Lenovo has announced the launch of several new laptops in their IdeaPad and ThinkPad lines to coincide with the unveiling of Intel's Centrino 2 platform earlier today. One of those is the new ThinkPad X200 ultra-thin laptop, which joins Apple's MacBook Air and Lenovo's own X300 as one of the lightest fully-functional laptops available today.


This 12.1-inch screen laptop - a follow-up to the X61 - is powered by Intel's Core 2 Duo chips running between 2.26GHz and 2.40GHz, with 3MB of L2 cache. It will support up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, up to a 320GB hard drive, and include integrated graphics from Intel. Additional features include WWAN, Webcam, and GPS options, plus the option for a 64GB solid-state drive.

As with its predecessor, the ThinkPad X200 sacrifices the optical drive to achieve maximum portability - though there's an optional ultra-thin Blu-ray optical drive available. The system starts out at 2.95 lbs and the battery life ranges from 3.2 to a whopping 9.3 hours depending on your battery choice. All in all, the X200 boasts better performance and battery life than its predecessor and even the X300 but at a much more affordable price, starting at $1,199.