Change in ThinkPad design typically evolves rather than making radical moves. Talk to stewards of the brand, David Hill or Aaron Stewart, and each of them will tell you that any tweaks to this hallmarks’ design come only after hours of excruciating and detailed thought. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who says we change for change’s sake. So when we do, it’s deliberate and for the better. That said, it’s hard to make everyone happy. Any time we make the slightest change, we get reams of comments – some “thank you” and “I love this,” and some, “What are you doing?” and “Don’t mess with it.” We truly appreciate those strong voices because it shows us your passion for technology and ThinkPad. To reach the top, products and companies continually reinvent themselves – just look at eBay or Amazon. We’re doing it too by moving from a PC company to a PC+ technology company with new products like smartphones and smartTVs in many countries across the world. To take it back to ThinkPad, we want to retain the right amount of ThinkPad-ness that satisfies our loyal customers who’ve always valued it while modernizing ThinkPad under the influences of consumerization’s focus on simplicity, interoperability and connectedness. We’ve pinpointed that important balance with the new ThinkPad T431s, a laptop that answers the question, with...
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When indie filmmaker Michael Suan set his sights on creating a silent action movie, ThinkPad laptops came into play – not just as high-tech props but as the engine to slice and dice thousands of hours of raw footage and then the tool to stitch the digital frames into the master art form that Suan had continually imaged and reimaged in his mind. In the following Q&A, we delved into the mechanics of his latest creation and how he transformed the abstract into a 114-minute long piece of film noir. Q. Tell me about the film – what’s it about and why the name AKP: Job 27. A. AKP: Job 27 is one of those things that I've talked about doing since film school. Every time I mentioned the idea people would tell me how crazy I was. The notion of shooting a feature-length film without a single line of spoken dialogue in a modern setting seemed far-fetched to say the least. But having seen Luc Besson's "Le Dernier Combat" and Kim Ki Duk's "Bad Guy" I was certain that, given the right story, the film could be done. You see, unlike traditional silent cinema that contains no sound and uses title cards for dialogue, AKP: Job 27 uses a form I call modern silent which contains sound but no dialogue at all. The film plays the same as any other film with sound, but the characters do not speak on screen - ever. This is a style of filmmaking that I've been exploring throughout my career, and only now have I placed it into a feature-length form....
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In celebration of the ThinkPad’s 20th anniversary, we asked a handful of people to share their fondest ThinkPad memories from the past two decades. The responses that came in are a fun read—they not only echo our own nostalgia but also testify to how far ThinkPad has come over the years. Here are a few highlighted ThinkPad memories we’d like to share: What are your favorite ThinkPad memories? We’d love to hear them in the comments below.
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We always enjoy highlighting people who epitomize our philosophy “For Those Who Do,” people who grab the world by both hands and hang on for the ride. For Sundeep Gajjar—aka MotoGrapher Sunny—that ride is a literal one and it spans 5,000 miles. On May 19, the India-based photographer left Dubai atop his glorious Ducati MultiStrada motorcycle. His destination? Misano, Italy, where World Ducati Week will kick off June 22. Along the way, Sunny is stopping to enjoy (and photograph) sights in Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovenia. And he’s checking in with us and his fans around the world via his travel companion—a Lenovo ThinkPad T520 laptop. Sunny's ThinkPad T520 upon arrival in India (Photo courtesy The Motographer) Can the unassuming ThinkPad laptop handle the rigors of this adventure? Can it handle the dust and sweltering deserts, high altitude and heavy rain, as well as the shocks and bumps of the road? If you know your ThinkPad history—brutal stress tests in our labs, impeccable performance aboard the International Space Station—you’ve already answered “Yes.” Sunny will primarily use his...
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Four ambitious adventurers have completed an incredible journey by sidecar—and they did it with the help of three Lenovo ThinkPad laptops. The Project Side by Side team—Valériane (France), Thomas (France), Kewen (China) and Gernot (Austria)—completed this groundbreaking 130-day trek by sidecar motorcycle across 19,000 km (11,806 miles). Trained before the trip in First Aid, the determined team battled the elements and won, equipped with Lenovo ThinkPad T and X Series laptops designed to survive through high winds, snow and dust storms. Despite the extreme altitudes, storms, and intense desert heat that reached 49⁰C (120⁰ F) in the Western China desert, the ThinkPads (and the crew) survived the trip. The rough roads along the way prompted 28 tire changes and inflicted 157 breakdowns, including one full engine replacement. Over the course of the trip, the team chewed up and spit out more than 75 kg (165 lbs) of spare parts. The ThinkPads—which routinely pass eight rigorous military grade spec tests—fared better and performed reliably throughout the trip. Not only did the laptops survive the shocks of the road, they also allowed the team members to stay connected online. The diverse team was able to communicate in English,...
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