On 8/29/2025 6:34 PM, T wrote:

Hi All,

I have been recommending Lenovo's Think Station computer
to customers.ÿÿ But I really do not like how proprietary
they are.ÿ Repairing them is impossible after the warranty
period expires as Lenovo is the only source of parts
and Lenovo won't sell you parts after the warranty expires.

To name a few:

ÿÿÿ Proprietary connectors on the motherboard to the SATA
ÿÿÿ drives (power and data).ÿ (Motherboard SATA pins that
ÿÿÿ you have never seen before.)

ÿÿÿ Front panels that can not be removed to insert things like
ÿÿÿ powered front panel hubs and DVD drives.

ÿÿÿ Proprietary power supplies with proprietary power connectors.

ÿÿÿ Proprietary dimensions on motherboards (not ATX, ITX
ÿÿÿ or anything recognizable).

On the bright side, Lenovo's Think Stations are pretty
reliable.ÿ Just hope they don't break.

I have seen recommendations for Dell, but I have not had
great experiences will Dell in the past, especially their
habit of putting intermittent motherboards down the parts
cleaner and reissuing them a spare parts.

Anyone have a recommendation for a business grade
computers that use generic parts and are very reliable?

Many thanks,
-T

I really like the HP workstation line. I got one for my son in the
HP-Z2 line, and for myself I went a little less on the features that he
had and got one in the HP-Z1 line. What I really like are the way the
cases open up and accept additional hardware, or just being able to work
on them easily. They are quite good.



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On 8/29/2025 7:15 PM, T wrote:

On 8/29/25 4:48 PM, sticks wrote:

I really like the HP workstation line.ÿ I got one for my son in the
HP- Z2 line, and for myself I went a little less on the features that
he had and got one in the HP-Z1 line.ÿ What I really like are the way
the cases open up and accept additional hardware, or just being able
to work on them easily.ÿ They are quite good.

I had a customer that bough a bunch of HP for their business.
They got a really deal with a 12 month warranty.ÿ They all
broke at 13 months.ÿ I repaired them -- mostly bad drives.
I am a little leery of HP ever since.

Hopefully with your experience, they have cleaned up
their act.ÿ Then again, I am pretty sure they were
home grade computers.

Well the son does programming for CNC work. It works the hell out of
the computer when he is doing his modeling. It originally only had 16G
of ram and I upgraded it to 32G. You could really feel the difference
and it completely stopped chugging along, like when you would rotate the
model or change an variable and ask it to redraw. It just popped.

Even my Z1 I am very pleased with. Kinda funny but out in my shop where
I spend most of my time I use a cheap $50 20 year old Compaq desktop
running win 10 and only use the desktop HP in the evening for a short
time. The garage box is amazingly stable and works well, but it's like
going to another level with that Z2.

I did a quick look at the current HP lineup, and it looks like you could really get amazing things, if you have the money. That's the problem.
Every time I go to buy something, I tell myself I don't need to have top
of the line, but when I go look I change my mind and think I really do
kind of want that. HP does have a good group of price ranges to get
started, and you can go from there.

--- MBSE BBS v1.1.2 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:34:03 -0700, T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Hi All,

I have been recommending Lenovo's Think Station computer
to customers. But I really do not like how proprietary
they are. Repairing them is impossible after the warranty
period expires as Lenovo is the only source of parts
and Lenovo won't sell you parts after the warranty expires.

To name a few:

Proprietary connectors on the motherboard to the SATA
drives (power and data). (Motherboard SATA pins that
you have never seen before.)

Front panels that can not be removed to insert things like
powered front panel hubs and DVD drives.

Proprietary power supplies with proprietary power connectors.

Proprietary dimensions on motherboards (not ATX, ITX
or anything recognizable).

On the bright side, Lenovo's Think Stations are pretty
reliable. Just hope they don't break.

I have seen recommendations for Dell, but I have not had
great experiences will Dell in the past, especially their
habit of putting intermittent motherboards down the parts
cleaner and reissuing them a spare parts.

Anyone have a recommendation for a business grade
computers that use generic parts and are very reliable?

Many thanks,
-T

Not in any way an answer to your question - but -
I wonder how anyone can sell new Lenovo desktops
when the refurb units are ~ $ 200.

I know - apples and oranges, but this unit is $ 230 _Canadian_

https://www.infotechcomputers.ca/product/lenovo-thinkcentre-m710s-i7-16gb-desktop/

I've bought 2 Lenovo laptops from these guys - they're legit.
John T.

--- MBSE BBS v1.1.2 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: ---:- FTN<->UseNet Gate -:--- (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

On 8/29/2025 8:03 PM, hubops@ccanoemail.com wrote:

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 16:34:03 -0700, T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Hi All,

I have been recommending Lenovo's Think Station computer
to customers. But I really do not like how proprietary
they are. Repairing them is impossible after the warranty
period expires as Lenovo is the only source of parts
and Lenovo won't sell you parts after the warranty expires.

To name a few:

Proprietary connectors on the motherboard to the SATA
drives (power and data). (Motherboard SATA pins that
you have never seen before.)

Front panels that can not be removed to insert things like
powered front panel hubs and DVD drives.

Proprietary power supplies with proprietary power connectors.

Proprietary dimensions on motherboards (not ATX, ITX
or anything recognizable).

On the bright side, Lenovo's Think Stations are pretty
reliable. Just hope they don't break.

I have seen recommendations for Dell, but I have not had
great experiences will Dell in the past, especially their
habit of putting intermittent motherboards down the parts
cleaner and reissuing them a spare parts.

Anyone have a recommendation for a business grade
computers that use generic parts and are very reliable?

Many thanks,
-T

Not in any way an answer to your question - but -
I wonder how anyone can sell new Lenovo desktops
when the refurb units are ~ $ 200.

I know - apples and oranges, but this unit is $ 230 _Canadian_

https://www.infotechcomputers.ca/product/lenovo-thinkcentre-m710s-i7-16gb-desktop/

I've bought 2 Lenovo laptops from these guys - they're legit.
John T.

I personally, would never buy a Lenovo. Chinese spyware. Do a search something like "do lenovo computers have chinese spyware in them."

Not in my house, that's for sure.



--- MBSE BBS v1.1.2 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

On 8/30/2025 5:00 AM, T wrote:

On 8/29/25 7:00 PM, sticks wrote:

I personally, would never buy a Lenovo.ÿ Chinese spyware.ÿ Do a search
something like "do lenovo computers have chinese spyware in them."

Not in my house, that's for sure.

That would apply to every computer sold today.
They all have Chinese parts.

I didn't say anything about parts. I said spyware.

And Lenovo is a multinational company with a lot of
presence in the USA.ÿ Their tech support is USA based.

Sure, I think they're the number one in sales in the world. If you look
at pricing, they usually offer machines that seem just a little bit
cheaper than it's competition. Brilliant.
While they would not let us into China, we still allow them in the US.
Of course they take advantage of that.



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* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (3:633/280.2@fidonet)

Reply-To: sb.nospam@belgacom.net

On Fri, 29 Aug 2025 21:00:09 -0500, sticks wrote:

I personally, would never buy a Lenovo. Chinese spyware. Do a search something like "do lenovo computers have chinese spyware in them."

Not in my house, that's for sure.

Because it's better to have American spyware. /s

--
s|b

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* Origin: XXII (3:633/280.2@fidonet)