Is the G40 An IBM or a Lenovo?

[aptivaboy]

Just curious. The G40 appears to have been released well before the 2005 takeover by Lenovo of the Thinkpad line, probably a full year earlier according to the info in Thinkwiki. However, I've seen several over the past year on the Bay of Evil that are clearly branded as Lenovos. They are not IBM's made by Lenovo, or pads with part IBM and part Lenovo branding on the underside stickers; these possess full on Lenovo branding right down to the Lenovo lettering on the lower edge of the display bezel. Many have 2004 Bios dates.

So...

Does anyone know the full story on these? I'm really just curious. The G40 would have been designed by IBM and originally manufactured under their auspices, so I'm not against buying a Lenovo G40. I'm just curious about why a machine purportedly manufactured well before the handover had full Lenovo branding. It makes me think that either Lenovo kept making G40s for a long time after the handover, or had already begun making them under their own name well before the handover was complete.

Thank you for any help with this little history project.

Bob

[Shredder11]

They were designed by IBM and assembled by Acer is how I understand it. The plastics are not of the same quality as a genuine IBM model, and the keyboard is very similar looking and feeling to that which is on my sister's 2006 Acer laptop. That being said I own two G40 and one G41, and they are excellent models.

[ncovert]

Are you sure they're G40's and not G400's? The G400 is an entry-level machine from just a few years ago, based around the 3rd gen Core architecture CPU's. The G40 is a "high-end" monster of a laptop from the early 2000's, featuring a desktop (!) Pentium 4. I'm very sure it was discontinued before the Lenovo buyout; it wasn't a very popular model.

[ajkula66]

Thank you for any help with this little history project.

There's also G50 which was sold only in Japan if I recall correctly, the well-known G shell with the guts of an Intel-based T60.

I've never seen one, though.

[aptivaboy]

Are you sure they're G40's and not G400's?

Nope, G40s. I make it a point to zoom in on the data stickers and such on the bottom of the machines and verify the model numbers.

I'm very sure it was discontinued before the Lenovo buyout; it wasn't a very popular model.

Which is what has confused me about this, and why I tend to think that the handover was unofficially well underway long before the official date. I've been considering a G40 for awhile, now, and viewing the data stickers and such on Ebay offered machines is what piqued my interest. They seem to have been made in China, so perhaps Lenovo got into the Thinkpad biz a little bit early?

Bob

[ajkula66]

They seem to have been made in China, so perhaps Lenovo got into the Thinkpad biz a little bit early?

Most ThinkPads from 2004 and later that one would find on this continent were built in China. The transition started somewhere during the A31/T30 generation and was finalized by the time T41 was rolled out. Early T40/p systems were still built in Mexico.