Widscreen Lenovo Thinkpad Z-series spotted?

We've long heard the rumors (and wanted oh so badly to believe the hype), but it looks like our wishes may (or may not) have finally come true. The whispered-of Lenovo ThinkPad Z series appears to have been spotted in all its widescreen glory—it's even got some smooth, rounded edges and a Windows key. Seriously, a Windows Key on a ThinkPad. Man, look the other way for 15 minutes and the world gets swept out from beneath your feet.

[Thanks, msafi]

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Is the laptop silver in the right hand pic??!?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I dobut it's silver. Thinkpads have always been black and it looks like the 'silver' you see is due to bad reflections of light.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

It's a titanium top. It's only an option. They will come in both Black and Titanium.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

This is a true rumor. I was in a meeting with a IBM national sales rep in March who told us that widescreen Tpads were coming in the September to November timeframe as the G-series laptops were phased out.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

There is a Z60m and Z60t model, the z60m is the black and z60t has the silver color.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Yeah, why don't ThinkPads have a Windows Key, anyway? Is that like two-button Mac Mice? I guess maybe since the Mighty Mouse came out, the ThinkPads are going to jump on the bandwagon and put a Windows key.

-- Elias

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

rounded edges?
silver color?
windows key?

in two years everything will be silver and rounded. c'mon lenovo

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I mean if IBM/Lenovo doesn't like the Windows Branding on the thinkpad, they could rename it Meta or put a diamond on it ala Sun which is what Microsoft should have done in the first place.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Hey, whats wrong with Ctrl-Esc? We've already got far too many buttons on these damn things. Why have a button for each and every goddamed quirk of Windoze? Key combinations people; less is more imo

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

high res pics here

http://www.ibmuser.idv.tw/viewtopic.php?t=19990http://www.ibmuser.idv.tw/viewtopic.php?t=19990

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

didn't notice you were linking to that forum. sorry

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

finally a silver style is added to the clan. I guess I still like previous BLACK ones with no arcs, just as the rule of the WHITE Mac. it is said that the Z series are designed for multimedia entertainments and, it seems lenovo wanna get some sublimation. although I know that would be a tactic to the ordinary market, I just prefer the classics. and I wish lenovo were not the terminator to the classic.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

It looks like more details can be found here http://ip-web.de/ThinkPad/Z60/ (note: it is in german). Also has technical specs

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I'm fearful of Lenovo making changes to classic ThinkPad styling... but to be fair, the titanium top option concieved and designed a year before Lenovo. Anyone remember the iSeries with the color tops? yeeesh

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Windows key? OK, but where's the Apple function key? ;-)

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

More info here via digg
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1850158,00.asp

digg the story here
http://digg.com/hardware/Lenovo_Plans_Widescreen_Thinkpad_

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

More info here via digg
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1850158,00.asp

digg the story here
http://digg.com/hardware/Lenovo_Plans_Widescreen_Thinkpad_

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Don't 'blame' Lenovo for this design, the laptops in the pictures still have the IBM logo on them, so they were probably designed by IBM before they were bought out.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

IBM never added the Windows button because they were angry about the whole OS/2-Windows snafu. Since then, they've never played nice with Microsoft - I'm suprised they actually made Windows drivers for their systems :) I bet the Windows key appearance has to do with Lenovo managing the hardware now.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Actually, I think part of the IBM/Lenovo deal was allowing Lenovo to use the Thinkpad name for like 5 years.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I said IBM logo not just the Thinkpad logo.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

true dat

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Creeky: The Windows key has more uses than just popping up the Start menu. Winkey-R = "Run...", Winkey-E = "Explorer", Winkey-M = "Minimize All", etc.

And on other OSes that key could be a Mac's "command" key or a Unix "Meta" key, if they took gorkon's excellent suggestion and made it a more generic symbol such as a diamond.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

It's good to have a wide screen, but it got less feature than T43series in the same promotion series.
It don't have express card support, ATI Radeon X300(64mb)graphic card, parallel port and the redundant touchpad
It cost US$128 more!!
I want touchpad, I think it can be put on the right(better) or left of the traditional buttons

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Sorry, we had to remove the information on our site www.ip-web.de.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Sorry, we had to remove the information on our site www.ip-web.de.