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ThinkPad T410 has its innards exposed for the sake of a component upgrade guide
What's better than a ThinkPad? Why, a torn down ThinkPad, of course. Some enterprising souls over at ThinkPads.com have put together a memory and hard drive upgrade guide, which includes a number of illustrative shots displaying the exposed hardware. It turns out that the T410 is the first (outside of the T400s and older T4x models) T-series laptop to offer easy access to memory upgrades via the back of the machine. We're told that since the T60 came out, all RAM replacements have had to be performed by removing the keyboard to access the slots. That's still the case for one of the sticks, but at least the other one is accessible via the back, and there's also great praise heaped on Lenovo for their "perfect" slide-out hard drive tray, which apparently makes upgrading a cinch. Hit the source for more, including the SIM card and WWAN module locations. [Thanks, TS]
Lenovo names T410i, T410si, and T510i ThinkPads in honor of Core i3-330M inside
Hey everybody, new ThinkPads! Lenovo seems hellbent on crushing its reputation for pricey hardware -- while presumably maintaining the related renown for rugged reliability -- and today it's snuck out a set of new i-appended variants of its flagship T series laptops. The T410i, T410si and T510i come equipped with the budget-friendly Core i3-330M CPU from Intel, which runs at 2.13GHz, alongside otherwise typical specs. Memory goes from 2GB to 8GB of DDR3, two megapixel webcams come as standard, and fingerprint sensors can be tacked on as well. Even more friendly to businesses on a shoestring is the option for Windows XP pre-installations on the T410i and T510i. Prices are not yet available, but the whole trio should be coming out by the end of this month, so not long to wait now. [Thanks, Peter]
Lenovo's ThinkPad doyen Arimasa Naitoh speaks about life, liberty and the T400s
First thing's first: the video beyond the break is certainly not up to our usually stellar standards. That said, the voice recording is clear enough, so you may consider it an audio presentation with the bonus of a shadowy figure making occasional hand gestures in time with what's being said (lighting also improves as you go along). Arimasa Naitoh is the man behind the ThinkPad line, having joined the product engineering team at IBM during the 1970s and shifting with the ThinkPad brand on to Lenovo in 2005. Currently the VP for Notebook Development and the head of the Yamato Development Labs, Naitoh-san was kind enough to do a presentation in London yesterday, in which he touched on the history of the fabled laptop line and was also not shy about trumpeting the key advantages of the latest T400s flagship model. So click past the break, turn your speakers up, and get educated by one of the true founding fathers of mobile computing as we know it today.
Lenovo goes crazy, lets you switch Fn and Ctrl keys in BIOS
Some people, including certain Engadget editors, just can't live without a Ctrl key in the bottom left of their keyboard and a Delete key in the top right. Call it Windows shortcut addiction, but the miniscule adjustment of having to step one key inwards to do our thing totally messes with our mojo. Well, after slapping on some massive Delete and Esc buttons on its T400s, Lenovo is now taking care of the Ctrl freaks by offering up a BIOS option to switch that all-important key with the Fn button. Regrettably, current Lenovo owners won't be getting it as an update, but the Switch Mode will be available "in all future ThinkPad models," giving us yet more reason to be excited about that rumored X200e machine.
Lenovo intros SL410 and SL510 ThinkPads overseas
Do you love Lenovo laptops, but at a distance? We thought so. That's why we're happy to report that a variation of the company's SL400 and SL500 laptops have been announced for non-US markets. The devices, creatively dubbed the SL410 and SL510, will be offered with a choice of a Core 2 Duo T5870, T6670, P7570 or Celeron 900, T3000, or T3100 CPUs, a 16:9, 14- or 15.6-inch LED display, GMA 4500MH, 4500MHD or AMD M92-S2 XT GPUs, a range of hard drives up to 500GB, 1GB to 4GB of RAM, and both contain multitouch trackpads. The laptops are said to be retailing starting at 5600 Yuan (or around $820) for the SL410 -- we haven't heard a price on the SL510 yet. No word on when these models will be headed stateside, but we're certainly going to do our best to find out.[Via Cloned In China]
