Please take the Survey: Your Ideal Business Laptop
Your answers are needed, they're the first step to possibly getting a ThinkPad with a premium screen. Thanks for your time!
IMPORTANT: Please note that Lenovo is not associated with the survey in any way, other than allowing me to post the link and results in these forums.
The overall plan:
- Use the above survey to determine the most popular premium screen size (ThinkPad model) and resolution.
- Ask Lenovo for realistic price estimates for the ThinkPad and screen found in step 1. Get 3 estimates, for 3 different screen technologies: wide-angle TN, MVA/PVA, and IPS.
- Determine which screen technology we prefer, given the costs. We might want to run another survey to answer this question.
- Show our monetary commitment to buy the premium ThinkPad we want. We need to work out details of how to do this, but it might involve taking cash deposits.
- If we are able to show sufficient demand and monetary commitment to our premium ThinkPad, we might convince Lenovo to build it for us.
Survey Results
Please see this thread.
Hi George,
Thanks for your comments. There's no reason I know of that a 14" panel must be worse than a 15" panel. Historically that may have been so for panels used in ThinkPads. For now let's assume that a panel manufacturer that can produce a high-quality 15" panel can also produce a high-quality 14" panel, and that Lenovo is free to purchase either for our premium ThinkPad.
Thanks,
Frank
frank,
your survey looks great!
if i may make a few suggestions, you may consider making it more generic rather than focusing heavily on the term "business". typical business users don't need ECC memory, discreet or switchable GPUs, eSATA, firewire, digital video output, high-contrast displays, unix-based OSes, fast processors, etc. these are all professional or enthusiast features. if i let a bunch of business users design my next professional laptop then i'd wind up with a VGA port, 1280x800 display with 300:1 contrast, and integrated graphics. manufacturers already have too many laptops on the market meeting those requirements. 
you may also consider either making the survey generic to all brands or specific to lenovo, but not both. by stating this survey is non-specific to a manufacturer but giving examples of various thinkpad models and thinkpad-specific features, it's easy to see who the survey is directed toward.
update: on the various configuration pricing, it might be best to leave that out. you might set false expectations if your participants if they assume they'll be able to get a 15" laptop with IPS graphics and a ton of features for around $1300. while an excellent price, it's unfortunately not realistic for a fully-loaded system.
food for thought. 
Hi Erik,
Thanks for your comments!
you may consider making it more generic rather than focusing heavily on the term "business".
The emphasis on "business" laptops is deliberate. It's the best term I could come up with to mean "best quality laptop for doing your work." Looking at how Lenovo markets their laptop lines:
- Value Line - engineered for value
- IdeaPad - laptops for your lifestyle
- ThinkPad - the ultimate business tool
It appears that "business" is an appropriate term that also encompasses "professional" users.
typical business users don't need ECC memory, discreet or switchable GPUs, eSATA, firewire, digital video output, high-contrast displays, unix-based OSes, fast processors, etc. these are all professional or enthusiast features.
I think you're right. But a major purpose of the survey is to determine what percentage of "business" users would pay extra for a premium screen.
The features like GPU, eSATA, etc. are included because I thought it would be interesting to collect some data on those at the same time. There turned out to be quite a few of them, though, and perhaps they are too distracting or make the survey too long and tedious?
i would also consider either making the survey generic to all brands or specific to lenovo, but not both. by stating this survey is non-specific to a manufacturer but giving examples of various thinkpad models and thinkpad-specific features, it's easy to see who the survey is directed toward.
re: going more generic:
To my mind "ThinkPad" means "business laptop" the way that "Kleenex" means "facial tissue". So I think using representative ThinkPads keeps the survey more generic than using Dell Latitudes or any other line of business laptops. And the fact is that we are searching for the most popular premium screen to put in an existing ThinkPad. So we need to keep the ThinkPads in there :-)
I didn't mean to include any ThinkPad-specific features... which ones are?
re: going more specific, to Lenovo only:
I plan to advertise the survey here and in the thinkpads.com forum, so we're likely to wind up with a lot of Lenovo users :-)
But it seems to me that there are advantages to keeping the survey about an ideal desired business laptop, rather than one that is necessarily a Lenovo. The survey is supposed to help determine what business users want, even if it is not currently available.
I really do appreciate your comments, even if it does appear that I'm doing my best to rebut them above. I'm open to changing the survey. But as I've put a fair amount of thought into it already, I suppose you'll have to convince me :-)
It's quite possible I've missed the point of some of your comments, feel free to point that out!
Thanks,
Frank
It appears that "business" is an appropriate term that also encompasses "professional" users.
depending on the profession, "professional" users buy workstations. there are also users who may buy these systems to play games or watch movies, too -- none of which are business customers.
perhaps rather than focusing so much on the detailed specs of the system, it would be best to focus on display quality and ask each participant what he or she plans to do with the equipment. after all, the subject of this discussion is the display quality, not the specs/features of the systems. the details are great as long as you don't lose sight of the bigger picture.
@Erik:
On Lenovo's and Dell's websites, the "workstation"-class laptops are found in the "business" section. I agree with you that ThinkPads and other "business laptops" can be excellent choices for those who are not business users. The way I look at it is this: marketing needs a short term that means "best-engineered and best-built laptop," and they've chosen "business laptop" to mean this. The term is inaccurate, but that's how it's used. So I've left the survey title unchanged: "Your Ideal Business Laptop". But in the rest of the survey I've removed the word "business" or used the term "business-class laptop". And I removed the phrase about using the laptop for work. I hope these change make the survey more inclusive to those who use "business" laptops for non-business purposes.
I also inserted a note that only questions marked with an asterisk (*) need be answered to complete the survey. I hope that will keep people from being put off by the long specifications question.
@All:
Please take the survey if you haven't already. Thanks!
erik wrote:
update: on the various configuration pricing, it might be best to leave that out. you might set false expectations if your participants if they assume they'll be able to get a 15" laptop with IPS graphics and a ton of features for around $1300. while an excellent price, it's unfortunately not realistic for a fully-loaded system.
Erik, sorry I missed your update and only saw it this morning. I see your point. Hopefully those who know what IPS screens are, know that they are not cheap. The survey mentions only a "premium" screen that has better viewing angles than the base screen. It doesn't mention the premium screen technology on purpose: depending on cost, it might be that a wide-viewing-angle TN or PVA screen is a better option for most users. The premium screen options are priced in line with what Dell charges for upgrading its Latitude E6500 from base to "WideView" (TN) screens. So they're realistic for TN screens only. We simply don't have good estimates for what a PVA or IPS screen would cost, so went with what we did have. Definitely the survey results must be interpreted with that in mind: We'd expect demand to be smaller for a more expensive screen.
lead_org wrote:
fmyhr maybe you should start up your Thinkpad aftermarket mod company, like AMG, Brabus are to Merc... and STI to Subaru.... it could be a profitable business, if there are enough enthusaists whom are willing to pay through their nose.
Heh. The thought has crossed my mind :-) But I think it would be better for most of us if Lenovo could profitably make a premium-screened ThinkPad. We'd pay more, but hopefully not through our noses. (I use that expression myself and realized I have no idea where it comes from. Turns out even Google doesn't know for sure!)
Have you seen Erik's custom X61s? It's beautiful :-) I don't think anybody has yet offered Erik enough money to build them another... have they?
