Lenovo has unveiled the Intel “Sandy Bridge”-powered ThinkPad laptops, including the 15.6-inch ThinkPad T520.
According to specification sheets published in a document on the PC maker’s website, the ThinkPad T520 comes with the Core i5-2410M, i5-2520M, i5-2540M, or i7-2620M processor, all with dual CPU cores. The business notebook features the integrated Intel HD graphics or the Nvidia Optimus switchable GPU solution combining the Intel HD with the 1GB NVIDIA Quadro NVS4200M dedicated video card. There are also up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, a solid state drive or traditional hard drive, and the Ultrabay, which can be filled with an optical drive, secondary HDD or other Ultrabay-compatible parts.
Display options include LED-backlight anti-glare 16:9 screens with 1366×768, 1600×900, or full HD 1920×1080 resolution. The displays have 60% color gamut and 220-nit brightness, except the 270-nit full HD choice with 95% gamut.
Regarding connectivity, the ThinkPad T520 sports wireless N, optional Bluetooth 3.0, optional mobile broadband, Gigabit LAN, and a 56k modem in select models.
Other features are a 720p HD webcam with mic supporting private and conference chat modes, stereo speakers, 4-in-1 media card reader, FireWire 400 port, an ExpressCard slot, and four USB 2.0 ports. One USB port on models with Nvidia Optimus is a USB/eSATA combo. External monitor output is provided via VGA and DisplayPort connectors.
For enterprise-class security, there are an optional fingerprint reader, optional Smart Card slot, optionally encrypted hard drives, and the TPM 1.2 chip.
On Optimus-powered models, the battery life is up to 28.1 hours with the 9-cell and optional 9-cell slice battery that mounts at the bottom of the laptop. The standard 9-cell and 6-cell parts alone provide up to 14 and 8.4 hours of run time, respectively. The battery life on models with integrated graphics only is about 10% shorter, according to the specs sheets.
Laptop’s weight starts at around 5.5 pounds. It’s popular serious-looking exterior comprises of a spill resistant keyboard with the TrackPoint in its middle and a multitouch trackpad below it, a display lid made of carbon-fiber / glass-fiber hybrid, and a glass-fiber reinforced plastic bottom.
The Lenovo ThinkPad T520 runs Windows 7 Professional OS, while advanced system manageability is provided through Intel vPro technology.
The T520 can be ordered now via the Lenovo official online store. The base price is $999.
Source (The pdf document contains details of other new ThinkPads as well.)
Does anyone have the full HD display? I assume its brighter than the 220-nit options, but how about system font sizes and menus, do you have to enlage text when web browsing, etc?
Fonts and menus are on the small side. Of course, you can enlarge them in Windows and full HD will give you extra work space in all apps and you can run many of them side by side. If you have a 1366×760 screen, you get larger fonts and menus by default, but you can not extend the work space in any way.