The Lenovo ThinkPad X-Series: Ultraportable, Ultra-Durable and Ultimately Ultra-Practical.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X-Series laptops have found a rather unique niche in the notebook market. Though not the cheapest laptop computer you may find, nor the prettiest by any means, the trusted black box that is the Lenovo ThinkPad X-Series delivers an impressively compact, incomparably durable and sufficiently powerful laptop option. Without focusing on a multitude of bells-and-whistles, the core of performance is still there, and the ThinkPad X-Series will ably handle the computer needs of the mobile professional or student.

Lenovo ThinkPad X-Series Review

Picture yourself sitting on an international flight, laptop, chips and juice on the tiny tray in front working on your Lenovo ThinkPad X-Series laptop computer. Of course, the guy in front decides its time for a nap shoots his chair back, leaving your laptop covered in food drink and on the floor. Not a problem. This is just the sort of situation Lenovo had in mind designing the ThinkPad X-Series.

With no model weighing over 1.36 kg, or measuring thicker than 1.85cm, tight spaces such as your airline tray, the crowded train or lecture, or just on the shoulder of the mobile user is where the X-Series earns its money.

However, despite its compactness, the X-Series was also designed to take the rough and tumble of the portable life. No moving parts in the internal system; spill-resistant keyboard in a sealed tray with drain holes to guide leakage out of the system as quickly as possible; Next Generation ThinkPad internal roll cage and chassis of carbon fibre; magnesium outer case – it is probably the hardiest (and plainest) notebook you’ll come across.

Compatible with the Intel Centrino Duo Mobile processor, the Lenovo X-Series laptops reap the benefits from this five-star consumer rated processor in three primary ways.

First, the Duo Mobile is also designed for mobility and is both durable and light. Second, its parallel processing ability improves boot/loading times gives and gives you increased multi-tasking performance (running a Powerpoint presentation with multimedia in the background, for example, would be a breeze). Lastly, it is an energy saver, and in conjunction with the minimum 12.1” widescreen LED displays and 90% recyclable packaging, makes the ThinkPad X-Series a greener option.

Running at up to 2.40 GHz, with a minimum 2GB of memory and 168 MB hard-drive, the X-Series is also no slouch, and this core of performance is all you need if you are a professional or student always on the move and in need of quick, reliable access without the fuss.

Lenovo ThinkPad X-Series Battery

The ThinkPad T-Series use a 6, 8 or 9-cell Lithium Polymer battery, designed for the rough and tumble of a mobile laptop, giving you up to 10 hours battery life. Though the bigger the battery, the heavier the laptop, so choose well.

Lenovo ThinkPad X-Series Price

There are cheaper notebooks on the market, but not with the features and reliability of the ThinkPad. You’ll be looking at something between $2 000 and $4 000 depending on the model.

Lenovo Support

* Australian support number: 1300-557-073 (24 hours, 7 days a week)

* Online help link: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/homeLenovo.do (support centre); http://forums.lenovo.com/ (support forum).

* Warranty: 1 year standard.