Thinkpads /were/ great. They took a serious quality dive several years ago, and I've had a number of bad problems with customer service (e.g., orders "stuck" for months, miscommunicaton of warranty issues), and now I won't recommend them.
My guess is that when things go great, you'll be fine, but the moment you need something out of the ordinary then Lenovo will be just as bad as Dell.
Is there a good, power-user-focused laptop manufacturer right now? I've heard others express similar opinions about newer Lenovos, and I'm currently on a MBP so I haven't used anything newer than a T500 much, but I really miss having a proper dock on my desk that I could just slide my laptop into.
And I really really really miss my X61's keyboard any time I use the built-in one on my MBPs (oddly, my T500 seemed to have too much flex to it's keyboard, but I never bothered swapping it or anything because I hardly ever used it outside of the dock).
How many thinkpads have you purchased recently? Multiple orders stuck for months? Granted I have only had 3 thinkpads in 8 years but I have never had any problems.
In my experience "Lenovo thinkpads are bad" is a meme that started as a prediction ("Lenovo thinkpads will be bad") and somehow kept on being trotted out on rare occasion for reasons unknown. The T and X series from Lenovo are both brilliant. The only complaint I can muster is the unfortunate trend in screen resolutions.
My T60p is a rock solid machine, and the T420 I have right now only improves on that. It is without a doubt the same machine, it has an unbelievable sense of identity, but it is better.
Just got my T430s 6 weeks after ordering. Lenovo charged and uncharged my debit card and revised their shipping estimate 5+ times. 5 days before receiving the machine, I received an email telling me that federal regulations did not permit them to continue to keep the order 'pending' and that if I did not respond and waive my rights under these regulations, they would cancel my order for me. I did not respond.
T61: Died one week out of warranty. Lenovo later did a recall and out-of-warranty repair of a design flaw, but forgot to tell us before the recall window closed.
T420: Weeks on order, canceled, resurrected, re-canceled, repeat. Took about three months for delivery.
T420: Overheated and died. Fixed under warranty.
X100e: Runs very, very hot. Expecting this to die soon.
Lesson: Get the warranty or you'll be sorry.
Another lesson: Given the cost of the warranty, there are better machines out there.
I just bought a Thinkpad x220, slightly dated but for $450 a great price/performance ratio when Lenovo was clearing out their refurbs. While I've had it for about a week, the build quality of this machine is simply great. I've seen, and been given from corporate IT, their $4-500 new laptops and for the price they're good but they aren't perfect. Lenovo's top end series like the X are quality machines.
My guess is that when things go great, you'll be fine, but the moment you need something out of the ordinary then Lenovo will be just as bad as Dell.