My protégé wants to buy a new laptop.  Her present one, an IBM, is getting old and slow.  I explained to her that micro-computers have been commoditized for about 20 years and that any good brand will do, but she wanted to do her own research.  First, she wanted to buy an IBM, and I explained that there is no more IBM, in the portable computer market, because they sold that business to Lenovo.  I also explained to her that Compaq is owned by HP.  With that knowledge, she went shopping.

When she came back she gave me a debriefing.  First, the Lenovo salesman insisted that their ThinkPad is really IBM and that all of the same people, parts, and plants were used to make it as when it was really IBM.  Personally, I don't know if I buy that, but other of you, the readers, may comment on that.  More surprising were the answers that she got, while visiting an HP outlet.  There, she told the salesman that many of her friends had told her that there were problems with HP-Compaq.  In fact, the salesman told her that there really is a difference between HP and Compaq, in China.  He had her touch a Compaq laptop to feel how hot it was; then, an HP to compare how cool it was.  He went on to tell her that the real difference was that HP were made in Shanghai, while Compaq was made at a plant in Suzhou, and that HP was a much better quality machine.

I remember how everyone thought that it was not a smart move for HP to buy Compaq, back in 2001.  In fact, the head of HP eventually lost her job over it.  I felt the same way about Lenovo buying IBM, but at least that might have helped to give a Chinese computer company a bit of legitimacy, both in country and outside.  However, when I see how each has treated their purchases, I think that HP-Compaq is the real loser.