Speculation: release dates and pricing of the new line?

[andrw]

I've read that the delay of Montevina will push back the release date so far back that the soonest the new line will be shipped out is early September. Does this sound right? Also, what do you think the pricing will be like, especially the difference between the T and R series?

[wolf-zhang]

No. I think it will start from July 15 from source till now.

[xixiliu]

No. I think it will start from July 15 from source till now.

intel will release the full montevina on july 15, not partly, not august. new lenovo laptops should be published the same day. and 'cause it is already pushed back for more than one month, i think lenovo will have enough notebooks for us to purchase then. hope that i can get my t500 in early august.

about the release date of montevina. see http://taiwan.cnet.com/computex2008/0,2 ... 863,00.htm

[andrw]

ok, so it seems that the consensus is that the montevina and new lenovo releases will coincide.

any ideas about pricing?

[meditate2001]

i just got an email from an sales rep. from lenovo:

"We are expecting to have the T400 & T500 out by November. "

oh ha....

[xixiliu]

i just got an email from an sales rep. from lenovo:

"We are expecting to have the T400 & T500 out by November. "

oh ha....

are you kidding me?

[bveghte]

No sales rep would ever comment on the release date of new models. Unless it's a personal friend, but even then ...

[meditate2001]

no that was the exact phrase he mailed me. and he is not a friend. why he shouldnt comment it ? saying nothing would be very wired. i mean of course they have their plans, so the release date is nothing secret. and with that late date he is not even promising anything....

[bveghte]

wow, that surprises me that he would tell you that. They always tell me "no comment".

[vlastagf]

Funny. All the world thinks ThinkPads are gonna be released on 15th of July but you and one sales rep. know the truth.

If he tells you this why didn't Lenovo change the official statement?

[beeblebrox]

If they have all their new Thinkpads coming in November then they can kiss goodbye a large number of their customers, which are a great part of all major US universities and world wide as well. By November all new students would gladly sign up for HP and Dell.

If they don't get their stuff out by mid September I guess that some major heads will roll. I am sure they and Intel are hard at work to make this happen...

[anthean]

Mid November might make sense as a release date for WiMax equipped notebooks, or for the X300 refresh (X310 ?)

And if the T400 becomes available in July or August, this would technically be "by November".

Finally, if this is all caused by Intel problems, then the impact will be across the industry, and notebook manufacturers will be on a level playing field. If heads are to roll, it would be at Intel, not Lenovo.

I think you are reading too much into the tea leaves.

[lophiomys]

IMHO Lenovo should take the time it takes to develop a premium products. A really good Thinkpad would be timeless.

[meditate2001]

if intel says that there will be a delay, then pretty sure there will be. also for all the other companys not only lenovo. so dell, hp wont have any advantage.

<< If he tells you this why didn't Lenovo change the official statement?
i dont know. i guess they are predicting their release date more in the future that people are not angry if they fail it, but are happy when they can release earlier....but it is pretty sure that lenovo cant hold to their official date if intel delays...

[Dead1nside]

Losing back to school customers like me would be bad for Lenovo. If it's just Intel's troubles with their Centrino chipset, more specifically the wireless then it will hold up the industry. However Lenovo only ship Intel solutions. Dell and HP along with many others use AMD processors as well and AMD solutions are at their best for awhile in the form of Puma.

I think there's a bit too much panic around. Heads would roll if Intel was going to hold up a whole release. I'll wait and see.

[ryengineer]

Of course Intel chips are better but there is more to why lenovo and many other companies are using Intel chips only, recent controversy says Intel was paying rebates to PC manufacturers under an agreement of not using AMD chips, after an investigation Federal Trade Commission has lodged another antitrust probe against Intel in 2nd consecutive decade:

AMD Wins Another Round Against Intel.

[Dead1nside]

Oh yes, ryengineer the anti trust case goes on and on. And I can believe Intel's actions too. But without AMD around, we'd all suffer. Intel are best when they're down. Look at the switch to Core architecture over NetBurst. Only happened because of AMD's competitiveness.

[kunfuchopsticks]

If they have all their new Thinkpads coming in November then they can kiss goodbye a large number of their customers, which are a great part of all major US universities and world wide as well. By November all new students would gladly sign up for HP and Dell.

If they don't get their stuff out by mid September I guess that some major heads will roll. I am sure they and Intel are hard at work to make this happen...

This is a good argument, BUT just think about it. New chipset release date NEVER coincide with new hardware release based on that chipset. It's almost stupid to do so. I'm not surprised by the Lenovo reps comment on November date. Although of course I'd like it to be by August/September.