Lenovo Announces New ThinkPad T, X, and S series Ultrabooks
by Jarred Walton on September 3, 2013 5:03 PM EST
Today in the pre-IFA excitement in Berlin, Germany, Lenovo announced updates to their T, X, and S series Ultrabooks, with thinner form factors, a variety of panel options, larger trackpads, and improve battery life. As expected, Intel’s Haswell processors (4th Generation Intel Core Processors) make an appearance, and the new ThinkPad Ultrabooks will be able to offer as much as 17 hours of battery life – with an optional external battery. Here’s a quick overview of the various new products announced today.
ThinkPad T440/T440s
The T440 and T440s are both 14-inch laptops, but the T440s is slightly lighter and has more compact dimensions and is available with a slightly faster CPU and GPU. The T440s also uses a carbon fiber to keep the weight down without compromising on durability. Both notebooks also feature NFC (Near Field Communication) capability, up to 17 hours of battery life with a high capacity battery, and optional touchscreens. Models with the GeForce GT 720M/730M apparently won’t be available in North America but will be in other regions of the world. The T440s is obviously the more potent and exciting of the two, but cost will be higher. Availability is scheduled for the end of October, with the T440s starting at $1149 and the T440 starting at $889.
| ThinkPad T440 and T440s Specifications | ||
| Model | T440 | T440s |
| CPU | Up to 4th Generation Core i5 | Up to 4th Generation Core i7 |
| GPU |
Intel HD 4400 Optional GeForce GT 720M |
Intel HD 4400 Optional GeForce GT 730M |
| LCD |
14” HD 14” HD+ Touchscreen |
14” HD+ 14” Full HD 14” Full HD Touchscreen |
| Storage | Up to 1TB HDD or 512GB SSD | Up to 1TB HDD or 512GB SSD |
| RAM | Up to 12GB DDR3L | Up to 12GB DDR3L |
| Connectivity |
Mini-DisplayPort VGA 2 x USB 3.0 (one powered) SD card reader |
Mini-DisplayPort VGA 3 x USB 3.0 (one powered) SD card reader |
| Networking |
Intel WP2 + Bluetooth 4G LTE and 3G WWAN Gigabit Ethernet |
Intel WP2 + Bluetooth 4G LTE and 3G WWAN Gigabit Ethernet |
| Battery |
3-cell 23.5Wh 6-cell 48Wh 6-cell 72Wh Up to 17 Hours |
3-cell 23.5Wh 6-cell 48Wh 6-cell 72Wh Up to 17 Hours |
| Weight | 4.0 lbs. (1.82kg) | 3.5 lbs. (1.59kg) |
| Dimensions |
13.35”x9.15”x0.83” (339mm x 232.5mm x 21mm) |
13.03”x8.90”x0.81” (331mm x 226mm x 20.45mm) |
| Extras |
Up to 5-year warranty 2x larger touchpad HD webcam Optional smart card reader |
Up to 5-year warranty HD webcam |
| Pricing | Starting at $899 | Starting at $1149 |
| Availability | Late October, 2013 | Late October, 2013 |
ThinkPad X240
The X240 is a 12.5-inch laptop designed to be the ultimate road warrior. Like the T440/T440s, it includes NFC capability and optional touchscreens. It loses out on a few extras relative to the 14-inch models but it comes in a more portable and lighter package. The X240 also features Lenovo’s new Power Bridge functionality, which allows users to swap out the removable battery for the 6-cell travel battery without powering down. (It appears some models will have an optional 3-cell internal battery with the standard “travel battery” being user replaceable/swappable to support this.) Availability is scheduled for the end of October, with the X240 starting at $1099.
| ThinkPad X240 Specifications | |
| Model | X240 |
| CPU | Up to 4th Generation Core i7 |
| GPU | Intel HD 4400 |
| LCD |
12.5” HD 12.5” HD Widescreen 12.5” HD Widescreen Touchscreen 12.5” Full HD 12.5” Full HD Touchscreen |
| Storage | Up to 1TB HDD; SSDs available |
| RAM | Up to 8GB single SO-DIMM |
| Connectivity |
HDMI VGA 2 x USB 3.0 SD/MMC card reader |
| Networking |
WiFi + Bluetooth 4G LTE and 3G WWAN Gigabit Ethernet |
| Battery |
3-cell internal (optional) 3-cell travel 6-cell travel Up to 10+ Hours |
| Weight | 2.94 lbs. (1.34kg) |
| Dimensions |
12.0”x8.21”x0.79” (305.5mm x 208.8mm x 20.3mm) |
| Extras |
Up to 5-year warranty HD webcam |
| Pricing | Starting at $1149 |
| Availability | Late October, 2013 |
ThinkPad S440/S540
The S440/S540 will be available in select markets, which does not include North America. The S440 is a 14-inch laptop while the S540 is a 15.6” design; both support up to Core i7 CPUs with optional HD 8670M graphics from AMD (presumably Enduro enabled). The S series is designed for “business or pleasure”, with more multimedia friendly features like voice control, and they support Lenovo’s OneLink technology to allow docking of sorts with USB 3.0, video, power, and Gigabit Ethernet over a single cable. Availability is scheduled for September on the S440 and October for the S540 in Europe, with the S440 starting at €699 and the S540 starting at €649.
| ThinkPad S440 and S540 Specifications | ||
| Model | S440 | S540 |
| CPU | Up to 4th Generation Core i5 | Up to 4th Generation Core i7 |
| GPU |
Intel HD 4400 Optional Radeon HD 8670M |
Intel HD 4400 Optional Radeon HD 8670M |
| LCD |
14” Up to HD+ Anti-Glare Optional Touchscreen |
15.6” Up to Full HD Anti-Glare Optional Touchscreen |
| Storage | Up to 500GB HDD or 256GB SSD | Up to 1TB HDD or 256GB SSD |
| RAM | Up to 8GB (1 x SO-DIMM) | Up to 16GB (2 x SO-DIMM) |
| Connectivity |
OneLink 2 x USB 3.0 (one powered) SD card reader |
Mini-DisplayPort VGA 3 x USB 3.0 (one powered) SD card reader |
| Networking |
WiFi + Bluetooth Gigabit Ethernet |
WiFi + Bluetooth Gigabit Ethernet Optional 4G LTE and 3G WWAN |
| Battery | Up to 6 Hours | Up to 9 Hours |
| Weight |
3.92 lbs. (1.78kg) 4.23 lbs. (1.92kg) Touch |
4.65 lbs. (2.11kg) 5.2 lbs. (2.36kg) Touch |
| Dimensions |
13.11”x8.85”x0.80” (0.88” Touch) (333mm x 225mm x 20.5mm, 22.5mm Touch) |
14.9”x9.96”x0.81” Touch (379mm x 253mm x 20.7mm Touch) |
| Extras | HD webcam | HD webcam |
| Pricing | Starting at €699 | Starting at €649 |
| Availability | September, 2013 | October, 2013 |
Source: Lenovo PR
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Guspaz - Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - link
So the only one to be under 3 pounds is a 12.5" model... At four or five pounds, it's not really an ultrabook, no matter what they're allowed to call it.meacupla - Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - link
well, to be fair, thinkpads have a stronger frame to make them withstand abuse and misuse better.maloman - Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - link
Oh no, the 16 GB RAM and mSATA + hdd option of the x230 had to make room for this. I'm a little sad that all laptops are getting thinner and thinner in the small formfactor space while someone that needs lots of RAM needs to jump to larger models...noeldillabough - Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - link
Damn I was really looking forward to an update to my x230! I want the ram, the hard drive flexibility and the dock...guess they abandoned us. Time for a MacBook! I'll miss Lenovo.psuedonymous - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
"I want the ram, the hard drive flexibility and the dock [...] Time for a Macbook"Ah, the irony.
noeldillabough - Thursday, September 5, 2013 - link
Don't get me started on apples "dock" lol but I expect because EVERYONE is getting a mac that they'll just have to create (or a third party will) a dock that is awesome. It's getting so bad that I have to translate mac scripts to windows daily lol. I love the x230..change is hard lolnicolaim - Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - link
You didn't mention the most important part of the T440s: the AHVA (IPS-like) matte LCD. Unfortunately it's 16:9 and not 16:10. There's a 23 Wh sealed battery and a swappable 23 Wh battery by default. The latter can be replaced with a thicker one with double the capacity.Cons:
The biggest flaw for me is that the M.2 slot (which replaces mSATA/mPCIe) only fits 42 mm drives, so it's currently not possible to have a decent-size SSD+HDD. Some models will come with a 24 GB SSD cache.
Lenovo got rid of the dedicated mute, volume, page forward, and page back keys.
4 GB RAM is soldered, so max is 12 GB.
The way the touchpad clicks (same as T431s) and the poorly designed TrackPoint buttons are likely to put off some buyers.
Status lights for HDD, charge, WiFi, and bluetooth are gone, as is the ThinkLight (but keyboard is backlit.)
The speakers are on the bottom, but apparently produce good sound if the laptop is on a desk. Not compatible with the OneLink Dock.
The Touch models are significantly (~200g) heavier, and MAY have glossy Gorilla Glass.
No UltraBay, no ExpressCard slot.
Student models are already on sale in Germany (around EUR 1000 with i5s) and Hong Kong (~HK$8000 with i7s if I remember right.)
tuxRoller - Wednesday, September 4, 2013 - link
If you need more than 12GB you should probably move up to their workstation-class W series.MyDigitalSSD - Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - link
Check out the 128GB MyDigitalSSD M.2 NGFF 42mm. It will do the trick.Conficio - Tuesday, September 3, 2013 - link
Are the Lenovo screens TN panels or do we expect IPS or similar quality?