Design Matters

The response to my recent blog post about a hypothetical ThinkPad netbook has been enormous. I honestly had no idea it would generate over 100 comments. It was also just featured on the PC Magazine website in an article written by Brian Heater . Thanks to all my readers for taking the time to weigh in with their thoughts and opinions on this subject.

Now my team has created a short user experience oriented  survey to gather even more of your thinking on this hot topic. We truly value your input. You can take the survey here.   Thanks for your ongoing support.

David Hill

Godzilla Terrorizing Tokyo 

I’m not sure why,  but for some reason I’m personally intrigued by the concept of scale. Perhaps I should have said things that are  “out of scale”.  I’m still likley to watch a Godzilla movie,  if I happen to catch one on a obscure channel some Sunday afternoon. It better be of the original genre though.  Forget the more modern realistic CGI versions.  Whoever made those just doesn’t get it. Godzilla movies are not about realism. A rubber suited monster stomping  phony balsa wood scale models of  Tokyo, wiggly power lines made of thread ,  toy army vehicles drug along by poorly concealed strings, cannons sparking like last years firecrackers, this stuff is great. I enjoy the fact that you can see the zipper on the back of the Godzilla suit if you look closely. Oh no, there goes Tokyo!

My interest in  ”out of scale” is not restricted to just larger than life objects or menacing creatures that decend on a poor unsuspecting nation. Small is good too.  Godzilla probably wouldn’t get it, but I recently bought a wonderful miniature anvil at a local tool store. The anvil is less than 3″ long and weighs next to nothing. Totally useless as a real tool, but who cares. The cashier gave me a bit of an odd look when I bought it , but I  didn’t blink an eye. The idea of a miniature anvil is perfect, because it is so off purpose. What could you ever really do with a miniature anvil? Paper Weight? Straighten those bent paperclips with your matching miniature hammer? It makes me laugh every time I see it.

Miniature anvil

I recently purchased on eBay a beautiful vintage wooden foundry pattern for an open end wrench.  These types of wooden patterns were originally crafted to form the molds for sand casting  iron objects like railroad car wheels, spur gears, pipe fittiings, cams, or other such engineering driven components. This pattern does not yield just any old wrench. This one is HUGE. It measures well over 30″ long and fits a  4 1/2″ hex headed bolt or nut. Get the picture? It has all sorts of raised numbers built into the pattern to denote size, part number, or whatever else mattered to the  foundry workers. The magnificently sculpted wooden form is finished in a wonderful red laquer. The wear and patina from years of use only adds to the richness and intrigue. Did anyone know they were creating such a work of art when they carved this thing?

Foundry pattern for a huge open end wrench 

Even the famous Japanese art and office supply store ITO-YA  has fallen under the ” out of scale” spell.  The sign out front features a generously scaled bright red paperclip that would make even Godzilla  jealous. You can see it from well down the street signaling to all what treasures to find within. If only they sold red paperclips like that. Maybe someone has one on eBay?

ITO-YA sign in Tokyo

David Hill

Lots of traction lately in the market about the emergence of netbooks as a low cost alternative for more traditional fully featured notebooks. Netbooks are a sort of basic machine, primarily optimized for e mail and web browsing. Smaller size, lower performance. I don’t recommend that you try to beat Kasparov with one of these. This is how PC World describes the category.

Netbooks (aka mini-notebooks, mini-notes or “laptots”) are perfect travel companions and meet basic computing needs, including e-mailing, Web surfing, and document creation. Best of all, these low-powered machines cost less than the standard-issue laptop.  PC World

Lenovo already sells a very successful IdeaPad netbook called the S10.  The product runs on the popular Intel Atom processor weighing in at 2.65 pounds and is about an inch thin. The S10 has received lots of very positive reviews since we introduced it. PC World included the S10 in their top 10 netbook list claiming the number 3 position with a nicely designed machine that even comes in several colors. Pink is one of the choices.  

What if Lenovo was to make a ThinkPad branded netbook?  Would you say, “What a relief, finally a netbook that really means business” ?  What would you like to see in such a hypothetical offering?  How black and square  should we make it?  Maybe it should come in colors like the IdeaPad S10. Could I interest you in a PinkPad?

Seriously, designing a netbook is a difficult task that is very different from designing a traditional ThinkPad.  These micro marvels just don’t exist without making trade-offs. User experience items like keyboard stroke, overall layout, key spacing, palmrest size, and pointing device options  are all  instantly thrown under the development electron microscope for examination. Beyond the usability issues, we also have to balance the typical performance criteria such as weight, thickness, battery life, wireless technology, footprint and of course cost. Hard to leave cost out of this equation. This is all about reaching the optimum balance point.  It’s very important to remember that when we are done,  these “laptots” are not intended to be the performance rival of your newly purchased W700. Different user scenario, different product. If the netbook performance and usability compromises don’t interest you, but portability does,  you should really check out the ThinkPad X200.

I would love to get your thoughts on this topic.  Thanks. 

David Hill

Bumper Sticker?

I’m sure everyone knows that if you buy a PC they are adorned with stickers. They usually tout the resident operating system, processor technology, energy rating, broadband connectivity, graphics card technology, etc. etc. etc.   I really don’t want to go into the details about why they are there, lets just say there is money involved. The longer you leave them on,  the harder they are to remove. You also run the risk of having the finish that used to be under the sticker look different than the surrounding area due to normal use and wear.

If you are like me, the first thing I do is remove all the stickers. Maybe I’m strange. I don’t drive around with the manufacturers window sticker on my car . I don’t  let the local car dealer badge my car with their cheesy sticker or license plate frame.  I have never even been tempted to slap on a ” back off” or other such bumper sticker on my car. I guess I’m a purist.

I slowly peel the stickers off my fresh Thinkpad usually starting from a corner. The residual adhesive can normally be lifted by using the freshly peeled sticker as a kind of goo grabber. Dab it repeatedly until all the goo is gone. It works great. I never use a chemical that could risk damage of the finish. I’m curious what others think about these stickers so I started a new poll on this topic.

David Hill