lenovo Archives

Home » lenovo

Why did IBM fail at PCs?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing July 3, 2017October 4, 20211980s, 1990s, acer, AIX, apple, compaq, datacenter, dell, hp, IBM, intel, lenovo, mainframe, Packard Bell, Personal Computer, proprietary unix, thinkpad, unix, VHS, XT

If you ask why did IBM fail, I assume you mean why did IBM ultimately fail in the personal computer market. IBM is still in business, after all. But its exit from the PC market after 24 years, including a period of dominance in the 1980s, does seem curious. And it raises another question: What does IBM do now?

I experienced IBM’s fall in this market firsthand. I sold computers at retail in 1994 and 1995. IBM’s computers at that time were no worse than anyone else’s, but I had an extremely difficult time selling them. Many consumers didn’t trust IBM and didn’t want to get somehow locked in. There was nothing wrong with those machines, but it sure was a lot easier to just sell them a Compaq.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

dfarq.homeip.net

Boot a Lenovo Thinkcentre off USB

Dave Farquhar Hardware February 16, 2017August 3, 2017lenovo

It’s easier to boot a Lenovo Thinkcentre off USB than some other types of computers. But if you’ve never had to, it might be hard to figure out. Here’s how.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Lenovo Thinkcentre M58 upgrades

Dave Farquhar Hardware February 10, 2017June 5, 2018Broadcom, intel, Intel Core, lenovo, nvidia, Windows 10

I picked up an off-lease Lenovo Thinkcentre M58 over the weekend. Based on the date code on the hard drive, this one dates to 2010. It’s a serviceable machine. You have a few options when it comes to Lenovo Thinkcentre M58 upgrades. I wouldn’t necessarily use one as a basis for a $100 gaming PC but you can make a great general purpose home PC out of one.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Boot a Lenovo Ideapad 100 from USB

Dave Farquhar Hardware December 29, 2016April 3, 2021lenovo, Lenovo Ideapad

If you need to boot a Lenovo Ideapad 100 from USB, there’s an easy way to do it. Here’s how.

The Lenovo boot menu appears when you hit the Novo button on the side of the machine. Here’s how to find the Novo button and how to push it, since it’s usually recessed.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Lenovo Ideapad 100 laptop won’t turn on? Fix it

Dave Farquhar Hardware December 21, 2016April 8, 2017hp, lenovo, Lenovo Ideapad, power button

If your Lenovo Ideapad 100 won’t turn on, you’re in good company. I have a friend who has that problem with his Ideapad 100 laptop a lot. Incredibly, nobody I know of documented this fix before. Here’s the secret.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Lock the function keys on a Lenovo Thinkpad

Dave Farquhar Hardware September 29, 2016March 15, 2021lenovo, thinkpad, wi-fi

Depending on your age and experience with computers, you may need to find you need to lock the function keys on a Lenovo Thinkpad. Or you may find the opposite, that you need to disable the function keys on a Lenovo Thinkpad.

Here’s how to do both.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

What does scroll lock do? Or scrlk?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing September 7, 2016August 7, 20181980s, excel, IBM, lenovo

What’s the purpose of the scroll lock key? What does scroll lock do? With modern windowing operating systems we don’t need the scroll lock or scrlk key very often, but it solved a very real problem in the days of DOS.

The scrlk key is an abbreviation for scroll lock. Some keyboards abbreviate it even further. I one keyboard that just says “scr” on that key. However your keyboard abbreviates it, it’s almost always the key in between the print screen and pause keys.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Can’t connect to this network? Here’s the fix.

Dave Farquhar Windows July 6, 2016November 26, 2018dell, hp, intel, lenovo, optimizing windows, vista, Windows 10, windows 7

After upgrading to Windows 10, when I unhibernated my laptop the next morning, my wifi connection didn’t work. The connection dropped and I couldn’t reconnect. Forgetting the network and reconnecting didn’t help. Any time I tried to reconnect to my wireless network, I’d get the message that Windows 10 can’t connect to this network.

The problem seemed to be in the power management.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

New computer, old monitor

Dave Farquhar Hardware May 26, 2016October 5, 20191980s, acer, asus, dell, DisplayPort, hp, IBM, lenovo, VGA

New computer, old monitor: I see questions fairly frequently about using a new computer and older monitor together. More often than not, it’s possible to do, but you may need to know where to look for the cables and adapters you’ll need.

Here’s some help.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

Lenovo and Best Buy team up for a $149 laptop for 2015

Dave Farquhar Hardware November 20, 2015March 30, 2024best buy, hp, intel, Intel Atom, keyboard shortcuts, lenovo, Lenovo Ideapad, Microsoft Office, usb port, Windows 10, windows 7, x86

Cheap laptops are nothing new this time of year–they’ve been practically a holiday tradition since 2002 when Sotec released a decent laptop for $900, which was jaw-droppingly low for the time–but this year, Best Buy is selling a Lenovo Ideapad 100s for $149.99, which, while not jaw-droppingly low given the number of $199 laptops that were available last year, is still the cheapest name-brand laptop I’ve seen. Note: Best Buy has since raised the price to $199, but Ebay has limited stock of the same item for $129.

I’ve seen some reviews, but there is one thing I haven’t seen anyone bring up yet: This is a netbook in every way, except I think we’re supposed to call them cloudbooks now. So keep that in mind. The machine is probably worth $149.99, but it made some compromises to reach that price point.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net

← Previous