Anyone Familiar with Lenovo Laptop?

[phrog]

Is anyone out there familiar with Lenovo laptops? I remember a Chinese company bought the IBM laptop division and renamed it Lenovo. But I know nothing about them. Any thoughts? Also, Toshiba, Acer, Compaq or Sony? Anyone have any thoughts or experiences with any of these? Need info for Christmas present. Thanks.

[radhak]

Lenovo laptops are the Thinkpads (earlier from IBMs). Solid as tanks, and forever dependable.

Today I got a replacement Thinkpad from my system department for my earlier thinkpad, which had replaced yet another thinkpad :-). My company provides Thinkpad laptops for its 50,000+ employees.

For dependability, it can't be beat. The only thing is, it can never be called pretty. It retains the shape and color from a decade ago. Not that I care.

FWIW, I had a T61 which worked perfectly but they-who-matter decided that it was past its prime, and changed it to T410. Nice.

[Chris_B]

Yes, but only the T-series

Like most brands, Lenovo has a wide variety of models. AFAIK, the ThinkPad design team was largely absorbed intact during the Lenovo acquisition, and continues to pump out good stuff - at least for the T-series (I don't have experience with their other models).

Depending on what you want, a Lenovo laptop could be a good choice, but if price is your primary consideration, then probably not. A recent Consumer Reports laptop round-up (consumer-focused) did not have any Lenovo machines on their leader board.

However, I've used a variety of T-series notebooks over many years for work. My experience is generally positive enough (only one dud) that we bought T-series machines for our kids.

The big benefits of (say) a T410s are:

1. ThinkPad TrackPoint - once you learn how to use it, you will never go back.
   Every other manufacturer's "eraser-head" is terrible (if they have them at all), but we all use the TrackPoint (and disable the track-pad). I even use it to create PowerPoint presentations.
2. IMO, the ThinkPad keyboard remains by far the best.
3. Build quality is very good. My daughter's 4 year old T60 is still going strong.
4. Very light and thin.

The bad points are:

1. Not cheap. Coupons are widely available, but even so the T-series is ~$200 more expensive than equivalently equipped consumer-focused models. FWIW, my current T410s cost about $1200, including an SSD.
2. Average display. Most laptops now use cheap TN displays, so the color accuracy and viewing angle are poor. The older T-series had terrific displays, so this is one area where Lenovo has clearly cut corners.

[jdon]

Ditto on the above comments. I'm writing on my 5 year old Thinkpad T42, which meets my needs, and with which I've never had a problem.

Lenovo seems to have maintained the IBM legacy of rugged, no nonsense business-oriented laptops in the Thinkpad series. I don't consider them "tanks" in the sense of being heavy; my trusty old T42 has a magnesium frame hidden under the plastic- sturdy, yes, but also among the lightest of comparable laptops of its time.

My impression of Thinkpads: functional, extremely reiliable, but not flashy or "gimmicky". Keyboard is without equal. For my primary needs- word processing and communication- good interfaces, tactile and visual, are critical.

The Ideapads seem to be aimed at the wider "consumer" market, for whom the laptop is used more for games, watching videos, etc. Construction isn't as robust as the Thinkpads (more plastic, less cost), keyboards aren't as good, color is more vivid (but for me, harder to read text).

I think you need to figure out what you want to use the computer for. If it is for a student for school work, I'd recommend any of the Thinkpads. The Edge line seems to be a good balance between Thinkpad quality, features, and cost. For portability (lightest weight), the X series. For traditional business-oriented, the T series.

For what you get, I don't think the cost of Thinkpads is really out of line. They go on sale frequently at the Lenovo site, and one advantage of buying direct is that you can customize your laptop to meet your needs (CPU, memory, Bluetooth, camera, etc.) You can save a lot by not including features you aren't likely to use. I've ordered several laptops over the years that way for family, never with a problem.

If the laptop is likely to be used more for entertainment, look at the Ideapads, but I'm not sure their quality, features, or price set them apart from other makers, such as HP, Toshiba, etc.

Passion about computers rivals that about car brands, and is exceeded only by the passion about tools!

[JoeyGee]

First, I agree with everything above. One note, though, not all Lenovo laptops are ThinkPads. They have some models that are not. I don't know what difference that makes.

I LOVE ThinkPads. I have always equated them with Hondas--you'll never get flashy or bleeding edge technology, but you will get something that just plain works forever. I love the simple, plain black. The keyboards can't be beat, and the famous red trackpoint is my favorite mouse device of all time. I don't like touchpads at all, but this one is one of the few that I can use.

Yes, they can be pricey, but my current TP (SL410) came from Best Buy for only $650 last spring. It's a "consumer" line and not a T-series, but I still LOVE it, and it's the best value by far over anything comparable from Dell, Toshiba, HP (ugh...), etc.

I also have an IBM ThinkPad 600E built in 1998 that still runs like a top with Windows 2000.

[RAFlorida]

Those machine are built to last.

My IBM laptop still runs Win98 on it. And Lenovo has carried that tradition on with their laptop. Buy one again? Yes.

[jackellis]

I've owned four Thinkpads. My wife and I are each using one at this moment. My T43 is more than five years old and I will replace it with another Thinkpad (probably a T410). I won't even consider another brand.

Disclaimer: LOML retired from IBM ten years ago

[leehljp]

I agree with what others have said about the Thinkpad. That is the only laptop outside of Macs that I have personally purchased with my own funds. (My organization has given me other less expensive ones that were trouble makers.) In having to help tons of co-workers who purchased their own computers, I can say from my experience in a 2 byte code environment, the Thinkpad folks had far fewer problems, and replacements were longer in between than others. One caveat to that statement is that a few people would take a sage's advice and buy a higher priced business machine of another brand rather than the lower priced discount units, and they were rewarded with lower total cost of ownership over the long run.

Yes, there can be bad units but when the ration is 8 to 2 versus 98 versus 2, I would go with the higher price. But this is a decision based on the fact that I don't have the time to troubleshoot daily problems and I EXPECT my machinery and computers to WORK, not be troubleshot at every whim.

However, If the savings are more important and possibility of regular troubleshooting is acceptable, then lower priced units may be worth it.

[JSUPreston]

I know that this is an old story, but as a government employee, it is why I ruled out purchasing Lenovo equipment years ago: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/lenovo-no-02284/

That being said, when IBM owned the Thinkpad series, they were rock solid. Only "bad" one I saw was a personal one where the owner's kid set a BIOS password that could not be recovered without a motherboard replacement.

[dkerfoot]

Ditto on the T-Series. I used to sell them and the quality has remained very high even after the change to Lenovo. I love my new(er) T410.

Do a search for "Thinkpad Coupon Code" There are very often 10-15% discounts available.