Lenovo ThinkPad Spring Refresh: T420s, T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520

Today Lenovo announced a wide array of upgrades to the ThinkPad notebooks for business users including the ThinkPad L Series, ThinkPad T Series and ThinkPad W series. The new upgrades focused on five key areas of usability and function designed at optimizing the ThinkPad line while adding the latest Second Generation Core i Family of processors to the mix.

The following ThinkPad models were update in this refresh. Click the links for more details, specs and images of each notebook.

• ThinkPad T420s – 14″ sub 4 pound ultraportable
• ThinkPad T420 – 14″ notebook with 15 hours of battery life
• ThinkPad T520 – 15″ notebook with long battery life
• ThinkPad L420 – 14″ entry level thinkPad notebook
• ThinkPad L520 – 15″ entry level  ThinkPad with high res screen options
• ThinkPad W520 – 15″ Mobile Workstation

The newest ThinkPad models will all come with the Second Generation Intel Core i family of processors or Intel VPro Processors and make use of Intel TurboBoost 2.0 and the Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 to provide users with more faster speeds for longer times.

Lenovo ThinkPad 2011 Refresh Video:

The five following areas have seen improvements from the last generation of ThinkPad T, ThinkPad L and ThinkPad W notebooks.

Video and Voice Calling: The newest ThinkPads add a new mode to the video conferencing options that allows users to switch between Private Chat mode, which uses noise cancelling to focus on one voice, and Conference call mode which listens to 360 degrees of sound using the dual array microphone to turn your laptop into a speakerphone wherever you are.

Further enhancing the video calling expereince is the keybaord suppresion technology which works to get rid of the keyboard noises commonly heard when an attendee takes notes.

Self Aware and Adaptive Technologies: Lenovo has fine tuned the latest Intel processors with Lenovo TurboBoost+ which allows the ThinkPad laptops to stay in TurboBoost mode longer.

On the other end of the spectrum, when you are watching a movie or listening to music, the notebook knows what components you don’t need running and will reduce the power they use resulting in a claimed 30% longer battery life while watching and listenign to multimedia.

All Day Battery Life: A battery that literally lasts all day is on order with the recent T Series and W Series upgrades. The ThinkPad T420 gets 15 hours with the standard 9 cell battery and can be combined with the optional 9-cell slice battery for a total of 30 hours of battery life! The T Series slice battery can also be used with the ThinkPad W520 for extended life.

Another feature is the inclusion of NVIDIA Optimus on the ThinkPad T and ThinkPad W lines which will switch between integrated and discrete graphics as needed in order to deliver a 33% better battery life performance over the previous models.

Designed for Enterprise: The new ThinkPad lines are designed to make things easier on IT administrators thanks to common batteries and common docks across the entire ThinkPad L, T and W lines.

Ease of Use Features: The ThinkPad L, T and W notebooks also have several usability enhancements including the ability to maintain your WiFi connection when you shut the lid. This is handy for users who need to go form one meeting room to another and don’t want to take the time to close the laptop lid while they walk. Lenovo Instant Resume puts the laptop to sleep, but maintains the WiFi connection for 99 minutes.

Lenovo thinkPad T Series, L Series and W Series Availability:

The newest ThinkPad T, L and W Series will be available in March from with pricing for the T420s, T420, T520, L420, L520 and W520 starting at approximately $1,329, $779, $909, $719, $719 and $1329, respectively. The notebooks will be available direct from Lenovo and from Lenovo Business partners.