Lenovo ThinkPad x130e

[MYK-IT]

Whilst at BETT last week I spent a while looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad x130e laptop that was designed towards students/education.

 

I was advised that it would be around the £350 mark, and the Intel version (x131e???) should be available in around 6-8 weeks once Intel release their new chipset.

 

Does anyone else have any further information/confirmed pricing on these? as most 'google' searches bring up American websites.

 

Thanks,

[Millgate]

I've just checked and the release has been pushed back until February but it doesn't say a date so I'm waiting for our guys at Lenovo to return my call and then i'll let you know for sure

[3s-gtech]

I really, really want to know when these are coming (AMD model) and the price. Got an order for 36 of them ready when they do, they are perfect for what I want.

[MYK-IT]

Me too!

 

The Lenovo rep stated that the X120e and X130e were going to be sold for the same price (they are same spec, but X130e heavier because of the stronger lid/chassis etc) and that once Intel release their new processor/chipset that would be also available (~6-8 weeks) and possibly marketed as X131e.

[3s-gtech]

Yeah I was trying to get hold of the Fusion E450 powered X121e but it has disappeared from the channel - bit of digging brought up this new model. The old X100e was rugged - these should be great with an SSD shoved in!

[Millgate]

Just spoke to Lenovo again and they haven't issued a release date yet. All they knew is that it will probably be this quarter and until it's released, they can't send out any info or pricing

 

I've emailed and left a message with a guy quite high up to see if he knows anything so if he has any info i'll let you guys know. The X121e is still available in the meantime.

 

Sorry it's nothing more concrete

[MYK-IT]

Lenovo are coming to visit me next week regarding these new model laptops.

 

I will update accordingly once I have further information.

[MYK-IT]

Just an update.

 

Had a meeting with Lenovo this morning and they brought some laptops (to throw on the floor!) to demonstrate.

Again, I was impressed with the X130e (other bigger screen, and thinner laptops were also demonstrated) with its build quality, keyboard and strength etc., and despite being a 12.1” screen, our students preferred it to the other (bigger screen) models.

 

No further details (release dates) for the Intel variant were known, but the AMD X130e model is available subject to a few weeks delay due to high demand.

 

Numerous customisation options are also available. Besides choosing lid colour, you can also stipulate if you want certain components installed or not (Webcam, Bluetooth etc.).

It will also come with Lenovo’s own software that can take snapshots/captures of the build and store it on another partition etc. so you can easily restore the original image.

 

I also had a demonstration of the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet (Android 3.1). Whilst not as cosmetically appealing as other tablets, its build quality was fantastic. The screen had previously been punched with no damage at all.

Lenovo can supply modified versions of Android (comes with “Documents To Go”, the Market Place can be locked down and it can even work with AD accounts for logging in). It also has software built within the firmware (cannot be removed) in case of theft for tracing and remote deletion purposes.

 

Finally, Windows 8 Tablet should be out by October 2012.

 

(After reading above, it feels like a sales pitch but it’s not! )

Edited January 25, 2012 by MYK-IT

[Millgate]

(After reading above, it feels like a sales pitch but it’s not! )

 

That's my job! Ha. I'll update people on the release date as soon as i hear anything

[3s-gtech]

My suppliers are starting to get info too. Pricing for the AMD model looks good, though I'll customise the spec if possible. Might even tell them to keep the HDDs if possible, these will have SSDs in.

[Arthur]

The Intel and AMD ThinkPad X130e's will be available to order from 09/02/2012 according to the article below...

 

www.techpowerup.com/159448/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X130e-Laptop-Now-Available-for-Order.html

[3s-gtech]

That article suggest the E-450 won't be available, but everything else I've seen suggests it will

[MYK-IT]

Lenovo - Professional-grade Laptops | ThinkPad X Series | Mobile Freedom | X130e | Lenovo | US

 

update:

Just got some provisional pricing...just awaiting full specification

Edited January 27, 2012 by MYK-IT

[Sensei]

We're looking to purchase 10 of the X-130e. Has anyone heard any more news on when they are likely to be available and likely price?

[3s-gtech]

Mine are with us now, being imaged (not easy!) Paid £300 each for the AMD version with 7 Home and 2GB RAM. Put in another 2GB myself, plus a 64GB SSD, and EES covers the licenses. Then bought 3 year warranties for them. Total spend was £16k for 35 of them.

[Sensei]

Are you willing to share where you purchased them from?

[speckytecky]

Not trying to hijack the thread but I'm curious - what charging trollies are best for these smaller devices and what security do people surround them with - do you engrave them, label or what?

[MYK-IT]

They should be available via your normal reseller(s).

 

There are many on here too; Millgate, CP Ltd, etc. to name a few.

 

They will need to contact Lenovo for special educational bids (which is apparently a bit of a nightmare for resellers, so quotes may vary slightly.)

 

Ours are due this week.

[3s-gtech]

Yeah, it's not a normal order through your resellers - ours came Airmailed straight from China. Would love to get them into the classrooms ASAP but imaging them is going to be a proper nightmare - the latest kernel in FOG does not play nicely with them! Will probably have to stick the SSDs in an AHCI compliant desktop (I know our Acer X270s work).

[cyr0n_k0r]

We are currently evaluating the X130e. It seems nice but I'd really like to hear if anyone else has these units and how they have withstood being in students hands. The lenovo people can "demonstrate" ruggedness all day long, but I'd like to hear actual stories from people that have given these out to students or teachers. Have they withstood being dropped and man handled by kids well?

[MYK-IT]

We are currently evaluating the X130e. It seems nice but I'd really like to hear if anyone else has these units and how they have withstood being in students hands. The lenovo people can "demonstrate" ruggedness all day long, but I'd like to hear actual stories from people that have given these out to students or teachers. Have they withstood being dropped and man handled by kids well?

 

probably still a bit early for users to give feedback considering they have only been in the UK market for a month.

 

I've not finished windows 7 deployment testing yet, so only been using them in our test lab for the past few weeks.

 

They don't claim to be totally indestructible, but besides dropping from a height, I would say that a user would have to intentionally damage it to break them

[3s-gtech]

Ours have been in use a couple of weeks now, by staff only as yet. Just building the student machines now.

 

They are seriously well built, they just look and feel tough. The case has no flex, the lid and base are very strong too. The island keyboard is a great size, and should be durable (at least more so than the old HPs we used). The screen is the same as on earlier models, so not the brightest; but clear, decent res and matt finish.

 

The performance is good. With cheap SSDs and 4GB in them, they run fine. The E-450 only gets 3.9 in the WEI (same as a Prescott P4), but it runs along fine for most tasks, and doesn't get hot in the casing. Battery life is very good. Plenty of ports, having HDMI has been very useful for some staff where the projectors have HDMI ports.

 

The standard Windows install is loaded with junk. As I've swapped to SSDs this isn't a problem - however, the default HDD is 7mm, so you must get a slim SSD or be prepared to split yours from its casing (eg a Kingtson V200 fits fine, a Crucial M4 needs to be modified).

 

I've haven't tried abusing them to see how tough they really are, I'm not that brave, but any more questions, please ask.

[jamin100]

I really want these but my resellers are still stating that they can only x120's

Hopefully after easter they will be easier to get hold of as they look perfect for us.

[chazzy2501]

I had a demo with the AMD version and was impressed. Recessed ports, anti tamper keyboard (no more picked off keys) strong lid and hinges. (he stood on it!) The tablet was cool it had a dedicated educational market place that allowed you to deploy apps to a number of tablets. It was touch and stylus, and could also have a remote share to the windows network and supported proxied internet. couldn't tell me about remote printing though.

[dhicks]

Would love to get them into the classrooms ASAP but imaging them is going to be a proper nightmare - the latest kernel in FOG does not play nicely with them!

 

We've just got 40 new X121e machines. They work with FOG okay, but if you're not booting the FOG kernel the PXE boot menu doesn't seem to transfer control back to the OS on the harddrive properly - the PXe boot menu comes up, waits 3 seconds, decides it's going to carry on booting from the harddrive, then promptly reboots and does it all again. It turns out they work fine if you don't set them to PXE boot by default, you just choose PXE boot from the boot menu by hitting F12 at startup. It's a bit fiddly but okay.