IBM ThinkPad 701

The IBM ThinkPad 701 is a discontinued subnotebook series from the ThinkPad line by IBM consisting of the 701C and 701Cs models. They are both colloquially known as the Butterfly due to their sliding keyboards and were developed from 1993 and sold in 1995. They are based on the Intel 486 and were priced between 1499 and 3299 USD. The 701C was the most sold laptop in 1995. They have received 27 design awards, are shown in museums and have been featured in movies. The series was discontinued due to newer laptops having larger screens.
Background.
The 701C was outgrown of a collaboration between the manufacturing facility in Raleigh and development at the Yamato Facility. The team was based in Research Trangle Park. The concept of the keyboard was first developed as a photocopy of a keyboard in spring 1993. In the summer, a plexiglass prototype was developed. The decision to fund the notebook was made in the fall of 1993, with the introduction planned a year later. Due to delays, it used the Intel 486 instead of the faster Intel Pentium.
Naming.
The 701 was codenamed butterfly internally at IBM, and engineers also wanted to use this name as the official one. The IBM legal department did not allow the name of living creatures for products. It was part of the subnotebook series like the ThinkPad 500, but they did not want to attach the same name to this model due to bad sales of the previous 500 model. The 600 series was a reserved name, so they used the 700 series which was intended for the high-end models.
Marketing.
IBM bought advertising space in major newspapers, in the lower corner or on the upper right side of a page. They only used an image of a butterfly without anything else. Days later, they added the IBM logo with a butterfly icon. A couple of days later, the text "Watch for the announcement" was added.
After the announcement, IBM received a legal threat about the usage of the name "butterfly". Because IBM replied that they were not going to use butterfly as a brand name, no legal action took place.
Specifications.
Keyboard.
Officially known as the TrackWrite, but commonly known and code-named as the butterfly keyboard, is a foldout laptop computer keyboard designed by John Karidis for IBM. It allowed the 701 series to be both compact (when closed) and comfortable to use (when open), despite being just 24.6 cm (9.7 in) wide with a 26.4 cm (10.4 in) VGA LCD.
The butterfly keyboard is split into two roughly triangular pieces that slide as the laptop's lid is opened or closed. As the lid is opened both pieces slide out to the sides, followed by one piece sliding downward. The two halves mesh to form a keyboard 29.2 cm (11.5 in) wide which overhangs the sides of the laptop body. Conversely, as the lid is closed one piece slides back, then both slide inward until the keyboard can be covered by the lid. The movement of the keyboard is driven by a cam on the lid's hinge, so the motions of the keyboard parts are always synchronized with the movement of the lid.
Reception.
In a 1995 review by InfoWorld the full-sized keyboard, large matrix screen and built-in multimedia features were positively noted. The nonstandard I/O ports were seen negatively. The ThinkPad 701 has received 27 design awards. Domus noted in a 2019 article that: "Even today, this portable PC amazes anyone who sees it open and close, and more than twenty years have gone by.". The 701C was the top selling laptop of 1995.
The laptop is being displayed in the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, New York, Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, Germany and in the Computer History Museum.
Discontinuation.
The 701 series was discontinued due to the fact that newer laptop models contained larger screens, so the laptop could contain a full sized keyboard without folding mechanism. The 701 series has been described as a product that had innovative features that were well received in the market, but the total package missed the competitive mark.
In popular culture.
The ThinkPad 701 was briefly shown in 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. It was also featured in Blood Diamond and .
Further developments.
A few months after the release of the 701, the ThinkPad 760 was released which is based on the Intel Pentium 1.
In 2003, ZDNet reported that the IBM Design Center was experimenting with new laptop models that included a butterfly keyboard. David Hill stated that he tried to bring back the butterfly design, but was not able to do so. "Business Insider" has argued in a 2017 article that Lenovo (who took over the ThinkPad line from IBM) should bring back the butterfly keyboard design. In 2014 it was reported by Hackaday that it was possible to desolder the original Intel DX4 and replace it with a faster Am5x86.