IMO E

(D) All the laptop manufacturers in Ireland, including Ivy Infotech, source their processors from the same company. - Doesnt matter. Ivy could have bought higher quality procesors from the same company

(E) Due to production bottlenecks, the production of laptops by Ivy Infotech’s rival companies fell by more than 60% in the last six months. - Author assumes Ivy's processor must be faster as it has sold more computers than its competitors. However, this option highlights alternate reason for sales difference.

Hence E is correct

Of all the laptops available for sale in Ireland, laptops manufactured by Ivy Infotech must have the fastest processors. Over the last six months, Ivy Infotech has sold three times as many laptops as its closest competitor. Additionally, Ivy Infotech’s order books are full for the next 12 months.

Which of the following options, if true, most weakens the argument?


(A) Ivy Infotech was severely criticised last year for manufacturing laptops with slow processors. Irrelevant

(B) Apart from laptops, Ivy Infotech also manufactures desktops and tablets, sales of which have declined drastically in the last six months. Incorrect

other products are irrelevant

(C) At the same time last year, Ivy Infotech had sold 60% more laptops than it has this year. Incorrect

this doesnt shows that Ivy Infotech has fastest processors

(D) All the laptop manufacturers in Ireland, including Ivy Infotech, source their processors from the same company. Incorrect

others use slow processors, while Ivy Infotech use fastest processors from same company, cant weakens conclusion

(E) Due to production bottlenecks, the production of laptops by Ivy Infotech’s rival companies fell by more than 60% in the last six months. Correct

so consumers are bound to purchase from this company

IMO D


Of all the laptops available for sale in Ireland, laptops manufactured by Ivy Infotech must have the fastest processors. Over the last six months, Ivy Infotech has sold three times as many laptops as its closest competitor. Additionally, Ivy Infotech’s order books are full for the next 12 months.

Which of the following options, if true, most weakens the argument?

Given:
1. Ivy Infotech must have the fastest processors
(notice that this is merely a deduction, not conclusion)
2.Stats provided in support of #1

To weaken the argument, we can either :
1. Find something that tells us that their processors aren't actually that fast
2. Find something that tells us negates the stats

(A) Ivy Infotech was severely criticised last year for manufacturing laptops with slow processors.
Does not translate into them getting criticised this year as well. It is not present in the premise.

(B) Apart from laptops, Ivy Infotech also manufactures desktops and tablets, sales of which have declined drastically in the last six months.
We do not know the reason behind the low sales.

(C) At the same time last year, Ivy Infotech had sold 60% more laptops than it has this year.
60% of what? Numbers/Population/Stats are not clear.

(D) All the laptop manufacturers in Ireland, including Ivy Infotech, source their processors from the same company.
Correct - If this is the case, then the processors of Ivy Infotech aren't really the fastest and that there might be a third factor involved.

(E) Due to production bottlenecks, the production of laptops by Ivy Infotech’s rival companies fell by more than 60% in the last six months.
Again, stats are not clear.

(A) Ivy Infotech was severely criticized last year for manufacturing laptops with slow processors. -> the laptop might still have faster processor than the other company's processors in Ireland.

(B) Apart from laptops, Ivy Infotech also manufactures desktops and tablets, sales of which have declined drastically in the last six months. -> irrelevant

(C) At the same time last year, Ivy Infotech had sold 60% more laptops than it has this year. -> out of scope

(D) All the laptop manufacturers in Ireland, including Ivy Infotech, source their processors from the same company. -> Correct

(E) Due to production bottlenecks, the production of laptops by Ivy Infotech’s rival companies fell by more than 60% in the last six months. -> irrelevant.

From my understanding in any weaken question we have to weaken the bonding between the premises and the conclusion in such a way that the conclusion is not destroyed, but a person who is reading the argument can surely feel that the argument has reached to conclusion without considering some premises, i.e. there are holes in the argument.

Similarly in this argument the main conclusion is " laptops manufactured by Ivy Infotech must have the fastest processors."

Now lets look at the options.

(A) Ivy Infotech was severely criticised last year for manufacturing laptops with slow processors.
We are not interested about what happened in last year. Its out of scope for sure.

(B) Apart from laptops, Ivy Infotech also manufactures desktops and tablets, sales of which have declined drastically in the last six months. Again out of scope, tangential to the argument.

(C) At the same time last year, Ivy Infotech had sold 60% more laptops than it has this year.
That's ok, but what will we do with this statement?

(D) All the laptop manufacturers in Ireland, including Ivy Infotech, source their processors from the same company.
Perfect, if this is true, then it is quite clear that the author has reached to the conclusion without considering all the assumptions and facts. Must be the answer.

(E) Due to production bottlenecks, the production of laptops by Ivy Infotech’s rival companies fell by more than 60% in the last six months.
Out of scope. We are not interested about the sales of rival companies.

Official Explanation

Answer: E.

Since this is a weaken question, you know that the stimulus will be worded in the form of an argument. So, the first step is to identify the conclusion and the evidence of this argument.

Conclusion (What is the argument stating):

Laptops manufactured by Ivy Infotech have the fastest processors.

Evidence (Why is the argument stating this):

Ivy Infotech has sold the maximum number of laptops in the last six months in Ireland.

But does this make sense? Can’t there be some other plausible reason why the people in Ireland are buying Ivy Infotech’s laptops? Maybe these laptops have a very sleek design, maybe they have a very long battery life, or maybe they are the cheapest laptops in the market. There can be several other reasons (other than fast processors) why the Irish are buying laptops manufactured by Ivy Infotech. This brings us to the assumption. Remember that since the stimulus is in the form of an argument, it must contain an assumption.

Assumption (the unstated evidence):

So let’s try to predict the assumption. It will be something on the lines of ‘the only difference among the different laptops available in Ireland is the speed of the processor; the laptops are the same in every other aspect’, because in that case if the people are still buying Ivy Infotech’s laptops then these laptops must have the fastest processors, else people would be buying some other company’s laptops.

Weakener:

So, now that we have identified the conclusion, the evidence, and the assumption, the answer choice that best tells us that the assumption may NOT be true has to weaken the argument. In essence, this option will provide us with some other reason (other than faster processors) why the sales of Ivy Infotech’s laptops have been very high. E does this best and should be the correct answer. For clarity, let’s also take a look at the other answer choices:

(A) It is very much possible that because of this criticism that Ivy Infotech equipped its laptops with faster processors. So, by no stretch does this option weaken the argument.

(B) Desktops and tablets are outside the scope of the argument. The fact remains that Ivy Infotech’s laptops have outsold those of its rivals by a large margin. We need to show that this was not because of the faster processors and this option fails to do so.

(C) This option states that overall Ivy Infotech has performed worse this year than it did last year but we are not concerned with this. The fact remains that Ivy Infotech’s laptops have outsold those of its rivals by a huge margin. We need to show that this was not because of the faster processors and this option fails to do so.

(D) Looks good but doesn’t necessarily weaken the argument. The fact that all the companies in Ireland source their processors from the same company does not mean that the processors are all the same. Those sourced by Ivy Infotech could very well be faster than those sourced by its rival firms.

(E) This option gives you an alternative reason why Ivy Infotech has sold more laptops than its rivals. It was not because of demand side pull but because of supply side constraints. Because of the production bottlenecks at Ivy Infotech’s rival companies’ plants, Ivy Infotech’s laptops were probably available in the market in much larger numbers than those of its rivals, which is why they sold more. Hence, this option weakens the argument by providing you with an alternative explanation to the one mentioned in the stimulus.
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Hi Bunuel
Have a question re Option (E). Please help.

(E) Due to production bottlenecks, the production of laptops by Ivy Infotech’s rival companies fell by more than 60% in the last six months.
Isn't this too vague a sentence? Example : -60% of y can be anything and might still be more than the sales of Ivy Tech for all we know?

Is it because of "Over the last six months, Ivy Infotech has sold three times as many laptops as its closest competitor."

sharmashivng - I eliminated D on the basis that Ivy was market leader since it had 3x sales as its closest competition. However, this requires the assumption that D is indeed the market leader. Not entirely comfortable with the OE honestly.

Yeah, I realised that as well and hence posted my doubt to Bunuel as well.
(E) seems ambiguous to me (explanation given in the previous post)

Need more clarification.