ThinkPad Design: Classic or Classless?
February 21st, 2008 by Avram Piltch, LAPTOP Online Editorial Director 
I’m going to spell out my personal biases right up front. I love the look and feel of ThinkPads and have for years. I love the sleek black chassis, accented by just a dot of color here and there on the blue enter key or the bright red TrackPoint. I have to admit I was really excited this morning when I was the first person at LAPTOP to lift the new ThinkPad X300 out of its box, touch its thin black shell, and revel in the sheer thinness of its design. I had no idea how it would perform, but I liked what I saw. I liked it so much that I actually drooled a little. Good thing none of my coworkers were there to see me and that my thick beard absorbed the spittle before it could fall on my shirt. True, the basic color scheme and shape of a ThinkPad is the same now as it was in its launch year of 1993, but why mess with a great thing? I think of ThinkPad as the Rolls Royce of laptop design, elegant and timeless. So today, I was surprised when I saw how many users say the ThinkPad design’s time has come and gone. Just look at some of these negative comments. From our video hands-on with the X300, user Ben says:
Hey Lenovo, the 80’s called and they want their laptop back! Colour, shape, form, semantics and aesthetics. It seems Lenovo hasn’t thought about any of those aspects and made what in my opinion is possibly the ugliest laptop EVER!
User Glenn says:
You have got to be kidding me. That thing looks so cheap looking!
Meanwhile, a user who viewed our video on YouTube commented:
That thing is ugly. It looks like a thinkpad or whatever 1990′s laptop where called
So who’s right? Is ThinkPad the Rolls Royce or the Chevy Nova of notebooks? Tell it to me straight in the poll and comments sections below. I can take it. I’m the same person who listens to Kenny G., wears Velcro sneakers, and waits impatiently for thin ties to make a comeback. So I know I don’t always have the best taste, but I’m pretty sure I’m on solid ground in saying the ThinkPad design is a timeless classic.
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February 22nd, 2008 at 12:33 am
It’s the blue Enter key that really gets me. Sticks out like a sore thumb, and it’s not like I need help finding the Enter key on any keyboard. Make it black and you’re halfway to a nice looking laptop.
February 22nd, 2008 at 2:05 am
Interesting that you compare ThinkPad to Rolls Royce. Famous car brands know that certain design elements form their brand identity. They keep those elements over the years but each car generation needs to evolve from the previous. For RR, the current Phantom is instantly recognisable as a RR, but you take just one look at it and know it’s a brand new car. The ThinkPad X300 is 100% recycled in terms of aesthetics and makes no effort to try to tell you that it’s a 2008 IT product.
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:00 am
The problem, as I see it, is that this look has been so consistent, that they almost _have_ to stick with it. It’s their brand identity. Unfortunately, it’s too “sharp” for me. I prefer something more graceful and rounded–and less “busy.” I’m quite satisfied with my aging Pismo, but _really_ likethe look of the new Air. BTW, Apple really pulled off an optical illusion with the Air. By tapering it to the edges like they did, the book looks even thinnger than it really is. The Lenovo, by being boxy from edge to edge, looks fatter than it really is. But that is part and parcel of the “Thinkbook” brand.
-Jon
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:53 am
It could be “rounded off” a little come to think of it. Funny though, no comment about function, reliability or ease of use. Just having the “little red nipple” will keep me with Lenovo.
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:53 am
The ThinkPad design will always be in style, like a fresh pair of reebok pumps
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Jon GI nailed it. The ThinkPad design–in fact, all Windows notebooks, in my opinion–suffer from busy, clunky design. That lip around the bezels? Yuck.
Maybe Lenovo is satisfied with recycled aesthetics, but I’d rather see notebook design pushed in new and exciting directions. Good thing we’ve got Apple to move things forward.
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 am
The TP is the notebook as the Colt 45 is the pistol
It’s out of fashion coz it’s useful
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
In my opinion, ThinkPads are the best notebook’s out there. Thin, light, exceptional keyboards, feature-rich for productivity use, and has a TrackPoint that few do, which I prefer.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
PS – I meant to add that the ThnkPad is built for actual usage, whereas so many today are built for toys and/or flash. You can get real work done on a ThinkPad, especially due to its excellent keyboard design.
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
The Thinkpad is the Darth Vader of the laptop world. Cold, ruthless and ready for galactic domination… It doesn’t go around asking: “Does this make me look fat?” (and neither should its owners)
February 22nd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
i love the look of the lenovo notebooks because they are like “sleeper” cars, they look plain and kinda boring, but they are really powerful and slip under the radar of potential thieves
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:40 am
People who think the design of MacBooks is superior to ThinkPads mistake “cool” for “elegant”. Which is, really, their own problem and no one’s else. I couldn’t care less.
(Written on an Eee PC, which is neither cool nor elegant, but rather gets the job done, much like a pair of parachute pants.)
February 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
I love the design and look of the ThinkPad and have had one since they came out. As much as I would like to have the x300 to make travel easier, I can’t justify the price difference between the x300 and the Eee PC which meets all of my on the road computing needs.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
well, i am going to be a switcher from PB Ti, PB Alu to Thinkpad (linux), most of the mac users and i have been for the last 5 years just make their complaints on the design, its enough for me. I am not going to spend 2000+ euros on a laptop that will break somehow (trackpad, dvd writer, hinge..) after two years.
Apple have the best industrial designs when talking about computers, but i want something that last and dont let me down, and i think moving to thinkpad can be the right choice.
However will wait for better processor and bigger HD cappacity.
And as fsckr said, yes, its Darth Vader, i cant wait to wiredriving.., and its black!
March 1st, 2008 at 7:55 pm
the thinkpad design is timeless. It is reserved in appearance because it is a business laptop. Would you laugh when someone pulls out their pink Imac or flashy silver HP at a meeting. I would wonder if they are there for business or to make movies and play with photos. (Which kills me about the pc guy versus mac kid commercials–> you can make movies on your mac, but spread sheets, we’ll leave that to pcs) Its just like black town cars versus cabs. Its about class, people.
Oh, and I am not a stodgy old guy either, 27 and 3rd year med. I have owned a T20 and now have t60.
March 11th, 2008 at 12:04 am
If a ThinkPad reminds you of the Rolls Royce of laptop design, what does a MacBook Air remind you of?
September 15th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Lenovo laptop design is the best! There is nothing wrong with form following function. I’ve been slipping mine in and out of my rucksack, carrying it on commercial airlines and military fixed and helo doing survey fieldwork in Iraq and it is a very tough case. My company now thinks that I need a Toughbook because of the rough handling that my Thinkpad gets. Now if you want butt ugly case cast your peepers on a Toughbook. It is as ugly as it is impractical, which come to think of it describes a HummVee. I also own a Gateway which that’s about three years old and it has a plastic case that is very fragile in comparison.
Case design needs to work, and Lenovo’s does and that makes it beautiful.
May 6th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Classy, and timeless, but a bit too busy.
May 29th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
It is a tool, it doesn’t need KelloKitty-ness. It’s not like I would choose my angle grinder or chainsaw based on the color or design.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Thinkpad is another masterpiece of design, their timeless design ,classical appereance,..
you can said you have thinkpad, not laptop
August 6th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
YOU LISTEN TO KENNY G!?
Kidding aside, I don’t think they’re particularly attractive, but they look goddamn functional, which is really what they’re built to be.
They can be attractive, but I think it is perhaps in the same way that a nicely tailored business suit is attractive: they seem capable, confident and in control, without being ostentatious and with little chance of being offensive. They are conservative, and in my mind have always seemed that way.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Thank goodness I have a choice. I want a thoughtfully designed tool to work with and rely on. I don’t want bling, or silver plastic that wears badly, or light-up logos, or a crutch for my self esteem. I want to focus on getting things done, not making a fashion statement. I want something that lasts. I want international support. The ThinkPad is all this.
October 27th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Right, Thinkpad, (especially T & X) is timeless design and built. You either love it, or hate it. Me; I’ve used T30, T43, T61, and now using T410. Glorious time.