I often watch science programs / videos and I noticed that a lot of scientists and researchers, regardless of whether they are from the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia, etc. Use a Thinkpad laptop. So not predominantly but almost exclusively. A thinpad is easy to recognize because of the white lettering on the black background on the screen lid and during Corona there are almost only Skype interviews anyway, so you can see much more often what they use for a laptop. Sometimes I'm even surprised when someone uses an Asus, HP, Dell, etc. By the way, MacBooks seem to be really very unpopular with scientists because you hardly ever see them.
So, do you know why Thinpads are so popular among scientists?
They usually get them from the central office (data center / IT administration etc.) and they buy them {at least mostly in Germany}.
The professors / lecturers / etc. Receive a list and can choose your things from it.
Because, in my opinion, MacOS doesn't get along well with professional environments. Too many restrictions, e.g. B. With the specialized program selection. And Thinkpads have a good price-performance ratio. They are often bought by employers.
Under IBM, the thinkpads with their very robust, everyday-suitable housings, solid workmanship and relatively lavish equipment had earned themselves a first-class name in the professional world (e.g. Field service), which lenovo took over and consolidated when they bought the brand.
Are the US / EU / AU etc. Scientists not afraid that Lenovo / China has built a spy hardware / software into the ThinkPad (they would be trustworthy)?
Hm, I checked various used laptop dealers and was able to determine that even 5-6 year old ThinkPads without a particularly great graphics card are still not available for less than 250-300 euro. In return, you almost get a modern, new notebook with similar performance. Other used and better ones are much cheaper, so I wouldn't necessarily call Thinkpads inexpensive.
