Ultrabooks?! Will Lenovo join the fray?

Intel's new "ultrabook" labeling scheme of laptops is apparently set to compete against the likes of the MBA and iPad later this year/early next year with Ivy Bridge laptops that are required to be less than 0.8" thin and will be priced less than $1000. The Asus UX21 will apparently be the first.




Do you think Lenovo will come up with another "X1" solution to this? I doubt it. It's just too early for historically slow-to-change Thinkpad designers to plan for another line or to drastically change existing ones. Lenovo was slow to get into netbooks as well. I think that it is finally time that PC manufacturers are trying to oust Apple in the ultraportable market. BTW, can you imagine the scratches on the UX21 after a year's use?

 

That Asus UX21 looks HOT !

 

Technically, Lenovo already has one; The u260. .7 inches and $900. No? (Assuming they keep the design.)

 

Yes.

 

Like all Asus ultraportables, it will have a crappy display. Odd too since Asus likes putting IPS panels in its tablets.

Bronsky

 

Completely not an MBA rip-off at all.

 

Yep, the U300s looks like Lenovo's entry into the "ultrabook" category--hopefully it'll be an improved U260. Generally speaking, at least in the Thinkpad line, Lenovo does a good job improving upon its past designs, so I have a lot of hope for the U300s.

The UX21 looks nice, except for the super tacky cursive lettering (not visible in these pictures)... urgh. The metal keyboard is a new development... hopefully finger oils are a lot easier to clean off on that surface!

 

I like where this is heading as a general computing trend, but I wonder how it'll play out.

 

1366x768 is a non starter for me so as long as the ultra thin, ultra light machines use that resolution, I am not buying.

 

There's almost certainly no requirement to have 1366*768 resolution to qualify as an "Ultrabook", and it's pretty safe to say that some will gladly stray from that resolution (my bet is on Sony for that, at least).

Something that doesn't bother me but might bother others is the likelihood of Intel-only graphics.

 

Yeah, for less than $1000, I would expect only integrated GPUs alright, but at least Ivy-Bridge won't disappoint (isn't supposed to be like 50% more powerful or something?).

 

That's what people are saying, yeah.

 

I dont get it why they came up with new name for the same tech? Ultrabook, whats next, ShizzleBook?

 

Exciting to see that we are going to see all these "thin"ovations ... it will really jump start sales for laptops I think... People have a love for light portable laptops (proven numerous times) If i was in college today, I would want an ultra portable... (the more ultra the better)

 

Does it matter? Such a thin notebook wouldn't be a ThinkPad, so most people who buy Lenovo for professional business wouldn't care. Look at the X1, it's a consumer grade laptop. We are happy with our x200/x201/x220.

 

just because the display is glossy?


well, lenovo can have different line ups, it certainly is what it is right now

 

if lenovo does not change with the changing consumer taste, it would certainly lose even more market shares.

 

Are you speaking about the company as a whole or just Lenovo's consumer based products? Business based sales are what make Lenovo. The last quarter Lenovo's PC shipments increased 16% while the rest of the industry fell to 1.1%. (From last year.)

 

It would be really interesting to know what Lenovo did differently. I mean, the gains couldn't just be attributed to the Thinkpad line right? I mean IBM 'died' just relying on the classic Thinkpad. The thing that is differing between the two is the introduction of other linages (Edge, Ideapad, etc) and of course current market values which a company doesn't really have control over (unless you are Apple).

I've been trying to find the actual stats on Lenovo (how much money the Thinkpad department is bringing in) and could only find (through some very rough calculations) that around 7.3 Million Thinkpads were sold in 2010. If we assume that the mean cost was $1000, then the Thinkpad revenue is $7.3 Billion. According to Wikipedia (yeah, it's not a concrete source) Lenovo's revenue is $16.6 billion, so Lenovo gets a sizable, but not a majority of revenue from Thinkpads, but it probably is the single biggest department within the company. BTW, here is a list of all the markets that Lenovo is in:

Desktops
Servers
Notebooks
Netbooks
Peripherals
Printers
Televisions
Scanners
Storage

Seeing that Lenovo is only into computers, the other 'half' could actually be attributed to the Ideapad/Essential lines. If you factor in that Lenovo most likely bundled the "non-classic" Edge laptops with Thinkpad sales, you'll see that the 'classic' Thinkpads (the computers that are trailered for business) probably don't sell as much as we originally thought.

 

There is hardly any money in the consumer market. Sure they have all those sales, but how much actual revenue was generated? Consumer market is cut throat to see who can make the cheapest crap and sell the most of it. Business notebooks are much more profitable, though a smaller market. Also people tend to buy upgrades at time of purchase on business notebooks as well as additional warranties which generate more profit.

Anyways, unless Lenovo can somehow make a real ThinkPad that thin, but people who buy them are looking for durability and reliability, and x series is already their solution to the business professionals who needs an ultra portable laptop but still needs hefty processing power.

Edit:

There's alot of things different, no 7 row keyboard, ThinkLight, lid latch, glossy screen, if it had an optical drive, it wouldn't support ultrabay, no rollcage...it's not ThinkPad. Sure Lenovo can have different lineups, just remove the ThinkPad badge and don't put ThinkPad into its name and you are good to go.

 

Smaller is the key word. The business market doesn't even compare to the regular consumer. Computer companies that cater exclusively to businesses simply can't compete (IBM?). Lenovo and Apple are opposites. One dominates the business sector and the other consumers. I don't need to tell you which one is infinitely more powerful.

More and more businesses are using consumer-grade computers nowadays because cheaper is 'better.' Tech moves so fast, that computers are easily replaceable. They don't need to last 5 years. Most of the computers at the University for example are Macs when they used to be 'business friendly' Dells.

 

You are joking right? Take a look at any government agency or major corporation. I guarantee you nobody uses consumer grade computers there. Sure maybe small businesses.

LOL you crack me up. I fix computers in a retail store, and I can tell you many stories of business professionals using consumer crap to do business work, it's awful. Business grade notebook cost more for a reason, they are built to last, parts are available for a LONG time, are significantly more durable/reliable than consumer grade laptops, and their support is much better.

Go ahead and buy an Acer and do some CAD work on it. Oh and if you have a tech problem, you'll be calling up India, being transferred 15 times to tell you that you have a software problem and it isn't covered.

Sure tech moves fast for consumers, but business professionals don't need the latest and greatest. In fact they need alot of the older legacy stuff. I'm glad I had my D600, we had to upgrade all the pen pads at work and they use serial ports to be configured. Good luck finding that on a new laptop. My Z61t with a 1st generation Core 2 Duo is sufficient for my work needs. I don't need a Core i7, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD and 25 billion GB of VRAM to do my work.

 

Umm, what about IBM? Check the WSJ profile on them for 2010-2011. Meanwhile, HP, Acer, and Sony have been slumping.
Going cheap also has it's cost. Aside from the same CPU, RAM, and HD in a business and low end consumer laptop, everything else might be skimped on.
True that this idea might be more feasible a few years back, but now, business grade laptops are competitively priced to consumer grade laptops.
Time spent setting up and deploying machines is a hidden cost to the company. If you're spending lots of time constantly repairing or swapping out consumer units, then that's also a hidden cost to the company. Comparatively the business grade units are generally more robust and binned with higher quality parts. So you might have less tech support calls with the business units. Also, if your company's VP's or higher executive's laptop goes out, do you have them wait 2 weeks out for repair turnaround? Service for business grade is usually quicker and if they send you parts, it's usually next day service (if not morning air).
Depends on your situation, if you have a few users in the company, then yes it might be okay to get away with consumer grade units. Otherwise, going the business grade route would be better as they tend to have additional feature sets for supporting and administering in or out of the LAN.

Also Macs are not a good comparison. They're high end consumer grade devices (priced as such too) and binned with higher quality parts. Since when did you see a gorgeous display on a $300 budget consumer grade laptop?

 

OK, I was a little overzealous. According to 2010 Q4, around 41 Million "business" computers were sold. Around 93 Million PCs were shipped during the same time (not counting tablets apparently). So, it's about 50/50. 2010 was one of the worst years for PC sales but apparently one of the best for business.

Actually, this is can be a reason why consumer PCs can bring in more revenue as well. Computers that last a long time don't bring as much money as one that is targeted to be replaced in a few years. You make a living fixing computers, so if something breaks, you're probably a person that would look for a solution. Most people just buy a new (and cheap) laptop.

 

No that wouldn't generate more revenue because there is no profit in MOST low end consumer notebooks. I read somewhere on like a sub 500 dollar notebook Dell only makes like 10-15 bucks profit on the actual notebook. They use the cheapest components to make the laptop. That's why Dell has to sell bags, accessories, software to make any profit.

 

Wow, I didn't know that profit margins could be that low. Guess I learned a lot of things today!

 

The other nice thing about business machines vs. consumer ones is that (at least in my experience) they tend to be a *lot* more end-user serviceable. Not only is it generally easier to get parts, but the machines themselves are easier to upgrade/repair; there tend to be fewer of the "random collection of one-off parts" designs and more consistent selection and assembly of parts. Some of Dell's lines used to be really bad in this regard. (Maybe they still are -- it's been a couple years since I've worked on a Dell desktop.)

ThinkPads, on the other hand, tend to be pretty good. Generally there are at least one or two models which share a number of FRUs, and all of them are easy to work on. That's something I'm willing to pay a premium for, as it makes my life a lot easier.

 

Interesting point, one you service one or two Lenovo ThinkPads, you'll pretty much know how to service them all. They've consistently kept the same design, and IMO much better than IBM ThinkPads (serviced too many T4_ ThinkPads and I hate it).

Dell desktops aren't horrible but aren't great. Their laptops are for the most part easy to take apart. But what I like the most is the availability of the service manual to the average person and their service manuals are pretty informative.

 

This isn't unique to Dell. Lenovo (and IBM before them) have always made their HMMs available since the very first ThinkPad.

 

This is Lenovos "Ultrabook" at Computex 2011.

It's called U300S and I think it looks stunning. Unfortunately all we know about the specs is SandyBridge and 13,3" Glossy Screen. Let's just hope it comes in multiple colors (black, would be nice )

 

Yep, the Thinkpads have great HMMs--but, the consumer-grade IdeaPads have poor/absent documentation. Dell does a good job of making sure that even the lowliest Inspirons from several generations ago still have available documentation.

 

Ah. I guess that's due to the different divisions (IdeaPads are often ODM re-brands, ThinkPads are designed in house.) Good on Dell for providing documentation like that. I just wish more manufacturers would do that...

 

Hrm that's a good point, I had to unfortunate time of trying to service an IdeaPad Z560 and I am looking all over for a teardown guide, nothing to be found!

HP has their readily available but sometimes their search will bug out and even if you put in a valid model part number it will turn up blank.

Acer, Gateway, eMachines, Toshiba and Sony all have their service manuals through their ASP login.

 

The only thing that has small margin in consumer grade laptops are the ODM products, which usually means 5% profit margin for the brand company and 5% profit margin for the ODM themselves. Lenovo, Toshiba, ASUS, Acer all have these laptops, which why some of them actually share common laptop design and power adapters.

OEM Consumer grade laptops have much better profit margin.

X1 is pretty good in terms of its physical chassis design, since it uses a magnesium/aluminium casing for the top case and the bottom case which actually makes it quite rigid. It is much better than the T4x0s top case (made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer) which flexes due to the lower Young's Modulus.

 

Yep. It's not just the consumer machines though: at least one of the ThinkPads that I've owned recently (the X40) was built around a Wistron reference design. The chassis design, etc. was all done by IBM/Lenovo and was clearly not used by anyone else, but the planar was simply Wistron's S-Note reference design with no/minor changes.

Edit: This one: http://notebookschematic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/S-Note-1.png