New ThinkPad SL Series – Lenovo leaks the details

Lenovo has now confirmed the existence of the ThinkPad SL and released details about the new ThinkPad Laptop range aimed at the Small to Medium Business sector.

The new ThinkPad SL notebooks are geared toward businesses with less than 100 employees and limited or no IT staff. They will be a direct competitor to Dell’s Vostro range.

The new laptops will be aimed squarely at individuals and small companies that want a professional notebook business centric ThinkPad but still want some of the consumer friendly features that the new incredibly popular IdeaPads have to offer.

The new ThinkPad SL300 to SL500 models will have HDMI output and a more stylized look than the all-black look of the iconic corporate ThinkPad’s.

Because of the mooted a lower price, a few of the corporate style features will also disappear, Lenovo has said.

Instead of the usual ThinkPad advanced docking station, the ThinkPad SL range will use a USB-based dock to extend input options back at home or the office.

Charles Sune, Lenovo’s development chief for the ThinkPad SL Series wouldn’t provide more specifics about the forthcoming new portables other than to say they will have somewhat narrow price range between $699 and $1,199.

Stories filtering out over the last couple of weeks have indicated 3 options with a 13.3-inch, 14-inch, and 15.4-inch models with choices of a Blu-ray drive and a GeForce 9300M GS for dedicated graphics.
A launch forecast will be made within the next few weeks depending on the availability of Intel’s new Centrino Montevina platform, which looks like it will appear in early August.

This looks like exciting times for ThinkPad fans as Lenovo aggressively broadens its range and starts to move out of the lofty coporate sector that the ThinkPad T61 brand name has so long dominated