Photo: Lenovo

Lenovo has had enough of watching the tablet PC wars from the side and is about to throw its name in the hat with the first Lenovo ThinkPad tablet PC. No, this does not run Windows 7 like Lenovo’s ThinkPads prior, but runs Android Honeycomb, ships with an optional stylus and even a ‘keyboard portfolio case’ for those who want to type on the run.

Big scoop

The scoop comes courtesy of This Is My Next, who got their hands on a PowerPoint presentation detailing the tablet PC for ‘on-the-go-professionals’. Other information gleaned about the device at this early stage is that it features an IPS display – this is good – as well as a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. TIMN is already calling it ‘the most interesting Android 3.0 tablet’ they’ve seen, so it’s well worth sitting up and listening.

Specs

From a hardware perspective, the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet PC checks all the right boxes. As is standard with tablets, storage is available in 16, 32 and 64GB variants. The tablet’s dimensions are 10.1-inches, with an IPS capacitive display that has a resolution of 1280 x 800. The stylus – Lenovo’s calling it a ‘true pen’ – comes with an option for sketching, as well as note-taking.

From a connectivity perspective, you get a USB 2.0 port, Micro USB port, and a mini-HDMI port, too. Lenovo’s also packed in an SD card slot to ensure all its boxes are ticked. Data wise, the expected wi-fi connectivity makes an appearance, but early indications are the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet PC will have both 3G and 4G connectivity, too.

Do the business for us – Google

From an Android Honeycomb perspective, this tablet PC needs to do the business. The platform has gotten off to something of a slow start, with the impressive Motorola Xoom selling nowhere near what estimates had pegged it at. The sooner a homerun Android Honeycomb device is launched, the sooner the tablet battle can actually become a battle. At this stage one company is dominating the space.

Photo: Masaru Kamikura / Flickr

On Tuesday, Lenovo unveiled its updated ThinkPad range. The major attraction for the Chinese computer manufacturer’s new PCs is the inclusion of Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors technology, as well as superior battery life when compared to previous models.

TLW models get TLC from Sandy Bridge

The company’s latest ThinkPad W, L and T computers run on Intel’s second generation Core i7, i5 and i3 respectfully. Not only does this mean the Lenovo Thinkpad range will get a major boost in processing prowess, the company’s power-saving features coupled with Sandy Bridge’s power-efficiency feature means the computers can run for longer, according to Lenovo’s Preston Taylor [via PC World].

That sure is a lot of battery life

Taylor gives an example of just how much juice the new Lenovo ThinkPad range has, citing the 14-inch ThinkPad T430 battery life lasting up to 15 hours. This is remarkable in itself, as well as a massive leap over the 11 hours its predecessor had.

From an Intel Sandy Bridge perspective, the silicon giant’s latest chipset features Intel’s Turbo Boost 2.0 feature, where inactive cores are automated to shutdown so as to preserve battery power.

Release date and availability

Lenovo says the range will be available around the globe in March, made of quad- and dual-core Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3, 15, 16 processors, with clock speeds ranging from 2GHz to 2.7GHz. The entry level Thinkpad T520, which has a 15-inch display starts from $999, while the most expensive unit in the range, the ThinkPad W520, starts at a princely $1,529. The ThinPad T420 and T420S start as $1029 and $1,399 respectively.

Crossed the threshold

At 15 hours battery life, the latest Lenovo ThinkPad range has pretty much reached the promised land in terms of computing juice. It means one can go the whole day working on a single charge without stressing about finding power. Given I remember days when you could only get an hour and a half on one charge – and this is just three, four years ago – the convenience factor is definitely worth consideration. We’ll put these computers through their paces once review units arrive. Given how strong the current ThinkPads are, in terms of price to capability, we’re keenly optimistic.

Photo: Lenovo

Lenovo are promoting green computing with the latest release of their L-series ThinkPad models. The two new 14- and 15-inch models have parts made from recycled material and Lenovo has improved their battery life, promoting energy efficiency.

Going green doesn’t mean going slow

However, it’s not all about hugging the trees with the new L series ThinkPad models, and the notebooks have the option of coming with either Intel’s Core i3 or i5 processors, an ATI Radeon HD 5145 graphics card, up to 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD and a 7-in-1 card reader. The new L-series also comes with a widescreen HD display with integrated anti-glare like on the previous R-series and also has an improved keyboard outlay with the addition of a few multimedia buttons. In terms of connectivity, Lenovo has all its bases covered with the L-series being compatible with 3G, 4G, Bluetooth and Ethernet.

Increasing productivity

Photo: Lenovo

According to Lenovo the new L-series is all about increasing productivity for its users and hopefully they meant their stationary users. The new ThinkPads have gone green and gained some bulky weight which is a drawback, but shouldn’t take away anything from the impressive series. Lenovo have really gone all out in developing a set of notebooks for the working Joe or Jane, or student with a noise cancelling microphone and high-res web cam which allows web conferencing in noisy environments and integrated education-based technology which make it easier for students to access academic networks.

When released in May the new Lenovo L-series will start at $600 (roughly £389) which sounds like a good price to save the planet, but then buyers should expect their notebook to come equipped with a 1.86GHz Celeron processor. The new L-series ThinkPad should have tails wagging when finally released and as a bonus buyers will feel that they’ve done the world a good deed by buying environmentally friendly and reducing their computing carbon footprint.

The T500 laptops are the new additions to the T-series of Lenovo. Owing to the features incorporated into the laptops of the T-series, they are considered to be the solid base of the product range of Lenovo. The new models are believed to replace the existing T61 models of Lenovo and are considered to add a refreshing edge to the longstanding T-series. They have been designed by combining the latest generation products of Intel, ATI Hybrid graphics and DisplayPort connection. All these features make the Lenovo ThinkPad a preferable choice for most laptop users. Some of the models included in this latest range include Lenovo ThinkPad T500 (NL363UK), Lenovo ThinkPad T500 (NJ27SUK), Lenovo ThinkPad T500 (NJ28WUK) and Lenovo ThinkPad T500 (NL37RUK).

The Lenovo ThinkPad T500 (NL363UK) has an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor whose clock speed is 2,400 Mhz. The RAM included provides a memory capacity of 2,048 MB and the maximum memory expansion allowed in the notepad is 3.0 GB. The graphics card incorporated is Intel GMA 4500MHD and has a shared graphics memory. Among the optical disc drives included in the Lenovo ThinkPad T500 notebook is a DVD writer and the webcam integrated is of 1.3 Megapixel. It has three USB 2.0 connection ports and a port for the IEEE 1394 Firewire (i.Link) as well.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T500 (NJ27SUK) has an Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 processor and the RAM incorporated is of 4,096 MB. It also has three USB connection ports and the video output includes VGA D-Sub (HD-15). It includes a DVD Writer as well and the graphics card incorporated is ATI Mobility Radeon HD3650.

Tags for this article: laptop, Laptops, lenovo

International Business Machines (IBM) has announced that it is developing the world’s most powerful computer for the US government. The machine will be known as Sequoia and will have the power of two million laptops. That’s unbelievable but true. Sequoia is being developed to bolster the American nuclear capabilities. The US Department of Energy will receive it by 2011.

Sequoia system will be able to run the most complex computer simulations and will be of great help in nuclear research. 1.6 million microprocessors will be responsible for its super computing speed of 20 quadrillion calculations per second. According to IBM, more than $100 million will be spent on the development of the system. The size of the system will be gigantic and it will be kept in a very large sized building. The company also said that this will be most environment friendly system and will consume six megawatts of energy per year (the average power consumption of 500 US households). Sequoia will also be useful for research related to human genome, climate and astronomy.

The system will offer much more precise weather forecasts. The forecasters will be able to predict climatic conditions precisely for a small area (spread across 1km). The current weather forecasts are more localised as it targets areas measuring at least 10km in size. Currently the Sequoia possesses the same power as around 2 million Lenovo ThinkPad SL500 laptops. But given the rapidly advancing pace of computer technology, we are sure IBM will one day let organisations other than the US government make use of its groundbreaking technology

Top 10 Broadband, the mobile broadband comparison site has recently revealed that the 3G-embedded mobile computing devices are the most preferred gadgets these days. It totally contradicts the study that Disruptive Analysis has made which says that demand for 3G-embedded laptops and netbooks has been exaggerated. Disruptive Analysis clearly points out that the demand projections for the 3G embedded mobile computing devices have been hyped by PC manufacturers and the adoption of such devices on a large scale is still a dream that has yet to come true.

But the Top 10 Broadband completely disagrees with this and says that the 3G embedded mobile computing devices are now preferred by almost every mobile computing enthusiast. More and more notebooks, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad SL300 are also coming with integrated 3G connectivity as a standard feature. In November, over 1000 such gadgets were sold. According to the Top 10 Broadband’s marketing manager Jessica McArdle, “Demand for 3G-embedded laptop broadband deals has rocketed since the first consumer-targeted offer was launched in September 2008. Given how fast they are selling, we are baffled by these recent projections which seem to be speculative and have no grounding in actual broadband product sales. Mobile broadband embedded laptops are seen as the compact, hassle-free alternative to using external mobile broadband dongles to connect to the internet on the go. Additionally at a time when belts are being tightened across the country, they can represent terrific value for consumers.”

Most all laptop, notebook and netbook users need access to the internet while mobile. There are many carriers offering different mobile broadband plans and hardware. One can easily get confused when exposed to all of them and get down comparing each of them to find the best one. But now O2 has launched a new solution called ‘Pay as you go mobile broadband’ which it claims as the best value mobile offering for laptop users.

O2 has rolled out a 3G broadband USB modem for just £29.99 available immediately for UK customers. This is quite a good deal as most USB HSDPA modems, like the Option GlobeSurfer iCON 225, cost far more on their own without a plan. The O2 USB modem will be backed by the ‘pay as you go tariff plan’ under which users have a variety of options to choose, depending on their needs and budget. The tariff starts at £2 a day which offers download up to 500MB. The £7.50 per week offers 1GB download and if you subscribe for £15 per month plan then you will get data download up to 3GB. Besides this customers will also get unlimited access to over 6,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the UK via The Cloud, the partner of O2.

All you have to do is buy the modem and plug it in to your PC or Mac to experience mobile Internet at a blazing speed of up to 3.6Mbit/s from anywhere within reach of a cellular network signal. O2 will also provide 24 hour support from its UK call centre in addition to the 50-day money-back guarantee.

Tags for this article: mobile, lenovo thinkpad, netbooks uk