Lenovo and Microsoft Announce Grand Prize Winner of EE2.0 EExtraordinary 10-Second Hero Contest

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC –  November 9, 2011: Today Lenovo, in conjunction with Microsoft Corporation, announced the grand prize winner of its EExtraordinary 10-Second Hero Contest. Carlos Arturo Vargas Ayala, who hails from Colombia, will be awarded $50,000 to be donated on his behalf to Operaciòn Sonrisa (Operation Smile) and a Lenovo IdeaPad laptop for his personal use. The contest celebrated the myriad contributions people make daily in just 10 seconds—the same amount of time it takes a Lenovo PC for Windows 7 with Enhanced Experience 2.0 (EE 2.0) RapidDrive SSD technology to boot up.

His entry featured “Operaciòn Sonrisa,” a non-profit organization dedicated to surgically repairing malformations of children born with cleft palates in Colombia. As Carlos noted, after each operation, it takes less than 10 seconds for the children and their families to smile in appreciation and happiness once the bandages are removed and turn a new page in their lives.

“We’re proud to award Carlos $50,000 for Operaciòn Sonrisa and a Lenovo IdeaPad laptop,” said Nick Reynolds, executive director, marketing and communications, worldwide product group, Lenovo. “We are delighted that this contest showcased the extraordinary impact a small deed in just 10 seconds can make a significant change in so many people’s lives around the world.”

“Carlos proved how incredible actions can be accomplished in such little time,” said Alexander Barnett, Senior Director, OEM Product Marketing, Microsoft. “It’s our hope that the EExtraordinary 10-Second Hero Contest continues to inspire people from around the world to take a few seconds to help their communities.”

Nearly 400 nominations were submitted from 14 countries and the website was viewed more than 93,000 times and received over 2,500 Facebook likes referring the contest to friends and family.  In just two weeks more than 20,000 votes were casted for the 18 finalists who submitted entries explaining a good deed they or an organization they know of accomplished in just 10 seconds. Carlos’ entry won by garnering more than 6,000 total votes.

To view Carlos’ entry and video, please visit: http://lenovo.promo.eprize.com/hero/landing_to_login?country=US&locale=en_US

The official rules of the Lenovo EExtraordinary 10-Second Hero Contest are available at: http://lenovo.promo.eprize.com/hero.

Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7
Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7

is an exclusive certification only available on Lenovo products. This unique feature allows Lenovo PCs to boot on average 20 seconds faster than a typical Windows 7 PC thanks to RapidBoot technology, which uses a range of proprietary optimization techniques to deliver even faster start-up and shutdown times¹. Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 PCs with optional RapidDrive SSD technology perform even faster by using a Solid State Drive in addition to, or instead of, a regular hard drive (varies by model). RapidDrive SSD technology offers two-times faster application performance² and even faster Windows 7 performance, including boot up times in less than 10 seconds on select Idea PCs.³

Lenovo Idea-branded PCs with Enhanced Experience 2.0 are optimized for consumers for multimedia with Enhanced Digital Audio and HD graphics. Lenovo Think-branded PCs are optimized for businesses with robust security tools and rich Web conferencing features.

For more information about Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience 2.0, please visit: http://shop.lenovo.com/us/products/ee2/index.html.

About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $US21 billion personal technology company serving customers in more than 160 countries, and the world’s second-largest PC vendor. Dedicated to building exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile Internet devices, Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile Internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo, a global Fortune 500 company, has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina.  For more information see www.lenovo.com.

¹Testing conducted by CNET Labs, Beijing, in November 2010, using the independent Microsoft VTS tool to measure start-up, shutdown, resume and other Windows 7 performance measurements. Forty-two competitors’ PCs were tested from Acer, Apple, Dell, HP, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba, representing both commercial and consumer desktop and notebook products at mainstream price points. These were compared with comparable Lenovo products. Data from competitors and Lenovo PCs were averaged and compared to calculate the claims used.

²Example based on identical configuration IdeaPad Y570 without RapidDrive using standard 500GB 5400rpm 2.5” SATA HDD (8 secs). Other application tests were performed with similar results.

³ Not all features available on all models. Check detailed specifications and selling features for further details on specific models.