Lenovo: Purposeful innovation
We like the Splash-Top Linux environment on Lenovo Netbooks which allows quick bootup for emailing and surfing. Will this be available to the rest of the consumer series?We can't comment if we will be bringing it to the other consumer series, but we have received a lot of comments that it makes sense. What we can say is we have just announced that 3G is to be built natively into the Splash-Top interface in our Netbooks, so you don't need to enter Windows to surf the Web with 3G. Do you see a future in the new Intel consumer ultra low voltage (CULV) processor and what is your view of key market patterns?Yes, there is a future in CULV. There is no question that it drives a thinner, lighter platform. The market is demanding it, and with 50 new models this year, how could we not take advantage of this new CULV processor? When it comes to slim portables, it's a short-term and long term trend. That said, the thing about thin laptops is that they come with a very high price premium because the market is willing to pay for it. Another factor is that the materials cost more as well. The nice part is that as more and more products enter the market, the vendors have better economies of scale as well as greater expertise. From that aspect, it is not just a short-term trend but a long-term (market demand). The other thing is to be aware of is the tradeoff. If it gets too fragile and snaps in your hand, it's not good at all. Wnother issue is that as it gets smaller, there are more compromises. Some take off essential ports like not having card readers or only one USB port. (With CULV), Intel is helping us by driving smaller packages for chipset and processors that allow room for more ports along the sides of these slim machines. One of the interesting things about the new IdeaPad Y650 is the carbon-fiber overlay on a magnesium-alloy chassis. How did that come about?One of the things people ask is how often the Think and IdeaPad departments communicate. The answer, is all the time. That particular idea (for the IdeaPad Y650) actually came from our work with the ThinkPad X300. One of the things we are getting good at is combining different materials like glass and carbon fiber. Another is making magnesium frames which makes the laptop tougher by transferring any dropping force to the chassis instead of the components. You can expect more innovations in this area. Conversely, the interface designs from the Think series actually came from our work by the consumer IdeaPad teams. So just because you buy a consumer machine doesn't mean you don't get the same reliability or quality as the business laptops. What is Lenovo's key strength?Without question it's reliability and quality. Gartner estimates the average HDD failure rate to be somewhere around 3 percent for the first year. We have been able to get our numbers way below that. So if you own a Lenovo PC, it's less likely to fail. That is why we implement stuff like roll cage technology and new materials. We want to drive down failures. Sometimes, people ask if this adds more to the cost of manufacturing. The answer is yes and no. While it may cost more to make, we save on warranty repairs and replacements since our machines are so reliable. So we end up being cost-neutral with higher quality and lower prices overall. Another area we focus on is certification by military specifications (for toughness). We talk about how hardy our machines are and people say, "prove it". So we are proud of the fact that even the SL series meets the same military standards as the T and X series. The test looks at 23 different aspects, and while most huge, heavy and fully-rugged machines pass maybe nine of them, ours manage to complete eight while being significantly slimmer and lighter. So moving forward, we want our innovations to be purposeful and not just (there) for its own sake. Tags: Microsoft Windows 7, Laptop Computer, Chip, touch screen, Microsoft Windows
|
)
- Talkback
-
There are currently no comments for this story.
To post comments, you need to become a member. It's FREE.
