Lenovo continues its foray into the PC gaming market by partnering with rising gaming accessory company Razer. The two companies are announcing a special “Razer” edition of the Lenovo Y Series. Their joint statement says that they want to leverage Lenovo’s supply chain and manufacturing power and Razer’s product design capabilities.
There are some obvious business synergies: first, Razer gets access to a formidable channel since Lenovo is the #1 PC OEM in the world at the moment. It’s also a marketing boost, although gamers already know the Razer brand very well.
Lenovo gets to improve their brand in a gaming context. It’s not clear by how much, but it certainly can’t hurt to be associated with a positive name in that specific market.
At the moment, the benefit to the user isn’t yet known. Will they get Razer-quality hardware for a lower price? Will the new Y-Series be significantly different than the Lenovo-only version? At the moment, the changes are mainly focused on the design, which features Razer’s Chroma lights, but we’ll know more at the actual launch at CES 2016.
Since Razer hardware tends to sit on the premium market, it would be nice if that partnership could result in real discounts to Lenovo customers. What would you want to see from a Lenovo/Razer partnership?