The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14-inch business-class ultrabook has been announced today. The new 14-inch X1 will get the Intel Ivy Bridge processor and a very thin carbon-fiber body weighing 3 pounds and measuring 0.71 inches thick. It’s more interesting than a light and thin classic 13.3″ X1, which weighing 3.7 pounds and measuring 0.84″. The new ThinkPad X1 Carbon delivers improved screen resolution of 1600×900, up from 1366×768, as well as RapidCharge for fast battery recharges. The laptop has a spill-resistant keyboard with backlight and optional 3G connectivity. There’s no word on pricing.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon business-class ultrabook scheduled for release this summer. No word about pricing yet. When it comes, Lenovo will also release the T430u, which is a lower-end system when compared to the X1 Carbon.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad L420 and ThinkPad L520 eco-friendly laptops with Intel “Sandy Bridge” 2nd Gen Core processors on sale now.

The 14-inch L420 and 15.6-inch L520 contain materials made from post-consumer recycled content and come in 100% recyclable packaging. The laptops feature dual-core CPUs, up to the Core i7-2620M, Intel HD integrated graphics, up to 6GB of DDR3 memory, up to 500GB hard drive or a 128GB solid state drive, a DVD burner, and screen resolution of 1366×768 pixels.

Both notebooks pass 8 military specification tests for durability and have built-in 720p webcams and Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional OS.

The Lenovo ThinkPad L420 and Thinkpad L520 start at $599.00 and $649.00 via Lenovo.com.

PRESS-RELEASE

The L Series is good for the planet and good for your bottom line. These laptops are made from materials that use up to 30% post-consumer content — more than any other ThinkPad laptop. Post-consumer content includes office-sized water jugs and used IT equipment, which are recycled into parts like the LCD cover, palm rests, and top/bottom case. Each L Series laptop saves the equivalent of 10 plastic water bottles. Additionally, L Series laptops deliver:

Savings up to an estimated 40% per year on operating costs.
Less power usage with LED-backlit displays and Power Manager.
Environmental certifications, including ENERGY STAR and EPEAT® Gold.
Fewer batteries in landfills with the 3-year battery warranty.
100% recyclable packaging and 20% less of it.
Secure, responsible IT asset disposal services available.

Lenovo officially released the new ThinkPad lineup, including the T Series T420s (14″), T420 (14″) and T520 (15.6″), L Series L420 (14″) and L520 (15.6″), and W Series W520 (15.6″).

The Lenovo ThinkPad 2011 laptops features Intel’s 2nd Generation Core “Sandy Bridge” processors. The laptops also sport “all-day” battery life in select models, Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics in the T and W series, Intel vPro system management technology, and improved video and voice communication.

The ultra-thin ThinkPad T420s delivers up to 10 hours of battery life with its 6-cell and optional optical bay battery combined. The sub-four-pound laptop “speeds up boot time 30 percent” and includes the latest Dolby Home Theater v4 audio. The thicker T420 has a battery life of “up to 30 hours” with the standard and extended slice battery combined, while the W520 mobile workstation delivers “twice the performance of previous models”.

The 2011 Lenovo ThinkPad T, L and W Series will be available starting in March. Prices for the T420s, T420, and T520 start at approximately $1,329, $779, and $909, respectively. The L420 and L520 will start at $719, while the W520 will have a base price of $1,329.

PRESS RELEASE

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – Feb. 22, 2011: Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) today announced six new ThinkPad laptops – the T420s, T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520 – that maximize performance and offer a higher level of productivity for today’s mobile business professionals. These laptops are built upon a platform of new Lenovo innovations that respond to key business needs including: video and voice calling, smart PC features for power and performance management, all-day battery life, enterprise management and an intuitive, easy-to-use computing experience.

The ultra-thin, sub four pound ThinkPad T420s speeds up boot time 30 percent1 with Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0; the T420 reaches new battery life benchmarks of up to 30 hours with an extended battery; the W520 mobile workstation offers twice the performance of previous models; and the L Series gives customers recognized ThinkPad durable design at an exceptional value.

“Inspired by our customers, the 2011 ThinkPad laptops deliver the best technologies the industry has to offer, enabling users to do more with their computing experience,” said Dilip Bhatia, vice president, ThinkPad Marketing, Lenovo. “We used customer feedback to help us create our latest ThinkPad laptops that provide strong improvements in key areas such as battery life, video and conferencing communications and performance. We’ve even made the ThinkPad laptops smarter by engineering self- aware technologies for unprecedented performance and power management capabilities.”

Smart PC Power & Performance Management
The new laptops incorporate self-aware and adaptive technologies to sense where power is needed most to ensure priority components receive power for improved overall performance and battery life. Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 dynamically increases processor speed during performance intensive tasks such as video editing, data analysis and 3D applications. Lenovo Turbo Boost+ enables the laptops to stay in Turbo Boost even longer by keeping processor temperatures below required thermal limits. With reduced power to non-essential hardware, the laptops achieve up to 30 percent longer battery life while playing multimedia so users can watch DVDs, listen to MP3s or stream web content longer.

All-Day Battery Life
With its standard 9-cell battery, the ThinkPad T420 delivers up to 15 hours of battery life, while the T420s, delivers up to 10 hours with its 6-cell and optional optical bay battery combined. For extreme battery life needs, the ThinkPad T420, with its standard 9-cell battery and optional 9-cell slice battery, provides up to 30 hours of computing power. As the first business class laptops to feature NVIDIA® OptimusTM automatic graphic switching technology, T Series and W Series laptops provide 33 percent better battery performance over previous discrete graphics models.

Video & Voice Calling
The laptops include a variety of technologies for enhanced video and voice conferencing. Private Chat and Conference Call microphone modes allow users to switch easily between modes with a single mouse click. Private Chat mode can also use noise cancelling technology to focus on a single voice, while Conference Call mode opens the audio capture field to 360 degrees around the notebook, allowing for multiple user interaction in the room.
The laptops also include keyboard noise suppression technology to help eliminate the distracting keyboard clicking that often occurs while typing during PC-based voice calls. The laptops can also help users avoid embarrassing conference call mistakes with a dedicated LED-lit microphone mute key which indicates when the microphone is sending audio.

Designed for Enterprise
Built upon a platform of advanced industry technologies, including the performance and energy efficiency of the 2nd generation Intel® CoreTM and CoreTM vProTM processors, the new ThinkPad laptops offer enterprise IT managers high reliability and easy deployment and manageability. For example, the

ThinkPad T, W and L Series share the same docking station to simplify deployment, reduce costs and allow hardware sharing among employees. The laptops also share common batteries for lower cost and easy component management.

For improved enterprise-class security, the new ThinkPad laptops offer multiple layers of security throughout the hardware, software, BIOS and options including encrypted hard drives with remote management support, a fingerprint reader with one touch swipe for power on and authentication and Intel® Anti-Theft Technology (Intel® AT) – a laptop theft deterrence mechanism that disables the laptop preventing unauthorized data access.

Intuitive, & Easy-to-Use
A new feature, Lenovo’s Instant Resume, maintains users’ wireless connection on the laptop during sleep mode for up to 99 minutes2, eliminating the need to login and reconnect. For improved audio sound, the ThinkPad T420s is the first business class notebook to offer Dolby® Home Theater® v4, Dolby’s latest audio technology with virtualized surround sound and dialog enhancement technology for clearer sound in movies, music and during video calls.
For quick and easy startup and shutdown, the laptops also feature Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7 – an exclusive certification for Lenovo products that allows users to start their laptop on average 20 seconds faster than a typical Windows 7 computer3. Users will also enjoy watching high definition movies and online videos with the help of integrated Intel® HD Graphics.
To learn more about the latest 2011 Lenovo ThinkPad laptops, please watch this video for more details.

Pricing and Availability4
The ThinkPad T, L and W Series will be available starting in March from Lenovo business partners and www.lenovo.com. Pricing for the T420s, T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520 starts at approximately $1,329, $779, $909, $719, $719 and $1329, respectively.
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Lenovo has announced the IdeaPad Y560p and Y460p laptops, featuring 2nd Generation Intel Core “Sandy Bridge” processor, new storage features.

The 15.6-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Y560p and 14-inch IdeaPad Y460p will be available with up to Core i7 “Sandy Bridge” chips, Lenovo’s RapidDrive technology that combines up to 750GB of hard drive capacity with 32GB of solid state drive storage to speed up laptops’ performance, up to 8GB RAM, JBL speakers and Dolby Home Theater audio, a “metal hairline etching exterior”, and metalic gray or white interiors.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y460p and Y560p laptops are available beginning January 11, 2011 and will start at $849. The IdeaCentre K330 will be available in early 2011 and will start at $699. All of the devices will be available on Lenovo.com.

Great news for Lenovo fans: Lenovo IdeaPad U550 15.6-inch thin-and-light laptop go on sale. The Lenovo IdeaPad U550 is new multimedia-oriented laptop based on Intel’s ultra-low voltage CPU and new Windows 7 OS.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U550 starts at 5.3lbs and is 1″ thin. The first laptops feature Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processors at 1.3GHz or 1.4GHz, the Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated or the ATI Radeon HD 4330 512MB dedicated graphics, 3GB or 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 250GB or 320GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and a 6-cell battery. The 15.6″ display has a resolution of 1366×768 pixels and uses LED backlight.

A Lenovo IdeaPad U550 model has a 1.3MP web camera, a multi-touch trackpad, Dolby surround sound, WiFi N and WiMAX wireless connections, Bluetooth, an HDMI port, and a fingerprint reader.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U550 priced at $800, whereas models at Amazon are priced at $600 and $700 and are expected to start shipping on October 22.

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s 14.1 is a thin-and-light business laptop, measuring in at 0.83 inches at its thinnest point and starting at 3.91 pounds. The laptop sports a new TinkPad keyboard and a 27% larger trackpad that supports multi-gesture input, a 2MP web camera, dual microphones, stereo speakers, optional Intel Turbo Memory for better system responsiveness, WiFi and Ethernet LAN, as well as optional WiMAX, mobile broadband, Bluetooth and ultrawideband connectivity. It’s interesting that the T400s supports up to two monitors via its Display Port and VGA connector. There are also an ExpressCard slot, a 5-in-1 media card reader, and three USB ports (one USB/eSATA combo).

CNET reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and writes, “The good: Excellent quality and construction; thoughtful keyboard layout; inventive touch-screen features. The bad: Expensive; touch-screen features have limited real-world usefulness for most. The bottom line: A revamped version of Lenovo’s slim ThinkPad T400s adds an innovative touch-screen package to the first Windows 7 laptop we’ve reviewed.”

Design: 8.0
Features: 8.0
Performance: 8.0
Battery life: 8.0
Service and support: 6.0
Overall score:7.8

CNET editors’ rating: 3.5 stars, Very good

NotebookReview has a review of the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and writes, “Overall I think Lenovo put a lot of time into thinking through the changes they made with the T400s so they wouldn’t offend too many ThinkPad customers. The keyboard change is significant, but for all intents and purposes they stuck with the tried-and-true design. The keys feel the same, the core layout is the same, the only thing that changed were the function and media keys. Even though the keys look weird at first it takes about 3 seconds to adapt to the new layout. I think the super slim and lightweight design is excellent, moving to a layout that is easier to service by the end-user. The inclusion of eSATA and DisplayPort is something that should have come sooner, considering that the T400 doesn’t offer a digital video output without a docking station.

The only complaint I have is with the price, starting well above the standard T400, and the costly drive upgrade options since it is limited to 1.8″ models instead of the cheaper and more widely available 2.5″ size. If you are in the market for a new ThinkPad and don’t mind spending a bit extra for something thin and lightweight, the T400s is a great choice.”

Pros:
Excellent build quality
Good keyboard changes
Nice polished design
eSATA and DisplayPort … finally
Very fast even with integrated graphics

Cons:
Limited battery options
1.8″ storage drive
Different docking connector.

SlashGear reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and writes, “Of course, for many enterprise users it’s Windows or nothing, and as long as you’re not expecting to do any major video crunching the T400s should prove a highly capable machine. The extra screen space, more powerful processor and improved port selection above the T301 come with a relatively minor bulk and weight increase, which the sober casing hides well. We can’t help but wish that the 9-cell battery option of the T400 was available, but the ability to hot-swap the optical drive for a second battery (or a second hard-drive) goes a long way to making up for it. With prices starting from $1,599, the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s certainly isn’t a cheap machine, but if you want something with reasonable processing capability but in a near-ultraportable form-factor, it’s a definite contender.”

PCWorld reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and writes, “Starting at $1599, the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s can be a compelling little laptop. Of course, once you start adding all the bells and whistles, the price kicks up significantly. Still, thanks to sturdy construction and great performance packed inside a slim profile, the T400s is a winner, and great for the jet-setter who wants a little more out of their mobile machine.”

Pros:
Slender size and plenty of ports
Fantastic keyboard and touchpad
Cons:
No discrete graphics card

PCMag reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and writes, “The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s (Multitouch), a big-screen version of the ThinkPad X300 commands the same kind of awe, and now has multitouch capability.”

Pros:
Multitouch panel works well. Exquisitely thin. Modular optical drive included. Fast, energy-efficient processor. Nice resolution. Tough as nails. Phenomenal typing experience. Excellent green credentials.

Cons:
No FireWire or extra card slot. No extended batteries available.

LaptopMag reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and writes, “The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s with touch packs the same groundbreaking performance as its nontouch sibling, and combines a responsive capacitive screen with simple but effective touch software. That said, we don’t think the significant increase in bulk and price are worth it for the average business user. If you plan to use a touch-specific app like SpaceClaim, it might make sense to pay the $400 premium and learn to live with the added weight and thickness. However, if you mostly use your notebook for Office apps and the Web, you’re better off with the original ThinkPad T400s.”

Pros:
Blazing fast performance
Best-in-class keyboard
Intuitive Simple Tap interface

Cos:
Heavier than original T400s
High premium for touchscreen.

Lenovo today announced the latest additions to its Idea brand of notebooks for consumers – the 16-inch IdeaPad Y650, the 15.6-inch Y550, and 14-inch Y450.

Along with 16:9 format glossy widescreen displays and a new “super-slim” design, the latest IdeaPads feature Intel’s processors, optional NVIDIA graphics chips, up to 500GB of hard drive storage space, up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, DVD burners, WiFi, and optional Bluetooth.

The new laptops also feature Dolby Home Theater surround sound, web cameras, and multi-touch touchpads. For gaming enthusiasts, Lenovo developed the 4-in-1 optional remote controller. It is the first to bring PC users the ability to play games using the remote control’s ‘motion drive’ feature, which controls on-screen objects according to the movement of the remote.

Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y650, Y550, and Y450 will be available beginning in March. Manufacturer suggested retail pricing starts at $1,199 for the Y650, and $829 for the Y550 and Y450.

Lenovo announced a new model of its ThinkPad W700ds mobile workstation. ThinkPad ThinkPad offers two displays, with a secondary, 10.6-inch screen housed inside the main 17-inch display. Lenovo is also adding the option of using an Intel Core 2 Quad processor with the ThinkPad W700ds instead of the high-end Intel Core 2 Extreme chip.

In August, Lenovo launched the original W700 workstation with a single, 17-inch display and the company is planning to market both versions of its mobile workstation to professional photographers, graphic artists and others working in CAD fields.

In addition to the secondary screen, Lenovo is offering users the option of ordering the ThinkPad W700ds with a less expensive Intel Core 2 Quad processor running at 2.26GHz and built on the newer 45-nanometer manufacturing process. When the original ThinkPad W700 came out earlier in 2008, Lenovo only offered the mobile workstation with an Intel Core 2 Extreme X9300 chip.

While the starting price of the Lenovo ThinkPad W700 is currently about $2,500, the second display will add about $500 to the base cost. An official starting price has not been set.

The Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds offers the same type of features found in the original W700, including an Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M graphics processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM and dual integrated hard disk drives that can be configured in a RAID array. The ThinkPad W700 also features three video ports that support dual-link DVI (Digital Video Interactive), Display Port and VGA, which allows for multiple displays when using a docking station.

The Lenovo W700ds supports Windows XP and Vista and it will support Windows 7 in the future. Lenovo also supports several Linux operating systems.

Lenovo today announced its new ThinkPad R400 and R500 laptops. Its a 14.1-inch and 15.4-inch business notebooks, based on Intel Centrino 2 technology.

The R400, as same as the 15.4-inch R500, comes with Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors or Celeron CPUs, the GMA 4500HD integrated graphics, up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, up to 320GB of HDD storage, a built-in optical drive with Blu-Ray burner choice, and the optional Intel Turbo Memory 2.0 module.

The R400 features a widescreen display with a resolution of 1280-by-800 or 1440-by- 900 pixels, the ThinkPad R500 has a resolution of 1280-by-800 or 1680-by-1050 pixels and an optional web camera mounted on the top of the LCD panel of both models.

Regarding communications, it sports Intel’s 802.11b/g wireless with optional support for 802.11n WiFi standard, a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, Bluetooth, and 56k modem.

There are also three USB ports, Firewire, an ExpressCard slot, another slot that can be populated with SmartCard, multimedia card, or PC Card reader, as well as VGA output.

The ThinkPad R400 weighs around 5 pounds, the ThinkPad R500 weighs approximately 6.5 pounds and both runs Windows Vista OS.

Price starts at $956 and at $1,010 at the Lenovo store. The new Lenovo’s models are now available.

The ThinkPad X300 is a 13.3″ screen ultra thin-and-light laptop for the traveling and business person – the executive road warrior. It weighs about the same as the MacBook Air, depending on how you configure it, and the removable battery, a built-in optical drive, integrated WWAN, and multiple USB ports make this little ultraportable much more desirable from a business standpoint.

Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Reviews

PCMag reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and writes:

The X300 makes practical sense for a business traveler who needs an optical drive, multiple USB ports, and countless wireless options. Many might cry foul over the exorbitant price and the single storage option, but I can sympathize with Lenovo’s plight: It doesn’t want to price out the ThinkPad X61, the company’s best-selling ultraportable. And although SSD drives will remain a luxury for the time being, prices will come back down eventually.

Rating: 4/5.

CNet reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and writes:

The good: Extremely thin and light; sleekest ThinkPad yet; built-in DVD burner, plus WWAN, GPS, and wireless USB.

The bad: Solid-state drive comes at a high premium; touch pad’s location makes it easy to accidentally graze while typing.

The bottom line: The ThinkPad X300 breaks new ground by packing a broad display, full-size keyboard, and nearly every feature a mobile user needs into a sleek, lightweight case.

Rating: Excellent – 8.5/10.

Notebookreview reviews the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 and writes:

The ThinkPad X300 is a premium product that’s worth the price if you need the features it offers. The X300’s excellent portability, abundance of wireless options, built-in optical drive, SSD advantage, great screen, fantastic keyboard, and second-to-none build quality all add up to a notebook that’s easy to recommend to business users who consider a notebook to be an important part of their success with work. It’s certainly not the right notebook for everyone, the 64GB storage limit, under powered processor and high price immediately eliminates most consumers from even considering the X300. We would have like to have seen such things as an SD card reader, docking capability and an ExpressCard or PC slot. You can’t have it all though, and the ThinkPad X300 is much more practical than the pretty but port challenged MacBook Air, and so the X300 gets the Editor’s Choice recommendation that we couldn’t rationalize giving to the MacBook Air. Bravo to Lenovo, and we hope that they push this 13.3″ slim form factor more and find ways to bring the pricing down.

Pros

Under 1-inch thick, the thinnest ThinkPad ever
Light weight and easy for carrying around in a bag
Superb build quality and feel, nice design touches added
Built-in optical drive for such a thin notebook is a rarity
Good performance in normal business tasks, very fast bootup with the SSD
Very bright screen for easy viewing

Cons

No SD card reader
No expansion dock capability, USB based port replicator only
No ExpressCard or PC card slot
Starting price of $2,500 is out of range for many people

Rating: N/A.