The 25th-anniversary ThinkPad: Every laptop should add some retro appeal

Enlarge (credit: Peter Bright)

I'm a ThinkPad fanboy. I have been for years.

For me, a ThinkPad brings together several essential elements. I'm sure y'all are bored with me banging on about the TrackPoint-the red nipple situated between the G, H, and B keys that serves as a kind of joystick for moving the mouse cursor-but I continue to believe that they're better for cursor input than any touchpad ever made. Yes, I've used Apple's touchpads. No, I won't change my mind. Touchpads are nice for gestures, and so I'm glad that modern ThinkPads come with both, but for core mousing, the TrackPoint is unbeatable.

A 25-year legacy

The black, somewhat-angular, carbon-fibre ThinkPad aesthetic speaks to me. ThinkPads have a timeless elegance to them. While the look has evolved-corners are a little more rounded, overhangs and lips on lids have been eliminated, the latches are gone, and so on-there's a clear, hereditary link between today's ThinkPads and those of the IBM era. They look like serious working machines.

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