UltraPortable Game changer! Thinkpad X1 Review, Specs, Release date!

The ThinkPad launch of the year? We think so. Lenovo continues to innovate with the ThinkPad brand and shows its world class design and engineering capabilities with the new ThinkPad X1. One of the first real benchmark products for Lenovo, that showed us how serious it was taking the brand, was the ThinkPad X300 series with its carbon fiber shell and super slim design.

Whilst this isn’t a full ThinkPad X1 review, we give you all the goodness we have so far.

The ‘Art of Thin’ as it was branded really caught the attention of the serious travelling exec. The challenge was it was slightly underpowered. The new ThinkPad X1 is super slim, super light, and really does fix the power problem because Lenovo have squeezed  a  2^nd generation Sandy Bridge 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M Processor into the slim 21.5 mm, .85 inch chassis!

Bearing in mind that this is the same 2^nd generation processor that Lenovo have in the new ThinkPad X220, this is an amazing achievement.

We all crave ‘lightness’ when we travel but most of the time we get less power with less weight.

Lightest ThinkPad Ever

The X1 however, looks like it’s going to be a little demon. To take a quick look at the ThinkPad X1 specifications it has a 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M Processor with a 160GB Solid State Drive. The display is 13.3-inch at 1366 x 768 resolution with Corning Gorilla Glass screen with 350 nits of brightness, and at 21.5mm thick and at 3.8lbs this is going to be the thinnest and lightest ThinkPad ever.

Also in the specification we have gleaned from the Lenovo pdf, there is 8GB of RAM, an SDXC card reader (Secure Digital eXtended-Capacity), an LED backlit keyboard, USB 3.0 ports, and a built-in, sealed battery that lasts 3x longer than a typical notebook battery. The battery has Lenovo’s new RapidCharge technology that achieves an 80-percent charge in just 30 minutes. Now there is a first for a ThinkPad, an LED backlit keyboard!

From the looks of the images it looks like the keyboard is the outstanding island style keyboard that we have seen in the Edge range and come to love so much.

If the ThinkPad X1 is anything like the gorgeous IdeaPad U260, albeit in its ThinkPad guise, then this is going to be a real head turner. Lenovo really are taking the brand to a different level, without losing that iconic ThinkPad look. On top of all this of course we get the legendary, build quality and enterprise level global support that ThinkPad is renowned for.

ThinkPad X1 – New Battery Technology

Of course none of this is any good if we can’t work whilst we are toting our new X1 around so Lenovo has introduced a new battery technology for this super lightweight ThinkPad. The battery is a sealed unit like the MacBook Air, with a 5 hour claimed life but with the ability to recharge to an 80% capacity in 30 minutes.

So that means that even if your away from the office all day, a quick recharge to almost full will be possible at Starbucks, your flight gate, or meeting  venue! Charge and go!

We said at the start the this wasn’t a full ThinkPad X1 Review, but we are going to visit ‘Think’ world HQ  in Raleigh NC, over the coming weeks and hope to have hands (or at least ‘eyes’ on!) on the new ThinkPad X1 plus several other goodies including the new ThinkTablet.

ThinkPad X1 Price and Release Date

Price and release date? Well, a number of pundits are calling it for June/July in the US but we think it will be closer to the end of July. As for price, well, expect the ThinkPad X1 to start around $2500 we do believe. We’ll update you when we know more.

Watch this space (subscribe to our feed) and we’ll keep you up to date on all the ThinkPad X1 news and release dates as we get them. I don’t know about you, but this is one ThinkPad that’s on my want list!