A couple of Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops are being repackaged as thin client computers. The 11.6-inch ThinkPad X100e and 14.1-inch SL410 will be offered by VXL Instruments as the TL100 and TL412 thin clients, respectively.
Thin clients are computers that run minimal or even no operating systems & software locally, rather operating as a terminal to resources provided over a network connection. One of the benefits to this are reduced system requirements, allowing vendors to utilize systems with lower end, cheaper specifications to reduce cost, complexity and even power consumption.
Accordingly, the X100e/TL100 is outfitted with an AMD Athlon MV-40 chip, while the SL410/TL412 gets an Intel Celeron P4500 dual-core chip. Since load on the system itself will be relatively small, these laptops only come with 1GB RAM and 1GB local flash storage.
Red and black colors are currently available, but I really want to see a white one in person
Update: Lenovo just released a new coupon for the X100e. This is a monstrous 20% off coupon that brings the X100e entry price down to only $359! I’ve left the rest of my post the same, as the tips are still valid, but updated the dollar amounts to reflect the new coupon!
Forget the netbook, today we bring you the slick new ThinkPad X100e with a relatively juicy 10% 20% coupon. This brings the entry price of Lenovo’s smallest ThinkPad to only $404 $359!
The X100e is a new ThinkPad design from Lenovo, sporting an 11.6-inch display, 6-row “chiclet” keyboard with TrackPoint and multitouch touchpad, and AMD ULV processors in a sub-3lb package.
This discount applies to all the X100e models on Lenovo’s site and you will probably want to opt for one of the models with the 1.6GHz Neo X2 dual core chip, which costs $50 more than the single core version. It also appears the single core models are delayed an additional 9 days over the dual core versions. More RAM will also be a must, as most of the models only come with 1GB DDR2 initially.
Also take note of a special pre-configured model: you get the single core chip, 2GB RAM, 250GB hard drive and a sleeve for $479, which comes out to $431 $383 after discount. This is a great out of the box machine, but you’ll have to weigh the loss of the dual core.
This deal expires within the next 24 hours May 21, so don’t wait too long to get this one.
Lenovo has added the AMD Athlon Neo X2 L335 and Turion Neo X2 L625 dual core processors to the ThinkPad X100e, as promised!
It seems like so long ago that Lenovo announced the ThinkPad X100e at CES 2010, the cheapest ThinkPad ever and the smallest in recent history. With four months passed, you can now purchase the X100e with a dual core processor, something Lenovo had promised would be available eventually.
While both dual core chips run at 1.6GHz and likely use the same processor core, the difference lies in the amount of L2 cache. The Turion L625 has double the cache of the Athlon L335, 1MB vs 512KB. This won’t make a huge difference in performance in any scenario, especially considering the limited throughput of the chip’s 1.6GHz clock speed.
The odd thing, although not surprising, is that currently there is no additional charge to move to one of the dual core chips. This is assuredly a mistake by Lenovo, although this is one that at least would likely be honored as the financial implications for them are less than giving away a laptop for free.
The other possibility is that these chip options are live by mistake and they don’t actually have any to ship. Time will tell, but at least they’re finally there! There’s even a 5% off coupon for the X100e too.
Reports surfaced a few weeks back of an Intel Atom powered Lenovo ThinkPad X100e, and a new report is out citing some ThinkPad Mini 10 signage seen down in Australia.
Students in New South Wales, Australia are reporting ThinkPad Mini 10′s being prepared, likely as the new models to be rolled out to the next class of students. I can’t say I’m versed in Australia’s public education system, but it appears that at a certain level students are assigned a laptop to use for educational purposes.
The so-called 10-inch version of the X100e would indeed have a 10-inch screen, but that doesn’t mean the chassis is any smaller. Much like the short lived IdeaPad S9, the “Mini 10″ would simply have a smaller LCD and appropriately larger screen bezel. At least the 10-inch display would have a better resolution than most netbooks, running at 1280×720 according to the information leaked last month. The refreshed Pine Trail Atom processors would be used, likely the defacto 1.66GHz N450.
Lenovo’s ThinkPad X100e was recently announced to be the company’s smallest form factor in production, with an 11.6-inch HD capable display, AMD dual core processors, new “island” or chiclet style keyboard and a choice of three colors. It isn’t much of a surprise that Lenovo has been working on converting this model to an even more budget friendly netbook, although this will primarily be targeted at corporations and schools.
Lenovo dipped their feet into the large customer netbook market with the IdeaPad S10e, a netbook mechanically identical to the “consumer” IdeaPad S10, but integrated with the company’s worldwide sales and service model. This investment on the back end ensured that new inventory, parts and service would be available through their already efficient channels set up for large customers. The largest group to take advantage of this was a department of education in Australia, about this time last year, so it’s no surprise we are seeing reports of the new Mini 10 in Australia as well.
It would be safe to assume that the S10e trial program was successful enough that they want to bring the ThinkPad name into schools and even businesses where the use case fits. Perhaps that is even why the X100e was green lighted in the first place, as it is no secret that Lenovo puts large customer needs ahead of the individuals.
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!
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