Lenovo's ThinkPad T, SL, W, R, and X-series are popping for retail

Sitting up nice and pretty on Lenovo's US store front are none other than Lenovo's newest lineup of ThinkPad notebooks. The site breaks down if you try to custom configure and order anything at the moment but it's good to see the 12.1-inch X200, 12.1-inch X-series tablet, SL, R, T, and W-series of laptops readying themselves for take-out.

[Thanks, Salman and Spencer]

Read -- Full lineup
Read -- X200

[Tl @ Aug 5th 2008 2:19AM]

Disregard the old design, The engineering and specs are awesome.
Switchable graphics and ddr3 memory in T500.

[Daniel @ Aug 5th 2008 2:39AM]

And the new T has, again, the horrible off-center screen...

[Skorpius @ Aug 5th 2008 4:02AM]

I look at my T61p every day and never notice the screen offset.

[SmartSid @ Aug 5th 2008 4:20AM]

The T61 I have does NOT have off-center screen. The laptops above don't seem to have off-center screens either...

[Daniel @ Aug 5th 2008 5:16AM]

@SmartSid,

Judging by
http://www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/content/img_lib/products/splitter/notebooks/ThinkPad/T-Series/gallery/t-5l_080508.jpg

...it appears that at least the T500's screen is pretty off-centered...

[dagwud @ Aug 5th 2008 8:12AM]

The screen is not off center. The keyboard is poorly designed. They need to move the enter and backspace keys to the left side.

[Daniel @ Aug 5th 2008 2:41AM]

Also, was it really necessary to drop the HDMI from the T400?

[S Bike @ Aug 5th 2008 3:41AM]

I thought the x200 was going to be $1200 USA in the base config. Turns out the base x200 is $1,434 has a 4 cell (not the review configuration). Alas I can't get more details because the customize configuration option just hits an invalid URL at the moment. The X200 4 page tech spec doc doesn't mention LED backlight or not... reviews have claimed not, others claimed it would be an option.

Suddenly the $550 10" atom based machines (with an LED backlight and a 6 cell battery) are looking pretty good. Not as fast certainly, just lighter, better battery, lower power, better backlight, same ram, same size disk drive. Not quite the $1,200 wonder laptop that the reviews claimed.... sigh.

[diode3diode @ Aug 5th 2008 4:45AM]

From their site they show 2 prices, the "From:" price (slashed) and the "Sale price:" (actual?). Maybe in time the "From:" for the x200 will get that slashed and have that 2nd pricing to "Sale price:" of $1200? (crosses fingers)

[Spike B @ Aug 6th 2008 2:23AM]

Ah, I figured it out, thinkpad.com/lenovo.com are radically more expensive than all the other places that sell the thinkpads. X200 with the 80GB disk, no bluetooth, slower cpu, no finger print reader, 1GB ram, etc = $1400+.

Random websites (google 74542GU) sells the X200 with a 160GB disk,
bluetooth, faster cpu, fingerprint reader, 2GB ram, etc= $1100-$1200.

Suddenly the x200 does look like reasonably price/performance when compared to the likes of the eee pc 1000h and msi-wind. For me $1200 is tempting for the extra pixels and a 12" screen... $1450-$1550 much less so.

[LondonConsultant @ Aug 5th 2008 4:43AM]

Good to see most of the new ThinkPads now official (but not yet the X200s, X301 or W700). If these were Eee announcements, then no doubt everyone would be saying these 50+ new model variations dilute the brand. But of course they don't...

[diode3diode @ Aug 5th 2008 4:48AM]

That's probably because Lenovo gives the option to configure what you want in their laptops.

[LondonConsultant @ Aug 5th 2008 5:25AM]

@diode3diode:
With Lenovo, you FIRST select from 50+ main models and you THEN configure it. But there's nothing wrong with that - more choice is good...

[diode3diode @ Aug 5th 2008 5:54AM]

"more choice is good..."

I think having more models is a good thing also. I just wish they had different models of tablets, for instance a slate-type Lenovo-pad.

As for Asus, their site is confusing to browse under. Not as polished as Lenovo where you can configure what you want. Maybe it's because we can't order from them directly or something (I never tried though, so I don't know exactly what series goes where).

[Booshack @ Aug 5th 2008 5:09AM]

OMFG i wonder if you can get away with ordering 128 GB ssd....
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1222/wtfcx9.jpg

[diode3diode @ Aug 5th 2008 5:01AM]

128GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA [subtract $70.00]
vs.
64GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA [add $830.00]
??!??
Oh YEAH!!! 128GB ftw!!!

[siva @ Jun 19th 2009 4:39AM]

i guess lenovo has to hornor that error if they want to keep a fairly positive pr image, if any. Or maybe it's not an error but rather intentional 'cause we're in such a sweet and generous universe with no corporate greediness.

[waiting @ Aug 5th 2008 5:10AM]

so what about 14" T models? price is nill ? i like that

[jawa_edan @ Aug 5th 2008 7:04AM]

A decent T61 setup from Lenovo USA = US$1100.

Same spec + free 160GB ext hdd from Lenovo Australia = US$1560

$460 for hdd? that's not right is it? I want aussie lenovo to take notice, since I seriously had been put off by the unfair pricing. And please don't give me difference of the purchasing power low population crap. If ASUS could manage eeepc 1000H for even less than amazon price why can't you?

PS: No, am not interested in the R61e thanks.

[chrixx @ Aug 5th 2008 12:16PM]

You forgot the tax, customs brokerage and extra shipping cost to get it delivered to Australia (heavy import barriers to entry). Plus, Lenovo just have to make that extra profit from non-US customers to offset their weak margins in the US.

[Dan @ Aug 5th 2008 9:30AM]

Ooh, the W series looks cool. We've been looking for something with an even better video card thank the T61p for use with our CAD and modeling software.

[braindancer @ Aug 5th 2008 12:23PM]

Just ordered the T500. Estimated ship date is 9/19. Wee.

[PsypheR @ Aug 5th 2008 5:50PM]

The bottom right one swivels.