PC people - is there any source to make sense of Lenovo's laptop line?

[pinkoos]

I'm thoroughly confused by Lenovo's laptop line - Thinkpads, Yogas, X1s, Ideapads, Carbons, Flex, etc.

Does anybody know of a good breakdown of the laptop line and how each line within the laptops are different from one another?

Thanks

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Even though they still made decent hardware, I don't recommend Lenovo laptops any more because of BIOS issues. Pretty much don't buy one unless there are multiple specific reasons you need an exact model.

Dell, HP, Acer (Sony and Toshiba Portege/Toughbook depending if they are old enough).

Wikipedia has several specific Lenovo entries:
Thinkpad - basic durable/reliable business model, usually better than average keyboard.
Thinkpad X1 [with possible additional Carbon label] - expensive/exotic case construction targeting light weight, not necessarily durable.
Yoga - touchscreen with hinge designed to allow multiple stable orientations.
IdeaPad - Commodity consumer grade, typically lowest cost model.
Flex - Lightweight and low power. Lenovo version of Dell mini 10. Equivalent performance of a 15 year old Intel based cell phone.

[testcase]

With their preloaded spyware, I wouldn’t touch their products with a 10’ pole.

[pinkoos]

What do you mean?

[C(-)ris]

Skip anything marketed to a consumer and go straight for the business lines. HP Probook or Elite Book, Dell Latitude or Precision. Having maintained a fleet of 300 X1 Carbon's I wouldn't touch them with a 10 ft pole ever again, Their driver, bios, and docking issues were ridiculous along with a high percentage of hardware failures, though the 4th gen versions were a lot better than the 2nd gen they still had issues.

[JoeH]

After continuing problems with fragile plastic cases^* on the recent series of Dell laptops we lent at the library, our IT people switched to Lenovo Tinkpad T490's. Waiting to see how they work out.

*problems with the plastic cases is very reminiscent of the issues with the pre-2009 MacBooks. Big difference is that Dell will not do anything about it compared to Apple's extended repair program.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

testcase wrote:
With their preloaded spyware, I wouldn’t touch their products with a 10’ pole.

pinkoos wrote:
What do you mean?

In early 2015, it was announced that Lenovo had been installing a low level rootkit called Superfish. It allowed them to reinstall OEM adware/bloatware even after a nuke & pave. Affected models were manufactured between 2010 and mid-2015.

[pinkoos]

Yikes, that’s crazy

[testcase]

" Affected models were manufactured between 2010 and mid-2015."


Of course the Chinese government stopped the practice in 2015....... 8-)