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35-624: The Lenovo ThinkPad X100e is a laptop from the ThinkPad line that was manufactured by Lenovo . This mobile computing related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . ThinkPad Lenovo lines (former/ current ): ThinkPad is a line of business-oriented laptop and tablet computers produced since 1992. The early models were designed, developed and marketed by International Business Machines (IBM) until it sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005; since 2007, all new ThinkPad models have been branded Lenovo instead and

70-519: A combined manufacturing and distribution centre near its American headquarters. Each device made in this facility is labelled with a red-white-and-blue sticker proclaiming " Whitsett, North Carolina ." In 2012, Lenovo produced a short run of special edition anniversary ThinkPads in Yonezawa, Yamagata , Japan, in partnership with NEC, as part of a larger goal to move manufacturing away from China and into Japan. In 2014, although sales rose 5.6 percent from

105-432: A common issue with a cracked plastic lid. The 180° hinges are typical, the 360° hinges are a Yoga line basic feature. Introduced in 2016 as a high-end display option for some models. Hard-drive protection for some ThinkPad models that still use the 2.5" drive bay; These systems use an accelerometer sensor to detect when a ThinkPad is falling and shut down the hard disk drive to prevent damage. The fingerprint reader

140-605: A lucrative contract with the Harvard Business School to provide the campus with notebook PCs. The task of creating a notebook was given to the Yamato Facility in Japan, headed by Arimasa Naitoh ( 内藤在正 , Naitō Arimasa , Vice President of Lenovo's PC and Smart Devices business unit) , a Japanese engineer and product designer who had joined IBM in the 1970s, now known as the "Father of ThinkPad". The name "ThinkPad"

175-554: Is an LED light located at the top of the LCD screen which illuminates the keyboard from above. Some E, L, T, X, W (only W550s), and P (only P##s) series ThinkPads feature (for some 2013-2018 models) — internal secondary battery (as succession of secondary UltraBay battery) that support a hot-swapping of primary battery. The keyboard design was replaced by the Chiclet style keyboard (2012-current) in 2012. The chiclet-style keyboard does not support

210-549: Is the only officially supported operating system where installation of Windows and other operating systems requires putting the device into developer mode, as is the case with other Chromebooks. ThinkPads have been used heavily in space programs. NASA purchased more than 500 ThinkPad 750 laptops for flight qualification, software development, and crew training, and astronaut John Glenn used ThinkPad laptops on his spaceflight mission STS-95 in 1998. ThinkPad models used on Shuttle missions include: PenPoint Developers of

245-520: The trackpad pointer had become more popular for laptops due to innovations by Synaptics so IBM introduced UltraNav as a complementary combination of TrackPoint and TouchPad designed by Dave Sawin, Hiroaki Yasuda, Fusanobo Nakamura, and Mitsuo Horiuchi to please all users. The "roll cage" is an internal frame, designed to minimize motherboard flex (current P series and T##p series) or magnesium composite case (all other hi-end models). The display modules lack magnesium frames, and some 2012-2016 models have

280-463: The 30th anniversary of the ThinkPad brand. The appearance of the ThinkPad has remained very similar throughout the entire lifetime of the brand. Almost all models are solid black inside and out, with a boxy case design. Some newer Lenovo models incorporate more curved lines. Many ThinkPads utilize magnesium, carbon fiber reinforced plastic, or titanium in their chassis. The industrial design concept

315-530: The Chinese manufacturer has continued to develop and sell ThinkPads to the present day. The ThinkPad line was first developed at the IBM Yamato Facility in Japan; they have a distinct black, boxy design, which originated in 1990 and is still used in some models. Most models also feature a red-colored trackpoint on the keyboard, which has become an iconic and distinctive design characteristic associated with

350-462: The IBM acquisition. We got the ThinkPad brand, IBM's more advanced PC manufacturing technology and the company's international resources, such as its global sales channels and operation teams. These three elements have shored up our sales revenue in the past several years." Although Lenovo acquired the right to use the IBM brand name for five years after its acquisition of IBM's personal computer business, it

385-773: The PenPoint OS included Robert Carr , who was involved with the Alto computer at Xerox PARC . He commissioned Dr. Tinker, the naming service company of Mark Beaulieu who generated the name 'PenPoint', using proprietary algorithms. Byte magazine awarded PenPoint best Operating System in the 1992 Byte Awards. PenPoint won in the Standards and Operating Systems category in PC Magazine 's 1991 Technical Excellence awards. The PenPoint operating system had novel early implementations of several computing advances, including: In April 2008, as part of

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420-625: The R61 and T61 were released with SUSE Linux Enterprise as an option. This was short-lived, as Lenovo discontinued that practice in 2009. ThinkPad hardware continued to be certified for Linux. In 2020, Lenovo shifted into much heavier support of Linux when they announced the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8, the P1 Gen 2, and the P53 would come with Fedora Linux as an option. This was the first time that Fedora Linux

455-693: The ThinkLight for illumination, instead using a keyboard backlight. Some ThinkPad models during the intermission period between the classic IBM design and the Lenovo chiclet design could be outfitted with both the backlit chiclet style keyboard and the ThinkLight. The introduced in 2004 line of hi-end displays with wide view angles and optional high resolution (up to 15" 1600x1200 or (rarely) 2048x1536 pixels). Partially dropped in 2008 (after partial defunct of BOE-Hydis display supplier), and reintroduced as ordinary IPS screen option in 2013. Some ThinkPad laptops (such as

490-620: The ThinkPad line, like drive protection, a TrackPoint or Trusted Platform Module chips. While few features remain unique to the series, several laptop technologies originated on ThinkPads: Earlier known as "IBM Access", later "ThinkVantage", the Lenovo Vantage is a suite of computer management applications. This software can give additional support for system management (backup, encrypting, system drivers installation and upgrade, system monitoring and others). Currently, some old features have been replaced by internal Windows 10/11 features. IBM

525-525: The ThinkPad line. It has seen significant success in the business market while certain models target students and the education market. ThinkPad laptops have been used in outer space and for many years were the only laptops certified for use on the International Space Station (ISS). ThinkPads have also for several years been one of the preferred laptops used by the United Nations . IBM

560-413: The ThinkPad played a key part in reversing IBM's fortunes. The first ThinkPads were very successful, collecting more than 300+ awards for design and quality. In 2005, Lenovo purchased the IBM personal computer business and the ThinkPad as a flagship brand along with it. Speaking about the purchase of IBM's personal computer division, Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi said, "We benefited in three ways from

595-515: The TrueBlock branding for their privacy shutters. All ThinkPad models have a keyboard membrane and drain holes (L series, P series, E series, T series, X series, X1 series, and Z series models), and some have a solid rubber or plastic membrane (like L series, W series, X1 series and current T and X series), without draining holes. The first ThinkPad 700 was equipped with the signature TrackPoint red dot pointing stick invented by Ted Selker . By 2000

630-501: The X230/X230t, T430s/T430 and T530/W530, all from 2012) block third-party batteries. Lenovo calls this feature "Battery Safeguard". It was first introduced on some models in May 2012. Laptops with this feature scan for security chips that only ThinkPad-branded batteries contain. Affected ThinkPads flash a message stating "Genuine Lenovo Battery Not Attached" when third-party batteries are used, and

665-403: The battery will not charge. The ThinkPad has shipped with Microsoft Windows from its inception until present day. Alongside IBM PC DOS , Windows 3.1x was the default operating system on the original ThinkPad 700. IBM and Microsoft's joint operating system, known as Operating System/2 (OS/2), although not as popular, was also made available as an option from the ThinkPad 700 in 1992, and

700-534: The closely-released A21m, T21 and T22 models, came preinstalled with Caldera OpenLinux . IBM shifted away from preinstalled Linux on the ThinkPad after 2002, but continued to support other distributions such as Red Hat Linux , SUSE Linux Enterprise , and Turbolinux by means of customer installations on A30, A30p, A31p models. This continued through the Lenovo transition with the T60p, until September 2007. The following year, ThinkPads began shipping with Linux again, when

735-504: The previous year, Lenovo lost its position as the top commercial notebook maker. However, the company celebrated a milestone in 2015 with the shipment of the 100 millionth unit of its ThinkPad line. In 2017, Lenovo launched a ThinkPad model to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ThinkPad brand. It is based on the T470 and uses the similar keyboard to the 700C. In 2022, Lenovo launched the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 Special Edition to celebrate

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770-419: The product's strengths and weaknesses, including loaning a machine to archaeologists excavating the ancient Egyptian city of Leontopolis . The resulting report documented the ThinkPad's excellent performance under difficult conditions; "The ThinkPad is an impressive machine, rugged enough to be used without special care in the worst conditions Egypt has to offer." The positive critical and commercial reception of

805-459: The same observation that it offers a 'surprise' when opened. Since 1992, the ThinkPad design has been regularly updated, developed and refined over the years by Sapper and the respective teams at IBM and later Lenovo. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of ThinkPad's introduction, David Hill authored and designed a commemorative book about ThinkPad design titled ThinkPad Design: Spirit & Essence . Several unique features have appeared in

840-482: Was a product of IBM's corporate history and culture. Thomas J. Watson Sr. first introduced "Think" as an IBM slogan in the 1920s. With every minicomputer and mainframe IBM installed (almost all were leased – not sold), a plastic sign with the text "Think" printed on an aluminum plate was placed atop the operator's console. For decades, IBM had also distributed small notepads with the word "THINK" emblazoned on their cover to customers and employees. The name "ThinkPad"

875-526: Was a tablet computer. This machine was the first product produced under IBM's new "differentiated product personality" strategy, a collaboration between Richard Sapper and Tom Hardy , head of the corporate IBM Design Program. Development of the 700C also involved a close working relationship between Sapper and Kazuhiko Yamazaki, lead notebook designer at IBM's Yamato Design Center in Japan and liaison between Sapper and Yamato engineering. This 1990–1992 "pre-Internet" collaboration between Italy and Japan

910-438: Was created in 1990 by Italy-based designer Richard Sapper , a corporate design consultant of IBM and, since 2005, Lenovo. The design was based on the concept of a traditional Japanese bento lunchbox, which revealed its nature only after being opened. According to later interviews with Sapper, he also characterized the simple ThinkPad form to be as elementary as a simple, black cigar box and with similar proportions, with

945-403: Was facilitated by a special Sony digital communications system that transmitted high-res images over telephone lines. This system was established in several key global Design Centers by Hardy so IBM designers could visually communicate more effectively and interact directly with Sapper for advice on their projects. For his innovative design management leadership during ThinkPad development, Hardy

980-506: Was introduced as an option by IBM in 2004. ThinkPads were one of the first laptops to include this feature. The Mobile broadband support is a common feature for most the actual ThinkPad models after 2006; the support of 3x3 MIMO is a common feature for most of high-end models. Some additional features (dock stations, UltraBay, accessories support) were listed in Accessories section. External keyboard light, replaced by internal backlight;

1015-482: Was made available as a preinstalled option from a major hardware vendor. Following that, Lenovo then began making Ubuntu available as a preinstalled option across nearly thirty different notebook and desktop models, and Fedora Linux on all of its P series lineup. A small number of ThinkPads, such as the C14, are preinstalled with Google's ChromeOS , and are essentially ThinkPad-branded Chromebooks. On these devices, ChromeOS

1050-644: Was named "innovator of the Year 1992" by PC Magazine. The first ThinkPad tablet, a PenPoint -based device formally known as the IBM ThinkPad 2521, was positioned as a developer's release. The ThinkPad tablet became available for purchase by the general public, as the 700T, in October of the same year. IBM marketed the ThinkPad creatively, through methods such as early customer pilot programs, numerous pre-launch announcements, and an extensive loaner program designed to showcase

1085-640: Was officially supported until the T43 in 2005. The ThinkPad Power series line, sold from 1994 through 1998, was available with AIX and Solaris operating systems. IBM took its first steps toward ThinkPads with an alternative operating system, when they quietly certified the 390 model for SUSE Linux in November 1998. The company released its first Linux-based unit with the ThinkPad A20m in July 2000. This model, along with

Lenovo ThinkPad X100e - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-494: Was only used for three years. In 2012 Lenovo manufactured and markets Think-branded products while IBM was mostly responsible for overseeing servicing and repairs for them. At that time both IBM and Lenovo played a key role in the design of their "Think" branded products. The majority of ThinkPad computers since the 2005 acquisition of the brand by Lenovo have been made in Mexico, Slovakia, India and China. Lenovo employs ~300 people at

1155-422: Was suggested by IBM employee Denny Wainwright, who had one such notepad in his pocket. The name was opposed by the IBM corporate naming committee as all the names for IBM computers were numeric at that time, but "ThinkPad" was kept due to praise from journalists and the public. In April 1992, IBM announced the first ThinkPad models, the 300, 700 and 700C all released on October 5, 1992. The 700T released in 1993

1190-414: Was the first company that supported a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). Modern ThinkPads still have this feature. ThinkShutter is the branding of a webcam privacy shutter present in some ThinkPad notebook computers . It is a simple mechanical sliding cover that allows the user to obstruct the webcam's view. Some add-on webcams and other laptop brands provide a similar feature. IdeaPad notebooks carry

1225-671: Was the last of the major personal computer manufacturers to enter the notebook market, launching the PS/2 Note in 1992; its earlier laptop models did not gain significant attention. Building on the PS/2 Note, the ThinkPad was developed to compete with Compaq in the United States, whose LTE was the first commercially successful notebook PC; as well as Apple Computer 's highly successful PowerBook , and Toshiba in Japan, whose Dynabook series of notebooks were similarly successful. IBM signed

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