Lenovo has released the ThinkPad T400s, a new type of enterprise-class laptop that bridges the gap between Lenovos ThinkPad X300 series of high-end notebooks and the more everyday business use as represented by the ThinkPad T400 line. The ThinkPad T400s combines thin-and-light technology along with more battery life, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a solid state drive option.Lenovo is releasing the ThinkPad T400s laptop, a new
type of enterprise-class notebook that bridges the gap between the companys high-end
ThinkPad X300 line and the standard ThinkPad T400 laptop family.
The ThinkPad T400s, which is available starting June
23 for a starting price of $1,599, offers some of the design features that
Lenovo engineers used to create the thin-and-light technology that went into
the X300 line. In addition, Lenovo plans to offer a SSD (solid state drive)
option with the ThinkPad T400s along with a choice of two, 25-watt Intel Core 2
Duo chips.
In
keeping with the current thinking that thin-and-light laptops are what both
consumers and business users are looking for in notebooks,
the Lenovo T400s measures 0.83 inches thick and weighs about 3.9 pounds. The
ThinkPad T400s also offers a 14.1-inch display.
We have taken the structure and some of the
sub-components of the X300 and matched them with the manageability, performance
and cost-optimized attributes of the T400 into this product, which is the
T400s, said David Critchley, a worldwide segment manager for Lenovos ThinkPad
T-series. Its really light and really thin for a corporate system and we
think its in a class by itself for corporate notebooks.
The
ThinkPad T400s uses the same carbon fiber technology found in the X300 line,
which allowed Lenovo engineers to reduce the overall weight and slim down the
laptop. This also let Lenovo to include a 9.5-millimeter Optical drive.
The LED WXGA+ display offers users about 300 nits,
which makes it one of the brighter screens that Lenovo offers for corporate
notebooks. Lenovo engineers also worked on improving the keypad and delivered
what Critchley calls a cleaner overall look compared to previous ThinkPad
laptops.
We have taken the time to redesign the keyboard
layout a bit, including the way the palm rest is situated with touchpad, as
well as the top bezel, so its a cleaner look than we had in the past, said
Critchley.
Other
features of the ThinkPad T400s include the choice an Intel Core 2 Duo SP9400
processor (2.4GHz) or the SP9600 chip (2.53GHz), as well as Intel 4500MHD chip
set. The T400s offers up to 4GB of DDR3 (double data rate 3) memory, along with
a hard disk drive with up to 250GB capacity. The SSD options run from 64GB to
265GB.
The ThinkPad T400s also offers 802.11 b/g and
draft-n wireless technologies, along with options for WiMax and WWAN (wireless
WAN). Lenovo is also offering Microsoft Windows Vista OS with the ThinkPad
T400s, as well as the XP downgrade option.
Lenovo will also include better audio capabilities
along with a 2 megapixel camera to improve the VOIP (voice over IP)
capabilities of the T400s.
Finally, Lenovo will offer a 6-cell battery with the
ThinkPad T400s that looks to offers about 5.5 hours of battery life. An
optional, 3-cell bay battery will boost the battery time to 8.5 hours.
When Lenovo rolls out the ThinkPad T400s, the
company also plans to offer a new docking station for the laptop, which can
support two displays and it will offer support for USB, Display Port and
eSATA.
The
ThinkPad T400s is hitting the market at a time when the entire PC industry is
down,
except for netbooks or mini-notebooks.