Lenovo lost at least $800 of revenue from me because of this. I was going to get the T540 or W540 ($2400+), but the idiotic keyboard layout means I can't really type in front of it without feeling a pain in the neck. Now I'll probably get a T440p, although I'm very wary of the lack of physical buttons for the trackpoint (and the reviews are mostly negative).
The X201 and other earlier keyboards are damn perfect. Full size 7 row, including the propery 6-key pgup-dn/del-ins/home-end. Has break and sysrq. I'd pay a $$$ to put this keyboard on a W540 or T540.
Other things like removing LEDs for power charging, but adding them for mute and fn lock (or removal of screen hinges) show that the last of decent IBM engineering is gone, replaced by some idiot managers intent on locking slick instead of satisfying their high end customers.
It wouldn't surprise me if on the next gen, another laptop line surpasses ThinkPad. Lenovo inherited ThinkPad with such a huge lead on everyone else, it's taken them a while to totally screw it up. It's only because other OEMs suck so much more that ThinkPads are still in the lead.
I have a T540p at work, and the lack of touchpad buttons means you need an incredible amount of care when clicking. I don't really mind the keyboard, but that thing is torture without a mouse.
I used the trackpad, but the trackpoint buttons, especially the middle button (for easy scrolling and opening/closing tabs/windows). Is this practical anymore?
The X201 and other earlier keyboards are damn perfect. Full size 7 row, including the propery 6-key pgup-dn/del-ins/home-end. Has break and sysrq. I'd pay a $$$ to put this keyboard on a W540 or T540.
Other things like removing LEDs for power charging, but adding them for mute and fn lock (or removal of screen hinges) show that the last of decent IBM engineering is gone, replaced by some idiot managers intent on locking slick instead of satisfying their high end customers.
It wouldn't surprise me if on the next gen, another laptop line surpasses ThinkPad. Lenovo inherited ThinkPad with such a huge lead on everyone else, it's taken them a while to totally screw it up. It's only because other OEMs suck so much more that ThinkPads are still in the lead.