We just announced a new ThinkPad line optimized for small business called the SL series. Quality, affordability, service and support are critical factors to small business notebook users, and Lenovo’s ThinkPad SL series combines all of those. We designed the notebooks for the unique way these users work – whether at home, the office, the park or a coffee shop. The notebooks also excel with their enhanced multimedia capabilities. Nice speakers, high quality microphones and an optional webcam provide excellent support for internet voice and video conferencing. The keyboard continues the quality tradition with the legendary ThinkPad feel. Last but not least, the stripes are back.
The SL designs also include a black mirror finish top not seen since we retired the S30 ultraportable. You may remember this one from 2001. Sure it may attract a few fingerprints, but it looks fantastic. All the other series continue to be matte finish. We also hid the hinges and used a latchless closure to further simplify the appearance and draw attention to the new ThinkPad logo. It now features a unique red LED embedded into the ThinkPad signature replacing the typical red dot over the letter i. When powered up it glows constantly reminding everyone who has the ThinkPad in the room. It also cleverly communicates overall system status. When the lid is closed and the ThinkPad goes into standby the LED begins to slowly pulse like a human heart. We spent a lot of time on this feature working with both development and marketing. It’s not easy squeezing a LED into the display cover. In the end I think it adds value and richens the brand experience.
Avram Piltch , a reviewer from Laptop magazine , perhaps said it best “The coarse, rubberized plastic of the traditional Lenovo lid has been replaced with a shiny piano-black surface that sports our favorite design change: a sexy ThinkPad logo where the dot in the letter “I” is a laser-red light that reminds us of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s eye in The Terminator. ”
Collectively these design extensions have been recognized by the targeted small business customers as being appealing. For the tried and true ThinkPad loyalist, we still have you covered with the more traditional design details you have come to expect. I love our new X200 almost enough to surrender my X300. Almost.
Color coding has long been used by designers to enhance both the usability and appearance of a product. Traffic lights, fire extinguishers, jumper cables, electrical resistors, and of course computers all use color coding. One of my favorite examples of color coding is the now classic calculator designed in the 1970’s by Dieter Rams for Braun. The subtle colors used for grouping like functions are beautiful and provide wonderful utility. Only Rams would think of using a rich chocolate brown and forest green on a black product. His use of brighter colors denoting keys of highest importance adds a beautiful spot of color. I really like the bright yellow “equals”key. I’m not the only one to notice the power of this design. Apple clearly borrowed from this design classic for the iPhone calculator interface.
Samsung and Bang & Olufsen have also used color for very similar reasons on their remote controls. They both look great.
For many years ThinkPad has also used color on our keyboard. The enter key is currently a rich muted blue and we have historically used a subtle grey to group the function keys. I think colors like this are useful and add visual interest. I’d love to get your feedback on this topic.
We often get questions about the layout of notebook keyboards from our customers. People want to understand what drives the location of certain keys. Many times this is very difficult to explain. Key location is not always related to detailed human factors or usability analysis. History often plays a role. Have you ever tried to rationalize the QWERTY layout to someone who has never used or possibly even seen a typewriter? Fortunately most of the questions we see center around the location of very specific keys rather than global questions like the validity of the QWERTY layout.
In keeping with our continued desire to gather input from the readers of Design Matters, my team has created a detailed survey on this subject. Your input can help us get your favorite keys in the rights places. You can take the survey here. Thanks for your interest and time.
I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that took the survey, signed up for future surveys, or left us a comment here. We’ve had over 440 people take the survey to date and gotten a lot of helpful feedback.
Looking at the comments in the previous post, the common discussion point is digital video of some sort and the aging 56K modem. Hopefully I will be able to talk more about these points soon.
It seems like every time I read a review of a notebook computer, including our own, the topic of ports comes up. People have very strong opinions on this hot topic. It’s nearly as emotionally charged as religion or politics. The connector location is usually questioned, but more often than not the actual types and numbers of ports is even more intensely debated. Since notebooks have a limited area for placing connectors (there is only so much beach front real estate) I’m sure you can imagine the discussions that connectors generate during the development of a new ThinkPad. I thought it would be a good idea to go straight to my Design Matters readers and and gather data directly. We have created a brief survey on port usage where we can collect data on this subject. This is your big chance to have your vote counted as we develop future generation ThinkPads. Please click here to take the survey. Thanks for your time and input.
Music pioneer Bo Diddley passed away yesterday at the age of 79. His driving rhythms and unique hard edge sound paved the transition between blues and rock and roll. Not only was he a influential guitarist and musician, but he was also a designer. His self-designed totally rectangular guitar nicknamed “The Twang Machine” was tremendously innovative and will forever be associated with his unique persona. A fellow Lenovian and guitar enthusiast went so far as to make a similar guitar out of a ThinkPad a few years ago. Yes it really works.
Bo will be greatly missed in both the music and design worlds. He was quite the man.
Yesterday I saw that PC World magazine rolled out their top 100 edition. I was thrilled to see the ThinkPad X300 rated number 5. Very rewarding for the Lenovo team and the tremendous effort that went into designing and engineering the X300. You have to dig very deep to find the product most often compared to ours. Here is what PC World wrote about the X300:
5. Lenovo ThinkPad X300 (ultraportable laptop, $2500) As everyone swooned over Apple’s hot Air, Lenovo snuck in the back door with a business-centric notebook that answers most of the Air’s shortcomings. It has processing power to burn, plenty of ports–and a paper-thin optical drive. Stick that in your manila envelope, Steve.
I want to thank everyone that voted in this latest poll and shared their thoughts in the comments. The final results are shown below and we will be factoring this data into our future product decisions.
I have written about this topic previously, but thought it was time to revisit this one and get more data from my readers. All ThinkPads have two ways to manage wireless radios. There is a GUI application that can be launched via the Fn+F5 keyboard combination that lets you control 802.11, Bluetooth, and WAN radios. There is also a much discussed hardware switch which is located externally on different sides, depending on which ThinkPad you have. Usually it ends up being placed in a spot that it fits rather than where we would ideally like to place it. This is due to prioritization of the limited prime real estate for connectors, PCMCIA slots, drive, bays batteries, etc. The hardware wireless switch acts primarily as a rapid kill switch for all wireless radios. It’s probably used most often when the flight attendant reminds you of it in their typical “electronic devices” speech, or when you accidentally bump it to the off position with your stomach.
For next generation of ThinkPads we are reconsidering if a hardware switch should be included, or if we do include it where it might be ideally located. One spot we are considering is the inside as opposed to the outside. If you can take the poll included in this post it would benefit our design team and help influence the ultimate decision. The poll is located in the sidebar on the left (you may have to scroll down to see it) and below as well.
Which statement best reflects your preferred implementation of the wireless switch?
I just read the Trusted Reviews analysis of the ThinkPad X300 written by Riyad Emeran. I should buy him a fruit basket. He totally gets it with regard to the ThinkPad design. Here is my favorite quote:
“For me, the ThinkPad has a timeless design. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, black will always be the new black, no matter how many silver, titanium, red or pink pretenders make their way onto the market. While others have accused the ThinkPad of being staid and dated, I see it as sleek and stylish, in the same way that a 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS is always going to look stunning, even when placed next to something modern like an Audi R8. Put simply, great design stands the test of time and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! And when it comes to design, Lenovo’s latest extension of the ThinkPad brand manages to look even more sleek and stylish than any ThinkPad before it.“
