How Lenovo became the world’s biggest computer company(economist.com)
economist.com
How Lenovo became the world’s biggest computer company
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21569398-how-did-lenovo-become-worlds-biggest-computer-company-guard-shack-global-giant
12 comments
If I do actually recommend friends to buy a Windows based PC it's usually a Lenovo. They're pretty rock solid. Good on them.
Me too, but my dad has had a pretty bad experience with his x220s. Anecdotal, obviously, but I'm not sure the quality has kept since the glory days of Think Pads.
Quality's definitely an issue, even with previous model of the Lenovo X series, which I have. Things that were common and easy to replace, like fans, are now buried and more difficult. And it overheats like crazy. An IBM/Lenovo engineer told me that the number of screws used has also gone up significantly.
They're still better than the competition, but the new ThinkPad models are not very interesting. I'm hoping Lenovo will respond to current pressure and release new X and T models that are worth buying.
They're still better than the competition, but the new ThinkPad models are not very interesting. I'm hoping Lenovo will respond to current pressure and release new X and T models that are worth buying.
Lemons happen. That was true in the 'glory days' of lemons as much as it is now, one user's experience is nothing to go by.
I picked up my first Lenovo (Y580), my first Windows based PC since 2007. Worked great but didn't care for Windows too much. It is now running Ubuntu 12.10 without too much trouble except for mis-reporting the battery life on occasion.
Though much of my decision on buying a laptop rests on how nice the keys feel. I was originally looking at a Samsung laptop but the "feel" was wrong for me.
Though much of my decision on buying a laptop rests on how nice the keys feel. I was originally looking at a Samsung laptop but the "feel" was wrong for me.
What's the quality like on the cheaper non-thinkpad models?
I got a great deal (basically half off) on a well equipped y470 model and aside from minor cosmetic issues (the shiny paint on the top of the body is wearing out on spots where the monitor frame scrapes it when open/closing, and the monitor is a bit more wobbly than on my wife's MBP) I've been very happy with it.
Finding a good deal was pretty easy too, I just checked lenovo's website semi-regularly for a month or 2 until they were discounting something I wanted.
Finding a good deal was pretty easy too, I just checked lenovo's website semi-regularly for a month or 2 until they were discounting something I wanted.
I purchased an IdeaPad Z570 early last year -- thus far my only niggle is that they didn't ship any CDs with it. I'm much happier with it than I was with the Dell Vostro that I previously had.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that Lenovo Thinkpad is one of the only premium PC brands. No crapware, just the basics, and quality hardware.
I recently got a ThinkPad W530 because it was the only workstation laptop I could find that supports 32gb of ram. It even came with a Core i7 Extreme Edition CPU! Talk about beastly. Before that I had an X201 which wasn't quite the powerhouse but both have been great performance and stability wise.
The only downside to Thinkpads is the crowded trackpad. Hourly I seem to accidentally to page/up down while coding. However, it's my only complaint and otherwise the Thinkpads are just fantastic.
I recently got a ThinkPad W530 because it was the only workstation laptop I could find that supports 32gb of ram. It even came with a Core i7 Extreme Edition CPU! Talk about beastly. Before that I had an X201 which wasn't quite the powerhouse but both have been great performance and stability wise.
The only downside to Thinkpads is the crowded trackpad. Hourly I seem to accidentally to page/up down while coding. However, it's my only complaint and otherwise the Thinkpads are just fantastic.
My wife's parents still use a lenovo desktop from the ~'89 and it works fine. My 2 year old laptop, on the other hand, has had several problems (especially with hibernation/wake-up) and the battery life is and has always been only about an hour.
I know it is just anecdotal, but it put me off the brand (which I was bullish on before).
I know it is just anecdotal, but it put me off the brand (which I was bullish on before).
Lenovo makes fantastic laptops as well as poor laptops. Apple is probably the only manufacturer where you can make broad statements about their products.
For all other, you have to at least specify the product line for the statement to mean anything at all.
For all other, you have to at least specify the product line for the statement to mean anything at all.
The Thinkpad is hardly a poor laptop, it's the only laptop certified by NASA for use in space.
http://blog.lenovo.com/products/thinkpad-laptop-nasa-youtube...
http://blog.lenovo.com/products/thinkpad-laptop-nasa-youtube...
My point was that the Thinkpad is hardly the only laptop series that Lenovo makes ...
And you can't really make any broad statements about the Thinkpad family either since lenovo introduced Thinkpad Edge and Thinkpad L. Which is just your typical cheap laptop with a quality label on it...
The "real" thinkpads however are great and I'm a huge fan of the Thinkpad X-series. But that doesn't make all of Lenovos laptops or even Thinkpads great.
And you can't really make any broad statements about the Thinkpad family either since lenovo introduced Thinkpad Edge and Thinkpad L. Which is just your typical cheap laptop with a quality label on it...
The "real" thinkpads however are great and I'm a huge fan of the Thinkpad X-series. But that doesn't make all of Lenovos laptops or even Thinkpads great.
Ah so that is my problem - I got an 'IdeaPad' or some such.
still puts me off the brand though, the should use a different brand for their cheap stuff, not a different series. customers (like me) will lose their brand loyalty.. .
still puts me off the brand though, the should use a different brand for their cheap stuff, not a different series. customers (like me) will lose their brand loyalty.. .
I don't read tjoff's statement as saying that Lenovo makes the thinkpad which is a low quality laptops.
I read it as saying that some of Lenovo laptops (as opposed to laptop models) are good while some are bad.
Laptops are useless with their hulking mass and short battery life. Netbooks rule the world: they always have three or more hours of battery life and they're so cheap you can replace them if they break. Which they don't. And everything works thanks to proven hardware.
I don't understand anyone buying non-Apple non-netbook laptops.
I don't understand anyone buying non-Apple non-netbook laptops.
My T420 easily gives me double (sometimes even triple) than your three hours mate. It's very well built so it doesn't break as easily as crappy plastic netbook. Not only is it's hardware "proven" whatever that means, but works extremely well with Linux which is my OS of choice. Oh and almost everything I want to change is easily user replaceable. Probably with the exception of the gpu. And Lenovo provides manuals to do both the easy thinks like changing memory, to medium things like replacing a keyboard (which is a piece of cake), to more complex things like replacing the LCD screen. Oh and 14 inches is not a hulking mass, and it also replaced my desktop. I don't understand Apple fanboys (and I own an iPhone and an iPad)...
I'm so happy for you that you're almost allowed to take a cookie.
Speaking seriously, my desktop PC will beat up your T420. I can't imagine doing work (writing code) on laptops with their degenerate keyboards. And for the rest you have desktops.
I don't know how you inferred I have any Apple products but actually I don't and never had. I think you just have problems with logic.
Speaking seriously, my desktop PC will beat up your T420. I can't imagine doing work (writing code) on laptops with their degenerate keyboards. And for the rest you have desktops.
I don't know how you inferred I have any Apple products but actually I don't and never had. I think you just have problems with logic.
Wait wait, so you complain about the mass and short battery life, and when I give you an example of why that's not really true you go ahead and try to compare it to your desktop? That's one of the worst counterpoints I've ever come across. I have a small rack in the corner of my study and the machines there will considerably outer perform not only my t420 but most of the consumer grade machines either prebuilt or enthusiast built. On the other hand, my t420 has better specs that most of what's considered normal for most consumer based setups. I need to run various virtual machines for starters.
The Thinkpad series is know for having some of the best keyboards ever used on a laptop. Even though I prefer using my happy hacking keyboard, I'll take the Thinkpad's keyboard over pretty much anything else. It's so good that they even sell the damn keyboard as a standalone option to regular keyboard. Trackpoint and all. And yes I write code all day.
Regarding my "logic": You don't need to own an Apple to product to be a fanboy, and as such I never said that you owned any. That's all on you and your logic. I ended my post with the same type of sarcastic fanboish retort that you used at the end of yours.
The Thinkpad series is know for having some of the best keyboards ever used on a laptop. Even though I prefer using my happy hacking keyboard, I'll take the Thinkpad's keyboard over pretty much anything else. It's so good that they even sell the damn keyboard as a standalone option to regular keyboard. Trackpoint and all. And yes I write code all day.
Regarding my "logic": You don't need to own an Apple to product to be a fanboy, and as such I never said that you owned any. That's all on you and your logic. I ended my post with the same type of sarcastic fanboish retort that you used at the end of yours.
> I can't imagine doing work (writing code) on laptops with their degenerate keyboards.
Of course you can't, but a simple USB adapter will allow you to fit a proper Model M to any laptop.
Then you just need a good bag like Michael Douglas' in Falling Down to carry it around.
Of course you can't, but a simple USB adapter will allow you to fit a proper Model M to any laptop.
Then you just need a good bag like Michael Douglas' in Falling Down to carry it around.
WTF are you smoking?
My Lenovo T61 has two batteries (9 cell+ultrabay). I get 8 hours. It's also 5 years old and just doesn't break - it's been dropped, had drinks in it, thrown a couple of times, used in the rain. Plus you could beat an elephant to death with it. The whole thing is build like Wolverine out of the X-Men. Look at the picture - the grey bits are titanium:
http://www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/content/img_lib/products...
Compared to my 2010 Macbook Pro which caught fire after 5 months, lasted about 3 hours on battery and had a new logic board after 4 weeks...
My Lenovo T61 has two batteries (9 cell+ultrabay). I get 8 hours. It's also 5 years old and just doesn't break - it's been dropped, had drinks in it, thrown a couple of times, used in the rain. Plus you could beat an elephant to death with it. The whole thing is build like Wolverine out of the X-Men. Look at the picture - the grey bits are titanium:
http://www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/content/img_lib/products...
Compared to my 2010 Macbook Pro which caught fire after 5 months, lasted about 3 hours on battery and had a new logic board after 4 weeks...
I don't care about your T61. Not the slightest.
But when I come to the shop I see a long line of laptops; all with Windows 7 or 8, all made of ugly plastic, all with expected battery life under two hours, all bulky and all costing 3X the netbook price and climbing.
That's what gets sold to people and that is what I can't imagine anyone wanting to buy.
Yes, another thing I don't care about is comics you try to illustrate your post with.
But when I come to the shop I see a long line of laptops; all with Windows 7 or 8, all made of ugly plastic, all with expected battery life under two hours, all bulky and all costing 3X the netbook price and climbing.
That's what gets sold to people and that is what I can't imagine anyone wanting to buy.
Yes, another thing I don't care about is comics you try to illustrate your post with.
Yeah that's because it's what people want to pay i.e. not much. As for a NetBook - have you ever used one to do something serious on? Absolute joke. The things are the worst thing on the planet.
As for my T61, I bought it for half the price of a new netbook when it was 3 years old... (well actually I bought two so that I can just grab the other one in a complete failure scenario).
It's not a comic - it's an engineering cross section.
As for looks, I don't give a shit what it looks like or if it's heavy or whatever - I want something that works and doesn't fall to bits after 5 minutes and is repairable and replaceable if it does. Why? Because it pays the bills and can be trusted.
As for my T61, I bought it for half the price of a new netbook when it was 3 years old... (well actually I bought two so that I can just grab the other one in a complete failure scenario).
It's not a comic - it's an engineering cross section.
As for looks, I don't give a shit what it looks like or if it's heavy or whatever - I want something that works and doesn't fall to bits after 5 minutes and is repairable and replaceable if it does. Why? Because it pays the bills and can be trusted.
If 3X the netbook price is not much then what's much? Why pay a magnitude more for a good laptop if you can get ten netbooks for that price? I mean, TEN damn things.
Depends on what do you consider serious. If you want to watch a movie in the airport, edit some text on the go or take some casual game break - the netbook is ideal. They work as advertised. And you're funny :)
For the heavyweight tasks I still prefer desktop. Built according to a spec I assembled.
Depends on what do you consider serious. If you want to watch a movie in the airport, edit some text on the go or take some casual game break - the netbook is ideal. They work as advertised. And you're funny :)
For the heavyweight tasks I still prefer desktop. Built according to a spec I assembled.
I'd rather have one piece of gold than ten turds.
Some of us prefer not to wait for our computers.
This message was brought to you by Thinkpad T430s.
This message was brought to you by Thinkpad T430s.
Surely you prefer your computer to wait for you since you left it at home.
Are you from Soviet Russia?
Are you from Soviet Russia?
I read this as saying: buy an Apple netbook. The mythical beast which Steve refused to let live.
You don't understand logic.
Look: if I don't understand why people buy non-Apple non-netbooks, means that I may understand why people buy either non-Apple netbooks or Apple non-netbooks (for the aluminium case)
Does lenovo compete strongly in the enterprise market? do they have server / storage / data centre technologies?
They make servers but not storage or other technologies.
Iomega was just renamed to LenovoEMC or something, so now they have low-end storage.
Interesting that the Chinese government owns a stake.
?
"Lenovo’s culture is different from that of other Chinese firms. A state think-tank, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, provided the original $25,000 seed capital, and still owns an indirect stake. But those in the know say Lenovo is run as a private firm, with little or no official interference."
"Lenovo’s culture is different from that of other Chinese firms. A state think-tank, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, provided the original $25,000 seed capital, and still owns an indirect stake. But those in the know say Lenovo is run as a private firm, with little or no official interference."
I don't understand. That says that the Chinese government owns an indirect stake. I took that to mean they own some of the company. How do you read that?
Really? I was surprised the Chinese government didn't outright own them...
I've had my current Lenovo Y410 Notebook since 2007. Solid performance even after all these years. I recommend only Lenovo to any one who asks.
Why must Lenovo reach a roughly 10% share in each of the target markets to achieve long-term profitability?
"He vows to keep investing, regardless of returns, until the firm reaches a roughly 10% share in each of the target markets. Only with such scale is long-term profitability possible, he insists."
"He vows to keep investing, regardless of returns, until the firm reaches a roughly 10% share in each of the target markets. Only with such scale is long-term profitability possible, he insists."
Good lesson never to rest on one's laurel's. Love stories of number 2's taking over from the market leader.
#1 by units not by units * price or profits which are around 2% of sales.
Yes, #1. As in number of units sold. That's what #1 means.
Not necessarily.
[deleted]
Did IBM sell of Lenovo in anticipation of adopting the much more profitable Trusted Platform paradigm? Now Microsoft as well anticipates abandoning "packaged products," that necessitate years of costly support. But how long can the the castle walls hold?
http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/20-01-2012-12-11-21.png
http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/20-01-2012-12-11-21.png
IBM sold off its PC unit to Lenovo to focus on its core competency -- mainframes and large systems.
1. Get a Thinkpad, preferably a T series, non-Thinkpad Lenovos are crap, based on personal experience.
2. Expect to do a full reinstall of your system. It comes over bloated with the worst crapware available, to the point that it makes it unusable. Mine couldn't perform Windows updates and Chrome crashed constantly, all of this out of the box. But the mayor offense was including Norton bloatware, that I couldn't just tolerate.