Lenovo confirms that a retro ThinkPad is on the way
Lenovo's first ThinkPad was a groundbreaking crowdpleaser back in 1992. Now, 25 years later, the company will honor it with a nostalgia-inducing throwback model.
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The original Lenovo ThinkPad 700C.
It's been 25 years since Lenovo introduced us to its first ThinkPad: the 700C business laptop. By today's standards, it was comically large and underpowered, but back then, it was a very popular piece of hardware that helped usher in the age of the laptop.
Now, after a few years' worth of rumors, Lenovo confirmed Wednesday that it will release a retro ThinkPad in the 700C's honor (though hopefully one that isn't quite so thick).
This image is the only sneak peak Lenovo is offering of the new 25th anniversary special edition ThinkPad.
"At this point, it seems like the cat's out of the bag," writes David Hill, Lenovo chief design officer, in a company blog post. "Yes, Lenovo will be making a special edition ThinkPad as part of the 25th anniversary celebration. It's aimed at enthusiasts and superfans that were kind enough to share their thoughts about what the laptop might be."
In fairness, I was six years old back in 1992, and while I vaguely remember my dad using one (or at least drooling over one at a PC expo), I can't say that I'm the likely target superfan Hill is describing. But ZDNet's Steven J. Vaugh-Nichols summed up the nostalgia well, writing:
That first ThinkPad was powered by a 25MHz 486 SLC and it came with your choice of four or 8MBs of memory. This "performance" laptop came with a 640x480 resolution 10.4-inch VGA display and had a 120MB hard-drive. It weighed just over seven and a half pounds and cost $4,350 (in 1992 dollars). That would be about $7,400 in today's money.
And we loved it.
No word on the new special edition ThinkPad's specs, but Hill writes, "It has a wonderful black rubberized coating, three TrackPoint caps, and a keyboard to die for." Availability is also yet to be announced, though it should almost certainly arrive by the end of this year.
No final price is set yet, either, but Hill assures readers "it will not cost $5,000!"
