Lenovo vs. Apple
Lenovo's new ad for its super slim ThinkPad X300 is brilliant, and enlightening. Road warriors were mercilessly teased when Apple launched a super light notebook with a full size screen and full size keyboard -- if only it wasn't a Mac! Now they can feel good about their side again: as Lenovo's ad deftly proclaims, the new ThinkPad has all the benefits of the MacBook Air with none of the compromises: You get thin, light, full size keyboard, full size monitor AND an optical drive, replaceable battery, and a full set of pots -- features that the MacBook Air famously lacks.
But what is equally remarkable, and not a little enlightening, is that Lenovo seems utterly oblivious to the obvious: the ThinkPad is ugly. MacBook Air is beautiful, sensual. It evokes an emotional response. Apple's industrial design magic is on full display in the Air.
By contrast, the ThinkPad -- like all ThinkPads -- is a study in form-follows-function design. It has the utilitarian aesthetics of an Army truck, its evolution driven from years of hard use, the rigors of its natural habitat reflected in its reinforced hinges, heavy duty latches, and its blocky, flat back body.
This contrast is heightened further by the motif of the ThinkPad ad, which is taken directly from Apple's ads for the Air. If you've seen those ads, what leaps off the page at you is not "What the Air could have been". Rather it is something more like... "That's no Apple."
But what is equally remarkable, and not a little enlightening, is that Lenovo seems utterly oblivious to the obvious: the ThinkPad is ugly. MacBook Air is beautiful, sensual. It evokes an emotional response. Apple's industrial design magic is on full display in the Air.
By contrast, the ThinkPad -- like all ThinkPads -- is a study in form-follows-function design. It has the utilitarian aesthetics of an Army truck, its evolution driven from years of hard use, the rigors of its natural habitat reflected in its reinforced hinges, heavy duty latches, and its blocky, flat back body.
This contrast is heightened further by the motif of the ThinkPad ad, which is taken directly from Apple's ads for the Air. If you've seen those ads, what leaps off the page at you is not "What the Air could have been". Rather it is something more like... "That's no Apple."
posted by Charles Ames at 7:17 PM
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