Leak: ThinkPad "9" Slim Concept - world thinnest Ultrabook

Recently, there was a leak of a new ThinkPad via the chinese webiste yesky.com - the new model does not have a name yet, but they call it "ThinkPad 9 Slim". It is not clear wether it is just a concept or will really come to the market - from the pictures, it looks pretty final. It could be the sucessor to the X1 Carbon.

The known specs:
- 13.3" 3200x1800 IPS Multitouch Display
- 9.74mm thin and 990g light
- 5-button clickpad
- Bottom and lid mage out of high-strength CFRP, base with an integrated Magnesium Sturture Frame

Original article: Google Übersetzer

Pictures:

 

Woohoo, the digital caliper! I wonder if it's going to be included in the package.

Otherwise looks like Lenovo's answer to VAIO Pro 13, which has about the same specs but slightly heavier. 2.1 pounds for 13.3" screen is very impressive indeed.

 

Look at the first photo. Why is the stupid logo not flipped?

13.3" 3200x1800 IPS touch? All of a sudden, "corporate buyers" unanimously demand hi-res hi-touch hi-quality screens! Did they get in a room and smoke something? (So far, most excuses/explanations have centered around "corporate buyers' decisions." Yeah right.)

No, napkins will be included. Users need to wipe their fingers (after using their fingers for all sorts of "convenient" acts) before touching the screen. Heck, why do I have to reach up to close a stupid window?

 

No, of course not. Note that this isn´t a mainstream model that businesses will aquire in masses. It will be a niche model (when it comes to market), to show whats possible and how far they can go in terms of weight and thinnes. Of course, a good screen can´t miss in such a model.

Mainstream models still will top at 2880x1620, and thats only with 15.6". All other models are still stuck with FHD maximum and still provide HD+ and even HD screen options.

 

I'm really into the light weight, but at this thickness I worry that things start getting fragile... either way screw the x240s; I want this now!

 

Whatever... You have the sources for all your definite claims?

Being a Lenovo-know-it-all, tell me why that stupid logo on the lid is not flipped. Serious business decision? Outcome of intensive market research?

 

I'm still disappointed that the screen dropped in size

 

They're just slapping that Thinkpad name onto everything they can come up with. I guess now it's all about who can come up with the most (fill in the blank). It's a race to thinness, lightness and "innovativeness". Though I have doubts about that last part and whether it's helping anyone or not.

 

As long as it is durable and high quality then it's good. But I am worried about the key travel of keybaord and whether it is too thin. The Sony Pro is too fragile.

 

I feel that these thin designs make them alot more fragile.

Basic physics tells me that to reduce an impact, the force must either be distributed or cushioned. These strong thin design look like they'll send the force right to the internals

 

ehhh, i'd prefer the x1 screen size and even case size. all i care about are screen quality, ports, and expandability.

this thing wont have many ports or expandability.

 

Then why not get a T440s?

 

yes i do think the same thing about that logo!!!!!!!!!11

 

I think you need to calm down with all your hate, it's just a laptop that's being discussed here.

I can't see what's wrong with the logo, and I probably have MANY more Thinkpads than you, take a chill pill?

 

I'm not really interested into those laptops, but if i could put one of these displays into my current ones that would be nice.

 

Great screen, but god this is ugly.

@Kaso, take a chill pill. Don't get jealous of IBMThink and his knowledge of ThinkPad.

 

This is getting psychologically heavy. MANY more? Jealous?

 

For those who are too dense to understand what I meant by "ThinkPad logo not flipped": Recently, Lenovo decided to make 26 visual changes to the ThinkPad line, including a flipped ThinkPad logo on the lid (so that it reads right-way-up when the lid is open).

 

@Kaso, if you look at the picture that IBMThink provided, you would notice the device is only a mockup. It is not even a real prototype that works. So don't get your panties in a bunch. Lenovo probably won't announce this till CES, so there is still few months away.

 

Perhaps the Winstron guy, who was busy gluing this prototype from black cardboard and chewing gum, didn't get the memo.

But I have no doubts than in production version the logo will be correctly positioned. They may forget to include CPU, but the logo will be upside down (at least until it peels off).

 

Key travel? That's such a 2005 concern...

That's why the *multitouch* screen is there...type on it, just like on an iPad...

 

Someone knows how to play along.

OK, I'm "chilled" now. Next?

 

See, T440p was too thick and now this Thinkpad is too thin. Haha, you guys are funny - thankfully Lenovo made a whole bunch of different types of Thinkpads for people to complain about. The variety of life!

 

Marketing is everything

I'm personally more concerned by the length of the power bar extension cord, as unlike the 10-30 mm laptop thickness variability, at least there are practical situations when the cord length does matter. Can't wait till the day when all notebook announcements will, on the picture right after the general look of the device, present the powerbar, its cable, and a tape meter. And following discussions that while 6 feet length is not bad for the last year models, innovative shortening of the cable to 2 feet and using lower gauge wire achieved unthinkable, and so critical for many, economy of 50g and 20 cubical centimeters! And it's even shorter than Apple's 4.5 feet long cable! More than two times shorter, in fact! Couple that with 1220 ppi screen, 220 ppi more than last year!, and it's a winner by all accounts.

Oh, yeah, batteries are sold separately. But who cares

 

Let me guess..... maximum of 4GB RAM (soldered, naturally) and a ULV Core 2 Duo processor?

(.....and a really horrible keyboard due to the thin-ness)

Considering Lenovo couldn't even get 16GB RAM in the x240 (and they managed to in the x220 and x230) I think they should concentrate on the non-s x-series first!

 

People who buy this machine are less likely to require 16GB of RAM, it's probably limited to 8GB like the Helix. They normally manage people who do need 16GB of RAM (coders, CADers, etc).

 

My point was that they shouldn't be designing pointless rubbish when they haven't even improved- actually- they have taken two steps backwards on one of their most popular ranges.....

 

I would not call the lightest (and thinnest) 13" Notebook yet "pointless rubbish".

I don´t get it why some people think that additional choices are bad. Whats bad about a new thin-and-light premium ThinkPad? Nobody has to buy one of these if he does not want to.

 

And I wouldn't call it a notebook since we have yet to see an actual working example...

"Additional choices" is exactly how the widescreen format was advertised at its launch, then we got the "original" choices taken away. We may very well end up in a predicament - and this applies to most manufacturers, not just Lenovo - where we'll have no choice but to buy one of these mutants if we need a laptop three years from now...

 

Thats right. And because of that, complaining about things that are not on the market or maybe not even planed to come to the market is the real "pointless" thing.

Quite a different example. Widescreen came because Lenovo had no choice at the end and most people and customers had no problems with widescreen at all. This may have been different if the customers really continued to demand 4:3 displays....but it turned out that most people could work with widescreen as well.

Maybe in some years we won´t have a different choice than thin-and-light models like the T440s, other than on the W-Series. But it clear that not all Notebooks in future will be 9mm thin and 990gr heavie. Thats an extreme model, one of the models Lenovo would call one of their "aspirational" models if it will come to the market. But not "mainstream".

 

No. It turned out that *when given absolutely no other choice* by any manufacturer - Panasonic being the only exemption - the users in need of a laptop had to start purchasing widescreen units.

We'll see...I'm not optimistic given the current trends, and I'm not talking just about Lenovo here...

 

Well, but some time, 4:3 models and widescreen models were sold side by side (2005 - 2007 / 2008). So, if the customers really wanted 4:3, they had their chance back then...but apparently, most companies/people who bought Notebooks at that time didn´t care much.

Yes, even the workstation segment is already moving to thin-and-light Ultrabook formfactors (see ZBook 14 and Precision M3800) - in some years, the really thick models like W540, M4800 or ZBook 15 might not be available anymore. But thats still some years away I think (maybe 2015 with the Skylake architecture will be a important point). But I don´t think that they will move everything to the extreme thin-and-light form-factor (like the ThinkPad 9 prototype obviously is).

But I agree, we will see...

 

From what I observed in another forum, many young people are actually interested in this super thin notebook.

But I believe this is just a research prototype.

 

Young people normally can't afford high end laptops but ThinkPads are more like budget laptops now.

 

Panasonic FTW!!!

 

I'd beg to differ.

The entire 4:3 concept was liquidated without much questioning like it was a member of the Tsar's immediate family captured by the Bolsheviks...

That's why so many people are hanging onto their 4:3 T61/p units and refuse to give them up...

That's why my good friend RealBlackStuff and myself have built hundreds of FrankenPads based on 4:3 15" T60 series over the past couple of years...and sold many of them at prices that people could order a current W series ThinkPad for...

No one was given a choice, ever. The manufacturers just killed the 4:3 format because 16:10 screens were cheaper to source, end of story.

 

Like ajkula66 stated, manufacturers like Lenovo had to switch to widescreen not only because they wanted to spend less money, but because 4:3 screens simply weren't in production anymore. It's hard to buy shiploads of something that doesn't even exist anymore. The 4:3 screens currently in production (like Toughbook) are special orders and cost a fortune. Just look at the X300 screen. (also a special order) It costs several hundred dollars to buy, (500$ if IIRC) and it ain't even 4:3, it's 16:10. A bad TN as well. For a good 4:3 screen, you'd probably have to pay the price of what the entire notebook is worth.

They should've at least kept 16:10.

 

Apple is still using 16:10.

Apple gets a +1 for that

 

If you were part of that era back then that it is pretty obvious that both ibmthink and ajkula66 are correct.

Consumers liked the whole widescreen thing - it was something hip and cool back then. You could watch movies, play games in widescreen format and use it as a normal laptop. 4:3 screen were old tech (ie boring).

Manufacturers liked it as it was cheaper to manufacturer (it was even cheaper to move to 16:9).

But hey, its funny to see ibmthink and ajkula66 argue on stuff - haha. Both diehard thinkpad fans.

 

That's what all of them want us to believe.Manufacturers would have accepted the orders, like they did for iPad screens and LED IPS panels that I use in my FrankenPads...but everyone decided to go the cheap route...

 

Actually many young people are more willing to spend big bucks on notebooks. Some thinkpads are cheap, but some (X1 C, helix, W series, the 9 slim if it ever comes to production) are very expensive

 

Those Hydis LED 4:3 Displays were produced back in 2008 if I remember correctly. The IPad is not the only 4:3 tablet out there. At 10" it isn't as expensive to produce either.

Lenovo claims to have wanted to keep 4:3, but that would've meant opening a whole new department for displays. Not only would they have to build them but also research and develop their own displays. Too expensive according Lenovo. It's not like they had any experience whatsoever with displays to begin with anyway.

 

No. 2011. All of them.

 

Are you sure? I was told the last LED Hydis Panels left the factory in 2008.

 

I most certainly am. Ask T42 on German forum, he got a couple from RBS.

 

Not that Lenovo has all that much of experience with laptops or tablets, at the end it's still ODMs doing the work, be it Wistron or Compal or whoever. Yet somehow Thinkpads have custom motherboards, custom cases, custom keyboards (and now actually different keyboards in different sizes etc). They could have done it, as they could have sourced better screens, and being in the top 5 laptop vendors they have a lot of leverage to force things their way. Just chose not to.

 

I know t42 personally, he got his Hydis from Dilbert who claims production ended 2008. But if you say so ok, you're the retired flexview farmer, not me.

IBM also had IDTech for their old Flexview screens. Most people who worked for IBM on ThinkPads stayed with lenovo, but I'm guessing none of them had experience with screens. Like I said, Lenovo didn't want to open a department for displays in order to save $$$, so it doesn't really matter in the end.

 

I don't know what he got from Dilbert aka beeblebrox, but he did get some from RBS:

T6x LED-Screenmod T60/T60p (R60/R60e or R61) aus den USA

BTW, the T43p linked in T42's opening post is the machine I'm typing on right now...

I just wish I were pulling a proper pension for all that farming...

ID Tech was a part of DBU (Display Business Unit) back in the days when IBM was doing *everything* in-house. Unfortunately, they've gone bankrupt on their own and are now owned (or a part of) Chi Mei...

Lenovo most certainly did have the leverage to order whatever they wanted, they were big enough back then and are even bigger now, but chose to take the cheap route.

With that said, I'm really happy that *proper* LCDs seem to be returning to ThinkPad range. Too bad we had to lose the keyboard and trackpoint in the process. Oh well...

 

Lenovo has to copy Apple so all the fashionable people want to buy their laptops.

Apple uses IPS (or PLS) panels in their main lines so Lenovo wants to do the same now.

Apple makes thin laptops with disappointing specs and Lenovo wants to do the same.

Apple solders on SSD , memory , etc and Lenovo wants to do the same.

Apple uses inferior keyboards and Lenovo copied that style as well.

With that being said , Apple is the no.1 top brand now.

Go Apple!

Shame on Lenovo.

I expected Lenovo to outdo Apple since they had the Legendary ThinkPad line.
Legendary ThinkPads don't exist anymore....

The trackpoint and keyboard are part of a real ThinkPad...
It's sad to see those go

 

there is a bigger trend than all of these, that is the computers are becoming more mobile. Right now they are not mobile yet, just portable. But still the trend is there and it will continue.

One key feature of moibility is the lightness. There are only basically two ways to make it lighter, one is smaller (like X220), the other is thinner (like the X301). But 12.5" is the limit of how small a productive computer can be. So all makers are trying to make notebooks as thin as possible.