Lenovo has confirmed that its ThinkPad Tablet will receive an Android 4.0 upgrade sometime in the second quarter of the year. The company already promised an Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Tegra 2-equipped device, however until now the release timing was unclear.
The delayed Lenovo ThinkPad X130e notebook is now available for pre-order on the company's website. Due to ship on February 9, the notebooks will start at $429. That price includes an 11.6-inch, 1366x768 display and AMD's dual-core, 1.3GHz E-300 Fusion processor.
Lenovo's lead-in to CES has included three new ThinkPad Edge models. Fronting the pack, the S430 has an 0.8-inch thickness bordering on ultrabooks but still keeps to regular notebooks: it uses Ivy Bridge-era Intel Core processors and is one of the first Windows PCs with Thunderbotl, giving it very high speed storage and displays on one cable.
Lenovo trotted out the first wave of its CES introductions Wednesday with a renewed push on the ultrabook space currently defined by Apple. The ThinkPad X1 Hybrid has dual-booting into an instant-on mode like some notebooks but adds a full-fledged, dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chip to power its Instant Media Mode. The combination of the ARM chip and the lightweight Linux-based OS lets users not only double battery life to 10 hours for basic use but switch to the OS post-boot and lets users keep the Snapdragon side always on, like a smartphone.
Lenovo has reportedly delayed its launch plans for the ThinkPad X130e, the upgraded flagship X-series mini notebook that was first introduced several weeks ago. The supply hiccup appears to be limited to individual purchases, suggesting the device, which is geared for schools, may have been met with strong demand from educational institutions.
Lenovo early Tuesday upgraded its most inexpensive ThinkPad X-series with a mind to help students and the public at large. The 11.6-inch X130e has a stronger bezel, hinge system and even 33 percent stronger edges, all meant to let them survive casual bumps. Performance is now much better as well, with the option of a 1.65GHz AMD E-450 chip versus the earlier E-350 as well as a new Intel Core i3 2367U.
Lenovo plans to release a version of its ThinkPad Tablet with a Qualcomm 3000 chipset for connecting to EVDO or HSPA 3G networks worldwide. The device is no doubt one of the two spotted yesterday at the FCC. The tablet will be the first Android-powered device with the chip.
Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet has now been spotted with a 3G version and the Wi-Fi model undergoing testing at the FCC. The documents in the former listing show GSM 850/1,900, EVDO 850/1,900 and WCDMA bands II, IV and V frequency support. These correspond to carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile as well as some overseas.
Lenovo may be one of the first Windows PC builders to significantly undercut the current MacBook Air in price. An escaped roadmap (PDF) has a 14-inch "mainstream" ThinkPad ultrabook arriving in May or June. At a price closer to $800, it would be significantly less expensive than the current model.
Tablets have grown quickly enough that they're now the vast majority of ultramobile PCs in the US, ABI Research determined Thursday. For the year as a whole, the researchers estimated that the iPad and similar tablets would make up 75 percent of the category. The remaining 25 percent would be led by netbooks, but it would also have to split that share with niche PCs like Mobile Internet Devices.
Lenovo despite its goals of rivaling Apple in tablets may not break out from other Android competitors in real shipments. Part suppliers claimed Monday that the firm planned to ship between 1.5 million to two million mobile tablets by the end of 2011. Estimates given to Digitmes maintained that no more than 500,000 would be ThinkPad Tablets, while 1.1 million to 1.5 million would be the core IdeaPad K1 model as well as the new $199 IdeaPad A1.
Lenovo chairman Liu Chuanzhi in comments bragged of his company's position in the PC space and expected to take the second place spot away from Dell this year. Lenovo's current pace was quick enough that it would happen in the last few months of the year. CEO Yuanqing Yang pointed to an existing quick pace but also took a dig at HP's possible exit from PCs, suggesting that it wasn't an iPad effect but weak will and poor performance at HP that was leading it to wither in the face of smartphones and the iPad.
The PC world took another hit Thursday after AMD said it had hired away Lenovo president and COO Rory Read. The executive will now be AMD's CEO, president, and board of directors member. Read's exit takes effect immediately.
Lenovo is now taking orders for its new business-oriented ThinkPad Tablet. The Android 3.1-based, 10.1-inch, Tegra 2-powered device will come in three versions. Lenovo will begin shipping the product on August 29.
Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing in an interview Sunday with the FT expected his company could outmaneuver Apple in China. He saw the iPad and iPhone as inherently limited in the country, where lower incomes often dictated lower prices. Lenovo was competing with similarly expensive phones and tablets, but it was also producing a $150 Android phone and an entry-level Android tablet that would reach customers Apple simply couldn't at the moment.
An analysis of Lenovo's spring results has shown that Apple is already outselling Lenovo in some areas in Lenovo's home country of China. Apple's $3.8 billion in sales across the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were more than enough to beat Lenovo's claimed $2.8 billion. While Lenovo puts Hong Kong and Taiwan into a separate category, the FT noted that it wouldn't have come close to overcoming the difference.
Lenovo has unveiled its first mobile monitor, the ThinkVision LT1421 Wide, alongside two new ThinkPad Edge notebooks. The monitor integrates a 14-inch LCD panel, with 16 different brightness levels and tilt adjustment to change the viewing angle. The display is powered via a USB cable, which also carries the display signal.
Lenovo in a low-key move gave the ThinkPad Tablet a hard ship date after it updated the product page. The pro Android 3.1 slate is now due to ship August 23. Prices still start off at $480 for the 16GB base version and step up to $510 for one with 32GB and pen input.
The redesigned MacBook Air in October 2010 sparked a minor revolution in notebooks; after years of ultraportables (even Apple's) being relegated to the margins, they were suddenly the future of computing. Intel went so far as to coin a new notebook concept, the "ultrabook," to spur Windows PC builders to do what Apple was doing. But with stiff competition emerging from Samsung, Sony, and even ASUS, Apple has had to step up its game with a much faster processor and Thunderbolt for desktop-level external storage. We'll see in our review of the 2011 13-inch MacBook Air if it's enough to keep the lead -- and possibly to replace traditional notebooks.
An update to the Netflix for Android app (Android Market) has given the OS support not just for more current devices but two new ones as well. The movie streaming app should recognize the Motorola Droid Bionic when it's announced and ships. Whether or not it gets any extra benefits from the 540x960 screen isn't clear, but it should stream over LTE for those with large enough bandwidth caps.
Lenovo on Wednesday formally tipped its hand and unveiled its first pure mobile tablets. The IdeaPad K1 and ThinkPad Tablet together have the familiar NVIDIA Tegra 2 and 10-inch, 1280x800 screens of most challengers but are the first Android 3 tablets anywhere to support Netflix: both add DRM that isn't in Android 3.1 itself and can not only stream the video service but rent movies outright from Google Videos. The Netflix app should be available as an update by the time the tablets ship and will be followed by an upgrade slightly after launch for buying movies.
Lenovo has reportedly begun shipping its latest ultraportable ThinkPad, the X121e. The device represents the successor to the X120e, sharing the same 11.6-inch 1366x768 display and offering a choice between several AMD Fusion processors. The new offerings expand the range of available CPUs, however, with three new configurations based on Intel's second-generation Core i3-2357M chip.
Lenovo's ThinkPad director Jaison Patrocinio in a media event Tuesday gave the first public viewing of the ThinkPad Tablet. The early glimpse showed the businesslike 10-inch design using Android 3 and an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. ZTOP notes that Patrocinio also had the rumored keyboard dock and that it had an optical pad to provide mouse-like input, not a trackpad.
A Lenovo affiliate newsletter has given clues that the IdeaPad K1 and ThinkPad Tablet could be unveiled as soon as this coming week. The company's "upcoming product launches" have the K1 unveiled in late June or early July with the ThinkPad's date narrowed to June 28. Although both are believed to be Android-based, Liliputing in uncovering the info cautioned that the ThinkPad might be a Windows model.
Lenovo's IdeaPad and ThinkPad tablets were confirmed by company president Rory Read in an interview that also had Lenovo keeping out of the US smartphone race for now. Both of the tablets would have 10-inch screens, ship with Android 3, and cost between $450 to $900 depending on the model, he told Dow Jones. The IdeaPad K1 should be ready by July and could be followed by the pro-oriented ThinkPad edition as soon as August.
Lenovo's recently released ThinkPad X220 notebook is suffering from a throttling down CPU, Lenovo admitted on its forums. This occurs even despite the max performance mode being enabled and the device plugged in. The CPU will go down to its lowest state, and the issue is likely to affect the T420/T520 notebooks as well.
Lenovo began selling its newly unveiled ThinkPad X1 with a positive twist for newcomers. The ultraportable normally costs $1,399 minimum but is on sale for $1,199 with a 2.1GHz Core i3, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 7,200RPM hard drive. A higher-end 2.5GHz Core i5 model also dips below the official price if users customize it to hit $1,304.
After numerous leaks, Lenovo tonight brought out its first halo notebook in years through the ThinkPad X1. The 13.3-inch system is the thinnest ThinkPad to date at no more than 0.83 inches but promises to trump the MacBook Air by overcoming the usual barriers in the class. A new generation of Lenovo's high-power, low-noise "owl wing" cooling fans lets it use full-power Core i3, i5, and i7 processors while still keeping up to five hours on its regular battery.
Lenovo effectively pre-announced the ThinkPad X1 on Wednesday with a video (below). The minute-long ad was short on details but confirmed the backlit, spill-resistant keyboard and Gorilla Glass screen. The PC builder also pledged a May 17 release date.
ASUS has had to whittle back its Eee PC shipments after sustained impact from tablets like the iPad, tipsters said Monday evening. It moved just 350,000 netbooks in April after tablets still "significantly impacted the demand," Digitimes claimed. In response, it would shoot back with a "killer" new Eee PC in June and an ultra-budget model at below $199 to widen the price gap with Apple and others.
Amazon UK has listed the forthcoming 13-inch Lenovo Thinkpad X1 at the equivalent of $2,120. The Macbook Air competitor is due to arrive in the UK on May 20. While it is priced higher than an equivalent Macbook Air, it is fitted with a current generation 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M and includes 4GB of Ram and 320GB of hard disk storage.
Lenovo may be planning more than just the ThinkPad Tablet by the end of the year based on a second leak. Along with pegging the existence of the ThinkPad model (badged as the "Think Slate") and the known LePad, a detailed roadmap shows a seven-inch model due in the fall. The description This is my next obtained was brief but suggested it would have an unnamed dual-core ARM chip and the home-oriented LePad interface but still fit Android 3.0 and a 1280x800 resolution into the smaller screen area.
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 got unintentional official confirmation Sunday after a reseller guide (PDF) mentioned it by name. Along with its existence, the document promised a radical reinvention of the batteries in the MacBook Air rival. They should last as much as three times longer than a usual battery and will have a new RapidCharge battery that could hit 80 percent of its charge in just half an hour.
Lenovo's plans for Android tablets beyond the Le Pad should take it into professional models based on a leaked presentation from Sunday. Called the ThinkPad Tablet, it would be the first known Lenovo slate with Android 3.0 and would make software customizations beyond just including the PC builder's already known Family UI interface. This is my next's copy of the slides showed "seamless integration" with corporate environments that would load up Cisco remote security tools, Computrace to find stolen tablets, as well as local security tools from McAfee and Symantec.
Lenovo's decision to back out on the ThinkPad X301 may have just been a temporary measure as a pair of Swiss stores have prematurely shown a sequel built more consciously to take on the new MacBook Air. Billed as the ThinkPad X1, it would switch to a 160GB solid-state state drive to slim down to about 0.85 inches at its thickest point. The system would try to bring over Lenovo's reputation for strong designs by making its 13.3-inch display cover out of jab- and scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 notebooks introduced in March are now shipping. The X220 and X220t are available on the company's site with prices slightly different than originally believed. The X220 starts at $849 rather than $899, while the tablet version is $1,249 rather than $1,199.
Lenovo has delivered on its promise to ship its new Intel Sandy Bridge equipped Thinkpad T420s and W520 notebooks in March. In standard trim, the slim and light T420s ships with a second-generation Core i5 processor running at 2.5GHz with 3MB L3 cache and paired with 2GB of DDR3 RAM clocked at 1333MHz. Its 14-inch high-resolution 1600x900 display is LED backlit and antiglare. It includes a 250GB spinning hard drive that comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium 64. Graphics is the standard Intel integrated HD 3000.
Lenovo gave its ThinkPad X series a major refresh on Tuesday with a generational leap. The X220 notebook and X220t tablet both use a newer 12.5-inch, IPS-based rich color display but thrive with a new external ThinkPad battery pack. They can last up to nine and eight hours respectively on extended internal batteries, but the battery pack pushes them up to 15 hours on the X220t and a full 24 hours on the X220.
Confirming a recent leak, Lenovo has officially unveiled six new ThinkPad notebooks based on Intel's Sandy Bridge series of Core and Core vPro processors. The T420s, T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520 models are all geared for business users, with improvements to battery life and performance compared to the previous generations.
Lenovo is about to launch three new ThinkPad notebooks with Intel's new Sandy Bridge CPUs, according to posts on Chinese technology website PC Online. They include the 15.6-inch T520, 14.1-inch T420 and 12.5-inch X220. All share the new Core i5 CPU and Windows 7 Home Basic in China, though Home Premium is more likely in the US.
Lenovo's first notebook unveilings for CES tonight brought out three ultraportable ThinkPads all using the wave of new processors due at the show. The 11.6-inch X120e is one of the first notebooks to use AMD's Fusion chips and runs on up to a 1.6GHz E-350 processor whose Radeon HD 6310 graphics help it outrun not just earlier Intel notebooks this size but the earlier X100e by about 65 percent. Battery life has grown further and now goes up to six hours with a six-cell pack, even with a weight at 3.3 pounds.
Intel on Wednesday rolled out a new solid-state drive that could make for widespread dual-drive notebooks. The SSD 310 is as fast as some of the chip designer's full-size X25 drives but an eighth the size. They can reach up to 200MB per second in sequential writes and 70MB per second in similar writes, improving the responsiveness by as much as 60 percent compared to a 5,400RPM conventional drive.
Lenovo is reportedly mulling the idea of a ThinkPad tablet geared for enterprise customers, although the company has yet to commit to such a project. Senior vice president of Lenovo's Think Product Group, Peter Hortensiuis, suggests a ThinkPad tablet would serve as a complement to PCs in many business environments.
Lenovo marked two milestones today, starting with a unique upgrade to the ThinkPad T series. The T410, T410s and T510 are the first known business notebooks to use NVIDIA's Optimus graphics switching and can switch to or from their dedicated NVS 3100M video and Intel's integrated chipset. The option of switching to Intel's slower but more miserly video when on battery gives them as much as a third more battery life, or about an hour of extra time.
Lenovo on Tuesday brought out the smallest ever version of the ThinkPad Edge today in the ThinkPad Edge 11. The 11.6-inch ultraportable is a step up in speed from the X100e with the choice of ultra-low voltage single- or dual-core Athlons as well as Core i3 or Core i5 processors. Graphics are integrated at this size of notebook but are powerful enough to support an HDMI output.
Lenovo has revealed a new accessory for ThinkPad notebooks powered by 65W or 90W packs called the PowerHub. It works as a pure charger but adds four USB ports into the brick and one USB cable that plugs into one of the two USB ports on the ThinkPad 90W or 65W. It provides power and is a USB hub for three additional USB devices.
Apple is planning a major overhaul of the MacBook Air that could see it competing with budget ultraportable notebooks, a rumor floated by Digitimes Research analyst Mingchi Kuo claims. The system would shrink to an 11.6-inch display and would use ultra-low voltage Core iX processors. In spite of the smaller screen, it would be thinner as well as lighter; the design would be advanced enough that lessons learned from its creation would be rolled into other Macs.
Lenovo executive Wang Liping has reportedly said the company will soon drop its publicly proclaimed MacBook Air rival, the ThinkPad X301. The company now plans to withdraw its ultraportable from at least the Chinese market, possibly by the end of 2010. It should eventually be replaced by the considerably newer T410s.
Lenovo has added new AMD-powered models to its ThinkPad Edge 14- and 15.6-inch offerings, first introduced in March. Newly available chips include the 2.1GHz Athlon II X2, 2.3GHz Turion II X2 and 1.8GHz Phenom II X3. All variations get the same ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 graphics chipset.
Lenovo marked the rare start to a new ThinkPad line early this morning with the launch of the 14-inch L412 and 15-inch L512. Both are designed for longevity first with as much as eight hours of battery life on a single pack and US military-grade resistance to moisture and shock. They should also be relatively light, with the base model coming in at 5.1 pounds using a six-cell battery and the larger model at 5.7.
