
Lenovo, the Treasure Hunter of Tech - vinhnx
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-08/lenovo-targets-mobile-as-tech-empire-grows-on-castoff-businesses
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sandGorgon
Thinkpads are truly awesome - but the problem is that lenovo is buying into
the macbook hype machine without putting thought around it's design process.

for example, I recently bought a T430S as opposed to one of the newer T440
ranges. the touchpad is an abomination - and plus they soldered one of the
RAMs to the motherboard. Seriously ? One of the _biggest_ differentiators that
thinkpads have is their upgradability.

I can easily upgrade the CPU of a T430 series [1] and bump up the ram to 16
gb. the newer thinkpads lose both those abilities. The Thinkpad designers have
not been able to make up their minds on what they want to build - which is why
we see lines like T430/T430s/T430u/T430e and T440/T440s/T440p.

[1]
[http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/684625-t430-upgrade.h...](http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/684625-t430-upgrade.html)

~~~
existencebox
I have heard through coworker word of mouth, through discussions with lenovo
engineers, that the touchpad changes have not been positively received even by
the internal engineers. Pretty much everyone I've talked to (including my
unfortunate fiancee who had the misfortune of buying one of these) thinks that
touchpad is the worst thing since various laptop producers started going
towards chicklets. I really wonder how these companies push forward despite
(from my point of view) SIGNIFICANT customer pushback. Am I really stuck this
far in an engineering bubble, or are things really so disconnected?

~~~
reirob
It is really that bad. I sent a new machine back - it was worthless for me
[1].

For me it is not so much the touchpad changes (I do not use the touchpad) as
the lack of physical trackpoint buttons. But even when I tried the new
touchpad I absolutely hated the touchpad-is-a-button functionality. It does
NOT feel good, sounds horible and is far from being ergonomic. For me
personally it would be best to be able to buy Thinkpads just with trackpoint +
buttons, but without touchpad.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7729110](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7729110)

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pointernil
All well and nice but:

What is the current Thinkpad worth its once trustworthy brand? The way to
drive and keep the profits seams to be to lure customers who trusted a brand
for _years_ into buying quite frankly ridiculously manufactured surrogate
products with the brand-label in the right place... well maybe turned 180 for
the new coolness factor ;)

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ZanyProgrammer
I used to own a ThinkPad Edge-I bought it when I was much poorer than I am
now, and needed a decent laptop. It was nice to have a relatively cheap
computer with the TP branding, but over time I came to realize that it was
nothing more than a generic cheap 14 inch laptop with the TP branding.

When you consider what TPs used to be, and what people think of when they
think of TPs...well, either the Edge wasn't a true ThinkPad, or Lenovo is
seriously diluting the brand. See also the ThinkPad tablet they came out with.

~~~
dublinben
Your first suspicion was correct. The Edge line aren't true Thinkpads at all.
Even the most recent mainline Thinkpads are a significant departure from the
values of Thinkpads in the past.

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austinz
Fascinating story. Lenovo's rise to prominence reminds me of Haier, especially
the presence of a charismatic, ambitious leadership figure not content to
settle for just the domestic market. But why are there raccoons all over the
article?

~~~
adventured
Raccoons are often considered to be intelligent trash scavengers.

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balladeer
I use their P780. I bought it for the battery and I was right the battery is
beyond excellent and I am saying this based on 2 day's use with 3G ON.

But the rest of the things on that phone are either bad or just mediocre. Not
to mention the bloat and poor software leave a lot to be desired and a near
certainly that there's nothing post 4.2. On top of that they use MediaTek that
apparently stops custom ROMs from coming into picture.

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Aloha
I've had 4 ThinkPads - T21, T42, R60, and now a T510 which I bought new in
2010. My plan is to buy a MacBook next time around, because when you look at
price for performance, the MBP Retina blasts pretty much everything out of the
water - even the T530 - Apples pricing over the last 4 years has come down,
and Lenovo has stayed the same.

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stickhandle
Typing on an ideapad Y510p - its an excellent machine. I know that phones and
tablets have the seat at the head table right now, but I can't imagine not
having a laptop sitting on the kitchen table. Others seem to be dropping that
ball ... or at least racing to the bottom. Lenovo laptops always seem a smart
choice.

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RevRal
Next up: How Lenovo Escapes Heat Death

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cft
I can feel the end of American economic might. Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp
will not cut it. Pretty sad.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Lenovo...king of the low margin low growth PC market. The end is nigh for the
Americans? When they start making real yuan, let's talk. Btw, why is business
week blocked by the GFW?

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jordanb
It seems to me that Lenovo's modus operandi is to buy high quality brands with
a great deal of goodwill from loyal customers, and then drive down costs by
producing steadily more inferior products in order to soak up the difference
as profit.

It's essentially a slash-and-burn strategy though. Eventually customers
realize that the brand doesn't mean what it used to mean and move on. I used
to be happy to pay a premium for Thinkpads because they were unparalleled in
for quality and ergonomics. I've decided that my T410 will be the last
Thinkpad I will own. I don't know what my next laptop will be, but I know for
sure it will not be a Thinkpad.

~~~
gareim
What other examples are there besides the Thinkpad line? I would disagree that
Motorola can be considered a high quality brand when it comes to smartphones.
Yes, their recent X and G were really good phones for the price, but many
Americans still see Android and Galaxy as synonymous, so I wouldn't say Moto
is high quality.

I'm coming from a different POV from you when it comes to laptops. I'm 20
years old and started off with cheap laptops. But I've always lusted after
Thinkpads and now a Yoga Pro 2 after having tried one so for me, the Lenovo
brand looks really appealing. I haven't found any other hardware that appealed
as much besides a Macbook.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Yoga pro 2 is great if you don't need a good trackpad. If you don't want to
carry around a mouse, there is no other choice but the fruit.

~~~
mercurial
Typing this from a Thinkpad with a trackpoint, I couldn't disagree more :)
(though I'd as soon chop off my fingers as use the Dell version of the
trackpoint).

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seanmcdirmid
My X1's trackpad is horrible, but thankfully it comes with the eraser mouse,
which is accurate even if it hurts my finger tip. The Yoga has no such option
like the X1 does, which is why I would avoid it.

Why can't just one PC vendor who can make a decent trackpad...

~~~
thinkmassive
There is a ThinkPad Yoga that does have a trackpoint though. It's different
from the other Yoga models, which are in the IdeaPad line.

Seems like Lenovo is determined to test the limits of just how many models
their customers will tolerate. They're creating a new model for practically
every feature instead of creating new options for existing models that are
tried and true. I'd prefer they quit diluting the classic ThinkPad lines with
experimental models, and up the quality on IdeaPad because they already have a
value line called 3000 or something.

When I can find a trackpoint with a high res (2k+) screen I'll start shopping
again.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Yes, there is one Yoga that has the trackpoint, but this is the one with the
low res screen that isn't very interesting. I really want a Yoga 2 Pro, but
the lack of a decent pointing system, even if it is the finger hurting
trackpoint, bother me. I might just have to man up and buy an MacBook Pro.

