Dell gets nasty over lenovo's slogan

[ryengineer]

Even if BBB doesn't allow lenovo to continue using the slogan, I think machines that can last nearly 13 years or more (e.g. 701c that I picked up) deserve to be the best engineered PC's in my books.

Lenovo, Dell spar over ads

Published on: 04/09/08

Lenovo Group Ltd., the world's fourth-largest PC maker, was asked by the Better Business Bureau to stop claiming it sells "the world's best engineered PCs" after a complaint by Dell Inc. Lenovo is appealing the request and will continue to use the slogan until a final ruling is made by the Better Business Bureau, company spokesman Ray Gorman said Tuesday. The complaint by Dell, the second-largest computer maker, focused on print, Internet and outdoor ads that claimed Lenovo's PCs are the "best engineered" and have "the awards to prove it."

[egibbs]

Dude, I've got a C64 that (AFAIK) still works. Does that make Commodore better engineered?

"Best Engineered" is an example of what is called puffery. It's a nebulous sort of claim that a seller can make and cite some evidence to support the claim, without making specific representations. Courts generally give a lot of leeway to puffery, considering it part of the normal selling process as long as there is at least some foundation to the claim. There are lots of criteria by which one might claim something to be the best engineered, and Lenovo simply has to have a reasonable basis.

OTOH, if they claimed something specific and measurable - like "90% of all the Thinkpads ever built are still in daily use" they had better have some pretty hard evidence to back it up. But that is not the case here.

Dell should lose the case.

Ed Gibbs

[iamdmc]

Dell has to sell garbage to the public, but they still operate under the cloak of "good quality, uhh..." so they HAVE to take Lenovo to court for being better engineered. Considering that Lenovo is gaining a lot of marketshare (and that would mean that Dell and HP would be losing it) they have to make a vain attempt to regain some credibility in order to keep their marketshare.

My 2 cents

[gator]

Well, every computer manufacturer uses some words like this - IBM/Lenovo describes thier keyboard as "award winning" for example. Dell is just being picky here ...

[ryengineer]

Dude, I've got a C64 that (AFAIK) still works. Does that make Commodore better engineered?.....snip

Yes, my viewpoint is that a good design can last considerably longer than poorly implemented figure, also the internal design is as important as the external looks.