kerryoneal.com

As kind of a follow-up to an earlier post, ThinkPad Still Going Strong, a partner of mine just recently had some trouble with his new Lenovo laptop.

I’ve been a little apprehensive since Lenovo bought that part of the business from IBM a few years ago. IBM had earned a large amount of respect from me with their laptop products for both quality and service. Even though I understand Lenovo was the manufacturer behind the IBM product, I still had to wonder if the brand would continue as before.

My friend ordered the W-series laptop as he is a power user working from the same desk most days. (I always opt for the little X-series) Even with my pleading, he didn’t opt for the ultra-cool dual-screen extension that comes as an option.  When his new laptop first arrived, one side of the keyboard was spongy and felt unsupported from underneath. Not one of those things that you think might be a figment of your imagination, but a real honest-t0-god problem. Lenovo admitted that the issue was part of a known recall, which begs the question why this unit ever shipped. Instead of just issuing him a new laptop, they repaired the one he had. When the his laptop arrived to the office again, signed off by quality control, the Windows 7 boot screen hung for over an hour demanding another call to support. Today the laptop seems to be working fine, but it’s only a few days old. I’ll continue to monitor it’s health and wonder if the reputation of the ThinkPad as the don’t-have-to-worry-about-it-because-it-just-works laptop might be a thing of the past.