Comments on: World first! New ThinkPad Netbook set for launch, ThinkPad X100e due January 5th 2010

By: Ian Orford

Ian Orford — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:47:58 +0000

Hi Jim, having had the opportunity to use both the ThinkPad X100e and the IdeaPad U150 at CESwe came away very impressed with both. The X100e is very ThinkPad, the U150 is absolutely stunning! We will en devour to do a comparison review as soon as we catch up!

By: jim Frank

jim Frank — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:17:52 +0000

Now that the specs for X100E are known, can anyone give a preliminary comparison of the U150 vs X100E ???

By: Ian Orford

Ian Orford — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:25:07 +0000

I think your going to like the ThinkPad x100e Jim, just being reviewing the video and I am sat looking at the embargoed specs! Very nice. OH, and the TYhinkGeelks have said that every recent ‘new’ ThinkPad isn’t ‘pure’. Most of them have only ever owned T60’s and up.

There will be a few surprises for the ‘purists’ on the 4th of January with a whole new range of ThinkPads being released. Watch this space!

By: Ian Orford

Ian Orford — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:12:14 +0000

Now why would you want to go to Apple Doc? The MacBook Pro will not be anywhere near as good as the ThinkPad X210 in its class.

By: DoctorWho

DoctorWho — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:05:56 +0000

I’m personally waiting for the release of the new X210, which will hopefully have a touchpad & DVI support. Unless they introduce such features, while retaining the excellent battery & heat/noise performance of the X200, i’ll be switching to Apple Macbook Pro.

By: jim Frank

jim Frank — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:12:52 +0000

Ian, many thanks. It will be interesting to see how Lenovo threads the needle on this one. Over on this web site http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=432195&page=7 the posters are very critical of anything but the “pure” thinkpad.

I was first set to drop anchor with the HP 311 mini, then the Asus UL 20A or 1201N, Samsung 510 crept in and finally I had decided “for sure” on the Acer1810T ($600 but not to be found). At the last moment I stumbled on netbooked review of U150 ($675) and that machine seemed the best even with a $75 premium, until I started finding reviews of the X100e. SO for now, I have to wait to Jan 4, to see how the needle is threaded.

(Surprising to me how little is blogged on the U150 by the way)

One thing I did turn up: the U series (and all Ideapads in general) is very poorly supported by Lenovo’s International Warranty Service. Thinkpads do a lot better with this IWS. Another reason to wait for the Thinkpad X100e, or whatever it is named, as long as it carries teh Thinkpad not Ideapad moniker

PS: if there are any leaks on the X100e before Jan 4, so the embargoed info is public, pls let us know

By: Ian Orford

Ian Orford — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:52:02 +0000

Good question Jim and one we asked Lenovo last week! We are under embargo right now so i have to be very careful what I reveal, but I will tell that the X100e has been designed to bridge the gap between the NetBook and the UltraPortable. We will say this, the X100e will have a new and powerful range of mobile processors and very capable graphics. And it will be priced extremely well. Its an exciting notebook. All will be revealed on January 4th!

By: jim Frank

jim Frank — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:51:15 +0000

What is the difference between this Thinkpad X100e and teh U150? they seem very close in specs. the U150 is available at discounted $675

By: Ian Orford - Editor

Ian Orford - Editor — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:55:40 +0000

Nicely written comment Ark! We have just come off a review webcast with Lenovo and seen the specs of the ThinkPad X100e and we can tell you that they are really mouthwatering, although we are now embargoed! But only until CES. We can reveal however that with the first iteration, sadly, there will not be an Ultrabase.

By: The Ark

The Ark — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:38:58 +0000

The specs mentioned by Ian, although mouth watering (in a not so scary way), are not very realistic. I don’t think we’ll be seeing a dock, nor 3GB of ram. in fact, I suspect Pine Trail is what we’ll be seeing, with maybe… maybe 2gb standard ram. as for SSD drives… if lenovo were to get ahead of the game, they’d offer a normal version… and an “Elite” version of the netbook… with the latter having a 64 or 128gb SSD drive.

Those specs should give everyone a nice start to the year. Oh, and a fingerprint reader is a must…. it’s business tool afterall… and netbooks, being all tiny and all, will need SOME security… if not in the form of an embedded chip.

i suspect the netbook to start at about $650 – $700 and possibly reach just under a grand (maybe peak at about 850 – 890 for the Elite model fully decked out with finger print reader + high res screen + SSD + 6 cell battery + max ram.

oh, and i personally think the ION platform by nvidia is doomed to fail. Only because Intel has decided to embed GPU’s on netbook platforms hereon in. Plus, Having powerful GPU’s in a sub 12 inch “netbook” is somewhat counterintuitive… no?

I mean, I understand the “nettop” alternative… and see why the nvidia’s ION could thrive there… but netbooks have only just caught on… and nettops… well…. let’s look at the marketing kings at APPLE…. they’re still struggling to sell their mac mini’s to the public… which, initially seemed like a good idea… until consumers considered buying one, and realized that buying a TV/large apple monitor to accommodate the mac mini…. plus a mac keyboard…. plus a mac mouse….would set them back a couple hundred more…. and then the moment strikes… “wait… why don’t i just buy a macbook?? or…. an iMAC????”

Oh Nvidia… what WERE you thinking?