of OS/2) installed successfully on, but I had it on an x200
tablet running well (including the touch screen) except for the wireless
network card which still lacks an OS/2 driver. I bricked the x200 by
putting a jail break BIOS on it to stop the stupid wifi card boot check so
I could put a supported wifi card in it. Anyone know how to restore the
original BIOS? It won't boot from the optical or hard drive any more, so
using the Lenovo BIOS CD doesn't work.
Mark
--
From the eComStation Desktop of: Mark Dodel
Warpstock 2012 -
http://www.warpstock.org
Warpstock Europe 2012 -http://www.warpstock.eu
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