PSA: Don't buy Lenovo

[FleshLight]

The problem is that my users need laptops with an actual docking solution. So that basically leaves Lenovo and Dell. I dont' know about you guys, but Dell makes a pretty laughable business class notebook.

Check out the recent Latitudes or Precision M3800

 

[GrantMeThePower]

The people who complain about Apple's prices are too myopic to see past only hardware prices. I know with any of my Macs, I do not have to talk to Indian customer support. I can also drive to a local store and receive excellent customer service from an American.

Not to mention that I used to have to completely wipe my computer, or if something broke, buy a new one, each year or two. Since switching to Apple, I've haven't had to do either, and it'll be five years in May. In fact it runs as well as it ever has.

 

[TwiceOver]

Check out the recent Latitudes or Precision M3800

Fat chunky ass Latitudes. The Precision looked nice until I got to "USB 3.0 Dock". Garbage.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

I've been ThinkPad since 1996 except for that one year I had an Apple Powerbook in 98. ** Disclaimer, I worked for IBM, then Lenovo... Now I'm back at IBM. ThinkPads have been absolutely bulletproof for me and I have had many to flog. Given that I traveled near 90% of the time, they held up well.

I just got the Wife a new old stock T430s. I just got an M83 tower and IBM just issued me a new W540 ThinkPad to replace my W510.

MY only complaints?

- creating your own restore media is a broken F'd up process. Not a big deal. Call them, bitch and they send you the RCD's for free anyway. (Outlet machines don't come with RCD's as an option)

- The new keyboard/trackpoint/touchpad layout on the W540 is absolute shit to a long time ThinkPad user. I might kill myself over it. The loss of dedicated trackpoint buttons, and it being offset from center is driving me nuts though... I'll adapt.

I've never actually used any of the recovery disks I've made before. If I need to revert I'll just do a clean install. Plus I usually rip out the DVD drive and replace it with a HDD adapter.

I still feel the decision to move away from the traditional 7-row layout was done by a team of retarded monkeys masquerading as businessmen. It's primarily why I went back to my T420/X220 instead of my W530/X230. Moving to chiclet keys - fine. Just gimme my damn delete/home/end cluster and dedicated function keys back.

The new -50 (Broadwell) generation brought back the dedicated Trackpoint buttons on the touchpad. You can actually purchase one off ebay and retrofit it to your W540 if it bothers you enough (I know I would).

 

[BudAshes]

I'm now wondering how many of their laptops are going to fail to activate with Windows over the coming months. 3 of 4 Yoga 2 Pro's failed to verify and Lenovo and Microsoft combined couldn't fix the problem despite using our "vendor" support. The only one that didn't fail activation, was the one that was upgraded with an windows 8 professional key because it came with just the standard version of windows 8. The other 3 came with windows 8 pro and seemed to be impossible for either Lenovo or Microsoft to get to pass Windows activation.

 

[irishScott]

Meh, the hardware is solid. First thing I do when buying any Windows laptop is reformat and install fresh. Then I get to select precisely which bloatware I want to install (which usually doesn't go any further than power management software and webcam drivers).

 

[JEDI]

Meh, the hardware is solid. First thing I do when buying any Windows laptop is reformat and install fresh. Then I get to select precisely which bloatware I want to install (which usually doesn't go any further than power management software and webcam drivers).

that's the one ding about my Lenovo laptop.
their power management software from their website gives me a blue screen.

oh well, still getting 3hrs on battery w/whatever the standard win7 power mgmt is.

and no, I haven't talked to their software tech support.
not that concerned about the additional efficiency their power management software gives

 

[ch33zw1z]

JEDI, make sure you're at the latest level of the management software AND the power management driver.

What model? I had a T410 that was BSoD'ing when coming out of sleep mode, they fixed it in an update.

 

[JEDI]

JEDI, make sure you're at the latest level of the management software AND the power management driver.

What model? I had a T410 that was BSoD'ing when coming out of sleep mode, they fixed it in an update.

the laptop is 4yrs old (s205s).
i switched from winXP to win7 last year. (fresh install)

i need mgmt software to run the power mgmt driver?!

ok.. now I'm really not that concerned about squeezing a few more min runtime.
I'm fine w/Microsoft's default power drivers

 

[holden j caufield]

thinkpads are rock solid, no worries if you have next day service. Ideapad or edge with depot service probably suck.

 

[xaeniac]

The old Tseries rocked; T41, T42, T60, T61, and T410 and T510. Old xseries was cool too. Ended there I think for rock your face. Built like a tannk.

 

[ch33zw1z]

the laptop is 4yrs old (s205s).
i switched from winXP to win7 last year. (fresh install)

i need mgmt software to run the power mgmt driver?!

ok.. now I'm really not that concerned about squeezing a few more min runtime.
I'm fine w/Microsoft's default power drivers

Whatever works for you. I don't tend to bother with all their extra junk either. Just typing to my experience. The answer, however, is yes....Lenovo uses a power management driver(talk to windows) and power management software (replaces/runs on top of default windows utilities).

 

[ch33zw1z]

The old Tseries rocked; T41, T42, T60, T61, and T410 and T510. Old xseries was cool too. Ended there I think for rock your face. Built like a tannk.

Work has provided me a T42, T410, and a T430 in the last 10 years. All have been good machines. Going to the T430 was a bigger change, with the new keyboard and function key setup.

Only thing I've had to replace is a keyboard on the T430, and that's a simple swap.

 

[edro]

I have a Thinkpad Edge, which isn't really a Thinkpad afterall.
It has a horrendously loud fan. You can't control it with software or BIOS tweaks either.
There is a program people use to control Thinkpad fans, but it doesn't work on my model.
You can't limit its current with a resistor or the BIOS will say it failed and needs replaced.
You can't remove it or the BIOS won't allow it to boot.
It's an issue that has a loooong thread on thinkpad forums, and Lenovo doesn't have a fix.

I have resorted to covering 80% of the outlet surface area with electrical tape.
That helps, but its still loud.

 

[slugg]

I've had very good experiences with Thinkpads, but lately, most of them look cheap. The ThinkPad brand used to be very strong, but now it's extremely diluted.

I'm not sure where else to look, as in addicted to crack: the track point. I've tried HP and Dell "track points" (not sure what they call them), but they don't quite feel right. Any tips?

 

[Zargon]

didn't Lenovo backpeddle and possibly recall all those laptops to fix that BS OP is talking about?

my 6 year old think pad is still humming, I threw a bottom line SSD on it about 3 years ago and put windows 8 on it and its continued to be pretty excellent(its a 12" and core2duo....I use to haul around and work on gear as network engineer or RDP back to my workstation)

and I should mention I dropped it and broke the pcmcia port on it like 4 years ago

 

[cronos]

Isn't it the policy of Microsoft that systems purchased through the MS store come without junkware installed? I have purchased a couple of things from the MS store and they were clean when I got them. Maybe that is a better option than buying from a B&M store where you know a reformat is the first order of business.

Yes, they call it the 'signature edition'. Comes clean without any junk.

 

[Tim]

I purchased a Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 last year for my wife. I removed the bloatware, machine has been solid for her with no problems. The hardware has been solid.

 

[phreaqe]

IBM/Lenovo have pulled enough stunts over the years that i will never purchase one.
my list off the top of my head:
1. only allowing "blessed" wireless cards. Activly going out of there way to block you from using a wireless card that was not purchased(overpriced) through them without a bios hack. This went on for a few years and several generations of devices
2. My t410s that i had for work had a samsung SSD in it. When it shipped it did not support trim. Samsung released a firmware for it that included it. Rather then fix the problem, lenovo said that we should upgrade to a new laptop. My t410s ran like crap because of that. I had to reformat on a regular basis so the SSD would perform like it should.
3. my x61 tablet had a sata2 port but it ran at sata1 speeds. they did this because they had a compatability issue with an ultrabay addon so rather then fix the problem, they advertised the laptop as having sata2 but then without telling you limited the sata port to sata1 speeds which made it so that a ssd performed like crap. I could not tell a difference between SSD and HD. they claimed this was not false advertising because it technically did have a sata2 port, you just only got half the speed.

there were 1-2 other issues like this, but i cant think of them off the top of my head.

On top of all this they have the worst trackpads in the industry and have for quite some time.

 

[WackyDan]

I've never actually used any of the recovery disks I've made before. If I need to revert I'll just do a clean install. Plus I usually rip out the DVD drive and replace it with a HDD adapter.

I still feel the decision to move away from the traditional 7-row layout was done by a team of retarded monkeys masquerading as businessmen. It's primarily why I went back to my T420/X220 instead of my W530/X230. Moving to chiclet keys - fine. Just gimme my damn delete/home/end cluster and dedicated function keys back.

The new -50 (Broadwell) generation brought back the dedicated Trackpoint buttons on the touchpad. You can actually purchase one off ebay and retrofit it to your W540 if it bothers you enough (I know I would).

At one time they offered a tool that allowed you to turn off the bloat ware installers that were injected at time of recovery - which gave you a perfectly clean image to start from. That was very nice. I use the Factory preload on my M91p... and it has been fine stripped of all that junk... which really wasn't much. I'm actually surprised by the minimum bloat on the wife's new T430s and my new M83 than anything else.

 

[TwiceOver]

We've slowly been moving sales staff over to T4x0s series. The only bloat on any of them has been Norton.

Also none of my Thinkpads had the malware that recently came out. So far, they've been pretty solid machines.

 

[xSauronx]

We've slowly been moving sales staff over to T4x0s series. The only bloat on any of them has been Norton.

Also none of my Thinkpads had the malware that recently came out. So far, they've been pretty solid machines.

i, like others, image laptops and PCs anyway.
we have maybe 30 latitudes at work. They are in deed chunky and boring, but they work great and the support is awesome. [i think they are all e5xxx models]. same docking port on all models [unlike thinkpads] is very convenient for us. I am happiest with this laptop, but the trackpoint is not as nice as the thinkpads, and i sort of miss that.

of 6 thinkpad T models, 3 have have problems in the last year [ages are 1, 2 and 3 years on these]. We won't be buying anymore. Also: the trackpad on them sucks horribly. more also: different model docking ports. that sucked. I am also not impressed with lenovo/ibm support between experiences with the laptops and IBM servers. it isn't bad, it's just more like "good, needs improvement"

the dell XPS line is not great, if anyone is wondering. nice specs, typically, but i have seen 3 in the last 2 years with hardware problems, and they are the only 3 XPS machines i have seen :-/

we use surface Pro's for many execs at work [i think we have maybe 20 of them deployed now]. Obviously this is not a typical workstation/laptop replacement item, though they are really not more expensive than the laptops we get. They are nice, the dock is good, but not great. Support is very good. The only complaints are from the few people at work who fly regularly as the kick stand is not awesome when used on a lap. They get an iffy rap sometimes over wifi issues, but in my experience, that is more often windows 8 related than surface related.

 

[TwiceOver]

i, like others, image laptops and PCs anyway.
we have maybe 30 latitudes at work. They are in deed chunky and boring, but they work great and the support is awesome. [i think they are all e5xxx models]. same docking port on all models [unlike thinkpads] is very convenient for us. I am happiest with this laptop, but the trackpoint is not as nice as the thinkpads, and i sort of miss that.

of 6 thinkpad T models, 3 have have problems in the last year [ages are 1, 2 and 3 years on these]. We won't be buying anymore. Also: the trackpad on them sucks horribly. more also: different model docking ports. that sucked. I am also not impressed with lenovo/ibm support between experiences with the laptops and IBM servers. it isn't bad, it's just more like "good, needs improvement"

the dell XPS line is not great, if anyone is wondering. nice specs, typically, but i have seen 3 in the last 2 years with hardware problems, and they are the only 3 XPS machines i have seen :-/

we use surface Pro's for many execs at work [i think we have maybe 20 of them deployed now]. Obviously this is not a typical workstation/laptop replacement item, though they are really not more expensive than the laptops we get. They are nice, the dock is good, but not great. Support is very good. The only complaints are from the few people at work who fly regularly as the kick stand is not awesome when used on a lap. They get an iffy rap sometimes over wifi issues, but in my experience, that is more often windows 8 related than surface related.

Hrm, all my Lenovo laptops are "T" series and use the same dock. Same with Dell and their "E-Family" docking solution is only good for "E" series.

I really hope they work out well. They are thin and light for the travel our sales staff needs. I like the SP3 line but am still hesitant about deploying any as it really isn't a LAPtop. Usually as I see them with people in airports I'll ask how they like them. So far getting mixed reviews on travel usability.

I have high hopes for USB Type-C docking. I've used 2 USB3 docks and neither of them could fully support video and gb ethernet at the same time. The one from Targus was garbage, start a massive file transfer and the video driver would fail and monitor freeze until the transfer was complete.

I used to buy exclusively Dell, but they really lost touch with what EVERYONE wants in a laptop. I have a hard-on for the new XPS13, probably buy one for my personal machine when the first reasonable "deal" comes out.

 

[natto fire]

The people who complain about Apple's prices are too myopic to see past only hardware prices. I know with any of my Macs, I do not have to talk to Indian customer support. I can also drive to a local store and receive excellent customer service from an American.

Or they are users who only have to factor in hardware prices, because they do not call software support? I know it is hard to believe, but there are people proficient enough in making a computer work that they don't need to call tech support.

And are you really gonna go the 'Murica route when all modern electronics are made by Chinese slave labor, regardless of who's name is on it?

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Or they are users who only have to factor in hardware prices, because they do not call software support? I know it is hard to believe, but there are people proficient enough in making a computer work that they don't need to call tech support.

And are you really gonna go the 'Murica route when all modern electronics are made by Chinese slave labor, regardless of who's name is on it?

You must have not worked with laptops much or ever used laptops at an enterprise level.