I have a $1000 gift card at Microcenter that I have to use and while I don't NEED a new laptop (still rocking my Lenovo T420s and X230) the batteries on both those laptops barely hold a charge and my eyes get really strained/fatigued with the dated screen tech that is dimming over usage and time. I rarely take my business on the go anymore and typically have a decent to high end PC to work off of but that could change in the future.

Here's the Lenovo Thinkpad I am considering: link.


I've used Lenovo laptops/notebooks/tablets exclusively for 20+ years. I require the "eraser" style mouse pointer in the center of the keyboard. I absolutely HATE touchpads. I've held onto my T420s and X230 as long as I have because they were the last year Lenovo used the classic keyboards. The new Lenovo keyboards got mixed reviews (with a decent amount of reviews preferring the original IBM/Lenovo keyboard) and I have no idea if this keyboard is the "2nd gen" or has been updated/change since. Anyone who has experience with both, your opinion would be most welcome. For that matter anyone who has experience with the older Lenovos vs. the newer ones, your opinions would be most welcome.


Frankly if I could sell the gift card I'd rather have the money but apparently there are so many scams out there using gift cards that no one is interested. I've even offered to meet the buyer at the store to verify the balance and they can use it right there then hand me the cash after the gift card balance clears but still no one would take me up on it so I'm leaning towards just using it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Hildur,

That should be a fine solid unit but the question is can you buy something else if you don't need it?

My wife bought this model back in December and loves it! No problems with the keyboard.

Lenovo Flex 7i Intel Evo Platform 14" 2-in-1 Touchscreen Laptop - 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1255U - Windows 11
Item # ‌1693076‌

I bought a Lenovo Legion laptop about a year ago now.

It has the same chiclet keyboard you're used to (I upgraded from my W520 and X220 tablet when the SSDon the X220 finally gave up the ghost), which is only "okay" compared to the old design but still more desirable than, say, Dell offerings.

Really, my only concern/complaint is that I've replaced the speaker 3 times. I don't know if I had a booster program (had to use something to make audio usable on the Thinkpads) or what, but they'd slowly self destruct over time. I just replaced them again and did a system reset so we'll see if this time is different.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
That should be a fine solid unit but the question is can you buy something else if you don't need it?

Not really. I could always use another external hard drive as another layer of redundancy but I'd rather use the full balance if possible. Anything unused will probably stay that way for a while (and a $2.50 per month fee kicks in starting on month 25 of keeping a gift card balance with Microcenter) and it's just one more thing that can get lost or misplaced.

I went ahead and got it. I couldn't goto the physical store until yesterday (gift cards can only be used in store). Turns out all the brand new units were sold out by the time I got there so I ended up with an open box unit for $900 which left me enough to pick up a 5TB external hard drive. The gift card covered everything minus the MA sales tax. The open box wasn't a big deal. The sales guy knew the previous buyer and he bought it last week then returned it to get a gaming notebook instead. I have 15 days to decide if I want to keep it.


Immediately I could tell the new keyboards are inferior to the original design. Period. No question, no debate. The original IBM/Lenovo keyboards has better feel, feedback, response, ergonomic design, etc. Sure this one is backlit and has a keypad but neither are enough to make up for the lack of "soul" if you will. I find that to be very common with newer technology and cars. They are excellent on the spec sheet but for actual usage and how *I* interact and connect to the device it's as if something's missing.


I'm not a fan of the new fingerprint reader. The power button should be the power button. Not the power button and fingerprint reader but I can't change it so it is what it is.


The prior owner upgraded to Windows 11. Windows 7 was PERFECT. Windows 10 was tolerable. Windows 11 is going to be the next Vista/ME. Why the fuck does Microsoft feel the need to change something that works well? I shouldn't have to spend a couple hours to mimic the layout of prior Windows systems and for fucks sake I LIKE SEEING MY PROGRAMS OPEN ON THE TASKBAR. Not "small icons." Not "combined." Real work requires having multiple windows open and being able to know which window is what. THAT IS NON NEGOTIABLE. Whoever designed Windows 11 never did any kind of real work with spreadsheets because they would never let this happen. What the fuck is up with the start command? I used to hit the windows key, type "<drive letter>: <enter>" and open up one of my hard drives. Now it opens an app that starts with the letter or searches the web? What kind of FUCKERY is this?


Now I'm off to format the machine and install a fresh copy of Windows 10 Pro. It's a computer. It's fast. It has great battery life. Meh.

Update: It's a piece of shit. The system froze/crashed a few times when putting stress on the system via video editing/rendering. The fingerprint sensor (which is also the power button) constantly misreads my fingerprint over time and unless I reregister my prints it won't work. The screen will burn in images after as little as 20 minutes. Thankfully by changing the picture it'll remove the burn in over time but this is something I've never dealt with before and on my T420s computers I'd leave them running with screens on for weeks at a time showing charts and spreadsheets for work. The mouse buttons are finicky. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't and it has to do with where you press. Basically if I'm not pressing directly over the sensor the click won't register which makes 70% of the button useless. Lastly, I'm sending it in for warranty repair which means I'm not going to have it for about 2 weeks which means I need to transfer everything over to another computer so I can continue to operate. In short, I would never recommend the newer Lenovo T series to anyone and that's disappointing because not many other manufacturers have the trackpoint mouse on their keyboards which is a requirement for me.

If I were forced to buy Lenovo, it would be the Thinkpad series. But I avoid Lenovo and HP; my first preference would be Dell (and one of their premium consumer or commercial lines like XPS or Latitude).

Thinkpad may or may not still be designed in Japan (from IBM days) but I consider Dell a very viable and preferred alternative to a chicom product.

Sorry to hear you are having issues.

I love my T16, I have gotten it pretty hot a couple times running games. I think No Man's Sky is the only thing that crashed. and honestly its too much game for this laptop.

I don't use the finerprint reader on anything.
The one issue I have with it is the track pad click zones, I would prefer they be biased 70/30 left/right I think this one is 50/50

I was a die-hard Dell Latitude person until this year, 2 of us got top of the line units in 2021 and both of us started having issues with in a few months. This year we bought a pair of T16s and no issues so far.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Thinkpad may or may not still be designed in Japan (from IBM days) but I consider Dell a very viable and preferred alternative to a chicom product.

I think they are all Asian based design pretty much. As far as I know Foxconn designs most of Dell's stuff for them.

One more thing: the screen brightness isn't very good. On the highest setting it's probably 70% of where it should be. I've developed severe eye fatigue using this system and didn't realize it until it was too late. Normally when I'm viewing a laptop or cell phone it takes a few hours for the diplopia/double vision to set in. Now it's within an hour and once it happens I have to live with it for the rest of the day until I sleep and the next day it goes back to normal.