What ThinkPad Reserve Edition is Not
May 30, 2007
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I realize that I have created a great deal of discussion and speculation regarding the ThinkPad Reserve website link I posted. Although I really can’t say a lot about what this offering is, I thought it would be useful to at least tell what it is not. I hope this helps.
The ThinkPad Reserve Edition is not:
- Yoga
- Just hardware
- Endorsed by Ricardo Montalban
- Glued on patches of leather
- Pleather
- For everyone
David Hill
Lenovo Meet the Modder Dean Liou
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 2
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 1
Lenovo H320 desktop
May 30th, 2007 10:21 pm
can you let us know the release date of this product?
May 31st, 2007 1:44 am
Not sure if this post will help. I think it would probably create more speculations!
The ‘not just hardware’ is interesting. I am going to speculate that it would be a ‘lifestyle’ category filled with limited edition ThinkPads and fashionable TP accessories.
Shame about Yoga though. It would be great if it was!
May 31st, 2007 3:12 am
Survey says: “Corinthian Leather” !!!
May 31st, 2007 7:37 am
Not Just Hardware and Not for everyone!! That’s interesting.
May 31st, 2007 9:17 am
Excellent marketing tactic from Lenovo. Marketing pros must watch results from this.
May 31st, 2007 10:47 am
If you go to the ThinkPad Reserve Edition website now and watch the flash animation, afterwards it will reveal a button that says begin. If you click on it, it prompts you for a password and say that it is by invitation only. However, on the left is says that it will be revealed in 14 days.
May 31st, 2007 6:11 pm
How about let’s talk no more of a phantom edition that will never get here, and tell Lenovo to get their act together on a T61p that is SUPPOSED to be here, but isn’t! They need to focus on satisfying their most discriminating, highest paying customers. They need to get their priorities straight. Simple web research will show that many ThinkPad orders are being cancelled due to the fact that competitors like Dell, HP, and Acer are making attractive laptops AND giving people what they want, ultimate performance in the 15.4″ Widescreen. The release of the 15″ T61 today WITHOUT discrete graphics is a joke.
Everyone is waiting for the T61p.
Let’s make it happen.
June 1st, 2007 2:56 am
It’s NOT endorsed by Ricardo Montalban? Dammit! :
June 1st, 2007 2:51 pm
[...] According to a Lenovo blog, Design Matters, the upcoming Thinkpad Reserve is not: [...]
June 2nd, 2007 3:01 am
I’m hugely disappointed that it’s not Yoga. I destroyed my old X60s (http://japanoutside.blogspot.com) in Japan, and bought a Sony. I hate it. I am counting the days until my next Thinkpad, but it’s a bad time to buy a new X6-series, I think. I’ll look forward to seeing what tactile goodness the Private Reserve is.
Also, my gut says some leather wouldn’t hurt the smaller thinkpads — I went through two X40’s after a single drop and my X60s had similar side markings from drops / dings as others I’ve seen on the road. For those of use extremely careless road warriors, leather might be a nice shock absorber.
June 2nd, 2007 4:24 pm
@Caleb^^^^^ AMEN!!!
I could care less about smoke and mirrors or leather(Thinkpad Reserve). Bring on a performance 15.4″ laptop… the T61p!!! I’m about to look elsewhere for the specs I want. Maybe the ASUS G1S… now that’s a bad @$$ machine!!! And it looks good too!
June 3rd, 2007 12:52 am
I’m dying to know what this is – any updates?
How do we get a code to go in?
June 3rd, 2007 12:59 am
Peter – Nice blog – looks like you had a wonderful time in japan (i left a few comments with the pictures
)
Shame that accident had to happen to your beautiful x60 – especially since you were beefing up the processor
Man pawn your sony on Ebay and plow the dosh into this beast (whatever it is:) – it might be a T61P with leather? or maybe you’ll get lucky and have a mobile X61T or the like – for the road warriors
This is a real stunt Mr. Hill !
But still its nice
June 4th, 2007 1:01 am
Exactly my point, Caleb… if you read the previous blog on this subject, you’ll see I brought up exactly the same point, but it is not just limited to the T61p, the X60’s and 61’s are causing their potential customers headaches and have been for months. If Lenovo wants to provide their customers with a premium designer exterior and their customers want to pay, well that’s fine… so long as they get the insides to perform with acceptable rates of failures and start delivering when and as promised, without having to deal with salespeople that give them a different answer for every day of the week and repair techs that don’t even know what screens are available or who can’t put a screw in without stripping the head off it.
June 6th, 2007 12:05 pm
I dont know what this desire for Yoga is – it might win design awards but its design is very impractical for actual usage and as an ultraportable an X61 would kick its ass for usability.
Caleb – anyone buying a Reserve Edition will be Lenovo’s most discriminating, highest paying customers.
Peter – while i admire your ambition, trying to replace the CPU in an X series was never going to end well
Jim K – X61s are not causing customers problems, as far as i’m aware, the complaints of the X60 (such as hot palm rests) are all resolved on the X61.
I personally think the Reserve Edition is a much better move for Lenovo than Lenovo 3000 ever was – theres no point going after the low-end of the market when you can go after the high-end (from a customer point of view not technology wise – i’m thinking like Vebra does with mobile phones). Although if your going to use leather it should be black imho.
June 6th, 2007 10:20 pm
Just as I thought, leather case moulded to fit the ThinkPad perfectly, at least that is what I think from this solitary picture:
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/exc.....266617.php
June 10th, 2007 3:09 am
What is so bad about Ricardo Montalban? I mean Wrath of Kahn is magnificent! A beautifully designed character.
June 15th, 2007 3:49 am
Wow! A ‘76 Chrysler Cordoba! I loved those cars!
June 15th, 2007 4:33 am
Okay… it’s 15th June and http://www.thinkpadreserve.com/ is still locked. Guess I’ll twiddle my thumbs until someone says the magic “open sesame” words. Personally hope the Reserve is a tablet machine (still gagging for the X61T to get to Australia). If you’re going to build something that is covered in luxurious leather, at least let people carry it around and feel what they’ve paid for.
June 15th, 2007 10:38 pm
It’s a special luxury leather dressed and well equipped Thinkpad X60s/X61s model, which also comes along with a superiour special support.
June 15th, 2007 10:55 pm
@David Hill
Was it a planned design decision, that the given leather coloring of the “ThinkPad Reserve Edition” somehow meets the color of the former times historical small IBM notepad here…
http://www.thinkpads.com/Think1013.jpg
…or is this just luck?
June 16th, 2007 6:48 pm
Hey Dave!
You’re kidding yourself.
It’s a leather wrapped Thinkpad with a service upgrade.
It’s also pathetic, given the rest of the Thinkpad line’s problems.
June 18th, 2007 11:49 pm
I donno guys …. I look at the photo above and think “muscle car” and so by comparison it makes my ThinkPad a “muscle machine”. Now if you could equip it with a smooth talkin spokesperson…
June 19th, 2007 5:04 pm
I hope you guys sell a bunch of these, but I really have to question the wisdom of an X series encased in leather for $5k. I don’t know that having leather increases the wow factor enough to justify the price tag when I can get a more powerful system for considerably less. The service and support doesn’t blow my hair back either since the ones that can afford $5k for a not-so-technologically-advanced notebook already have someone doing service and support for ‘em.
Lenovo has some of the best developers and the Thinkpad is arguably the best notebook, but if this is the best that you can come up with then someone’s getting overpaid.
July 7th, 2007 5:23 pm
Snife:
Already, the Thinkpad was already something for the most discriminating – service for dead pixels, tolerance keyboard swaps to specific part number, (until the recent mistake)IPS screens, maintenance friendly (if needed) design.
The only reason it’s got a “Google inspired” purchase policy is for the part that you could already fit a T up to $5000 with no problem.
The only good thing would be to just end this, and put it towards finding something that replaces IPS (
March 23rd, 2009 4:58 am
[...] The bloke’s got a point. Dell is trying to sell a Rolex, when people are buying Timex. Their advertising oozes affluency in a time of poverty, or at least frugality. Frankly the advertising reminds me a lot of the ThinkPad Reserve Edition. [...]
April 7th, 2009 4:30 am
Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again – taking you feeds also, Thanks.