Filed under: Tablet PCs

We already showed you a review of the thing, but now we’ve got an X60t of our own, and we thought you’d give you our impressions, along with a nice bevy of pictures of this tablet in the flesh. As always, you can find the pics after the break, so lets get on with the impressions. Tablet PC Review was no liar when it complemented the build quality of the X60t: the unit is a rock. The keyboard feels wonderful, the hinge is solid and even the TrackPoint “nipple” (of which we’re not normally a fan) works great. The pen is solid, and when writing on the screen there’s just the right amount of friction to make pen-based input feel just right. Aside from an overly zealous complement of pre-loaded, taskbar-hogging software, our only real problem was with the battery life, but it was a big one: the stock 4-cell battery choked out at around 1.5 hours of use for us. Granted, the display was at max brightness (which is plenty bright), and WiFi and Bluetooth were on, but it was still rather disconcerting to be able to visibly watch the battery meter lose percentage points, and then have the thing conk out altogether at a supposed 8 percent of battery left. So, if you can spring for the 8-cell, or stand to live without wireless or a backlight, the X60 comes highly recommended as far as Tablet PCs go, but we do have that minor caveat. Keep reading for the pics.

Lenovo packed in a webcam, headset and dock. Wasn’t that nice of them?

Pretty dang small for a power brick.

The recessed ports are a nice touch.

The screen automagically reorients itself based on how you hold the tablet.

The latch works both ways.

Sure they’re dusty, but boy do they feel good.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Tablet PCs

It’s got a 12.1-inch display with XGA touchscreen and/or digitizer options, as well as an SXGA+ digitizer-only version; it’s got 3G; it’s got 802.11n MIMO WiFi; it’s got a PC card and ExpressCard slot; it’s got a bunch of ports, Core Duo or Solo processor options, a 2.5-inch drive up to 120GB, in-bezel nav, fingerprint reader, mic, etc.; it’s Lenovo’s X60, reborn as a tablet convertible tablet. It weighs 3.77 pounds, is 1.1-1.3-inches thick, and could in theory last you up to 7.5 hours on a single extended battery. It starts at $1,800. Steel yourself, though, you’ve got video games to buy you and your family. Well, yourself, anyway.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Laptops

Hooray, Lenovo has joined the battery recall party! For those of you keeping score at home, that brings the number of manufacturers to five, including Apple, Panasonic, Toshiba and Dell. The recall, anounced today, affects nearly 170,000 batteries in the US, and over 350,000 additionally worldwide, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The USCPSC also says that the recall was triggered by Lenovo’s confirmation of the battery that exploded at LAX a few weeks ago and that this latest battery recall affects the following ThinkPad notebook computers “sold between February 2005 and September 2006: T Series (T43, T43p, T60); R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e); and X Series (X60, X60s).” Furthermore, Lenovo has put out a press release stating: “Additionally, since these batteries can also be used with ThinkPad T4x Series or ThinkPad R5x Series systems, customers who ordered an extra battery or received a replacement battery for any ThinkPad T4x or ThinkPad R5x Series notebook PC between February 2005 and September 2006 may also have a battery subject to recall.” Now, Alan Cox’s exploded ThinkPad 600 isn’t part of the list, which leads us to believe that this isn’t the last we’ve heard about Sony’s exploding battery fiasco.

Read – US Consumer Product Safety Commission

[Thanks, JJL]

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Laptops

We suppose “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is quite the popular tune around the Sony HQ these days, but, unfortunately, that statement seems to be proving increasingly false. After a recent rash of violent Lenovo battery explosions, Sony claims they’re “investigating” the fires, specifically the LAX incident. Sony apparently thinks there is no official confirmation that the battery in the PC was Sony-made, but we’ve got a lot of empirical evidence that has us betting otherwise. Lenovo wasn’t available for comment, but it doesn’t seem far-fetched that we could have the making of a fourth major Sony battery recall in the recent weeks.

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Laptops

In a time when you’re not even allowed to say the word “bomb” in an airport (hey, it’s for good reason), it’s got to be like, really freaking embarrassing to have to run up the jetway at full speed, shoving other passengers out of the way as your flaming laptop explodes on the ground. (Sound familiar?) According to an eyewitness report on the Awful Forums, passersby stared aghast or fled crying terrorist, the ThinkPad (which was quoted to be an IBM, not a Lenovo) apparently had a number of death throes as the fire went through various phases, until eventually a United employee busted out the fire extinguisher and laid the laptop to rest. Apparently the machine’s owner already checked its battery against the recalls and it was not listed — and why would it be? IBM and Lenovo aren’t flagged for bad batteries — yet. (Sony, we’re looking your direction.) But the coup de grâce at LAX: onlookers apparently mumbling that “too many viruses on your computer” can lead to this horrendous fate. How true, indeed.

[Thanks, Peter]

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

If there’s one thing this summer’s taught us, it’s that pleather is never a good idea during a heat wave. But if there’s two things this summer’s taught us, it’s that batteries are extremely combustible, and one company with a recent history of naughty mishaps can spoil a lot of peoples’ fun with some lithium-ion charged explosions. This is probably why Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and other laptop manufacturers are planning to hold a summit in San Jose, California with the intent to tackle some of the issues associated with li-ion cells powering today’s portables, and to come to some agreement about standards for manufacturing processes and quality control. They and the rest of the OEM Critical Components Committee of the IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries are expected to lay the groundwork for such battery manufacturing standards with the hopes that no man or woman or child’s box shall ever again unexpectedly explode on their table, in their car, in their home, plane, pocket, or anywhere else for that matter. Gee golly, we are so stoked at the idea of our laptops not, like, totally burning down our home that you guys soo don’t even know.

[Via AppleInsider]

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Filed under: Desktops

Intel’s new Core 2 Duo chipsets aren’t the only game in town, and while Dell still manages to be a notable holdout, Lenovo has been spreading a bit of AMD Athlon within their product line. Their new ThinkCentre A60 features those snazzy Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors in the high end, along with options for Athlon 64 and Sempron chips for the budget conscious. The systems are targeted at medium to large businesses, and carry all the necessary network niceties for managing, upgrading and accessing the workstations. The integrated nVidia GF 6100 graphics aren’t anything special, but a PCI Express slot should ease your visual woes. Dual SATA HDD slots, DDR2 memory and six USB 2.0 ports are all available, and there are options to fill those slots accordingly. Lenovo should be shipping these soon, with base models starting at around $800.

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Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo has just announced a new addition to its Z61 series of ThinkPad notebooks — which currently consists of the Z61t and Z61m — in the form of a “mobile workstation” called the Z61p. Like the other models in this lineup, the 15.4-inch Z61p offers consumers several Intel Core processor options (maxing out with the 2.0GHz Core Duo T2500), but improves upon the graphics setup by including a Mobility Fire GL V5200 chipset from ATI with 256MB of VRAM. Other features include 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM (expandable to 3GB), up to 100GB of hard drive capacity (in either 5,400RPM or 7,200RPM varieties), a 1,920 x 1,200 pixel display, WiFi, Bluetooth, an ExpressCard slot, and the popular ThinkVantage suite — though you’re not getting the 3G WWAN or titanium case options found on the other Z61 models. While all the pricing details are not immediately clear, it looks like a well-configured system will be going for around $2,400 when these become available next week.

[Via laptoping]

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Filed under: Laptops

China’s Lenovo is giving Japan some love with the new mid-range ThinkPad G50. It’s a bit on the chunky side, and weighs in at a hefty 7.3 pounds, but we suppose that’s to make room for the rather odd inclusion of a built-in floppy drive. The rest of the specs are a bit more standard, like the 15-inch display that ranges in resolution from XGA to SXGA+ (1,400 x 1,050), and the Celeron M or low-end Core Duo processor options. The base model is pretty bare on specs, with a mere 256MB of RAM, CD-ROM drive and 40GB HDD. We’re not quite sure how the Core Duo models manage for specs, other than the PC card slot, gigabit Ethernet and four USB 2.0 ports that all the models share, but there’s only room for improvement. The laptop is 2-inches thick at its biggest, and 1-inch thick at its thinnest, making room for a 2 hour battery, that manages 2.5 hours of juice for the Core Duo setups. So bust out that Commander Keen floppy, dig up 135,450 Yen ($1169 USD) and snap this thing up before someone else gets suckered into it.

[Via Impress]

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Filed under: Laptops

Filed under: Laptops

Yeah, we’re officially removing any “ultracompact” or “ultraportable” marketing speak that might have slipped in to describe the V100 from Lenovo, but there’s plenty else to love about this slightly bulky compact notebook. First off, at 1.25-inches thick and weighing 4.4 pounds, the laptop is no X60 (which doesn’t contain the DVD burner of the V100), but it does look positively skinny beside Dell’s new M1210. The V100 features a nice glossy 12.1-inch WXGA screen, and a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera that captured his smarmy mug much better than those featured on the M1210 and MacBook. Lenovo also doesn’t seem to have as much trouble keeping the Core Duo cool as Apple is; the V100 ran plenty cool even though it doesn’t have the low-voltage version of the chip run by its X60 brother. The plastic case build is a bit drab and not near as sturdy as a ThinkPad, but it should hold up fine. However, the 3 to 4 hour battery life seems barely acceptable. There’s an ExpressCard 54 slot, so you might want to hold off until an EV-DO solution comes along. The integrated graphics really limit the gaming options, but the V100 really does provide a lot of functionality for the price, especially if you’re not up for lugging an external drive around and want some of that Core Duo power.

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Filed under: Laptops

NotebookReview.com got their hands on Lenovo's new ThinkPad R60 -- or should we say, one version of the R60, since you can basically configure it to your heart's content -- and put it through its paces. On the low-end, you can get an R60 with a Celeron processor for as little as $800 but, not suprisingly NotebookReview got something a little more tricked out for testing: one with a Core Duo 2.0GHz processor, 15-inch SXGA screen, EV-DO, ATI X1400 128MB graphics card, 1GB RAM, and a 100GB 7200RPM hard drive. That config will set you back about two grand, but whatever setup you choose, they think you'll be pleased, digging the usual powerhouse ThinkPad keyboard (and touchpoint), rugged design, refreshing lack of pre-loaded junkware and, of course, the endless configuration options. On the downside, it's not quite as sturdy as the T60 and it's a bit thicker and heavier than other notebooks in its class, but for the price and configurability that seems to be a reasonable trade-off for what's still one of the best laptops money can buy.

Filed under: Laptops

We're using the term "ultraportable" a bit generously here, since the new V100 from Lenovo is a whole 1.25-inches thick, and weighs four pounds. Of course, this unit does include a disk drive -- as opposed to the lighter and thinner X60 ThinkPads from Lenovo -- along with a 5-in-1 card reader and optional 1.3 megapixel camera and fingerprint reader. The V100 will also be retailing for considerably less than those X60s, starting out at around $1000. Processors range from 1.66Ghz Intel Core Solo to the 2.0GHz Core Duo, the optical drive comes as a CD-RW/DVD combo unit or as a DVD burner, and hard drives range from 40GB to 100GB. The screen is a 12.1-inch affair, with a 1200 x 800 WXGA resolution. So yeah, you can walk out the door with brand spankin' new Lenovo sporting an Intel Core processor, but it looks like you'll have to select quite a few options to get this guy up to the level of even the $1099 MacBook.

[Via MobileMag]

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Remember a few months ago when the US State Department ordered thousands of Lenovo PCs despite concerns by some that the boxes could be infested with evil Commie spyware? Well, the computers have apparently been delivered, and the government has now decided those concerns should be taken seriously. The 16,000 Lenovo computers will basically be quarantined from other government computers, and won’t be used for any classified work. Which we assume means they’ll be used for games of Solitaire and BitTorrent downloads of patriotic anthems. C’mon guys, let’s get real here. Sure, Lenovo’s  computers are made in China. But so are plenty of other computers, including Apple’s shiny new MacBooks. And ThinkPads and ThinkCenters were made in China, in the exact same factories, even when IBM still owned the brands. The fact is, if Chinese spymasters really wanted to use PCs to check in on the US government, they could do it without Lenovo. We’re not suggesting that the government not be wary of international espionage. But if they really want to get serious about it, there are better ways to do it than buying 16,000 computers and then limiting their use to back-office functions.

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Filed under: Laptops

In addition to the Z61series laptops we mentioned earlier this week, Lenovo is also upgrading the specs of its R60 series. Like its big brother, the upgraded R60 gets a Core Duo processor, the option of integrated or separate graphics processors, and built-in Verizon EV-DO support. RAM can be expanded up to 4GB, and displays come in 14 or 15-inches. Pricing starts at about $1,200 with a 14-inch display, 512MB RAM and a 40GB drive.

Filed under: Desktops, Peripherals

Although we thought they'd already solved the problem of keyboard spills with that fancy Batmobile-like armor plating, Lenovo is apparently still looking for ways to keep your 'board safe from dangerous beverages, as they're showing off a waterproof model at their Lenovo Innovation Center in China. Not much is known about the high-tech shenanigans going on inside the keyboard to keep the circuitry running (we suspect nanobots), but it's clear from the pics that you can dump over a cup of water onto it with seemingly no negative effects. So far this doesn't appear to be a technology that the company is commercializing, and frankly it seems like an unnecessary addition to your basic cheap-o plastic keyboard, but we sure wish Logitech et. al would step it up and employ this type of protection in their multi-hundred dollar diNovo Cordless Desktops-like products.

Filed under: Displays

src="http://www.engadget.com/media/2006/05/displayport.jpg" alt="" />Ruh roh, just when you knew for a fact you
were all settled in with the latest generation of video interconnects for your laptops and peripherals, then VESA comes
along and gets three of the most influential companies in the PC business, href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=dell">Dell, HP, and href="http://www.engadget.com/search/?q=lenovo">Lenovo, to rally behind its new video interface: DisplayPort. Ok,
so it’s not that new (we wrote about it last
year), but it looks like it’s finally ready to rumble starting May 8th. We called up VESA to get the skinny on the
port, and they were kind enough to hit us up with that graphic and the following deets: it’ll not be backward
compatible with with DVI / VGA (ouch), it’ll have wire-line encryption developed by Philips — that’s not compatible
with HDCP (double ouch), but has a very small plug and scales well
(eh). So why create DisplayPort when we’ve all already settled into DVI / HDMI with or without HDCP for plugging in our
plasma or LCD TVs or monitors? Well, because VESA wanted the market to have a unified, license-free video interconnect
standard that did a few things current systems don’t do, like have a standard low power, low pin count, low profile
connector for use on portable device internals and external monitors alike, or scale indefinitely to resolutions, color
depths, and refresh rates possibly yet unthought of by systems integrators. Ok, fair enough, but where were these guys
in 2001, huh? You know how we feel about nascent standards trying to butt in once we’ve all finally gotten settled on
something decent.

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Filed under: Desktops

With a street price of under $500 you certainly can't expect to get the company's high-end jet pack and armor-plating features, but according to PC Mag's review, Lenovo still manages to pack some solid performance into their 3000 J105 small business-oriented desktop. The 3000 J105 is most noteworthy, however, for being Lenovo's first non-IBM branded minitower, although business-types will be pleased to learn that it retains a popular feature of the ThinkCentre line, the ThinkVantage help and recovery utility. Keeping in mind that this model is meant for crunching numbers and not fragging enemies, the 2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 3200 , 80GB hard drive, and 512MB of RAM serve their purpose well, and there's enough software in the box to get some work done without shelling out too much more cash. Other nice touches include both PCI (but no PCIe) and AGP card slots for super-cheap graphics upgrades, a not-hideous-looking case, and the always-appreciated lack of Chinese spyware. Overall the J105 earns a three-and-a-half star "Good" rating, which is probably due mostly to its value, considering that it's able to throw down decent benchmark results that are within a stone's throw of machines twice the price.

Filed under: Handsets, Others, Windows Mobile, GSM

Akihabara News has some, um, news about a new Windows Mobile-powered handset from Lenovo that is, while not the first smartphone from the PC manufacturer that we've seen, certainly the most attractive. The i921 is said to rock WM5 (no confirmation on that, apparently, but we seriously doubt that they'd go the WinMo 2003 route), a two megapixel camera, Bluetooth, QVGA touchscreen, and MiniSD slot, and work on some unknown number of GSM frequencies. Not many other deets are known, such as pricing or availability, but if we don't see WiFi or UMTS in the specs, we keep on shopping, no matter how hot the phone looks.

[Via MobileMag]