It didn’t take Lenovo long to whip out the e-coupons for their new products, now offering a respectable 10% off of the refreshed ThinkPad T410, as well as the completely new X100e ultraportable and Edge 13 “small business” systems.
The T410 in particular is a pretty respectable deal for a newly announced model, especially one with such a pedigree of features, Core i5 processor and standard LED backlit display.
Check out the details and base specs below. This deal expires February 10th.
ThinkPad T410 starting at $899 after 10% coupon
Base specs: Core i5-520M 2.4GHz; 14.1″ WXGA Anti-glare LED backlight; Intel HD graphics
2GB DDR3; 250GB Hard Drive; Ultra-slim DVD+/-RW; 6-cell battery
802.11n WiFi; 1-year Depot warranty; Windows 7 Professional 32-bit OS
Lenovo’s cheapest and smallest ThinkPad, the brand new X100e, has been stripped down to its circuit boards by an enterprising individual.
It is safe to say this person acquired the model overseas, between the palm rest stickers and white-chassis, which is not supposed to be available in the U.S. The bottom panel certainly is interesting, with a single plate offering access to what appears to be all of the upgradeable components.
These pictures do confirm something else for me: I must have a white ThinkPad. Teh hawtness.
Lenovo’s managed to spare a few of their new ThinkPad X100e netbook/CULV competitors for reviews and overall those reviews are pretty positive.
While this is the smallest ThinkPad you can get, that doesn’t mean it has battery life to match. Cost savings necessitate the less powerful and less power efficient AMD Athlon Neo processors, which gives performance a netbook-like feel. Combine this with a mediocre 57Whr 6-cell battery and 5 hours of runtime is a lofty goal.
Another interesting tidbit I noticed in the Slashgear review was that battery life and performance jumped a bit with a BIOS update that had become available during their review. Given this is one of Lenovo’s first AMD-based notebooks, improvements like that don’t come as much of a surprise.
Check out the reviews at the links below, and stay tuned as we expect to have an X100e in the labs soon enough.
Lenovo’s ecommerce website is very much a real-time affair, in that things can change in an instant. Over the past couple days, 3G was added to the ThinkPad X100e and the value-line G560 notebook is available for purchase.
Gobi 2000 3G with GPS now on ThinkPad X100e
As we covered back in December, Lenovo has been planning to add Qualcomm’s new Gobi 2000 wireless chipset to their ThinkPads. You can read the details on this new card here, but unfortunately you can’t add the Gobi 2000 to any X100e model. It is only available on the $649 “Elite” configuration, which adds Win7 Pro, 2GB RAM and a 250B hard drive over the base $449 model.
The “Enhanced” configuration is identical to the “Elite” save for the Gobi 2000 and is $100 cheaper, giving you an idea of how much the card adds to the system cost.
While we’re talking about the X100e, why aren’t 7200rpm drives offered on this machine? There aren’t even any 7200rpm models listed in the PSREF sheets. If HP can put a 7200rpm drive in its “business netbook,” Lenovo should definitely have one to help offset the slower CPU and limited amount of RAM.
Right now there is only one model available, the 06792AU in black. It is actually a rather decent system, with a 2.13GHz Core i3 CPU, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB hard drive and DVDRW. But why would someone want to pay $849 for a “value line” system? That’s mainstream pricing right there.
Part of the issue is the Core i3 processor. Lenovo typically puts Intel’s low-bin processors in their value machines, i.e. parts that are based on high end CPU’s but with some features disabled to lower the cost. None of these are available based on the new CPU’s yet, but it’s a safe bet there will be.
Then Lenovo also has to compete with itself. Their consumer product line has gotten very full, very fast and products are overlapping in many ways. This is a topic for a whole other post, but suffice it to say there needs to be some blood letting in the consumer PC products.
Lenovo pointed a camera at some of the CES patrons visiting their booth and asked them for feedback on the new “chiclet” style keyboards used on the ThinkPad X100e and Edge.
I thought I’d just share this resource I came across to give you folks another view of the new keyboards, but of course take it for what it’s worth. The first interviewee’s reaction comes across as someone who isn’t already the ThinkPad touch-typing, so as I said when I introduced these new models in the first place, remember that the Edge and X100e aren’t necessarily for the die-hard ThinkPadders. They are for the next generation of ThinkPadders, or at least that is what Lenovo is betting on.
Lenovo just posted updated versions of its incredibly helpful PSREF documents. These data-laden PDF files contain specific model configurations and full detail of all their products. If you are a speeds & feeds freak, these are your bible. Feel free to hit the link at the end
We’ll go through the specific tidbits gleaned for each model and then provide a little analysis at the end of the post. Let’s get started!
I’m sure many of us have had our fears and doubts about yet another new keyboard design from Lenovo. After all, if it isn’t broken, why fix it?
Like it or not the new chiclet design is here to stay and a fellow from DigitalTrends.com spent some time with the new keyboards on the ThinkPad X100e and Edge. He doesn’t pontificate too much on the new design, but in not so many words lets us know to be scared no more.
While I wouldn’t say the new experience feels “better,” it certainly feels no worse. The keys retain the signature ThinkPad springiness and have plenty of travel – something many other companies seem to cut back on to make their notebooks thinner and thinner. And the bright red rubber TrackPoint joystick is there to stay.
Just a few days ago we saw the launch of a few brand new ThinkPads with the Edge lineup and X100e netbook-killer. These newborn-baby-new models are already available for purchase on Lenovo.com, and on sale to boot.
ThinkPad Edge
The low-end Edge 13 with AMD dual core processor and Midnight Black glossy paint starts at only $579, but if you want to attract attention with the Heatwave Red paint job you’ll need to pony up for the $699 model that has double the RAM, larger & fast HDD and a 6-cell battery. Only one Edge 13 model is available with the Intel Core 2 Duo CULV chip and it’s in Midnight Black glossy with a $799 price tag. Click here to read our posts about the Edge
Lenovo has three different configuration levels for the X100e and you will find a better value in the higher end configs rather than just building up the base model. You do get a choice of black or red paint, along with all the other usual goodies. Sadly, 7200rpm hard drives aren’t an option at this time. Pricing starts at $449, and there is no charge for one color over another. Click here to read our posts about the X100e
I’ve gathered all the (good) pics of Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X100e as I could and put them in the gallery below, at the original resolutions I found the files in. I’ll update as I add more.
That white is looking really slick, reminds me of a BMW in Alpine White. Enjoy!
Today brings the launch of a “first” for Lenovo and the ThinkPad brand. Enter the ThinkPad X100e: an 11.6-inch ultraportable with fewer compromises than a traditional netbook, powered by AMD processors and equipped with a new ThinkPad keyboard.
The X100e, along with the other new notebooks announced today, brings several firsts to the ThinkPad brand, so let’s dive in.
Specifications
Chassis
11.6-inch 1366×768 LED backlit display (200 nit)
11.1 x 7.4 x 0.59 – 1.16 inches (6-cell adds 0.82 inches to rear)
3-cell: 2.99 lbs, 6-cell: 3.3 lbs
6 row ISO full size “chiclet” style keyboard with UltraNav
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