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CES 2010: Sweet New ThinkPads from Lenovo

Jan. 5, 2010 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

I assume most people reading my site are up on the fact that I'm a huge fan of ThinkPad laptops and always have been. Basically, there's ThinkPad and then there's everything else.

Not surprisingly, ThinkPad maker Lenovo has some sweet new machines on tap for this week's CES. And this morning, they announced a few of them. Check out these incredible looking ThinkPads.

ThinkPad Edge

Progressive new design

Project the right image for your business. ThinkPad® Edge. Progressive. Streamlined. No fluff, just clean lines and (yes!) bold color options foreshadowing the robust ThinkPad performance inside.

Trust your small business to Lenovo

Priced right and engineered for small business, ThinkPad Edge is truly mobile and reliable.

  • Powerful dual-core processors
  • Windows® 7 operating system
  • Gigabit Ethernet, WWAN with GPS, 802.11bgn WiFi, Bluetooth and WiMAX connectivity options
  • Thin and light with a 13.3" widescreen
  • Spill-resistant keyboard
  • Up to 7.8 hours of battery life
  • Worry-free ThinkVantage® Technologies
  • Enhanced multimedia and HD audio
  • Low-light-sensitive Web camera
  • Three USB ports (1 powered), 5-in-1 media card reader and HDMI
  • Various services and warranty options

And...

The first ThinkPad netbook, the ThinkPad X100e

Ultracool ultraportable

The new ThinkPad® X100e. Cool, confident, with a slick new design and bold color options. But make no mistake, the X100e is all ThinkPad—reliable, rock-solid and well-equipped. Best of all, it's the most affordable ThinkPad ever!

X100e key features

  • Sub-3 lbs. starting weight
  • Small footprint
  • Roomy 11.6" HD display
  • Available in Midnight Black and Heatwave Red in smooth finishes (Arctic White not available in the US)
  • ISO full-sized, spill-resistant keyboard
  • TrackPoint® and multitouch touchpad
  • Powerful AMD processor
  • Low-light-sensitive Web camera
  • Multiple connectivity options
  • ThinkVantage® Technologies
  • Corporate OS support
  • Robust warranty options
  • 3 USB ports (1 powered), 4-in-1 media card reader and HD audio
  • Affordable pricing

Professional-grade for business and classroom

The globally available, reliable X100e, with worry-free corporate OS support, robust warranties, ThinkVantage Technologies and a powerful AMD processor, is ideal for entrepreneurs and students alike. And at such an amazing price, you can afford to outfit the whole office or provide a laptop for each student.

Highly mobile

The X100e ultraportable lets you work from practically anywhere!

  • Variety of connectivity options, including 802.11n, gigabit Ethernet and optional Bluetooth and WWAN
  • Starts at under 3 lbs
  • Slim profile and small footprint

My only worry on the X100e is that it utilizes AMD processors for some reason. Otherwise, nice!

Discuss this Article 20

Dipsh t Admin
on Jan 5, 2010
"My only worry on the X100e is that it utilizes AMD processors for some reason." Cost. They could go with the Atom, but for the same price they can go with AMD and get higher performance.
Waethorn
on Jan 5, 2010
"My only worry on the X100e is that it utilizes AMD processors for some reason" Ya, cuz God help them that they actually want to make an affordable, technology-complete business machine.
Waethorn
on Jan 5, 2010
The x100e is nice. AMD Vision Pro platform = AMD CPU with hardware VT (across the entire line), AMD chipset with integrated graphics, or ATI discrete graphics. There's a good page on AMD's website which highlights the features of these new Lenovo's: http://sites.amd.com/us/atwork/promo/lenovo/Pages/lenovo.aspx The x100e is definitely drool-worthy IMO. I might be looking at getting me one of these. If the price is right, these might end up on my product list. I've been waiting for an OEM to have a notebook designed for professional use based on AMD's Vision platform. It sure beats Centrino Pro for value and features - so long as Lenovo keeps the actual system price in line with AMD's low-cost mantra. I'd have to say that if these ft in the sub-$1000 price point, they're probably the nearest thing to having a perfect business ultraportable (especially with the spill-resistant keyboard and hard drive shock resistance).
Waethorn
on Jan 5, 2010
OMFG! ThinkPad Edge available for sale NOW: http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/c... Holy crap! And look at those prices!! 64-bit ACROSS THE BOARD, BABY! (and XP Mode support on all models too!) Here's the x100e (not as spectacular, but still, these are pretty kickass business machines!): http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/c...
Keleko
on Jan 5, 2010
I can't ever use a touchpad that isn't multitouch anymore. I can't tell if their "Industry Standard" touchpad is multitouch capable or not, but I bet not. Frankly these small pads are mostly useless. At least Lenovo has the TrackPoint, which is better than their touchpad, but it is no substitute for a large multitouch touchpad. With one of those you only need a separate mouse for games (assuming you care to play any on the laptop).
daveinla
on Jan 5, 2010
Very sexy and well priced indeed...until you open the lid and see that 80s reminiscent red-dot and redundant click-buttons that eat-up precious trackpad space. AMD mobile processors ??? WTF ? I'm curious to see how they fare in terms of performance and power saving features.
runner7775
on Jan 5, 2010
@Waethorn, As Paul has mentioned in the podcast, the AMD mobile processors seem to run a good bit warmer than the Intel mobile ones do. I have noticed this firsthand. The fact that some of the Intel chips have VT and some don't is baloney, even some of the higher end quad core chips lack it.
redunion1940
on Jan 5, 2010
Paul, AMD Neo Processor was desined for the ultra-light notebooks, since AMD doesn't have an answer for the Atom but any AMD Neo processor will blow Atom out of the water in terms of perfromance, at the cost of battery life though but I wouldn't think it would be a major difference. All latest generation AMD processors support hardware virtualizations, goes right with XP mode, there ussually cheaper than there Intel counterparts offering near, similar, and at rare times theses days better perfromance, the problem with AMD has been and will be that it is always 6 to 12 months behind on shrinking of there dies, case in point Intel expects to be shipping 32 nm in 2 or 4 months, AMD maybe at the end of the year. Seriously this kind of competition is good, we need AMD to go into the black, they make the best integrated graphics, they currently make the best discrete graphics, being the only company to support DX11 right now, and there processors offere extremely good perfromance for the money there fastest CPU The Phenom II X4 965 offers performance similar to the old $1,000 Intel CPU, the one before Nehelem. So no worrys Paul an AMD chip will do just fine, just because 80% of the PC market uses Intel and a 100% of the MAC market uses Intel doesn't mean AMD is bad you should know that Paul. Also if it wasn't for the cross licensing between these two companys Intel wouldn't be able to offer cheap x64 processors, AMD developed the 32-64 extension that almost every computer ships with now, no we would have the Intanium or what ever it is called. As for me I await the K11, or Bulldozer as it is called, I hear some good things, and with a 6 core processor coming out from both companies for home users things are looking good.
runner7775
on Jan 5, 2010
Ahh, the Neo's support VT. Hats off to AMD.
redunion1940
on Jan 5, 2010
Forgot the mention the price the Phenom II x4 965 is prices at $185 for a quad core with each core running at 3.4 ghz that sounds good, then if you wanted to build a good system, they have a quad core that cost only $100 it says $99 but eh, its the Athlon II x4 620 clocked at 2.6 GHZ and it doesn't have an L3 cache.
Dipsh t Admin
on Jan 5, 2010
"I can't tell if their "Industry Standard" touchpad is multitouch capable or not, but I bet not." It's multitouch on both.
Waethorn
on Jan 5, 2010
" The fact that some of the Intel chips have VT and some don't is baloney, even some of the higher end quad core chips lack it." Those aren't the "high-end" quad-cores then are they? " I can't tell if their "Industry Standard" touchpad is multitouch capable or not, but I bet not." You'd lose that bet - they both are. "AMD mobile processors ??? WTF ? I'm curious to see how they fare in terms of performance and power saving features." Better performance, less battery, still better value all around though.
runner7775
on Jan 5, 2010
"Those aren't the "high-end" quad-cores then are they?" Nope, and I probably wouldn't even buy a computer that didn't have a chip that supports VT or AMD-v.
Backup77
on Jan 5, 2010
@Waethorn 64-bit ACROSS THE BOARD, BABY! Not only 64bit but the hard drives are 7200RPM as oposed to the standard 5400RPM notebook hard drive which is a nice performance boost.
DRWAM
on Jan 5, 2010
My buddy just got this one from ASUS with a reported 12 hr battery: http://www.amazon.com/UL50AG-A2-Light-15-6-Inch-Black-Laptop/dp/B002P3KM... Of course, he really likes it.
Raffaele2100
on Jan 5, 2010
Is the six cell battery integrated into the design of the X100e (and the Edge for that matter) as opposed to the Ideapad where it was an ugly lump and clearly a poor design afterthought?
benjwah
on Jan 5, 2010
Dell's for me, all the way. My last 3 laptops have been Dell's and they get better every time. Also, service is really good and prices are good too. I haven't used a Thinkpad since they were IBM's (Actually, for memory it was a Pentium3 M maybe? Old anyway). Not bad, but not really my style either.
roblind
on Jan 5, 2010
Now that's a nice laptop design! I'm so glad to see PC manufacturers stepping up their game to produce hardware that generates enthusiasm and functionality. I do think that Apple's approach to industrial design aesthetics has influenced some PC companies though; I think that's a fair thing to say. Lenovo is making some great designs (e.g. the IdeaCentre A600) as well as Dell (e.g. Adamo). With PC hardware designs like this running Windows 7, I'd say the playing field is pretty even.
Waethorn
on Jan 6, 2010
"Nope, and I probably wouldn't even buy a computer that didn't have a chip that supports VT or AMD-v." You wouldn't have a problem with not getting AMD-V. Even the $449 single-core system (x100e netbook) has VT. That makes it an extremely attractive little carry-around system for a business to buy their mobile workers.
Waethorn
on Jan 6, 2010
@Raff: At 41secs into the vid for the Thinkpad Edge, you can see the battery. It looks flush with the bottom of the laptop. At approx. 1:41 in the x100e vid, you can see that the battery has a slight bulge which the laptop sits on. I have no idea which batteries these are though. BTW: Biggest design mistake: orienting the logo on the lid they way they did - when you open the lid, the logo is upside down, so you can't gloat about it. ;)

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