Posts Tagged ‘Lenovo’

FCC filings by Intel today reveal that Lenovo has a WiMAX version of its ThinkPad X100e in the works.  Pictured above, the device relies on Intel’s 622ANXHMW card for WLAN, WiMAX and Bluetooth connectivity.

A closeup of markings on the X100e, below, reveal that the device is manufactured by Lenovo’s OEM partner Quanta Computer Inc. – no surprise there.  Interestingly, Lenovo’s ThinkPad Mini Series is also identified next to ThinkPad X100 series notebooks, suggesting that these devices are essentially based on the same platform.

The ThinkPad Mini series has already made an appearance on the FCC back in December of 2009, and the Mini 10 later showed up in Australia.  Given that these devices are listed under “Lenovo (Japan) Limited,” Mini 10 and Mini 11 devices may just be regional variations of the X100 platform.

We don’t have any word on pricing or a release date yet, but we’ll keep you posted.

According to a Reuters article yesterday, HTC is no longer in the running for Palm, Inc.  The article claims that HTC was indeed approached about making a bit, but decided to pass after reviewing Palm’s financials.

That leaves Lenovo as the leading candidate to purchase the struggling maker of the Palm Pre and Pixi.  Reuters estimates that Palm, which currently has a market cap of $850 million, could fetch as much as $1.3 billion.

Reuters reports that Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Huawei has already put in a bid for Palm, while ZTE, a smaller mobile phone company in China was not approached as a bidder.  It is unclear if there are any other bidders for Palm.

Lenovo does have over $2.4 billion in cash to finance a purchase of Palm.  And while Lenovo has announced its intentions to enter the mobile phone market, the company has been slow to introduce new products.  A purchase of Palm would give Lenovo a solid, if niche, mobile phone OS and two decent device platforms to work with.

Lenovo has been successful with its prior acquisitions.  In 2005, the company acquired IBM’s PC business, and as of Q3 2009 Lenovo ranked as the 4th largest computer vendor worldwide.

However, some analysts are unclear what value Palm would provide to Lenovo at this point.  Palm’s Pre and Pixi devices have received decent reviews, but have met with little market success.  Similarly, Palm’s WebOS has failed to develop a compelling app store – a key differentiator in the smartphone space.

Hopefully Palm will find a suitor soon.  An extended stay in acquisition limbo would only serve to further damage Palm’s once proud brand.

A new notebook called the Lenovo U610 appeared on the FCC today, thanks to a filing by Intel.  The U610 is listed as a host for Intel’s Centrino Wireless-N module that provides 802.11 b/g/n wireless connectivity.

Lenovo’s U-series notebooks currently offer Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at 1.3 GHz.  The naming convention for the U-series suggests that the U610 will have a screen in the 16” range.

We don’t know much else at this point, but today’s FCC filing suggests that Lenovo will soon announce a new addition to its U-series lineup.

At first glance, the mouse above appears to be an ordinary two button scroller.  That is until you notice that little orange num near on the top left side of the device.  Known as the Lenovo A700, this innovative mouse is actually three devices in one.

The A700 can be used on a desk like an ordinary mouse, but you can also pick up the device and use it in ‘Air mouse mode.’  In this state, the device uses accelerometers to detect motion, allowing the A700 to work similarly to a Wiimote.

And what about that little orange nub?  That’s for gaming.  When you operate the A700 in ‘Game mode’ the nub acts like a joystick.  There are also A and B buttons on the top right and left sides of the device.  Lenovo even includes a few games with the A700 (below), including Tennis, Golf, Pingpang (yep, that’s just like ping pong), and Fishing, among others.

The A700 connects to your PC wirelessly via Bluetooth.  The device comes with a wrist strap so you don’t accidentally hurl it through your PC monitor.

No word on pricing or a release date for the A700, but the device passed through the FCC today so we expect that it will be released in the States pretty soon.

Last month we spotted a Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 with an Intel WiMAX card, and today a Lenovo U150 showed up on the FCC with Intel WiMAX goodness.  According to label photos, the U150 will rock an Intel WiMAX/WiFi Link 5150 card, enabling 802.11 b/g/n along with WiMAX.

Over the past two years WiMAX coverage in the US has slowly improved.  And things are only getting better – last month we learned that Sprint will finally be brining WiMAX to Silicon Valley.  These new WiMAX deployments and WiMAX enabled computers like the Lenovo U150 will hopefully drive expansions in WiMAX coverage.

No word if the Lenovo U150 will be subsidized by a WiMAX carrier, but ideally a carrier will knock a couple hundred bucks off the U150’s price in exchange for a service contract.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t made its second appearance on the FCC today, this time thanks to Quanta Computer.  Quanta is one of Lenovo’s OEM suppliers, and this filing shows that the S10-3t will feature 802.11 b/g/n powered by Broadcom, as well as 850/1900 GSM and WCDMA 3G (Bands II and V).

Overall, it’s been a busy day for the S10-3t, and we’re excited about this multi-touch tablet.

The Lenovo S10-3t convertible tablet netbook, which is expected to be announced at CES, made an appearance on the FCC today thanks to Ericsson AB.  According to reports, this netbook will feature a 10.1” multitouch capacitive display that will swivel 180 degrees to a tablet layout.

Today’s FCC filing also reveals 850/1900 GSM/EDGE, as well as quad band WCDMA (I, II, V, VIII bands).  A version of the S10 called the S10-3 will also be available.  The S10-3 will have a regular netbook form factor, sans tablet touchscreen.

From:  Netbook Choice

A filing by Realtek Semiconductor today mentioned three Lenovo products, the ThinkPad Mini 11, ThinkPad Mini10, and ThinkPad X100e.  We’ve already heard about the ThinkPad X100e – the device made an appearance last month on netbooknews.de – however this seems to be the first time the ThinkPad Mini 11 and ThinkPad Mini10 have been mentioned publically.

At first glance it appears that the ThinkPad Mini10 and Mini 11 are new netbooks from Lenovo with 10 and 11 inch screens, respectively.  The FCC filing does refer to these devices as ‘ThinkPads,’ which suggests these are actual products, not just parts.

However, Lenovo does use the “Mini 10” terminology for some of its wireless adapters, and the FCC filing does suggest that the Mini10 will be installed in X100e and Mini 11 hosts.  Still, even if the Mini10 is only a WiFi adapter, the FCC filing does mention that the ThinkPad Mini 11 is actually a ‘host.’

The branding of the Mini 11 and Mini10 is also interesting, since Dell already offers ‘Mini’ branded netbooks.  It seems unlikely that Lenovo would release a netbook with a model name that’s so similar to Dell’s product line.

You’ll also note that this filing has a space between Mini and 11, but not Mini and 10.  I’m not sure if that’s significant or just a typo, but this naming convention is consistent throughout the FCC filing.

I’ll guess we’ll just have to wait and see with this one – no additional information is available on ReakTek’s filing.  It would be nice to see a new line of ThinkPad Mini netbooks from Lenovo, however.

This Lenovo notebook showed up on the FCC today thanks to Wistron Corporation.  The test report indicates that this notebook will sport a Wacom Digitizer.  This is reminiscent of the massive Lenovo ThinkPad W700, which featured a large digitizer next to the trackpad. 

Other tidbits from the test report include mentions of a dual display configuration which includes both a 17” and 10.6” LCD displays.  Also note the Intel 2.0 GHz processor, which, according to Engadget, suggests the presence of a Quad Core i7-920XM under the hood.

Although this notebook sounds massive, these specs are quite compelling and almost certainly worth the extra bulk for those of you who truly need a desktop replacement notebook.

This glossy black IdeaPad netbook from Lenovo made an appearance on the FCC late Friday in a filing by Intel.  The device, which is known as the FL5-B3, features a 10.1” screen with a 1024×600 resolution, 250 GB hard drive, and 2GB of RAM.

The most interesting part of this filing, however, is the FL5-B3’s processor.  Stickers on the back of the device list the processor as a 1.66GHz PineView from Intel.  The PineView is the next generation of Intel’s Atom, and features a built in DDR2 memory controller, integrated graphics and a Broadcom video decoding processor.

The PineView is expected to be formally announced in December 2009, with a release date in January 2010.  And, as far as I can tell, the FL5-B3 is the first netbook that has been confirmed to use the PineView processor.

Notes on the back of the FL5-B3 warn that the device has not yet received regulatory approval, so the netbook is not close to being launched at this point.  Given that the PineView will be formally released in January 2010, I wouldn’t expect the FL5-B3 until Q1 2010.

One more interesting tidbit on the FL5-B3 – I don’t see any left or right mouse buttons near the device’s trackpad (close-up below).  This suggests that the trackpad may have integrated left and right buttons like a MacBook.  If implemented well, this could be a great space-saving design choice that is perfect for the netbook category.

Overall, this is definitely a welcome addition to Lenovo’s netbook lineup.  The PineView, 250 GB of storage and 2 GB of RAM are nice spec bumps.  The only qualm I have at this point is the glossy finish – if FCC filings are any indication this device is a fingerprint magnet.