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Not Just For ThinkPads Anymore: Lenovo Gets OK To Buy IBM Server Line
IBM sold its personal computer line (including the iconic ThinkPad line) to Lenovo back in 2005. Now, Lenovo is poised to acquire IBM's line of X86-based servers, and has garnered the approval of a regulatory body which could have scotched the deal. (The article describes the server line at issue as "low end," but that's in the eye of the beholder.) From the article:
The conclusion of the review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or Cfius, is “good news for both IBM and Lenovo, and for our customers and employees,” Armonk, New York-based IBM said yesterday in a statement. While Cfius placed some conditions on the deal, they don’t significantly affect the business, and terms of the transaction didn’t change as result, a person with knowledge of the matter said, without specifying the conditions. The sale drew scrutiny because of disputes between China and the U.S., the world’s two largest economies, over cyberintrusions. By completing the deal, IBM can jettison a less profitable business to focus on growing areas, such as cloud computing and data analytics, while giving Lenovo a bigger piece of the global computing-hardware market. ... Spokesmen for IBM and Lenovo declined to comment on whether the Cfius clearance included any requirements or concessions. Holly Shulman, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, which leads Cfius, declined to comment.
Lenovo laptops are the worst. They can't even get the keyboard layout right. I'm looking at you cntrl and function. Whomever thought it was a good idea to switch them around is a moron.
Thank IBM for that. You can swap them in "BIOS" BTW.
HAHAHAHA Good one!
You had me rolling on the floor laughing with this one.
Mod parent funny because that is fucking hilarious.
-puddingpimp
Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains....Thomas Jefferson
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
So, IBM wants to focus more on cloud computing yet sells of the very hardware (System x) on which my company operates their cloud. I wonder if the System x Enterprise (like the X6 line of servers) are also moving to Lenovo, since they're not quite that low-end.
I'm ok with the layout, but I'm not happy with the way that Lenovo as screwed up the keyboard and trackpad in recent years. On the latest generations of Thinkpads, they moved from the terrific old Thinkpad keyboard to a typical, lousy "island" keyboard layout. And they removed all of the mouse buttons, so you now have to depress the Trackpad, MacPro style, for a button push, even if you're using the Trackpoint. This is totally awkward.
The combination of a MacPro style trackpad and keyboard style leads me to believe that they are one more company who has succumbed to stupid Apple envy--even though their original design was far superior to Apple's.
I cant buy Thinkpads anymore. I wish that there was a good replacement, but there really isn't. Microsoft and Apple have screwed up the whole laptop industry.
I haven't tried a post Lenovo-sale Thinkpad, but the thing I always liked about the IBM Thinkpad laptops, in general, was the keyboard. I always thought it had the best "feel" to a keyboard of all the vendors (not talking FN key layout or anything, just in terms of being a touch-typist it was the keyboard that felt the best and didn't seem 'flimsy' like a lot of them do).
Dell keyboards, IMHO, have always sucked - I haven't had a single one that hasn't felt 'cheap'.
But they are probably built in China anyway. So which one of the security services has a back door into which? Either way that part probably won't change.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
The Apple touchpads are actually quite good, but everyone else's attempts to rip them off have been terrible and unusable...
I always used to use the nipple on thinkpads, and with other laptops i would always connect up an external mouse. When i got a macbook i actually started using the touchpad.
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People still buy their stupid fucking software frameworks.
Nothing has changed really, where do you think the IBM servers designed and built?
They're just cutting out a middle-man
Asus laptops it turns out have excellent touchpads. Even the old eee 900 had a small but otherwise very good one.
Touch pads have however always been the weakpoint of thinkpads. And battery life. But hey, you can chuck a cup of coffee over the keyboard then beat someone to death with it and it'll keep on truckin'.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
...thinks the Chinese MBA at Lenovo HQ, Beijing
Like it or not Lenovo saved the Thinkpad line. They are one PC maker actually seeing a resurgence in sales of PC's to enterprise. I always had good luck with customer service with them and I would buy another Thinkpad without question. Just not one with Windows 8 on it. I think IBM knows the server market is becoming more competitive now and talk of low powered ARM based servers means Lenovo has its work cut out to keep things competitive. I think this is a good move for IBM and Lenovo.
Yes, I believe Slashdot's server is actually a Netbook left by CmdrTaco years ago. Who needs redundant dual-port disks with multiple controller paths, the ability to run more than 32GB RAM (with ECC), redundant power supplies, hot swappable disks, power supplies, fans and even PCI cards, centralized remote management and monitoring, motherboards built with components that actually last at least 3 years under stressful workloads and environments, 4-hour support contracts, certified hardware-software combinations so there is never any worry about compatibility, right?
If Apple can design in California and manufacture in China, and make tons of profit, why can't IBM do the same? Why does it have to sell the design part to people who are nowhere near as competent?
I'd agree, but only up to the point where they went multi-touch. On my UX21A the touchpad isn't very good; palm rejection is poor and two-finger scrolling is often confused for pinch & zoom. Compared to Apple it's not nearly as reliable.
Huh I rather like the UX21.
I've not tries the palm detection. Out of habit from the thinkpad I use syndaemon instead and that works very well. I think the pinch versus scolling must be a matter of thresholds.
If you run synclient in dump mode, you can get realtime positions of all blobs detected and it seems pretty accurate. I think there's some settings you can tweak.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Cisco and their UCS Blade systems would disagree with you.
At night I drink myself to sleep and pretend I don't care that you're not here with me
Corporations are government. They get their charter from government, and most of the big ones have very tight ties to government through lobbying and contracts. Corporations now do almost all of the actual work that we typically associate with government. It's a way of letting us have a ruling class while still maintaining the facade of democracy.
And I guess at the end of the day, we could always pass a law revoking corporate charters. Good luck with that, though.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Apple doesn't sell computers or other electronic devices. Apple sells religious idols with a particular logo on them.
Companies selling irreligious computers face stiff competition, and the market naturally limits their profitability. Customers will go with whoever offers them the best deal. So such vendors and manufacturers need to highly optimize or offshore their production practices in order to keep them as cheap as possible.
Those peddling religion are in a very different situation. Once converted, it is comparatively rare for somebody to fully switch to a different religion. And while actively practicing the religion, such people will often show limited to no restraint, especially when it comes to financial matters. They will spend huge amounts of money on the religion, without any care about getting utility in return.
That's why those selling religion can get away with things that those selling practical tools never could.
Which of the back door are you speaking about?
The one mandated by NSA that they put in hardware of any American owned company ?
Or the backdoors that the Chinese put into any parts that they ship from their plants to US to build computer ?
Or the backdoors that the Russian somehow still managed to cram in even if they weren't in theory involved in the production of that precise piece of hardware ?
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
>Dell keyboards, IMHO, have always sucked - I haven't had a single one that hasn't felt 'cheap'.
You obviously never tried the Dell Latitude E-series keyboards. My ~2008-vintage Dell E6400's keyboard is just about as good as any Thinkpad I've owned (and I've had a few).
That's not even the worst part. You can switch them in the BIOS, so it's effectively a null point.
But, yeah, the keyboards are fucked, regardless.
Text nav keys splayed fucking everywhere, lack of F key groupings, F keys that *aren't* F keys, chiclet bullshit, slop and flex regions.
It's not even a damn ThinkPad anymore.
Trackpads have always been meh, they're just a sucky and imprecise interface.
Give me clit mouse or give me death!
Run any IBM servers? Next time they replacement, you'd be wise to dump them and look elsewhere.
Just 10 minutes ago I explained to somebody here, who did not understand the basic principles of economy, such as capital formation based on savings, why the Chinese are buyin USA property and then I see this story and comments. The reason that the Chinese can and are buying USA property anx productive assets is that they cannot exchange their productive output for American output. The USA worker is made unproductive by American government and the foreigners, who export 500Billion USD/year more than USA exports to them (trade defficit) need to get rid of the dollars that are collecting dust and causing rising prices in their countries.
IBM sold this because they were offered a large cash amount (2,000,000,000) and 3,00,000,000 in Lenovo stock, and now IBM will enjoy productivity of a Chinese company that is not subjected to the insane USA anti-individual freedom rules, regulations, taxes and inflation. IBM will get rid of some American employees, who are made too expensive by USA government (I am not at all talking about salaries here, so do not bother) in a country where savings and productivity are punished, not rewarded since US government killed the free market.
MY OTHER COMMENTS
It could be cheaper to replace the cheap consumer RAID drivers than to buy expensive "enterprise grade" stuff. Maybe the cost of a RAID array with backup is cheaper than all the more expensive stuff.
But hey, you can chuck a cup of coffee over the keyboard then beat someone to death with it and it'll keep on truckin'.
Not sure about the coffee, but the rest is has been a killer feature of IBM keyboards ever since the model M.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Still, you have not actually discounted the fact that IBM could if it wanted to operate manufacturing wherever it need to be to compete, it might not be very profitable, but they could have profits in line with the chinese, and keep this business out of hands of the chinese. It seems as though instead, everything has to have a massive, fat profit margin to these companies, that making a modest amount isnt enough. If the chinese can manufacture these goods, albeit at a relatively low profit, IBM could spin off subsidiary to do it.
Yup. They've got their head in the clouds. Their management personnel keep their heads somewhere else.
Enterprise grade hardware: IMHO, got nothing to do with "Server" above. But if you're business relies upon the "Server", you should run it on "Enterprise grade hardware".
You want to run your own web server in your cubicle, or or living room? Hey, consumerized commodity hardware is fine. You want me to bet my paycheck as well as my co-workers'? I insist on Enterprise grade hardware. Actually, I insist on more - but this is the part that's pertinent to this thread.
And where do I go to get a P5xx/6xx/7xx? Or even something comparable?
Lenovo isn't getting System P hardware. They're only getting System X, which is the x86 stuff.
A little hypocritical coming from someone who helped start a rebellion about not paying taxes.
Taxes really didn't have as much to do about it as most people think. Read the Declaration, there are 16 other reasons listed before taxes are mentioned. Things like the Quartering Act were more important.
At the root it was really about self - determination.
The X60 & X61's keyboards are also not equipped with TouchPad. Most of my colleagues hated it at first, since they're so used to it on their Dell's and HP's notebooks.
Exactly, except the official name for the product line has been Power Systems for a few years now (although I don't think anybody outside of IBM calls it that). Because IBM is the only manufacturer, they still get good margins on it, and that's why they kept it.
Yeah, I had a 600x back in 1999, and then got an A21, both pre-2004 (I still have the A21, although the battery doesn't hold a charge very well anymore). I haven't had any keyboard I've tried since then (or before then) that has that kind of feel to it. Mostly they just feel cheap & flimsy, honestly I'd rather plug a real keyboard in than use the one built into the laptop (which, of course, rather defeats the purpose of having a laptop).
Don't think I've ever tried an E6400, but thus far every single Dell laptop keyboard has sucked in comparison (my job the last 10 years mainly bought Dells). I've 'tried them out' with other brands at various stores (now defunct Circuit-City, Staples, Best Buy, etc) and while I've found a few that feel ok, none have ever matched that old Thinkpad feel... a keyboard that didn't feel like it was going to break if you typed too hard.
Best Buy and Staples do not sell Dell Latitudes, they sell the shitty consumer-grade Dells. That's like comparing Thinkpads (of 5 years ago when they were still good) to HP's cheapest model.
Many thinkpads have holes in the underside to drain spilled liquid out of the keyboard. There's a little keyboard-above-a-drip emblem imprinted on the plastic next to it.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
And in the end, you bought all outstanding shares using cheap ZIRP credit, pay out the CEO and sell the name to some Indian company which will also gladly take over all the H1Bs and maybe take them back to India.
I actually consider the stubble a feature because my hands always get into the way of the trackpad and I have to switch it off.
The FN key is in the corner so you can find the keyboard light shortcut by touch in the dark.
I find it absolutely hilarious the way everyone disparages Chinese manufacturing while 95% of all electronics, clothing, and gadgetry is made in China or other asian countries.
Scariest of all are the ill-informed masses who think that IBM, HP, Dell, etc. actually make any of their own parts any more. They're US companies in name only.
Wake up. Globalization has already happened.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Touch pads have however always been the weakpoint of thinkpads.
I'll never know. The very first thing I do when I get a new Thinkpad is to disable the touchpad on it completely. The trackpoint is greatly superior to any touchpad, even an Apple touchpad.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Really? I moved from a MacBook Pro to a T430S a couple of years ago, and I really like it. The trackpad isn't as good as the MBP, but it's pretty damn usable... I don't have any issues using it at all.
Not running M$ bloat OS tho, maybe that's why? Does Linux have a better trackpad driver than M$? And I still have the eraser mouse if needed.
I am extremely happy with the Lenovo and recommend it any time someone asks. I can get the proc I want, the amount of memory I want, and it's still reasonably priced (in my case, an I7 and 16g). When I got it the only other company that could match the specs I wanted was Alien, at twice the price and weight, and a 17" screen.
I was a little worried moving from a metal case (on the MBP) to a plastic case, but it has survived very well and the body is still very stiff with the metal (magnesium?) inner skeleton. No issues at all. And, I believe that the Fn key was swapped with the Ctrl key to make it easier to find in the dark, to turn on the backlighting... I know, kinda lame, how hard is it to find the SECOND button from the left in the dark, but I do appreciate it at those times.
And Lenovo's support is EXTREMELY good, the one time I needed it. Getting anything back the day after you send it in is unheard of in my neck of the woods... Normally the shippers aren't that good here.