It’s not often this MacBook Air killer goes on steep sale, but today we bring you a whopping 25% off coupon on top of already discounted prices. If you’re not familiar with Lenovo’s ThinkPad X301, it is an uber thin & light 13.3-inch mobile workhorse with every feature in the book, but staying under 3 lb and less than an inch thin WITH an optical drive.
Whenever I post about the X301, I can’t help but post a favorite parody video of mine, which you can find embedded at the top of the post. For now, check out the base specs below and the details on how to get your 25% off. It is also worth noting, purchasing a Lenovo PC now qualifies for a free Windows 7 upgrade - see here for details.
Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.4GHz; Vista Basic; 13.3 WXGA+ LED
Lenovo’s ThinkPad T400s featured a number of unique additions and changes to the ThinkPad line, like the controversial revised keyboard layout, yet another revised interior design, and the larger, textured multi-touch touchpad.
VP of Corporate Identity & Design David Hill already blogged on the new touchpad, and now some of his colleagues across the world in Lenovo’s Yamato design labs have shared some of their insight on what went into the new touchpad design. Japanese culture and design philosophy has had a huge influence on ThinkPad design from day one, even something as simple as a bento box, so it’s no surprise to see the correlation into these innovations found in the T400s. Check out the excerpt below and hit the link for the full post.
The trademark feature of the new Touchpad is its textured surface. The UV-print texture is applied on top of the traditional Touchpad surface. The sensation is smooth but with a feeling of definition. The texture was inspired by the traditional Japanese handcraft technique known as Inden.
David Hill once again takes us behind the scenes of how some of the new ThinkPad T400s’ design changes came about. This time he’s taking a look at the all new VoIP (mic & webcam) mute button.
In my review of the T400s, I found the refreshed system buttons a nice upgrade over the cheaper, uninspiring ones found on the T60-T400. This was true not only in aesthetics, but also in usage. The mic & webcam mute/disable option is EXTREMELY handy if you are any type of frequent VoIPer or even just a hair paranoid. You don’t have to worry about whether you’re on mute or if your video conference mates see you picking your nose.
Hit the link for an insightful look into more of the T400s’ design process.
The answer is $5,999. Electronics painting & modification crew Colorware has just announced their limited edition, “Stealth black” Apple MacBook Pro, which is strangely reminiscent of a ThinkPad.
Matte black paint. Soft-touch finish. Matte display. You can have a Apple ThinkPad MacBook Pro with all of these glorious features, as well as top of the line specs, for only $5,999. But you better hurry, as Colorware is only producing 10 of these machines.
In other news, Lenovo will sell you a PC with matte black paint, a soft-touch finish, and a matte display starting at $1,648 after coupon. If you can deal with a slightly less soft-touch finish, you can have one for much cheaper. Oh, and you can put OS X on it if you really want.
It is also worth noting that this company used to offer ThinkPads in various colors, but seems to only be catering to the Apple crowd now. Uh-huh.
It’s not very often that Lenovo’s top of the line mobile workstation is 25% off. Add to that a $479 discount on the W700 and $704 off the W700ds, and this has the making for some record savings on these behemoth ThinkPads.
The base specs are generous, even if they are on the low end for a performance monster like the W700. The coupon is expected to end July 6th, so treat yourself to a special July 4th and order one before the sale expires!
This isn’t one of the usual deals we bring you, but where better to share this than a ThinkPad blog? Overseas reseller Meritline has TrackPoints on sale for an incredible bargain. How does $0.39 each, or $0.99 for a 4 pack, SHIPPED to your door sound? Unfortunately they only have the Soft Dome style, which I don’t particularly prefer. My multitude of ThinkPads and ThinkPad-style keyboards all have the Soft Rim cap on them. Luckily I have a stash of those handy.
The website notes the caps will ship within 2-5 days via Hong Kong Air Mail and most customers will receive their caps within 2 weeks. If you order some, let us know which you bought and how long it takes to get to you!
As I touched on in my recent review of the ThinkPad T400s, Lenovo updated the touchpad in the T400s along with everything else. To keep the thin profile desired with the T400s, there was literally no room for a recessed touchpad. To keep usability intact, they came up with a unique texture for the touchpad that would allow users to discern between the palm rest and the touchpad.
David Hill just published a blog post about the design process behind the touchpad redesign and has some interesting pictures as well.
Last week we reported on a Lenovo “viral” video showcasing, albeit fictionally, their “SMS kill switch” functionality, which is officially named Lenovo Constant Secure. It works by disabling your notebook when a text message is received to the onboard 3G card and today we have some more details on this system courtesy Matt Kohut, Lenovo blogger over at Inside the Box.
It turns out that this feature is technically a trial program in place to evaluate customer feedback and demand, which may or may not lead to expansion (and thus cost) of the program. As such, the program is currently free for those who have the proper hardware. Customers with a Montevina-based ThinkPad (T400, X200, X301, etc) who also have an AT&T 3G card with activated service are eligible for the program.
You can read instructions on how to setup Constant Secure on Lenovo’s eSupport site and I also recommend checking out Matt’s blog post for some more details.
Anyone here with a Montevina system that wants to give this a go?
With the launch of the ThinkPad T61 about two years ago, there was a big push for Energy Star 4.0 certification and lots of marketing around that. Now we are approaching on the launch of the Energy Star 5.0 standard and Lenovo is already bragging about that.
For those not in the know, Energy Star is a standard that encourages power efficient design in consumer products. Nearly everything that uses eletricity features an Energy Star guideline, from houses to laptops. If you have purchased a Lenovo PC recently with the Power Manager software installed, you will note the default profile is named Energy Star.
As we all know, a computer’s power usage can vary dramatically based on how it is being used. The Energy Star power profile seeks to control that usage, as you will notice it generally sets the screen brightness and processor performance to lower levels. It is unknown whether Lenovo tweaked the Power Manager profile further to apparently be Energy Star 5.0 certified already, but since the hardware is the same all machines are at least Energy Star 5.0 capable.
Outside of laptops, select models of Lenovo’s desktop and monitor lines are also Energy Star 5.0 certified. While not Energy Star related, the press release did contain this interesting tidbit:
Lenovo offers bulk packaging at no cost for customers with large-scale rollouts of laptop or desktop PCs such as universities and large enterprises. Bulk packaging can save up to more than four pounds of materials per PC, so a deployment of 5,000 ThinkCentre desktops, for example, could save nearly 22,000 pounds in materials, a significant waste reduction.
That’s pretty cool to me, and I will say that with the T400s I received there was very little excess packing material. I don’t recall what the material is made of, but there were only a couple of internal pieces and the (rather small) box itself. Kudos on packaging Lenovo.
It’s been a busy week as far as Lenovo is concerned. The ThinkPad T400s announced earlier this week, we reviewed it, and covered a lot of other tidbits around the new thin & light. Both the IdeaPad S12 and IdeaPad U350CULV became available for purchase, and on sale to boot. Lenovo even managed to win some business in Turkmenistan.
As part of the flurry of T400s information, a couple of Lenovo’s own published some blog posts about the new machine. Matt Kohut over at Inside the Box admits he hated the ThinkPad X301 he had switched to, after not being able to find a suitable T Series when the 4:3 models went away.
I hated my time with the X301. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine box — for someone else. I’m a T series user through and through. The X301’s screen was too small, the processor too slow, and the battery was too anemic.
He also writes quite a bit about his experience with a Win 7 Lenovo preload beta. VP of Corporate Identity & Design David Hill also posted up on Design Matters and talks about the design process behind the recent keyboard redesign on the T400s. As you can tell from the comments, it certainly is a mixed bag in how customers are receiving it.
If you haven’t come across them yet, check out all the Lenovo Blogs for some interesting insights into the company that brings you ThinkPads, and thus the entire reason this site exists.
11.6-inch Lenovo IdeaPad U150 LED-backlit Laptop (690969U) with Pre-loaded Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS for $949 - $150 off instantly - $200 stackable coupon (expires March 12 or after first 100 uses) = $599 plus FREE shipping. That's the lowest price we've seen. The newest U-series ultra-portable from Lenovo is 0.75" thin and under 3lbs. To get this deal:
1. Click here to start at Lenovo store 2. Select Lenovo IdeaPad U150 - 690969U - Black(Sky Star), Customize & buy 3. Click Summary Review, Add to Cart 4. Apply coupon code USPU1693 upon checkout (leave no space at the start/end)
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He also writes quite a bit about his experience with a Win 7 Lenovo preload beta. VP of Corporate Identity & Design David Hill also posted up on 
11.6-inch Lenovo IdeaPad U150 LED-backlit Laptop (690969U) with Pre-loaded Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS for $949 - $150 off instantly - 
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