Lenovo ThinkPad X200s and X200 Tablet PC Unveiled

Lenovo tonight unveiled two new additions to the ThinkPad family in the form of the X200s and X200 Tablet. The X200s is a slimmer and lighter version of the X200 while the X200 Tablet of course adds the functionality of a screen that can rotate into Tablet PC mode and then used like a notepad to write notes on with the included digitizer pen.

Lenovo ThinkPad X200s

We had the opportunity for some hands on time with both of these ThinkPads. The X200s is the lightest ThinkPad ever, weighing in at 2.47 pounds with the 4-cell battery installed. The X200s literally looks more than it weighs, you have to hold it to believe it, because your mind expects it to weigh a certain amount and then once you pick it up that's not what you get.

The X200s uses the same LED backlit display and carbon fibre/glass fibre lid technology found in the X300 to keep weight down. To manage heat issues in the slimmer frame Lenovo is of course incorporating the latest Intel Montevina Low Voltage Processors. The Intel SL9400 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo, SL9300 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo and SU9300 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo are all options.

Display options include either a LED or CCFL backlit display. The LED flavor will be WXGA+ while the CCFL will be WXGA.

SSD and standard hard drives will both be options for storage needs, with up to a 200GB 7200RPM standard hard drive or 128GB SSD.

There will be three types of batteries available, a 4-cell, 6-cell and 9-cell type. Lenovo is quoting the following amounts of battery life on each when being used under Vista:

• 12.5 hours with 9-cell
• 4.2 hours with 4-cell
• 8.3 hours with 6-cell

Those numbers seem a little optimistic, so we hope to be able to test them in an upcoming review. It would certainly be some of the best single battery life numbers ever on a ThinkPad if they hold true.

Right side view

Left side view

X200 Tablet PC

The X200 Tablet PC, as evidenced by this picture below, has now evolved and can rotate in both clockwise and counter-clockwise direction to switch into Tablet PC mode.

The X200 Tablet will come with two screen options of either Touch or non-Touch enabled. Touch meaning you can simply use a finger press on the screen to perform actions. Both an LED and CCFL type panel will be supported, though the touch enabled screen is only available with the LED option. The three screen offerings are:

• 12.1" WXGA CCFL display with digitizer pen
• 12.1" WXGA LED display with MultiView digitizer pen and touch input
• 12.1" WXGA LED SuperBright display with digitizer pen input

Lenovo also saw fit to make sure that the screen has low reflectivity and 285-nits of brightness so outdoor viewing is possible. Another improvement to the screen includes better pressure sensitivity "intelligence" so for example with the Touch Screen display, when using the pen if your hand brushes the screen it will only react to the pen and not your hand. Lenovo has also increased the pen detection height to 12mm from 7mm.

The X200 Tablet will be offered with either a 4-cell or 8-cell battery. With the 4-cell battery the weight of the machine will come to 3.50 lbs while the 8-cell will cost you 3.88lbs. Lenovo is quoting up to 10.3 hours of battery life on the 8-cell battery.

The processor and storage options are the same as that of the X200s (see above).

A final improvement to mention are that the speakers on the ThinkPad X200 Tablet are stereo instead of mono, though still located on the bottom front side.

For a run down of the ports on the X200 Tablet, just see the illustration below!

For a full first thoughts look of the X200 Tablet PC mosey on over to TabletPCReview.com.

Both the X200s and X200 Tablet will be available to order and shipping around October 10th. Final pricing is not yet determined.

A final piece of good news for docking station junkies, the X200 UltraBase will be available and fit all three X200 systems: X200, X200s and X200 Tablet. See below for an illustration of everything that brings to the table:

 

Nice, but I can't believe they havn't put a DVI or HDMI-port on these, why...?

 

X200s has a WXGA+ option???

 

That's what the dock is for. Pay extra money for extra connectivity. HDMI output isn't generally for "business" notebooks.

 

But the dock hasn't those either, only DisplayPort, and AFAIK you can't plug a DVI/HDMI cable in that, or?

 

I do a lot of presentations for work so if it had dvi/hdmi instead of a regular vga port that would be a deal-breaker for me. My guess is that a lot of business users are in the same situation.

 

Yes you can with adapter.

 

So which display option is the flush-to-the-edges display shown as one of the two tablet models?

 

Will there be PCMCIA option for X200s ? I'm also asking for confirmation of the WXGA+ resolution.

 

... and for information whether 6-cell battery sticks out or not.

 

According to this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3931996&postcount=8

it seems the WXGA+ is confirmed.

 

May just be the left side of the screen as it is not centered and the left side is closer to the side.

 

According to this poster, the 6 doesn't stick out.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3933428&postcount=27

But I hope we get a review/preview soon.

 

is it just me, or is the steel hinge black?

 

Thanks. Unfortunately the lack of PCMCIA slot option is a deal-breaker for me

 

That would indeed be sweet. Plus you can get it with a regular hard drive. Andrew, can you confirm the screen or have any pricing information? Any chance you could send it to me after you're done with the review. I mean just for a small stay.

 

To be honest it makes no sense to do that. This strictly a business minded notebook tablet. DVI and HDMI have nothing to do with business, those are media friendly ports. Those ports belong on media and consumer line notebooks and gaming etc... I hope that clears it up.

 

Yeah, but the d-sub data is still passed through DVI-A, just get an adaptor. Don't give me this "business" crap, people pressured the thinkpad line to switch to widescreen, if that isn't media then i don't know what is.

 

not everyone has or wants to buy an adapter.

people didn't pressure thinkpads to go to widescreen, the general population did. lcd companies saw the higher demand of wide screen, so it become too expensive to keep producing standard ratio screens. plus, i read somewhere that wide screen has less waste when it is cut.

 

Great review and nice pictures

 

October 10th - nice. Enough time to test the Dell E4300 and return it if the pricing on the X200s is more.

 

No PCMCIA options, confirmed WXGA+ with the LED screen. I have the product specs sheet from Lenovo open right now.

 

Correct, the battery does not stick out for the 6-cell, just the 9-cell. See attached.

 

when you say no PCMCIA you mean no express card slot?

 

Both are different ports, Expresscard is the successor to PCMCIA. I have seen adaptors for PCMCIA to Expresscard for those that need to use those cards but I think they won't work in the smaller 34mm Expresscard slots since PCMCIA slots are the same width as 54mm Expresscard ones.

 

Thanks. It will be a joy to work with...
Btw: "Prices should start at $2325 when these start going out in October, less for the X200s" - from Engadget

 

Could get one of those 14" UXGA screen upgrade kits and stick it in a 14" standard T61. It'd be about the same PPI as WSXGA+.

I hope significantly less. Sure the screen costs a little more as does the LV CPU, but I don't know that it's worth 2x as much as the regular X200. It'd be even better if they offered it as an upgrade on the regular X200 as well.

 

Yeah, that's sad.

With the X61 you could get the tablet with 1400x1050 while only 1024x768 was available for the X61(s)

Now you only have the higher resolution option on the non-tablet flavor.

And 1440x900 is still'a lot less usefull then 1400x1050

Buy yeah, because the average consumer is stupid we are stuck with widescreen now.

Why making a widescreen notebook that is wider and just as deep with the sticking-out battery instead a 4:3 notebook with flush battery and more screen in a laptop with the same footprint.

Footprint:
T60 15" 4:3 : 13" x 10.6" x 1.2-1.4"
T61 14" Wide: 13.2" x 9.3" x 1.09 - 1.26" Add the 6 cell (+ 0.94") and you get 13.2" x 10.26" x 1.09 - 1.26"
T61 14" 4:3 : 12.3" x 10.0" x 1.2-1.4"

So the 14" wide with 6 cell is .2" wider and 0.34" less deep then the T60 15" 4:3, not a big difference at all, but the screensize differs a lot!

@ZaZ: are they sold as kits (including all needed parts?)? But still, a T400 would be nicer and the T400 is only available in lowscreen (what widescreen should be called). And a T61 is a different class in size and weight then a X200

 

I read on lenovoblogs that it was the other way around - lcd companies realized that they waste less when they cut widescreen panels so they switched to producing only widescreen displays and whole industry was forced to go widescreen...

I for one don't mind widescreen, I never did. I got used to it quickly and really like it. I work with both types of screen and am ok with 4:3 too but would go widescreen given the option.

 

Right, but now it's " too late, too late". Besides I'm wicked by widescreens :wink:

Well, a kind of bold statement, dude...

PS
If the only reason for widescreens had been the economic one, all manufactures would had initially offered 4:3 factor, I suppose.

 

It's strange that the metal hinges are painted black here. The sample I played with two days ago had no paint on the hinges. In my opinion the hinges look much better without paint.

That's something I really dislike when looking at the X300/X301.

 

That's true but, the X200s will only be $100 dollars less than the tablet .
Cnet
Hopefully these new portable business laptop prices don't become a trend.

 

The 6 cell may not stick out to the back, at least it will stick out to the bottom. As far as I know.

 

Thank you. This is what I actually deduced from the figure in the Andrew's post (these different colors seemed to be a hint :wink . For me - this form of "sticking out" is much more acceptable.

But the price... I wonder how much will Lenovo charge for them in EU...

 

I saw Andrew's picture but it was not very clear to me. I thought I'd mention it anyway.

 

Hey, which screen does the x200s review model have? The LED WXGA+ or the CCFL?

 

And I treated your post as a confirmation of my "findings", thanks again!

 

Thanks for review Is there a webcam option for the X200s?

 

Yeah, but UXGA is almost as wide as WSXGA+ 1600 vs 1680, hardly a huge deal, but it'd give you much more vertical real estate, no?


Andrew, how's the WXGA+ panel on the X200s? Some of the users on ThinkPads.com were saying the WXGA+ on the X300 is terrible. I dunno, maybe they're overly picky.

 

Maybe you reviewers could post what the pixel dimensions of the screen are? Many of us don't have time to sit around all day and memorise what WXBLT+ means. (i.e. we are no longer teenagers and are actually useful to society). Thanks.

 

No doubts!

In such cases I simply use Wikipedia, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSXGA+

 

14" went down to 1440x900 from 1400x1050, so it's not just the tablets.

 

Can someone please advice if the X200s have a webcam option? thanks in advance.6

 

There is no webcam option at the moment. But what is even more irritating, there is no wwan, wwan antenna, or wwan status led in current models. Hopefully this will change. The ultra mobile X200s does not make much sense to me, if I don't have the ability to use it truly on the run...

 

I wonder whether the lack of camera and WWAN options is a purported decision made in order to distinguish X200s and X301?

 

I can't imagine that they will permanently exclude the WWAN option. That is a necessity as much as wifi for a good chunk of users - and particularly the type of highly mobile users that are interested in the x-series. I imagine that WWAN will be an option in the coming weeks.

 

I agree. The webcam is very useful to me. I often make long distance video calls with collegues, using skype, when a meeting is not possible; and I talk with my family when i am abroad for work. I am a professional software engineer. The webcam should not be considered as a surplus toy for teenagers. It would also fill more the beazel.