Lenovo Unveils ThinkPad T430u Ultrabook, ThinkPad X1 Hybrid with x86/ARM

From DailyTech: Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 was introduced in May 2011, and the company now is readying an innovative follow-up: the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid. The 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Hybrid is built around Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processor and Windows 7. In addition, the ThinkPad X1 includes Gorilla Glass, Dolby Home Theater v4 audio, HDMI-out, Intel Wireless Display technology, and Rapid Charge technology that allows the notebook to reach an 80 percent charge in a quick 30 minutes.

However, the most interesting part of the laptop comes courtesy of its "Hybrid" nomenclature. The ThinkPad X1 Hybrid includes a secondary Qualcomm dual-core ARM processor and 16GB of flash storage. This Instant Media Mode (IMM) allows a user to enter an Android-based environment for multimedia playback, web browsing, and productivity work (i.e. working on documents and spreadsheets).

Users can access the IMM by clicking on an icon from within the Windows 7 environment. While this seems like unnecessary added complexity and cost to us -- the original ThinkPad X1 had a base price of $1,399; the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid starts at $1,599 -- Lenovo points out that battery life doubles from five hours to ten hours when operating in IIM.

But the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid isn’t’ the only new notebook on Lenovo’s radar screen. Intel's nascent "Ultrabook" platform is the chipmaker's attempt to strike back at the popularity of Apple's thin and light MacBook Air lineup. Not surprisingly, many of Intel's hardware partners -- including Lenovo -- have jumped on the Ultrabook bandwagon. While Lenovo’s first entry was under the consumer-centric IdeaPad umbrella, its latest Ultrabook is for the business-oriented ThinkPad family,

The new ThinkPad T430u weighs less than four pounds, features an aluminum lid, and is less the 0.8-inches thick. Predictably, the ThinkPad T430u is available with Intel's latest Core processor and can be had with either Intel integrated graphics or more powerful NVIDIA graphics solutions.

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