IBM repair in London

IBM introduced the ThinkPad name in 1992. The 700 and 700C, launched in October that year, set the pattern: a plain black case styled by Richard Sapper, engineering led from IBM's Yamato laboratory in Japan, and a red TrackPoint pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard. Through the 1990s the range was numbered. The 300 series was the value line, the 500 series covered sub-notebooks and thin, light machines, the 600 series was the slim business mainstream from 1998, and the 700 series carried the high-end models, including the 701C of 1995 with its expanding butterfly keyboard. The 200 series comprised very small machines, most of them sold only in Japan, and the i Series of 1998 to 2002 offered lower-cost models for home and small-office buyers.

In 2000 IBM switched to letters: the T series for mainstream business use, the X series for ultraportables and the A series for desktop replacements, followed by the R series in 2001, the G series in 2003 and, once Lenovo was in charge, the widescreen Z series in 2005. Lenovo agreed to buy IBM's personal computer division in December 2004 and completed the deal in 2005. ThinkPads kept IBM badges for about two more years, then became Lenovo ThinkPads. Later families such as SL, W, L and Edge never carried the IBM name.