Welcome!
Hello everyone, my name is Brandon Hoe and I’m a product manager in the ThinkPad SL notebook group at Lenovo. It is with great joy that I present “Roaring Mouse,” Lenovo’s Small Business blog. This blog is significant to Lenovo for two reasons – it marks the launch of a completely new line of small business-focused ThinkPads and signifies Lenovo’s commitment to a dialog with small business owners everywhere. I hope that over time, I will understand your needs a little better and provide tips, tricks and solutions to help you run your business with a few less headaches. The first couple of posts will focus on what our new small business offerings are, but I aim to explore small business topics that aren’t necessarily related to PCs in the ensuing posts.
After conversations with our customers and business partners, my team and I learned that small business owners wanted us to work on a computing solution, not just a new computer. One of my friends, who owns a small business said, “I don’t need just another computer. I have other IT related issues to contend with, and just a new laptop won’t help me deal with them.” We took this feedback to heart, and worked hard to put together a computing solution that extends beyond just the hardware. Lenovo’s new Small Business thrust is made up of three components, the new ThinkPad SL, a new suite of services and a software solution that is targeted at Small Business.
To appease the gadget geeks among you, I’d like to start off by introducing Lenovo’s new ThinkPad addition, the ThinkPad SL. Lenovo currently sells millions of ThinkPads to small business customers, but a common complaint we receive from our small business customers is that although the ThinkPad is generally great, there are necessary features that are not included and unnecessary features that are. I’ve also heard from some folks who think that the design of our ‘classic’ ThinkPads is, well, a bit too ‘classic.’ What you do like is the ThinkPad’s reliability, that wonderful keyboard feel, the option of a trackpoint or touchpad and strangely enough, that the ThinkPad is black! My team and I have spent many, many hours ruminating, discussing and arguing about how to fulfill your desire for a small business ThinkPad. The challenge we set ourselves was that the new machine had to have all the hallmark ThinkPad features and some relevant new ones and that it also had to be packaged in a wrapper that would be unique and differentiated, yet be instantly recognizable as a ThinkPad. While the jury remains out on whether we’ve accomplished our goals, we do know that we’ve crafted this machine with a great amount of care and love. More on the ThinkPad SL in my next post. I hope you’ll come back to learn more about my baby!
September 10th, 2008 at 2:32 am
cool pircture! SL products have been highly received by press and customers.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:06 am
The SL is an awesome machine!
September 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
great article!small businesses do require a work horse like the SL series!!
September 11th, 2008 at 4:59 am
It would be really great if SL series announced and Malaysia. Pictures show SL series looks really cool and I would love to have a hands-on experience
September 11th, 2008 at 6:57 am
though Thinkpad SL isn’t to my taste, but it is a great machine on its own right.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I post my message 2 times here, and 2 times it was deleted. Thank you !!!
You don’t want to hear another voice like “ouhhhh, ouaahhh, this “Thinkpad” is great, amazing”…..????
I know that this post will be delete again. So this message is just for the guy behind this “apple” (?) machine who moderate this blog.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Christian – I deleted your comments because you have posted essentially the same thing time and again, on this blog and others. I value your input, as you have commented regularly on our blogs, and would ask that you perhaps try to have a more productive discussion.
The guy writing this blog is THE person to talk to about ThinkPad SL. I’d think anyone so vocal and interested in a product like this would jump at the opportunity
You can also discuss a little more freely (here, discussions need to be on-topic with the blog post) at http://forums.lenovo.com
September 17th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
To repeat my unanswered question from another blog, backed by the fact that many others have difficulty in perceiving SL as Thinkpad: what is it that you consider to be Thinkpad in SL?
September 17th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Goran, I own a SL400 and I think the following video exactly tells my feelings why I bought it and maybe justifies some facts why it’s still a ThinkPad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXDsUlaSA70
Hey it got red trackpad buttons too!
September 17th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
To Tim:
What do you want to hear from me ?? That this laptop is brilliant and a REAL Thinkpad ??
I just say what many of us say in this blog or in another blogs all over the world.
To Maliha:
Lenovo management just badged this laptop “Thinkpad” to increase the sales. I think you never had a REAL thinkpad in your hands and can’t compare with.
Yes it has a red trackpoint, and so what ? So if tomorrow acer put a red trackpoint in their laptops you will call that “thinkpad” ??
It’s too easy to use red trackpoints and call this “Thinkpad”.
And last message to Brandon and to be “more productive”. Why Lenovo management was not create a laptop like this but WITHOUT Thinkpad badge ???
Another question, or better question, do you think gentlemen, that Lenovo sell well a lot of this laptops without thinkpad badge ???
I’m curious to hear from you
September 18th, 2008 at 12:24 am
@Christian if we are looking at this from a purely marketing perspective then i think you will understand half of it. Just like when VW purchased the RR factory, while BMW purchased the RR brand, the current RR has none of old RR’s parts other than the superficial look with the spirit of ecstasy, but people are still attracted to it. While Drophead RR has done away with the traditional metallic Spirit of Ecstasy with a presumably a glass version and some traditionalists are fuming, yet the sale of which to the new found riches are still extremely good.
Christian i don’t think there is any point you fuming about this issue, as does it really affect you, if you don’t like it don’t buy it. After all Lenovo is a company that needs a healthy cashflow to keep it afloat, so i guess with SL is really a case of ‘thinking outside of the box’.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:47 am
hi Brandon. thanks for posting this blog as you have promised before. it is great to have this post to enable you as the head of SL and customers to interact better. well, as i have stated for times before, i can’t wait to get my hands on this thinkpad and hopefully, lenovo will get this SL and also other thinkpads to arrive as soon as possible in Malaysia.
Anyway, i’m sure that your new blog will answer most of the questions of the customers who really want to get closer to this new product line. me personhinks that all of us should stop arguing with each others, and also stop pointing fingers to lenovo respectively by blaming them by saying lenovo had ruined thinkpad. me personally thinks that lenovo had taken thinkpads into a further steps where thinkpads now are getting more affordable. and with this new SL, which i have understood will cost lesser than any other ThinkPad class. Thus, it is a better choice for SMB players, and also others who are in tight budget. we should support lenovo in their move in creating better products. i am disagree with all the claims, bad comments regarding to this new ThinkPad. this is a ThinkPad, regardless of its glosy finish and different design or what. like matt kohut said before, as more money can be obtained by lenovo, more money can be invested in research and development for its products, whether it’s Thinkpad, or ideapad and other future-coming-soon products.
and for you Brandon and SL team, and also to all Thinkpad and ideapad teams, keep up your good job and generate countless innovations to your products. lenovo is the best indeed. Thanks guys.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
@wjli2:
No thinklight, no roll cage, cheap plastic, is it purely marketing ??? I suppose for you yes.
And don’t worry for me, i’ll never buy this laptop for sure. I get that i pay for.
Don’t forget one thing, Lenovo brand would never exist without “Thinkpad” name. The only value for Lenovo company is “Thinkpad” name. The only.
Too easy to use and abuse.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Maliha,
I don’t understand what this commercial has to do with my question.
This is not the first time that this has happened. E.g. G series, early R and all Rxxe models were all worse than others, but even for those creations I can understand at least why they were labelled as Thinkpads.
Once again: it’s a black notebook with trackpoint, I don’t think it’s a bad notebook, I just don’t see why it’s a Thinkpad, apart from the fact that someone labelled it as such.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Christian, let me put this to you simply, there is a great disparity between the SL and the rest of the thinkpad range, which is why there is so many advertisment has been done on the SL series as compared to the rest of the Thinkpad range.
Every company has a strategy and plan on how to increase yearly cashflow and profit level, the effectiveness of these strategy can’t be assessed until couple of years down the track. If indeed what Lenovo did regarding the SL series is/was a bad marketing and corporate decision, then we would find out later on.
In the end of the day, you and i are not the top tier managers and executives to decide how Lenovo operates the Thinkpad business division.
September 21st, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Christian, I think we get your point…also keep in mind that Lenovo had a pretty good stance in Asia anyway and that IBM was the one who wanted to sell the ThinkPad marque.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 am
wijli2 – I know where your coming from with your points but the trouble with cashflow these days is that its used by the accountants to make the decisions for the next year. If the SL are a success and make money then I would be fearful that Lenovo would stop with the bother and cost of R&D and just churn out more rebadged bad quality systems under the ThinkPad moniker and that is not a good future for any ThinkPad fans.
I also believe that Lenovo need to focus more on the core ThinkPad range. While I believe the current ThinkPads are the best ever (minor grievances aside), I now look at the offerings from Dell and am impressed how they are now equalling and sometimes bettering the ThinkPad in many areas whereas previously there was no doubt in my mind that the ThinkPads were vastly superior to everything else.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Howdy,
First I want to congratulate y’all on your patience – apparently there are times when “beating a dead horse” just doesn’t translate.
Having spent many years in product management I am familiar with the challenges faced in balancing between the demands of sales, development, customers, marketing and executives. So I won’t attempt to infer your internal situation but rather provide what I hope will be a bit of constructive criticism on the new machine. As bona fides I have owned 6 thinkpads over the years and would buy nothing else. I have also bought and returned an SL500 in exchange for a T500.
My comments:
Using the cycling glow of the red LED on the cover as an indication of sleep state is a nice touch – I suggest you highlight that to the folks that miss the traditional Thinkpad indicators.
1) Great idea to bring forward a lower cost Thinkpad for the SMB market. The trackstick (?), the general feel, and (hopefully) the outstanding warrantee service all make this a valuable contribution to this market. (IMHO – no flaming here please)
2) While I like the look of the new cover I fear that it will scratch quite easily. For the SMB market where we are all trying to present ourselves with as much gravitas as the big boys a scratched up cover gives a poor impression.
3) The keyboard flex is definitely unThinkpad-like. I realize that this is a systematic issue across all current generation Thinkpads (at least the SL and T series) but if the Thinkpad has the impression of being a tank using this keyboard is like rapping knuckles on the side and finding a hollow plasticky sound. Not reassuring.
4) The release mechanism is a major issue. On my SL I can lift the front edge of the cover and the main body of the system (keyboard, mainboard, etc.) will rise as well at perhaps a 5% angle to each other. The two will stay at this angle unless the main body is physically pushed down. While I like the look of the bias-cut edges that slant the walls of the base inwards it provides no purchase for the user to hold the base while the cover is being lifted.
4A) If one continues to raise the cover the at perhaps 35% the unit has levered off it’s rubberized feet and will start sliding away from the user riding on its plastic base. This obviously can cause significant accidents.
4B) Since the only way to fully open the laptop is to push the body down while holding up the cover the body (including CPU and hard drive) drops to the table with some force. The coefficient of friction on the hing is such that while force must be applied to get the cover and base separated, once they begin to move apart the base drops quite easily – thus it bangs against the table where the laptop is placed. This CANT be good for the machine. In my mind this is a serious and critical flaw. I tested the opening approach with a number of compatriots and no one opened the machine without banging the base against the table then looking at me in fear to see if I was upset at how they treated my new machine. Yes, it was that significant.
5) While I completely agree that the multimedia capabilities of the Thinkpad have been rather anemic for many years (especially the very low audio volume), I would have liked to see dedicated shuttle controls on the system. If I need to use two hands to select the function and arrow key to pause the media I might as well use the mouse/thinkpad/etc.
6) I don’t believe there is a significant difference in the audio volume which has been famously quiet since the first 600 I owned.
7) This may just be a simple bug but the “sleep icon” (moon) on the front edge of the base is always lit unless the machine is shut off.
9) Volume. I have not found a significant difference between the volume of the SL500 and that of my T41p. Which is to say, anemic. I understand sound quality is difficult to produce in such a limited space, but volume is far simpler a problem to solve.
As a former PM I understand that everyone has their share of comments and issues with any product. I hope that this feedback can help you produce a better “v2″ of the SL.
September 25th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
ThinkPadFan, thank you so much for your cogent comments and logical, detailed analysis of the SL. Your statements are extremely insightful and will really help us to do a better job with future revisions of the product. It’s refreshing to read a comment from someone who understands the intricate balance we attempt to create when the weight of many, many different stakeholders have to be taken into account. I will leave the perceived flaws you have of the ThinkPad SL to the silent ears of the next SL’s MRD, but I would like to thank you for taking notice of the cycling LED indicator and lavishing it praise. I personally feel that the gentle pulse of the red light lends a feel of ‘humanness’ to the system, almost as if it were a heartbeat.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has responded to my posts. My work schedule doesn’t leave me as much time to check in with you and exchange thoughts as I’d like, but I am pleased that this blog has had a fair amount of traffic and a relatively high level of input from you. I am not going to address the reason for the ThinkPad SL’s being, nor the rationale to justify many of the design choices we’ve made, but I would like to state that we created the ThinkPad SL for a specific market. The T, W, X and R series all exist to serve their respective market segments and they do so well. We believe the SL will serve its intended market well too. I’ll liken our strategy to a car analogy. Unlike most of the arguments I’ve heard thus far, which usually revolve around Porsche, the 911 and the Boxster (an erroneous analogy, if you may permit me to say so), I’d like to focus on the BMW 3-series. Under the 3-series umbrella, you’ll find the 328i sedan, a more conservative, some may say sedate member of the 3-series clan. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the fire-breathing, tarmac-conquering brute, the M3. In between, you’ll find convertibles, coupes and station wagons with varying levels of motivation – naturally aspirated and turbocharged lumps, as well as rear wheel drive and propulsion at all four corners. All are BMW 3-series cars, all have a different intent and target audience. All are magnificent machines and have owners who are proud to be associated with their respective chariots.
Just so it’s clear to everyone, this blog is meant to be a resource and discussion forum for small and medium businesses. This is not ad space for Lenovo, but I thought it appropriate to mark the launch of this blog with an introduction to the most tangible representation of our commitment to SMB. I will always be respectful to everyone who reads this blog, whether it’s reflected in my choice of topic, my actual posts or in the way I respond to comments here. I expect the same level of civility and respectfulness I accord to be returned. This is a medium of interaction for the benefit of all who read it. I implore you to please edify each other in your posts and keep an open mind to ideas and concepts that you’re unfamiliar with, or are currently opposed to. If you are a business owner who has a particularly difficult challenge to wrest with, please don’t hesitate to share your hurdle with us so that the collective wisdom of everyone on here can go to work to help you solve your issue. I look forward to learning and sharing knowledge with all of you.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Thanks for the well-communicated post. Along those lines I must apologize to anyone that had to read through my last posting – I’m not sure where my mind was but the grammar was atrocious.
I should also caveat my praise of the red LED on the cover that I too saw it as a heartbeat which is great as long as it doesn’t lead to self-awareness and a general enslavement of the human race. I’ve seen movies about that and they rarely end well for us.
On the topic of SMB I’ll make a few suggestions – of course these bear the caveat IMHO:
SMB frequently has limited IT support so simplified management tools would be greatly helpful.
1) Offer a “cockpit” where the IT support team (of whatever form that takes) with the following features (listed in my order of preference).
a. Provide a snapshot of all the machines that have been ordered by the company and when they came into service.
b. Add the ability to track who has the device (as simple as a slot for a name, title or user ID, an asset tag and an image ID for those companies that write disk images for machines of a certain configuration
c. An indication of how recently the system has been updated (could be tracked through the Lenovo update manager once agreement is made with the management to track such information). This information could benefit Lenovo as well.
d. Ability to track multiple visits (simple table keyed to the machine serial) with fields of date, issue classification (HW, OS, network & applications come to mind), issue description, resolution, and IT owner). Again, with permission from the company to access this info it could be an excellent asset for Lenovo. Ex: review the HW issues along with the system type and release date to identify problems and correct them. Perhaps even prevent loss of an account by offering assistance to a company that is having a great deal of trouble. Or offer links to possible solutions to the issue through a cross-search of the symptoms against your internal troubleshooting DB.
I don’t believe that such a system would be terribly difficult or expensive to write. The greatest challenge I believe would be making it sufficiently scalable to support the demand. That said I am sure that there are companies that offer much of this functionality already – probably in a web services or SAAS approach. I’m sure they would appreciate a deal with Lenovo and offer a reasonable cost to you in exchange for the great advertising they would receive through your marketing of this new service to your SMB community. If you supplied the iron and a bit of consulting service you may get this third party to provide the service for a song. Full disclosure I do not work for such a company or know of anyone in particular that offers such a service but it’s too obvious a need for it to be un-serviced. Such an offering from Lenovo would certainly help get the IT team on your side and a quick study of the cost savings would provide the executive team with a good business case to pay the premium for the “BMW”.
That’s all I have time for now as I must get back to running my own business. I hope you find these suggestions helpful. and thanks for not setting us on the path to create terminators and ending the human race. I am confident that such a thing would take a significant bite out of your SMB sales.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
@Brandon Hoe
Thanks for having this blog. Feedback is always valued, as it allows your customers, and your products to related to each other. Understanding, education and business knowledge translate into insight here…
I will add, your IdeaPad’s especially Y530 is more wanted than the ThinkPad. That’s because of better styling, looks and most of all features!
However, Lenovo has dropped the ball, that is to say, fallen behind, when it comes to offering 16:9 ratio OLED monitors, which Sony and even Acer are offering as 16:9 here.
Then there is the huge shift to SSD, and again Lenovo lags behind! Samsung is offer 256GB SSD, and every IdeaPad should come with, and offer everyone the OPTION of using two internal hard drives!
Reason 1) Every mobile PC stops working when you run out of memory! Having two hard drives allows for 1TB these days…
Reason 2) Using a second hard drive insures full recovery from backup, that’s super fast and prevents data loss! What consumer wouldn’t want to prevent data loss? Nobody wants DVD backup.
Another thought, one touch backup totally sucks, as it don’t prevent unauthorized users from restoring your PC!
A password would be useful here, right?
Why no Mesh Networking too? It’s common for “people” to network right?
October 14th, 2008 at 9:14 am
To Gary’s point I would have seriously considered an IdeaPad (primarily for it’s lightweight portability) if there were a Trackpoint on it. I realize that this may be one necessary point of differentiation for the TP line but this is my 2 cents on the topic.
I too am a big fan of OLED screens and even the LED supply issues are quite frustrating. At least buyers should be communicated with on the topic so we aren’t as frustrated about the teasing that currently surrounds these screens. I refer to the comparison tab of the thinkpad line that shows many of your Thinkpads having at least the option for LED screens and your announcement of these LED screens on ~23rd (28th?) but despite these statements no LED screens are available for most models. While the power consumption and fragility of the CCF are considerations I don’t believe the absence of the is as much of an issue as many think given the tremendous brightness offered by both of the CCF T and SL series screens.
I too think SSD would be tremendously valuable but I understand the costs are significant. That said, why not allow the consumer to make that cost/benefit analysis. If the engineering costs are too high for this model year but you are considering one for the next generation (or an option for this through the DVD bay or in replacement of the PCMCIA ports) that would be great to hear. An alternative might be a PCMCIA-based CF card backup adapter that is supported by the automated backup. Great cheap solution for backup.
Personally I have little need for mesh networking but I do miss the light weight and thin height of my T41.
Brandon, I think this blog is a great idea and can be a tremendously valuable resource if managed correctly:
1) it should be reviewed/responded to by you/your team (that being product management) within a reasonable window of time – say every 1-3 days at the most. If you need to convince management that this is a valuable use of time and should be budgeted into your day then reference the advice already in the blog as well as this comment from a long term SMB customer who represents 80% of the buying process in my company. My visits to this blog have dropped significantly since my posting due to the lack of responses. Just one persons comment but I doubt I am alone in this. Another valuable argument may be that for the bottom line; if we the community feel that our voice is unheard then we are likely to take it elsewhere – namely the competition – who is making inroads on historical strengths of the TP. Namely build quality and warrantee since they already lead in features.
2) personally invite individuals with particularly valuable feedback/commentary from other forums to come and participate in this blog.
3) encourage users to keep this thread as a real feedback loop rather than bitching or beating dead horses.
The only true competitive advantage is loyalty and minor product issues can frequently be overlooked by buyers if they feel their feedback is heard. I hope you can make this such a feedback loop.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:16 am
This blog unofficially dead.