Lenovo, the maker of high end notebooks, is to mount a major push into the Australian consumer market with a range of new notebooks, all in one PCs, a range of Android tablets and an all new ultra slim Lenovo ThinkPad X1that incorporates new battery technology.A leaked reseller document reveals that the X1 notebook’s “slice” battery technology won’t be user-replaceable, but it will deliver a longer battery life up to three times longer than normal, it will also recharge 2.5 times faster than prior Lenovo notebook batteries.
New Lenovo RapidCharge technology will recharge the X1 to 80 percent within 30 minutes. The new X1 is expected in Australia soon.
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The new notebook will compete head on with the lightweight MacBook as well as the new Samsung 9000 notebook.
In the B to B market the company is also set to launch new Android tablets that will compete with offerings from Cisco and the Research in Motion Playbook. The device could be as cheap as $499.
Called the ThinkPad Tablet, it is the first known Lenovo slate with Android 3.0. A unique feature is a Family UI interface that allows applications to be customised for the device.
In the consumer market the Chinese company plans to launch the LePad up against offerings from ASUS, Acer and Viewsonic.
A leaked PowerPoint presentation reveals that the ThinkPad tablet will deliver “seamless integration” with corporate environments that would load up Cisco remote security tools, Computrace to find stolen tablets, as well as local security tools from McAfee and Symantec.
Electronista said that the 10-inch ThinkPad would be a virtual clone of others launched so far with a 1280×800 resolution, an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and capacities ranging between 16GB and 64GB of memory.
Lenovo who is aiming their Pro tablet at professionals will incorporate features seen in other Android 3.0 devices.
Like the HTC Flyer, it will have a stylus (though optional) for hand-drawn notes. A keyboard dock like that with the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer should also come and will have a trackpad to match.
Lenovo would opt for a high-quality IPS screen like Apple and ASUS, though the tablet would be bulkier than the new generation at 1.6 pounds and 0.55 inches thick. Battery life might also top out at eight hours. A mirroring of Lenovo’s usual expansion strategy would see it ship options for 3G and 4G data as well as provide full-size and micro USB, HDMI, and SD card slots.
The new consumer devices are expected next month and the Pro tablet in August 2011.
Lenovo is relying both on enterprise-level software and the assumptions that go behind its brand name.
