While you won’t likely see this pop up on Lenovo.com or even in North American anytime soon, Lenovo recently (and quietly) announced a new X200s configuration using an Intel Celeron M 723 processor. This low-end CPU is single core, and built on 45nm technology. There is no support for Hyper-Threading, Virtualization, or Speedstep unfortunately. A bulk price of $107 gets you 1.2GHz, 1MB L2 cache, and an 800MHz FSB. However compare this to the X200s’ current Core 2 Duo SU9300 with a price tag of $262 and you’ll see the benefit. (Prices are Intel bulk MSRP)
Clearly the CPU itself is a bottom of the barrel unit, likely destined for emerging markets or areas where ThinkPad is losing on price; which isn’t the U.S. for those of you wondering.
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Sounds interesting. I wanted a 12″ Thinkpad in a while. Maybe I’ll buy one, if it will be launched in Denmark at an acceptable price.
No SpeedStep. I think it’s abominable that Intel has gotten away with stripping this from all their less expensive CPUs for so long. Don’t they think that having only one core and 1MB cache is enough to differentiate this from the SU9300? Why do they persist in crippling all their less expensive mobile processors by removing the power management?
Does anybody know where I can buy this machine?
Google doesn’t show it for sale anywhere just yet. This will likely show up in the channel somewhere (resellers, rather than direct from Lenovo). But who knows where and when!
This seems like a really stupid ideea to me, without speedstepping there isn’t even a gain in battery life… And it’s only 100$ cheaper, you would have to be ignorant to buy it and not try saving for 100 more $ …
Kickem – I see what you’re saying, but keep in mind that what Intel advertises and what they actually charge OEM’s is very different. The price difference could be quite different and it’s actually over $150 – not a small amount to most people shopping for a computer.
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