Is there such a thing as too much for Lenovo?

Is it me or it seems that Lenovo has just too many "series" with similar looking laptops....

R series - Everyday computing

T series - Premier performance

SL series - Built for small business

X series - Thinnest and lightest

G series (just announced) - Home use

Y series - Family entertainment

U series - Ultraportable style

W series - Workstation

N series -Widescreen flexibility

V series - Widescreen ultraportable

am I missing something here? It also looks like they are running out of ideas with single letter and starting with two letters (aka SL series)

 

Well, each series is marketed to different customers. Eg, the ideapad lines are for "home" users.

 

It's a matter of marketing approach. Some marketing managers thinks that the more variety you offer to the costumer he will get confused and won't buy. others think that the more you offer, you can target more customers with different needs, that will eventually buy something.

Apple for example is a clear advocate of the first approach. You have MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Not too much to customize here. But in my opinion Lenovo maybe offering a bit too much right now. When you have multiple product series, you can spend less on advertising and promotion for each of the products, which might hurt sales.

 

It is getting a bit much, it might be at or surpassing the Sony Vaios in terms of laptop lines.

The consumer and thinkpad lines should be separated I agree with, but since I'm mainly interested in thinkpads, the X, T, R series worked fine for me.

I guess I haven't been paying enough attention, but R series and SL should basically be the same, workstation was just the previous 'p' versions of the T series, and so on.

 

At least Sony tends to make varaety designs, but with Lenovo they all look pretty much the same. I am considering 3 different lines from them just because they have almost identical specs, but in the end I'll get whatever the cheapest.

 

My only concern would be whether they have enough engineering talent to adequately design and work out the bugs on such a large spectrum of notebooks.

There is something to be said for focus.

 

I find it okay that they are expanding the selection of consumer notebooks (which are based more on looks than function anyway), but I don't like the way they are expanding the Thinkpad series. I'd rather they separate the Thinkpad series by screen size.

 

I agree that there is definitely too many names for the Thinkpad lines. However, at least during the current model refreshes, they are naming the series compatible with the screen size: ie. T400 : 14 inch screen, and T500 is the 15.4 inch scren, etc. But I do agree, TOO many "series". IMO, it should be the rugged, business line (T series), the cheaper/affordable/not around the office-so-much, not as durable line (the R series), and a tablet, and that's IT. For each of the three series (T, R, and the tablet) have 3 or 4 screen selections for them, and call it quits. Simple as that. It's just too "crowded", with too many seires and models to get confused with (the SL is similar to R, etc. etc.

 

Finally found a thread to ask: what's the rational behind the choices of the letters? E.g. why "T", etc.? And why "41", "61"...

 

I don't know, but where do all the other companies come up with model numbers?

 

i dont know what people are complaining about... are you guys complaining that they are offering you too many choices and you're blaming them because theres too much to chose from?

options are always to the benefit of the consumer (us.) Stop caring about how lenovo does business unless you own a share of them. Think of them as the Toyota of the business if you will. They have something for everyone. so there is no need for anyone to complain.

so what if you think they're not making money... they will still need to stay competitive with prices

 

Well at least the new numbering sort of makes sense...we have 2xx for 12inch, 3xx for 13inch, 4xx for 14inch, and 5xx for 15 inch. And it seems like refreshes are the last number.

 

Not 100% sure on the choice of T, R, X, etc. However, I can speak to the latter numbers.

The first digit of the two digit codes referred to a general chasis design. For example all of the T4x (T40, T41, T42, T43) were built on the same general design. The T6x (T60, T61) were built on a new design structure.

The second digit of the two digit codes refers to the refresh of a series. The T40 came first, approximately 1 year later you got the T41, then the T42, and finally the T43.

I do not know why T5x was skipped (best guess is they already had an R50, and it would be hard to sell a T50 next to an R51).

The two digit T series model sometimes featured a 'p' suffix (e.g. T43p). This stood for performance and denoted workstation (CAD especially) models. These usually had FireGL/QuadroFX cards and sometimes high resolution IPS screens. The Txxp series has now been replaced by the 'W' workstation line (same design as the T series, but with workstation graphics).

Lenovo recently changed to a screen size based approach. The first number of a 3 digit code is the inch rating (200=12, 300=13, 400=14, 500=15, 700=17).

The last digit of a 3 digit code is a refresh. x300 released in February 2008, x301 with Montevina chipset (but same design) released in September 2008. I would expect an x201, T401, W501, etc. when Intel releases a new chipset (probably around Summer 2009) with the same overall design, just faster internals.

 

The most confusing part about Lenovo's current notebook offerings IMHO is the R series and SL series since the pricing is so similar and the targeting is clearly for budget business buyers (small biz). I can understand why Lenovo came up with a dedicated Small Business lineup though, it's the fastest growing market for laptops and from a marketing perspective it's easier for them to go after that segment with a dedicated lineup. It's a direct competitor to the Dell Vostro lineup and HP Compaq "b" budget series.

There is no G series.

And if you think it's a little confusing now, wait until after CES

 

Well most people tend to look at either the Thinkpad line or the Lenovo consumer line. Although the consumer line's notation might be getting alittle bloated, its not to the point of companies lets say, ASUS, with their irrational and completely random notations.