RetroThinkPad survey #4 of 4 *** FINAL SURVEY **

[erik]

Well, I'm sorry if I made fun of something that wasn't supposed to be funny. Let's leave it there.

haha... i think it's actually the reverse.   people took serious something that was fully intended to be funny.

if i joined a calculator enthusiast forum and my initial rank was 'abacus', i'd probably laugh out loud.

[lead_org]

any idea when the results will be posted by David Hill?

"Next week I’ll post a recap of the results and discuss where we are on the project so far."

I spoke to David and Luis, they said there is a huge amount of data that came in for the Retro ThinkPad Surveys, they need to analyze it more closely to make sure that the diverse needs of people are considered. David also posted on his twitter page, @dwhilldesign, that he was quite busy this week, and would push back his blog response to next week.

P.S. Some of the features that people ask for is really pushing up the prices of this machine.

[ajkula66]

P.S. Some of the features that people ask for is really pushing up the prices of this machine.

Such as?

[lead_org]

Don't really know. Don't have the detail.

[RealBlackStuff]

P.S. Some of the features that people ask for is really pushing up the prices of this machine.

It begins to look like a scam to drive up the prices again!
Mass-production of a 7-row keyboard can't be that much more than a 6-row KB. We're talking maybe $1-3 per KB.
And a decent 16:10 or 3:2 LCD can't cost that much more than a 16:9 when produced in enough quantity!

OTOH, why don't laptop manufacturers see that there is a market for TWO groups!
There are the unwashed masses and there are business users, a HUGE difference!

[Kilkenny]

I like the idea of asking what people want and I like that they seem to be acknowledging the error of their ways.

My concern is that by considering the opinions of so many people, they'll end up with a laptop that doesn't know what it wants to be. Lenovo is in this situation in the first place because they tried too hard to appeal to everyone. They need to ignore what the average consumer market wants and focus on business users. They make plenty of laptops aimed at the consumer market already. My chief complaint with Lenovo is that IBM handed them a very well liked and entrenched business line of laptops and they set about changing it. Why? All they had to do was keep it exactly the same and upgrade the internals and the screen as technology allowed.

Frankly, if they want to know what to do, they should look to the laptops they and IBM used to make. My T420 is a very good laptop. It has a great 7 row keyboard, a wide range of ports, a good trackpad with physical buttons, and plenty of performance. I wish it didn't have a 16:9 display, but no laptop is perfect. Just make that, but give it a 4:3 display if at all possible and something close to it if not. That's all I and many others want.

One last thing that isn't in the survey is build quality. None of this matters if it's shoddily constructed. I said I liked my T420 and I do, but it feels like a slight step back in build quality from my X201, which felt slightly worse than my T60, which itself doesn't feel as solid as my T42. I can't speak to the newer models, but IMHO there has been a downward trend that is disturbing. Build it right or not at all.

[lead_org]

Quality is the number one priority for this project.

If Lenovo does commit to this project, all the steps in the design to production process will be clearly detailed on the www.thisisthinkpad.com website. So you will know what actually went into building this retro ThinkPad.

[bhtooefr]

I'd actually argue that the "business users" you refer to don't want a solid old-school, built to last 10+ years, ThinkPad. Really, the retro ThinkPad is something that I'd think can only work as a prosumer product.

Large businesses tend to want something that will get them through a 3 year refresh cycle without excessive downtime, for minimum cost.

It'd be interesting to see what the split between L450 and T450/T450s sales is, as well. I know that my client moved to the Latitude E5440 (L440 equivalent) from the E6430 (T430 equivalent), rather than going E6440 (T440p equivalent) or E7440 (T440s equivalent I think). And, they're going to the E5450 (L450 equivalent) with the next gen.

[rambo47]

I hope I'm not the only one who voted for the rainbow logo.

You're not.