I'm using a T42p as one of my main machines, mostly due to the screen (1600x1200 at 4:3, have not found its equal yet) and the keyboard. The thing is 14 years old but it still works like new, it still runs ~2 hours on the (extended) battery. I did put an SSD in the machine (using a $1 PATA-SATA adapter which sits between the drive and the socket, I only needed to modify the drive hatch on the side of the machine to get it to fit) but for the rest it is stock standard.

Now that more and more functions are moving back into the server - did I say server, it should have been 'cloud' of course... - these older machines are actually getting more usable again as their rather anaemic processors (1.8GHz Pentium M) and limited memory capacity (2GB + 128MB VRAM) are getting to be less of an issue.

try the trackpoint...

In what sense is the touchpad worse? Is it because it is smaller and it isn't covered in glass? I've been using touchpads ever since Cirque launched the original 'Glidepoint' - I still have the original, it still works but the RS232-interface it uses is getting rare - so I have some experience using the things. I also have an Apple 'magic touchpad' which I use with a stationary machine. What the latter has going for it is the size - which fits stationary applications but gets in the way within the confined space of a laptop - and the glass cover - which doesn't wear down like the plastic versions do. The 'clickpad' functionality can be handy but it has its drawbacks as well, especially when your fingers happen to be all the way at the top of the pad where clicking the thing takes noticeably more force than at the bottom, this due to the design where the actual switch sits at the bottom feet. Nearly all touchpads support multi-touch gestures (two-finger scroll being the one I use most).

> The mac UI is nicer than the various Linux window managers.

Well that is entirely subjective. To me OS X is a cluttered, distracting, cold-grey mess.

Ideapads, not thinkpads. There were never any evidence of such shenanigans showing up on the thinkpads.

Whenever i see someone complain about brand X, it is because hey picked up the cheapest model on offer at some corner store. Buy the business models...

Buy a used Mac Mini. They haven't been updated in like 5.5 years at this point. You can just remote into it.

Or just build a hackintosh.

If anyone working even remotely for the european union, or any agency willing to take on Apple for bad practice: THIS is the real legal thing you should complain about.

Locking people out of your software store if they don't buy your hardware for their development is an absolute scandal.