Using an IBM / Lenovo Thinkpad has become an integral part of my profession. I highly prefer this brand of notebook over any other because of several reasons which I find more appropriate in my profession as a System Administrator. When I first got hold of an IBM Thinkpad its struck me as a very professional looking notebook. A part of its cool looks and other aesthetic benifits, here are the main reasons why I prefer an IBM / Lenovo Notebook over other notebooks.

• Smart / Sturdy construction — virtually all of the IBM / Lenovo Thinkpads i have owned or used at the office has an impressive sturdy feel to it. And the way its casing are molded gives a very professional look. It also radiates an aura that the user of this IBM / Lenovo Thinkpad is serious about his computing experience
• Intuitive Pointing Device - Thinkpad Trackpoint — The Trackpoint “eraser head” is a very impressive piece of pointing device. I first got acquianted to using it from my original IT Manager. It is then I realize that using the trackpoint is far more efficient for some reasons like:
  1. You dont need to carry an external mouse with you although you can use a touchpad which is more common with other laptops.
  2. You can shift faster from the keyboard to the Thinkpad trackpoint faster since its actually within the vicinity of the keyboard itself unlike a touchpad (you need to move your hand below the keyboard) or an external mouse (really away from the keyboard).
• More realistic Keyboard Layout — an IBM / Lenovo laptop’s keyboard layout more closely resembles a computer keyboard. The Insert / Home / Delete / End / PageUp and PageDown keys are lined up similar to a keyboard unlike in other keyboards where they are wrapped around the upper right corner.
• Excellent System Recovery Utilities — Most of the Thinkpads sold today have the builtin Recovery Partition which takes care of common recovery chores such as reformmating your hard drive. The really cool thing about this recovery partion is that it actually reinstalls all of your software and Device drivers. Even if you ended up screwing your Recovery partition, you can install using another Windows XP / vista installer then use a special Software UPdate you can download from the website to download and install ALL of the software and drivers in ONE program. Talk about ease of use!
• Excellent Linux / FreeBSD supported components — I have used the following Thinkpads:
  1. Thinkpad x20
  2. Thinkpad x21
  3. Thinkpad x22
  4. Thinkpad x30
  5. Thinkpad x31
  6. Thinkpad T60
  7. thinkpad r40
  8. Thinkpad r50e

  And I have always have a relative easy time install Linux in these notebooks. It may seem Lenovo chooses good / more opensource friendly components in building their units.

• Builtin night lamp - ThinkLightThis is quite useful when typing in the dary and you will not need to get one of those USB Lamps.
• Professional Look at any angle — The handsome matte black casing, couple with the smart looking angles and corners of these notebooks give you a more business like projection. Very important and a good first impression when meeting up with clients

The only drawback I see on the thinkpad is that it is very expensive (atleast here in the philippines) compared with other laptops of the same specs. But I personally believe it goes beyond costs since the items i stated above more than makes up the price.