Lenovo Updates ThinkPad PCs With Intel Sandy Bridge, Enterprise Features

Lenovo on Tuesday unveiled six updated ThinkPad enterprise-oriented notebook PCs featuring Intel's Sandy Bridge integrated graphics processors.

Lenovo refreshed its T420 ThinkPad model, as well as its T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520 ThinkPads with the Sandy Bridge platform along with extended battery life, continuous connectivity, and a number of features aimed at business professionals.

Preston Taylor, ThinkPad product marketing manager at Lenovo, told CRN the recall of Intel's Sandy Bridge processors following the discovery and correction of a design flaw in Intel's Cougar Point support chipset has not impacted Lenovo's product roadmap with regard to Sandy Bridge-based systems.

"This entire lineup is being refreshed with Sandy Bridge CPUs," Taylor said. "We don't expect the delay to impact our business, rollout or transition, since Intel was able to bring it to attention early enough. We hadn't launched the product at the time. We'll be launching with the new chipset that's fixed the issue. We've made adjustments to accommodate the new CPUs but we've been able to handle it on the back end."

Taylor said Lenovo has updated its ThinkPad notebooks in terms of power management, battery life, enterprise device and IT management. Taylor said Lenovo has a dual strategy for consumer and enterprise users that consists of adding features onto its notebooks that reflect the trend of enterprise devices increasingly resembling consumer devices, while seeking to make them more supportive and easier for IT managers to deploy.

"We're re-focusing on our core constituency: the IT managers and the folks that buy the technology," he said. "We're looking at more consumer-driven features that are easier to use, in the same way that a lot of consumer devices are. A lot of end users have electronic devices and they expect the same level of ease of use and support as they got on those devices."

The Lenovo ThinkPad T420s includes Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 offering 30 percent faster boot times, while the T420 reaches up to 30 hours of extended battery life, and the W520 mobile workstation offers twice the performance of previous Lenovo W-series models.

In addition, Taylor said Lenovo is refreshing its lower-end L-series, aimed at enterprise users seeking the same durability and quality that other ThinkPads include, but at a slightly lower cost and without certain design improvements such as thinner and lighter magnesium alloy-based components and compatibility with Intel V-Pro technology.

Next: Lenovo's Consumer-Style Enterprise Features

Among the new features to come to Lenovo's ThinkPad line, Taylor said Lenovo is offering self-aware and adaptive video and voice calling technology. Lenovo is also adding a dual-microphone mode that leverages its dual array microphones that allows the microphone to focus on the user's voice and eliminate ambient noises or, alternatively, cover a 360 degree radius around the notebook for use in video conferencing, in order to make sure people around the room at a conference table can hear one another.

Taylor said Lenovo is adding keyboard noise suppression to the ThinkPad PCs, eliminating keyboard noise during video conferencing by isolating the sound of the keyboard so that it won't be heard on the other end of the call.

Lenovo is offering the updated ThinkPads with Lenovo Turbo Boost Plus, which Taylor said is very similar to Intel Turbo Boost Technology, allowing users to dial-up performance in order to take advantage of thermal headroom in the system. Lenovo worked alongside Intel, which allowed Lenovo's engineers some interaction with the software in order to allow its users to better leverage it when needed for intensive applications, according to Taylor. He said the lifespan for Intel Turbo Boost technology in the refreshed ThinkPads will be longer and that users will be able to optimize it, making the fan a little louder and bring the temperature of the system up a degree or two more than before.

Taylor said ThinkPad users will be able to enjoy thirty percent extended battery life compared to the previous generation. In addition, users will be able to dial down the power and adapt it to their use patterns to increase battery life when needed without compromising performance. The ThinkPad T420 comes with a nine-cell battery that can last up to fifteen hours, up from twelve hours on last year's model. In addition, Lenovo offers a snap-on battery pack nine additional cells that can be attached to the bottom of the system and doubles the battery life.

Finally, Lenovo is adding continuous wireless performance to its ThinkPad line, according to Taylor. Lenovo's engineers have created an altered sleep mode, allowing systems to go to sleep while maintaining wireless connection, and making it less likely according to Taylor for mobile workforce users to drop their systems when they get back to their desks. Taylor said Intel has done a lot with Sandy Bridge chipset in terms of dialing up graphics performance, but Lenovo has added adaptive, self-aware technology and extended battery life to offer competitive Sandy Bridge PCs.

Lenovo said its ThinkPad T, L and W Series will be available starting in March from Lenovo business partners and Lenovo's Web site. Starting prices for the T420s, T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520 are approximately $1399, $1029, $999, $899, $899 and $1529 respectively.