Lenovo’s sleek new ThinkPad Edge Series laptops revealed
Posted on 12. Jan, 2012 by LaptopMan in Laptops, Laptops
Coming into 2012 Lenovo is doing exactly what they did last year, redesigning their ThinkPad Edge business laptops. For this year the ThinkPad Edge line-up is getting a more business beautiful than the previous years model. However for pricing Lenovo has kept the 2012 ThinkPad Edge notebooks well within reach for any business, big or small. The cheapest ThinkPad Edge rings in at $499 before tax and shipping.
The 2012 line of ThinkPad Edge notebooks includes an entry-level B and E series, and a more premium S series. The B series includes two 14- and two 15-inch models, the E series includes pairs of 13-, 14- and 15-inch models, and the S series includes only one model which has a 14-inch screen.
Here are the starting prices for the new ThinkPad Edge notebooks:
$499 Lenovo B480/485, B580/585 Series laptops (available only in select markets)
$549 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E130/135, E330/335 (available only in select markets)
$649 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430/435, E530/535 (available April 2012)
$749 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge S430 (available June 2012)
The features for these machines have been fully detailed by Lenovo and according to their descriptions each model will offer good value for the money.
The basic Lenovo ThinkPad Edge B Series notebooks
First up is the entire B series of ThinkPad Edge notebooks according to Lenovo the B series is designed for essential computing. The laptops will feature a mix of Intel’s latest Core processors (on the B480 and B580 laptops) and AMD’s latest Fusion APUs (on the B485 and B585 laptops). On their individual chassis’ you will be able to find integrated webcams, powered USB for charging external devices, USB 3.0, HDMI and a 4-in-1 memory card reader. For storage you’re going to be getting the option for up to 1TB of hard drive space, but all of the storage options are limited to spinning hard disk drives.
The big family of Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E Series notebooks
The Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E series is going to be stocked with a total of eight different models before the year is out. Lenovo fashions their entire ThinkPad Edge E Series notebooks as being designed for performance, and in reality the entire range will offer some serious performance boasts over the cheaper B series notebooks.
What kind of performance you get out of a ThinkPad Edge E series notebook will depend on whether you pick-up an AMD Fusion APU or Intel Core powered model. With AMD you will get a solid multi-core central processor and a good discrete-class AMD Radeon HD integrated graphics solution, and with Intel you’ll receive a solid multi-core central processor with decent integrated graphics that aren’t quite as capable as AMD’s solution. However to even the score Lenovo plans to offer discrete graphics options for the E series notebooks.
The AMD only models include ThinkPad Edge E135 and E335 and the Intel only models include the ThinkPad Edge E130 and E330, the other models offer both AMD and Intel processing options for buyers.
However some general features that each E series notebook will ship with include USB 3.0, powered USB 2.0 for charging external devices, integrated webcam, up to 1 TB of hard disk drive storage with the option for fast SSD (solid state drive) storage, optional lid colors (Black, Red or Blue for select models), chiclet keyboards, multi-gesture touchpad’s and TrackPoint.
The lone Lenovo ThinkPad S430 premium ultra-portable
Lenovo is aiming the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge B and E series notebooks for regular business folks, but the premium S430 is designed for a select few. The starting price for the 14-inch should already let you know you’re getting a different experience than you do with the much cheaper E and B series notebooks. After analyzing all the S430′s main features you realize the S430 is close to being a Ultrabook computer –a new burgeoning class of premium ultra-portable laptop computers–.
Design wise the premium ThinkPad Edge S430 features a body that incorporates metal accents and a soft-touch finish. The overall size of the S430 is also quite thin and light, the S430 itself measures 0.8-inches thick. With the S430 Lenovo was tasked with designing a notebook that offered as much performance to the S430 as they could while still trying to keep the overall size of the notebook down to a level that encourages portable use.
Inside the S430 you can find the latest Intel Core processor, Intel’s Thunderbolt I/O port which Apple has included with their premium computers since last year, optional NVIDIA discrete graphics with Optimus, up to 1TB of hard disk storage or fast SSD storage, a memory card slot, powered USB for charging external devices, USB 3.0, HDMI, Dolby Home Theatre v4 and stereo speakers, a chiclet keyboard, a multi-gesture touchpad and TrackPoint, and there is an optical drive that supports burning and playback for CDs and DVDs.
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