Lenovo ThinkPad Laptops with Core 2 Duo Now Available

Lenovo’s recently announced refreshed Thinkpad notebooks are now available for purchase in the USA through company’s website. The 14.1-inch and 15.4-inch ThinkPad Z, R, T series, as same as the 12.1-inch X series are now configurable with Intel Core 2 Duo (codenamed Merom) processors.

The Lenovo Thinkpads are also updated with the support for the forthcoming wireless 802.11n standard, along with the latest security features on select models.

The cheapest Core 2 Duo-powered Lenovo ThinkPad is R60 model with price starting at $939. It features T5500 CPU at 1.66GHz with 2MB L2 cache, 512MB of main memory, 40GB 5400rpm hard drive, ThinkPad 11a/b/g Wi-Fi wireless LAN, Bluetooth and Windows XP Home OS. The same configuration with Celeron M 420 processor costs $680.

Lenovo’s ultraportable X60 has the highest starting price among Core 2 Duo ThinkPads. The least expensive Merom-powered X60 is priced at $1280.

The upgrade to wireless n standard on refreshed Thinkpad mobile PCs costs $30.

Lenovo - Notebook computers - ThinkPad - United States

This looks fantastic, especially since the once-pricier ThinkPad X61 models are currently (via various sale offers) about $1200-$1400 starter for a 2G (4M cache) Core 2 Duo. Given that that puts them in the same range as the non-ThinkPad Lenovos, true-blue ThinkPads seem like the way to go if you’re going Lenovo. I was leaning towards Dell, but I’m intrigued now. :)