Technology

A LOT of people complained when Thinkpad transferred from IBM to Lenovo. Like almost all things, it was progress conflated with racism.

The big "meaningful" complaint is that Lenovo used more plastics than aluminum. On the one hand, I get it: my T41 was a god damned beast that felt like it could stop a bullet (an important consideration in the US). It also apparently weighted 2.22 kg and I 100% noticed that on trips and even walking around town/campus.

And Lenovo bought the brand around the time that a LOT of people were noticing the weight of their laptops and there was a huge push for "ultrabook" form factors and the realization that it makes more sense to protect your device with a sleeve and a padded compartment rather than "military grade" construction. And... Asian factories were (and still are) much more agile and able to pivot. Whereas US factories still tend to take years (or decades...) to catch up to the rest of the world.

So we got the same xenophobic nonsense we've had in every other industry. These thin and light laptops with plastic shells ARE CHEAP PIECES OF SHIT THAT NOBODY CAN EVER REPAIR AND ARE ALL A SCAM SO BUY AMERICAN!!!! Even though the shell has almost nothing to do with it and those still had screw based constructions. The real problem was the rapid shift towards soldering/gluing hardware in place. Some of that was to support ultrabook designs and some are just pure bullshit to prevent upgrades.

These days? Aluminum is king again because it "feels premium" but those shells are so ridiculously thin that they are arguably worse than polymer (still feels great though). I blame Apple.

But build quality wise? Lenovo straight up bought IBM's laptop (and consumer PC?) divisions. It was the exact same factories and designers and capabilities.

All that said: Lenovo is also a REALLY Chinese company. For a personal device? I have zero qualms and literally bought a new laptop for the first time in like 9 years and it is a Thinkpad. From a professional standpoint? A competent IT department can vet devices. I... think I worked with a competent IT department once in my life. But, more importantly, if we are trying to do business with a government org or a high value company/target? They are fundamentally concerned about Supply Chain Hardening (and for good reason) and that just reeks of "We, personally, don't care about that". Which generally won't outright kill a deal but it does put you on a back footing.