Lenovo — Chinese-owned but US-based and best known for its US$1.25 billion purchase of the IBM ThinkPad brand two years ago — is looking to make major gains in the marketplace with a major move into the consumer notebook market.
‘You’ll be seeing more funkier non-ThinkPad consumer designs from us,’ said Matthew Kohut, Lenovo’s US-based ‘worldwide competitive analyst. He wouldn’t be drawn on timing, but the impression is the move is not far off — perhaps later his year or 2008
The company’s current range of ThinkPads are mostly severe black designs reflecting the conservative IBM heritage (the company also markets a ‘Family’ range of laptops for home and small business use, but few would escribe them as funky).
Most ThinkPads still carry the IBM logo, but that is due to be phased out over the next three years —it’s already disappeared from some corporate models unless the customer requests it, said Kohut.
Under those black casings, Lenovo is concentrating on building in new technologies and innovative engineering — none of it from IBM, which now has no involvement, Kohut stressed.
Two new models, due for delivery by the end of the month — the ThinkPads R61 and T61 14-inch widescreen models — are among the first to embrace the latest Santa Rosa platform from Intel, which includes faster processors, wireless-n WiFi connections and crisper graphics.
But Kohut preferred to talk about the new engineering, which includes twin magnesium rollcages for the hard drive area and screen top cover. You can drop your ThinkPad and hopefully not damage the screen, Kohut maintained, personally giving one of the screens a mighty hand-rap.
The top cover also holds up to nine antennas — 3G, Bluetooth, optional ultrawideband and as many as six for the MIMO Wireless-n connections — sandwiched between the magnesium rollcage and the outer skin to ensure good reception.
FireWire is now an option, and a thermal management system provides a 10% cooler laptop that won’t burn your lap, Lenovo claims.
Coming months will also see Wireless USB become an option — this is technology Kohut sees becoming near-universal in the future.
He also predicts hybrid hard disk/solid-state technology for the near future: currently solid-state memory, with a maximum 64GB, lacks the capacity for handling Vista and Office. The hybrid models will probably use Flash memory for the OS and HD for data and apps.
The company is also looking at fuel cells as a replacement for batteries — but don’t hold your breath, Kohut warns. The technology works fine — but the chances of airport security letting you walk through with a cartridge containing flammable methanol are close to zero.
Source: Computer Daily News