As predicted... Lenovo has a lot to learn about marketing a business laptop to the masses. Apple has done a better job than they have!

http://digitimes.com/systems/a20060725A7041.html

They would have been much better off making the Thinkpad more exclusive instead of trying to make it more appealing. Now all they can do is drop their price... which will only be a temporary bump.

i realy dont think it's about the advertising.. any buisness should know that the thinkpad is the epiphany of buisness notebooks. now if they sold them in large retailers like Circuit City and best buy, where people can come up and type on them, they would have much greater sales. think about it..
you go and type on a toshiba and hp, then u see this black beauty sitting there.. u type on it and you cant stop typing.. the keyboard is just that good :-d

Ps. how do you like your D820 compared to ur T43.. besides the price.. do you like th d820 better? i was considering it before i got my T60 for a realy good deal (1200)

I've been using Thinkpads for more than 10 years. Obviously, I like the quality and the support, but I was not pleased when IBM sold out to Lenovo and figured it would only be a matter of time before they "dumbed it down" for the masses.

Don't get me wrong. Some of the changes have been welcomed... Software Installer, widescreen, etc. But some it appears they want the Thinkpad line to be accessible to everyone and some business types, myself included, like it because it was unique. IMO, it's lost its appeal.

Take a look at what Apple has done to make their Macbook more appealing... switched to the Intel processor, offers a black case on the MB, svelte and sophisticated looking, etc.

I think Dell has done some equally smart things with their Lattitude line. That's why I'm using a D820 and not using my T43 anymore. I'm not sure I'll ever buy a Thinkpad again.

One of my big pet peeves with the Thinkpads is the high end ones are few and far between. Even if you want to spend $ 3,000 or $ 4,000 on one, you can't because you have to wait 6 weeks for them. Rediculous. I can get a Dell configured my way in less than 2 weeks. Ditto for Apple.

IBM sold the laptop division because it had not been profitable for years. Like many others whose stubbornness about 'change being bad' outweighs rational objective judgment, you are quick to blame Lenovo for problems for which they are not at fault.

Before, you blamed Lenovo for changing the docking station and power cord with the t60, saying it was the reason you were going to get a dell, when in fact they changed them due to the new power requirements of the core duo processor and had nothing to do with Lenovo.

If you moved on and bought another computer, I'm happy for you. However, it seems like you are trying pretty hard to rationalize your decision, like posting this thread trying to give yourself justification for owning a dell now. I see it as a bit childish, really.

So what you're saying it Lenovo couldn't figure out how to make the T60/Z series work with the existing AC adapters, port replicatores/docking stations, and batteries, BUT DELL COULD?

Childish? No, I don't think so. It was Lenovo's decision to obsolete addon's if buyers wanted to move to the Core Duo, and I just think it was a very bad business decision for them because I think it made a lot of people consider other brands. Like myself.

Perhaps this is why they are losing market share beyond anyone's expectations. I don't think you can blame IBM for this.

I think they are making some monumental blunders that will continue to eat a way at their market share. For once, I don't have to defend my comments. The market is doing that for me.

I realy dont care what the market thinks.. i love my thinkpad, paid a reasonable price, and am not getting a new notebook for 3 years.. and if the T series is still arround in 3 years and of the same quality as this one, i will buy it else, i'll look else where

Personal opinion drives everyone's decision to buy what they like or fits their lifestyle. I certainly agree with you that Thinkpads used to be the "standard" that everyone else was measured against.

I think we're seeing a shifting of the guard because of some of the decisions that Lenovo has made. It will be interesting to see if your perspective changes 3 years down the road.

First of all, that article is wrong. Thinkpad X60 price has not dropped 33%. I subscribe to a newletter from computer shopper that tracks prices & promotions for all advertised PC makers and the X60 prices have not dropped by 33% in the last 12 months. You believe everything you read on the net?

As far as the power cords go...I'm no PC engineer, so I don't know why they changed. Creating new peripherals was likely a design improvement for T60 & Z...but I'm just guessing. Since Z was the first widescreen Thinkpad, the form factor probably made it hard to design for existing products (ports reps, etc.)

Not sure where the market share comments came from. Last thing I read was...

[Lenovo's] global market share in the year's second calendar quarter - equivalent to Lenovo's fiscal first - climbed to 7.7 percent from 6.4 percent in the first quarter and 7.5 percent a year ago, according to consultancy IDC.

They are not trying to make it more appealing (I think), ThinkPad's aren't about looks. I don't care what they say, ThinkPad's are the best laptops ever and they always will be!
I also think that you better stop hating on Lenovo!
I also think that they are doing a great job.
(And I also want to be a computer engineer for Lenovo).

@ thePCxp, cool down, relax...
That was his decision and everyone has their own decisions. Pls don't say i think you better stop hating on Lenovo...! Later war between the 2 of you.

if you want an original (ie....not what the guy in the next cubicle over has) system....maybe you should even go as far as consider ASUS...you still get great quality and tech support, but something quite a bit more rare (but not exclusive)

I like Thinkpads, and I dont think that lenovo killed them....but the way the market is currently being shapped and new options from different brands are hitting the street, unless lenovo does something huge things for them in terms of sales won't change

At work, I use a G41 Desktop Replacement that I ordered about a year and a half ago, I think that was right around or before IBM sold the notebook segment and it turned into Lenovo. It's been one of the best notebooks I've ever used.

It has the 15.1" screen, P4M 3.06ghz w/ HT, 512 DDR, 7200rpm disk and GeForce go 5200. I had the Doom3 demo running on it

My only real complaint is the amount of heat that comes out the damn thing and the dead pixel right in the center of the screen. But hell, that's what LCDs do.

I had a coworker give me crap one time, because he had heard the P4 mobile never ran at full clock speed because it would ALWAYS throttle down being that they run so hot. interesting concept, maybe even true. all I know is it works great for huge SQL joins

Recently I read somewhere that Lenovo is the #1 seller of computers in China. That probably makes up for their losses elsewhere since China is diving head first into the techno revolution... albeit quite a few years after everybody else did.

we had T21s at work for years and years, 133fsb P3s (866). You wouldn't believe the pounding they took. I'm talking 5 years with no dead pixels, no harddrive whine, and the same power bricks. keys worked flawlessly.

stuff will probably never be made that well again

No, I don't believe everything I read on the net, but you've really got to get your head out of the sand...

Here's another one for you...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/04/te...tner=TOPIXNEWS