Beginning to be disappointed by Lenovo brand

[someguy01234]

Well...I was a big Lenovo laptop supporter. I have past experience where laptops manufacturers lock their bios to prevent hardware changes. Worse case scenario was a Sony laptop that wouldn't even let you change battery, hdd, or ram (Still managed to triple booth Mac OS, Linux and Windows on it.)

So I bought a refurb Lenovo laptop and it came with faulty network card. I tested my brother Lenovo laptop which have the same network card on my router so I know it wasn't a software problem on my side.

Tried to switch the network card and the laptop refuses to even boot unless I removed the "unauthorized" card. I know about flashing modified bios to fix these type of problems, but I wasn't expected it from this company. I've always been more disappointed in their laptop build quality of late. I bought an Ideapad Y410p for my brother, I had an older model which had thick metal lid and strong plastic casing, now the current version have a super thin plastic lid and you can flex the entire chassis of the laptop without effort, something you expect from a $350 laptop.

It just put a bad taste in my mouth since I used to trust the brand. I know it's totally unrelated to Motorola, but I'm still going to watch out after this.

 

[hallux]

Re: Beginning to be disappointed by Lenovo brand.

I can't speak to the decisions to "lock the BIOS" against hardware changes except to say that maybe the card you bought had the wrong interface.

As for the build quality. What do you expect when EVERY SINGLE REVIEW has a focus on low cost, light weight, size and performance. When people want more performance in a cheaper smaller and lighter package, the cuts have to happen SOMEPLACE. How else will they cut cost and weight other than to reduce the use of metals and make parts thinner? It's like buying a car with awesome fuel mileage then complaining the body is made of tin foil (exaggeration but you get the idea) - do you want to go farther on a tank of gas or have heavy steel body panels? If you want a computer these days that won't flex when you pick it up by a corner, buy a Mac (either a MacBook Pro or the Air), the majority of the main shell is made out of chunks of aluminum.

 

[anon8380037]

Re: Beginning to be disappointed by Lenovo brand.

I bought a virtually unused L420 ThinkPad last July. I think the exchange store mispriced it. It is those rugged heavy duty ones with an acclaimed keyboard. Great performance on W7 even with an i3, and now 8gb ddr3. I have a 20" monitor and with 4 usb's it's mostly a desktop.
After a 10 yr old Pentium desktop and a twice defunct laptop this is heaven.
The Lenovo software expired after a year but I couldn't uninstall or renew it.

Some options like a dock are expensive from Lenovo. I would like to fill both card slots and some hardware aspects I don't understand (mSata, bluetooth) and I was thinking of changing the wifi card but it's OK for now)

Anyway, still I get what you are saying OP, they are getting restrictive on hardware etc. I also know their cheaper G series had a poor record for breaking hinges.

Is there a good forum on these?

I regularly use Lenovo desktops at a centre which have lovely feeling keyboards, but I always make mistakes on them. I would buy another Lenovo but quality and service can change in a short three years from a mega corporation.
True there was no point to my post, but I hear you.

Via my Note 3 on AC.

 

[someguy01234]

Re: Beginning to be disappointed by Lenovo brand.

Is there a good forum on these?

I regularly use Lenovo desktops at a centre which have lovely feeling keyboards, but I always make mistakes on them. I would buy another Lenovo but quality and service can change in a short three years from a mega corporation.
True there was no point to my post, but I hear you.

Via my Note 3 on AC.

I went to tech inferno forum to get the modified bios to allow changing network card, but it also enabled other options like overclocking and tweaking, the default bios is severely limited. Also this laptop doesn't come with an mSata connector so there is no chance to add a second SSD drive. They purposely do not include it unless you buy their SSD option. The previous model I had have mSATA connector even if you don't buy SSD option.

The Asus laptops doesn't seem to do these type of bios locking.