Updated X201?

I am a senior in high school currently using an HP DM3z laptop.

Unfortunately for next year I don't think 4 hours of battery is going to cut it. And I am looking for a thin and light laptop with an extremely good keyboard, performance, and battery life. The X201 fits this bill.

I will probably buy sometime next summer, but I was just wondering when Lenovo typically updates the X201 lineup? Is it just whenever Intel updates their processors? Anything new/speculated that will come to the X201 lineup besides better processor?

Also, what price does the X201 come out as and how long does it take to lower the price?

 

More than likely will be the beginning of the year.
That's when Lenovo typically comes out with new Thinkpads.

 

Maybe they'll refresh the X201 with SandyBridge processors when these come out (supposedly end of 2010/beginning 2011), but I am expecting external refresh several months later, mid-2011 or so?

 

Yes, typically Lenovo refreshes its Thinkpads along with the Intel platform releases, so that would be early 2011. The X-series is due for an exterior refresh as there hasn't been significant change since the X200 - the X210 (second number change = major refresh; last number change = minor internal update with the latest components) may have a completely refreshed exterior, similar to the Tx00 to Tx10 transition.

In short, if you're waiting until next summer anyway and it's not urgent, be patient

It wouldn't make sense for Lenovo to shift around the current design to accomodate Sandy Bridge, and the redesign the X-series for the same chips. So either we're getting an exterior refresh along with the Sandy Bridge refresh beginning of 2011, or we're getting the exterior refresh long-overdue during the next Intel platform refresh.