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ThinkPad

Lenovo ThinkPad 'L' series: Rugged, eco-friendly

There's a new letter joining the ThinkPad laptop lineup in the form of the just-announced "L" series. Designed for business, government, and education, Lenovo's new 14- and 15-inch laptops are rugged and environmentally-friendly.

According to Lenovo, the 14-inch L412 and 15-inch L512 laptops "meet eight different military specification tests for high and low temperatures, vibration, altitude, dust, and more," although they don't seem especially heavy, starting at 5.2 pounds.

Even more interesting is that these two new laptops are partly made from post-consumer recycled materials. According to Lenovo, "up to 30 … Read more

ThinkPad x100e: A little more than a Netbook, for a little more money

Despite having an iPad on our desk, a colleague recently paid a visit to expressly check out the Lenovo ThinkPad x100e. That might seem hard to swallow, but believe us when we say that this compact, very Netbook-like ThinkPad-to-go is like a fantasy to business travelers and ThinkPad fans who have been dreaming of an ultraportable to call their own.

Yes, there has been the ThinkPad x200 series, which offers higher performance in a compact frame. The x100e uses a low-voltage processor, but it's not an Intel Atom; rather, it's a single-core AMD Athlon Neo, assisted with some … Read more

Lenovo continues to break ThinkPad mold wide open

Since Lenovo took over the ThinkPad brand in 2005 from IBM, for the most part the line has kept its iconic, no-nonsense form intact. Love it or hate it (and many do love it), that branding has originally a far more recognizable part of Lenovo than the name Lenovo itself.

Years later, Lenovo has gotten some wind in its sails with a number of IdeaPad laptops and innovative computing products, and perhaps this has fueled some of the inevitable changes away from the ThinkPad as we generally know it.

Most recently, Core i7 updates to the dual-screen workstation W701DS and … Read more

Lenovo says businesses don't want slate devices

Lenovo refreshed its tablet-capable business laptop on Tuesday and made a very conscious decision not to bring out a slate device, saying customers don't want it.

Lenovo updated its x series tablet with a new x201 model that packs Intel's newest low-power Core i5 and i7 processors. In addition to the performance improvement that comes with the faster Core i series chips, the x201 also boasts better battery life over previous models, according to Mika Majapuro, senior worldwide product marketing manager at Lenovo.

Lenovo will stick with the tried-and-true Laptop-based convertible tablet designs and not bring out a … Read more

New Lenovo W701DS dual-screen specs leaked

(Update: See our report on Lenovo's official announcement of the W701DS.)

Way back at CES 2009, we were obsessed with Lenovo's somewhat absurd/impressive take on extreme laptopping, the W700DS. With dual displays--one 17-inch, and a second slide-out one at 10.6 inches--and a Wacom digitizer surface built in right next to the touch pad, the W700DS was the experimental supersize ThinkPad to satisfy the dreams of desktop replacement dual-monitor fetishists everywhere.

Not only does a revamped W700DS finally seem to be nearing a U.S. release, but these specs were leaked by Lenovo, according to ThinkPads.com. … Read more

Before the iPad, there was the ThinkPad

The ThinkPad came long before the Apple iPad. Lenovo makes this clear in a video showing the genesis of the ThinkPad brand name, though the clip raises some pesky questions.

As some quick background--and as many readers probably know--a line of laptops using the same ThinkPad brand name ultimately became a hit for IBM, though the PC business overall didn't pan out financially for Big Blue, which sold it to Lenovo in 2004.

IBM was first: In the video, the Lenovo marketing executive (originally an IBM employee) talks about how IBM, in 1990, designed the ThinkPad 700T slate computer … Read more

Can new ThinkPads keep their Edge? ThinkPad Edge 13-inch First Take

Lenovo has shaken up its slightly uptight ThinkPad image with a relatively bold new direction aimed at small businesses: the ThinkPad Edge line has gloss, silver touches, and no optical drive in the 13-inch laptop, and uses AMD or Intel ULV processors.

With the 13-inch ThinkPad Edge going on sale starting January 5, we have been playing around with one here at the offices to give it a good solid hands-on. Though the starting price is $579, our $899 version has 4GB of RAM, a U7300 Intel Core 2 ULV, and a 320GB hard drive.

Covered in glossy black plastic … Read more

ThinkPad X100e: A Netbook for professionals

Lenovo's ThinkPad brand has been successful and durable, but also a bit staid. The company's recent announcements on the ThinkPad Edge brand and the compact X100e are attempts to shake up the landscape a little for professionals, and for those who desire Netbooks in the corporate world.

Starting at $449, the X100e doesn't feature an Intel Atom processor--rather, you have your choice of AMD Athlon Neo (single or dual-core) or Turion dual-core CPUs. Notably, this is the first ThinkPad to use an AMD processor.

A full-size raised keyboard, similar to the design in the new Edge line, … Read more

Laptop leaks usher in CES

As inevitable as bad Wi-Fi and long taxi lines in Vegas, pre-CES leaks are unavoidable. This year, many laptops from big-name PC makers have leaked early, mostly thanks to online retailers surfacing the products before the official release dates. These leaks have largely surfaced via sites such as Engadget and Gizmodo, assisted by a tendency for some of these laptops to actually stealth-surface at retail outlets before anyone's noticed.

Keep in mind, this list is only part of what you'll see at CES in the laptops category--there are still plenty of surprises in store. At the same time, … Read more