The notebooks—part of a campaign created by Ogilvy Frankfurt—were installed in buses and tram shuttles that lead prospective buyers to Lenovo Roadshows all over Germany. The buses were waiting by train stations and airports to get visitors to the events, offering them the possibility to either surf the web or rest their buttocks while having a key massage. I would like to do both at the same time. [Direct Daily]

Apparently this pen and paper ThinkPad was what inspired an IBM researcher to name the company's computer ThinkPad. Man, I still love paper. Maybe even more than the ThinkPad T400S I wrote this post on. [A Continuous Lean]

We've always known that ThinkPads were surly bastards, but Lenovo submitted eight of its notebooks—ThinkPad X200, X301, X200s, X200 Tablet, T400, T500, R400 and SL300—for the military's semi-rugged specification tests, which they passed. Meaning they're certified to give the finger to 95 percent humidity vibration, getting baked at 140 degrees or frozen at -4, vibrations and dust, as well as some other brutalities.

The T400's also getting an option for a 680-nit high brightness screen, so it's even more usable outdoors.

Lenovo Puts ThinkPad Laptops to the "Tough Test": Meets Military
Specifications for Semi-Rugged Computing

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – February 24, 2009: Lenovo today announced that it is designating eight ThinkPad laptops for use in field and vehicle semi-ruggedized computing environments such as in public safety, utilities, construction and the military. The ThinkPad X200, X301, X200s, X200 Tablet, T400, T500, R400 and SL300 laptops meet a barrage of military specifications tests and are enhanced with specially-designed durability features such as an air-bag like protection system and a roll cage in select models. Because field computing requires excellent screen viewability, Lenovo is also adding a new optional 680-nit high brightness panel to its most popular laptop, the ThinkPad T400 laptop.

"ThinkPad is well known for quality, reliability and innovative security technologies for business computing," said Tom Ribble, executive director, Worldwide ThinkPad Product Marketing, Lenovo. "The truth is we've always built tough laptops that can weather extreme conditions from hiking the rainforests of the Amazon to flying in space. You don't need a PC that looks like a tank to excel in harsh environments, and unlike many of our competitors, we don't put an extra charge on toughness."

Optimized for Outdoors
As the adoption of laptops increases and connectivity options continue to expand, users are spending more and more computing time outdoors. That makes screen visibility extremely important. For a crisp and easily readable experience, Lenovo is equipping the ThinkPad T400 laptop with an optional high brightness, wide angle screen, making it nearly four times brighter than previous ThinkPad laptop screens. The high contrast screen eliminates reflections with its anti-glare finish. And by using
energy-efficient LED technology, the laptop maintains long battery life.

Police Departments like the Conover Police Department in North Carolina are using ThinkPad laptops to turn their patrol cars into mobile offices. Reduced time spent at the station writing reports gives officers extra time on patrol to protect their community. Officers are using ThinkPad T Series laptops to write and print incident reports, issue tickets and conduct criminal background checks from their cars. For IT Director, Chris Niver, Lenovo's engineering made ThinkPad laptops the easy choice.

"Although not billed as a 'ruggedized' laptop at the time, the features offered far surpassed the other manufacturers. The fact that the ThinkPads came with a roll-cage design, shock resistant hard drive, built in security chip and the familiar red button as well as touchpad all as standard features really made my choice clear."

Military Spec Tested Against the Elements
Baked, battered, blistered and blown with sand, Lenovo put the lineup of eight ThinkPad laptops through the gauntlet to pass a significant number of specifications for military-grade computing.

The ThinkPad laptops met tests for:

Low Pressure – Tests operation at 15,000 feet
Humidity – Cycles 95 percent humidity through the environment
Vibration (operational and non-operational) – Jostles and jolts the laptops to make sure they can withstand shocks
High Temperature – Simulates high heat conditions by baking the laptop up to 140 degrees
Low Temperature – Tests operation at minus 4 degrees
Temperature Shock – Fluctuates between minus 4 and up to 140 degrees to test operation
Dust – Blows dust for an extended amount of time

The tests confirm the durability and reliability that many customers already rely on to battle the elements. Geophysicist, explorer and expedition leader Pasquale Scaturro travels to the far reaches of the planet with his ThinkPad laptop.

"For over 180 days a year I can be found on the road traveling with my with my ThinkPad laptop -sweltering in the hot jungle terrain and surviving frigid arctic and mountain blasts, said Pasquale Scaturro, Exploration Specialists, Inc. "From bugs and humidity, to sand and dust, heat and cold, my ThinkPad laptop has been exposed to them all. I've logged more miles on my ThinkPad in the roughest and most extreme environments in the world than perhaps any person alive. From the heights of Mount Everest to the full length of the Nile, the world's longest river, it's been with me. The Active Protection System is a must in the rough environments I've taken this laptop into. Besides using my ThinkPad to help me navigate in my airplane when I'm flying in the African bush (it's my real co-pilot) and send Internet dispatches to my website from Mt Everest, I depend on it to keep my geophysical business and my personal connections going. It's withstood every imaginable environment on Earth and is still performing
without missing a beat."
Lenovo durability features include the:

Active Protection System – Temporarily parks the hard drive when the laptop detects a fall or sudden movement via an air-bag like system
Roll Cage – Serves as a protective frame around the internal components where the data resides and processing takes place with an extra top cover
roll cage on the ThinkPad X301 laptop
Shock Mounted Hard Drive – Offers extra protection around the hard drive to
protect data
Spill Resistant Keyboard – Withstands spills of up to two fluid ounces on
select laptops allowing liquid to drain beneath the keyboard

In case of the unexpected, Lenovo offers Warranty and Accident Protection plans to help customers protect their PC investment. Lenovo also offers ThinkPlus Priority Support to give businesses around the clock technical telephone support, priority routing of calls and quick onsite repair. For an even faster response, ThinkPlus Priority 4 Support provides onsite repair within four hours after the original troubleshooting. Online Data Backup services are also available.

Built upon a strong foundation, Lenovo's laptops offer the latest technologies with models including solid state drive storage for reliability, switchable graphics for longer battery life and the latest Intel® Centrino 2 processor technology for fast processing. They also come with choices of large hard drives, multimedia like Blu-Ray DVD players and a host of wireless connectivity options including WiMAX, mobile broadband, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. Lenovo has also collaborated with AT&T and Ericsson for price reductions on ThinkPad laptop AT&T mobile broadband connectivity. Additionally, the ThinkPad X200 Tablet is the first Tablet to offer WiMAX connectivity.

Pricing and Availability1
The ThinkPad T400 laptop with the high brightness screen is available through Lenovo business partners beginning immediately. Pricing starts at approximately $1,350.

[Lenovo]

By the power of Bluetooth, any enterprise based email will automatically be sent from your BlackBerry to your ThinkPad once configured. You won't have to initiate the transfer in anyway. Lenovo Constant Connect is set to release in Q2 2009, but it's still unclear which email apps will support the service and uncertain whether it will work with current/previous-gen ThinkPads.

LENOVO THINKPAD LAPTOP COMPUTERS TO GAIN NEW LEVEL OF INTEGRATION WITH BLACKBERRY SMARTPHONES

Research Triangle Park, NC and Waterloo, ON – February 16, 2009 – Lenovo and Research In Motion (RIM) today announced that the two companies will work together to promote new Lenovo mobile solutions that will help on-the-go business users enhance their mobile computing and communications experience through tighter integration between Lenovo ThinkPad laptop computers and BlackBerry® smartphones.
Leveraging Lenovo's extensive global R&D capabilities and engineering prowess in laptop computers together with RIM's expertise in smartphones and wireless solutions, Lenovo plans to develop and deliver a range of industry-leading solutions and technologies that can help professionals conduct business more effectively on the go.

Lenovo Constant Connect, the first solution developed by Lenovo, will leverage the strengths of the BlackBerry® solution and Lenovo ThinkPad laptops to deliver an unparalleled user experience for flexible, real-time access to enterprise-based email. Lenovo Constant Connect will allow enterprise email received on a user's BlackBerry smartphone to be automatically synchronized via Bluetooth® onto the user's ThinkPad laptop – even if the ThinkPad laptop is off – without the user having to take any additional steps.
This level of integration and availability dramatically improves access to email on the Lenovo ThinkPad laptop from wherever a BlackBerry smartphone can access a connection. In addition to greater flexibility and convenience, it can also reduce the need to use the laptop with fee-based Wi-Fi® networks. Lenovo Constant Connect is expected to be available from Lenovo and its business partners in the second quarter of 2009 in the U.S, and to be rolled out in markets around the world later in 2009.

"With more and more mobile professionals relying on both their BlackBerry smartphone and ThinkPad laptop PC, we view better integration between the two devices as a necessity. Today's announcement is the first step in combining these best-in-class solutions to deliver a more useful and powerful mobile work experience," said Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing.

"Lenovo is adding significant value for our mutual customers by developing tighter and more seamless integration between Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and BlackBerry smartphones," said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, Research In Motion. "By leveraging the industry-leading, push-based connectivity of the BlackBerry solution, Lenovo Constant Connect will simplify email synchronization on the laptop and provide mobile professionals with greater flexibility to manage their email on the move."

Little is known about the model, but the folks at Electronista seem to think it'll be a leather-bound ThinkPad, which makes sense considering the teaser site. I'm not too keen on leather notebooks, so I'm hoping its not. In the meantime we'll have to sit tight till more news is released. – Louis Ramirez

Teaser Site [via Electronista]

Have a butchers at Lenovo's newest ThinkPads, the T61 and the R61. While there's nothing particularly scrummy about the design, the laptops do have Intel's Santa Rosa platform under the hood. Both models will be available from next month, with updated versions following on in June (a WWAN model of the T61) and July (a Blu-Ray DVD burner on the R61). There's even fingerprint technology on some of the T61s to keep your private stuff just that.

Both models have 14.1-inch displays, Intel Turbo memory card for some KITT-like Vista performance turbo-boost, hard disk encryption, SmartCard support and NVIDIA graphics. And if you were looking for the IBM badge, you can forget it: Lenovo has finally scratched it off - the first time they have done that since they bought the company's PC division in 2005. UPDATED: The logo is on the lid. All the new technology specs of both models after the jump, but no prices as yet.

T61
Intel Centrino® Duo mobile technology on selected models:
Intel Core 2 Duo processor family1 — T7100, T7300, T7500, and T7700 processors with up to 800 MHz front-size bus (FSB) and up to 4 MB L2 cache
Intel PRO/Wireless family
Intel GM/PM965 Express chipset families
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 graphics for clear images (models with GM965 chipset)
Intel Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN LAN or Intel 3945ABG Wi-Fi Wireless or ThinkPad 11a/b/g6
UltraConnect II antenna to help optimize frequency coverage and performance for improved wireless LAN (WLAN) connectivity around the world, when used with compatible options
Intel Turbo Memory Card
Microsoft Windows Vista, which facilitates better security
ThinkVantage Access Connections utility to help manage wired and wireless communications
ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery™ 3.0
Widescreen TFT display starting at 358-mm (14.1-in) has WXGA (1280 x 800) or WXGA+ (1440 x 900) resolution
Ultrabay™ Slim for fast and easy hot- and warm-swapping of selected options
The ThinkPad T61 notebook is approximately 1.1-in thin (27.6 mm)7 with optimal weight starting at approximately 5 lb8

R61
New processors and chipsets
Intel® Core 2 Duo (64-bit) processors1 up to 2.4 GHz — T7100, T7300, T7500, T7700
New Intel GM/PM965 chipset
Speedy 800 MHz front-side bus (FSB), up to 4 MB L2 cache
Added choice is 32-bit or the new 64-bit Vista operating system
Improved communications
Next generation of wireless LAN (WLAN) performance through 802.11n 2x3 MIMO
1 GB Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth, modem
14.1-inch wide screen
Hard drives for different needs
Up to 160 GB, 5400 rpm
Up to 100 GB, 7200 rpm
Intel Turbo Memory Card boosts performance (select models)
Full disk encryption provides security
New discrete graphics offerings
New NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M (128 MB) discrete graphics
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 graphics for clear images
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG LAN, Intel wireless 4945AGN LAN, or ThinkPad 11a/b/g6 WLAN card
UltraConnect II antenna to help optimize frequency coverage and performance for improved WLAN connectivity around the world, when used with compatible options
ThinkVantage Access Connections utility to help manage wired and wireless communications
ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery™
Widescreen 358-mm (14.1-in) with WXGA (1280 x 8000) or WXGA+ (1400 x 900) resolution TFT display 358-mm (14.1-in)
Ultrabay™ for fast and easy hot- and warm-swapping of selected options

– Ad Dugdale