Lenovo redesigns ThinkPad with the all-new T431s Ultrabook

Shawn Knight

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Lenovo’s venerable ThinkPad line has undergone an update following 18 months of planning. The first system to showcase the redesign is the just-announced ThinkPad T431s Ultrabook. It’s still very much a ThinkPad at heart but it’s been put on a diet and given some subtle, understated changes.

Overall, the system looks a bit more refined than previous ThinkPad shells. Gone are the various hooks, latches and bumpers as well as the physical mouse click buttons. Lenovo says it took two years of working with Synaptics to perfect the trackpad drivers. It is also much wider than before while the screen bezel is the thinnest ever on a T-series ThinkPad.

lenovo thinkpad

The 14-inch T431s Ultrabook ships with an impressive-sounding 1,600 x 900 matte display carrying 250 nits of brightness. Entry level systems will carry an Intel Core i5-3337U processor clocked at 2.7GHz, Intel HD Graphics, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB 5,400 RPM hard drive and your choice of Windows 7 or Windows 8. If you need a bit more power and speed, you can spring for a Core i7 CPU, up to 12GB of RAM and a solid state drive.

lenovo thinkpad

Common features include an Ethernet jack, VGA connector, 3.5mm headphone / microphone combo jack, two USB 3.0 ports, a 4-in-1 card reader, a 47WHr three-cell battery, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi and WWAN connections. The system measures 13.03 x 8.89 x 0.8 inches and weighs just 3.6 pounds. An optional backlit keyboard is available should you choose.

The Lenovo T431s Ultrabook will be available in April starting at $949.

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I've been an avid ThinkPad user for 8 years now. I'm pretty sure I would classify myself as a "common person". I buy ThinkPads for their built quality.
 
I've been an avid ThinkPad user for 8 years now. I'm pretty sure I would classify myself as a "common person". I buy ThinkPads for their built quality.
As I said before, common people don't read tech news sites and most certainly don't post comments on them ^_^. For the same money you could get something with much better specs, but as you said the built quality and support is perfect for businesses that don't want 5 in 10 laptops to be sent to repairs a month after they bought them.
Those who know about them usually tried them before buying. (usually at work). We had a T401 at home and now we sold it and got a x220.
 
Hope the fan doesn't do any weird stuff given their track record...
 
Please say its a typo that it has a vga port but no hdmi. That would be stupid.

Although it's not mentioned here, the leaked service manual (supposedly) indicated a mini-DisplayPort connection, in addition to VGA.

It seems unlikely Lenovo would forgo a digital video output, but the target market for these laptops make the VGA port a near necessity... but it'll probably have both.
 
Good thing I just bought the T430 in January...

That being said, the T430 is a great machine. It's got that Knight Rider look to it, timeless.
 
I'm sure that I am missing something ... but what good is a Trackpoint if I can't use my thumb to click on a left-click button ?

I operate all Thinkpads with only one hand (when not typing) ... where's the left-click and right-click buttons ??
 
I'm sure that I am missing something ... but what good is a Trackpoint if I can't use my thumb to click on a left-click button ?

I operate all Thinkpads with only one hand (when not typing) ... where's the left-click and right-click buttons ??

I think the T###u and T###s lines both haven't had the second set of mouse buttons for some time. I may be mistaken though. But you're right, it makes using the ThinkPad nipple a little difficult without them.
 
I think the T###u and T###s lines both haven't had the second set of mouse buttons for some time. I may be mistaken though. But you're right, it makes using the ThinkPad nipple a little difficult without them.
Yeah it looks awkward. I guess they are trying to change the generic old IBM look.
 
Awful. They've thrown out everything that made the Thinkpad superior to other designs. No physical trackpad buttons above the pad? Where's the numpad, for chrissake? Might as well save money and get a Dell or whatever.
 
Awful. They've thrown out everything that made the Thinkpad superior to other designs. No physical trackpad buttons above the pad? Where's the numpad, for chrissake? Might as well save money and get a Dell or whatever.
The numpad isnt that necessary. It just make the computer wider.
 
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