• Welcome to BellGab.com Archive.
 

Don't buy Lenovo. They don't deserve your business.

Started by MV/Liberace!, February 19, 2015, 05:40:51 PM

wr250

new statement from lenovo:
lenovo vows to send out computers with stock windows + needed software to make hardware functional. (example they seem to be planning a 3d camera in a laptop).
http://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1934

zeebo

Quote from: wr250 on February 28, 2015, 07:25:13 AM
new statement from lenovo:
lenovo vows to send out computers with stock windows + needed software to make hardware functional....

Remember the good old days when you'd actually get your own clean windows disk so you could re-format your hard drive with vanilla windows?  I miss that.  Now it's all bloatware/malware integrated into some windows image stuck on a partition.  Friggin thieves - you're buying windows with the machine, but they don't actually give it to you, they give you some bloated hair-ball.

MV/Liberace!

Quote from: zeebo on March 01, 2015, 12:03:09 AM
Remember the good old days when you'd actually get your own clean windows disk so you could re-format your hard drive with vanilla windows?  I miss that.  Now it's all bloatware/malware integrated into some windows image stuck on a partition.  Friggin thieves - you're buying windows with the machine, but they don't actually give it to you, they give you some bloated hair-ball.

all you need is an OEM installation disk and you can do a vanilla install on any machine licensed for that version.  the OEM disk images are freely downloadable from microsoft.  you just need a legit license key to use them, which is either stuck to the outside of the machine, or with windows 8, embedded in the motherboard (you don't ever type the key).

zeebo

Quote from: MV on March 01, 2015, 12:31:24 AM
all you need is an OEM installation disk and you can do a vanilla install on any machine licensed for that version.  the OEM disk images are freely downloadable from microsoft.  you just need a legit license key to use them, which is either stuck to the outside of the machine, or with windows 8, embedded in the motherboard (you don't ever type the key).

Ok, how did I not know this?  I've never seen this publicized anywhere.  In any case, +1 for supplying some very useful info, but like -0.5 for making me think slightly better of microsoft.

MV/Liberace!

Quote from: zeebo on March 01, 2015, 05:58:35 PM
Ok, how did I not know this?  I've never seen this publicized anywhere.  In any case, +1 for supplying some very useful info, but like -0.5 for making me think slightly better of microsoft.

I can get you an image of whatever you need.

steelbot

In my new Job, we use Core i7 Toshiba Tecra z50's they're BLAZING fast and nice, and this was to replace some failing dell's and lenovo's.  We have OEM disc's just laying around...let me know if you're still needing assistance on this...

PS - TOLD the lenovo rep he was wasting his time, I wouldn't be suggesting nor pricing out any of his latest product offerings for my company's employees...due to being the one that ultimately has to repair that piece of chit!

DOUBLE PS-EDIT
..I do have a complete OEM Win7, that lets you pick whatever install you want.(premium,ultimate,enterprise..keyless entry :) and even lets you pick "manufacturer" so if you wanted it branded Lenovo you could...this is fully registered and able to receive updates too and requires nothing but putting the disc in and installing just like you were rebuilding your machine....

The Answers are out there!!

Quote from: cweb on February 20, 2015, 02:08:04 PM
It sucks that you can't just use your new computer immediately, because you have to clean off all of the shit the OEM puts on it.

https://filippo.io/Badfish/ links to a Superfish "detector" page, with instructions on how to remove. I'm sure a clean OS reinstall is better than this, though.

I thought I was paranoid for going through and uninstalling strange-looking stuff bundled with my PC. Guess not. In the future, I'm taking wr's advice and doing an OS reinstall.
Check for hidden partitions first before you reinstall. I came across a really nasty Russian malware text editor. What it did was to first start stealing all the personal information on the box and through a dialer, sent it back to a server in Turkmenistan. While it was doing this, it was moving files around on the HDD to make room for a new partition. Once it created the partition, it downloaded a separate payload, loaded it onto the new partition, then marked the partition hidden. The customer had reloaded the OS 3 times over just as many months because of the slowdowns caused by the payload. The text editor wasn't reinstalled on any of the new reinstalls, but that payload was jumping partitions and reinfecting the damn machine. When I pulled it into my virus vault, I found the hidden Partition, and was able to examine the code. Wicked crap.
Moral of the story ? Use DBAN, or learn how to run the '   dd   ' command from a live disk. Then reinstall the OS.
BTW - I feel for you guys, Bloatware SuKs

Quote from: cweb on February 21, 2015, 08:19:45 AM
One of the things that really bothers me is the question of whether OEMs (or component manufacturers) are packaging something deeper into machines. I think something was recently posted about a group that was putting spyware/backdoor/whatever onto hard drive firmware. That shit doesn't come out in the wash. It's no reason to do any less diligence, but it's terrifying to think about. Just gotta go about your computing while minimizing risks, it seems.
Yes, directly into the proprietary FIRMWARE. Why is this important. Source code for 'proprietary' firmware is unavailable for review. You have no clue what it's really doing.

Quote from: zeebo on February 23, 2015, 10:17:23 PM
This sucks.  I love Thinkpads.  Wouldn't even think of buying a different laptop.  Now I'm all mixed up.
If you got the scrilla, get an M-Tech
http://www.m-techlaptops.com/


Just Me

I want one of them there thinkcentre M tiny models. The tinier, the better. Simply install an SSD and new O/S so it don't spy on you.

Dyna-X

I have had over a dozen Thinkpads since about 1998 and I haven't had any issues with them, however I'm considering hoarding a couple extra T61p's here since I am not crazy about the keyboard and odd touchpad (which I never use, just the trackpoint).  As for bloatware, I often do a fresh install when I get any new machine, anyway - about three or four hours each time making it exactly the way I want it. I intend to use Win 7 until 2020 or whenever the extended support stops.

That said, I've lost a lot of love for Thinkpads since Lenovo has made each successive model cheaper and defeating the very reason I liked Thinkpads in the first place.

If anyone has a good recommendation for a decent laptop I'm open to explore better ones, but my main requirements are that it must have a Trackpoint or "Cursor Pointer" or equivalent and be durable.

Coffeeman

Quote from: Dyna-X on October 10, 2015, 10:21:18 AM
I have had over a dozen Thinkpads since about 1998 and I haven't had any issues with them, however I'm considering hoarding a couple extra T61p's...

Effing-A. The T61 was, I believe, the last lappy designed by IBM before they sold the Thinkpad division to Lenovo. I lugged a T61p to Iraq, Afghanistan, and then to college before I finally gave it to dad.

zeebo

Quote from: Coffeeman on November 05, 2015, 01:22:07 AM
Effing-A. The T61 was, I believe, the last lappy designed by IBM before they sold the Thinkpad division to Lenovo. I lugged a T61p to Iraq, Afghanistan, and then to college before I finally gave it to dad.

I'm typing this on my trusty T60, which I've been hammering on for like 7 years now, and it's still solid.  Keyboard is still fantastic.  Screen is still bright and best of all, it's the old 4:3 aspect ratio, which is impossible to find on new laptops. 

I can't deal with 16:9 on a laptop - I use mine for text, not watching movies or slideshows of waterfalls and flowers like those silly demos at computer shops.

zeebo

Quote from: Dyna-X on October 10, 2015, 10:21:18 AM
I have had over a dozen Thinkpads since about 1998 and I haven't had any issues with them, however I'm considering hoarding a couple extra T61p's here since I am not crazy about the keyboard and odd touchpad (which I never use, just the trackpoint). ...

I've had 4 and they've all been great.  But I don't know about the newer ones.  Btw, you may already know this, but you can disable the touchpad, which I always do as I find it annoying.  (Don't know where it is now, but on XP it's under Control Panel -> Mouse -> UltraNav tab).

Quote from: zeebo on November 05, 2015, 01:58:33 AM
I'm typing this on my trusty T60, which I've been hammering on for like 7 years now, and it's still solid.  Keyboard is still fantastic.  Screen is still bright and best of all, it's the old 4:3 aspect ratio, which is impossible to find on new laptops. 

I can't deal with 16:9 on a laptop - I use mine for text, not watching movies or slideshows of waterfalls and flowers like those silly demos at computer shops.

Just found this thread and it gave me a chuckle.

Worked for Lenovo for one year.   Was big milestone in my life when I put in my two week
notice and got the hell out of there.  Being an American Engineer in a Chinese company
is a bad, bad thing

Coffeeman

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on December 15, 2015, 09:35:43 PM
Just found this thread and it gave me a chuckle.

Worked for Lenovo for one year.   Was big milestone in my life when I put in my two week
notice and got the hell out of there.  Being an American Engineer in a Chinese company
is a bad, bad thing

I guess they lost quite a few engineers in Japan when Lenovo took over. IBM had a pretty big division here for a long time.

Awkward anecdote: one guy in my cycling group left Lenovo to work for Snap-On, they were doing a hiring spree at the time. I went to visit the folks in Kentucky a couple of weeks later and my old nighbor (a U.S. Snap-On employee for nearly twenty years) was just laid off.

One of many reasons I build my own PC's from scratch.  1000x faster and these corporate scum can suck it.
(AMD ftw)

Quote from: Coffeeman on December 16, 2015, 02:28:47 AM
I guess they lost quite a few engineers in Japan when Lenovo took over. IBM had a pretty big division here for a long time.

Awkward anecdote: one guy in my cycling group left Lenovo to work for Snap-On, they were doing a hiring spree at the time. I went to visit the folks in Kentucky a couple of weeks later and my old nighbor (a U.S. Snap-On employee for nearly twenty years) was just laid off.

IBM has had its head up its ass since the 80's.. I'm surprised they still exist in any form.  The place is basically a babyboomer welfare farm.

MV/Liberace!

Quote from: boilingpitsofsewage on December 29, 2015, 03:50:06 AM
The place is basically a babyboomer welfare farm.

their stock has been dead money for years, and the writing is on the wall.  IBM will be dead within 5 years.

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on December 15, 2015, 09:35:43 PM
Being an American Engineer in a Chinese company
is a bad, bad thing

i'd be interested in reading more about your perspective on this.

Quote from: MV on December 29, 2015, 02:33:57 PM
i'd be interested in reading more about your perspective on this.

As LMH would say it was some High Strangeness.   Went over to Lenovo when they made
an acquisition.  My former employer hated our product line and we worked in a hell hole
facility so we were cautiously optimistic on the sale.   

Lenovo setup just a beautiful work facility for us. Nice Cafeteria, exercise facility, onsite
Doctor's office and most importantly just about the most beautiful development labs
you could hope for.   They had an opulent kickoff to start the fiscal year - rented a
large arena, plenty of awesome food, all kinds of schwag.   

Then a couple of weeks later they went Hannibal on the whole group and had a
massive purge.   There were 18 guys in my department and when the dust settled
there were 2 left.   They told me my gig was moved to Beijing because contract
employees there make $4 US an hour.   Which is kind of typical but usually it's
a slower process and there is some cross training etc beforehand.   Not these
Chinese guys - they just blew everything up.  Didn't even move the equipment or
anything - they just scrapped it all.    Didn't matter how much expertise you had,
your patent portfolio didn't mean squat.  Master Inventor down to sluggo the
engineer got the boot. 

I got pushed into a non-Engineering gig which I did for awhile but hated it. 
After several months they asked me if I wanted to work in Beijing to help with the
transition.  If I were much younger and single I might have went for it
(the ladies are awful pretty and they dig laowai) but I told them to stick it and
pulled the rip cord.  I haven't been to China in 15 years and I just about
barfed up a lung then - I can't imagine how bad it is now. 




Quote from: boilingpitsofsewage on December 29, 2015, 03:50:06 AM
IBM has had its head up its ass since the 80's.. I'm surprised they still exist in any form.  The place is basically a babyboomer welfare farm.

When I come to bellgab my Ads seem to flip from Linux on IBM Power 8 systems whose link ends up on a dead web page on IBM.COM
and a Dodge Challenger Ad.    I guess all things considered I'd go with the Mopar and the Hemi.

Coffeeman

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on December 29, 2015, 09:23:08 PM
I got pushed into a non-Engineering gig which I did for awhile but hated it. 
After several months they asked me if I wanted to work in Beijing to help with the
transition.  If I were much younger and single I might have went for it
(the ladies are awful pretty and they dig laowai) but I told them to stick it and
pulled the rip cord.  I haven't been to China in 15 years and I just about
barfed up a lung then - I can't imagine how bad it is now.

It's a lot worse now, I would think. I was over last spring for business and the smog was...well, I don't have asthma, but I can't imagine living in that shithole if I did. Maybe it's because I ride bicycles almost religiously, but I swear it was almost a couple of weeks before my lungs got back to normal; which that was just after a nine day trip.

cweb

Quote from: Coffeeman on December 30, 2015, 08:41:08 PM
It's a lot worse now, I would think. I was over last spring for business and the smog was...well, I don't have asthma, but I can't imagine living in that shithole if I did. Maybe it's because I ride bicycles almost religiously, but I swear it was almost a couple of weeks before my lungs got back to normal; which that was just after a nine day trip.
I was telling my doctor about my girlfriend's trip to China, and how she actually took up smoking there because "you might as well." He recalled a time when he went there and one of those global economic summits was happening at the same time. Apparently the Chinese government told a bunch of factories to take it easy so the foreign bigwigs didn't see what a polluted mess it was. The skies actually cleared up somewhat and you could see five times as far- landmarks and monuments that would normally be obscured. Apparently, it was quite surreal.

Quote from: boilingpitsofsewage on December 29, 2015, 03:50:06 AM
IBM has had its head up its ass since the 80's.. I'm surprised they still exist in any form.  The place is basically a babyboomer welfare farm.

Seems like you have some knowledge.........

If so, you might be interested that Lee Conrad finally through in the towel:

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/money/business-and-industry/2016/01/05/union-organizing-campaign-ibm-workers-suspended/78308588/


MV/Liberace!

Quote from: Walks_At_Night on December 29, 2015, 09:23:08 PM
They told me my gig was moved to Beijing because contract
employees there make $4 US an hour.

wow.  that's just great.  i can't begin to understand why people are pissed in this country.   ::)

MV/Liberace!

Quote from: cweb on December 31, 2015, 05:06:10 PM
I was telling my doctor about my girlfriend's trip to China, and how she actually took up smoking there because "you might as well." He recalled a time when he went there and one of those global economic summits was happening at the same time. Apparently the Chinese government told a bunch of factories to take it easy so the foreign bigwigs didn't see what a polluted mess it was. The skies actually cleared up somewhat and you could see five times as far- landmarks and monuments that would normally be obscured. Apparently, it was quite surreal.

and these are the people we're supposed to sign co2 emissions agreements with.  ugh.

Motorola brand name to disappear from Lenovo's phones

http://wraltechwire.com/motorola-brand-name-to-disappear-from-lenovo-s-phones/15220452/

Hate to see the Motorola name fade away.........   Too bad.   


Well things are pretty rocky at Lenovo:
Quote
It's rare to see much self-criticism in a company's quarterly financial report, but Lenovo hasn't been shy about it today with its disclosures around its mobile business group. "Integration efforts did not meet expectations," says the Chinese company with respect to its takeover of Motorola and subsequent efforts to consolidate it with its existing Lenovo-branded portfolio. Both crucial mobile markets, China and the United States, disappointed in the wake of Lenovo's takeover, with Chinese shipments declining by a huge 85 percent and product transition in North America deemed simply "not successful."

http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/26/11782808/lenovo-motorola-acquisition-did-not-meet-expectations

Powered by SMFPacks Menu Editor Mod