New ThinkPads Coming Soon

The folks over at Gizmodo managed to get their hands on some interesting news about the upcoming ThinkPad lineup from Lenovo. What does Lenovo have planned for the future? How about DDR3, Blu-ray, and WiMAX ... and those are just for starters! Let's take a look.

The most interesting news is that the popular X300 will get three new siblings: the 12-inch X200, the 14.1-inch X400 and the 15.4-inch X500 (all featuring 45nm Penryn processors). Now road warriors can buy an ultra-thin laptop with any display size they prefer. The X-series will also feature HSDPA and EVDO, 25% improved battery life, and 6MB L2 cache. That's enough to make even non-ThinkPad fanboys jealous.

If the new additions to the X-series aren't enough to get you excited, Gizmodo also leaked news about the rest of the new ThinkPad lineup:

R400 and R500

Just as it is today, the R-series will continue to serve as the entry level ThinkPads. The R400 (5.1lbs) and R500 (6.4lbs) are expected to be announced in July 2008.

T400 and T500

The mid-range ThinkPads feature 256MB or 512MB ATI HD3650 dedicated graphics that can be turned off to conserve battery life. Gizmodo wasn't able to leak the sizes, but the T400 will weight 4.3lbs and the T500 is expected to weigh 5.8lbs. Shipping starts June 3rd, 2008.

W-series

The all-new W-series is designed for "workstation replacement." Imagine a slightly less bulky workstation laptop that features the same dedicated graphics and the current T-series. The 15-inch W900 and a so far unnamed 17-inch version is in the works for the future.

Gizmodo is also reporting that "many or all" of the new ThinkPads will be offered with the following features:

• 6MB of L2 cache
• Turbo Memory option (up to 2GB)
• Blu-ray drive option
• Two PCI Express Slots
• 1.6GHz DDR3 RAM
• LED Backlighting (excludes R Series)
• HSDPA and EVDO
• 9-cell batteries (same form factor as former 6-cell, 25% more life)
• GPS, WiMAX, and wireless USB are scattered through models
• The x300's solid state hard drive option (excludes W)

Production is rumored to begin in May which means a late Summer and early Fall release is probably in the works. Perfect timing for serious college students or for IT departments who are preparing budgets for next year's equipment purchases.

See the full article over at Gizmodo