Thinkpad Edge info leaked, prepared for more butchering of the Thinkpad brand

http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/19/lenovo-thinkpad-edge-to-bridge-gap-between-ideapads-and-pro-mach/

After the failure that is known as the SL-series, here comes the Thinkpad Edge. I really hope this is not the direction Lenovo taking all Thinkpads to.

 

Ugly, very.

 

It doesn't look particularly pretty, but here is finally a netbook sized machine with a touch point and hopefully the matte black version is closer to what we are used to.

 

MY EYES!!!!

That bezel is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE!!!
A 16:10 CAN FIT THERE EASILY!!

What are they thinking?? To body looks nice (if it was all metal) but the bezel ruins it badly.

 

hahaha i remember when i first posted a thread about this design EVERYONE said theyd never buy another thinkpad.

guess what boys...

 

Excuse me while I wipe off the vomit from my keyboard . . . . . . .

 

I prefer to see if before I call it a failure. You never know, you might like it. Everyone thought Nintendo was going to get clobbered by the 360 and PS3 because they went with a underpowered system focused on gaming. I think we all know how that one turned out. Sometimes you got to think outside the box. If you never change you die.

 

What the hell is Lenovo thinking?

 

$$$?

Not from NBR regulars; but from the doorbuster crowd who want the cheapest and don't care beyond that.

 

They don't have to call it Thinkpad then. It's diluting the brand and we know what happened to the Tecra brand name when Toshiba started applying them to cheap plastic consumer notebooks rebranded as "business on a budget" notebooks.

Why not call it EdgePad or CheapPad or CrapPad or LightPad or ProPad?

 

13.3" a netbook?

 

11.6 I believe it is

 

I am not saying its right/ wrong or defending Lenovo. It's awfully tempting in corporate circles to ride off an existing marketing bandwagon than create a whole new brand. Think how successful Ideapad has been in brand recognition? It's far easier and cheaper to ride on the Thinkpad bus than create a new "CheapPad" bus!

Yes, it will (may?) dilute brand; but the temptation is very strong. I too shake my head - think of what happened to my beloved Pontiac, from the '67 GTO to the '91 Bonneville!

 

That's the x100e. The Thinkpad Edge is 13.3".

Technically neither size is a netbook either since they aren't using an Atom.

 

I cant find the link, but didnt someone else post a thread with same picture (from a front angle) and everyone was like

"OMG ITZ FAKE... PHOTOSHOP!!!!"

 

I find it interesting that Lenovo is just now attempting to leverage the thinkpad brand for "prosumers".

I don't really know how strong the thinkpad brand is outside of business/tech circles though.

I am curious if chiclet keyboards also attract more consumers vs a regular thinkpad keyboard...

 

fyi, both x100e and edge are CULV laptops, not netbooks

 

So, far the X100e is only coming with an AMD cpu, and this looks like will get both an AMD and Intel cpu option, kind of like the HP DM3.

 

I think it's a PS. Lenovo isn't that stupid to allow such a deviation from the traditional Thinkpad design.

 

Well its suppose to bridge the Thinpad and Ideapad line so I guess it can work? It could be for those people who want something like the Ideapad U350 but with more durability and slight more traditional look?

 

Simply market segmentation. Not everyone can afford nor want to pay nor need a TP. For example, there are people in India or Africa who probably know more about computers than you but can't afford one so a product like this would suit their needs and budget. Dont be such a tech snob. As for dilution of the brand? Maybe, then maybe not. Destruction of shareholder value? Maybe and maybe not.

 

I suppose it could work, but then again, Lenovo is entering a market already dominated by other companies.

 

But the other companies dont have the Think brand name. But as you say like putting a Porsche badge on a Saturn.

 

well the amd neo platform is amd's culv solution

you don't get comparable battery life to one with an intel solution, so i'm a bit disappointed that there's only an amd option on the x100e.

amd cpu's are awesome on the desktop, but on mobile computers, where battery life matters, amd's are big NONO

 

Yes. I was one of them, and this is the second (third?) time I admit on this forum that I was wrong.

 

First the SL… and now this. Lenovo is definitely sullying the ThinkPad brand. The run was good while it lasted, perhaps. I guess I can always go to HP…

Shame.

 

Should we blame lenovo or AMD for this? We'll still have the traditional line so if they still want to release all these AMD systems let them.

 

Is there anything wrong with an AMD based system?

 

I remember seeing FCC pics of the next gen S10 and that had a similar design look minus the nipple and that was running an intel cpu.

 

AMD is not an OEM...

 

Holy crap, known for the keyboard quality? Yes. Known for keyboard quality on a netbook, which was designed to emphasize "value" (cheapness)? No... not at all, not at all, adopting that stupid spaced apart MacBook keyboard style. My oh my, i can't believe they even have the guts to use the "Big Blue" blue enter key. Do any of these ThinkPad trademarks remind you of Lenovo?

 

AMD is not the issue—their x64 architecture is better designed than Intel’s. The issue is Lenovo redefining what a ThinkPad is. If you were a loyal Porsche owner for many years, and Porsche started selling Mazda’s and calling then Porsches, would you be pleased?

 

Sales will tell us how the market reacts.

 

So Thinkpad is Porche? I always thought Volvo went with Lenovo....and not just because of the rhyme scheme.

 

This...because the only thing I can fault AMD for with the Congo platform is that it's still 65nm....but I can forgive that for the HD3200 IGP.

 

main problem with amd is their heat and power consumption. nothing wrong about their performances

 

Can the HD3200 actually handle HD videos? How does it compare to the intel 4500HD?

 

HD3200 has dedicated hardware to handle 720p and 1080p videos smoothly and now supports hardware accelerated flash with Adobe Flash Player 10.1.


HD3200 is better than the 4500HD but not as good as the Nvidia 9400M/ION....however there's no option currently to get the ION with a CULV and Neo beats the Atom.

 

No, but some intel CULV do come with either the ATI 4330 like 13in Acer Timeline in some areas of the world, or the Nvidia GT210m like the newly released Asus UL30VT. However, those cost around $200 more than this, with their better gpu option.

 

Your analogy should be reworked, a lot of people road race Mazda .

But yes the branding/cost/stock performance.

 

You're branching off now into different comparisons. IGP vs. IGP AMD's option beats Intel's current options. If you're going for a notebook large enough to handle a discrete GPU then yes it will beat all the IGP options out there but like you said it costs more and it also shortens battery life and produces more heat.


We're also getting crossed up on which machines we're talking about. For the x100e the Neo + M780G is a very solid middle ground between Intel CULVs lower TDP CPU with a lousy IGP and ION's lousy Atom CPU and solid IGP since those are your options for sub-12" notebooks. At 13" you have notebook options with discrete GPUs so yeah the Thinkpad Edge loses out.

 

I agree with you 100%, ZaZ. Admittedly, it doesn't look much like a ThinkPad, but until we see it, it's hard to say what construction and ergonomics will be like.

I'll reserve judgement.

 

It may produce a bit more heat and shorten battery life a but but I know the 13in Asus UL30 gets something like 10 hours with the intel gpu turned on and 7 or so with the Nvidia gpu. Also, I was comparing those machines to the 13in Edge model described in this thread.

As for 12in and Sub-12in there are few older device with an nvidia based gpu and ULV cpu; like the 10.6 LG X100, & P100 tablet, and 12in Asus U6 with nvidia 9200 GS gpu to name a few(both also had optical drives). From what I read heat wasn't that bad on them, and battery life was like 4 hours, which is nothing special, but these machines are at most 2.5 years old. I was hoping Lenovo could have done something similar with the x100e, or with U150, but better battery life.

btw here is FCC shots/specs for Pinevew Lenovo Ideapad. Looks kind of similar to Edge and X100e thinkpad model. http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/16/lenovo-ideapad-shown-to-possess-pineview-cpu-by-fcc-photo-shoot/

 

Clearly people aren't comfortable with the direction. Thinkpads use to be a premium brand. They weren't cheap, but they were virtually complaint free.

 

You never used a 760 keyboard or an Mwave modem, did you? ;-)

 

Apparently not.

 

I just want to know how much these(x100e, S10-3, Edge) are going to cost when decked out.

 

IBM did a very good job with the ThinkPads, but they were never really perfect. They were just leaps and bounds better than anything else particularly in the support and driver area. There was always complaining going on about things that didn't work.

Although the Mwave modem tended to generate more cursing than complaining...

 

That's an interesting perspective. Without NBR and the Internet, it was a bit more difficult to evaluate the laptop industry as a whole.

 

The only option should be matte black. Not glossy black or Red. Those do not belong.