
Lenovo splits the Think brand into a separate group - fdmvsh
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/05/lenovo-business-group-think-business-group/
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sp4rki
I think this is a good idea. Thinkpads have evolved to a point where -
regardless of IBM or Lenovo being the brand behind the product line - the name
is a synonym of dependability and quality. I think that by separating the
brand from the rest of the Lenovo pack, and giving it it's own two feet they
might steal quite a bit of Apple's customers.

I went from my own homemade machines, to exclusively Apple hardware, to owning
a t420 (wanted the old keyboard). I'm in the process of leaving the Apple
ecosystem and going back to Linux (Arch to be specific) because I dislike the
direction Apple is going (the Mac App Store was the inflection point that made
me want to leave). The Thinkpad brand was the obvious choice because of
upgradeability, quality, dependency, and the fact that they make some of the
best laptops for Linux. Even better than Zareason and system 76 hardware IMO.
Making the perfect business computing tools AND at the same time the perfect
Linux portable hardware is a big plus in my book. Even more than unibody
pieces of aluminum and the retina bs that while commendable to a point, I've
found is more of a nuisance than anything else.

Anyways, Lenovo earned a customer by keeping the Thinkpad brand alive and
maintaining it's quality standards. Any step to make the brand _better_ is AOK
with me.

~~~
msutherl
I feel the same way. The ThinkPad is the only computer that could potentially
tempt me away from my MacBook. So far I'm stuck to OS X though (dreaming of
Arch minimalism).

~~~
meaty
Arch is a maintenance nightmare if you want to be productive.

~~~
wyclif
I'm puzzled by this comment. Arch values elegance, code correctness, and
minimalism. Initially Arch installs a very minimal base system, and package
management is done via rolling release.

Perhaps you should explain exactly how Arch is a "maintenance nightmare."

~~~
dshep
When I used Arch last year, they also regularly break things in ways that
require manual fixes every month or so. So don't dare update without first
reading the news, lest you end up with a broken system and no way to find out
why it broke. Stick with Debian or Ubuntu if its your main laptop OS.

~~~
verroq
Personally Ubuntu's 6 month release update always break things for me. Most
people I know usually just reinstall when a new version comes.

~~~
thejosh
Considering that they have LTS versions if you have slightly older hardware
(12.04 is supported for 5 years), you aren't forced to upgrade.

I've been using Ubuntu since Breezy and every upgrade I haven't had a problem.
I use it on many of my machines (apart from my laptop due to Bumblebee) and
have had no issues with the 6 month updates, but I usually stay on the LTS
versions.

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meaty
Great idea.

This will save the following thing happening again and again:

1\. Someone asks me for a laptop recommendation.

2\. I tell them "ThinkPad T-series" and state you can get them online for the
price of a mid-range laptop in a retail outfit from <http://www.lenovo.com/>
with a direct link to the product page - they say thank you.

3\. Some time passes

4\. I get a call from the person saying they bought a "Lenovo" laptop at their
local electrical supplier and it's rubbish and they'll never trust a
recommendation from me again. They have inevitably bought a cheap Lenovo
close-out machine which has died after 3 months (their cheap machines are
crap).

5\. Argument ensues and email is re-sent with "ThinkPad" highlighted. Much
"aaaah" is to be had.

4 times so far. People just don't get the difference between good and crap,
which is to be honest, where Apple are quite good.

~~~
kybernetyk
> People just don't get the difference between good and crap, which is to be
> honest, where Apple are quite good.

Apple's secret is to only built good stuff and don't try to serve the cheap
crap market. I hope the new ThinkPad brand will do the same.

~~~
smackfu
Right. Most of the laptops at Best Buy are under $600, $400 below Apple's
lowest offering.

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djmdjm
I hope this doesn't mean further abandoning the Thinkpad design values
(centered around excellence in functional design) to compete on the ones that
Apple has been so successful on (excellence in visual design). If they do they
won't win and will mess up an excellent and unique brand in the process.

They've already started down this road IMO, dropping their near-perfect
keyboard for a trendy chiclet one in the x230. To be fair, it's a great
chiclet keyboard, but it doesn't have the action of the old ones.

~~~
kybernetyk
I don't know but my Macbook Pro feels pretty functional. Things like the
Magsafe power connector or the superb touchpad don't just look pretty.

Only because it looks nice doesn't mean it's useless. And only because it's
functional doesn't mean it has to look like a plastic brick from an 80s sci-fi
movie.

~~~
bad_user
I once spilled some coffee (like 50 milliliters or so) on a top of the line
Macbook Pro. The keyboard and the DVD drive simply stopped functioning. I got
lucky too, because I shut it down immediately, pulled the battery out and then
I let it dry for a whole day.

Right now I own a cheap Asus for instance and it has swallowed tea, coffee and
water. Besides the keyboard getting a little sticky, nothing happened. I
probably got lucky, since I am talking about a piece of shit low-end laptop.

But Thinkpads are designed for accidents. The T line has to pass military
tests. Soldiers used Thinkpads in Irak. That plastic brick from the 80s can
take abuse like no other laptop on the market.

And besides, I do not care about how shinny and good looking my laptop is. I
do care about functionality. Macbooks are great for their touchpad and their
high resolution screens. But thinkpads are great in this regard - great
keyboard, awesome pointing stick, HD+ available on all models, not to mention
things I wish Macbooks had, like the Ultrabay, which allows you to easily put
something else in place of your DVD drive. Something like an SSD, or maybe an
extra battery.

Something else I love about Thinkpads and HP EliteBooks, something which even
low-end models have (ThinkPad L series, Thinkpad Edge, HP ProBook), is the
easy access to the internals, without voiding the warranty. On Thinkpads, even
the low-end ones, it's really easy to change the hard drive or to add an extra
memory stick. On ProBook you don't even need a screwdriver. This is useful not
just for upgrading it, but also for cleaning the internal fan and other
maintenance stuff. This allows businesses to have in-house hardware support,
without having issues with the provided warranty.

There's a lot of things I like about MacBooks. But IMHO, if I were operating a
business, I would give MacBooks only to developers that know what they are
doing and really want one.

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zachrose
Think, as a brand, is over 100 years old.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_(IBM)>

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philwelch
If I had to use a PC, I'd use a ThinkPad. This was true before Lenovo took
over the branding from IBM (they were already the manufacturer from what I
understand), and it's true now that Lenovo is removing their branding from it.
It's a solid machine and a great brand.

~~~
jlgreco
Yeah, the Thinkpad brand is really one of the few in the industry that I feel
is confident in its own fundamentals. It knows it is good, and it knows _why_
it is good. Besides Apple, I can't think of any other brand in the market that
I can say that about.

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djt
This is a great idea. Allowing for two different brands to evolve with their
respective markets.

~~~
miahi
But this also means they will compete in some of the markets. We'll see what
happens.

It should be easier to pick a laptop then, as I don't think we will see any
Lenovo with a non-glossy screen.

~~~
elithrar
> But this also means they will compete in some of the markets. We'll see what
> happens.

I see this as an issue now that they are two separate groups, likely with
their own KPIs and numbers to meet. As we see so often with other
organisations, they tend towards in-fighting rather than (good)
cannibalisation because of the "silo" structure they've created.

~~~
djt
Lenovo have had a pretty good track history though, so hopefully it wont come
to that.

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fest
The best they could do is ditch Thinkpad brand for their consumer grade
machines (SL _, R_ ). T and X series _are_ Thinkpads. The rest- not so much.

SL and R series "Thinkpads" are rubbish, imo. Not to mention the cheap
Ideapad's- the build quality is on par with pretty much every other cheap
notebook manufacturers.

~~~
shalmanese
Don't forget the W mobile workstations.

~~~
philjohn
Yup. I've got a W520 at work and its absolutely amazing. Fast, decent screen
and even with a quad core i7 has decent battery life and even when being taxed
is cool enough on the underside to use directly on my lap.

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ww520
ThinkPad is amazingly solid. I had two so far and both were wonderful machine.
Lenovo's service is pretty good as well. My latest laptop's Intel SSD drive
went dead after a year. They shipped a replacement right the way with no
question asked.

~~~
kayoone
And that is one the main reasons why Apple isnt suited for professional users
right there. When having a Dell Laptop some technican came the next day to my
house and repaired my laptop without any cost. With Apple i can go to the
nearest Store and hope that some of the hipsters there want to help me, after
which i will have to wait until my repaired hardware comes back from wherever
in the world.

~~~
meaty
Yes and as I found, those annoying hipsters actually are quite rude, arrogant
and unhelpful (Kingston Upon Thames Apple Store, Surrey, UK).

An hour to get replacement earphones for my daughter's iPod due to the well
known problem of the rocker switch which failing after a week! I asked "so
what happens when these fail? Do I have to spend an hour a week down here?".
The reply was simply "it's not my problem".

She owns a Cowon now.

~~~
robotmay
Luckily the Cardiff store has significantly less hip and much more helpful
staff. I hate having to book an appointment though; I know what's wrong, I
just want to drop it off and for them to call me when they fix it under
warranty.

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atesti
Has someone found out in the meantime whether it's possible to put an W520
replacement keyboard into the new W530? I heart the key mappings in the BIOS
would be bad, but it would fit physically at least. But there was no real
confirmation.

(I would actually try out the chiclets, but I need all 7 rows and use the
pgup, pgdown, del, insert,pos1 and end keys and have them so deep in my muscle
memory that I will be miserable when I get a new Thinkpad)

Thinkpads are great otherwise, the W520 is almost perfect.

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jfb
I hope that this succeeds, because I hate not having a good brand to recommend
to people who want a Windows laptop, but I am skeptical that refocusing on
business needs is the way to build a product that humans will love.

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bitwize
I think Lenovo wants to be associated more with machines like the Yoga, even
though the dependable ThinkPad workhorses are who brought them to the dance.

~~~
InclinedPlane
I think you're reading this backwards, I think this is like Toyota splitting
off Lexus into a separate, high-end brand.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
No, it's more like Chrysler spinning off Mercedes into its own high end brand.

