Lenovo ThinkPad X220 notebook promises 24 hours of battery life

Computer maker Lenovo has formally announced its new ThinkPad X220 ultraportable notebook and ThinkPad X220 convertible tablet PC, incorporating second-generation Intel Core processors for plenty of computing oomph and promising road warriors up to 15 to 24 hours of battery life, depending on configuration.

“Put simply, The ThinkPad X Series has everything a modern road warrior needs without compromises—low weight, long battery life, and high performance,” said Lenovo’s VP for ThinkPad marketing Dilip Bhatia, in a statement. “We’ve refined the mobile computing experience to make it more productive and enjoyable with features like smart PC technologies and enhanced video and voice calling.”

Both the notebook and convertible tablet versions of the ThinkPad X220 feature a 300-nit, 12.5-inch high-definition screen with space-saving self-closing hinges, with the convertible tablet version getting a Gorilla Glass screen that can stand up to the bumps and scratches of mobile use. The systems use the Intel integrated graphics built into the Sandy Bridge chip, and select models will feature a USB 3.0 port for high-bandwidth connections to peripherals and storage devices. The systems will be available with a range of second-generation Intel Core and Intel vPro processors.

Lenovo says the X220s will get up to 15 hours of battery life with a standard 9-cell battery, and up to 24 hours of use by adding a new ThinkPad external battery—when configured with a ULV processor and an SSD drive, anyway. With a four-cell battery, the notebooks start out under four pounds.

Lenovo is touting the new ThinkPads as big productivity aids partly because users won’t have to wait around as long for the machines to get ready. Lenovo Enhanced Experience 2.0 improves shut down, start up, and resume times for the systems, and a new Instant Resume function maintains wireless and network connections for up to 99 minutes during sleep mode so connections don’t have to be re-established when the system wakes up. And the convertible notebook version will notify a user if they move the tablet without having the pen in the integrated pen-holder.

Lenovo says the ThinkPad X220s will be available in April with the ultraportable notebook starting at $899, and the convertible tablet starting at $1,199.

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