By Darius Chang
29/04/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/notebooks/0,39050495,62053632,00.htm

Despite an ongoing economic recession, Lenovo surprised many when it announced that the company will be pushing out 50 new laptop models this year. With so many products on shelves, potentially, the Chinese company could end up not only competing with other brands, but with its own portables as well.

Fortunately, Matthew Kohut, US-based ambassador for Lenovo, was in Singapore recently. CNET Asia caught a few minutes with him to discuss what's in store for Lenovo laptops in the coming year and what makes them unique to the competition.

How has the recession changed the way Lenovo does business and its development of new technologies?

Understand that we take a long-term view on this. If you look at our product cycle, the pace is always accelerating, especially in our SMB (small and medium business) and enterprise machines. We are already working on new technologies a year or two from now. The way we see it is that this (recession) will not affect our research and development. Intel said the chip market has already bottomed and we want to be in a position to take advantage of the growth. In fact, we plan to launch 50 new products this year. So we are absolutely not slowing down at all.

If there is an effect, it would be in the way we are organized. Our structure allows us to focus on emerging and mature markets. We will offer certain products based on specific regional needs. For example, in the Singapore market we have the IdeaPad 14- and 16-inch versions, with the 15-inch coming later this year. But in the US and Russia, they already have 15-inch models. It's all a question of dynamics and timing: What are people buying and what do they want?

With 50 new products this year, how will Lenovo differentiate between them?

Well, part of why we are pushing out so many models is that it's a shelf space game in retail. The more products you have, the more shelf space a retailer is likely to give you. But that is just one reason. We did some research and found that there are people who want the thinnest and lightest machine we have and are willing to spend money to buy it. There are also others who want basic computing. That said, one of our value propositions is that whether you buy a high-end U330 or a value Y series, they will have common features like VeriFace and One-Key Recovery. This allows the consumer to buy a machine by looks while having all the extra Lenovo value built in. We are committed to driving consistency (in features) as well as form factor.

One of the more successful things we did was to choose the white palm rest (for the IdeaPad). It makes our product stand out on the shelf versus a black version. We were also adding in stuff like touch-sensitive bars and Mac-like docks at the bottom of the Windows OS.

Another factor comes from a touch standpoint, a major feature in the upcoming Windows 7. We expect it to be very popular when it arrives. One of the coolest things is that not only does it (Windows 7 machine) offer multitouch on the trackpad, this is also on the touchscreen itself. Though I personally don't like people touching my screen, for others it's yet another way to interact with the PC. We are increasingly moving into more interactive systems. We are not that far off from a Minority Report-like interface.

But while touch is good, in some ways it can be difficult. The Windows Start menu is in a cascading form which goes from one folder to another. A touchpad may give accurate control, but on a 12.1-inch touchscreen you may hit the wrong program as the text is too small. So we are working on how to make the Microsoft touch interface easier to use with overlays, transparent windows, etc. In other words, how do we make the whole experience of using a Lenovo PC better?

What are the other key technologies we will see in upcoming Lenovo laptops?

One thing which will remain a constant (for Lenovo laptops) is battery life. People want more and there is a lot we can do with that. From the Think (series) aspect, we design everything from the ground up and have a lot of control over the hardware. We can turn the CD off when not in use. If you lower the volume to zero, the audio chip switches off. That's how we save power.

So we look at how we can bring that experience to our consumer products. One of the things we continue to improve on is what we call Energy Cut technology. Sure, you can go to the Windows settings and change power profiles if you are a technical user. But for a casual user, how would he or she know when the processor needs to be minimal, adaptive or high-speed? By default, people just choose maximum because why won't they want the laptop to go fast? Stuff like that is going to cut battery life. It makes sense if you are going to play games, but for emailing it is a waste of battery life. So we make a (power) interface that is easy to use and adapt based on what you are doing. Ideally, (power profile switching) will be transparent to the user.

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.