Please cast your votes on Houdini by Sunday January 28th! We will remove the poll Monday morning. The poll is in the lower left corner of the blog, in case you didn't notice it.
Let me know what you think about our experimental design!
David Hill
More and more people are using a notebook these days as their only computer. Most of this has been brought on by improvements in reliability, processor speed, battery life, wireless performance, and the desire to connect/work anywhere. Sounds like a ThinkPad to me. The most significant difference between notebooks and desktops often is the hardware user interface. What that means is the relative position of the monitor and keyboard.
Along those lines, we experimented with a design a few years ago for ThinkPad that created quite a stir in the industry. The concept was widely shown in the media and won a IDEA gold award from the IDSA and Business Week Magazine in 2003.
The fundamental idea was to create a innovative ThinkPad that could transform from the traditional clamshell form factor to a configuration more similar to a desktop user interface. All of this was accomplished using a patented mechanism that elevated the display and slid the keyboard down and toward the user in one slick motion. We ultimately decided to not bring it to market, but rather to get feedback on the concept from customers and industry analysts. It certainly worked from that perspective. Everyone who saw it had opinions, most of them positive. John Spooner at CNET wrote a great article about it following a brief demo in New York.
Within the design team the concept was quickly dubbed Houdini, paying homage to the legendary magician/escape artist. Could ThinkPad escape the familiar box and become something different? We certainly had done it before with pioneering products like the famous butterfly keyboard 701C. I still have mine.
The question I would like to pose to this audience is whether or not we should move Houdini from idea to reality. I’ll post a poll soon to gather your votes. We posted a short animation so you can see it in action. This clip was originally used for the IDSA awards ceremony. Thanks for the feedback.
David Hill
If you are at all like me you wonder how anyone can use a notebook computer that doesn’t have a TrackPoint. The people who “get this” are very loyal to the TrackPoint cause. Conversation among loyalists quickly drifts to subjects like…What cap do you use? Remember the original rubber slippery one? Or my favorite…did you disable your track pad yet? Here let me show you how, its a trick I learned.
I’ve been experimenting with the design of a lapel pin based on the TrackPoint cap to wear as a badge of honor clearly showing you allegiance to the cause. I’m looking into getting it included in the package with every new ThinkPad. The pin uses a real cap not only allowing you to display your colors but it gives you a source for an emergency replacement. Take a look at the pictures of the prototype and give me some feedback.
David Hill
People often ask me how best to clean their prized ThinkPad. It seems that notebook computers have a unique gravitational force that attracts fingerprints (not the kind you need for our fingerprint reader), smudges, dust, and cookie crumbs. Buried deep within the ThinkVantage Productivity Center, you get there by pressing the blue button, is the official cleaning approach. I thought I would save you the trouble by posting it here. The part about using a hairdryer to remove crumbs from the keyboard is very creative. It works, I tried it!
Cleaning the cover of your computer
Occasionally clean your computer as follows:
1. Prepare a mixture of a gentle kitchen-use detergent (one that does not contain abrasive powder or strong chemicals such as acid or alkaline). Use 5 parts water to 1 part detergent.
2. Absorb the diluted detergent into a sponge.
3. Squeeze excess liquid from the sponge.
4. Wipe the cover with the sponge, using a circular motion and taking care not to let any excess liquid drip.
5. Wipe the surface to remove the detergent.
6. Rinse the sponge with clean running water.
7. Wipe the cover with the clean sponge.
8. Wipe the surface again with a dry, soft lint-free cloth.
9. Wait for the surface to dry completely and remove any fibers from the cloth.
Cleaning your computer keyboard
1. Apply some isopropyl rubbing alcohol to a soft, dust-free cloth.
2. Wipe each keytop surface with the cloth. Wipe the keys one by one; if you wipe several keys at a time, the cloth may hook onto an adjacent key and possibly damage it. Make sure that no liquid drips onto or between the keys.
3. Allow to dry.
4. To remove any crumbs or dust from beneath the keys, you can use a camera blower with a brush or cool air from a hair dryer.
Note: Avoid spraying cleaner directly onto the display or the keyboard.
Cleaning your computer display
1. Gently wipe the display with a dry, soft lint-free cloth. If you see a scratchlike mark on your display, it might be a stain transferred from the keyboard or the TrackPoint(R) pointing stick when the cover was pressed from the outside.
2. Wipe or dust the stain gently with a soft, dry cloth.
3. If the stain remains, moisten a soft, lint-free cloth with water or a 50-50 mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water that does not contain impurities.
4. Wring out as much of the liquid as you can.
5. Wipe the display again; do not let any liquid drip into the computer.
6. Be sure to dry the display before closing it.
David Hill
I recently heard from Tomoyuki Takahashi, Yamato Design Center manager in Japan, that we received a “G Mark” or Good Design Award for several products. G Mark is the name of the design award issued by the Japanese Industrial Design Promotion Organization (JIDPO), and is probably the most prestigious design award in Japan.
The models you folks in the U.S. will recognize are:
We’re very proud to have our products so highly revered. In fact, the C200 has been getting a lot of positive press lately (See my previous posts).
One product that was awarded a G Mark which some of you may not recognize is the Lenovo Tianyi F20 (G Mark page), shown below in red. This machine is only available in China currently, but sparked quite a bit of interest when it was debuted last year. Notice the Olympic logo on it, in commemoration of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, which we were a proud sponsor of.
As always, for bigger and more pictures check out our Flickr account.
Lenovo 3000 C200: Full Review – Review by PC Magazine
Notebookreview took a liking to our Lenovo 3000 C200 notebook, and it appears PCMag did as well. It is good to hear our much updated design is receiving good marks from the reviewers:
When the Lenovo 3000 C Series launched with the C100 early last year, Lenovo decided to take the budget laptop's design in a different direction. Bad idea. The C100 looked hideous compared with its sleeker siblings, the 3000 V100 and 3000 N100. Suffice it to say that Lenovo heard the rants and is ready for round two. The Lenovo 3000 C200 sports a new design that's more consistent with the rest of the 3000 series, and it adds brand-new components that make it one of the most affordable business laptops in the market.
When the 3000 C100 first hit my bench last March, it shared the traditional dark interior and, frankly, cheap looks of the Dell Inspiron B130. The C200 has a much sleeker design. Its silver cover curves toward the front bezel, giving it a slimmer silhouette.
My colleague Matt Kohut over at Inside the Box recently touched on the C100/C200 evolution in a post entitled Who really listens these days? As Matt discussed, the huge change from the C100 to C200 was a direct result of the initial design's criticisms.
From the design perspective, we wanted a single image across the Lenovo 3000 notebook lineup and the C100 stuck out like a sore thumb. Working to refresh the design to match the rest of the Lenovo 3000 line as quickly as possible, we launched the C200 at the end of October to replace the C100 which was launched at the end of February. If that isn't enough of a sign that Lenovo listens, then I'll just let the critics say it for me:
Lenovo has taken full advantage of its second chance by delivering a worthy budget business laptop. The Lenovo 3000 C200 offers a better design and improved performance than its predecessors while remaining below $1,000.
2006 IDEA Winners: Student Designs
Not too long ago, some people were up in arms over our own power changes, but hopefully everyone will be more receptive to this concept.
PLUG-IN addresses the difficulty the elderly can have with electrical outlets. While the market is full of countless flush outlets and child-protection units, none address the unique limitations of the elderly. The PLUG-IN’s upward-angled faceplate allows users to better orient themselves and a cord’s prongs before bending over or reaching behind furniture. This creates a direct sightline from the human eye to the faceplate and minimizes the distance necessary for a person to extend. It also provides additional leverage when removing of a difficult plug. The PLUG-IN fits onto current outlet standards and is easily installed by the user.
This is a pretty neat take on an old design. It should make getting the plug into the socket easier, as you can now insert it at the same angle your hand is holding the plug (assuming you're standing over the wall socket). However you still have to bend or reach down to get to the plug, as the wall socket will still be closer to the floor, but that design issue out of the hands of the wall socket-plate designer.
They just need to perfect wireless power already and get rid of cords altogether. How sleek and less inhibited would any product's design be without the constraints of power supply. One of these days…
The Lenovo IdeaPad U160 
The Lenovo IdeaPad V460 
The Lenovo IdeaCentre K320 
Lenovo Meet the Modder Dean Liou 