I had an IBM ThinkPad years ago. I loved that laptop--kept it going for thirteen years & wrote up its service here. In particular, the keyboard simply felt right (IBM had made Selectric typewriters, of course).
But alas, after two keyboards, a hard drive, one battery, and a screen that died, I had to move on. By 2012, Lenovo had bought the ThinkPad brand, and I felt okay about buying a cheap Lenovo laptop. That laptop, no ThinkPad, was followed by two freegeek refurbished Dell laptops, costing ~ $100 each. But used, if running, means still used and near EOL (end-of-life). One laptop's graphic card went. The wi-fi adapter on the second suddenly stopped. The lesson is refurbished, yes, but what's next to fail?
When I realized Lenovo made a ThinkPad--the E14--that was close to my beloved ThinkPad 1412 of years gone by: a right-sized 14" screen and a pointing stick, I decided to buy new.
So January 2021, I put in my order. It must have joined a manufacturing queue in Hefei, Anhui Province, China. The proposed delivery date was May!? With backlogs to work off and pandemic demand for laptops, I wasn't surprised.
So it was with some relief, my wait was only two months.
What I took out of the box was everything that I liked about the first ThinkPad, including the red pointing stick. A thoughtful fit and finish--black on black etching proclaims audio by HARMON. A build that is MIL-SPEC. The ThinkPad exudes durability.
I had to see if my ThinkPad was functioning though. Unpacked it, plugged it in and pressed the backlit power button.
Voila! it automatically connected to my mobile hotspot and an AI voice, Cordana, was talking to me, asking me questions, introducing me to wondrous Windows 10. But the manipulation of the Chinese finger trap was in play. After being forced to sign up for a Microsoft account to continue, I felt I was using my new ThinkPad with the consent of Microsoft, not because I'd paid Lenovo for hardware. Windows 10 made an insufferably bad first impression.
Nevermind, I was going to dual-boot Linux anyway.
I went to install Linux Mint from a USB stick and surprisingly (fortuitously?) the install script detected no OS present, Do you want to proceed? Did I want to erase and blow out the Windows 10 Home Edition that came with the ThinkPad? I thought for a heart beat or two. Yes, good-bye, Cordana.
Linux Mint 20, third in popularity behind Windows and iOS, is a modern refined OS with functionality to spare. The ThinkPad joy is back!
Image credit: wikipedia.org
Read Charlie Dickinson's story collection The Cat at Light's End, as an ebook in these downloadable formats:
.mobi (Kindle)
.epub (most other readers)
.pdf (for PCs)
more posts
3:4:21 My Witless Online Buy
2:19:21 This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends, a book review
2:8:21 The Chinese Finger Trap as Trope for the Web
1:17:21 ROBOCALL, ROBOKILL
Christmas Day 12:25:20 Talkin' Bicycles
12:02:20 Before the coffee gets cold, a book review
11:27:20 Abe, a book review
11:1:20 Viz in Decline
10:29:20 A Watch Cap
10:3:20 John Dos Passos's U.S.A. Trilogy, a book review
9:19:20 milkboneboxershorts@yahoogle
Labor Day 9:7:20 The Essential Essential Workers
7:19:20 A Russian Journal, a book review
6:19:20 DUI
5:16:20 Renan's Life of Jesus, a book review
4:25:20 Leatherman Micra, a tool review
3:24:20 Survival Tool, Then & Now
3:2:20 The Plague, a book review
2:28:20 Next Car?
12:22:20 Amazon Effects
12:18:19 Modern Times, Today
11:25:19 Who Killed Civil Society?, a book review
10:25:19 Working at the Food Pantry
9:30:19 Remembering Hal Blaine (1929--2019)
8:24:19 Losing Earth, a book review,
8:18:19 Library-Genesis & Parasitic Paywalls
7:25:19 Disposal Problems
5:18:19 My New Summer Sandals
4:22:19 The 3-Speeder
3:19:19 My Jewish Bloodline
3:3:19 Does Portland Have Tenements in Its Future?
2:3:19 Garage & Garbage
1:26:19 Genial Coarseness
1:7:19 One Writer's Tools
12:20:18 Seven Ways of Looking at Pointless Suffering, a book review
12:16:18 Reading Plan 2018, a Resolution Kept
11:14:18 "A House Divided," an essay
10:27:18 How to Act Rich
9:1:18 The Self-Service Library in Bigfoot Country
8:9:18 Bicycling in the Path of Self-Righteousness
7:28:18 Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America, a DVD review
6:23:18 Why Honor Matters, a book review
5:26:18 Men Without Women, a book review
5:23:18 Haircuts
4:22:18 Why I Shred Junk Mail
4:4:18 Keeping My New Year Resolution
3:24:18 Extreme Water Conservation: Payoff
2:14:18 My Shaving Kit Comes Full Circle
1:23:18 Extreme Water Conservation
12:23:17 Lenin: The Man, The Dictator, and the Master of Terror, a book review
11:27:17 Mapping the Ether, or the Topography
of a Webpage in Real Time
11:21:17 To Save, or Spend, Change
11:13:17 uzbl & "Faster Dial-Up" Redux
10:29:17 The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement
Became the World's Largest Religion, a book review
10:23:17 Running a Laptop off a $1 Thumbdrive
10:14:17 In Pursuit of the $1 Thumbdrive
10:5:17 Zabriskie Point
9:30:17 19th Century-Style Photographic Prints
7:2:17 DIY Prescription Eyeglasses
6:22:17 Free Geek: "helping the needy get nerdy"
5:27:17 Reading My Great Grandfather's 1868 Diary
4:27:17 The Bickford Fuse, a book review
4:14:17 Why I, Too, Will Not Fly United Airlines Again, Ever.
3:21:17 The Revelation to John
3:4:17 FUD
1:29:17 A Platonic Slide Into Tyranny
12:29:16 We Wanted Workers, a book review
12:10:16 Popular Mechanics Magazine, May 1933, a review
11:27:16 Deoderant Confession
11:10:16 Grisi Neutral [Neutro] Soap
10:24:16 Finding Solace in Camus
9:24:16 A 35-Year-Old Calculator
8:27:16 My Sanctuary
7:27:16 And the Weak Suffer What They Must?, a book review
7:7:16 Yogurt
6:12:16 The Squinty Prius
5:26:16 The Disconnect of Vote-by-Mail
5:17:16 The Still Pond
5:12:16 Marina and Lee, a book review
4:28:16 A Little Catechism Goes a Long Way
4:15:16 Au Revoir, Cloudburst Recycling
3:11:16 Screen Magnetism
2:4:16 We've Got Algorithms
1:18:16 Forgiving Portland's City Bus Line
12:28:15 The Gluten Lie, a book review
12:12:15 Ten Things I Buy at Dollar Tree
12:11:15 Bio-slime
12:3:15 My Logging Habit
11:11:15 The Internet Is Not the Answer, a book review
10:21:15 How I Write When I Write
10:8:15 Dentists
9:17:15 The Other Portland
8:20:15 Gods Without Men, a book review
8:19:15 Oregon's Most Obscure Traffic Law
7:31:15 A Small Death
7:23:15 China Shakes the World, a book review
7:16:15 Out Damn Spot!
5:31:15 My New Library Card
5:21:15 Let Me Be Frank With You, a book review
5:08:15 Portland's Rabbit Hutches
4:21:15 The Sea Lions at Astoria
3:26:15 Sacrificing for a Lower Water Bill
3:10:15 The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, a Book Review
2:5:15 Pinhead Books aka e-books
1:15:15 Good Riddance to Old-School Shaving!
12:20:14 Three Whys I Quit Reading a Book
12.12.14 the life-changing magic of tidying up, a book review
11.12.14 Oil Changes
10.29:14 Grapefruit
10.17:14 Doomsday Preppers, a TV series review
9.30:14 The Trigger, a book review
9:10:14 Clipboard People
8:23:14 Ukraine Diaries, a book review
8:21:14 My Home Darkroom on a Shoestring
7:29:14 Right Speech
6:28:14 Pacific Power's Wily Ways
6:20:14 My New Clarks Sandals
5:31:14 Portland's Water Woes, Again
5:10:14 Faster Dial-Up
4:11:14 Update on Stockpiling Light Bulbs
4:10:14 The Next 100 Years, a book review
3:15:14 A Cruel and Shocking Act, a book review
3:8:14 Ukraine: Another Revolution Gone Awry
2:9:14 The Flight (and Fight) of the Hummingbird
1:25:14 My Frugal Byways
1:20:14 Walden on Wheels, a book review
1:2:14 Growing Up Amish: A Memoir, a book review
12:27:13 Micro-Apartments
11:28:13 The Moneyless Man, a book review
11:23:13 The Lost Art of Walking, a book review
11:10:13 The Cultural Revolution Cookbook, a book review
10:23:13 The Biker Angel
10:11:13 No Self-Serve Gas in Oregon
9:28:13 A Street Cat Named Bob, a book review
9:23:13 The Life & Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin, a book review
9:18:13 Autumn Leaves
8:19:13 The Worst Car Driver & Why
8:12:13 The Gardener from Ochakov, a book review
7:25:13 Le Havre by Kaurismaki
7:20:13 This Ain't California
6:27:13 The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, a book review
5:29:13 My Linux (Mis)Adventures
5:25:13 Southern Cross the Dog, a book review
5:5:13 Russian Tumbleweed
4:16:13 "The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster
3:26:13 Camera-rama
3:25:13 Moore's Law
3:13:13 Grocery Shopping
2:28:13 Razor Blade in Moonlight
1:27:13 Made in Russia: Unsung Icons of Soviet Design, a book review
1:6:13 Alleys
12:9:12 White Bread, a book review
12:4:12 Update on Old-School Shaving
11:12:12 Ten Great Buys at Dollar Tree
11:6:12 My New Russian Camera
10:29:12 Leaf Day
10:2:12 The Russian Navy in New York?
9:21:12 The Righteous Mind, a book review
9:14:12 Revolution, 1989, a book review
8:23:12 Train Whistles in the Night
8:2:12 Why I've Stockpiled Light Bulbs
7:22:12 Old-School Shaving
7:16:12 Злектроника МК-52, computer de minimus
7:4:12 Ivan's Childhood by Tarkovsky
6:21:12 The Unabomber, a modern Thoreau?
6:12:12 Do the gods exist?
6:7:12 My "Retail Therapy"
5:28:12 On Taxes, We Should Go Green
5:17:12 Portland's Trash
5:6:12 The Toaster Project, a book review
4:24:12 No Seconds
4:12:12 Portland's Runaway Utility Bill
4:8:12 The Repossession, a book review
3:30:12 How I Got Published in Mississippi Review
3:18:12 Rothko
3:9:12 The End of Money, a book review
3:1:12 gutenberg.org
2:18:12 Beauty Plus Pity, a book review
2:5:12 Kirk's Castile Soap
1:29:12 Confessions of a Fallen Standard-Bearer, a book review
1:22:12 Thirst, a book review
1:17:12 My IBM ThinkPad 1999-2012
1:11:12 String Beans
12:22:11 Spiritual TMJ
12:16:11 1Q84, a book review
12:11:11 How Portland Became Portlandia
12:1:11 The Fixie
11:20:11 Camus' Insight
11:13:11 Old & Worthy
11:7:11 Life Is Tragic
10:31:11 A Matter of Death and Life, a book review
10:25:11 Dead Letter, Email Fatigue
10:18:11 Reinventing Collapse, a book review
10:11:11 Rereading Pirsig
10:1:11 The Sisters Brothers, a book review
9:26:11 The Great Stagnation, a book review
9:16:11 Coffee, The Affordable Luxury
9:12:11 The Genius of Value
9:5:11 Death and the Penguin, a book review