4 ms·

Honestly as a business customer I can’t justify buying this unless there is an option to unbrand it. (Actually if you had a unbranding option we could sticker

Honestly as a business customer I can’t justify buying this unless there is an option to unbrand it. (Actually if you had a unbranding option we could sticker it with our own company logo and that could be pretty cool) Can you imagine the backlash if there’s some IT issue and someone realises that it’s not a Dell or Lenovo (why didn’t you just buy from big 2?), or how embarrassing it might be to go to a profile business meeting with an obviously random and non-corporate laptop (oh that looks like some random cheap overseas brand, uhh ok, are you sure you can afford us)?

chungy 4y ago
Is your company so hardwired to Dell and Lenovo that they can't understand competitors exist?
- aetherspawn 4y ago
  Buying anything outside the Dell or Lenovo business ecosystem really puts your head on the chopping block to be announced a crazy person the minute some business critical function (like dual monitors through dock) doesn’t work…
  - chungy 4y ago
    You need to find a better company with a better corporate culture.
    - yellowapple 4y ago
      Those are in much shorter supply than you seem to imply.
      - chungy 4y ago
        I've never previously encountered one so perverse that choice of laptop is basically tantamount to a fashion choice and causes ridicule.
- rejectfinite 4y ago
  Because normally you buy from Lenovo, HP or Dell for the warranty, support and driverpacks for SCCM etc. Real companies have IT provision laptops for employees. If you are consultant remote, sure just Citrix into the envroment. But if your laptop breaks its on you.
- scns 4y ago
  Several people on HN lauded Lenovos' same-day-service warranty. Downtime costs a lot of money.
noobermin 4y ago
What a strange set of considerations so bizarre they apply to like no one but you. Good thing that is the case and this logic applies to a dwindling number of professionals. I understand how people can judge on such minor things but on that front, might as well not hire any black people or women on your team lest you heighten your customers' subconcious biases. edit: also, would a linux laptop work for you? Wouldn't you need office or such?
- aetherspawn 4y ago
  VDI scenario is common now for engineers, so yes it would work to virt into a windows box, but yes there are other friction points such as compact issues with PowerPoint for meetings, and you probably wouldn’t run a PowerPoint over a virt. It could also take a lot of messing around to get Office 365 MDM working with Linux. I think you'd want to do a Linux desktop deploy and sort out these issues before you tried to deploy [any of these brands of] Linux laptops.
- justsomehnguy 4y ago
  > What a strange set of considerations so bizarre they apply to like no one but you Oh, sweet non-corporate bullshit child. People get shown the door for just having non-Apple devices with them.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
    > People get shown the door for just having non-Apple devices with them. Is this a thing that you've actually personally seen happen? Because I've seen and heard of some fairly messed up companies and that strains credulity. Like, I suppose it happens, because there are enough companies that everything happens, but that feels like the 99th percentile of insane company cultures.
    - philliphaydon 4y ago
      I doubt he can name a company that does this.
    - 4y ago
morsch 4y ago
I don't think MBAs are the market they're targeting. Unfortunately, an MBA is often the one who'll have to sign off on the expense.
yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
> Can you imagine the backlash if there’s some IT issue and someone realises that it’s not a Dell or Lenovo (why didn’t you just buy from big 2?), or how embarrassing it might be to go to a profile business meeting with an obviously random and non-corporate laptop (oh that looks like some random cheap overseas brand, uhh ok, are you sure you can afford us)? So your proposed solution is to... remove all branding? How does that help anything?
- aetherspawn 4y ago
  I think that building custom no-brand desktops is a pretty acceptable cost cutting measure taken by some companies, so you could pitch it something like “we’re working with a company to build custom laptops exactly for what we need”, or if someone asks about it you can explain it ala “yes, we couldn’t get exactly what we needed so we build a completely custom fleet of laptops”. Or ideal scenario, with a brand delete you slap a [company] sticker on it and nobody really notices that it’s not a Dell Latitude running Linux.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
    That might be an argument for desktops, but we're talking about a laptop.
    - aetherspawn 4y ago
      Any suggestions how you’d sell something like this? Brand delete is all I have.
      - commoner 4y ago
        Unbranded laptops are something I'd also prefer, even though the corporate environment you're describing is very employee-hostile when it comes to technology choice. (Sorry about your situation.) I know that Schenker sells some of their laptops with their logo on the laptop lid by default and offers a choice to remove the logo for an additional charge. Example (VIA 15 Pro): https://bestware.com/en/schenker-via-15-pro-m22.html https://bestware.com/en/schenker-via-15-pro-m22.html This option is possible because the laptop is a branded version of an ODM laptop (Tongfang PF5NU1G).
scns 4y ago
Tuxedo offers unbranded and individual Logos, like Schenker. Intel Management Engine, Webcam & Audio (on Intel CPUs), and WLAN & Bluetooth can be deactivated directly via the BIOS. Can be ordered without SSD, RAM is upgradable. Just a content customer. https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks.tuxedo https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Note...
- aetherspawn 4y ago
  This is neat, thanks!
openplatypus 4y ago
My uni friend is a CTO in large consultancy. He attended meetings with Razer laptop. You've got it wrong. Yes, I imagine some prehistoric corporations might have a problem with non corpo laptop. Luckily the rest of the world has moved on.

chungy 4y ago

Is your company so hardwired to Dell and Lenovo that they can't understand competitors exist?

aetherspawn 4y ago
Buying anything outside the Dell or Lenovo business ecosystem really puts your head on the chopping block to be announced a crazy person the minute some business critical function (like dual monitors through dock) doesn’t work…
- chungy 4y ago
  You need to find a better company with a better corporate culture.
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    Those are in much shorter supply than you seem to imply.
    - chungy 4y ago
      I've never previously encountered one so perverse that choice of laptop is basically tantamount to a fashion choice and causes ridicule.
rejectfinite 4y ago
Because normally you buy from Lenovo, HP or Dell for the warranty, support and driverpacks for SCCM etc. Real companies have IT provision laptops for employees. If you are consultant remote, sure just Citrix into the envroment. But if your laptop breaks its on you.
scns 4y ago
Several people on HN lauded Lenovos' same-day-service warranty. Downtime costs a lot of money.

noobermin 4y ago

What a strange set of considerations so bizarre they apply to like no one but you. Good thing that is the case and this logic applies to a dwindling number of professionals. I understand how people can judge on such minor things but on that front, might as well not hire any black people or women on your team lest you heighten your customers' subconcious biases. edit: also, would a linux laptop work for you? Wouldn't you need office or such?

aetherspawn 4y ago
VDI scenario is common now for engineers, so yes it would work to virt into a windows box, but yes there are other friction points such as compact issues with PowerPoint for meetings, and you probably wouldn’t run a PowerPoint over a virt. It could also take a lot of messing around to get Office 365 MDM working with Linux. I think you'd want to do a Linux desktop deploy and sort out these issues before you tried to deploy [any of these brands of] Linux laptops.
justsomehnguy 4y ago
> What a strange set of considerations so bizarre they apply to like no one but you Oh, sweet non-corporate bullshit child. People get shown the door for just having non-Apple devices with them.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
  > People get shown the door for just having non-Apple devices with them. Is this a thing that you've actually personally seen happen? Because I've seen and heard of some fairly messed up companies and that strains credulity. Like, I suppose it happens, because there are enough companies that everything happens, but that feels like the 99th percentile of insane company cultures.
  - philliphaydon 4y ago
    I doubt he can name a company that does this.
  - 4y ago

morsch 4y ago

I don't think MBAs are the market they're targeting. Unfortunately, an MBA is often the one who'll have to sign off on the expense.

yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago

> Can you imagine the backlash if there’s some IT issue and someone realises that it’s not a Dell or Lenovo (why didn’t you just buy from big 2?), or how embarrassing it might be to go to a profile business meeting with an obviously random and non-corporate laptop (oh that looks like some random cheap overseas brand, uhh ok, are you sure you can afford us)? So your proposed solution is to... remove all branding? How does that help anything?

aetherspawn 4y ago
I think that building custom no-brand desktops is a pretty acceptable cost cutting measure taken by some companies, so you could pitch it something like “we’re working with a company to build custom laptops exactly for what we need”, or if someone asks about it you can explain it ala “yes, we couldn’t get exactly what we needed so we build a completely custom fleet of laptops”. Or ideal scenario, with a brand delete you slap a [company] sticker on it and nobody really notices that it’s not a Dell Latitude running Linux.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
  That might be an argument for desktops, but we're talking about a laptop.
  - aetherspawn 4y ago
    Any suggestions how you’d sell something like this? Brand delete is all I have.
    - commoner 4y ago
      Unbranded laptops are something I'd also prefer, even though the corporate environment you're describing is very employee-hostile when it comes to technology choice. (Sorry about your situation.) I know that Schenker sells some of their laptops with their logo on the laptop lid by default and offers a choice to remove the logo for an additional charge. Example (VIA 15 Pro): https://bestware.com/en/schenker-via-15-pro-m22.html https://bestware.com/en/schenker-via-15-pro-m22.html This option is possible because the laptop is a branded version of an ODM laptop (Tongfang PF5NU1G).

scns 4y ago

Tuxedo offers unbranded and individual Logos, like Schenker. Intel Management Engine, Webcam & Audio (on Intel CPUs), and WLAN & Bluetooth can be deactivated directly via the BIOS. Can be ordered without SSD, RAM is upgradable. Just a content customer. https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks.tuxedo https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Note...

aetherspawn 4y ago
This is neat, thanks!

openplatypus 4y ago

My uni friend is a CTO in large consultancy. He attended meetings with Razer laptop. You've got it wrong. Yes, I imagine some prehistoric corporations might have a problem with non corpo laptop. Luckily the rest of the world has moved on.