You’ve Come a Long Way, ThinkPad: Lenovo Unveils New Ultrabooks, Windows 8 Tablet
On the 20th anniversary of the ThinkPad line of laptops, China-based computer maker Lenovo has officially unveiled two new Ultrabooks alongside a tablet designed for the upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
One of the new laptops, the 14-inch ThinkPad X1 Carbon, was reviewed in full by AllThingsD’s Walt Mossberg here. Walt described it as a “high-end, thin and light Ultrabook model with a high price tag.”
The other Ultrabook is the ThinkPad T430u, geared more toward small business users. If you vaguely recall getting your geek on with a graphics-friendly Ultrabook at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, this laptop was probably it. It boasts Nvidia discrete graphics with Intel third-gen processors and claims a battery life of seven hours. It has a 14-inch HD display, is .83 inch thick and weighs just over four pounds. Pricing on that model is $779 — much less than the X1 Carbon price of $1299 — and it is expected to hit the market sometime this month.
But let’s talk tablets: When Microsoft launches its Surface tablet in October, Lenovo will be right there alongside it with its 10-inch Windows 8 ThinkPad Tablet 2. (The first version of the ThinkPad Tablet was running a Google Android OS.)
The Intel Atom Processor-based ThinkPad Tablet 2 weighs just over a pound and is a third of an inch thick. While the 10.1-inch screen supports multi-finger touch, Lenovo is also throwing in an optional digitizer and stylus, and will offer a keyboard and dock option for the touchscreen-averse. It has both rear and front-facing cameras and USB and HDMI ports. Lenovo says the tablet will get 10 hours of battery life.
Lenovo declined to put a price point on the ThinkPad Tablet 2, for now.
And in terms of connectivity, it’s unclear right now which wireless carriers if any will support this 3G and 4G-compatible tablet. As AllThingsD’s Ina Fried covered here, Lenovo in June began selling its own wireless broadband service, for consumers and business users constantly on the go, so it’s likely the tablet will work with that service to start.
