CES is kicking into full gear this week, and Lenovo is
starting things off early with three new notebook releases in its ThinkPad
family. The new offerings include the X120e, Edge E220s and Edge E420s.
First up is the tiny ThinkPad X120e that is powered by AMD's
new Fusion E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). The X120e will be
available with either the single-core Fusion E-240 processor (1.5GHz, 18W) or
dual-core Fusion E-350 processor (1.6GHz, 18W). Graphics duties are handled by
an AMD Radeon HD 6310 GPU (500MHz clock) no matter which processor is selected.
Like its predecessor, the X120e features an 11.6"
LED-backlit display (1366x768) and your choice of either Windows 7 Home Premium
or Windows 7 Professional. Whereas the older X100e offers 5400rpm hard drives,
the new X120e is available with 7200rpm hard drives in capacities of 160GB and
320GB. The memory subsystem has also been upgrade to support DDR3 (up to 4GB
using two modules).
There are plenty of ports on the diminutive X120e including
VGA, HDMI, GbE, multi-reader, and three USB ports. Wireless options include
802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, and 3G radios.
The ThinkPad X120e weighs 2.9 pounds with a 3-cell battery,
3.3 pounds with a 6-cell battery, and will be available with a stating price of
under $400.
“We’ve optimized the ThinkPad X120e to not only give
businesses an excellent experience creating and consuming multimedia content, but
we’ve also made key improvements to an area that has plagued laptops: battery
life,” said Dilip Bhatia, vice president, ThinkPad Marketing and Product
Operations, Lenovo.
“Mobile users no longer have to trade battery life for great
graphics performance,” added Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and general
manager, Client Division AMP Products Group, AMD. “AMD Fusion APUs allow for
thinner, cool-running devices that can last the day and do what is demanded of
today’s professional.”
Next up are the latest additions to the ThinkPad Edge
family: the Edge E220s and E420s. According to Lenovo, it wanted to go with a
more premium, contemporary design with the new Edge models. As a result, they
feature what Lenovo calls an "infinity display" which is supposed to
remind you of watching a large-screen TV. There are also metal accents used
through the chassis to "project a cosmopolitan image".
“How we think about PC design and the entire computing
experience is changing,” said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president, Think
Product Group, Lenovo. “The new ThinkPad Edge premium laptops give users
technology that is extremely personal, beautiful and powerful so they can
accomplish their business goals and keep up with their personal lives.”
Despite the efforts to class things up a bit, the Edge E220s
and E420s still feature the famous spill resistant ThinkPad keyboard along with
a TrackPoint and touchpad for navigation.
The Edge E220s features a 12.5" screen, is less than
one-inch thick, and comes in at under 3.5 pounds. The Edge E420s has a 14"
screen, is one-inch thick, and weighs four pounds. Both laptops are available
with Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors and optional 4G/WiMAX
mobile broadband.
The Edge E220s and E420s will be available in April, and
will be priced at $899 and $749 respectively.
