New Lenovo T410i, 410si and T510si

New series with the 'i' and 'si' suffix reported - Engadget Link

Can't wait to see the actual specs and hear more about this!

Maybe this was why Tabook was reported to be down earlier?

Specs are in Tabook now!

 

Interesting, it seems there's a touchscreen available on the W510.

 

From a quick peek, looks like the 'i' models are i3 CPUs. Lower-end wifi options too I suppose.

 

all this excess number is confusing me...

whats up with the T410si/T510si? is that the thin version of the notebook with the budget processors? like the T400s of the T400?

all this different specs... i don't like the path where lenovo is going.

 

Yeah, it looks like the T410si is the budget version of the T410s and the T410i is the budget version of the T410.

If the processor is the only thing that has been downgraded, how much cheaper can these laptops possibly be?

 

An i3 processor costs ~$113 (desktop, no price listed for mobile), an i5m is ~$225, an i7m is ~$332.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/intel-core-presser-32nm-core-i3-core-i5-and-core-i7-cpus/

 

I wonder how this helps with the marketing of the systems. If the only difference is the cpu and potentially the wireless adapter, why even use the 'i' moniker? Presumably they changed the 'p' suffix to a 'w' prefix for clarity, but now it seems they are back to adding all the suffixes all over again. Not good.

 

Yeah I think companies can learn a lot from Apple's very very straight forward way of differentiating their laptop lines..

Take a quick looks at Asus' site for an example of how bad it can get.. death by a thousand model codes. A lot of people just don't have the patience to wade through all of that.

 

Don't really understand why they had to distinguish the Thinkpads from the existing T410, T410s, and T510 - why not just add budget-models that are equipped with the Core i3 CPUs?

 

Expectation management? Protecting margins on higher end machines?

In your scenario, over time people might start to associate the mainline Thinkpads (without any suffixes) with the "cheaper" price and add price pressures on the higher end systems. I know there is the Ideapad and the Y, the SL and their brethren - but this new i-series might be just hairsplitting the Thinkpad T series brand pipeline further for higher marketing resolution.

It might actually work out better for enthusiasts, because Lenovo might take the mainline products to a little higher level in the marketplace; while letting the unwashed masses clamor for the cheap "i" suffix laptops. Eventually, we might get to keep our 16:10's? Our nice keypads? Higher resolutions? Matte screens?

 

I think this just adds confusion as to whether there are other hidden differences other than the Core i3 processor (and the resulting less-powerful integrated GPU) - will it have the same great build quality, for instance? This distinction seems to add unnecessary complications.

And what does "i" stand for? Introductory?

 

Since the CPU is weaker, I wonder if the battery life will be significantly longer on these laptops.

 

Agreed, it's one thing to attach a "p" to the end such as the T60p during the days of yore, but to start using letters to delineate lower end models is a tad confusing, you should throw extra letters on high end models as it coulde make people feel a little more special buying it.

And as far as Apple using a consistent naming convention, I actually think they take it to the extreme and create confusion in the other direction, if you say you have an iPod or MacBook Pro you then have to tag on which generation it is. I have no idea what generation the iPod classic is on now, probably 50.

 

It's not so much how "powerful" a CPU that determines the power consumption as the power efficiency of the CPU itself. For example, a cheap Celeron processor would use more power than a more powerful Core 2 Duo Low Voltage chip.

I believe the i3 CPUs' power consumption is in line with the i5 CPUs rated at the same TDP? That is to say, the i3 is not missing any power-saving technologies present in the i5?

I agree completely. Even tacking random letters on to the end is better than Apple's one-name-fits-all scheme, in my opinion.

 

Yeh Asus is an absolute mess...

I think that the naming conventions are ok as is. But had there not been a T410s, it wouldn't have been as confusing.

T410x = high(er) end
T410i = low(er) end

Simple distinction

T410s, T410, T410i makes a big difference in my opinion.

 

The T410s should have been given another naming convention. e.g.

X410 or S410

That way, the budget version can be called X410i or S410i.

 

What about T410si3 for clarity? Or T410si3350M?

Just joking. They should just call it T410/T410s and make Core i3 a standard option.

 

I wonder if this foreshadows the end of the R series ThinkPads, which I think is a bad move on Lenovo's part. The T is the premium product and putting a cheaper parts in it lessens the cache of the T in my opinion. The R series has historically been the wallet friendly ThinkPad, but still well built.

 

Isn't the R series being replaced by the L series?

 

People usually just include when they bought it (e.g., late-2008 iMac) or relevant system specs. I've never had any problems with it myself, but I can see how it might be annoying if you're talking about the different models a lot. I think, in the past 5 years or so, Apple has been catering heavily to people who are thinking about buying a Mac, as opposed to people who already own them.

 

I don't know, but I've not been following too closely as I have no plans to upgrade in the near future.

 

according to the recently leaked roadmap, yes

 

L series now? why..... why don't they keep the R series name as it is rather than moving the R -> L...... confusing....

Life was so much simpler back then........... R, T, X.......

 

I doubt it was much cheaper to manufacturer a r400 vs a t400. Makes me think the L will be closer to the SL than T, if the L is a direct replacement. Which come to think of it, just further complicates things. SL, L, T, W, X? And with 's', 'e' and 'i' prefixes?

On top of that, even better is the numerical mess now... It's getting to the point it's almost laughable. There are three generations of series--x00, x10 and x01--L4 00, W5 10, X3 01. What could their rationale possibly be?

Nomenclature: SL/L/T/W/X + 1/2/3/4/5/7 + 00/01/10 + s/e/i/t = pretty complicated.
And don't forget the EDGE which just doesn't follow any of that...because it has a silver strip on the outside.