what justifys the cost of the ibms?

well, the computer line is no longer made by IBM, a chinese company named LENOVO bought it but is being sold under the trademark "thinkpad."

I heard that IBM's have magnesium alloy case and its more durable against shock and can better protect the PC in case anything damaging occurs.

Besides the fact that at the end of a 3 year warranty, their laptops are generally in 95% the condition they were when they were first bought, where most manufacturers are lucky to get 50% over the same time period and usage? I've used 6 year old IBM 600Es that were used every day that were in better condition than 2 year old Dell 8200s. The hinges still held the display in place, the chassis didn't squeak and creak when you held it by a corner, etc. You don't buy a Thinkpad because of how it is now, but how it'll be 2 years from now. 4 years from now. You buy it because it'll last longer, and be just as reliable (outside of getting new batteries when you wearthem out) when it's obsolete as when it's top of the line.

AMEN brotha.

Once you go thinkpad, you never go back. The build quality is absolutely SUPERB.

Plus, in the deal w/ Lenovo, a lot of the support services (another main reason to buy an IBM) were kept.

Just don't get to it so quickly. I've got T4x and a 600s and the former aren't that great.

600s are legendary machines. I wish they would make one with updated hardware...

I doubt that Lenovo will ever build another Thinkpad that is built like the older machines. It's probably not cost effective and customers are always pushing for lighter/smaller machines. In the past couple of years I've owned a T41, T42, and currently a T60. The T60 is the best built of the three. It feels much more solid. The palm rests don't flex and squeak like the T4X models.

Like in politics, just because so many people thinks something it doesn't mean that they are right. People demand thinner systems, but they barely if at all understand that, the thinner the frame, the weaker it is. It's a structural issue.

By making the laptop thinner they also limited the optical drive to super slim (9.5mm). Those are very rare, expensive and slow compared to regular drives. That also reduced the capacity of the modular bay battery. No floppy for that reason too.

By the way, the 600 is actually smaller compared to a Txx (13.3" screen against 14.1") and about the same weight. It is simply just sightly thicker and the CD opens to the front.

I feel very strongly about IBM :p

I'm not a regular but I'll pitch in - I bought a 600X early 2000 for almost 4k...super expensive, but at the time I didn't know much about computers or how to treat them.

It's been dropped about five times - twice to the point where it bounced hard. I've left it outside in the freezing cold, it's been left in the trunk on blazing hot days too. On more occasions that I'd care to remember someone has sat/put their full weight on it. I've tossed/kicked my backpack a bundle of times, forgetting it was in there.

Bounce a notebook and chances are you'll be replacing more then an HDD - yet nothing fell out or off; the HDD gave up ghost a week or two after and I bought a new one. Aside from that, I've added on some RAM and bought new batteries, one standard and one that goes in the drive bay. That's it since 2000.

I feel pretty bad recalling all this haha but my Thinkpad has been the laptop equivalent of a tank; after six years of abuse it's still going, the edges are as sturdy as they were day one and the hinge is slightly weaker then it was the day I bought it...but after all I've put it through, I have no right to complain.

I don't know how IBM is now as I haven't bought another laptop since then...but if build quality is anything like the 600X on the new machines...you won't regret it!

Here's what's left of mine:





'cept for the wear+tear that I've inflicted upon it...and if I would use a dust brush once in a while...just like it was when I got it!

OK, I have top post. I just bought a thinkpad 240 off of ebay(7 years old now) and other than a few scratches on the case, it is working 100%. I have it sitting next to my 9300 right now and it is running Kubuntu dapper and playing music(ill start doing more with it once the wifi card and ram arrive).

The palm rests on my 6 month old dell are already fading, the w key on my keyboard is loose and overall it just feels kinda cheap. This 240 is seven years old and the palm rests look brand new and the keyboard works perfectly.

Another thing i found was that the trackpoint on it is very high quality. The one on a dell latitude d810 that i used was crap compared to the one on the thinkpad.

That said, i guess it would be hard to justify the price increase over something build better than a dell(like an asus for example). As far as buying this 9300, no thinkpad even comes close to the 17" WUXGA and the 7800gtx, so i have no regrets about either purchase.

Some say good, some say bad. I don't know.

Blasphemy! 600 is the GOD of all laptops...