Lenovo went back and forth on us a bit, but finally started shipping the new ThinkPad X120e today.
For those who forgot about it since its CES 2010 debut in January, the X120e is Lenovo’s new 11.6-inch ultraportable. The X100e was largely forgettable, thanks to its power hungry and unimpressive AMD Turion/Athlon processors. However, the X120e gets a proper low-power chipset with the new AMD Fusion chips.
Lenovo is calling for 6-7 hours runtime on a 6-cell battery, which is a strong step above the 5 hour runtime of the X100e. The pricing is also a sight better, starting at $399 with even the most fully loaded model coming in under $900.
You get a pretty basic config for $399, with a single-core Fusion chip, 2GB RAM, and other basic specs. Every component is upgradeable thankfully, unlike the X100e was for a while.
If an X120e with lots of goodies inside is calling your name, you can get an exclusive 10% off coupon code through our sister site, eCoupons, in the link below.
Lenovo’s ever-predictable announcement process is about to begin again with updated ThinkPads, if reports on the company’s social network accounts are to be believed.
In fact, there is a YouTube video out and numerous articles on how the unannounced ThinkPad T420 is the first laptop to receive a UL Environment Gold Rating. We’re all excited for the T420 and all, but it does seem a bit odd to proclaim a special award for a product that isn’t officially announced.
Logic be damned, we do expect to hear official word on the refreshed ThinkPads. In the meantime, you can avail yourself of a few brief glimpses of the T420 in Lenovo’s video on the UL certification.
As much as I know and love ThinkPads, there are some things that you can’t know without the right perspective. For instance, how is the typing experience with longer, well finished nails?
One of Lenovo’s employees helped bring such a perspective to light for us all. It seems that an unintended benefit of Lenovo’s sublime ThinkPad typing experience is that key pitch and spacing are conducive to keeping your nails looking just as sublime.
Our friends at Laptoping have come across a Lenovo document that shares some details on the yet-unannounced refreshed ThinkPads. Expectedly dubbed the T420 and T520, the new machines will feature some updates, new processors, and should appear in February.
The changes are all no surprise to those who have watched the ThinkPad space closely. Of course both the T420 and T520 get sped up with Intel’s 2nd generation Core processors (aka Sandy Bridge) and the T520 chassis was a new 15.6-inch design on the T510, so it will remain unchanged. The good news is you still can get the high color gamut, Full HD (1920×1080) display on the T520.
The T420 also gets a new chassis, as the 14-inch T Series did NOT move to a 16:9 ratio display last generation and Lenovo has been warning us 16:9 is inevitable. That’s right: all ThinkPads except the X Series are officially switched over to 16:9. There’s still not much on the expected refresh of the X Series, which is also due for a chassis update, so that is likely still coming.
The good news is that you aren’t stuck with crappy 1366×768 HD resolution on the T420, but can opt for a reasonable 1600×900 HD+ resolution panel. I’ve used this size/resolution panel on the HP Envy 14 and it was a pretty decent experience; you may miss the vertical resolution, but at least it doesn’t look like 1998 with a low res screen. The new T420 chassis is also supposed to be thinner and lighter, so it looks like there are changed beyond the screen ratio.
Unfortunately there are no other details, like pricing, though the official launch should be in February. This is one detail that could have been changed since this document was created some time in late 2010, but time will only tell.
Robert Mitchell over at ComputerWorld has written an interesting article about the beloved “Butterfly” keyboard on the ThinkPad 701c. As we all know, it was a very limited run for such an innovative design and might leave you wondering why it disappeared so quickly. Robert has the scoop with details from Lenovo design guru David Hill – check out the source link below.
In the mid-’90s, the focus was on ultraportable designs with small footprints. When the 701c came out, IBM was using the biggest display glass it could build (10.4 in. diagonally), but the aspect ratio (4:3) wasn’t a good match for the aspect ratio of a full-sized keyboard, especially in that small-footprint form factor. “You had to have a very large border around the display to accommodate a large keyboard,” Hill says.
A lot of our readers have been clamoring for details on the updated “classic” ThinkPads, but Lenovo was unsurprisingly mum about those during CES. Thanks to our fellow ThinkPad-lovers in China, we have at least a bit of information about one forthcoming ThinkPad update: the X220.
Unfortunately all we have are these photos, with no other details to accompany them. While it is assured that the 2nd generation Intel Core processors (aka Sandy Bridge) will be powering this little beast, we don’t know about any other updates like an onboard DisplayPort output or battery options.
What we can tell from the photos is that the X Series will get the revised keyboard design first seen in the T400s, with the larger Esc/Del keys and redesigned touchpad. The system control buttons (Volume, Mute, etc) are also updated and the system status LEDs (below the display) have been simplified like the T400s as well.
If you take note of the hinges, these are substantially different from the hinges on the existing X201 models, leading me to believe we are looking at an entirely new chassis. With this change in chassis likely also means a shift from a 16:10 12.1-inch display to something with a 16:9 ratio. Given Lenovo’s love of the 12.5-inch size in both the IdeaPad U260 and ThinkPad Edge E220s, I would not be surprised to see it in the X220 as well.
That’s all we have for now ThinkPad-lovers, but stay tuned here for the latest on the new ThinkPads. And be sure to get the best ThinkPad X220 deals & coupons at LogicBuy.
The other big ThinkPad announcement coming out of CES today is the updated ThinkPad X120e, successor to the X100e ultraportable. Sporting what appears to be the same chassis and 11.6-inch display, the X120e gets a major tech upgrade with AMD’s new Fusion platform.
AMD’s Fusion platform is intended to not only compete with Intel’s low power, low performance Atom platform, but blow it out of the water. The dual-core Fusion E-350 is reported to have cut power consumption by 40% compared its Athlon V120 predecessor. The other major improvement is with the integrated GPU, which outperforms Intel’s (last generation) HD graphics by far and even beats or keeps pace with the higher horsepower VIA and NVIDIA offerings.
The CPU side of things won’t win many or any contests, but should stand out from Atom and other low-end CPUs. Along with the lower power usage and higher GPU performance, one of Fusion’s major selling points will be its price. Though a new “Sandy Bridge” 2011 Core CPU from Intel will steadily outperform Fusion, that would cost several times more and defeat the purpose of the low-cost X120e.
The Fusion E-350 processor sports dual cores running at 1.6GHz, while the lower cost E-240 makes do with a single core running at 1.5GHz. Both sport an 18W TDP, though we don’t have any word how much more the E-350 will run stuffed inside the X120e.
Just how much better is the power consumption than the X100e’s Athlon Neo chip? Lenovo calls for a respectable 6.6 hours of runtime on the X120′e 6-cell battery, compared to 5 hours with the X100e’s Neo processor.
Outside of the technology platform, the X120e also gets a low-light HD webcam, 320GB 7200rpm HDD, 128GB SSD, and the all-important HDMI output.
The X120e will be available in February starting under $400.
For more information on AMD’s Fusion platform, we recommend checking out this great overview written up by DailyTech.
As part of the festivities this week at the 2011 Consumer Electronics show, Lenovo is announcing a slew of new products. Check our other posts for coverage of the other products announcing this week, but we’ll be taking a look at the new ThinkPad Edge E220s and E420s notebooks.
These new notebooks join the Edge lineup focused on small business and add a new premium segment to those models. The 12.5-inch E220s and 14-inch E420s feature soft matte finishes, aluminum-magnesium covers, and a spill-proof keyboard to help them stand above the rest.
Now that you know what type of laptop we’re looking at, let’s ramble through some specs: [click to continue…]
As many of you know, Lenovo’s ThinkPad T400s/T410s is one of our favorite laptops here at LogicThinkPad. We reviewed the T400s when it first came out and came away impressed with its size, performance, and display.
Our friends at LaptopMag got a T410s in for review and recently declared that it is the fastest laptop they have ever tested. Their definition of “fastest” is determined by the popular PCMark Vantage benchmark program. Thanks to their T410s’ Core i5 processor, NVIDIA Optimus-enabled graphics, and 128GB SSD it was able to blaze through everything they threw at it.
Hit the source link below to check out their full review and leave a comment if you’re as in love with it as we are.
The newest addition to the ThinkPad Edge family, the 11.6-inch Edge 11, has recently become available and our friends at Lilliputing got a hold of one.
Announced back in September, the Edge 11 brings a properly ultraportable form factor to the stylish Edge lineup. Interestingly, it will not be sold in the United States. It is likely that the X100e, which has nothing in common with the rest of the ThinkPad X Series, will be replaced by the Edge 11 entirely at the next refresh.
Lilliputing likes what they have seen so far, so hit the link to check out their unboxing video.
