So I just got my new work laptop...

Grimnoc

and it's an IBM Thinkpad. Do you know what this means? It means friggin' awesome 80's chunky-ness. I mean, you could kill a man with this thing, flat out. Zed's dead, babe. He's toast of the don't pass go, don't collect $200 variety.

Here's the point, I am not a fan of the whole sleeker-is-cooler asthetic at all. I know, I know, it's all just individual preference. But really, does everything have to be Apple-ized these days (I am not slurring Apple here, just the asthetic).

Case in point:

Stupid remake (just of the bridge, not the actual movie)
http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/startrekbridge.jpg

Pure awesome
http://goularts.us/images/startrekbridge1.jpg

So back to the IBM Thinkpad.
The actual hardware is so-so (it's just a work laptop after all), but at least it knows what it is; a laptop. No dumb redesigns by people who sit around and sip candy-coffee all day while only listening to "Float On" by Modest Mouse (psss...which is a great song off a great album, but give their pre-Good News for People Who Love Bad News albums a turn and you will have a completely different perspective of them), instead we get a chunk of metal and silicone which would make David Bowie (80's Bowie of course) jealous.

Also, I have a nub. You know what I'm talking about, that little red guy we all love so much regardless of how useless he actually is.

*To complete the package I'm totally installing DOOM on it tonight.

Snarkasm

I, too, love my Thinkpad. Function over form, and built like a tank.

'Tis not for all, of course, but I like mine all the same.

ardichoke

I loved my Lenovo 3000 series... which was basically a ThinkPad without the branding and with slightly cheaper hardware. Got it for under 600 bucks and it got me through the last 2 years of college as well as the first year of my career. I did enjoy the lack of shiny bits to get scuffed and smudged, etc. That said, my new laptop (MSI EX630) is a slice of heaven. Way more power than the old Lenovo (which is now serving as my personal colocated testbed webserver at my work, LOL!) nicer screen, lighter. If I could choose a matte finish instead of the glossyness I would have though.

fmueller

I don't even know what the new Thinkpads look like, but my wife just got a new Dell laptop from work. It looks very much like an old Thinkpad A31 I just retired - very retro, boxy, sharp edges. Not my kind of thing - the battery sticks out about an inch at the back and is chrome, as if it was some sort of special feature :shakehead

But it does have a power supply plug that is illuminated in blue, of all the ueber-cool colors! Anybody owning a new Dell laptop can now listen to Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind' without ever running out of gas in their firelighter again!