News Bits: Another Atom-powered Eee PC, New ThinkPads now available

Lenovo T, R, W Centrino 2 ThinkPads now available

As we mentioned back in July, Lenovo recently launched its Intel "Montevina" Centrino 2-based ThinkPad T, R, and W-series notebooks. The T500/R500 and T400/R400 have 15.4- and 14.1-inch screens respectively. All feature DDR3 memory and all are now available for purchase on the Lenovo wbsite.

T-Series

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The T-series is 30% more power efficient than the previous T-series according to Lenovo. The T-series is available with LED-backlit displays, Solid State Disks (SSDs), and Blu-ray optical drives. It features switchable graphics - use the integrated Intel GMA X4500 graphics while on battery, and switch to the dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470/3650 while plugged in. Lenovo also claims the new T-series is the coolest and quietest T-series ever.

The T400 starts at $1,130, and the T500 $1,159.

T-Series Product Page

R-series

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The R-series is the most affordable ThinkPad, but does not skimp on build quality. It is available with Blu-ray and Core 2 Duo processors. Select models of the R400 are available with switchable graphics like the T-series.

The R400 starts at $956, and the R500 $1,010.

R-Series Product Page

W-Series

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The ThinkPad W-series is a workstation version of the T-series, which Lenovo says is "the ultimate mobile workstation." It is available with Core 2 Duo processors and Intel Active Management Technology (AMT). It is available with the premium features on the T-series, such as LED-backlit displays and Blu-ray optical drives. The W-series is ISV certified and comes with 512MB dedicated ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 graphics.

The W-series starts at $1,904.

W-Series Product Page

ASUS introduces Atom-powered Eee PC 900A

Image credit: EeePCNews.de (view large image)

ASUS has introduced yet another Eee PC model, the 900A. The 900A is essentially the original Eee PC 900 design with an Intel Atom processor instead of the Celeron. It features an 8.9-inch 1024x600 display, 1GB RAM, 8GB SSD, and 4-cell 4400mAh battery (supposedly good for four hours).

Full Story (EeePCNews.de)(Translated from German)
Via (Laptoping.com)
Via (JKKMobile.blogspot.com)

ASUS fails to hit target notebook shipment goal in 1H'08

ASUS has failed to hit its notebook shipment target goal for the first half of 2008. It will be looking to outsource some of its notebook business in Q4'08. Asustek president Jerry Shen says he is confident that the company will be able to ship five million Eee PCs in 2008, despite the part shortages. Asustek's current notebook shipment goal for 2008 is 6.6 million units, though Shen said that it will be difficult to hit. He predicts part supplies will be more consistent in the second half of this year.

Full Story (DigiTimes.com)

Sager NP5796 Montevina gaming notebook user review

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NBR Forum member auburncoast has done a thorough review of his brand new Sager NP5796 gaming notebook. The NP5796 is based on the Intel "Montevina" Centrino 2 platform and features a 17-inch widescreen display, DDR3 RAM, and Nvidia GeForce 9800M-GT 512MB graphics.

Read the review in the forums

 

Hmm, the new T series offers is nice, me thinks. Definitely a nice replacement for the current T series offers.

 

Maybe they should branch to uuu and ooo and dont forget iii and aaa possibly yyy with a 900A 900B 900C etc.

But on a more surious note enough with the Eee. There are too many Eee based systems that Im lost and a sea of Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.

 

T500... hmm I think i am going to buy it. seriouly that looks awesome.

 

Here is some more news:

HP Mininote getting Atom next year: http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?h...g=ALkJrhgYWFhGpthPJi5vtExOleq_S8WhFw#comments

 

Is Asus trying to release an Eee PC for every week of the year?

 

yeap,and next year plan-new eee every day!

 

Lenovo needs to do better marketing! Where the heck is a full in depth review of T400/T500? Press or review site should get their dip on the laptop already....or maybe not in the case of Thinkpad.

 

EEE failing to hit target has nothing to do with parts shortage imo, it has to do with their ridiculous prices compared to competitors.

 

That's so weird, the starting price for the W series thinkpad is $1584 in Canada.

 

The new T-series sucks. Thick bezels, off center screens and no DVI/HDMI (on the T400). What happened to smaller and lighter?

 

The W-series in Canada uses some weird AMD GPU.

I doubt the new workstations will be nearly as good as the T61p's.

The FX570 (8600GT GDDR3) in T61p's definitely walks all over anything the W-series offers.

 

When can we expect a T series review?

 

AFAIK it's the same form factor as the T60/T61...

 

Seriously - I didn't get a press release or anything. Everything you see here I wrote based on their product pages.

 

How else can they sell 5 million laptops?

 

Maybe the same as the t61, which started the thick bezel / off center screen trend, but not the same as the t60.

Take a look at this picture (of the x200 and x61) which illustrates the problem with the new thinkpads. Basically, the same or larger chassis with a smaller screen and thicker bezels.

That's what movie studios do when they know they have a movie that sucks and they don't want the reviewers panning the movie.

 

Lenovo never sucked before and i doubt it will...they just need new people in marketing department

Chaz,a little OT,but will you review your DV5T?

 

I configured a T500 in Canada
T9600 2.8Ghz dual core 1066mhz
intergrated X4500(I don't need GPU)
3GB PC2-8500 memory
160GB HDD 5400 rpm
BT + Cam + upgrade wireless
$2183

 

Pretty expensive for a laptop with an igp... also the 160gig hard drive will be a major bottleneck. I suggest to bump it up to at least a 250gig 5400rpm drive. It's about 30% faster than the 160GB HDD with 5400 rpm.

 

Asus needs to stop with the Eees... There are more than enough models already.

 

If you want to get a really good deal on a Lenovo laptop you should order the "old" ones. Most of them are much cheaper than the current lineup. Just an idea if you want to save some money on a new laptop.
Tim

 

I know I priced one out at 750+ off. even with the old ones I would get intergrated graphics. But I could not get T9600 and my computer has to last for 5 years. so I think it's worth while to buy as fast as I can, as all my apps use my CPU really hard.

aside: Zoomtext is a screen enlarger(video overlay), on my Quad Core Q6600 2.4Ghz Core 0 Idles at 20% moving the mouse jumps it to 95%+

 

Hmm, T400 looks interesting.

 

Exactly what I was thinking

 

It seems that the R series (either the R400 or R500) do not come with switchable graphic like the T series do as the thread suggests, instead they only come with integrated graphics option (the Intel GMA 4500MHD). Tell me if I am wrong.

 

I configured one at about 1300, I think I might consider it.

 

what is an ati v5700 equivelent to?

 

How come on Lenovo Canada, the X200 only has DDR2 memory? On the US website they have DDR3!

 

Seconded. Though from a Google search it seems it's a pretty high-end card: Tom's Hardware says it will be available starting in September at a $599 price point, and will also be in Dell's Precision refresh. So I'm guessing it ends in "870".

The new ThinkPads look pretty nice to me, and a fairly good value for ThinkPads. Not quite as good as the older ones right now, as would be expected, but fairly good nonetheless, and featuring considerably better graphics in the T serie.

 

i checked online and it says the R500 is 11,000 something dollars lol.

 

Not happening. In a laptop magazine article, an Asus person said the highest they would go up to is maybe 11".

 

Instead ASUS has plans for 23 models of EEEs (the "smart casual" model list is... impressive). Check the link...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/29/leaked-eee-pc-roadmap-shows-23-models-redefines-brand-dilution/

 

Insane! But they have a ton of regular notebook models too. Like over 50.