Interesting uses for a Lenovo PC
What do you use your Lenovo PC for? Like many, I use my PC at work and at home primarily as an information portal, participating in online communities, writing on a blog, finding directions, checking global news or the weather, paying bills, ebaying, or emailing my folks.
I rarely do much now that doesn’t require connectivity – the concept of an application, a stand alone use for the PC is less relevant for me. Sure, I use excel and powerpoint to organize information and focus my thoughts into what I hope are compelling presentations. But, these are all a bit mundane and today I’m setting out to explore the interesting, and hopefully the extraordinary uses for a Lenovo PC.
In his travels, Matt has already explored how ThinkPads are being used by storm chasers, and even thoughtfully shared his personal interest in photography and how he was using a ThinkPad W700 to improve his holiday photos. Matt is on to something here – how are people using their Lenovo PC’s?
I’m going to explore this a bit in upcoming posts, and while I expect to see a lot of ThinkPads, I also hope to see some Thinkcentre or Ideacentre desktops, ThinkStation workstations, and IdeaPad notebooks and netbooks being used in creative and inspirational ways.
I’ll invite you to share your story - Post a comment about how you use your Lenovo PC and I’ll follow up on some of the more interesting responses and see if we can highlight your story here, or link here from your own blog where you have shared your story directly. What’s the most interesting way you are using a Lenovo PC?
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Lenovo H320 desktop
July 24th, 2009 11:19 pm
how about using the thinkcentre as a stool and thinkpad as a tv dinner table thingy….
why can’t we wear the thinkpads together as a flak jacket… just a joke.
July 25th, 2009 9:23 pm
I use my IdeaPad for graphic editing, programming (web and software), writing blogs, viewing streaming videos, listening to songs, and downloading songs, videos, and software.
Sometimes I use it for office work, reading local news, and research.
July 25th, 2009 10:22 pm
I use an X61 MT tablet for an in car entertainment/ GPS navigation system. The old T23 found a home inside a vanity mirror (one-way “glass” similar to the LG Shine cell phone). And the T41 with a broken screen serves as a great “book” on the shelf for backing up important data on the home network without looking too conspicous for any would be intruders.
July 26th, 2009 1:42 am
For the past two years I have used my X61 tablet as my primary note taking device, gaming computer, and language learning tool.
July 27th, 2009 12:10 am
Thinkpad user for 7 years now, through undergrad and graduate school. In undergrad I was a co-founder and lead organizer for a benefit race (the Krispy Kreme Challenge for some of you local North Carolina folks) and at the last minute we needed a last recording everyone’s times. I brought up my trusty Thinkpad T40p, loaded up some stopwatch logging software, and camped out at the finish line. It started to rain halfway through, so I huddled under my jacket. The Thinkpad got a little wet, but never faltered.
At Stanford for grad school, a friend of mine (also a longtime Thinkpad fan) took a rocket propulsion class where his project team built a solid fuel rocket engine. His Thinkpad X31 was set up a few feet away from the engine running some sophisticated software for the computer-controlled test firing and sensor monitoring. My T40p was setup as the control center via a hub a hundred feet away. The test firing was a success, and had a fiery blaze of almost 15 feet! Pretty cool for a class project.
July 27th, 2009 7:33 am
When interning at Ogilyv and mather, i had seen how lenovo’s thinkcenter pc’s are leveraged in making creative and interactive content.Though people also used Macs for
this work,i found that the Thinkcenters have and added advantage of less cost and more productivity.
July 27th, 2009 1:19 pm
Lead_org,
I appreciate the humor – I fully expected to receive comments suggesting door stops, boat anchors, wheel chocks – those types of things.
However, I’m pleased to see other commentors rising to the challenge and thinking about what they think are interesting ways to use Lenovo systems. I’ve a few examples in mind and plan to share them in some upcoming posts, and I’m hoping to feature a few ideas that may continue to surface here in the comments, or on other’s blogs.
Mark
July 27th, 2009 3:09 pm
In research labs where Thinkpads belong.
July 27th, 2009 4:14 pm
Everything.
It sounds goofy, but I use nothing but Lenovo. Workstation machine at the office to manage our entire IT operation, at home, a Thinkpad in the living room so when I watch TV I can also browse the internet, and for when I travel. Another Thinkcentre for photography work in my home office.
Our entire office (a law firm with 5 offices) uses Lenovo desktops and Thinkpad laptops. Probably the most interesting there is Thinkpads in the courtroom for trial presentations.
July 28th, 2009 2:44 pm
I am using my Lenovo 3000 N200 for every think I want. I code on it. I surf on internet. I watch movies. I like my notebook. I love its keyboard. Its so hard that it saved himself even i have drawn it.
July 28th, 2009 2:53 pm
When reading long pdf articles that fit better in portrait mode, I use the intel graphics options to rotate the screen 90 degrees and then hold my T61 notebook like an open book, either on my lap or sitting on my desk, to maximize the text space and size. Voila, Thinkpad e-reader
July 28th, 2009 4:06 pm
Chad,
Tell us a bit more about presentations during trial? Is this running video, projecting presentations and stills of forensic evidence, or what? Sounds intriguing….
Vijay,
Good to hear – solid business use is expected.
Saket,
Wow! Timing the donut run is sure creative, but I’d love to hear / see more about your rocket engine !
Tahir,
Glad the N200 has been trustworthy and versatile. Thanks!
Wyles,
I really like the portrait mode on my tablet during long plane rides because the person in front of me always pushes their seat back and there isn’t room to have the screen up in laptop mode. Sounds like you found a creative way to turn your T61 into a virtual digital book. Kudos!
- Mark
July 28th, 2009 5:27 pm
I use an X61T with a touchscreen as an under the cabinet kitchen PC
July 29th, 2009 6:27 am
I use my ThinkPad T61p for all kinds of things. Actually it’s the only PC I have at the moment (the ThinkStation D20 is on my wishlist!). Besides private use (email, social communities, internet and some gaming – not much, writing and blogging), it’s also my computer for both work and study. When working with graphic design as well as video editing I was very aware of what kind of mobile workstation I wanted. Living in a Mac-world I prefer a ThinkPad at any time. I’m very fund of the keyboard, the expansion opportunities, the design, yeah practically everything about the IBM/Lenovo solution
For my study, mostly taking notes, I’m gonna buy a Lenovo S10-2 very soon.
July 29th, 2009 2:54 pm
[...] Lenovo blogger & fix-it-man extraordinare Mark Hopkins put out the call for interesting uses of any Lenovo PC. From in-car entertainment & GPS to a remote backup [...]
July 29th, 2009 10:34 pm
I bought an IdeaPad S10 last November when I became a part-time college teacher and needed it for my PowerPoint lectures, and of course, to record my students’ performances. But barely a week after using it I was asked at the office where I work full-time to join the week-long natural disaster awareness and preparedness workshop we conduct all over the Philippines on a province-by-province basis, and my little S10 was pressed into service. At the workshop, in the sea of laptops of all brands and sizes (there was a ThinkPad there) that my fellow government employees brought along, the brand new S10 was used as a “PDF creator server.” Having a copy of ThinkFree Mobile Office netbook edition, the speakers gave their flash drives to me, I copied all their PowerPoint shows into the S10, and exported them to PDF files using ThinkFree Show. I then collated them to a master flash drive, stuck that in another laptop with an optical drive, and burned the PDFs along with pictures of the proceedings into a master CD which was then passed around for every available laptop to copy, so that the participants (local government officials and employees, and teacers) would get a copy by the end of the day. And this happened every day for six days. So while the bigger laptops were there with the speakers fine-tuning their presentations for the particular audience, my little S10 churned out the PDFs that wound up in the participants’ CDs. And at night? I did my own class presentations so that my classes could catch up when I returned to college.
August 2nd, 2009 4:38 am
i did joke about the Flak jacket part, but the stool and tv table thing was not a joke… it actually happened…
August 3rd, 2009 7:53 pm
I don’t have a lenovo pc yet, but my father worked for IBM for years so we always had a IBM pc in our house. I can even remember back to when Windows was a novel idea, lol. Anyway, though, I have been a Dell user for years myself but I have been looking for a decent Netbook to get and I am going to be getting the s12 as soon as it is available with the NVidia ION. I have a kind of unique (because I am sure not many people have heard of this) use in mind for when I do get the s12. I am going to install the OS called Backtrack (linux based) and use it as a portable penetration testing platform. I.e, hacking into computer networks for testing purposes and to find the weaknesses and help the companies involved better secure their networks. So, don’t worry, I am not planning on using it for evil purposes, since most people associate hacking with a bad thing. The main reason that I choose the s12 as my future Penetration Testing platform is because of the 12 inch screen size, the overall outstanding reviews I have read online, and the future release with the ION processor. I am just really hoping that it will also be available with Bluetooth. So, if any of the designers for the s12 are reading this, please please please include bluetooth
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August 7th, 2009 7:25 am
[...] Two weeks ago Lenovo blogger Mark Hopkins put out the word for Lenovo customers to come forward and share any unique or interesting uses of a Lenovo PC. Today I’m finally sharing my “interesting” use of a Lenovo PC, or is it even interesting? [...]
December 21st, 2009 3:47 pm
Lenovo PC’s in my opinion are best for professionals who need to carry their workload with them all the time. Thankfully, I am not one of them.
April 21st, 2010 6:40 am
Can you download books to it? What are its basic functions (for a lay person) compared with a notebook or an itab?