Getting To The Nub Of ThinkPad Design With David Hill

A Tale Of Butterfly Keyboards And Four Nub Designs

Those of us of a certain age are very likely to have used a ThinkPad at some time; an original IBM version, the later Lenovo designs or perhaps both.  That ThinkPad was designed by David Hill if it was released between 1995 and 2017, and The Register has posted an interview with David about his experiences designing the much beloved laptop.  He was the creator of the iconic nub which came in four different designs over the years, including the Soft Dome, Golf Tee, Classic Dome, and Eraser Head.  It was the most unique feature of the ThinkPad and once you mastered it, offered much better cursor control than a trackpad.

The Nub was not the only impressive feat David Hill pulled off, he was also behind the butterfly keyboard that gave you a keyboard larger than the laptop shell when you opened it up.   Somewhat like a pop-up book the keyboard expanded when you opened the screen and folded back when you closed it.  He says he is most proud of the ThinkLight, a small but bright light that illuminated the entire keyboard when it was turned on that was as effective as a backlight but cost a tiny percentage to implement compared to a backlight.

Check out some of the other features he designed that never made it to production as well as his experiences when IBM sold their hardware business to Lenovo in the full interview.