Welcome to the ultimate ThinkPad laptop quiz for older and newer models. There is a neat reward for you at the end if you like classic ThinkPads!
There is only one correct answer per question. You have to count your points yourself because I don’t know how to integrate automatic quiz counting into free WordPress. Grant yourself one point for a correct (green) answer and minus one point per false (red) answer.
1. What company introduced ThinkPads?
HP
IBM
That’s right, IBM introduced ThinkPads.
Siemens
Grundig
2. What company is selling ThinkPads now?
Sharp
Lenovo
That’s right, Lenovo sells ThinkPads now.
Samsung
Huawei
3. The original analog IBM ThinkPads were?
Mechanical calendars
Chalkboards
Paper notepads
That’s right, the original ThinkPads from IBM were simple paper notepads hence the name “pad”.
Abacus
4. IBM ThinkPad laptops were developed at?
IBM Yamato Facility
That’s right, ThinkPad laptops were developed in Japan in the IBM Yamato Facility.
IBM Tucson Facility
IBM Somalia Facility
IBM Geneva Facility
5. Who is called the “Father of ThinkPads”?
Arimasa Naito
That’s right, Arimasa Naito is the Japanese engineer & product designer who had joined IBM in the 1970s
Shōtarō Kaneda
Uzumaki Naruto
Motoko Kusanagi
6. Who designed the first ThinkPad laptops?
Richard Sapper
Korrekt, German industrial designer Richard Sapper designed the first ThinkPad laptops.
Al Gore
Gérald Genta
Thom Browne
7. What was the design of ThinkPads inspired by?
Japanese lunchbox
That’s right, the iconic black slab design and color scheme was inspired by a Japanese bento lunchbox.
Ancient stone stele
IBM mainframe
Leica cameras
8. What was IBM’s name for the red pointing stick?
TrackPoint
That’s right, IBM TrackPoint was the branded name for the pointing stick.
AccuPoint
MoveAssist
IBMouse
9. What TrackPoint shape does not exist?
Classic Flat
That’s right, no such thing as a “Classic Flat” TrackPoint shape.
Classic Dome
Soft Rim
Soft Dome
10. What are the colors of the older IBM letters in order?
Red-green-blue
That’s right, we had red-green-blue IBM letters on older ThinkPads.
Green-blue-red
Blue-red-green
Red-blue-green
11. What year was that first ThinkPad laptop released?
1992
That’s right, the first IBM ThinkPad laptops were released in 1992.
1990
1991
1993
12. What was the first IBM ThinkPad laptop model called?
700
That’s right, the first model was the IBM ThinkPad 700 released in 1992, later renamed to 700t. The ThinkPad 300 was released alongside (?) as a cheaper, lower performance model.
500
600
800
13. The naming scheme for the first ThinkPad models was inspired by?
BMW cars
That’s right, the first ThinkPad model names were inspired by BMW 3, 5 and 7 series cars with 300 as the entry line, 500 as mid-range and 700 as the premium line.
Display standards
Rolex watches
Japanese Imperial dynasties
14. What ThinkPad model does not exist?
T31
That’s right, there never was an “IBM T31” model. The successor to the problematic Pentium-4 based T30 was the Pentium-M based T40.
T430u
T61p
X301
15. What ThinkPad s-model does not exist?
X40s
That’s right, there never was an “IBM X40s” because the s-naming scheme for s-models was not yet implemented. The X40/41 from 2004-06 were the slime-line alternatives to the contemporary X30-X32.
T431s
W550s
X60s
16. What ThinkPad series did never exist?
D
That’s right, there never was a ThinkPad D-series unlike for example the L430, R40 or G40.
L
R
G
17. What was the first small and light ThinkPad X-model?
X20
That’s right, the IBM ThinkPad X20 was the first X-model released in 2000.
X10
X100
X200
18. What are the markers for powerful ThinkPad models?
P and W
That’s right, originally p was added to more powerful variants like the T60p. Later the W series was introduced, for example the W530 and now the P-series, for example the P52. Presumably P stands for performance and W for workstation.
A and G
C and F
H and Z
19. What was the ultra-portable ThinkPad 10″ model?
240
That’s right, the IBM ThinkPad 240 (and 240X or 240Z model) was a tiny 10.4″ display laptop from 1999.
X60s
T480s
W701
20. What were the original ThinkPad tablet models?
ThinkPads with a rotating and invertible touchscreen
That’s right, ThinkPad tablets like the X220t could physically rotate and invert their screen and function similar to a standard laptop or a pure tablet.
ThinkPads with an extended TrackPad
ThinkPads with an extra slim design
ThinkPads with the IBM tablet software manager
21. What was the first ThinkPad T-model that could boot from a USB flash drive?
T23
That’s right, the IBM ThinkPad T23 from 2001 could boot an OS from a USB flash drive unlike the earlier T22.
T30
T43
T60
22. Name the ThinkPad with an inbuilt printer!
550BJ
That’s right, the ThinkPad 550BJ with BJ for BubbleJet from 1993 (?) included a slim, integrated Canon printer.
700CL
X200t
W701
23. What was a common issue on some older ThinkPads?
Flexing
That’s right, a flexing (bending) mainboard in particular on older T40-43 models could create small fractures over time and thus board failures.
Boasting
Bulking
Cutting
24. What was the name of the PowerPC based ThinkPad series?
800
That’s right, the older 800 series (820, 850, 860) from the mid-90s was based on IBM PowerPC CPU architecture unlike the common X86 architecture.
PowerPad
777p
AM1
25. The older, low-cost ThinkPad i-series was co-manufactured by?
Acer
That’s right, the unusual ThinkPad i-series was manufactured by Acer to bring down costs for IBM. Examples would be the I1124 or I1800 from the Pentium MMX, II and III era.
Dell
HP
Apple
26. What TrackPoint profile size does not exist?
Uber Low Profile
That’s right, the TrackPoint profile sizes got flatter over time but there was no Uber Low Profile (yet).
Low Profile
Super Low Profile
Ultra Low Profile
27. What was the first ThinkPad T-model with an Intel GPU option?
T43
That’s right, the T43 from 2005 introduced the first Intel GMA 900 iGPU (optional).
T30
T40
T60
28. What GPU manufacturer did not produce for ThinkPads?
Matrox
That’s right, Matrox never supplied GPUs for ThinkPads. Earlier ThinkPads used for example ATI (T60), S3 (T23) or NeoMagic (600) GPUs.
S3
ATI
NeoMagic
29. What was the last ThinkPad T-model with a socketed (exchangeable) CPU?
T440p
That’s right, the T440p (unlike the T440) from 2013 was the last T-model with exchangeable CPUs.
T460p
T430
T410
30. What ThinkPad had a mini 1.8” hdd?
X40
That’s right, the IBM X40 (and X41) had an unusual mini 1.8″ hard disk drive with 3.3V power unlike the more common 2.5″ drives in other models.
X1 Carbon
X30
X60s
31. What was the highest 4:3 resolution display available for older ThinkPads?
2048×1536
That’s right, a 2048×1536 Super Ultra XGA (SUXGA) IPS display was available via Configured To Order (CTO) for some 15″ models like the R50p.
1024×768
1400×1050
1600×1200
32. The IBM UltraPort supported what feature?
External webcams
That’s right, the nonstandard USB 1.1 port on top of older IBM ThinkPad displays supported webcams. Don’t confuse it with the UltraBay.
External optical drives
Pads & stylus input
External graphic cards
33. What UltraBay form factor did not exist?
UltraBay Watch
That’s right, there newer was an UltraBay Watch form factor.
UltraBay Slim
UltraBay II
UltraBay Enhanced
34. What could you not connect to an UltraBay slot?
External displays
That’s right, there was no (OEM) external display connection to the UltraBay.
Optical drives
Hard disk drives
Batteries
35. What was IBM’s name for IPS displays in their ThinkPads?
Flexview
That’s right, the Flexview name was given to IPS displays for example in the T60 presumably because of their more flexible viewing angles.
iBeaM
EyePS
ButterDisplay
36. What unusual display ratio did the first widescreen ThinkPad Z60t have?
15:9
That’s right, the first “multimedia” widescreen ThinkPad Z60t introduced in October 2005 had the non-standard 15:9 ratio WXGA 1280 x 768. It was soon superseded by 16:9 or 16:10 models.
16:9
16:10
3:2
37. What ThinkPad had two displays?
W700ds
That’s right, the ThinkPad W700ds from 2009 was nearly identical to the W700, with the addition of a 10.6-inch (27 cm) secondary sliding screen with a resolution of 1280×760.
T430u
P70
R50p
38. What ThinkPad introduced the current chiclet keyboard style?
ThinkPad X1
That’s right, the 13.3″ ThinkPad X1 (non-Carbon) from 2011 introduced the “Precision Keyboard” with chiclet style.
ThinkPad X1 Carbon
ThinkPad X1 Carbon Extreme
ThinkPad X
39. What feature did the 25 years anniversary ThinkPad 25 edition have?
Vintage keyboard
That’s right, the Lenovo ThinkPad 25 (released in 2017 and so 25 years after the first ThinkPad 700 from 1992) had a vintage style 7-row, non-chiclet keyboard layout.
IBM logo
Autograph from Arimasa Naito
4:3 display option
40. What was the Butterfly ThinkPad?
ThinkPad with self folding keyboard
That’s right, the tiny IBM ThinkPad 701 from 1995 had a unique, self folding keyboard.
ThinkPad with special edition colorful IBM logo
ThinkPad with a 180° folding display
Carbon fiber, super light ThinkPad edition
41. What is the name of a modern ultra-portable ThinkPad?
ThinkPad X1 Nano
That’s right, the ThinkPad X1 Nano has a 13″ display and weighs only 2 lb or 0.9 kg.
ThinkPad X1 Pico
ThinkPad X1 Micro
ThinkPad X1 Air
42. What docking device did not exist?
BasePad
That’s right, there never was a “Basepad” docking system.
Port Replicator
Ultrabase
SelectaDock
43. What was the Active Protection System?
HDD protection system
That’s right, the Active Protection System (APS) protected hard drives from fall damage using an acceleration sensor.
Anti-theft protection system
BIOS lock password
5 year warranty
44. What was the name for the ThinkPad dual battery system?
Power Bridge
That’s right, the ThinkPad Power Bridge system was introduced in the X230s as a combination of a non-removable internal battery and a removable external battery. Earlier UltraBays did allow for a second removable battery.
Twin Peaks
Dual Charge
Double Boost
45. The Yoga models support what special feature?
360° foldable screen hinges
That’s right, the Yoga models support 360° foldable screen hinges that allow these ThinkPads to be used like convertible tablets.
HDR displays
Wireless charging
Linux OS
46. What ThinkPad uses an AMD CPU?
ThinkPad A485
That’s right, the modern A-series based on the T-Series uses AMD CPUs.
ThinkPad A31
ThinkPad E490
ThinkPad P52
47. What is better to have?
4 ThinkPads
That’s right, four is more than one, two or three and thus better to have.
1 ThinkPad
2 ThinkPad
3 ThinkPad
So, here is your reward if you feel successful enough. Click on the link to an obscure collection of vintage IBM ThinkPads ads from Japan.
https://www.aichi.to/~thinkpad/catalog/
Sources are the excellent German thinkwiki.de, the English thinkwiki.org and the standard Wikipedia and my own personal knowledge. If you find mistakes, please comment.
PANORAMA CIRCLE 