Lenovo versus HP ... a gamble

I will agree and echo what lead and MAA83 and JaneL have mentioned. I believe there is a market for better screens on laptops. I am part of that market just as an enthusiast.

But unlike the professional workstation desktop LCD market, the laptop market just doesn't have strong enough demand to satisfy the business risk and the likely very high production run cost/support cost.

I do expect lenovo to try and offer better screens on the W series at some point though.

As lead_org mentioned, margins are razer thin, especially so for components. If there is no huge demand from OEMs, your panel producers aren't going to bother, especially without contracts beforehand if they already don't have production runs of certain types of panels.

The unfortunate aspect about technology is that is generally has very high fixed costs, so it is very difficult for someone to come in and be a competitor in a niche market like this.

 

But when we talk about cheaper laptops versus more elite and expensive laptop, where does most of the cost go to? Materials all look pretty similar, I mean an alloy is an alloy and plastic is plastic. So in theory most bigger players should be able to obtain the materials at similar prices. Same goes for HDD, RAM, screens etc... so why such a HUGE price difference between certain brands? A bit of extra shock absorbing rubber etc cannot make that difference. Maybe labor costs but then again in China one assumes it is lower than in Japan etc ... as in lenovo versus Sony. Or is it all due the scale of their consumer markets?

 

Quite likely. Then there is also the case of the margins on the cheaper lines which are under continual pressure. The more premium lines offset a part of those wafer thin margins, but not by much.

Somewhere along the road, the computer manufacturing industry turned away from high margins into competing for market share which put their bottomlines under huge pressure.

 

At least in the American market. However there is a difference between types of alloys and types of plastics. Also there is just as much cost consideration into the support structure behind those products.

 

How great? Is there physical numbers or just based on guesses? Also how do you know that other company won't cut into your piece of market pie?

People may say that they are willing to pay a few hundreds dollars more, but when it actually comes to the crunch, they may think otherwise. This is why consumer laptops are in the stores to draw people into impulsive purchases, which many people regret down the line. Most whom buys business laptops usually don't regret as much, since their purchases are more calculated and they have thought through their purchases quite clearly.

 

That's a good point. Consumer survey input generally greatly differs from actual consumer pricing behavior...

 

Yes agree with the above as well, re impulse driven purchases ... most people have no clue what they are buying, they just want a pretty computer. Actually in Europe most computer sales people really have not much knowledge at all about the product they are selling. In Holland you cannot find any business type laptop in stores. Even specialized Office Stores (Staples etc.) only sell HP consumer laptops & Sony Viao (cheap models) and a few netbooks. It's appalling...

 

Can't a buyer order them (business class machines) though through the brick & mortar stores in Holland? In India too, most outlets (of all computer manufacturer) seem to stock consumer lines, but if you want a business class machine, they will order it for you - though you may have to wait for a few weeks or so.

 

India and Western part of Europe use slightly different marketing strategy. Most Indian people likes to buy quality stuff that lasts, and they are willing to pay more for it to get such longevity and quality. Also, Indian buyers in India are less impulsive in their purchase decision as to many people a laptop would be considered a high involvement purchase.


While, in Europe the average standard of living is higher, people can make impulsive buying decision and most of these purchases would be considered a low involvement purchase.

 

In part, I guess, this is correct. However, the majority of Indian buyers also opt for consumer line of laptops and illegal software (the latter really irritates the heck out of me). I think, on an average, most Indian (non-professional) computer users change their machines (laptops) every three years or so. Originally, the laptop market was very small in India. People usually opted for desktops. But I think in more recent times (say, in the last 3-4 years), this is changing and people are increasingly opting for laptops.

Usually, the most common laptops visible are Dells and Acers. Thinkpads are relatively rare, while Macs are a little less so. Generally, the student populations opt for low-cost machines (which is not surprising). Professionals usually buy the upper-end machines (including ThinkPads).

Cheers!

 

the lecturer in question clearly has no idea how to configure an LCD. that is not the way to make fonts clear, though it will make them bigger. you can have both, but you need to leave the resolution as it is in hardware ("native")

 

Nobody disputes that many academics, who are often also old, don't know how to use computers.

 

i hate to be a party pooper here but this thread is way off course and has strayed from the original question of buying HP vs. Lenovo.   discussion about economics, manufacturing choices, and customer needs can be continued in the off-topic forum.