I literally own a Lenovo laptop and I did not even *think* it was a Chinese brand. I've owned Realme and Xiaomi phones, and handled Huawei laptops, and I can assure you, no matter how subtle it is, Chinese products have their own "style" of designing their UI, whether through design choices or the custom software they add. Lenovo really feels like it was designed in the US or something.
@@nehcooahnait7827 who gives a fuck. As TechAltar said,it's better people don't know they are Chinese cause then people might be more apprehensive in buying their products
I worked for IBM where only ThinkPad was used for our daily work. I asked management why not other brands; I was told IBM owned 45% of Lenovo when ThinkPad merged and became Lenovo
@@johnroberts2905 ooh i believe you’re right but they switched in 2012 apparently. This is what it says on newegg. “Lenovo also assembles ThinkPad and ThinkCentre computers at a Whitsett, North Carolina manufacturing plant. The Chinese company opened this facility in 2012 for faster shipping to its US consumer base.”
They own a few percent of ZTE as well, and ZTE is not in a great position with sanctions. For BlackRock and Vanguard a singular company going up or down isn't really a focus.
There is some excellent information presented. What this fails to mention is that Lenovo was _the_ manufacturer for the IBM Thinkpad since it's inception. Basically, they were selling the product line to the contractor who manufactured it. This had some advantages, such as a much simplified handover. It's not like they just randomly sold it to Lenovo.
Also of note, the mention of them being a "systems integrator" rather than manufacturer was directly inherited from IBM. This was IBM's whole strategy for their desktop and notebook computers from the beginning, to buy products off the market and simply 'assemble' them rather than manufacturing _any part_ of their systems. It's how Microsoft (and by extension, Bill Gates) ended up creating something as core as their OS.
@@zeeninetynine sorry, I’ve been in this business for 30 years and this is very old news. I’m not going to look it up now. You can do your own research or choose to believe which you want. I’m simply stating facts.
@@zeeninetynine by the way, I did a quick search of who originally manufactured the IBM ThinkPad. There were dozens of links the fact that you couldn’t even bother to do such a simple search before resorting to asking me. My source shows me a laziness on your part that isn’t even worth addressing beyond this statement, I would actually make one other comment. Consider learning to do a little bit of basic research rather than just being argumentative.
Lenovo wasn't so small a player, nor lacking experience in the PC industry. They were the OEM for IBM's ThinkPad. Even by the mid 90s. Just as Foxconn has been Apple's OEM for decades. Foxconn was just a small OEM offering motherboards and daughterboards back then. Now a major manufacturing force.
I work in Europe for a very big American tech company and I was so surprised, when I found out that the only Windows laptop choice for employees was Chinese Lenovo ThinkPad. I would expect HP/Dell/Acer/ASUS, but no.
I work in IT at a medium size company ~1000 employees, and I can tell you that we love dealing with Lenovo here. Their customer service is superb, any problems that we might encounter in any of their products will be either fixed rapidly or the product will be replaced without them asking a lot of questions. My experience dealing with their customer service is very different from dealing with companies like HP, Toshiba or Dell... That's why if to choose a company to deal with, it will always be Lenovo and that's one of the main reasons that they're so successful
My PC is Lenovo, my Mobile is Motorola. Bought value mid-range products and they work so well I've not had to update for most of a decade. Very solid products.
Youre not exactly right about the superfish scandal and glazed over it a little too fast. Youre right in that it was a preinstalled piece of software, mainly attaching itself to web results, but the biggest problem was that it was injected into windows via the BIOS and would reinstall after a clean install of Windows. Now I dont think this was necessarily malicious as it was just selling software installation like a preloaded trial of MS Office or Norton, but what made it a huge security risk was the way Lenovo implemented it, making it a huge security risk for amyone with this revision of hardware. Lenovo arent the only ones to have done something like this but it deserves a little more explanation than a hand wave
@@timfreeeed most hp laptops today expose a fake device to the windows, and windows update pulls drivers for that device, which turns out to be "analytics services".
Yes- the comment about superfish was wildly off-base. The fact they've developed such software which re-installs from the UEFI should be terrifying to any security expert.
Slight correction: lenovo didn't take over IBMs server division but rather only their x86 server division, this is quite an important distinction as it means IBM powerPC servers are still manufactured, sold and supported entirely by IBM with no involvement of lenovo, and it's why many banks will go with IBM power for their servers
@@dongshengdi773In the end it's owned by chinese company. With all the sinophobia goin on, the question is why so many chinese companies' products selling normally in the US and not Huawei. Because Huawei holds 5G patents that the US wants badly, Trump made no secret he wants to acquire Huawei pre-pandemic. From then on, when Huawei didn't bite, things escalated to how it is today lol, from arresting the CEO of Huawei via Canada to today's trade wars.
I have used asus products, from mobile, gaming laptop, gaming headphones, monitor. The only thing that can be accepted is monitor. Gaming laptop and mobile have so much problems. Headphones dead after 1 year. I bought them because of low price. Next time, I won't buy anything from Asus for sure
It's ironic how you mention "you could just reinstall Windows" regarding SuperFish. You see, this malware was designed in a way that was integreted into BIOS/EUFI so even reinstalling Windows wouldn't help. From a zdnet article: "The engine, which resides in the computer's BIOS, replaces a core Windows system file with its own, allowing files to be downloaded once the device is connected to the internet." This piece of software was probably meant to be just some stupid adware, but due to the way it worked it basically destroyed encryption on your whole computer (It installed its own root certificate to MITM your web browser activity).
Exactly this .then again it would be very dumb on their part to think no one will find out considering the fact it's a Chinese company they've got all eyes on them so if their doing something shady someone will find out and that would be the end
This is technically true, but also very wrong. See the software of Superfish is a rootkit. And Windows Defender will remove it, as it is declared rootkit. The other thing - Superfish is not created by Lenovo, or China. It is US company, founded with capital from Israel. The software is adware. It is an attempt by Lenovo to make more money, like most companies do. It is not some spying operation. The failure made Lenovo use as clean installs as possible. So that Superfish affair actually made Lenovo computers better. They come with less bloatware than machines of other companies.
At 6:29 there is an error, it says "Riley, USA". I think it was supposed to be "Raleigh, USA", although it's really RTP (research triangle park) or more specifically a part of RTP that is in Morrisville, NC which is a suburb of Raleigh/Cary. That's a weird mistake to make.
One thing I was surprised about Lenovo was that when they bought Arrows Phone from Fujitsu, I was sure they would move production of Arrows Phones to China. But instead, Arrows came out with the latest phone called the N series and it was Made in Japan! Respect to Lenovo for being an understanding and strategic international company.
Their products are popular around the world. They own ThinkPad, IdeaPad, ThinkCentre, and IdeaCentre, which were once IBM brands (before IBM sold its computer division in 2005).
Lenovo is exactly the Chinese company that Americans want from China. Do all the low-level assembly, use all American-made components and don't invent or enhance. As you said, they are a "system integrator", that's no different from when IBM had it. All the US anti-china hate will go away if China would give up on AI, electric cars, and space exploration, and go back to being the cheap factory of the world. Essentially do what Japan did. That's why Lenovo can survive in today's geopolitics.
What a load of horse shit, US sinophobia exists because US capital interests are threatened by Chinese success, it doesn't matter what their product is, what matters is the the US corporate elite don't have control over it
The video I was waiting for. As a system administrator it is really hard to go past Lenovo from an enterprise perspective, this was a very entertaining history lesson and analysis, thank you for covering it.
I work in computer repair, we recommend Lenovo a lot due to it's reliability but I've always been a bit skeptical due to their Chinese ties. Still am, but this video did explain well why Lenovo isn't as much of a threat to privacy and the likes.
@@morgan40654 agreed, yeah I thought it did a great job of covering why it's public image in the tech sphere is so different to other prominent Chinese tech companies
I also bought a Legion 7i Pro this year and I absolutely love it. The building quality is more solid than other brands' products of this year. I switched over from the HP OMEN laptop by the way, and I have to say that it looks really flimsy and plastic compared to Legion.
One year has passed, is your Lenovo Legion laptop is still a good deal? I need to know because one day I would either purchase an Asus laptop or Lenovo laptop, because Samsung Galaxy Book laptops are never available in my home country.
@@Isaac-gh5ku I don't know if their current laptops are good deals but I am still very happy with my purchase, it runs black myth Wukong well on low settings If I were to buy a gaming laptop today I would still primarily be looking at Legion I have a gaming laptop but if we are talking non gaming than I would be interested in the ThinkPads and their yoga line Hopefully this info is useful to you
Just fyi: The name "Lenovo" is derived from the words "Le-" which stands for "Legend" and "-novo" which is a Latin word meaning "new." The name reflects the company's aspiration to create innovative and groundbreaking products while honoring its origins as a successful Chinese computer company, originally known as "Legend."
I didn't know about Lenovo being Chinese. I volunteer at a ewaste recycling place, and I fix a lot of stuff that comes in so we can resell it for super cheap, and I get a lot of lenovo stuff from different businesses and that, and what I can say about Lenovo is that their products really can be some of my favourites, because they have full guides on disassembly and repair of things like their all in one PCs, the lenovo products I have seen really feel like they support right of repair, when compared to other products I've seen that are downright almost impossible to open without almost destructive means. Apart from the weirdness of their chargers, which I will say are pretty much universal with all their products, unlike other companies that have 50 different chargers for each style of laptop, lenovo is a company that just really has nice products which I enjoy working with.
@@noahway13 Yep. State and Corporation should NEVER mix. Twitter was a warning to the world about how dystopian the merger between state and corporation can get. Lenovo being mostly seperate from the chinese government is good news. I still wish they had third party audits of their products. I love thinkpads to death but if anything, id rather be spied on by the Netherlands, Britain, or America, than I would by China. Atleast the EU isnt stealing my genetic data to make race-based biological weapons, all while enacting litteral nazi-era policies.
@iamofadeadinsideoof1181 Politics is interest in essence and exists whenever there is more than one person; thus, I agree, for it is a problem we can't avoid, only overcome. And this can only be done when both parties work accordingly (sometimes against their immediate interests)
This was such a great episode. Had always wondered why there was no crackdown on Lenovo. Wouldn’t have cared to look for myself. Thank you for solving the mystery for us.
The answer is actually really simple, it's not targeted/banned YET, because it's not as explosively successful as Huawei (and therefore not as high on the hit list). If/when it does, this guy'll be making another video "why Lenovo is banned by the US".
Lenovo is a sellout and clearly not a threat to the American hegemony so it's not banned. Who would even impose sanctions on an assembly factory with no technology?
Computerphile and Tom Scott did an excellent overview of superfish, the real issue there was that the software installed an insecure certificate authority in the root store of its Windows installs to insert ads by overcoming the SSL chain of trust I wouldnt call it "Chinese Spyware" as much as just "incompetent on its face / pure CVE"
Plus Superfish was only ever on a handful of consumer laptops. Tney wouldn't dare stick it on Enterprise machines as any large enterprise would drop them immediately.
Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations. President Jimmy Carter - Speech on Relations with China ua-cam.com/video/37azeXBjYJc/v-deo.html Don't be ignorant...🤔
Superfish was on the IdeaPad and YOGA lines (not the thinkpads) and would reinstall itself from the UEFI BIOS which means you can't simply reinstall the OS as the video seems to claim.
I've a Lenovo Thinkpad T430 and literally the best laptop I've ever had. Bought in 2013 and still keeping up to the task in 2023. Previously I had an HP and it died within 1 year of having it.
6 years ago I was in community college in wa state. One thing I have saw there where a lot Chinese students going for computer science, engineering, wide array of technical disciplines. Now I am not surprised at all. There building some nice stuff. Competition at its finest. America forgot one thing hard work makes a nation rich and powerful.
My very first laptop was an IBM ThinkPad back in the mid-2000s and is to this day still one of the best things I've ever owned. I've never had any real issues with any of the ThinkPads I've owned, they've all been some of the best laptops I've ever used, the best one so far being the ThinkPad T420. ThinkPads have always been my goto for PC laptops for years now, used ones from ex-corporate fleets can be a great value over most other cheap laptops. My T420 was dirt cheap as an ex-corporate laptop I bought a couple of years after it was built. That laptop served me and my father well for many years and I still have it in storage. With some upgrades to a quad-core i7 and 16GB of RAM it could still be competent today. I also work as an IT admin for an international corp who has standardized on Lenovo hardware to replace older Dell and HP hardware that was acquired during a merger of two companies, and they're so much better to manage and deploy than the HPs and definetely the Dells (the HPs are okay, but the Dells are seriously awful). We don't even need to wipe out the preloaded Windows image, the ThinkPads are bloat-free so that we can just enroll them into Azure AD as-is and they're fine. They're not perfect, especially the USB-C equiped models used soldered on USB-C ports which break easily, but from both a corporate and a personal perspective, the ThinkPad is still miles above anything else.
Having refurbished hundreds of computers with a team over 5 years, in my experience rolling out multiple Dell laptops simultaneously using SCCM was generally a fairly painless experience. They actually were the only ones with reliable templates, everything else you had to do on an individual basis.
I was so disappointed in the recent years by ASUS, DELL & HP PCs. It is hard to admit that now Lenovo PCs perform better & look greater. Only Microsoft Surface line can competes with Lenovo PC line in quality & beauty but not the price. 😮💨
Agreed. Working in Big Blue for 12 yrs, I've come across many of their Thinkpad series laptop. Now I'm in one of the biggest bank in US where they mainly using Dell, I can tell you, if is different. There's no robust feeling in Dell
I believe that the Superfish issue was in the BIOS and was not fixable by a reinstall of the OS. Further, my understanding is that Lenovo apologized when this was discovered and said that this would never happen again. Six months (?) later it was found again, and the US Fed Govt shut down use of Lenovo, and I believe depressed both sales and reputation in the US for at least a few years. I remember colleagues buying (for personal use) Lenovo workstation-class laptops because the value-for-money was very high (compared to HP and Dell) because of their reputation. While it would appear that Lenovo learned their lesson about the potential cost (US Fed Govt says "don't turn on any Lenovo computer again"), you brush over the Superfish issue as though it had been nothing.
Superfish exploited a feature of Windows that allowed platform specific software to be installed from a link stored in the BIOS. IIRC There was a workaround that involved creating a dummy file within /WIndows which made it think the software was already installed. They may have removed the Superfish link from later BIOS revisions.
Yeah it's quite obvious when he shills (whether he gets paid or not) for these mainland products (he literally worked for Oppo as a foreign marketer so its been his trade). I don't live in either country but not any trust worthy of the US government or Chinese government eitherway.
That Army officer concerned about an encrypted chip in a Lenovo laptop must be on his first IT assignment. There's an encrypted chip in every new PC. On Apple it's called Secure Enclave, on other brands its called Trusted Platform Module and is required by Microsoft. TPM was derived from a co-processor originally developed by ARM, a British company owned largely by a Japanese company, no Chinese companies involved.
@@bened22 The chip has a processor and storage. The processor encrypts keys and stores them in the memory. If the hidden serial number of the motherboard and processor match what the chip expects it will also decrypt what is in the storage. All happens on the same chip.
Lenovo is number one for the open source operating platform Linux, with it's ThinkPad. These days you will have a problem to installing Linux on any PC because of driver incompatibility. ThinkPad is made for Linux and it runs great on it.
So far i think the only other real enterprise/business laptops out there are the elitebook and latitude from HP and Dell but the Thinkpad is still in a league of its own. It's got things like its keyboard with more ergonomic keycaps that no one else in the market has. Getting the thinkpad from IBM has to be one of the best acquisitions Lenovo has ever made.
Fujitsu Lifebook is also still relevant. It's also one of the few that still has a proper docks that links through the laptop bottom instead of over usb-c.
@@cryptocsguy9282 in the US, they are worked with primarily businesses, schools, medical.... for the most part it has more to do about their docks and security than anything.. well school is more about colleges but i think that is some sort of kickback brother was frustrated his major made him buy a fujitsu laptop when his worked better
@@cryptocsguy9282 I sell laptops in the UK... Fujitsu is a second tier brand here but they have had models in every class for decades from budget to high performance workstation. There was also Toshiba who at one point were the absolute market leaders but they just fell off a cliff. I think the problem for mid-ranking major brands these days is that even the most basic laptop is "good enough" for consumers,so those built to a price will win market share on Price alone and those who need security, multimedia or other performance gains will still feel the need to buy Dell, HP and Mac lenovo have the brand recognition and they beat HP and Dell and Mac on price in their particular pricepoint
My dad works for my country's military, and for their computer needs, they partnered with Lenovo. When I visit my dad's workplace, I noticed that they use Lenovo products ranging from PCs (ThinkCentre), keyboards, mouse, to laptops (ThinkPad & IdeaPad). It's quite surprising, to be honest.
Im American and I noticed the same lol. Lenovo everything. IBM was braindead when it went thru with the whole sale. But in some way, letting their PC business branch off as essentially its own company, was a genius idea.
I am Chinese and have been using Lenovo computers for many years. In fact, when Chinese people mention Lenovo nowadays, the emotions are quite complex. In the previous era, when I was young, Lenovo represented a Chinese technology brand and was a source of pride for the Chinese people. But in recent years, it has been leaning more towards the United States. The same model of computer is much more expensive in China compared to the United States, and there are often news reports in the online media about Lenovo's top management transferring technology and assets to the United States. Lenovo's image among the Chinese public is not good now, and it has a nickname called "美帝良心想" , which means that it is a conscience-driven company of American imperialism. In other words, it has become a traitor to China.
Thanks for the info, very interesting. I hope our governments don't trick the people into worse situation! Peace is what the greatest majority of us want.
Very interesting episode. I just love thinkpads at work, and I work as production engineer. My thinpads hit the floor, oil and dirt, are carried from one place to another for the whole day and they just work. No issues. Used HP elite Z books and whatnot. They dont stand a chance.
I remember when IBM sold their thinkcenter servers to lenovo. They lost a lot of clients due to their support problems. IBM had great support for desktops and X86 servers. IBM kept their non intel servers in house and still make lots of money.
The support for Lenovo products goes true IBM. I know because thats what I do. Lenovo doesnt have its own support stucture (tehnically) for enterprise products , just deckstops. They have Primer and Product engineering but everything else goes true IBM.
Here where I live, IBM owns the company that do the support for thinkpads and other brands too. Lenovo customer service is premium, at least the thinkpad division. Dell is a pain!
Lenovo is trusted. They have proven their trust time and time again. They make good products. And they have been in the game for a long long time. And it's probably why they're still successful in North America.
I was so disappointed in the recent years by ASUS, DELL & HP PCs. It is hard to admit that now Lenovo PCs perform better & look greater. Only Microsoft Surface line can competes with Lenovo PC line in quality & beauty but not the price. 😮💨
Lenovo is somewhat sanctioned. Back in mid 2000's the department of defense banned them because they had spyware on it. Hasnt stopped other agencies from buying them though. With the biggest story being the army buying some laptops a few years ago despite the ban/review.
Yea, my last 2 laptops have been lenovos, less gamebreaking issues than HP (constant overheating and regular OS corruption), more weird ones (weird, unsupported parts), with better price to performance, but now I'll be saving up for a framework
A security guy told me the Lenovos had CPUs with altered firmware and they were prohibited from using them. That was quite a few years ago, probably all companies doing that now.
Havent watched the video yet but there was a yearly rotation of the laptops that would be provided and it switched between Lenovo and dell or hp. After a few years that stopped as the thinkpad build quality and warranty support was just so much better. Everyone who did not get a Lenovo eventually ended up with one because their first laptop would break within 5 years. Mine is still going 9 years later. Sure some would break, but some not nearly all as with the other brands.
There's also that they're from Hong Kong, which was politically separate from China until very recently when China decided the majority of representatives are now unelected and chosen by the CCP
Because Lenovo is just a brand, they basically do not develop equipment programs, they only buy patented assembled computers and sell them under the brand, their business methods are well known in Chinese
@@My_Old_YT_Account Did we watch the same video ? They're based in Beijing, China, and all of their founders were from a State backed institution, Chinese Academy of the Sciences. They were only ipo'd in Hongkong in order to get easier access to foreign capital.
@@My_Old_YT_Account Also HK's leaders are not directly chosen (approving candidates is different) by the central government. Never have, probably never will as long as HK has a "border" with Shenzhen. Partial-democracy was only enacted 5 years before the 97 by the British (Out of spite I presume), who had been dictating the territory for a century, half-way around the world. Other than the recent massive reduction in freedom of speech and half of the legislature being voted in by business interests (A British policy), both of which I do not agree with, everything you said is false.
I will always love these types of videos. I hope there are more people who are curious about a company's history, business model, practices, shenanigans, etc. It's not to glorify and idolize them but to learn from them, even if you are not neccessarily building your own business.
ISN'T IT TELLING... That at the time of the ban on Huawei, Huawei had JUST become NUMBER 1 in WORLDWIDE phone sales charts BEATING APPLE and SAMSUNG... But yet... The reasons given was "security concerns etc etc because they are linked to the CCP". HOWEVER... THERE WAS NO BAN on Oppo, OnePlus, Unihertz, Lenovo/Motorola, TCL, Doogee, Xiaomi (a MASSIVE company making ALL SORTS of electronic devices/gadgets etc), Poco, Vivo, ZTE, Infinix etc etc... WHO ARE ALL Chinese companies THAT HAVE TIES to the CCP (Chinese Govt) in various minor/modicum ways! EVERY COMPANY in China HAS A LINK in various forms to the CCP, it's just Chinas way of doing things! NOTE: Even companies like Temu, iWish and others like them!! Hence you can buy a £/$1 dollar item and get free shipping etc! (There ARE videos explaining this how the online retailers & delivery companies claim moneys back from the Govt etc (there's a link to the USPS too if memory serves) - Check out the 'Serpentza' - 'How the hell can China ship for free to your door??!?' video). So, the question is:- IF there were security concerns about the big company Huawei, then WHY NOT ALSO BAN THE OTHERS TOO (especially Lenovo/Motorola & Xiaomi as they REALLY ARE BIG companies)???? 'Sepentza' channel will show you A LOT of VERY REVEALING information on Chinas strange, deluded and often VILE practices (in general AND to their own peoples!) - like painting trees/crops/pigs, 'Spit fighting' and a whole lot more... 😒 To me, I think it was ALL BULLSH!T !! Huawei were SERIOUSLY INNOVATIVE. Their Camera systems were LEADING the phone manufacturer market (P30 Pro/P40 pro etc etc), look how they are with their foldable tech now, showing Samsung a thing or two!!! Google REALLY WANTED to WORK WITH Huawei (and visa versa), there was BILLIONS lost in the closures/rearrangements in the chip/phone manufacturing/parts supply/delivery/etc processes (TMC and such LOST OUT BIG STYLE with cancelled contracts). And WE... THE CONSUMER... LOST OUT to some SERIOUSLY BRILLIANT INNOVATIVE and CREATIVE products that ALSO WOULD HAVE kept the likes of Apple AND Samsung on their toes, and maybe... Just maybe... MIGHT have kept silly prices from skyrocketing with a HEALTHY competition/possible price war.... The D!CKHEADS in the U.S. Govts REEEEAAAALLLY SCREWED THE POOCH ON THIS ONE!!!! 😠😠😠😡😡😡 😎🇬🇧
I’ve been using a Lenovo Legion laptop for almost 5 years and had no idea it was a Chinese company. I had a vague recollection of the IBM acquisition in ‘04, but apparently I had misunderstood that story from the beginning - I’d always thought that Lenovo was simply spun off from IBM at that time. I thought the Lenovo name was just a rebranding of IBM’s Thinkpad division.
I think the reason Lenovo is so popular is that they bought and kept IBM's design, and they still have the best laptop keyboards. Nothing beats a ThinkPad T-series for office work purposes. Had Lenovo made their own design and brand, they would never have had a chance, no matter how good they were. I remember going from IBM ThinkPads to Lenovo ThinkPads. Another ting is that they bought IBM's desktop and laptop brands at a time when there wasn't the same distrust of China, I think that plays a big role too.
@@jasonchan5504 mine hasn’t, it’s with the Ctrl outside the Fn key, I just compared mine with a HP and a Dell, and the Fn and Ctrl keys are placed the same on my Lenovo 🤷🏻♂️
Well, Lenovo bought the IBM PC business, it is basically a PC assembler, using parts and chips from the US. Same is XiaoMi. Unlike Huawei, who is ahead of US tech company in some area, like 5G chip and mobile chip design.
Besides Lenovo headquartered in USA and registered as a US company. It is no longer a Chinese company although its branch office in China is the largest.
There is one crucial aspect that you left out. Lenovo, after buying IBM's Thinkpad line, has jacked up the selling price of its laptops, no matter the Thinkpad line or its original legend line products, in China domestic market. At the same time it dropped the Thinkpad price drastically in the market outside China. Folks in my age probably remember that Thinkpad from IBM used to be twice as expensive as Dell or HP. Lenovo was heavily criticized by industry leaders in China by making a large profit in China and using it to subsidize those outside of China. Its image in China is not a great one.
One thing that must be said is that when buying Lenovo stuff treat it as though it is 2 separate companies. There is the 'Think' line with is premium but they have excellent customer service and wonderful build quality. Then there is the everything else where it isn't so great. If you go for Thinkpads for instance, usually top notch devices.
We have tried a number of Lenovo devices and they have all been great quality. In the past we have had quality issues with Acer, Apple and even Dell, but have never had an issue with Lenovo. We have monitors, laptops, desktops and tablets and they are always great quality.
I was so disappointed in the recent years by ASUS, DELL & HP PCs. It is hard to admit that now Lenovo PCs perform better & look greater. Only Microsoft Surface line can competes with Lenovo PC line in quality & beauty but not the price. 😮💨
@@mrmo3379 I absolutely get it, they can be great but when things go wrong it is clear there is a big difference. For instance, the Thinkpad side will over night pre-paid return postage for your stuff if anything goes wrong but with the other stuff it can be a lot longer. This is not to say Lenovo is bad, just that they have a schizoid kind of state. Seeing as I have nothing but Lenovo laptops, clearly I am not that put off. Still better than almost everyone else.
I'm using Lenovo product since 2014 starting with an entry level phone followed by lower end laptop on the same year. 6 years later I brought another laptop from Lenovo. It is the most durable laptop compared to other brands like Acer, HP and others.
Thanks for the video, it was fascinating to learn about the background of this company. I needed a new laptop for university & work. I’ve had a Dell laptop for over a decade and it’s starting to show its age, despite its heavy use and maintenance. It’s interesting that the big name brands such as HP and Dell have been dethroned as the best by lesser known companies such as ASUS and Lenovo. In the end I got an ASUS, it has worked wonders.
The Indians from India said that they are leading the world in terms of technology but I can't find any technological products from India that is even worth mentioning 😆
Watching this on my Lenovo Legion laptop & learning some interesting facts. I always knew Lenovo was a Chinese brand but I had no idea Blackrock had such a significant stake in the company.
Bought a 2nd hand Thinkpad 2018 model in mid 2022, still runs like solid new! Only had to upgrade the RAM from 8 to 16 cause W10 eas eating up almost 4.5GB ram normally. Otherwise, still satisfied, no issue with display, keyboard or anything else....
I had wondered about this too, why Lenovo wasn't sanctioned but I knew it's because their consumer electronics division is just taken over from IBM & Motorola which are brands the American government trusts & has worked with for many years. IBM & Motorola selling off their consumer electronics division was a mistake & both selling off their microelectronics divisions was also a mistake 🤦🏿
Sounds similar to how Volvo was sold to China too. People are really positive about China back then. The oppurtunities for open cooperation was massive. But ever since Jiang Zemin was ousted and replaced with Xi, its been downhill ever since. Cant trust a country who runs staterun intitiatives to steal your trade secrets.
To be fair Motorola was originally sold to Google with the thought they would be able to take advantage of the economies of scale in both being a software and hardware manufacturer, like Apple. Except, Google being the incompetent company they are, instead sold it after just 2 years…even though Motorola was cranking out its best phones ever at that point. Lots of ahead of it’s time ideas. It’s crazy Google makes so much money from advertising they can make the absolutely dumbest decisions time after time, like selling Motorola for a fraction because it wanted to hold onto patents Moto had in which the company never used and have since expired… I still want a Lapdock phone again :(
@@jonathanpusar5931 I had the successor of Moto Cube just before Google buying Motorola. It was a great phone. It was like 2010. The updates made it better than when new due to even cleaner Android. Stolen after 2 years. About 2016 I bought a Moto G5 made in Brazil (I think). Quite after google sailing Motorola, probably a google project. Also a great phone. Battery used to last a week when new, 2 days after something like FIVE years of use. The Android was even cleaner at the begging, but apps didn't keep working lightweight after later updates, but still better than a current-days Moto E. Also stolen a year ago. Probably it is still working. Despite Google not being the owner I think they kept making a cleaner Android than average, what is great. I hate Samsung, Apple, and Apple-like user interfaces. Xiaomi is well customizable, but Motorola wins at simplicity.
Fascinating analysis! A lot about Lenovo's inner workings that I didn't previously know. One correction: Superfish was nastier than you describe... if you wiped and reinstalled Windows fresh, it would still install itself using the Windows Platform Binary Table -- basically a backdoor in the BIOS that was *intended* to install stuff like drivers or enterprise management software. Lenovo eventually backed down, but it was sketchy af, and I never trusted them again.
This video feels like something a Chinese agent would make. The way he handwavingly dismissed and try to downplay and discredit this and the other allegation by the high ranking military officer, is very, very suspicious.
I keep recommending to my friends and acquaintances if they're buying a budget laptop with decent specs a refurbished Lenovo Laptop especially the T Series business lineup because of how durable their hardware, repairable to even consumers can disassemble and reassemble them with enough knowledge and their vast selection of spare part still available online.
Their marketing leaders are doing a great job. It feels like a young, vibrant company while still keeping to the old designs and ideas. I really like the red square logo.
Lenovo was caught by multiple allied intel agencies back in 2011. Lenovo was knowingly and admittedly placing rootkits in their bios chips that would allow them to remote access the entire computer at any time they pleased. Security Software couldn't block this due to the rootkit having a legitimate DLS. A lot of companies and private companies in the US use Lenovo desktops and laptops. To say this is a huge national security threat would be a massive understatement.
@@monkeyking-self-proclaimed7050 Never said anything about the recent balloon incident. Major competitive allies and advisories alike constantly conduct espionage on each other.
I really enjoy your videos but I disagree with the standpoint of saying that "if somehow [a spyware] would be installed you could just reinstall Windows", it seems like you're implying that it's nothing to worry about since you could fix it yourself by reinstalling the operating system. I would argue that the intent matters and that if you're going to buy systems from a company, especially in the context of system integrators and providers for state agencies, it has better come with a clean installation of the OS. Whether the source is correct as to the "Superfish" software or not, it is at the very least concerning when it comes to the trust that can be placed in the company. I know for certain that for procurement, some of us are on the lookout for these kind of concerns and we have stopped recommending these companies in tenders, simply put because whether they use standardised parts or not, totalitarian state stakes in private entities, especially in ICT, can only mean trouble in the long run. Chinese owned brands of phones, desktop software and mobile apps, hardware, services and cloud service providers have almost all shown that they cannot be trusted. For the few that can, how worth is the risk to you? The primacy of the parent's company interest is explicitly stated on their website, as showcased in the video; "the mission of serving the nation". All in all, just because you can reinstall the operating system to be stock and run on clean hardware doesn't mean it's right for it to have spyware installed and shipped to you in the first place. As far as I'm concerned, companies, wherever theyr are should steer clear of Chinese companies and their services and products.
Lenovo nickname in China: a company treat US great (美帝良心想). Cause same model product in US is always cheaper than in China even if it is a Chinese company.
I'd always knew Lenovo was a chinese company but the main distinction was that you never got a sense that the brand was a chinese brand. Rather it distinguish itself solely on categories. For example, the Legion laptops are ubiquitous now for gaming, same goes with thinkpad workstations. They have consistently tried to implement their own cool ideas rather than slapping a huge "China's promise" on the back and making people be more wary of what kind of brand it is. It kinda just did its own thing and remained lowkey.
No Chinese company slaps anything other than the brand and where the product was manufactured, which is standard even for Apple products made in China. You'd only think so if you were brainwashed with anti-Chinese sentiments.
Huawei wqs trying to aim for no.1 spot against usa best selling phone company in terms of sales i guess which is an insta no for usa market shareholders
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@@tomojagooriginal622 I used MacBook, totally MacBook is very good laptop, but I will always recommend Lenovo to every one including my clients as better option
I don't really care it's Chinese company or not. I just want the quality of the products. So far Lenovo is very impressive unlike any other Chinese products.
I was so disappointed in the recent years by ASUS, DELL & HP PCs. It is hard to admit that now Lenovo PCs perform better & look greater. Only Microsoft Surface line can competes with Lenovo PC line in quality & beauty but not the price. 😮💨
Very well done, I remember the Lenovo/IBM deal and that Lenovo was basically Chinese but had no idea how broadly international they were. I'm still a little confused about Motorola Mobility vs. Motorola as a whole though..maybe you can do a Motorola history?
On 29th January 2014 , Google announced the sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion. motorala was a loss making company earlier and it had an ample amount off carried forward losses. Google used those by setting off the losses with its profit here you have your answer
I've had laptops from several different manufacturers (Dell, Acer, Toshiba, HP, Lenovo). Hands down the ThinkPad is my favorite. I love the build quality, the design, the weight, the relatively slim size, and the fact that it is possible to order a motherboard with changeable components rather than built in. As just one example of build quality, the hinges are metal rather than plastic. A ThinkPad will be my next laptop as well. Having said all that, I suspect that MacBooks are superior, but I need to be on Windows.
oh man our office ThinkPads were indestructible bricks. I still have a six year old G series running on Linux for personal use and a windows based idea pad right now and that's quite good as the think pads as well, but without the certifications.
Macbooks are definitely superior, and no chance any windows laptop can come close to macbook in terms of performance-weight ratio. The have the best hinge in the business (on the same level as microsoft surface laptop).
Lenovo is headquartered in North Carolina its about as Chinese as Telegram is Russian is a good example. Yes the people in charge are a different nationality but if theyre running the business from another country and don't agree with their govts its not the same thing. That's not including all the investors of Lenovo which are American.
I never understood why IBM went away just like that... But I'm okay with it. Lenovo is just amazing, especially on the Think series of products. Also, Motorola: One of the best, innovative phones I've used so far. With LG gone, and Sony charging a lot for its phones, Motorola is the one left that gives you something else to try.
The accusations against Huawei are also strangeness. It would be incredibly difficult to try to use all those random devices out there for hacking. You'd likely need some kind of nearly local access to identify which devices are in an interesting place and might have access to interesting data... And then you mostly can't send the data directly back to China or any strange domain, or you'll get caught... And getting caught at Huawei's scale would be disastrous. It's just not worth it for Huawei to try such things - despite the accusations against them.
Huawai has stolen technology then reproduced the product to compete in the market. Huawai is not "random devices'. Talking core networking infrastructure. The kind of infrastructure that makes attack vectors like route hijacking even easier than it is today, and harder to stop should the hardware be leveraged for such an attack.
@@Look_What_You_Did The point is... Let's say you're selling routers that can be compromised. First, most data is encrypted during communication. So you can't do anything with it. If there were unencrypted data, you would need a processor to identify that the content is useful, and then you'd need to use your internet connection to send that data to one of your own servers. Except that you have no way to know if the network activity is being monitored - especially at a secure facility... Which means that there's a high chance that you're going to get caught if your device steals info from any secure location. Is it worth it for a multi-billion dollar business to engage in such risky espionage tactics? What would you gain in the short amount of time til you get caught? Not to mention that any device that is physically in someone else's hands, can be hacked into and analyzed... And you pretty much have to assume that if your tech ends up in the NSA's hands, that they can identify any trickery you've tried to embed in your system. At most, you could try espionage in "very rare" cases by outright swapping out a key chip... Provided you were sure of who was going to receive said device ahead of time... Because that way, you also at least have some chance at plausible deniability that someone else had replaced your chip. ... There's also the problem that most advanced chips aren't actually made in China. You'd just pass the chip design to something like TSMC. Which creates another vector for law enforcement to embarrass you if you do something stupid. The anti-Huawei rhetoric sounds like the anti-TikTok rhetoric... More a collection of fears than realistic threats. "The Chinese government could gain access to people's data"... As much as the US government can force info out of Google etc. It's not worth the trouble for the Chinese government to try to monitor Americans' TikTok usage - at the risk of pointlessly endangering successful Chinese businesses. Much of TikTok's security issues were just that they had grown big really fast, and hadn't cared about security early on (similar to problems that Facebook had)... Which is something they've put a lot of effort into rectifying - including adding outside (American) watchdogs to help prove that they are being transparent. But the political bias towards them remains the same. The government's style is very like if ancient lords were fighting over land or some other resource, rather than trying to get along and build better global systems.
I needed this video as I've pushed my org to switch to Lenovo several years ago but with rising tensions in China I've always wondered if it was a mistake 😅
The US created this concept of "security" to rationalize their desire to boycott Chinese tech products. There's a ton of American tech products on the market, can we be sure that they aren't a security threat?
I worked at Best Buy when I discovered they are Chinese. I did not advertise their computers and they only had one sale from me. Their computers were not price competitive to the DELL and HP machines anyways so it was no problem
I admit I didn't realize Lenovo was a chinese company.
I thought it was Japanese like Epson. Even my laptop is an ideapad
I literally own a Lenovo laptop and I did not even *think* it was a Chinese brand.
I've owned Realme and Xiaomi phones, and handled Huawei laptops, and I can assure you, no matter how subtle it is, Chinese products have their own "style" of designing their UI, whether through design choices or the custom software they add.
Lenovo really feels like it was designed in the US or something.
That is disappointing to hear 😒 shocking that none of you knew
@@nehcooahnait7827 who gives a fuck. As TechAltar said,it's better people don't know they are Chinese cause then people might be more apprehensive in buying their products
It’s headquarters is in Hong Kong
I worked for IBM where only ThinkPad was used for our daily work. I asked management why not other brands; I was told IBM owned 45% of Lenovo when ThinkPad merged and became Lenovo
Used to own...IBM divested completely in 2011
ThinkPads are still made in the US. Thinkbooks are Chinese made. That rule is slowly fading after pandemic tho unfortunately
@@kennwin Hmm, not sure on that one. EMEA ThinkPads have been manufactured in China since at least 2005!
@@johnroberts2905 ooh i believe you’re right but they switched in 2012 apparently. This is what it says on newegg.
“Lenovo also assembles ThinkPad and ThinkCentre computers at a Whitsett, North Carolina manufacturing plant. The Chinese company opened this facility in 2012 for faster shipping to its US consumer base.”
He said legend is largest shareholder at 35% so IBM can't be 45% obviously
Blackrock has 5.1% share. This alone might be the reason why Lenovo is not under any US pressure still
Learn about what passive manegment is
They own a few percent of ZTE as well, and ZTE is not in a great position with sanctions. For BlackRock and Vanguard a singular company going up or down isn't really a focus.
It's only a matter of time I think
As if 5% is really that important. That’s nothing.
@@abdiganiaden 5% in hardware business is excellent. Those are real asset, product and sure revenue. It is not some social media with inflated value.
There is some excellent information presented. What this fails to mention is that Lenovo was _the_ manufacturer for the IBM Thinkpad since it's inception. Basically, they were selling the product line to the contractor who manufactured it. This had some advantages, such as a much simplified handover. It's not like they just randomly sold it to Lenovo.
Also of note, the mention of them being a "systems integrator" rather than manufacturer was directly inherited from IBM. This was IBM's whole strategy for their desktop and notebook computers from the beginning, to buy products off the market and simply 'assemble' them rather than manufacturing _any part_ of their systems. It's how Microsoft (and by extension, Bill Gates) ended up creating something as core as their OS.
Wow that is new info...would have never have guessed
Really? Source?
@@zeeninetynine sorry, I’ve been in this business for 30 years and this is very old news. I’m not going to look it up now. You can do your own research or choose to believe which you want. I’m simply stating facts.
@@zeeninetynine by the way, I did a quick search of who originally manufactured the IBM ThinkPad. There were dozens of links the fact that you couldn’t even bother to do such a simple search before resorting to asking me. My source shows me a laziness on your part that isn’t even worth addressing beyond this statement, I would actually make one other comment. Consider learning to do a little bit of basic research rather than just being argumentative.
Lenovo wasn't so small a player, nor lacking experience in the PC industry. They were the OEM for IBM's ThinkPad. Even by the mid 90s. Just as Foxconn has been Apple's OEM for decades. Foxconn was just a small OEM offering motherboards and daughterboards back then. Now a major manufacturing force.
So then Lenovo ThinkPad is equivalent to a Foxconn iPhone
Trash. You just make the simple components and assemble. Chips are not made in China. The actual capable components
IBM sold its hardware business to the Chinese after the GFC. Earlier it used to be IBM Thinkpad.
@@terryjones9784As far as I know, Lenovo's laptops in China are OEMed by Taiwan's Compal.
I work in Europe for a very big American tech company and I was so surprised, when I found out that the only Windows laptop choice for employees was Chinese Lenovo ThinkPad.
I would expect HP/Dell/Acer/ASUS, but no.
Well hp is often overpriced, all my friends that uses dell and asus seems to always have problems, and acer is... acer.
well you said it, you work in Europe, they do not serve every US interest out there, pcs can be chinese, korean or from wherever.
And remember what reputation have thinkpads here.
HP Inc extinction! Hopefully! HP is worst! HP Inc deserve extinction!
I work in IT at a medium size company ~1000 employees, and I can tell you that we love dealing with Lenovo here. Their customer service is superb, any problems that we might encounter in any of their products will be either fixed rapidly or the product will be replaced without them asking a lot of questions. My experience dealing with their customer service is very different from dealing with companies like HP, Toshiba or Dell... That's why if to choose a company to deal with, it will always be Lenovo and that's one of the main reasons that they're so successful
My PC is Lenovo, my Mobile is Motorola. Bought value mid-range products and they work so well I've not had to update for most of a decade. Very solid products.
Lenovo pcs are 💩💩💩 worst quality
@@B21_raider dell, hp, lenovo all pre built pc are shit
@@B21_raider no
@@B21_raider wait for HP plastic case
@@B21_raider have you not used thinkpad before
Youre not exactly right about the superfish scandal and glazed over it a little too fast. Youre right in that it was a preinstalled piece of software, mainly attaching itself to web results, but the biggest problem was that it was injected into windows via the BIOS and would reinstall after a clean install of Windows.
Now I dont think this was necessarily malicious as it was just selling software installation like a preloaded trial of MS Office or Norton, but what made it a huge security risk was the way Lenovo implemented it, making it a huge security risk for amyone with this revision of hardware.
Lenovo arent the only ones to have done something like this but it deserves a little more explanation than a hand wave
this is still 100% relevant today, disguised as security tool with Absolute® for example
@@timfreeeed most hp laptops today expose a fake device to the windows, and windows update pulls drivers for that device, which turns out to be "analytics services".
Yes- the comment about superfish was wildly off-base. The fact they've developed such software which re-installs from the UEFI should be terrifying to any security expert.
@@timfreeeed Nonsense. It's Anti-theft technology from an American company.
@@Madwonk Not only that Lenovo afterwards had at least 2 more similar security scandals with secretly installing rootkits.
Slight correction: lenovo didn't take over IBMs server division but rather only their x86 server division, this is quite an important distinction as it means IBM powerPC servers are still manufactured, sold and supported entirely by IBM with no involvement of lenovo, and it's why many banks will go with IBM power for their servers
That’s actually what he says at 8:02
No worries tho
@@anonemoose7777Lenovo is NOT Chinese, 联想。
It's actually IBM computers that a Chinese company bought
@@dongshengdi773In the end it's owned by chinese company. With all the sinophobia goin on, the question is why so many chinese companies' products selling normally in the US and not Huawei. Because Huawei holds 5G patents that the US wants badly, Trump made no secret he wants to acquire Huawei pre-pandemic. From then on, when Huawei didn't bite, things escalated to how it is today lol, from arresting the CEO of Huawei via Canada to today's trade wars.
what you said is not really true about bank but ok.
I have used asus products, from mobile, gaming laptop, gaming headphones, monitor. The only thing that can be accepted is monitor. Gaming laptop and mobile have so much problems. Headphones dead after 1 year.
I bought them because of low price.
Next time, I won't buy anything from Asus for sure
Lenovo has been in business for 30+ years. You people have been living under a rock.
12:33 No, you could not! The software was built into the BIOS and automatically installed when you installed Windows.
It's ironic how you mention "you could just reinstall Windows" regarding SuperFish. You see, this malware was designed in a way that was integreted into BIOS/EUFI so even reinstalling Windows wouldn't help.
From a zdnet article: "The engine, which resides in the computer's BIOS, replaces a core Windows system file with its own, allowing files to be downloaded once the device is connected to the internet."
This piece of software was probably meant to be just some stupid adware, but due to the way it worked it basically destroyed encryption on your whole computer (It installed its own root certificate to MITM your web browser activity).
Exactly this .then again it would be very dumb on their part to think no one will find out considering the fact it's a Chinese company they've got all eyes on them so if their doing something shady someone will find out and that would be the end
This is technically true, but also very wrong. See the software of Superfish is a rootkit. And Windows Defender will remove it, as it is declared rootkit. The other thing - Superfish is not created by Lenovo, or China. It is US company, founded with capital from Israel. The software is adware. It is an attempt by Lenovo to make more money, like most companies do. It is not some spying operation. The failure made Lenovo use as clean installs as possible. So that Superfish affair actually made Lenovo computers better. They come with less bloatware than machines of other companies.
Intel Management Unit doesn't care about operating system, only your IP address to take over your PC. 😢😢😢😢
@@mrkitty777 IME is a computer within a computer system, it is required for the system to even operate. No different from BIOS
@@donkey1271 LibreBoot disables Intel Management Unit, they consider Intel Management Unit an exploitable trojan.
At 6:29 there is an error, it says "Riley, USA". I think it was supposed to be "Raleigh, USA", although it's really RTP (research triangle park) or more specifically a part of RTP that is in Morrisville, NC which is a suburb of Raleigh/Cary. That's a weird mistake to make.
One thing I was surprised about Lenovo was that when they bought Arrows Phone from Fujitsu, I was sure they would move production of Arrows Phones to China. But instead, Arrows came out with the latest phone called the N series and it was Made in Japan! Respect to Lenovo for being an understanding and strategic international company.
Their products are popular around the world. They own ThinkPad, IdeaPad, ThinkCentre, and IdeaCentre, which were once IBM brands (before IBM sold its computer division in 2005).
And the Legion lineup of gaming laptops (which was founded long after that acquisition, and so was IdeaPad apparently)
Lenovo is exactly the Chinese company that Americans want from China. Do all the low-level assembly, use all American-made components and don't invent or enhance. As you said, they are a "system integrator", that's no different from when IBM had it. All the US anti-china hate will go away if China would give up on AI, electric cars, and space exploration, and go back to being the cheap factory of the world. Essentially do what Japan did. That's why Lenovo can survive in today's geopolitics.
Good Assessment.
China is a threat bud.
What a load of horse shit, US sinophobia exists because US capital interests are threatened by Chinese success, it doesn't matter what their product is, what matters is the the US corporate elite don't have control over it
bingo
This is the correct answer for Lenovo not blacklisted by the U.S.
The video I was waiting for. As a system administrator it is really hard to go past Lenovo from an enterprise perspective, this was a very entertaining history lesson and analysis, thank you for covering it.
I work in computer repair, we recommend Lenovo a lot due to it's reliability but I've always been a bit skeptical due to their Chinese ties. Still am, but this video did explain well why Lenovo isn't as much of a threat to privacy and the likes.
@@morgan40654 agreed, yeah I thought it did a great job of covering why it's public image in the tech sphere is so different to other prominent Chinese tech companies
HP Inc extinct! Hopefully
@@morgan40654 sy😢
@@morgan40654 How about the square charging port?
I bought a Lenovo Legion laptop and I can absolutely see why they are a market leader
I also bought a Legion 7i Pro this year and I absolutely love it. The building quality is more solid than other brands' products of this year. I switched over from the HP OMEN laptop by the way, and I have to say that it looks really flimsy and plastic compared to Legion.
great purchase guys
One year has passed, is your Lenovo Legion laptop is still a good deal?
I need to know because one day I would either purchase an Asus laptop or Lenovo laptop, because Samsung Galaxy Book laptops are never available in my home country.
@@Isaac-gh5ku I don't know if their current laptops are good deals but I am still very happy with my purchase, it runs black myth Wukong well on low settings
If I were to buy a gaming laptop today I would still primarily be looking at Legion
I have a gaming laptop but if we are talking non gaming than I would be interested in the ThinkPads and their yoga line
Hopefully this info is useful to you
Just fyi:
The name "Lenovo" is derived from the words "Le-" which stands for "Legend" and "-novo" which is a Latin word meaning "new." The name reflects the company's aspiration to create innovative and groundbreaking products while honoring its origins as a successful Chinese computer company, originally known as "Legend."
Well, they made themselves a legend in my books with the X1 carbon. Absolutely lovely machine!
I didn't know about Lenovo being Chinese. I volunteer at a ewaste recycling place, and I fix a lot of stuff that comes in so we can resell it for super cheap, and I get a lot of lenovo stuff from different businesses and that, and what I can say about Lenovo is that their products really can be some of my favourites, because they have full guides on disassembly and repair of things like their all in one PCs, the lenovo products I have seen really feel like they support right of repair, when compared to other products I've seen that are downright almost impossible to open without almost destructive means. Apart from the weirdness of their chargers, which I will say are pretty much universal with all their products, unlike other companies that have 50 different chargers for each style of laptop, lenovo is a company that just really has nice products which I enjoy working with.
As a Chinese, I honestly thought Lenovo was an American company! Hahaha lol😅😂
😂😂😂
所以说是美帝良心😅
I guess that is the way it SHOULD be. Business should not be nationalized. Keep politics out.
@@noahway13 Yep. State and Corporation should NEVER mix.
Twitter was a warning to the world about how dystopian the merger between state and corporation can get.
Lenovo being mostly seperate from the chinese government is good news.
I still wish they had third party audits of their products. I love thinkpads to death but if anything, id rather be spied on by the Netherlands, Britain, or America, than I would by China.
Atleast the EU isnt stealing my genetic data to make race-based biological weapons, all while enacting litteral nazi-era policies.
@iamofadeadinsideoof1181 Politics is interest in essence and exists whenever there is more than one person; thus, I agree, for it is a problem we can't avoid, only overcome. And this can only be done when both parties work accordingly (sometimes against their immediate interests)
This was such a great episode. Had always wondered why there was no crackdown on Lenovo. Wouldn’t have cared to look for myself. Thank you for solving the mystery for us.
The answer is actually really simple, it's not targeted/banned YET, because it's not as explosively successful as Huawei (and therefore not as high on the hit list). If/when it does, this guy'll be making another video "why Lenovo is banned by the US".
@@agenthex Hope they're never banned. They make the best computer mice and other peripherals.
Lenovo aka IBM has US backdoors -- Huawei has been confirmed US cannot find a BACKDOOR in.....
Lenovo is a sellout and clearly not a threat to the American hegemony so it's not banned. Who would even impose sanctions on an assembly factory with no technology?
probably more likely they split of their chinese parts
Computerphile and Tom Scott did an excellent overview of superfish, the real issue there was that the software installed an insecure certificate authority in the root store of its Windows installs to insert ads by overcoming the SSL chain of trust
I wouldnt call it "Chinese Spyware" as much as just "incompetent on its face / pure CVE"
Plus Superfish was only ever on a handful of consumer laptops. Tney wouldn't dare stick it on Enterprise machines as any large enterprise would drop them immediately.
It would probobly not even run on enterprise, as that is 99% GNU/Linux now-a-days.
Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations.
President Jimmy Carter - Speech on Relations with China
ua-cam.com/video/37azeXBjYJc/v-deo.html
Don't be ignorant...🤔
Superfish was on the IdeaPad and YOGA lines (not the thinkpads) and would reinstall itself from the UEFI BIOS which means you can't simply reinstall the OS as the video seems to claim.
The thing is it opens up a big security hole for Chnese bad actors to exploit.
I've a Lenovo Thinkpad T430 and literally the best laptop I've ever had.
Bought in 2013 and still keeping up to the task in 2023. Previously I had an HP and it died within 1 year of having it.
6 years ago I was in community college in wa state. One thing I have saw there where a lot Chinese students going for computer science, engineering, wide array of technical disciplines. Now I am not surprised at all. There building some nice stuff. Competition at its finest. America forgot one thing hard work makes a nation rich and powerful.
And that one thing? It’s called IP theft.
crying about fake shit like IP lmfao
You mean slave labour in China
My very first laptop was an IBM ThinkPad back in the mid-2000s and is to this day still one of the best things I've ever owned. I've never had any real issues with any of the ThinkPads I've owned, they've all been some of the best laptops I've ever used, the best one so far being the ThinkPad T420. ThinkPads have always been my goto for PC laptops for years now, used ones from ex-corporate fleets can be a great value over most other cheap laptops. My T420 was dirt cheap as an ex-corporate laptop I bought a couple of years after it was built. That laptop served me and my father well for many years and I still have it in storage. With some upgrades to a quad-core i7 and 16GB of RAM it could still be competent today.
I also work as an IT admin for an international corp who has standardized on Lenovo hardware to replace older Dell and HP hardware that was acquired during a merger of two companies, and they're so much better to manage and deploy than the HPs and definetely the Dells (the HPs are okay, but the Dells are seriously awful). We don't even need to wipe out the preloaded Windows image, the ThinkPads are bloat-free so that we can just enroll them into Azure AD as-is and they're fine. They're not perfect, especially the USB-C equiped models used soldered on USB-C ports which break easily, but from both a corporate and a personal perspective, the ThinkPad is still miles above anything else.
Having refurbished hundreds of computers with a team over 5 years, in my experience rolling out multiple Dell laptops simultaneously using SCCM was generally a fairly painless experience. They actually were the only ones with reliable templates, everything else you had to do on an individual basis.
I was so disappointed in the recent years by ASUS, DELL & HP PCs. It is hard to admit that now Lenovo PCs perform better & look greater. Only Microsoft Surface line can competes with Lenovo PC line in quality & beauty but not the price. 😮💨
Trust me that T420 still has some life left in it.
Agreed. Working in Big Blue for 12 yrs, I've come across many of their Thinkpad series laptop. Now I'm in one of the biggest bank in US where they mainly using Dell, I can tell you, if is different. There's no robust feeling in Dell
I believe that the Superfish issue was in the BIOS and was not fixable by a reinstall of the OS. Further, my understanding is that Lenovo apologized when this was discovered and said that this would never happen again. Six months (?) later it was found again, and the US Fed Govt shut down use of Lenovo, and I believe depressed both sales and reputation in the US for at least a few years. I remember colleagues buying (for personal use) Lenovo workstation-class laptops because the value-for-money was very high (compared to HP and Dell) because of their reputation. While it would appear that Lenovo learned their lesson about the potential cost (US Fed Govt says "don't turn on any Lenovo computer again"), you brush over the Superfish issue as though it had been nothing.
Superfish exploited a feature of Windows that allowed platform specific software to be installed from a link stored in the BIOS.
IIRC There was a workaround that involved creating a dummy file within /WIndows which made it think the software was already installed.
They may have removed the Superfish link from later BIOS revisions.
Yeah it's quite obvious when he shills (whether he gets paid or not) for these mainland products (he literally worked for Oppo as a foreign marketer so its been his trade). I don't live in either country but not any trust worthy of the US government or Chinese government eitherway.
Always thought Lenovo at the time got duped into adding the US-Israel program Superfish as a way for the CIA to get access.
install software from a link? What were Microsoft thinking?
That Army officer concerned about an encrypted chip in a Lenovo laptop must be on his first IT assignment. There's an encrypted chip in every new PC. On Apple it's called Secure Enclave, on other brands its called Trusted Platform Module and is required by Microsoft. TPM was derived from a co-processor originally developed by ARM, a British company owned largely by a Japanese company, no Chinese companies involved.
An "encrypted" chip? Like ... what? That's nearly as wrong as "encrypted on the motherboard".
Enclave? ohh shit, here we go again
@@FuntimeByzantium YOU ARE OUT OF UNIFORM SOLDIER WHERE IS YOUR POWER ARMOR
@@bened22 The chip has a processor and storage. The processor encrypts keys and stores them in the memory. If the hidden serial number of the motherboard and processor match what the chip expects it will also decrypt what is in the storage. All happens on the same chip.
They all should be banned Chinese know this for ages
Chinese people know Lenovo as an American company established in China
Lenovo is number one for the open source operating platform Linux, with it's ThinkPad. These days you will have a problem to installing Linux on any PC because of driver incompatibility. ThinkPad is made for Linux and it runs great on it.
I'm impressed by your Chinese pronunciations lol. It surprised me hearing perfect Chinese in the middle of an English sentence.
So far i think the only other real enterprise/business laptops out there are the elitebook and latitude from HP and Dell but the Thinkpad is still in a league of its own. It's got things like its keyboard with more ergonomic keycaps that no one else in the market has. Getting the thinkpad from IBM has to be one of the best acquisitions Lenovo has ever made.
Fujitsu Lifebook is also still relevant. It's also one of the few that still has a proper docks that links through the laptop bottom instead of over usb-c.
@Steamrick Never seen Fujitsu laptops 💻 in the UK, I wondered if the brand only sells in Japan
@XieRH1988 one of the worse decisions IBM ever made to sell their consumer electronics division
@@cryptocsguy9282 in the US, they are worked with primarily businesses, schools, medical.... for the most part it has more to do about their docks and security than anything.. well school is more about colleges but i think that is some sort of kickback
brother was frustrated his major made him buy a fujitsu laptop when his worked better
@@cryptocsguy9282 I sell laptops in the UK... Fujitsu is a second tier brand here but they have had models in every class for decades from budget to high performance workstation. There was also Toshiba who at one point were the absolute market leaders but they just fell off a cliff. I think the problem for mid-ranking major brands these days is that even the most basic laptop is "good enough" for consumers,so those built to a price will win market share on Price alone and those who need security, multimedia or other performance gains will still feel the need to buy Dell, HP and Mac lenovo have the brand recognition and they beat HP and Dell and Mac on price in their particular pricepoint
I'm an architect I use a think pads for all my CAD work, I was always wondering that they are chinese yet appear very American in their marketing etc.
because ibm thinkpad
My dad works for my country's military, and for their computer needs, they partnered with Lenovo. When I visit my dad's workplace, I noticed that they use Lenovo products ranging from PCs (ThinkCentre), keyboards, mouse, to laptops (ThinkPad & IdeaPad). It's quite surprising, to be honest.
Im American and I noticed the same lol. Lenovo everything.
IBM was braindead when it went thru with the whole sale.
But in some way, letting their PC business branch off as essentially its own company, was a genius idea.
I am Chinese and have been using Lenovo computers for many years. In fact, when Chinese people mention Lenovo nowadays, the emotions are quite complex. In the previous era, when I was young, Lenovo represented a Chinese technology brand and was a source of pride for the Chinese people. But in recent years, it has been leaning more towards the United States. The same model of computer is much more expensive in China compared to the United States, and there are often news reports in the online media about Lenovo's top management transferring technology and assets to the United States. Lenovo's image among the Chinese public is not good now, and it has a nickname called "美帝良心想" , which means that it is a conscience-driven company of American imperialism. In other words, it has become a traitor to China.
Thanks for the info, very interesting. I hope our governments don't trick the people into worse situation! Peace is what the greatest majority of us want.
lol great info
I got a p50 from the US. It was cheaper. But it is shitty. Actually, I have three different Thinkpads. I am going to dump the brand.
@@tomchen513wdym thinkpads are great laptops. way better than any other manufacturer.
"Chinese software has backdoors."
Very interesting episode. I just love thinkpads at work, and I work as production engineer. My thinpads hit the floor, oil and dirt, are carried from one place to another for the whole day and they just work. No issues. Used HP elite Z books and whatnot. They dont stand a chance.
It is very good to use this series
I remember when IBM sold their thinkcenter servers to lenovo. They lost a lot of clients due to their support problems. IBM had great support for desktops and X86 servers. IBM kept their non intel servers in house and still make lots of money.
The support for Lenovo products goes true IBM. I know because thats what I do. Lenovo doesnt have its own support stucture (tehnically) for enterprise products , just deckstops. They have Primer and Product engineering but everything else goes true IBM.
I remember in the early 2000s when IBM sold their computer divisions to Lenovo.
That was the day we traded our IBM Red Books, for Mao's Red Book.
Here where I live, IBM owns the company that do the support for thinkpads and other brands too. Lenovo customer service is premium, at least the thinkpad division. Dell is a pain!
Your content is so great for getting insight of inside-decision making in large firms! Love it.
We Chinese consider Lenovo is a US company.Back in days,Lenovo sold X1 laptop,China price tag 30,000rmb,but in US likely 20,000rmb
Damn I should have bought my laptop in US I suppose, my Lenovo laptop was bought in China
You can see the disappointment and fear in Americans comments here when they realized that china own lenovo 😂
You consistently put out no fuss, insightful and interesting content. So many others add a lot of unecessary fluff
Lenovo is trusted. They have proven their trust time and time again. They make good products. And they have been in the game for a long long time. And it's probably why they're still successful in North America.
ThinkPads will forever be the best laptops I have ever used
I was so disappointed in the recent years by ASUS, DELL & HP PCs. It is hard to admit that now Lenovo PCs perform better & look greater. Only Microsoft Surface line can competes with Lenovo PC line in quality & beauty but not the price. 😮💨
ThinkPads were reliable but so so so so so so ugly 🤢🤢🤮
@@duran9664 really? My X1 extreme
Is sexy AF! ❤
Too bad theyre owned by CCP china. Was the best laptop to use as linux geeks an alternative to using a mac.
@@duran9664 Lenovo just need to sort the square charging port. Absolute trash
Lenovo is somewhat sanctioned. Back in mid 2000's the department of defense banned them because they had spyware on it. Hasnt stopped other agencies from buying them though. With the biggest story being the army buying some laptops a few years ago despite the ban/review.
Chinese software has backdoors~
@@sungjanedude, see a therapist. You are replying with the same comment over and over again
Yea, my last 2 laptops have been lenovos, less gamebreaking issues than HP (constant overheating and regular OS corruption), more weird ones (weird, unsupported parts), with better price to performance, but now I'll be saving up for a framework
A security guy told me the Lenovos had CPUs with altered firmware and they were prohibited from using them. That was quite a few years ago, probably all companies doing that now.
What altered firmware lol? Not in the CPU. Maybe the BIOS?
@@fanban2926 Yep, its an issue with the BIOS firmware.
The only thing in a CPU I’d worry about is Intel Management Engine and AMDs equivalent.
How do you know, is this thing a secret?
Havent watched the video yet but there was a yearly rotation of the laptops that would be provided and it switched between Lenovo and dell or hp. After a few years that stopped as the thinkpad build quality and warranty support was just so much better. Everyone who did not get a Lenovo eventually ended up with one because their first laptop would break within 5 years. Mine is still going 9 years later. Sure some would break, but some not nearly all as with the other brands.
The IBM merger is why many don't even realize they are Chinese. Their decentralization makes them not feel Chinese at all.
There's also that they're from Hong Kong, which was politically separate from China until very recently when China decided the majority of representatives are now unelected and chosen by the CCP
@@My_Old_YT_Account they are never a democracy because they use the same system as the British left them
Because Lenovo is just a brand, they basically do not develop equipment programs, they only buy patented assembled computers and sell them under the brand, their business methods are well known in Chinese
@@My_Old_YT_Account Did we watch the same video ? They're based in Beijing, China, and all of their founders were from a State backed institution, Chinese Academy of the Sciences. They were only ipo'd in Hongkong in order to get easier access to foreign capital.
@@My_Old_YT_Account Also HK's leaders are not directly chosen (approving candidates is different) by the central government. Never have, probably never will as long as HK has a "border" with Shenzhen. Partial-democracy was only enacted 5 years before the 97 by the British (Out of spite I presume), who had been dictating the territory for a century, half-way around the world. Other than the recent massive reduction in freedom of speech and half of the legislature being voted in by business interests (A British policy), both of which I do not agree with, everything you said is false.
I will always love these types of videos. I hope there are more people who are curious about a company's history, business model, practices, shenanigans, etc.
It's not to glorify and idolize them but to learn from them, even if you are not neccessarily building your own business.
"Chinese software has backdoors."
ISN'T IT TELLING... That at the time of the ban on Huawei, Huawei had JUST become NUMBER 1 in WORLDWIDE phone sales charts BEATING APPLE and SAMSUNG... But yet... The reasons given was "security concerns etc etc because they are linked to the CCP". HOWEVER... THERE WAS NO BAN on Oppo, OnePlus, Unihertz, Lenovo/Motorola, TCL, Doogee, Xiaomi (a MASSIVE company making ALL SORTS of electronic devices/gadgets etc), Poco, Vivo, ZTE, Infinix etc etc... WHO ARE ALL Chinese companies THAT HAVE TIES to the CCP (Chinese Govt) in various minor/modicum ways! EVERY COMPANY in China HAS A LINK in various forms to the CCP, it's just Chinas way of doing things!
NOTE: Even companies like Temu, iWish and others like them!! Hence you can buy a £/$1 dollar item and get free shipping etc! (There ARE videos explaining this how the online retailers & delivery companies claim moneys back from the Govt etc (there's a link to the USPS too if memory serves) - Check out the 'Serpentza' - 'How the hell can China ship for free to your door??!?' video). So, the question is:-
IF there were security concerns about the big company Huawei, then WHY NOT ALSO BAN THE OTHERS TOO (especially Lenovo/Motorola & Xiaomi as they REALLY ARE BIG companies)???? 'Sepentza' channel will show you A LOT of VERY REVEALING information on Chinas strange, deluded and often VILE practices (in general AND to their own peoples!) - like painting trees/crops/pigs, 'Spit fighting' and a whole lot more... 😒
To me, I think it was ALL BULLSH!T !!
Huawei were SERIOUSLY INNOVATIVE. Their Camera systems were LEADING the phone manufacturer market (P30 Pro/P40 pro etc etc), look how they are with their foldable tech now, showing Samsung a thing or two!!!
Google REALLY WANTED to WORK WITH Huawei (and visa versa), there was BILLIONS lost in the closures/rearrangements in the chip/phone manufacturing/parts supply/delivery/etc processes (TMC and such LOST OUT BIG STYLE with cancelled contracts).
And WE... THE CONSUMER... LOST OUT to some SERIOUSLY BRILLIANT INNOVATIVE and CREATIVE products that ALSO WOULD HAVE kept the likes of Apple AND Samsung on their toes, and maybe... Just maybe... MIGHT have kept silly prices from skyrocketing with a HEALTHY competition/possible price war....
The D!CKHEADS in the U.S. Govts REEEEAAAALLLY SCREWED THE POOCH ON THIS ONE!!!! 😠😠😠😡😡😡
😎🇬🇧
They are more American than Apple.
I’ve been using a Lenovo Legion laptop for almost 5 years and had no idea it was a Chinese company. I had a vague recollection of the IBM acquisition in ‘04, but apparently I had misunderstood that story from the beginning - I’d always thought that Lenovo was simply spun off from IBM at that time. I thought the Lenovo name was just a rebranding of IBM’s Thinkpad division.
"Chinese software has backdoors."
I think the reason Lenovo is so popular is that they bought and kept IBM's design, and they still have the best laptop keyboards. Nothing beats a ThinkPad T-series for office work purposes.
Had Lenovo made their own design and brand, they would never have had a chance, no matter how good they were. I remember going from IBM ThinkPads to Lenovo ThinkPads.
Another ting is that they bought IBM's desktop and laptop brands at a time when there wasn't the same distrust of China, I think that plays a big role too.
I hate how most of their laptops have the fn key on the bottom rightmost corner instead of ctrl.
@@jasonchan5504 mine hasn’t, it’s with the Ctrl outside the Fn key, I just compared mine with a HP and a Dell, and the Fn and Ctrl keys are placed the same on my Lenovo 🤷🏻♂️
The i m thinkpad was already produced in oem by lenovo back in the 90’s
Well, Lenovo bought the IBM PC business, it is basically a PC assembler, using parts and chips from the US. Same is XiaoMi. Unlike Huawei, who is ahead of US tech company in some area, like 5G chip and mobile chip design.
Lenovo ownes the professional pc market, and that is their main market,
Besides Lenovo headquartered in USA and registered as a US company. It is no longer a Chinese company although its branch office in China is the largest.
There is one crucial aspect that you left out. Lenovo, after buying IBM's Thinkpad line, has jacked up the selling price of its laptops, no matter the Thinkpad line or its original legend line products, in China domestic market. At the same time it dropped the Thinkpad price drastically in the market outside China. Folks in my age probably remember that Thinkpad from IBM used to be twice as expensive as Dell or HP. Lenovo was heavily criticized by industry leaders in China by making a large profit in China and using it to subsidize those outside of China. Its image in China is not a great one.
17% tax rebate from your government for exports sales.
It's absurd how many people do not know Lenovo is a Chinese brand
I know from the start , i am surprised too that people do that atleast they should google about it
Shows how much you can trust their opinions. You can't.
😂In our eyes, Lenovo is not considered a high-tech enterprise, only DJI and Huawei can be counted, so the United States wants to ban them
One thing that must be said is that when buying Lenovo stuff treat it as though it is 2 separate companies. There is the 'Think' line with is premium but they have excellent customer service and wonderful build quality. Then there is the everything else where it isn't so great. If you go for Thinkpads for instance, usually top notch devices.
We have tried a number of Lenovo devices and they have all been great quality. In the past we have had quality issues with Acer, Apple and even Dell, but have never had an issue with Lenovo. We have monitors, laptops, desktops and tablets and they are always great quality.
Lenovo gaming laptops are some of the best bang for your buck out there
Legion gaming laptops are also very good
I was so disappointed in the recent years by ASUS, DELL & HP PCs. It is hard to admit that now Lenovo PCs perform better & look greater. Only Microsoft Surface line can competes with Lenovo PC line in quality & beauty but not the price. 😮💨
@@mrmo3379 I absolutely get it, they can be great but when things go wrong it is clear there is a big difference. For instance, the Thinkpad side will over night pre-paid return postage for your stuff if anything goes wrong but with the other stuff it can be a lot longer. This is not to say Lenovo is bad, just that they have a schizoid kind of state.
Seeing as I have nothing but Lenovo laptops, clearly I am not that put off. Still better than almost everyone else.
I'm using Lenovo product since 2014 starting with an entry level phone followed by lower end laptop on the same year. 6 years later I brought another laptop from Lenovo. It is the most durable laptop compared to other brands like Acer, HP and others.
Thanks for the video, it was fascinating to learn about the background of this company.
I needed a new laptop for university & work.
I’ve had a Dell laptop for over a decade and it’s starting to show its age, despite its heavy use and maintenance.
It’s interesting that the big name brands such as HP and Dell have been dethroned as the best by lesser known companies such as ASUS and Lenovo. In the end I got an ASUS, it has worked wonders.
Lenovo is 'lesser known'? You must be too young to know any histroty of PC.
@@blitzrumble2956 Also Asus has not "dethroned" Dell or HP. Walk into any office, and tell me how many Asus laptops, or PCs you find.
@@Aaron-ui9tj you are barking on the wrong tree.
@@blitzrumble2956 What ? lol
HP and Dell likely find the B2B market much more lucrative
The Indians from India said that they are leading the world in terms of technology but I can't find any technological products from India that is even worth mentioning 😆
But Indians become CEOs and senior executives in Silicon Valley
Very informative and insightful video. Great work!
Watching this on my Lenovo Legion laptop & learning some interesting facts. I always knew Lenovo was a Chinese brand but I had no idea Blackrock had such a significant stake in the company.
same bro watching this on my legion laptop too
Tbh I assumed it was European because Lenovo could be interpreted as ‘the new’ in French
Bought a 2nd hand Thinkpad 2018 model in mid 2022, still runs like solid new!
Only had to upgrade the RAM from 8 to 16 cause W10 eas eating up almost 4.5GB ram normally. Otherwise, still satisfied, no issue with display, keyboard or anything else....
I had wondered about this too, why Lenovo wasn't sanctioned but I knew it's because their consumer electronics division is just taken over from IBM & Motorola which are brands the American government trusts & has worked with for many years. IBM & Motorola selling off their consumer electronics division was a mistake & both selling off their microelectronics divisions was also a mistake 🤦🏿
Sounds similar to how Volvo was sold to China too.
People are really positive about China back then. The oppurtunities for open cooperation was massive.
But ever since Jiang Zemin was ousted and replaced with Xi, its been downhill ever since.
Cant trust a country who runs staterun intitiatives to steal your trade secrets.
To be fair Motorola was originally sold to Google with the thought they would be able to take advantage of the economies of scale in both being a software and hardware manufacturer, like Apple.
Except, Google being the incompetent company they are, instead sold it after just 2 years…even though Motorola was cranking out its best phones ever at that point. Lots of ahead of it’s time ideas.
It’s crazy Google makes so much money from advertising they can make the absolutely dumbest decisions time after time, like selling Motorola for a fraction because it wanted to hold onto patents Moto had in which the company never used and have since expired…
I still want a Lapdock phone again :(
it wasnt
@@imafillerbunny what wasn't?
@@jonathanpusar5931 I had the successor of Moto Cube just before Google buying Motorola. It was a great phone. It was like 2010. The updates made it better than when new due to even cleaner Android. Stolen after 2 years.
About 2016 I bought a Moto G5 made in Brazil (I think). Quite after google sailing Motorola, probably a google project. Also a great phone. Battery used to last a week when new, 2 days after something like FIVE years of use. The Android was even cleaner at the begging, but apps didn't keep working lightweight after later updates, but still better than a current-days Moto E. Also stolen a year ago. Probably it is still working.
Despite Google not being the owner I think they kept making a cleaner Android than average, what is great. I hate Samsung, Apple, and Apple-like user interfaces. Xiaomi is well customizable, but Motorola wins at simplicity.
Fascinating analysis! A lot about Lenovo's inner workings that I didn't previously know.
One correction: Superfish was nastier than you describe... if you wiped and reinstalled Windows fresh, it would still install itself using the Windows Platform Binary Table -- basically a backdoor in the BIOS that was *intended* to install stuff like drivers or enterprise management software. Lenovo eventually backed down, but it was sketchy af, and I never trusted them again.
This video feels like something a Chinese agent would make. The way he handwavingly dismissed and try to downplay and discredit this and the other allegation by the high ranking military officer, is very, very suspicious.
Dell had the same thing to be fair. And superfish is from an Israeli firm; America's ally. All PC companies include bloatware.
@@tvacc6174if anything, this UA-camr is hella anti china. Yet here you are saying that he’s suspicious
Because Huawei at that time was threatening the iPhone. Lenovo isn't threatening other big US companies. Yet.
I keep recommending to my friends and acquaintances if they're buying a budget laptop with decent specs a refurbished Lenovo Laptop especially the T Series business lineup because of how durable their hardware, repairable to even consumers can disassemble and reassemble them with enough knowledge and their vast selection of spare part still available online.
Their marketing leaders are doing a great job. It feels like a young, vibrant company while still keeping to the old designs and ideas. I really like the red square logo.
I noticed in 2015 this ownership. Lenovo was a great value and reliable product. This is an excellent detail of the history. Thank you.
Lenovo was caught by multiple allied intel agencies back in 2011. Lenovo was knowingly and admittedly placing rootkits in their bios chips that would allow them to remote access the entire computer at any time they pleased. Security Software couldn't block this due to the rootkit having a legitimate DLS. A lot of companies and private companies in the US use Lenovo desktops and laptops. To say this is a huge national security threat would be a massive understatement.
And you believe the story about spy balloons?
@@monkeyking-self-proclaimed7050 Never said anything about the recent balloon incident. Major competitive allies and advisories alike constantly conduct espionage on each other.
This was honestly the most interesting thing I’ve watched in a while. Great job mate!
Lenovo acquired IBM PC business in the year of 2005, at the same time it relocated its HQ from Hong Kong to New York. Lenovo is American.
The problem with Superfish was that it was on the BIOS. You could not remove it. It always came back.
Price vs. feature, Lenovo is my go to laptop from the past decade!
The 3050 thinkpad gaming laptops are probably the best bang for ur buck deal in terms of performance and overall build quality on the market right now
Lenovo's laptops are awesome.
I really enjoy your videos but I disagree with the standpoint of saying that "if somehow [a spyware] would be installed you could just reinstall Windows", it seems like you're implying that it's nothing to worry about since you could fix it yourself by reinstalling the operating system.
I would argue that the intent matters and that if you're going to buy systems from a company, especially in the context of system integrators and providers for state agencies, it has better come with a clean installation of the OS. Whether the source is correct as to the "Superfish" software or not, it is at the very least concerning when it comes to the trust that can be placed in the company. I know for certain that for procurement, some of us are on the lookout for these kind of concerns and we have stopped recommending these companies in tenders, simply put because whether they use standardised parts or not, totalitarian state stakes in private entities, especially in ICT, can only mean trouble in the long run. Chinese owned brands of phones, desktop software and mobile apps, hardware, services and cloud service providers have almost all shown that they cannot be trusted. For the few that can, how worth is the risk to you? The primacy of the parent's company interest is explicitly stated on their website, as showcased in the video; "the mission of serving the nation".
All in all, just because you can reinstall the operating system to be stock and run on clean hardware doesn't mean it's right for it to have spyware installed and shipped to you in the first place. As far as I'm concerned, companies, wherever theyr are should steer clear of Chinese companies and their services and products.
What chip? Through what channel? How much input power? How many bitrate? Where is the receiver for that chip?
Lenovo nickname in China: a company treat US great (美帝良心想).
Cause same model product in US is always cheaper than in China even if it is a Chinese company.
I'd always knew Lenovo was a chinese company but the main distinction was that you never got a sense that the brand was a chinese brand. Rather it distinguish itself solely on categories. For example, the Legion laptops are ubiquitous now for gaming, same goes with thinkpad workstations. They have consistently tried to implement their own cool ideas rather than slapping a huge "China's promise" on the back and making people be more wary of what kind of brand it is.
It kinda just did its own thing and remained lowkey.
I'm curious, what exactly does say Huawei do that makes it more Chinese than Lenovo.
No Chinese company slaps anything other than the brand and where the product was manufactured, which is standard even for Apple products made in China.
You'd only think so if you were brainwashed with anti-Chinese sentiments.
Huawei wqs trying to aim for no.1 spot against usa best selling phone company in terms of sales i guess which is an insta no for usa market shareholders
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Lenovo laptops are solid products, I don't care about who is behind it, just quality is enough 👌
The association is correct, but is that what you are using?
The accusations to public company is more likely be trying to bee misleading.
You should try a MacBook and you’ll change your mind
@@lixue2023 I'm not using any type of laptops right now, most of the day I'm using workstation PC and Dell and HP servers
@@tomojagooriginal622 I used MacBook, totally MacBook is very good laptop, but I will always recommend Lenovo to every one including my clients as better option
I don't really care it's Chinese company or not. I just want the quality of the products. So far Lenovo is very impressive unlike any other Chinese products.
I worked at a certain defence organisation and they are banned completely
Lenovo devices offer excellent bang for the buck too. Thanks for making this one. 👍
I was so disappointed in the recent years by ASUS, DELL & HP PCs. It is hard to admit that now Lenovo PCs perform better & look greater. Only Microsoft Surface line can competes with Lenovo PC line in quality & beauty but not the price. 😮💨
I am using my Lenovo Legion Slim 7i and it's the best to say the least, way better than HP for sure
Very well done, I remember the Lenovo/IBM deal and that Lenovo was basically Chinese but had no idea how broadly international they were. I'm still a little confused about Motorola Mobility vs. Motorola as a whole though..maybe you can do a Motorola history?
😥 It's too sad.
On 29th January 2014 , Google announced the sale of Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for $2.91 billion. motorala was a loss making company earlier and it had an ample amount off carried forward losses. Google used those by setting off the losses with its profit
here you have your answer
your chinese pronunciation is within an impressive proximity of being spot-on and I appreciate the effort!
Lenovo is Chinese? I didn't know. Was it Chinese back in 2015 when I bought my current Lenovo minicomputer that I love so much?
I've had laptops from several different manufacturers (Dell, Acer, Toshiba, HP, Lenovo). Hands down the ThinkPad is my favorite. I love the build quality, the design, the weight, the relatively slim size, and the fact that it is possible to order a motherboard with changeable components rather than built in. As just one example of build quality, the hinges are metal rather than plastic. A ThinkPad will be my next laptop as well. Having said all that, I suspect that MacBooks are superior, but I need to be on Windows.
oh man our office ThinkPads were indestructible bricks.
I still have a six year old G series running on Linux for personal use and a windows based idea pad right now and that's quite good as the think pads as well, but without the certifications.
Macbooks are definitely superior, and no chance any windows laptop can come close to macbook in terms of performance-weight ratio.
The have the best hinge in the business (on the same level as microsoft surface laptop).
Lenovo is headquartered in North Carolina its about as Chinese as Telegram is Russian is a good example.
Yes the people in charge are a different nationality but if theyre running the business from another country and don't agree with their govts its not the same thing. That's not including all the investors of Lenovo which are American.
I never understood why IBM went away just like that... But I'm okay with it. Lenovo is just amazing, especially on the Think series of products. Also, Motorola: One of the best, innovative phones I've used so far. With LG gone, and Sony charging a lot for its phones, Motorola is the one left that gives you something else to try.
ThinkPads and Motorola smartphones have Dolby Audio bundled, which is a godsend.
1. Liu Chuanzhi is not the original founder, he ousted the original founder by some dirty tricks;
2. IBM owns at least 30% of Lenovo.
your last statement about lenovo's low profitability leading to it having higher acceptance reminds me of the old "slow and steady wins the race"
The accusations against Huawei are also strangeness. It would be incredibly difficult to try to use all those random devices out there for hacking. You'd likely need some kind of nearly local access to identify which devices are in an interesting place and might have access to interesting data... And then you mostly can't send the data directly back to China or any strange domain, or you'll get caught... And getting caught at Huawei's scale would be disastrous.
It's just not worth it for Huawei to try such things - despite the accusations against them.
Huawai has stolen technology then reproduced the product to compete in the market. Huawai is not "random devices'. Talking core networking infrastructure. The kind of infrastructure that makes attack vectors like route hijacking even easier than it is today, and harder to stop should the hardware be leveraged for such an attack.
@@Look_What_You_Did 🤣🤣🤣🤡🤡🤡🤡
@Look What You Did so is everyone, operation paper clip.
@@cr-gl7wf Nope. But hey it is no surprise where your ethical line is the sand is...
@@Look_What_You_Did The point is... Let's say you're selling routers that can be compromised.
First, most data is encrypted during communication. So you can't do anything with it.
If there were unencrypted data, you would need a processor to identify that the content is useful, and then you'd need to use your internet connection to send that data to one of your own servers.
Except that you have no way to know if the network activity is being monitored - especially at a secure facility... Which means that there's a high chance that you're going to get caught if your device steals info from any secure location.
Is it worth it for a multi-billion dollar business to engage in such risky espionage tactics? What would you gain in the short amount of time til you get caught?
Not to mention that any device that is physically in someone else's hands, can be hacked into and analyzed... And you pretty much have to assume that if your tech ends up in the NSA's hands, that they can identify any trickery you've tried to embed in your system.
At most, you could try espionage in "very rare" cases by outright swapping out a key chip... Provided you were sure of who was going to receive said device ahead of time... Because that way, you also at least have some chance at plausible deniability that someone else had replaced your chip.
... There's also the problem that most advanced chips aren't actually made in China. You'd just pass the chip design to something like TSMC.
Which creates another vector for law enforcement to embarrass you if you do something stupid.
The anti-Huawei rhetoric sounds like the anti-TikTok rhetoric... More a collection of fears than realistic threats.
"The Chinese government could gain access to people's data"... As much as the US government can force info out of Google etc. It's not worth the trouble for the Chinese government to try to monitor Americans' TikTok usage - at the risk of pointlessly endangering successful Chinese businesses.
Much of TikTok's security issues were just that they had grown big really fast, and hadn't cared about security early on (similar to problems that Facebook had)... Which is something they've put a lot of effort into rectifying - including adding outside (American) watchdogs to help prove that they are being transparent.
But the political bias towards them remains the same.
The government's style is very like if ancient lords were fighting over land or some other resource, rather than trying to get along and build better global systems.
I needed this video as I've pushed my org to switch to Lenovo several years ago but with rising tensions in China I've always wondered if it was a mistake 😅
Not really, since all other brands have NSA / US Govt backdoor.
The US created this concept of "security" to rationalize their desire to boycott Chinese tech products. There's a ton of American tech products on the market, can we be sure that they aren't a security threat?
Lenovo USED TO sell affordable products. Gone are the good old days. I hope more competitors enter the PC market and bring the prices down.
I worked at Best Buy when I discovered they are Chinese. I did not advertise their computers and they only had one sale from me. Their computers were not price competitive to the DELL and HP machines anyways so it was no problem