ThinkPad

ThinkPad is the brand name of a portable computer ( notebook and tablet PC ) and originates from IBM. In the winter of 2004, IBM sold its PC business to Chinese computer giant Lenovo and thus, inter alia, ThinkPad its name. Lenovo was entitled to 2010 to make ThinkPads with the name IBM, however, omitted since the end of 2007 it.

Reason for selling to a Chinese manufacturer was among other things an import ban in the People's Republic of China. Lenovo was able to supply the Chinese market with ThinkPads and significantly increase its sales, which quickly led to the independence of the brand IBM as a Chinese manufacturer.

The name is due to a small leather notebook, which was handed when configuring any IBM employees. It had the imprint Think and notebooks are called in English Notepad. These two words have been contracted to ThinkPad.

The design of the first ThinkPad was substantially influenced by the designer Richard Sapper and worked at the IBM Design Center in Yamato, Japan. The ThinkPad was inspired by the proportions of a traditional cigar box, a simple rectangular box, which only revealed when you open its contents. The black color of Thinkpads contributes to the mysterious appearance and helps to make the screen brighter. This appearance raised ThinkPads significantly from the then gray alternatives. A highly visible colored accent also put the central trackpoint in red.

This design of ThinkPads has hardly changed in the years since its appearance in 1992 and was thus a hallmark of a conservative and eight border on stable value philosophy. IBM guarantees the delivery of spare parts for all ThinkPad models for at least five years. Since the design of the device has changed little since their introduction, they have a high level of awareness. A special feature of the design make the tough, stainless steel or - is crafted from a titanium -magnesium composite notebook casing, which contribute to the generally high robustness - the more expensive classes. With the model 701 from the year 1996, a ThinkPad has been added for display purposes in the collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art.

The first ThinkPads that were presented on the computer market Comdex in 1992, had based on the model designation of the vehicles from BMW 3xx, the 5xx and 7xxer row in which the 3 Series entry-level, the 5 Series, the middle class and the 7 Series luxury class represented. Meanwhile letters over the model name, see below.

Special

Its special features include the ThinkLight, a small LED light in the lid. It allows the use of the keypad in the dark. On Linux, the ThinkLight thinkpad - acpi means (formerly ibm- acpi ) can be controlled via software or via the procfs at / proc / acpi / ibm / light. Applications are for example the signaling of incoming Instant Messenger messages ( Pidgin and Kopete ) or music visualization via the rocklight plugin from Xmms that leaves the LEDs flash in time with the music.

As protection from falls have all ThinkPad SL, T, W, R, Z and X series ( T41 from T, R from R50, X40 X from, except for the R- series "e " models ) with conventional magnetic hard disk an APS (Active Protection System) said motion sensor that shuts down the drive head in the park position when accelerations are registered, which could lead to a head crash.

Many ThinkPads have an ESS ( Embedded Security Subsystem) called security solution that is based on a TCG - chip, can be encrypted with the data in real time and can be decrypted in notebooks with ESS and the required password only. The security device complies with all newer models, the Trusted Platform Module 1.2 specification and can therefore be used for the BitLocker Drive Encryption on Windows Vista. The chip is deactivated in the BIOS, because it allows an attacker to draw conclusions about the identity of the ThinkPads.

To clear these passwords, in other notebooks often enough the short removing the CMOS battery from the motherboard. This is not possible with ThinkPads. To erase the BIOS password, the device must either sent to Lenovo or motherboard replacement. Moreover, there is also the possibility to read the password via the serial interface and some skill or unsolder the BIOS chip and replace it with other, non-disabled. However, the proper replacement of the BIOS chip requires a lot of effort and a lot of experience in the practical use of microelectronics in order not to damage the BIOS ROM itself or the motherboard with its adjacent components. Therefore, while an absolute safety of the BIOS from undesired access can not be guaranteed that hurdle, however, was set quite high compared to most other notebooks.

More recent ThinkPad models that are shipped with an operating system, have a special hard disk partition that is not recognized by Windows as a data store. On this partition contains data, brought back with the help of the software of your ThinkPad depending on the device by pressing a button in their delivered state or that can be used for the production of recovery discs. On some models, this feature can be disabled in the BIOS to free up disk space. In the case of installing a retail version of Windows can all drivers and tools that are included in the Lenovo preload, also be downloaded from the manufacturer's website.

Various product ranges ( for example, the T- series from the model T42 or the R - series from the model R60 ) have an integrated fingerprint scanner, which can be used to authorize the user when logging in to the system and websites.

Usually, higher quality hardware is used in ThinkPads, which hardly sets the lifetime limits. Hardware defects are therefore seldom in ThinkPads. Another advantage is the resulting driver availability, which allows the 8 trouble-free use of modern operating systems such as Windows 7 or Windows on older ThinkPads, such as the T30 of 2003, and ThinkPads quite compatible with open source operating systems such as Linux does.

Important hardware of a conventional laptop can be repair or exchange easily with ThinkPads (except helix, Edge, Twist and T431s ) compared to other notebooks. Memory, hard drive, battery and Ultrabay drive are to be designed changed in less than a minute. This is often enough to remove a screw specially marked or opening a cover by pushing a mechanical screwless closure.

Input Devices

The ThinkPad series for the high quality of their keyboards, which are often considered the best built- in notebook keyboards viewed are known. The keyboard is spill-proof sealed and is in a waterproof shell, newer devices have even drainage channels for spilled liquids.

A special feature is the arrangement of the hotkey combination to turn on the Thinklights ( keyboard backlight ): The keyboard shortcut for this is so arranged that they can be found even in the dark; the two buttons for these are in the lower left (Fn) and upper right corner (or Fn Spacebar in newer model series). Another feature of the keyboard is on newer models, the blue ThinkVantage button (formerly Access IBM ), with which a program is called, offering various assistance and maintenance functions. For example, the ThinkPad can be restored to the factory condition so again, even if the installed operating system is defective and is no longer functional.

Until the acquisition of IBM's notebook division by Lenovo and the appearance of the Z- series in 2005 all ThinkPad models renounced the three Windows keys. This waiver was more space for the adjacent Ctrl and Alt keys.

A characteristic feature of the ThinkPad series is the " TrackPoint " said piezo - pin, which is located in the center of the keyboard between the G, H and B keys and serves as a mouse control. This TrackPoint stands out as a red dot on the black keyboard and black casing and has become a distinguishing feature for ThinkPad, which can also be found as an i- point in the logo of the product line. While the first ThinkPad TrackPoint exclusively used as mouse input, the first time an " UltraNav " was in 2002 with the T30 model offered mentioned combination of touchpad and trackpoint.

UltraBay

ThinkPads (except X -, S-, E- Edge, SL, G - series and models with the suffix " e" ) have an additional removable tray is called the Ultrabay. This is very versatile and can be used for example for the following components:

• Optical drives ( CD, DVD, burner )
• Second hard drive
• LS- drive
• Second battery
• Floppy disk drive
• Additional graphics card SLI / Crossfire [ Model Yoga ]
• Number block
• Zip drive
• Station (English Cradle ) for a PDA
• Travel cover
• Adapters for serial and parallel ports

The hard drive in the Ultrabay is connected to the same IDE controller as the built- plate. Thus, there is no particular limitation regarding boot capability, capacity, etc. It is a standard 2.5-inch hard drive, which is only installed in a special UltraBay frame to be pushed into the Ultrabay slot can change. Components in the removable tray can be replaced during operation. The newly connected devices are immediately recognized, so the notebook does not have to be restarted for this purpose.

The travel cover is a lightweight travel cover which is used instead of an UltraBay device. Thus the total weight of the notebook can be further reduced if the road no Ultrabay device is required. The adapter for serial and parallel ports ( ultra slim design), it is possible to extend the T6x ThinkPads and some models of R6x series with a serial RS -232 and IEEE 1284 parallel interface. Especially for maintenance technicians of industrial plants this type of connection is very much in demand.

SATA update of UltraBay Slim, incompatible with this. The second battery only works with the x00 generation models (eg T400 ), T410 etc. at this no longer works ( Exception: For T4xxs models such as the T420s, there is still a functioning secondary battery).

Alternative operating systems on ThinkPads

ThinkPads have established themselves as the best alternative operating systems such as Linux and OpenBSD cooperating notebooks thanks to good driver availability. Even for special hardware as the built-in fingerprint reader, there are stable driver. An operating as a dual -boot system with Windows and Linux is no problem at all ThinkPads. The problem of the use of the pre-installed rescue system can be located on a special service partition and assigned depending on the model 1-5 GB of the disk. When used to restore the factory settings of the notebook, all other installed operating systems are deleted along with their partitions under circumstances in addition to a reset of the Windows installation.

ThinkPads at NASA and in the aerospace

The model 750 was used in 1993 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour. Since then, a total of 54 ThinkPads at various space shuttle missions aboard the space shuttles, most models of the 755er and 760er series. Also on the Russian space station MIR 1999 ThinkPads have been used since February, including the 750 and 770er series. ThinkPads are the only notebooks that are certified for long-term missions aboard the ISS (International Space Station). In 2003, the A31p replaced the hitherto used in manned space flight earlier ThinkPad models of seven hundred series. Since 2010, in addition to the A31p some T61p on board.

Series

Since the acquisition of the ThinkPad brand by Lenovo introduced model designations consists of a capital letter which designates the product line, and a three -digit number together, which indicates the screen size. A size of 14.1 inches is equivalent to eg the number 400 An exception is the Edge series, but with the name change to Edge e- Series also this was fitted into the scheme.

• T ( xxx) (p ) series: business laptops for business customers, the "classic" ThinkPads
• W ( xxx ) series: workstations, are characterized by high performance and CAD -certified graphics cards
• X ( xxx) Series: Lightweight, portable, and perennial laptops ( subnotebooks )
• L (xxx ) series: (Small) Business Notebooks (since 04 /2010), docking capability, the successor to the R ( xxx ) series
• S ( xxx ) series: High-performance (Small) Business Notebooks
• X1/X1 Carbon: Business Ultrabooks in the classic Thinkpad design, without docking connector
• Edge E ( xxx) / Edge series: consumer notebook with a new design, no docking capabilities
• Twist Series: Lightweight business notebooks with swivel screen
• Helix Series: Ultrabooks with detachable keyboard
• Tablet 2 series: Pure Tablet PCs

Older, usually no more new models only had a model name, a combination of letter and two-digit number:

• SL (xxx ) series: consumer notebooks with strong multimedia orientation, has partially Ideapad firmware, as the first ThinkPads partially with glossy display ( since 2011 no longer available )
• R ( xx) Series: Laptops for standard requirements and home office
• R ( xxx) Series: Laptops for standard requirements and home office ( Since 2010, no longer available )
• T ( xx) series: business laptops for business customers
• X ( xx) series: subnotebooks. Tablet PC versions were characterized by a suffix " t"; Models with particularly energy -saving processors had the suffix " s"
• Z ( xx) series: multimedia laptops with widescreen
• G ( xx) series: desktop replacement, cheap, but with a short battery life (Desktop CPU)
• A ( xx) series: large and powerful
• S ( xx) series: more compact subnotebook than the X series, which were only available in Asia
• I ( xxxx ) series: simple inexpensive models
• Trans Rating: Based on the ThinkPad X21, with additional signature pad stores the handwritten notes as a bitmap

The " (xx) " after the letter stands for a two digit model number. The i- series have four-digit model numbers. The model names of some notebooks, the R-, A-, Z - and T- series ended with a "p" (eg T41p ), indicating a CAD - certified GPU card. The ending " e" (eg R50e ) indicates a favorable features. The "e" stands for "economy", "p" for " performance".

Even older models carry a three-digit combination as a model name.

• 3 ( xx) series: " beginners class "
• 5 ( xx) series: "middle class" (some precursor of the small X - series)
• 7 ( xx) series: "Luxury Class "

Others

Since January 2008, notebooks are manufactured under the brand name of the manufacturer Lenovo IdeaPad. IdeaPads should appeal to more consumers, while ThinkPad for customers in the area of ​​Business was designed. IdeaPads are instead, installed, for example, with rather broad glossy screens Dolby speakers. They have compared to the ThinkPad mostly on a less expensive keyboard, even the traditional ThinkPad TrackPoint missing here.