Another notable trend becomes clear when comparing brands. Here’s the list of nine different brands, ranked from most reliable to least, in terms of malfunction rate:

1. Asus
2. Toshiba
3. Sony
4. Apple
5. Dell
6. Lenovo
7. Acer
8. Gateway
9. HP

Looks like Asus‘ marketing department have a new talking point to advertise, while Apple has another reason to stick its nose up at Dell. I’m also sure Sony would like to mention being second in reliability while pimping its stylish VAIO lines.

The most depressing trend noted, while somewhat obvious, is still a bit depressing: From an average of 7.2% after 12 months of ownership, the average rate of “total failure” rises to 19.7% after 24 months, and steadily rises to 31% by the third year.

Great info from Squaretrade, relevant to makers and consumers alike. What I’d like to see though is a survey on the reliability of desktops. In any case, do you own a laptop? How reliable (or not) has it proven to be?

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Based in the US? Here are some promos from HP:

• Save up to $319 instantly on the NEW HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition Series Customizable Laptop PC!. Includes $200 instant rebate, FREE memory upgrade from 2GB to 3GB (-$30), FREE hard drive upgrade from 250GB to 320GB (-$40), and Save 50% on 4GB memory (-$20). From 10/25 to 10/28/2009.
• Save up to $209 instantly on the HP Pavilion dm3t Series Customizable Laptop PC!. Includes $150 instant rebate, and FREE memory upgrade from 2GB to 3GB (-$30). From 10/25 to 10/28/2009.
• Save up to $518 instantly on the NEW HP Pavilion Elite e9280t Series Customizable Desktop PC!. Includes $300 instant rebate, FREE 750GB hard drive upgrade (-$50), FREE 15-month Norton Internet Security subscription (-$49), and 35% off a 21.5-inch diagonal widescreen monitor (-$90). From 10/25 to 10/27/2009.
• Save up to $419 instantly on the NEW HP Pavilion Slimline s5280t Series Customizable Desktop PC!. Includes $250 instant rebate, FREE 640GB hard drive upgrade (-$50), and 35% off a 21.5-inch diagonal widescreen monitor (-$90). From 10/25 to 10/31/2009.

All HP promos also include free shipping (-$29), and are applicable only to US buyers. To those who buy Pavilion Elite e9280t, I’d uninstall Norton as soon as I can, as I’m not convinced of its benefits.

Lenovo UK ThinkPad and Accessory Promos

Obviously, the following promos only apply to UK buyers. They are active now, until Wednesday, October 28, 2009:

• 10% Off ThinkPad X301: ThinkPad X301 gives you the perfect balance of performance, portability and energy-efficiency. Use discount code AFF10X301 to avail.
• Extra 5% off all Lenovo ThinkPads: Get Extra 5% off all Lenovo Ultimate Business Tools, ThinkPad notebooks, with protection and performance just an upgrade away, with Intel technology. Use discount code AFFTALLTHINK5PC to avail.
• 10% off Any Options/Accessories: Get 10% off all Options/Accessories from the Lenovo UK website. Use discount code AFFOPTIONS to avail.

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To be quite honest, the so-called “promos” for the IdeaPad U Series are a bit pathetic, so let’s not waste words on that.

Discounts for the ThinkPad X Series look more promising however, featuring price cuts as high as £377.20!

Lenovo doesn’t promise as much generosity with its supremely high-end W700 series—known for the W700ds, a 17″ gargantuan featuring a slide-out 10.6″ secondary screen. And W700 mobile workstations aren’t really known for their affordability. Still, the highest discount of £223.42 is still pretty significant.

Another caveat: these promos are only available to UK residents, as Lenovo UK can’t ship out of… the UK. They last until September 24, 2009. In any case, here are the three promo pages for your perusal:

Lenovo IdeaPad U Series
Lenovo ThinkPad X Series
Lenovo ThinkPad W700 series

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Courtesy of Lenovo

The S10-2 will come in two variants: The $349 one features a 89%-sized keyboard, an Atom N270 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard disk, an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam, WiFi up to 802.11g, and a 6-cell battery, all running on Windows XP Home. The $399 variant has the same specs, but is 3G capable through an Ericsson transceiver. And yes, no Bluetooth is available on either build, if Lenovo’s publicity materials are correct.

Both variants will also feature a 10.1″ screen, a “multi-touch” touchpad, 3 USB 2.0 ports, and a 4-in-1 card reader. A most notable feature is VeriFace, which will supposedly recognize the user’s face as login credentials. Fingerprint readers are so 2008 indeed!

Somewhat uncharacteristic for Lenovo is the S-10 2’s availability in four colors: black, white, grey, and pink (the 3G version will only be available in black, and the pink looks more like lilac actually). Release of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2, according to the press release, is set for “this summer”.

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I’d probably take advantage of the promo if I needed a new laptop now, thanks to the 500+ discount on the W700, a really full-featured 17-inch desktop replacement). You know, the one with integrated tablet, and the quad-core processor, and if I’m not mistaken, a secondary display that slides out from behind the primary one.

To recap, you can get up to 20% off this Easter with Lenovo UK

(Images courtesy of Lenovo UK)

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Here’s our own special Star Trek related promo, as promised yesterday: get a chance to win the Star Trek Messenger bag pictured above!

So how can you enter?

Over the next week two weeks, just leave a comment here about the new Star Trek movie and what you think about it. Will it revive the currently moribund franchise? Or doom Gene Roddenberry’s creation for good?

Say whatever you want, just play nice, stay relevant, and please use your real email when you comment! Only US residents may participate, while comments received after 10:00 PM, March 21 (PST) will not be considered.

I will choose the best comment (based on my subjective judgment) and email its author for his or her delivery address. If for some reason I can’t declare my first pick as the winner (ineligibility, does not reply, etc.), I will move on to my next pick, and so on and so forth. Contest starts today; good luck!

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For Intel and Lenovo, the Star Trek franchise represents an opportunity to reach the geeky people. You know, the type who give a damn about CPUs and computing equipment. That’s why they’re raffling off access to:

• A trip for four to the Hollywood Premiere of the new Star Trek movie.
• A “zero gravity flight” for a group of four. That’s the trip where you all fly in a plane that climbs up then descends quickly, creating zero gravity conditions for you and friends to play around in.

The so-called New Frontiers Sweepstakes is only open to US residents, age 18 and above. Visit http://boldlygo.intel.com/newfrontiers to join.

Tomorrow, The Gadget blog will be holding its own special Star Trek related promo, thanks to Intel and Lenovo. Stay tuned dear readers!

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The manufacturer is promising at least 25% off on its laptops, setting an expiry for this September 15 to add some urgency to the offer. Check out the discount line-up here. ThinkPads may now sport a different brand, but the Chinese company has done a decent job of upholding the rugged business tradition of IBM, at least in our opinion. The X Series remains on the top of our list, thanks to its good mix of portability and power.

Now if only Lenovo can do away with that damn eraserhead.

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Let’s just get the Lenovo ThinkPad W700’s awesome specs out of the way, shall we?

• 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core mobile processor
• Up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM
• Nvidia Quadro FX 3700 chipset, with 1GB of video memory
• 17″ 1920 x 1200 pixel display
• Up to 960GB HDD (3 x 320GB)
• Built-in Wacom tablet
• Blu-Ray Player (burner optional)

Clearly for design-types, especially for those who like to calibrate their displays for color-matching purposes with the built-on color calibrator. The Wacom doesn’t hurt too, and let’s hope Lenovo has tucked the stylus somewhere in an easy-to-reach place.

Reader The Site Guy said it best: “its a f*cking frankenstein… they threw design out the window and pumped it up with steroids.” That’s why this monstrosity is barely a laptop, and who knows how long the battery will last? The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 will be out by September, and will start ata $2,978. So you’d better start saving! Check out what the rest of the world has to say:

Engadget | PC World | Gizmodo

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