I sat down briefly last week with a couple folks from Lenovo who showed me the company's latest ThinkPad, the T-400s, which at a glance looks like a pretty sweet rig.
Now, I'm biased toward sleek consumer notebooks and frankly I was a little skeptical beforehand trying to imagine how much appeal a business laptop would have. Think of those "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" Apple ads. I've a tendency to see business notebooks as frumpy, colourless machines that embody the serious grown-up world of corporate data crunchers and spreadsheet makers.
While I admit my prejudice, I'm big enough to recognize change.
Now don't get me wrong. The T-400s (which ranges in price from a low of $1,500 to as high as $2,500) is geared toward business users. But like a pickup truck that can handle the job on the construction site and also looks good driving down the avenue, this machine has enough going for it that Lenovo might consider marketing it to the general power user whose interests vary from crafting colourful PowerPoint presentations to creating and consuming multimedia.
Now, while design often forms your first impression, what's inside the T-400s outweighs its business-like appearance. Reports on the laptop's battery life are generally very positive - I asked if you'd be able to watch the four-plus hours of the extended version of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King without it dying 20 minutes from the credits and was assured I could. It also has an integrated web cam, great for the Skype or Go2Meeting chats, and includes a feature I think should be on every computer - software that backs up and secures your data automatically on a hard drive partition. The one-button ThinkVantage recovery means that if you need to reinstal the factory default, you just hit the blue button and follow the instructions. No discs necessary.
The notebook also comes with an optional solid-state drive and a built-in USB/eSATA port. The Lenovo reps also pointed out a few changes on their keyboard: larger Delete and Esc buttons, which poor typists such as I, appreciate dearly.
It's also pretty tough. Lenovo has wrapped a seemly fragile frame in their Top Cover Roll Cage, which is essentially a reinforced skeleton that can allegedly withstand being rolled over by a car. I say allegedly because they Lenono reps wouldn't let me take the notebook out to the parking lot and try crushing it. I jest, of course. Pretty impressive considering how skinny the T-400s is.
Other specs include:
- Choices of Intel 2.53 GHz Core2Duo processors (standard voltage) and graphics
- Choices of solid state drive storage up to 128 GB or 250 GB hard drive storage
- 9.5 mm slim DVD burner or Blu-Ray player
- Ethernet, WiFi, and optional WiMAX2, WWAN,2 Bluetooth and ultrawideband connectivity
- 34mm Express Card slot or 5-in-1 multimedia card reader
- Support for Lenovo's ConstantConnect and Protect technology that allows users to maximize integration of their BlackBerry smartphone and ThinkPad laptop
- Nearly six hours of battery life
- Supports up to two monitors via a Display Port and VGA connectors
- Meets the criteria for energy efficiency for Energy Star 5.0
- Built-in USB/eSATA port
But the feature I found most intriguing (and most disappointing, though for how long I don't know) is not the what but the where.
The T-400s is one of the few but growing segment of laptops that can access the Internet or send and receive e-mail from a high-speed mobile network. While WiFi comes standard on the machine and allows a user to connect to 802.11 hotspots and home networks, the T-400s offers optional Wireless Wide Area Network connectivity. In other words, this laptop, if equipped with a WWAN module (which adds about $150-$180 to the overall price), can connect to a High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) network just like a cellphone.
The only trouble is Lenovo does not yet have a provider. The only current mobile provider with an HSPA network is Rogers. And while Rogers has focused more and more into mobile computing - a few weeks ago they inked a deal with HP for a discount on the HP Mini netbook with a two-year contract - the Lenovo reps wouldn't shed any light at all on whether or if Canadian users will actually be able to use the WWAN feature any time soon. (I did ask if you could get online by just sliding your Rogers SIM card in and got the strong impression that a properly equipped T-400s could do just that, but one would risk some hefty data charges, I would think, if one tried).
Bell and Telus are currently joining forces on a next-gen wireless network, but that's not expected to roll out until next year at the earliest.
I don't think you can underestimate the value of connectivity. While Rogers HSPA isn't as ubiquitous as their voice network that fact you can connect in most major Canada markets and in spots in between is really appealing.
For business travellers, students or anyone with a weekend getaway that falls within the HSPA footprint but outside of any WiFi hotspot, this sort of notebook would be a dream.
So I'm not sure what the holdup is, but for a anyone considering this Thinkpad, I have to image the WWAN capability is going to be one of the machine's greatest attractions. And until Lenovo actually has a service provider, all that does is make the T-400s look more ordinary than it really is.