Lenovo Unveils Six New ThinkPad Laptops

Lenovo launched six new ThinkPad laptops - the T420s, T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520 - targeting business professionals.

The laptops include features such as video and voice calling, smart PC features for power and performance management, all-day battery life, enterprise management and an intuitive, easy-to-use computing experience.

Lenovo claims that its sub four pound ThinkPad T420s speeds up boot time 30 percent and touched new battery life benchmarks of up to 30 hours with an extended battery.

As the first business class laptops to feature NVIDIA Optimus automatic graphic switching technology, T Series and W Series laptops provide 33 percent better battery performance over previous discrete graphics models, Lenovo said in a statement.

The laptops offer enhanced video and voice conferencing and Private Chat and Conference Call microphone modes that allow users to switch easily between modes with a single mouse click.

Private Chat mode can also use noise cancelling technology to focus on a single voice, while Conference Call mode opens the audio capture field to 360 degrees around the notebook, allowing for multiple user interaction in the room, Lenovo said.

The laptops also include keyboard noise suppression technology to help eliminate the distracting keyboard clicking that often occurs while typing during PC-based voice calls. The laptops can also help users avoid embarrassing conference call mistakes with a dedicated LED-lit microphone mute key which indicates when the microphone is sending audio.

In addition, the new laptops has technologies to sense where power is needed most to ensure priority components receive power for improved overall performance and battery life.

The company said its laptops has Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 that dynamically increases processor speed during performance intensive tasks such as video editing, data analysis and 3D applications.

Lenovo Turbo Boost+ enables the laptops to stay in Turbo Boost even longer by keeping processor temperatures below required thermal limits. With reduced power to non-essential hardware, the laptops achieve up to 30 percent longer battery life while playing multimedia so users can watch DVDs, listen to MP3s or stream web content longer, Lenovo said.

Meanwhile, the ThinkPad T, W and L Series share the same docking station to simplify deployment, reduce costs and allow hardware sharing among employees. The laptops also share common batteries for lower cost and easy component management.

On the security front, the laptops offer multiple layers of security throughout the hardware, software, BIOS and options including encrypted hard drives with remote management support, a fingerprint reader with one touch swipe for power on and authentication. The laptops also feature Intel Anti-Theft Technology (Intel AT) - a laptop theft deterrence mechanism that disables the laptop preventing unauthorized data access.

Lenovo said its Instant Resume feature maintains users' wireless connection on the laptop during sleep mode for up to 99 minutes, eliminating the need to login and reconnect.

In addition, the ThinkPad T420s is the first business class notebook to offer Dolby Home Theater v4, Dolby's latest audio technology with virtualized surround sound and dialog enhancement technology for clearer sound in movies, music and during video calls.

For quick and easy startup and shutdown, the laptops also feature Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 for Windows 7 - an exclusive certification for Lenovo products that allows users to start their laptop on average 20 seconds faster than a typical Windows 7 computer.

The ThinkPad T, L and W Series will be available starting in March. Pricing for the T420s, T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520 start at about $1,329, $779, $909, $719, $719 and $1329, respectively.