Re: Lenovo Thinkpad, HP, or Vostro/Latitude? was Re: OT: Laptop for College Bound Student?

["Owen Townend" <owen.townend@gmail.com>]

On 16/06/2008, Damon L. Chesser <damon@damtek.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-06-16 at 21:19 +1200, Chris Bannister wrote:
>  > On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 08:10:46AM +0100, Brad Rogers wrote:
>  > > On Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:55:52 +1200
>  > > Chris Bannister <mockingbird@earthlight.co.nz> wrote:
>  > >
>  > > Hello Chris,
>  > >
>  > > > So it seems like pretty well all the "cheap" stuff is Made in China.
>  > >
>  > > Traditionally, it's made in Taiwan.  These days, however, it's not
>  > > expedient to say so, hence the use of the term People's Republic of
>  > > China, or just PRC.  Politics.....
>  >
>  > It was explicitly stated "Made in China". I have seem "Made in Taiwan",
>  > never "Main in PRC" or "Made in People's Republic of China".
>  >
>  > Caveat: My statement above doesn't necessarily imply that the products
>  > made in China are of lower quality than of products made anywhere else.
>  >
>
> Oh, I agree.  It is just that (in my mind) there is a difference between
>  made in China (often a Taiwan company leased a factory in China) and PRC
>  owned.  I also know it is very hard to find anything NOT made in China
>  (whether it is Taiwan or PRC).  I just don't see any reason to support
>  the (Communism? debatable) absolute dictatorship that is China.  I also
>  know it may even be silly.  It is just where I draw my personal line.
>  Yours may vary.  I may not be able to find a pair of pants not made in
>  China, but I can find a laptop  at least made by a company NOT owned by
>  the PRC, even  if it is "made in China".  Again, just a personal
>  preference, like vanilla ice cream or chocolate.
>
>

Hey,

  Here is Australia though I believe that attempting to go down the
line of not buying anything Chinese made, owned or run on principal
would be similar to attempting to be a strict vegan: possible, but
definately far from easy.
  Avoiding PRC gov't owned and run may be easier to adhere to, and
also attempts to avoid punishing the people for the leaders' position.
  WRT Lenovo: from wikipedia[1]:
"effectively the Chinese government owns about 27.17% of Lenovo and is
the largest shareholder".
  As you said, this is not simply a Taiwanese leased factory. The
largest stakeholder is the PRC gov't hence the warranted distinction.

  Note, for me this is mostly academic. As a student and casual
employee my wallet holds much sway in these decisions.

cheers,
Owen.

Footnotes:
--
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo#Ownership