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HP Elitebook 820 works pretty well. Asus Zenbook UX21 works acceptably. But tellingly, after the news about the X60 last week or so, I decided to ebay an X61 and stuff as much RAM and SSD in it as possible. The X31 remains the greatest Linux laptop, the greatest laptop period, I've ever owned, modulo some graphics driver problems. I would like to see something with the build quality of these Thinkpads, coming with Linux pre-installed.

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T420's / X220's are the last generation to have 7-row keyboards and also available with IPS screens. The newer generations have 6-row chiclet keyboards with neutered TrackPad buttons. Despite using a rMBP daily for work, the old ThinkPad keyboard is home for me.

In their quest to become MBP replicas, ThinkPads lost their distinguishing features. Now that I've resigned myself to carrying a mechanical keyboard at all times (HHKB), I no longer choose a laptop based on one. I am now exploring alternative laptops after being a loyal ThinkPad customer for 7 years.

I am desperately trying to extend the life of my X220 exactly for this reason. It is the last laptop with a usable keyboard. But this thing has been around the world at least a dozen times and has cracks and bruises to show for it. No idea what I will do when it finally dies on me.

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