IBM ThinkPad 701C: The Iconic Butterfly Keyboard
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Dingo
1995
IBM: -Launches butterfly keyboard-
People: Nah, we just want bigger displays for no practical reason.
2000's
People: -Everyone has reliable phones with long lasting batteries and cool design-
2008-10
Apple: -Launches smartphone with no keyboard that becames useless at the first drop and has short battery life-
People: We now want phones with only big screens and no keyboard!
Every phone company: -Profit-
2020
People: -Buy 400 to 1000$ bendable fancy plastic and glass phones with no detachable battery-
Companies: -No new ideas for phones-
-Glues everything together-
-Super-thin laptops with crappy keyboards to save costs and space-
History kinda repeats itself.
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1995
IBM: -Launches butterfly keyboard-
People: Nah, we just want bigger displays for no practical reason.
2000's
People: -Everyone has reliable phones with long lasting batteries and cool design-
2008-10
Apple: -Launches smartphone with no keyboard that becames useless at the first drop and has short battery life-
People: We now want phones with only big screens and no keyboard!
Every phone company: -Profit-
2020
People: -Buy 400 to 1000$ bendable fancy plastic and glass phones with no detachable battery-
Companies: -No new ideas for phones-
-Glues everything together-
-Super-thin laptops with crappy keyboards to save costs and space-
History kinda repeats itself.
reply
Xeveniah
That brings back memories the keyboards needed a weekly gentle vacuum cleaning or the switches would fail. I've done a ton of repairs on thoes. the mechanism for the keyboard is a modern engineering artwork masterpiece. I've been in repair refurbish since 2000. it's a great machine send it off for an ultrasonic cleaning if the clock battery or nicad batteries leaked. it's a Collector's item worth the money but you can get modern notebooks and you have a 8 core apus and great virtual machine options VMware an virtual box if you want to run a legacy operating system for vintage pc games and apps.
Edit if you can afford and find one. it's a killer legacy machine. consider sourcing replacement battery pack
reply
That brings back memories the keyboards needed a weekly gentle vacuum cleaning or the switches would fail. I've done a ton of repairs on thoes. the mechanism for the keyboard is a modern engineering artwork masterpiece. I've been in repair refurbish since 2000. it's a great machine send it off for an ultrasonic cleaning if the clock battery or nicad batteries leaked. it's a Collector's item worth the money but you can get modern notebooks and you have a 8 core apus and great virtual machine options VMware an virtual box if you want to run a legacy operating system for vintage pc games and apps.
Edit if you can afford and find one. it's a killer legacy machine. consider sourcing replacement battery pack
reply
chase
i was a kid in the 90s. i think the biggest difference between my name-brand childhood electronics and new tech (new goods in general, for that matter) is longevity. my nokia 5110 and old thinkpad still work, but i've had phones and laptops one-tenth that age that are now e-waste. the mechanical opening/closing mechanism here is just something you would never see these days, aside from enthusiast products maybe.
anyway, not trying to sound like an old man (i'm 32) but that's what i love so much about these videos and old tech in general. companies still had to earn customers.
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i was a kid in the 90s. i think the biggest difference between my name-brand childhood electronics and new tech (new goods in general, for that matter) is longevity. my nokia 5110 and old thinkpad still work, but i've had phones and laptops one-tenth that age that are now e-waste. the mechanical opening/closing mechanism here is just something you would never see these days, aside from enthusiast products maybe.
anyway, not trying to sound like an old man (i'm 32) but that's what i love so much about these videos and old tech in general. companies still had to earn customers.
reply
Se7enthson
It just goes to show how much companies didn't think far ahead at all. I don't understand why Laptop companies would solder the CMos battery to the board like that it makes it very very hard for your average person or even vintage tech collector to replace it especially if its 25 years down the road and the company doesn't exist anymore, I'm not talking about just IBM I mean any company in general. I mean I get why they do it, they want people to have to send it back to them for any kind of repairs or upgrades and charge them but still it's shitty.
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It just goes to show how much companies didn't think far ahead at all. I don't understand why Laptop companies would solder the CMos battery to the board like that it makes it very very hard for your average person or even vintage tech collector to replace it especially if its 25 years down the road and the company doesn't exist anymore, I'm not talking about just IBM I mean any company in general. I mean I get why they do it, they want people to have to send it back to them for any kind of repairs or upgrades and charge them but still it's shitty.
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MadCatSE
I have recently repaired and restored one of these machines and when dealing with CMOS battery I have noticed an original IBM design flaw! At 8: 39 there is a close shot of the battery, and there is a -+- sign done in silkscreen near one of the battery terminals. But look closer at the battery itself. It's negative terminal is connected to the one marked with a -+-! All of 701c motherboards I have seen have this error in silkscreen. Keep that in mind if you want to repair one.
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I have recently repaired and restored one of these machines and when dealing with CMOS battery I have noticed an original IBM design flaw! At 8: 39 there is a close shot of the battery, and there is a -+- sign done in silkscreen near one of the battery terminals. But look closer at the battery itself. It's negative terminal is connected to the one marked with a -+-! All of 701c motherboards I have seen have this error in silkscreen. Keep that in mind if you want to repair one.
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Lucius
I actually liked the butterfly keyboard AND the TrackPoint (although I wish the butterfly keyboard and the docking adapter had been made more durable. I wish laptops today had TrackPoints (or even 1990s-style trackballs) as an option. The trackpads seem to have finally gotten to be passable, but I remember a LONG desert of a time when all of the laptops (eventually including those made by IBM/Lenovo) had switched to them, but they were terrible.
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I actually liked the butterfly keyboard AND the TrackPoint (although I wish the butterfly keyboard and the docking adapter had been made more durable. I wish laptops today had TrackPoints (or even 1990s-style trackballs) as an option. The trackpads seem to have finally gotten to be passable, but I remember a LONG desert of a time when all of the laptops (eventually including those made by IBM/Lenovo) had switched to them, but they were terrible.
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BurnItInHolyFire
That rubber finish you are talking about is a nitrile butylene rubber compound. It will break down via oxidation over time. It will also begin to stink if it breaks down after coming in contact with solvents. It will begin to smell like vomit because butyric acid is the component in human vomit that gives it that particular smell. You get the break down smell if you open up an old tool box that has some older rubber grip tools in it.
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That rubber finish you are talking about is a nitrile butylene rubber compound. It will break down via oxidation over time. It will also begin to stink if it breaks down after coming in contact with solvents. It will begin to smell like vomit because butyric acid is the component in human vomit that gives it that particular smell. You get the break down smell if you open up an old tool box that has some older rubber grip tools in it.
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eekee
Great to see a video of this machine. I always wanted to see that keyboard move, but never got around to looking it up.
Ooh! VESA VLB graphics - nice! They were faster and more responsive than early PCI, but specific to the 486.
Sad it's hard to load software onto it, but I somewhat doubt the no serial claim. That looks like an infrared window on the back, which should be usable as a serial port.
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Great to see a video of this machine. I always wanted to see that keyboard move, but never got around to looking it up.
Ooh! VESA VLB graphics - nice! They were faster and more responsive than early PCI, but specific to the 486.
Sad it's hard to load software onto it, but I somewhat doubt the no serial claim. That looks like an infrared window on the back, which should be usable as a serial port.
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Robert
I was given a 701C about 20 years ago for nothing. Externally, it was in far worse condition but it was still soldiering on. Many moves later and I've absolutely no idea what happened to it, although I do have a sneaky feeling I did in fact give it away for a cool computer display, where it shared shelf with the original XBox and a bunch of other things.
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I was given a 701C about 20 years ago for nothing. Externally, it was in far worse condition but it was still soldiering on. Many moves later and I've absolutely no idea what happened to it, although I do have a sneaky feeling I did in fact give it away for a cool computer display, where it shared shelf with the original XBox and a bunch of other things.
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Aidan
9: 08 My T61 is probably a good example of this. Didnt help that my cat always slept on it. One of the hinges are also broken and the lid -slams- closed if I'm not careful. Still works and I occasionally turn it on when I feel like it
Edit: I take back what I said, the screen decided it doesn't want to work anymore
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9: 08 My T61 is probably a good example of this. Didnt help that my cat always slept on it. One of the hinges are also broken and the lid -slams- closed if I'm not careful. Still works and I occasionally turn it on when I feel like it
Edit: I take back what I said, the screen decided it doesn't want to work anymore
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