The skeptic in me thinks that long lived, upgradable, serviceable, resellable laptops would never have survived long anyways. It’s far more profitable to sell new machines to people and businesses after 3 years. Those long lived tank laptops were actually just too good.
IBM was selling service contracts too, which increased their incentive to make the machines last. Some businesses (and governments) would still be willing to shell out the money for that kind of quality.
Lenovo still offers up to 5 years, next business-day onsite service for the Thinkpad line that is somewhat reasable. Unfortunately, the battery warranty is an additional line item. Usually the 3 year NBD onsite option with battery is about $250 for a T14 or X13.
If I remember correctly, people regularly shelled out $5,000 plus for those Thinkpads. They had some insane “Rolls-Royce” type of support for business executives.
