Intel Thinkpad Edge 13 refresh

Hi guys,

I'm looking at purchasing a Intel based Thinkpad Edge 13 soonish - considering the current model was released at the beginning of 2010, is there any word on it being refreshed with newer i3 ULVs anytime soon?

I'd feel like a bit of a gimp to buy one now (for roughly $1000 AUD) only to have it updated a few days/weeks later.

And on that note.. would an i3-330M (what I assume an i3 refresh would use) result in a drop in battery life compared to the SU7300 in the present model?

Please no " but it's not a Thinkpad!" comments, I'm currently a very happy IBM Thinkpad R50 owner, but the Edge meets my price/form-factor requirements (a uni student doesn't need/cannot afford the awesomeness of an X201 or something. At least this way, I mostly keep the killer keyboard from my R50).

Thanks.

 

AUPASAVEMIDYEAR will get you 30% off. Valid till 2th July.

Lenovo are usually tight lipped about mid lifecycle hardware updates. You won't get much more than speculation on most instances regarding product updates and releases.

 

Lead, I'm pretty sure that coupon is Australia only.

 

The OP is in australia, hence the price in AUD.

 

I saw someone using a ThinkPad Edge yesterday. I was confused by the ThinkPad logo on a laptop that had one of those awful "chiclet" keyboards with the flat keys. I don't know how Lenovo gets away with calling it a ThinkPad. IBM might yank their name-usage license from Lenovo if they continue on this trend.

I suppose a lawyer would say, "But it's not a ThinkPad.... it's a ThinkPad Edge." Phooey!

(Pardon me, I'm a purist when it comes to ThinkPads.)

 

Since 6 months is a common refresh time, does anyone else think that at going on 9 months it's a safe bet to wait for the Edge 13 to be updated? Intel announced the start of the phase out of the 7300 around January (I think), and other notebooks in this range are already moving to i3um/i5um.

 

Six months is not a common refresh time.

 

yeah that is a bit short. ah well.

 

Actually you're right, sometimes it's less. The Edge 14 was refreshed twice since April, where it came with a baseline 330m. Then 350m, now 370m. Incidentally, the Edge 13 is scheduled for an i3 380um in October, I discovered.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if a refresh was imminent, particularly the intel model.

Reason I say that is that I just picked up a SU7300, 4gb, 320gb model for £350 inc vat with a £50 cashack from Lenovo (so £300 total). I see it at similarly low prices from several other resellers. This is, what, half the price it was released at?

 

A couple days ago I found an article about Lenovo announcing the new i3-380 Edge 13 (and two other refreshes that I forget); had photos of a Lenovo rep displaying it at a press release or trade show or something. The article said October. That's "scheduled" of course. So who knows. The article was dated Aug 22 I think. Wish I bookmarked it. I wish they would go with a non-ULV cpu, since even a lot of "ultrathin" notebooks are moving away from it now, but I'll still likely buy one.

 

Here's a review of the new Edge 13 with Core i5 470UM processor:

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 Review think.talk.TECH.