Lenovo bow to public demand over keys

Some people just can’t live without a Ctrl key in the bottom left of their keyboard and a Delete key in the top right – and I feel their pain.

As a Lenovo laptop owner myself for just three weeks, I’m struggling to get to grips with my new keyboard.

The last time I made as many typos as I am at present was was back in the summer 2003 when I broke my left-hand thumb playing cricket.

Thankfully, Lenovo is now taking care of the Ctrl freaks by offering up a BIOS option to switch that all-important key with the Fn button. Regrettably, current Lenovo owners like myself won’t be getting it as an update, but the Switch Mode will be available “in all future ThinkPad laptops,” giving us yet more reason to be excited about that rumored X200e machine.

Lenovo disputes reliable laptops survey results

Last week, we reported on the SquareTrade survey that hailed Asus and Toshiba as the most reliable laptops around, but Lenovo have taken serious umbrage and hit back with vengeance.

Lenovo didn’t come out too well in SquareTrade’s comparative analysis of laptop brands, with the company now attempting to discredit the research methodology.

SquareTrade looked at laptop reliability based on 30,000 laptops from various brands over a three year period, claiming that Lenovo’s notebooks were not as reliable as those manufactured by the likes of Asus, Apple, Toshiba, Dell, and Sony.

Ray Gorman, executive director of external communications at Lenovo, claims that the “total number claimed in this report is not a statistically significant sample for a study where no attempt is made to control key variables affecting repair rates, such as comparable machine types, end users, geography, and applications.”

He goes on to argue that SquareTrade “has a vested interested in showing scary failure rates as they have done here [as] they are in the business of selling after sale warranties,” adding that Lenovo’s internal data shows that its own laptop failure rates are “two-thirds lower than what is claimed in the Square Trade survey.”

“This study is full of holes, the method is flawed, the data is inaccurate, and the conclusion is wrong,” the Lenovo man adds.

Lenovo unveils ‘Ideas’ range for Windows7 laptops

Lenovo has followed the new Dell Z Series, by announcing its own independent collection of sassy Windows 7 laptops and we must admit they look pretty damn cool.

The lineup of new IdeaPad laptops – U150, U550 and Y550P – and IdeaCentre desktops – B500, K300 and H230 – are ‘designed to meet the performance, style and usability standards of today’s multi-tasking consumers.’

These new laptops ship with Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system and also include the unique Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows 7 – the result of joint engineering by Lenovo in collaboration with Microsoft to provide users with faster system boot and shutdown, richer multimedia features and easy system maintenance tools.

“Our Idea products are designed with the user experience in mind – every aspect of product design and technology is engineered to improve how consumers seamlessly use these products to enrich their daily lives,” said Liu Jun, senior vice president, Idea Product Group, Lenovo.

“Today’s additions to the Idea product portfolio are among Lenovo’s most feature-rich and powerful PCs to-date, providing our customers more choices to find the PC that best meets their unique digital lifestyle.”

Big name manufacturers looking to 3D screens

Dell, HP, Sony and Lenovo are working with far-east company Wistron on laptops with screens capable of 3D imagery.

The systems should utilise stereo 3D technologies patented by Wistron itself. Acer is also said to be looking into the feature having struck a deal with US-based DDD company, who offer similar services to Wistron.

While the quality of stereo 3D technologies of DDD or Wistron is not clear at the moment, just like technical requirements of these technologies, it is certain that all of the aforementioned notebook makers (and stereo 3D tech developers as well) are planning to target high-end notebooks for gamers with advanced capabilities.

HP laptops have led the way in 3D enterprise but Sony laptops are coming up in their rear-view mirror – though they’ll be hard-pressed to counter HP’s target date of June next year.

Multi-touch displays added to Lenovo laptops

Lenovo have unveiled updates to its dynamic duo adding multi-touch support to the X200 tablet and T400s laptop, just hours after HP announced their similar Envy range.

The multi-touch varies for each model, with the X200 receiving two finger support and the T400s twice that. As you would expect, these adaptations come with Windows 7 installed – the first Microsoft OS to be multi-touch friendly. In addition, Lenovo will introduce ‘SimpleTap’ – an application which will allow users to customise exactly what gestures do as well as providing shortcuts to Windows functions.

Like the Envy range of HP laptops, you’ll have to wait until next month (due to Windows 7) to grab hold of these.

Lenovo announce battery recall that affects six Thinkpads

Lenovo have announced a recall on the laptop batteries for ThinkPad models, which often produce “irreparable damage” or “battery cannot be charged” error messages, or simply have unusually low capacity.

The issue affects models from Lenovo’s ThinkPad T60, T61, R60, R61, X60 and X61 ranges, though only certain batteries for those notebooks are said to be faulty.

A  diagnostic battery program is available on the company’s official website to check whether a user is affected and, if so, their eligibility for a replacement.

As of yet, there has been no announcement on how long a replacement will take to appear, nor how many affected laptops there may be, but Lenovo are insisting that the problem causes no safety issues to users.

Google Announces Partners For Chrome OS

Following Google’s announcement of plans to unveil their new operating system, Google Chrome, they have now released more details – specifically which brand partners will be involved.

Acer,  ASUS,  Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Toshiba are on the list of notebook manufacturers that Google will be working with. The glaring omission is Dell, whilst MSI, who have been heavily involved in the netbook space for the last year, are also missing. Sony are also nowhere to be seen as of yet.

Google is also working with Freescale, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments all which make ARM processors for the emerging class of smartbooks.

It’s anticipated there will be more partner announcements in the next couple of months.

Lenovo X301 Thinkpad

When the Lenovo X300 hit the shops last year, it’s fair to say that a lot of laptop experts where more than impressed. When the slim, stylish Lenovo X300 was released last year, with a sizable screen and a weight of less than 1.5kg, it made plenty of waves in computer circles. The model was lightweight whilst still maintaining a large screen and optical drive, the reviewers gave the X300 the thumbs up. 

With the heavy weight of expectation on it’s shoulders, it remains to be seen if the Lenovo X301 can have the same impact on laptops consumers as it’s predecessor.

Whilst Netbooks are currently en vogue and the dominating topic of many an article in PC and laptop magazines, it is easy to forget that the netbooks big brother, the fully sized, ultra portable laptop is still alive and kicking.

Whilst Netbooks are an excellent low-cost option laptop of choice, if your finances can stretch to it, then a fully sized laptop with it’s higher specifications should still the desired option.

The X301 is the new improved model, with modifications designed to make it evolve to the needs of the 2009 laptop user. The processor, has been upgraded from 1.2GHz SL7100 in the X300 to the 1.4GHz SU9400. The 2GB of RAM in the new model makes it slightly faster than last years model, although the more ambitious laptop user would have hoped for an even faster processor.

With the onboard DisplayPort you can connect screens right up to 2,560 x 1,600 with the X301, and still benefit from a digital connection.

As with it’s predecessor the X301 has three USB connectors, a pair of mic and headphone jacks plus the Gigabit Ethernet port, whilst the keyboard layout remains one of the best designed key layouts available. The X301 screen also remains from the last model. The 1,440 x 900 resolution is about right for the 13.3in screen diagonal.

The X301 casing is more attractive than the X300 and holds three USB ports, gigabit Ethernet , built-in WiFi and 3G support, all of which makes the X301 super desirable. The Lenovo X301 may not have the same impact on reviewers as the X300 did when it hit the shops, but there is still a lot to like about the newer model. If you can afford the price tag, you will certainly get an excellent machine, and the X301 could well be for you.