Road Warriors Get Ready – Lenovo Delivers "No Compromises" Ultraportable ThinkPad X300 Notebook PC

Lenovo today unveiled its highly-anticipated ThinkPad X300 notebook PC, designed for today's most demanding road warriors, and the thinnest and lightest full-function notebook in its class ¹. The ultra-thin, ultraportable ThinkPad X300 notebook measures less than three-fourths of an inch at its thinnest point, or approximately the height of a U.S. quarter coin, and has a starting weight as low as 2.9 pounds ².

Lenovo ThinkPad X300

The ThinkPad X300 combines a number of leading technologies such as solid-state drive storage, a LED backlit display, ultralong battery life and enhanced wireless connectivity. Rated Gold by the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) for its superior environmental attributes, it also features a number of environmentally-conscious technologies, such as low-voltage processors.

“The ThinkPad X300 notebook marks a major milestone for the ThinkPad family,” said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president, Notebook Business Unit, Lenovo. "ThinkPad has been pioneering notebook PC design for more than 15 years, raising the bar on innovation, and focusing on the core needs of ThinkPad users, namely quality, reliability and functionality. Our customers told us that they wanted a notebook that was amazingly thin and light, but that they still wanted their battery options, their USB ports and of course, their DVD burner. Well the waiting is over, and it's all there in the ThinkPad X300, our thinnest and lightest ThinkPad ever."

Designed for Maximum Mobility & Performance The versatile ThinkPad X300 notebook PC offers models that can be configured for extreme portability starting at just 2.9 pounds ², or maximum battery life of up to 10 hours ³ or a balance between the two with a convenient built-in DVD burner. With its compact, thin and light design, the notebook packs a powerful punch, providing a full suite of innovative features to meet users' mobile computing needs.

Expanded Multimedia: The ThinkPad X300 notebook offers an optional built-in 7-millimeter slim DVD burner for easy, flexible, on-the-go multimedia capabilities. It also includes stereo speakers, a digital microphone and an integrated camera.

Extreme Durability: Constructed with advanced carbon and glass fiber, the ThinkPad X300 notebook's Next Generation ThinkPad Roll Cage helps protect the notebook from falls and drops that can occur in mobile environments. These same materials are used in building airplanes and Formula One race cars to help reinforce their structure without adding additional weight.

Ultimate Wireless Connectivity: Users have a variety of connectivity options at their fingertips including models designed for WiMax, when the technology becomes available, as well as ultra-wideband/wireless USB, WWAN ⁴, WLAN ⁵ and GB Ethernet.

Simple Navigation: Built-in GPS functionality ⁶ allows mobile users to navigate by helping them to connect to popular mapping programs.

Clearer, Crisper Viewing Experience: The notebook's 13.3-inch LED backlight WXGA+ high resolution display provides brighter and more energy-efficient performance than LCD displays.

Enterprise-Level Security: Equipped standard with an integrated fingerprint reader, I/O port disablement and 32-byte password protection, the notebook offers a layered security approach to help protect data and unauthorized access.

Enhanced Performance and Data Protection: The notebook comes equipped with a 1.8-inch 64 GB SSD that provides more than twice the performance of a regular 2.5-inch hard drive ⁷. With no moving parts, the technology offers more than four times greater shock resistance as well as greater energy efficiency than traditional hard disk drives and contributes to the notebook's thin and light design ⁷. The notebook also comes with the latest Intel® Centrino® with vPro™ technology, up to 4 GB memory and Lenovo's ThinkVantage Technologies.

“The challenge we shared with Lenovo in its development of the ThinkPad X300 was in making things small without losing key capabilities, such as performance and battery life,” said Mooly Eden, corporate vice president and general manager, Intel Mobile Platforms Group. “Intel's contribution included developing packaging technology that enabled us to shrink the Intel Centrino platform by more than 50 percent, yet retain its high performance and low energy consumption.”

In its first big test out of the gate, the ThinkPad X300 notebook PC will support team members on the official aircraft of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay as it launches a demanding 137,000-kilometer, five-continent "marathon" next month. Often departing from torch relay cities late at night and arriving at the next city in the early hours of the morning, and with no margin for error, the torch team will rely on both ThinkPad and Ideapad technology to support nearly 22,000 torchbearers, in more than 130 cities worldwide.

Designed for the Environment Rated Gold by EPEAT, the ThinkPad X300 notebook stands out as one of the most environmentally-responsible PCs in the industry. Lenovo designed the notebook to include environmentally-conscious technologies such as energy-efficient SSD and arsenic-free LCD glass and mercury-free LED displays. The energy-efficient LED display helps the ThinkPad X300 notebook achieve up to 35 percent lower power consumption than previous models. Lenovo also uses recyclable packaging.

Pricing and Availability 8

The ThinkPad X300 notebook starts at approximately $2,799. It is available immediately through Lenovo business partners and www.lenovo.com.

¹ Compared to major vendors offering 13-inch widescreen notebook PCs: Sony, Dell, Apple, Asus and Fujitsu Siemens. Full featured defined as including technologies such as built-in DVD burner, selection of USB ports, Ethernet connection, replaceable battery and more.

² Weight of 2.9 pounds achieved with configuration of standard 3-cell lithium polymer battery and empty bezel/no integrated DVD burner.

³ Battery life (and recharge times) will vary based on many factors, including use of Battery Stretch and other system settings and usage. A description of the environment under which the test was performed is available upon request. 10 hour battery life achieved with configuration of 6-cell Li-Ion plus Option Bay 3-cell Li-Polymer battery without integrated DVD/multiburner. See www.pc.ibm.com/ww/thinkpad/batterylife/.

⁴ WWAN Service Providers: Requires separate agreement with select third party service provider, and is subject to credit approval and applicable service agreement/terms, rate plan and coverage maps of the provider. Service is available in select metropolitan markets, not available in all areas. Service provider, not Lenovo, is solely responsible for service. Lenovo customers may be contacted after purchase to activate service. Special credit and tenure restrictions and additional charges may apply to international roaming. A network connection, third-party software, additional hardware, and/or subscription to a third-party service may be required for certain solutions/applications. Additional restrictions apply. Offer subject to change.

⁵ 11n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapters: are based on the Draft Release Version 1.0 of the IEEE 802.11n specification, which has not been finalized.

⁶ GPS functionality only available on U.S. models including Verizon WWAN card.

⁷ Lenovo tests performed compared 1.8-inch 64 GB SATA SSD Samsung RBX to 2.5-inch RPM SATA HD used in Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks.

⁸ Prices do not include tax or shipping and are subject to change without notice. Reseller prices may vary. Price does not include all advertised features. All offers subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice.