Lenovo's rumored ThinkPad X200e gets two more spy spots, another shot of believability
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 3rd 2009 10:56AM
posted Nov 3rd 2009 10:56AM
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White border tarnishes the TP name.
Agreed.
We can only pray that there is a black model. Nothing wrong with white, but that's just not how thinkpads are made.
FUGLY
Not at all, I've always used white TP.
It's not really the fact that it being white makes it ugly. It's the fact that the new design is contrasted by the old black color scheme. If it was all white, it might have a chance. Anyways, what I do like to see is how they've decided to incorporate a touchpad into the X series - something that's always been missing. Otherwise, I don't really see a difference between the e vs. s or the regular x200.
@adokimus: ahah, i see what you did there. i've always used green and white striped TP
I've always liked the X series because (among other things) it /didn't/ have that annoying touchpad. If you're using a ThinkPad, you should be using a ThinkNipple. Don't try to argue this opinion, it's objective.
This actually made me think again why we still use the QWERTY keyboard designed for typewriters. We need to move or loose the caps lock and get rid of insert and scroll lock! I would like to see a dedicated copy/paste buttons and a set of 5 reprogrammable buttons on the left side.
PLEASE someone get on this.
"we're finding it difficult to contain our excitement"
I'm finding it difficult to contain my stomach's contents.
And I've never even owned a thinkpad.
I think they actually have a guy there to "ugly it up a little"... I mean, even a medieval guy who traveled through time will thik it looks old and ugly.
It still looks terrible. Who thought it was a good idea to put the ThinkPad design with a white case?
This one comes about 33 years too late. The last red, white & blue piece of electronics i can remember was a Commodore Bicentennial calculator!
This one comes about 33 years too late. The last red, white & blue piece of electronics i can remember was a Commodore Bicentennial calculator!
Maybe the same designer who got fired because of the Honda Crosstard.
The x200 series is smaller than that, and it doesn't have a track-pad.
and you can compare size on that photo alone...?
Nobody ever said Lenovo knew how to design a ThinkPad...
it's just likely this is their screwup with the direction for the X series as it is the wrong model number being rumored.
If you compare a real x200 and that, you would know that the track-pad would not be as large as it is shown in the photo.
If this is real, then watch sales of the Dell Latitude and its ilk skyrocket as Lenovo pisses its reputation away.
dear god what have they done to thinkpads?
A shame it's not fake. Does not look appealing at all.
I really didn't think it was possible for Lenovo to make its Thinkpad series more ugly. I can't believe it's still rockin' the blue enter key and the red accents on the trackpad and nubbin. Also, what on earth were they thinking with the white?
They make solidly performing products, but they are dedicated to ideology of ugliness.
Bleh. looks like a cross between an Ideapad and a thinkpad. That's bad in every way possible.
Lenovo, stop ruining thinkpads. Go back to making awesome ones, like the T400s.
What, like the SL series? (Which is basically a low-end IdeaPad with a TrackPoint...)
However, if it is yet another rebadged IdeaPad, it does have one major advantage - the TrackPoint. That alone is worth it to me.
Uh if its a new netbook or whatever why does it have XP? Maybe its just a prototype....
my S10 had XP on it.
I am assuming this is just a prototype, I can't really believe that lenovo would release a white thinkpad like that... that thing is hideous.
OMG.. what have they gone and done?!?!?!??!?!
it was so much better with its original look. One reason I liked the thinkpads cause they stayed true to their original design..
this really makes it look Gawdy!
Urk could it be any uglier.
You know white wouldnt look that bad..but dont half ass it. Keep the red accents and make the rest ALL white. Then it would be sexy.
Please drop the white!
They should tweak the design, but it better have the high quality, high durability that my current thinkpad has.
The ugly lip around the sides of my screen should go. The high quality feel, indicator lights, weep holes, etc should stay.
It looks like a Nintendo control pad. I would take the all black, dull, corporate looking laptop they have always had (which I have now). If anything it's their brand and they shouldn't step away from it. By NOT looking like everything else it helps them to remain an individual. Bad move Lenovo....bad move.
It's all about the keyboard... how dare they mess with the best laptop keyboard!
They already messed with the keyboards. The ones on the new models may *look* like old ThinkPad keyboards, but they changed suppliers several years ago. Those who say they still have the best keyboards are one of two things:
1. Lucky enough to get one of the few batches of NMB keyboards that Lenovo still sources occasionally
or
2. Using their first ThinkPad and have nothing to compare it to.
I've seen people even rave about the SL series keyboards, which I'm typing on right now and it's crap. It's got a woody, hollow feel, it's not even flat, and the keys are too big. My old IBM ThinkPad had a completely different feel to it.
I guess I haven't used any of the newer ones on the T-, X- and SL series... I did use a newer Idea Pad keyboard though. Your description seems to fit those too, I was not impressed. The new MacBook Pros have better keyboards than the Idea Pad (only slightly).
On the up-side, they are still way better than the Dell and Sony keyboards I have had to endure. I still use my 6 year old T-40 and love it.
@Jeff
To be fair, IBM changed the keyboard design before Lenovo came along. Just look at the keyboards from the T4x generation. Some of those are worse than the ALPS keyboard in my x200. The new MNB and Chiclet keyboards feel superb, similar to the keyboard on my 600x.
Why is it running XP?
by the looks of it, it's a netbook. Low end netbooks will probably still sell with Windows XP and Win7 is an option.
either thats a HUGE netbook, or some tiny seats.
haha. Tiny seats probaby :)
I'm guessing it's a 12 inch model. Not too out of the ordinary in the netbook world.
I might like the keyboard layout, all keys inline and only one top row of keys. I probably won't like it otherwise.
Trackpad on an ultraportable Thinkpad...white PLASTIC case...redesigned keyboard...
Either these changes work super well and people like them, or they have just ruined the Thinkpad design.
This should really be more of an SL-series, sort of a mini-SL netbook.
As long as it keeps the nipple they can design it however they want.
when spy shots of new cars emerge, the cars are always plastered with stuff to hide their curves and body shape... pretty sure the white is the same thing here. chill out guys.
I completely agree that the white is a casing. I wouldn't be surprised if this laptop is extremely thin and that's what's being hidden behind the white plastic.
Nope, its not a cover. Take a close where the white border connects with the touch pad buttons.
I think it's true, cause it would be really strange, a laptop without ANY ports at all at the right side.
Windows XP is starting to look like Windows 95 compared to Win 7.
All I want is a thinkpad t400 with all the bells and whistles it has now along with the look and feel, with a 4+ hour battery life and a battery that doesn't stick out. It should be that hard. I can't beleive that if I want more than 1.5 hours that I need a battery that sticks out. Ridiculous. I have to lay down...
Well, if true then first netbook (other than the Sony P-series) that has a trackpoint. That's a plus for those of us that like them.
Keyboard looks okay but like others the all black inside with the white outside looks stupid. All black please. Do a texture or something if you must, though that's not really what Thinkpads are supposed to look like. A matte rubbery black would be just fine.
Hopefully Lenovo realizes they are risking a lot here and have put quality components into this thing. Its okay if its a LITTLE more expensive than a typical netbook. Hard drive should have shock detection and roll cage (rubber gaskets). Or if there's an SSD it should be a good SSD. Multitouch trackpad. Solid construction. Etc.
Am I the only one that finds an unbelievable retro quality to it?
Is Lenovo TRYING to kill off the Thinkpad?
they're trying to expand the brand. Under IBM it was only the T, X, and R series. It used to be kind of a niche thing, only businesses liked them and consumers by and large ignored the Thinkpad brand. Under Lenovo, they want to make it more appealing to consumers. It's kind of a bummer, but it doesn't mean they will discontinue the good Thinkpads like the T and W.
The "if it broke, then don't fix it" attitude doesn't work in the tech world. I think it's time to depart from the old Thinkpad look and create a modernized version. This KIRF however, is not it.
Looks like a StinkPad™.
Lenovo already has a netbook line in the IdeaPad. It has very good build quality, but is missing the obvious ThinkPad features this lappy has. I'm guessing this is "more" than a netbook, despite the small size and white shell.
The e is also the old designation for the craptastic model of the R series lineup. Thinner plastics, no docking connector, no magnesium cage in the case of the R60e (the R60 and all T60 and T60p models had it,) etc., etc.
However, they were still heavily based on the R/T architecture, this clearly has nothing to do with the X series.
Which means this should really be an SL210 or something to fit in their real naming scheme, where SL is the IdeaPad-with-a-TrackPoint stuff.
That said, hardware-wise, this could be interesting. 12" tells me that it probably doesn't have an Atom under the hood, but is instead CULV. CULV chips blow Atom out of the water on performance, although a dual-core CULV plus GS45 chipset has over twice the power consumption of Atom+945GSE. And, of course, there's a TrackPoint.
Sure, an X200s with a Celeron or Pentium dual core would be more appealing, but it'd also be much more expensive. The C2D SU9400 is $262 in 1k quantities, the Celeron SU2300 (1 MiB cache instead of 3, 1.2 GHz instead of 1.4) is $134. That'd be the only difference, as the X200s already uses the GS45 - assuming no change in profit margin, an X200s with the chips swapped out would be $871 - and would now be even easier to compare to low-end CULV stuff that's selling for $399.
(There is the Pentium SU4100, which is 1.3 GHz and has 2 MiB cache, but no VT support, meaning it's worthless - and it's certainly more expensive, although Intel doesn't list a price for it. The Acer/Gateway laptops based on it are $150 more expensive than their SU2300-based counterparts, but they're also upgraded in other ways.)
^^^ So basically a cheaper, worse X-series. Bad idea. This kind of thing dilutes the Thinkpad brand. I'll find it hard to recommend a Thinkpad anymore without having to explain the whole situation out.
In fact that they call it "X(whatever)" right there dilutes even the X-series brand. I used to be able to tell anyone to go get an X-series, and now I can't say that anymore.
For their own sakes they better give this a different line name at least.
If this was any other laptop besides a ThinkPad, everyone would probably be saying something different about the design :P
Yeah, we'd be saying "that's a really ugly Macbook!" instead.
If thats the new side of Lenovo, this is my LAST think pad. I guess I'll have to find another manufactured with a docking system. (Thats decent)
This is a sad day for ThinkPads.
Damn that thing is ugly! They yanked that design right from the 2001 archive.
My Lenovo rep was just here today. I have all the info on models for 2010. Lets just say that you guys are on the right track.
Guys wit to buy your ThinkPad's etc. until after the 1st of the new year. There's lots of goddies coming.
Who's exactly in the right track? There's various different thoughts on this here in the thread. The only common point its that white is a bad idea.
I hope you're talking about the white case being a "disguised" case.
It looks straight out of 1995
Guys, this is the X100e. This model is intended to be the middleman batween the IdeaPad S10 (consumer model) and new X200. It's entry business/ultraportable model. Corporate OS support with the ThinkPad durable hardware.
This one comes about 33 years too late. The last red, white & blue piece of electronics i can remember was a Commodore Bicentennial calculator!
Finally, a netbook that has a non-sucky pointing device! I don't like the change in the PgUp/PgDn keys, but it still looks mostly usable. That white does look ugly though. Please let there be a traditional rubberized black option. If this is
Gah, the comment got cut off.. The end should say "If this is less than $500, it would be perfect."
Maybe it's deliberately uglified, like what they do to test cars to disguise them.
This is most likely an SL series judging from the keyboard. Before the Lenovo 3000 became the SL series, there used to be silver and white ones that looked exactly like in the photos.
It still could be KIRF.
There will be two models: x100e and x200e, the x100e having a slightly smaller screen (11.8). The devices will come in classical black, white and red. All will have a trackpoint plus touchpad. Information is from Lenovo out of a session we had today.
Please tell me this is an X-series class device. That means: Magnesium Alloy and Carbon fiber, weighs less than 2.4lbs and has marginal to amazing battery life depending on which battery you use.
That white color makes me think of Apple plastic, not Thinkpad Magnesium Alloy.
Please let this be a real X-series.
That thing is nasty. I mean vomit inducing.
It better come in black and what's that trackpad doing where my fingerprint reader should be?
Well, unfortunately it sounded more like a hybrid between the X-class and the IdeaPad. It wasn't clear whether that only applies to the X100E or to both models. They held their cards pretty close to the chest...
I don't see any ports on the side...seems like someone removed the details and replaced it with white (which is way more likely than going away from std thinkpad color)