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Lenovo intros well-connected 0.83-inch thick ThinkPad T400s
Thinner than some netbooks and more potent than four or five of them combined, Lenovo's ThinkPad T400s aims to hit some sort of sweet spot in between weak ultraportables and battery-draining 15-inchers. The 14.1-inch lappie measures in at a remarkable 0.83-inches thin and boasts a starting weight of under four pounds. Within, you'll find Lenovo's heralded roll cage technology, a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor, your choice of a 128GB SSD or 250GB HDD, a 9.5mm slim DVD burner or Blu-ray player, a multitouch trackpad, Ethernet, WiFi, optional WiMAX / WWAN / Bluetooth / ultra-wideband, a 34mm ExpressCard slot (or 5-in-1 card reader), a battery good for six hours and VGA / DisplayPort outputs. There's also support for the company's ConstantConnect and Protect technology as well as a built-in USB / eSATA port. In a surprising move, Lenovo decided to actually tweak the keyboard that has become a staple of the ThinkPad line; it increased the size of the Delete and Escape keys and tightened up the spaces between the keys to "help avoid crumbs that would otherwise fall below the keyboard." You can check the full release just past the break, and you can call one your own starting today for $1,599 and up.
Lenovo and RIM's Constant Connect now available
We know you've been literally hanging on the edge of your seat waiting for this day to come, so it's our honor and privilege to announce that Lenovo and RIM's Constant Connect solution is now available. For those who managed to sleep right through February, the technology enables select ThinkPads to automatically pull down BlackBerry emails whenever it's within range, even if the laptop is completely off. There's no word on what it'll cost to have this added into your next corporate machine, but you can head past the break for a quick demonstration vid if you think you're interested.Update: It's a $149 option from select business partners and through Lenovo.com.
Lenovo Constant Connect brings BlackBerry email to ThinkPads automatically
After two years in development, Lenovo Constant Connect is finally here. A groundbreaking new tie-up between Lenovo and RIM has led to the creation of a $150 54mm ExpressCard -- which slots into any ThinkPad from around Summer '08 onward -- and automatically pulls down any email sent to your BlackBerry via Bluetooth, even if the laptop is completely powered down. The idea here is to always have your most recent inbox available within eight seconds of opening your machine, and thanks to the card's dedicated Bluetooth radio and 500MB of inbuilt storage, it can pull down and send out emails so long as the card and your 'Berry are within 30 feet or so from one another. Aside from needing an ExpressCard slot, you'll also need a handset with OS 4.2 or higher. It's designed to work with Exchange, Outlook, POP and Gmail, with Lotus Notes support coming in 2H 2009; as for availability, the card will be available through Lenovo and its partners in early Q2 here in America, while those elsewhere in the world will have to wait until the latter half of the year. Full release and demo video is after the break.
