ThinkPad Reserve is real, but still in your dreams

We're admittedly confused by the press release for Lenovo's ThinkPad Reserve that went across the wires this morning. We already wrote about the leather case, the white-glove service and support, and the (ahem) $5,000 price tag in June. The formerly secretive marketing Web site has had plenty of specs available for months. But today, it seems, marks the official unveiling of the fancy-pants limited-edition laptop, which was created to celebrate the ThinkPad's 15th anniversary.

(Credit: PCLaunches)

The specs--Centrino Pro with a Core 2 Duo L7500 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive--are fairly typical for a ThinkPad (though we suspect that low-voltage processor is a concession to the difficulty of cooling a completely leather-bound laptop). But the real reason to buy the ThinkPad Reserve rests in its gourmet service and support package. Every owner is assigned a member of the "Executive Support Staff" who helps set up the ThinkPad and schedules routine maintenance. For the duration of the laptop's three-year warranty, users can call or IM the concierge service 24 hours a day; Lenovo also promises on-site service within 4 hours in most major cities across the globe.

It's easy to scoff at the ThinkPad Reserve's ridiculously high price tag--$5,000 could easily buy you a far more powerful machine. But then again, this is not a laptop for the lumpen; today's press release includes a testimonial from the president and CEO of an international IT company. Exactly the kind of person, we imagine, who could afford to pay for a little luxury.

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There has always been a niche marke for this stuff

While looking at the ThinkPad Reserve and its impressive price tag I was reminded of the leather bound FiloFax "organizers" which were so popular with "shakers and movers" in the 1980s. For USD $300+ one could own a small elegant leather covered loose leaf binder which could be filled with every sort of organizing document that could be thought of, e.g. calendars, phone books, project planners, etc. So twenty years later we have moved from paper to silicon and from $300+ to $5,000. It is still leather bound and will still find a home with the same type of consumer.