Lenovo T60 and X60 – I Think(pad) it’s Time for a Makeover

OK I admit it, when IBM said they were selling off the laptop arm of their business I was sceptical about the health of old uncle Thinkpad. Then when Lenovo took over, I was even more unsure. Few in the west had heard of this tech giant looming in the east, and it was certainly out of my comfort zone. However, I am now wearing a bib and ready for my large slice of humble pie, because you know what? These boys at Lenovo seem to know what they are doing!

Lenovo seek to ease the burden on the arthritic shoulders of road warriors, by releasing two new thin and light Thinkpads, the X60 and T60. These laptop twins are built upon the power of Intel’s dual core Yonah processor.

Lenovo state that the rapier like Thinkpad X60 ultraportable, has a battery life of up to 11 hours (with extended battery). Since escorting the laptop range from IBM in 2005, Lenovo have been quite busy unveiling a tablet pc variant of the ThinkPad, dipping their collective toes in a widescreen venture on their notebooks, and finally shedding the “classic” black chic casing for a much more stylish titanium cover.

They even, in a surprise move which reminded me of watching Saturday morning cartoons again, launched a web site to point out these Thinkpad changes to an ever growing notebook market (whichsideareyouon.com)

However, now they seem to be really catching on and realising that the average consumer in the street wants less not more – Less stuff to carry round that is. Indeed the X60 weighs around 3 pounds, a true ultraportable with a 12 inch display. The T60 is a little heavier at around 5 pounds, and no wonder, with its 15 inch display, shock-mounted hard drive, and ThinkPad Roll Cage – an inner armor chassis that makes the T60 notebook more rugged.

Both laptops feature integrated biometric fingerprint readers, and select ThinkPad T60, and X60 notebooks also boast built-in wireless wide area networking capability. Thinkpads sporting integrated WWAN antennas allow X60 and T60 owners to connect to the internet anywhere they receive Cingular Wireless data service. They no longer need to be chained to a wireless hot spot.

The T60 and X60 with their Yonah processors, excellent battery longevity, and featherweight designs, should be ideal for road warriors. Both will be available to purchase in february.

Saturday, January 07, 2006