Thinkpad SL300, the Ultraportable Bargain of the Year?

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Lenovo ThinkPad SL300, the new T20?

The ThinkPad SL300 was quietly released by Lenovo this week as an addition to the new ThinkPad SL Series. With its 13.3-inch screen, optional Blu-Ray drive and base price of just $769, it has to be the Ultraportable bargain of the year.

At 4.6-pound the ThinkPad SL300 is no X301 killer, but at this price, its going to tempt a lot of small business owners and soloprenuers who need to small form factor notebook for travel and Business Presentations. It kind of reminds us of the superb little ThinkPad T20 and T30 which were so good to carry around and use in their day.

With the ThinkPad SL300 you get a choice of the Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics chipset or the NVIDIA GeForce 9300M 128MB dedicated GPU, up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, and a choice of Hard Drives to 320GB.

You can also choose the optional Intel Turbo Memory 2GB module for faster system responsiveness.

In the optical drive department choose between a Combo optical drive, DVD burner or Blu-Ray burner. With the 13.3-inch LED backlit display and a resolution of 1280-by-800 pixels this is going to be a great little Laptop for multi media presentations.

As with the other models on the SL Series the SL400 and SL500 the new ThinkPad SL300 comes with a whole range of ThinkPlus Complete IT options for the Small Business Owner.

Its a little on the heavy side to be called a true ultraportable but it packs plenty of power and features and at the price, its almost unbeatable.

Quick Specs

Processor - Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T5670 (1.8GHz 800MHz 2MBL2) up to Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)

Display - 13.3″ WXGA LED Backlight

System Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce 9300M 128MB or Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics

Memory - Up to 3 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)

Hard Drive - from 80 GB 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm

UltraNav with or without Fingerprint reader

Optional Integrated Camera

Optional DVD Recordable or Blu-ray Recordable Optical Drive

Wireless, Optional Bluetooth, ThinkPad 11b/g Wireless LAN, optional Integrated AT&T Mobile Broadband (3G)

Battery from 4 cell Li-Ion Battery, 6 cell Li-Ion Battery 9 cell Li-Ion Battery

ThinkPad SL400 - SL500, is it a REAL ThinkPad?

We have had this controversy raging on the ThinkPadToday.com blog for days now and the argument continues to boil over unabated. The basic contention from the ‘ThinkPad’ old guard is that the ThinkPad SL Series notebooks are not ‘real’ ThinkPad’s.

You know sometimes I think as a group ThinkPad devotees are worse than Apple fanboys and girls! Read more

Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 and ThinkPad SL500 Video Review

We told you that we thought the new ThinkPad SL Series was a superb blend of function and design and achieved a great balance of features for the small business owner.

Well, check out this excellent video review from Lenovo and see if you agree. This really does look a great notebook and we particularly like the Blu-Ray drive option and the HDMI connectivity. This is going to make for a great presentation tool.

“The perfect compliment for your business side and your fun side” Read more

ThinkPad SL500 Review a detailed look

ThinkPad SL500, it looks ‘The Business!’

Yesterday we took a close look at the new ThinkPad SL400, today we take a look at the larger screen ThinkPad SL500. The SL500 also features the new Intel Centrino 2 Montevina mobile platform, and like the smaller ThinkPad SL400, this is a superb notebook.

It has a raft of features which give the SL500 a balance between business and multimedia functions at a really great price. With the ThinkPad SL500, Lenovo have almost created a prosumer Laptop, a market segment that is so prevalent amongst Digital camera users. Read more

ThinkPad SL400 Review and a closer look

ThinkPad SL400 hits the bulls eye

With Lenovo’s launch of one of the first notebook models to feature Intel Centrino 2 mobile platform, Lenovo has hit the bull’s-eye again with the ThinkPad SL400. Featuring a balance between business and multimedia functions guaranteed to fit your notebook needs and most importantly, at a price you can afford. Read more

ThinkPad SL Series – Did Lenovo find our spy?

Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 and ThinkPad SL500 released

We really shot ourselves in the foot over the weekend when we jokingly intimated in an article on the new ThinkPad SL Series that we had had a ‘Spy’ inside Lenovo. Or maybe it was the heavies over at Lenovo Headquarters in Raleigh North Carolina, that found our Secret Agent and shot him? Read more

Lenovo ThinkPad SL Series Our ‘Spy’ has the details.

We have further ‘sneak leaks’ on the ThinkPad SL300, ThinkPad SL400 and ThinkPad SL500. Following our report on the new ThinkPad SL Series and the distinct lack of technical details we now have the following likely specifications . Read more

Lenovo ThinkPad SL – showing the Dell Vostro how it’s done?

Lenovo has now confirmed the upcoming new ThinkPad SL laptop Series and given us a first glimpse of this important new range. The range will include models designated the ThinkPad SL300, the ThinkPad SL400, and the ThinkPad SL500. Read more

ThinkPad SL Series - Lenovo set to storm the SMB sector

Lenovo has now confirmed  the launch of the new ThinkPad SL series, with features and support designed for the small and medium-size businesses sector. The full range of the new ThinkPad range will include models designated as the ThinkPad SL300, the ThinkPad SL 400, and the top of the range ThinkPad SL500

With prices from US$699 to $1,199, the new laptop range will feature an online backup services and a technology called LoJack to track down stolen laptops. LoJack® for Laptops from Washington based Absolute software, is a theft protection service that tracks, locates and recovers stolen laptop and desktop computers.

The new machines will be aimed at businesses with up to 99 employees that can’t afford an IT staff to troubleshoot their own laptop problems and will include an online backup service which will be a first for the entire ThinkPad line, said Charles Sune, worldwide segment manager for ThinkPad SL series..

The service will provide a way for businesses on a budget to back up their precious data.
A range of security and support tools will be provided from Lenovo’s ThinkVantage hardware and software including the Active Protection System, which protects data on a notebook’s hard drive.

Lenovo has also stolen some ideas from its consumer friendly IdeaPad laptops with the SL series, giving the new ThinkPad SL design a more stylish look. Several multimedia features are built in including a high definition video connector and Video Editing Software. That’s a real move from the ThinkPad’s traditional corporate focal point. The new look and feature set will make it more suited to both personal, home office and business use.

The Small to Medium Business (SMB) sector is growing at a rapid rate but is very price conscious. To make an aggressive entry into the market at the right price point, Lenovo has made some tradeoffs in designing the laptops, Charles Sune remarked. These do not affect the overall performance or the signature ThinkPad build quality but the SL laptops will not, as an example come with the proprietary docking stations usually found on enterprise ThinkPad’s. They will however include a USB-based port replication system and this is hardly likely to be an issue for the small business owner.

Whilst the laptops will be formally announced over the next few weeks Lenovo has declined to give specific configuration and specification details.

Lenovo has been pushing aggressively into new market sectors with high-end models like the ultra-thin ThinkPad X300 and the mobile workstation market with the upcoming new ThinkPad W700.

Lenovo  sees a huge business opportunity amongst smaller businesses that are being enabled by the very technology that laptops like the ThinkPad T61, IdeaPad U110 and the new ThinkPad SL range offers.

Charles Sune said that Lenovo will target the new ThinkPad’s at the U.S., European, Chinese  and Asia-Pacific markets. In these geographical areas SMBs will present the greatest opportunities for market penetration and opportunities for new technology to make a difference in business efficiency over the next few years. It’s an exciting area for growth and one that Lenovo will want to dominate.

ThinkPad SL Series – Is Lenovo going for the kill?

With the announcement from Lenovo that they are rolling out a new low-cost line of ThinkPad notebooks later this year, are they now making a move that will see them completely dominate the Laptop market? Read more