Lenovo's Inaccurate Specs On Their Website Is A Common Problem Among PC Makers

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) said that Lenovo Singapore and its former authorised reseller Want Join have made inaccurate claims to some of their gaming laptop models on the LazMall website between 2019 to 2020.

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The situation came to light when news outlet Lianhe Wanbao published a study by the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) on 19 Jan, 2020. The study included a customer who bought a Lenovo gaming laptop that was advertised to have a 144Hz screen refresh rate but only to received one that had a 60Hz screen refresh rate.

Following the complaint, CCCS started investigating and found that between April 2019 to June 2020, Lenovo Singapore had published inaccurate information of some of the hardware information of their gaming laptops. Both Lenovo Singapore and Want Join have since pledged to beef up their internal compliance policy. CCCS has accepted the undertakings and has closed its investigations.

Common Problem In The PC World

Getting the numbers wrong is apparently a common thing in the industry due to the long list of hardware specifications. PC makers have also made life more complicating for themselves, and their buyers, by creating too many different models, versions and variations to the same line of laptops. Sometimes they themselves got it wrong when sharing these information internally.

There are a few reasons why PC makers do what they do. Firstly, most of them sell their products globally and to make their product prices more competitive, they create different versions - Cheaper lower specs for lower income countries and pricier higher specs for higher income countries. Secondly, to create options for consumers. Study did say that if we provide customers with choices, we empower them and thus in a way provide better customer experience.

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But having choices and having too many choices is a fine line, and having too many choices can often lead to confusion. When PC makers themselves get confused by the sheer number of versions and variations, how else do you think consumers will feel? Ask ourselves this question (Apple users excluded), do we know the exact model number of the laptop we are using?

This problem is not only limited to PC makers and PC peripherals, it is the same for TVs, home appliances and some electronics. It is encouraging to see that a few phone makers have managed to solve this problem - By literally not offering too many different models and also controlling the price difference across the different countries, but unfortunately we are also witnessing some phone makers that are probably going down the same rabbit hole.