ThinkPad

ThinkPad is the brand name for a highly successful range of portable computers (laptop / notebook computers) manufactured and marketed by IBM. Traditionally black in color, they feature innovations such as the eraser-head TrackPoint pointing device, some of the best keyboards seen on portables (including the fold-out butterfly keyboard on the 701 models) and have a reputation for being solidly built and dependable.

The ThinkPad name was inspired by the leather-bound pocket notebooks issued to all IBM employees with the corporate motto 'Think' embossed on the cover. IBM's corporate naming team was initially against using the name since all IBM computers (till then) were referred to by model numbers rather than names, but subsequently came around recognizing its popularity in the press. Design work on the first ThinkPads was done at IBM's Yamato design center in Japan. The clean black lines of the ThinkPad were apparently inspired by shoukadou bentou[?], a traditional black-lacquered Japanese lunch box.

External links

• IBM's ThinkPad page (http://www.ibm.com/thinkpad)
• Part I of an article on the origins of the ThinkPad (http://www.e-insite.net/eb-mag/index.asp?layout=article&articleId=CA66399&stt=00)
• Part II of an article on the origins of the ThinkPad (http://www.e-insite.net/eb-mag/index.asp?layout=article&articleId=CA66373&stt=00)

Typical IBM ThinkPad:

"Courtesy of International Business Machines Corporation. Unauthorized use not permitted."

Shoukadou bentou: (The Japanese lunchbox that inspired the ThinkPad design)