BY COMING up with design innovations, a computer company said they made sure using their computers can increase business productivity.
Lenovo, makers of the Thinkpad line, demonstrated how some of their designs have reduced failure rates caused by a worker’s mishandling of a computer.
Matt Kohut, Lenovo’s worldwide competitive analyst, showed Cebuanos last Friday some minor tweaking in design that he said offers a major impact on their computers.
He noted that most damages to laptops are caused by dropping (28 percent), spills (34 percent), work anger (13 percent) and lack of protection during travel (25 percent).
“Knowing human nature, we have to design for this,” Kohut said.
He pointed out that the design features of their laptops cause hard drives to last longer. He added that by introducing features that will make their laptops quieter and cooler during use, power consumption is also lower, thereby allowing businesses to save on electricity bills.
Cushion
He showed a simple metal plate and some rubber around the laptop’s driver helped in cushioning it from shock caused by mishandling.
They also introduced “shock absorbing feet” for the laptop, saying that by following the pattern of a cat’s feet, they have reduced five percent of hard drive failures. He pointed out that other laptops only have round rubber feet.
Kohut also explained the use of a magnesium roll cage inside the laptop, saying it adds protection for the hard drive, memory and processor. Also surrounding all ports of the laptop are the same roll cages to add protection from sudden yanking out of cords caused by accidents and hurriedly pulling these out.
Kohut said that when it came to spill resistance, they tested using coffee with milk and sugar, red wine, cola and sticky stuff, not just with a small amount of water.
He pointed out that while the industry standard is to place a sheet of plastic under the keyboard, they went ahead by tilting their keyboard and installing drainage canals that would funnel any spilled liquid down to the bottom and exit through oval and square-shaped spill holes.
“However, I should remind you that when we say spill resistant, we don’t mean bathtub-proof,” he warned.
Kohut also showed that their laptops had more side vents, allowing their systems to be cooler and for processors to run faster and longer.
He also said their systems are enhanced with Windows 7 operating systems, which allow their laptops to boot and shut down faster.
With lower failure rates of their hardware, Kohut said maintenance expenses are also lowered.
And with quicker response of their laptops, he also said more things can be done.
“These are little things, but you see a huge difference in the long run,” Kohut explained.
Aside from these design features, Kohut said their company is also set on going green with their packaging.
Box size
He noted that while other competitors have large boxes and with a lot of white styrofoam, they introduced this year a smaller box and a green plastic buffer made of recycled materials and removed the extra cardboard.
By doing that, he said they added more space in delivery trucks and lessened delivery trips just by adjusting the size of their boxes.
Aside from their laptops, he also cited similar features for their desktops.
“Buying newer hardware can save money,” he told businessmen present during the presentation.
Vicky Agorilla, country general manager of Lenovo computers, said their brand is the second top PC vendor in the country and is ranked first in the Asia Pacific region.
She added that worldwide, they have the fourth spot.