Lenovo To Make Tablets In U.S.

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And the question of the day is....if a Chinese company can make tablets in the U.S., why can't Apple and HP? Thanks to [H] forum member Trepidati0n for the link.

China's largest PC maker, Lenovo, made a stunning announcement this week when it said it will make laptops, tablets, and desktops in the U.S.. So, why in the world would China's largest PC maker decide to manufacture devices here when America's two premier digital gadget suppliers, Apple and Hewlett-Packard, make virtually nothing in the U.S. and almost everything in China and/or Asia?
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I wish I still had the link but there was a really good and really long article about why the iphone was made in china vs the US. Greed was a big part of it, but the other big factor was that it would have been nearly impossible to gather the work force here in the states as quickly as they do in China. The Chinese were able to manufacutre the iPhone cheaper, SIGNIFICANTLY faster, and in the volume needed than would have happened here in the states. I don't remember if was a Rolling Stones article or if it was a WSJ article. But it was really good. Google something like "why wasn't the iphone made in the usa" or something like that and I am sure it will come up
 
With some strong anti-Chinese sentiment brewing in the US they could find it politically desirable ... if it is an Intel based tablet it might also be less dependent on materials from primarily Chinese suppliers ... it could also be targeted primarily at the US and European markets which might make it easier to manufacture in a closer region ... could be a lot of reasons ... also, bottom line is Apple, HP, Dell, and others could manufacture at least in part in this country (if they wanted to) ;)
 
But, but it's too expensive to manufacture stuff in the U.S:confused:

No seriously bravo Lenovo, about fecking time someone did this in a country going down the toilet.
 
They're also moving some manufacturing to Japan for devices sold there.
 
They could always pull out the race card.

feb_asian_math.jpg
 
this has made their tablets a buy in my book... i hope the build quality crushes apples
 
Probably because soon Chinese workers will be worth more than US workers?

Note: This is me kidding, but also with a hint of truth to it...
 
Interesting additional info in a Financial Times article on this ... the plant is in NC and the American jobs involved are only 115 workers ... might actually be better PR than anything else ... they also had a very interesting statistic ... they indicated that Chinese companies employed 27,000 US workers while Japanese employed 700,000 ... maybe we need a Japanese manufacture to start making tablets in the US :)
 
Recently ordered a laptop from Lenovo on Sept 29th. It's scheduled to SHIP out on October 21st.

Sigh.

Well it's specs are outstanding atleast (Y580 with 8gigs, i7 and a 660m). First order of business is to uninstall all of the crapware on it when I boot it up for the first time.
 
PornoSatan said:
Recently ordered a laptop from Lenovo on Sept 29th. It's scheduled to SHIP out on October 21st.

Sigh.

Well it's specs are outstanding atleast (Y580 with 8gigs, i7 and a 660m). First order of business is to uninstall all of the crapware on it when I boot it up for the first time.
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Their laptops are still made in China and they take forever to ship. Their refurb center is in South Carolina and I got my laptop within a week... in brand new condition :p
 
and yet, many Americans will still show off their iPads and iPhones proudly.

-Apple free [H] member
 
tim cook said there simply isn't the manpower in the US to meet the demand. Chinese workers come from all over the country to work at foxconn. Who the hell in america will relocate to north carolina to build lenovo tablets for little pay?

Let's assume what cook said is true. It sorta makes sense.
Apple sells 18 million ipads per quarter.
lenovo only sells 180,000, so a local US workforce could probably meet the miniscule demand for lenovo tablets.

china is the backbone of the world.
 
considering in the tablet world lenovo is near the bottom, this makes a lot of sense... just look how many in the forums said "well now I know what i'm buying". It means more sales even if it's lower profits per unit because they have to pay american wages/benefits/taxes
 
LordCalin said:
considering in the tablet world lenovo is near the bottom, this makes a lot of sense... just look how many in the forums said "well now I know what i'm buying". It means more sales even if it's lower profits per unit because they have to pay american wages/benefits/taxes
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Whether that's based on marketing advice or not, it doesn't really matter. It's just a smart decision.
 
Outamyhead said:
But, but it's too expensive to manufacture stuff in the U.S:confused:

No seriously bravo Lenovo, about fecking time someone did this in a country going down the toilet.
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It's not too expensive if you put everything together with machines and have a human or two manage all of it. ;)

(well sure the upfront cost of creating and making these robots is high, but in the long run... yeah. )
 
TMCM said:
I wish I still had the link but there was a really good and really long article about why the iphone was made in china vs the US. Greed was a big part of it, but the other big factor was that it would have been nearly impossible to gather the work force here in the states as quickly as they do in China. The Chinese were able to manufacutre the iPhone cheaper, SIGNIFICANTLY faster, and in the volume needed than would have happened here in the states. I don't remember if was a Rolling Stones article or if it was a WSJ article. But it was really good. Google something like "why wasn't the iphone made in the usa" or something like that and I am sure it will come up
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You mean the US doesn't allow companies to treat employees like slaves! That is a fucking shocker. EPA regulations alone would prevent it from being feasible, factor in wages of the average foxconn worker vs other similar skilled workers in the US and the iPhone is twice as expensive.

Or Apple must take less margins on each one sold.
:rolleyes:
 
The thing is, Apple could build some part(s) of the device here. Even if we don't have 763247832 engineers trained and working in, say Silicon Valley, we certainly have a bunch there and employment being what it is, many would move there if they opened a custom chip (ARM) foundry, LCD screen factory, assembly plant or accessory manufacturing plant. There is no reason other than profit. It's not like you have to build every single Apple product in one place.

The only question, is how much profit do they gain by building in China, and where is the tipping point where good PR/shipping is enough to move certain jobs back to the US.
 
The school's got some 2010 or 2011 HP Z400s with "assembled in the USA" stickers towards the back of the case. Might have said something about foreign content too.
 
Pylon said:
The school's got some 2010 or 2011 HP Z400s with "assembled in the USA" stickers towards the back of the case. Might have said something about foreign content too.
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HP has actually been lambasted in the press as of late for being one of the worst offenders in tech as far as shipping jobs overseas and receiving massive tax breaks.
 
Lenovo is building their plant here in North Carolina. We are one of the least union-friendly state in the country (one of the few good things about this state) which means that businesses aren't held hostage by union bosses who collaborate with the state to coerce companies into paying unrealistic benefits packages.
 
damicatz said:
Lenovo is building their plant here in North Carolina. We are one of the least union-friendly state in the country (one of the few good things about this state) which means that businesses aren't held hostage by union bosses who collaborate with the state to coerce companies into paying unrealistic benefits packages.
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As apposed to paying slave wages with no benefits.
 
PornoSatan said:
Recently ordered a laptop from Lenovo on Sept 29th. It's scheduled to SHIP out on October 21st.

Sigh.

Well it's specs are outstanding atleast (Y580 with 8gigs, i7 and a 660m). First order of business is to uninstall all of the crapware on it when I boot it up for the first time.
Click to expand...

There is no bloatware, well they do have their software for the camera, one key recovery and some other minor crap but I deleted very little compared to my wife's dell. Also if you bought the Lenovo y580 from amazon like I did it took 1 day to get to me.
 
My IBM T41 is getting to the point where I need to replace it.

After IBM sold the laptop line to Lenovo, I've read horror stories about Lenovo's quality that make me avoid them. They also changed the Thinkpad's keyboard, from this year's iteration, and it looks like some trendy laptop that has "Thinkpad" slapped on there for . WTF makes it a Thinkpad now? The name? Lenovo, with this year's Thinkpad line, have ruined the Thinkpads.

If I am not mistaken... when IBM was selling laptops, they were being made at Lenovo's factories. I'm sure IBM demanded a certain level of quality from the product they put their name on.

When Lenovo bought the Thinkpad brand, they didn't care. They cut quality immediately, making their laptops feel flimsy and cheap feeling.

Also these new Thinkpads have the Lenovo logo ALL OVER THE LAPTOP. The IBM thinkpads just had IBM on the palm rest; subtle. Lenovo put their logo on the bottom of the lcd and the outside cover of the lcd. They are worried people will forget Lenovo made it? If the laptop is of good quality, the product will speak for itself and people will buy it.

Anyway, even if the laptops are made in the USA, if Lenovo wants the quality to be low, then they will be made to that standard. IBM had nice laptops and where were they made?
 
What in the world are you talking about?

The quality hasn't diminished at all. They still feel like a cinder block minus the weight. Sturdy as hell and takes a beating. The keyboard is still by far the best in the business, whether island style keys or not (btw, they went to island style keys because for keyboard backlighting it's a requirement). The thinkpads were always built by Lenovo and in China. The warranties are still handled by IBM in the US. The Thinkpad logo is on the palm rest and in the same spot on the back side of the LCD panel, but I suppose that's ALL OVER THE LAPTOP.

I love people who buy a product, don't buy it nor interact with it for the next 10 years then bring up a whole host of idiotic baseless claims to reinforce their whacked-out reason for not buying said product.

The sales figures seem to disagree with you, btw. Where HP and Dell are tumbling down a hill, Lenovo is sweeping up.
 
I love how people use the stupid "I love people who..." line to make their opinion seem more valid, when it's not.
 
oopspowsurprise said:
I love how people use the stupid "I love people who..." line to make their opinion seem more valid, when it's not.
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Maybe you're right, though. Perhaps nearly every single review of the ThinkPad line is wrong and their quality has, in fact, slipped. It could be that this ThinkPad I'm typing on has piss-poor quality as well. Granted, I can't see anything like that but maybe you need a trained eye like your own.

Or it could be that you're talking out of your ass.
 
pelo said:
Maybe you're right, though. Perhaps nearly every single review of the ThinkPad line is wrong and their quality has, in fact, slipped. It could be that this ThinkPad I'm typing on has piss-poor quality as well. Granted, I can't see anything like that but maybe you need a trained eye like your own.

Or it could be that you're talking out of your ass.
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Go read what I wrote the first time, again. You can't read.
 
Apple is in China because of the deal the Chinese government creates for them. Lenovo is in the US because the deal some State Government is making with them.
 
oopspowsurprise said:
Go read what I wrote the first time, again. You can't read.
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I did, yet every single review seems to disagree with you, wholeheartedly. In fact, I disagree with you too and I'm disagreeing with you on these "cheapened" ThinkPads.

People bitch and moan about everything. They moaned when Lenovo changed the keyboard but the same people love the backlighting... seriously? Are they that fucking stupid? Did they not bother to think, just for a second or two, in order to realize that the two must go together as backlighting on the traditional keyboard was impossible?

People claim the quality has decreased but don't EVER mention how or why (look at your post if you want an example). All the qualities that made the old ThinkPads great are still here: stainless steel hinges, tough plastic, rubber coating, magnesium roll cage, shock-resistant components, tested under various conditions, spill-proof keyboard, resistant to bumps and scratches, etc.

Furthermore, many of these reviewers have been reviewing thinkpads for generations. Don't you think they'd pick up on something as drastic as you've mentioned? Yet the overwhelming majority still love them.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/5/3451206/thinkpad-turns-20-ibm-lenovo-retrospective

You're like an old man sitting on his front porch yelling at those darned kids, saying things were different in his era. Nobody cares, and unless you've got something of value to contribute, please don't bother. You're just making yourself look like somewhat of a jackass.
 
Oh as to why HP and Apple don't build companies here. Environmental regulations are non existent in China. The area my coworker lived in was a cess pool. She couldn't believe how polluted their rivers and lakes were in Shandong Province.
 
Good for Lenovo, hopefully things will work out for them. It will make it a lot easier for me to pick up their products.
 
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