Lenovo is very nice hardware to run Linux. As you say, they even care about updating firmware.
However, there are a few things that IMHO are holding them back:
* In EU, sales and support are outsourced (to Digital River Ireland Ltd). Support is a disgrace. Sales are also bad, as pricing is ridiculous compared to the US (often 1.5-2x more expensive than Apple) and most models are released late. Besides, they often sell open-box machines as brand new. If the want to compare to Apple, Lenovo should try to have unified global sales and guarantee.
* They sell way too many Thinkpad variants, so they often release some that are unpolished. Lenovo should consolidate their lineup into fewer models.
* They are lagging back with processor updates, compared to other PC manufacturers or non-Thinkpad Lenovos. Thinkpads are often sold with previous generation Intel CPUs. Models with AMD variants are seldomly available.
> In EU, sales and support are outsourced (to Digital River Ireland Ltd).
AMD happens to use this company for orders on their own site as well. If anyone wants to see how bad an e-commerce experience can be, I suggest they try to order something from AMD.com
It used to be even worse, but it seems they at least figured out that billing and shipping addresses can differ, and instead of ignoring most of the EU countries, they now ignore only about half of them.
The AMD subreddit also had a few threads about this.
However, there are a few things that IMHO are holding them back:
* In EU, sales and support are outsourced (to Digital River Ireland Ltd). Support is a disgrace. Sales are also bad, as pricing is ridiculous compared to the US (often 1.5-2x more expensive than Apple) and most models are released late. Besides, they often sell open-box machines as brand new. If the want to compare to Apple, Lenovo should try to have unified global sales and guarantee.
* They sell way too many Thinkpad variants, so they often release some that are unpolished. Lenovo should consolidate their lineup into fewer models.
* They are lagging back with processor updates, compared to other PC manufacturers or non-Thinkpad Lenovos. Thinkpads are often sold with previous generation Intel CPUs. Models with AMD variants are seldomly available.