TechieGroups

CHINESE PC MAKER Lenovo has announced its next Ultrabook class laptop prior to next week’s consumer electronics show (CES) in Las Vegas.

The T430u Ultrabook is Lenovo’s follow-on to the U300s, which it announced in September. The T430u will be on show at CES next week and will be available in the third quarter in the UK with a starting price of £545.

“The T430u Ultrabook represents the next generation in thin and light computing,” said Dilip Bhatia, vice president of Thinkpad at Lenovo. “From small businesses that literally live their life on the road to corporate professionals working in a managed environment, these new crossover laptops fundamentally change the way people think about mobile computing technology.”

Like all Ultrabooks the laptop will come in a slim and light design at 20.3mm thick and less than 1.8kg. It will have a matte finish with an aluminium cover and will be available with a 14in high definition screen.

The T430u will come with an unknown Intel processor. The words “third generation” were mentioned in the pre-CES briefing we attended but Lenovo has not confirmed whether its Ultrabook or other laptops will have Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge processors. The latter seems more likely.

It will come with an optional Nvidia graphics card and up to 1TB of disk storage or a solid state disk (SSD). Lenovo touts a battery life of up to six hours and features such as quick resume and fast boot. It will also be the first Ultrabook with a DVD drive according to the firm.

The Lenovo T430u will have to compete with other recent entries to the Ultrabook category such as Toshiba’s Z830 and Asus’ Zenbook UX31E. We expect Ultrabooks to make a large showing at this year’s CES. µ

We try not to bring you too much news about product announcements unless there's something particularly intriguing about them; we get inundated by them and most of the time it's the most generic of refreshes. Happily that's not the case with Lenovo's shiny new ThinkPad X220 notebooks.

Inexplicably Lenovo is opting to label these two very different notebooks under the same X220 header: one is a tablet clocking in at 3.88 pounds with a 4-cell battery; the other is an ultraportable that weighs less than three pounds. Both come with support for either SSDs or mechanical hard disks (with a 4GB SSD option as a special order).

We'll start with the ultraportable X220. Lenovo is shipping it with a 12.5" 1366×768 LED-backlit screen, but you can upgrade to an IPS panel. It maxes out at 8GB of DDR3 and has a strong spread of Sandy Bridge mobile processors to choose from, starting with the Core i3-2310M at 2.1GHz and going all the way up to the i7-2620M at 2.7GHz. Strangely, only the i7-equipped models come with USB 3.0 connectivity. Reviews of the X220 are already popping up on the internet and the IPS screen is proving as impressive as you'd expect, but not nearly as impressive as the battery running time: Lenovo claims up to 15 hours on a 9-cell battery, a hyperbolic figure to be sure but not as crazy as you'd think. NotebookReview's test model came with a 6-cell battery and was pushing nine hours.

You can see and eventually order the ultraportable X220 here, and MSRP is expected to start at a not-unseemly 9.

The other X220 is the tablet model. Again it ships with a 12.5" 1366×768 LED-backlit screen, but in this case the only choice is the finish you want on the IPS panel: Infinity Glass or Corning Gorilla. Yes, the X220 tablet comes with an IPS panel standard, proving that Lenovo understands what ViewSonic couldn't figure out with their tablet: that viewing angles are really important. Unfortunately the X220 tablet is nearly a pound heavier than its ultraportable cousin and doesn't come with an option for USB 3.0 connectivity. Lenovo quotes nine hours of running time with the 8-cell battery.

The X220 Tablet isn't up on Lenovo's site yet, but MSRP is expected to start at ,199.

LAPTOP MAKER Lenovo has announced that its X220 laptop and a convertible tablet PC will be available in April.

Both are designed to be ultra portable, fast and durable. The X220 laptop and tablet will have second generation Intel Core i7 processors. They will both have a 12.5-inch high definition display and updated design features including self-closing hinges and a larger button-less touchpad. USB 3.0 will be an option, presumably not included for low end models.

Lenovo said the laptop will weigh less than 1.4kg and the convertible tablet less than 1.8kg. Battery life for the laptop will be up to 15 hours, which can be boosted to a total of 24 when used with an external battery. The convertible tablet PC will last for up to 16 hours with the aid of an external battery.

Durability is a feature of the two products, which will have “improved durability with wider drain-holes in the spill resistant keyboard and a 50 [per cent] improvement in drop test performance,” said Lenovo. The tablet’s multi-touch screen apparently has ‘Gorilla glass’ that can withstand scratches and scrapes. It has been tested to military specifications, said Lenovo.

The convertible tablet will have a multi-touch screen that can be swivelled around on a hinge and controlled using a stylus. Apparently the tablet will inform the user if they move the tablet without the pen in it’s holder to stop people from losing it.

No prices in sterling have been issued but the X220 will start from 9 and the convertible tablet starting at ,199. µ

Comment on this article Flame Author Print Share this: del.icio.us Digg Facebook Linkedin reddit! StumbleUpon Twitter Share Related articles Iomega puts Boxee into a NAS box Eases the burden of high definition streaming Tuesday, 4 January 2011, 20:12 PM Read more Julian Assange is a political prisoner Obama justice Friday, 10 December 2010, 18:05 PM Read more Dell Streak A hybrid smartphone and tablet in one Friday, 27 August 2010, 13:49 PM Read more HTC Wildfire A solid smartphone for those on a tight budget Monday, 23 August 2010, 12:42 PM Read more Black Hat grows up Getting serious Monday, 2 August 2010, 17:59 PM Read more End of processor golden age predicted SEMICON is something special, for now Thursday, 15 July 2010, 14:18 PM Read more < Previous article| Comments Wincrap again…

Again with wincrap, and 15 hours with i7? I don’t believe it… Apple and Acer managed 7-8 hours with 9 cells battery, bigger than standard, weighting more. Lenovo is way lower than IBM was, that’s sad… I have lots of faulty motherboars with leaked capacitors, less than 6 months usage…low quality products, and after T61p, lpoor quality laptops, breaking often and only 1 year standard warranty…

posted by : Error, 08 March 2011 Complain about this comment Most read Most commented Most watched Anonymous emails can be traced Lenovo announces Thinkpad X220 laptop and tablet Mozilla Firefox 4 web browser video demo Microsoft’s marketshare falls thanks to WP7 Lenovo announces Vpro powered desktops INQUIRER readers are still waiting for Flash and USB on the Ipad Lighter, thinner Ipad 2 has dual core chip, two cameras The INQUIRER reveals Apple Ipad 2 specifications Microsoft’s marketshare falls thanks to WP7 Apple’s Ipad 2 is just a refresh Mozilla Firefox 4 web browser video demo

Desktop and mobile

LG Optimus Pad tablet video demo

Honeycomb at CeBIT

Advertisement Subscribe to INQ newsletters INQ Daily

The most important breaking news each day

InqBOT Weekly

A roundup of the best from the INQ, every Monday

INQpressions Reviews Fortnightly

Software and hardware reviews, every other Friday

Click here to sign up Existing user Existing User Please fill in the field below to receive your profile link. Email : Sign-up for the INQBot weekly newsletter Click here INQ White papers Databases Network management Security Service oriented architecture Storage Search Advertisement INQ Jobs Project Manager – Contact Project Manager required fo… Read more Search INQ Poll

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest Ipad of them all?

What is your reaction to Steve Jobs Ipad 2 announcement?

I am selling an organ to buy one Where’s the USB port and Flash support? Who cares if it’s thinner it is still a drinks tray I don’t need Facetime with a fanboi Meh View other polls Home News Reviews Video INQdepth Blogs Jobs Downloads store

© Incisive Media Investments Limited 2011, Published by Incisive Financial Publishing Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, are companies registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 04252091 & 04252093

SEARCH : Site Credentials: About us Terms & Conditions Privacy policy About Incisive Media Sitemap Follow us: Youtube Twitter Facebook Linkedin Business & Technology websites: Technology Reseller Channel IT News Information Science Search Engines Online Marketing Trading Technology Technology for the Sell Side Buy Side Technology Find Chartered Accountants Business research resources: B2B Web Seminars Business Technology Video Whitepapers Products: Software Reviews Hardware Reviews Download Reviews Investment Market IT websites: Investment Technology Trader IT Financial IT Intelligence Find out what you are worth: IT Salary Calculator Salary Calculator Search for a job: IT Jobs IT Job Search Engine Computer Hardware Jobs Job Search Engine Recruitment Agency A-Z Directory: All | ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Accreditations: Digital Publisher of the Year 2010

The pricetag of Lenovo's ThinkPad X100e has come down a couple of hundred dollars from its lofty perch when it entered the market more than six months ago, but it still remains a pricy alternative to CULV and Atom-based ultraportables. The X100e is saddled with AMD's outdated Congo platform, but is there more to a notebook than just the hardware under the hood? We think so, and we took the ThinkPad X100e for a spin to prove that the platform isn't always what counts.