new x series?

[jamse]

anyone know and/or speculate if there will be a new x series for when vista comes out? also whats the usual series life from lenovo/ibm (how often do they put out new series). i know these laptops are geared more for business so the series last longer than ones from other computer websites.

any input or speculation would be great

[trent9008]

Lenovo has just placed all the Thinkpads on sale on their website. This almost certainly means that there is a big release coming out soon -- possibly, in reference to the x series, the x61. This is a little early to be promising Vista on mass-produced laptops, but by the time the new machines make it onto the website it will probably already be released.

[brumwald]

The current x60's handle Vista just fine, of course that doesn't mean that there can't be any improvements but I don't think Vista has anything to do with an upgrade (wouldn't be surprised if they claimed otherwise, no company is immune to marketing-crap ).

[pianowizard]

This almost certainly means that there is a big release coming out soon -- possibly, in reference to the x series, the x61.

Isn't X61 just another name for the X60 tablet? The X60 tablet is of course coming out very soon.

[trent9008]

I didn't mean to imply that the current models couldn't handle Vista, just that Lenovo probably timed the new release so as to coincide with it. Probably a bit of marketing crap in there too.

Lenovo never calls the X60 Tablet anything but just that on their site, and several reviews call it the "x60t", but no reference to an "x61 tablet" or a "x61t". I assumed that the x61 would be the next X series release, but I'm not privy to Lenovo's release plans.

[pianowizard]

I assumed that the x61 would be the next X series release

Don't worry about it. I could be wrong about that. It's just that I came across several random articles last week that referred to the X60 tablet as X61, so I wondered if you were also calling the X60 tablet X61.

[apbudha]

so does anyone have rumor information on the next version of the x-series, excluding the recent tablet business? is it going to coincide with the release of santa rosa (end of Q1, begin Q2) or sooner? hmm..

[tomh009]

so does anyone have rumor information on the next version of the x-series, excluding the recent tablet business? is it going to coincide with the release of santa rosa (end of Q1, begin Q2) or sooner? hmm..

Given that Lenovo just launched the X60 tablet, I would bet that X61 is not quite around the corner. But once the Santa Rosa chipset comes out -- giving us more than 3GB of memory -- that new chipset should merit a new "X61" name. Hitachi might have their hybrid hard disks available by then -- and maybe the SXGA+ screens will then also become available on non-table X series as well.

It's all speculation for now, though ...

[jamse]

mmmm wait did the new x60 get released beggining of q1 last year?

i would think that they would follow the same trend, especially with vista hype.... though the benchmarks with vista on laptops looked like a bad combo.

[tomh009]

mmmm wait did the new x60 get released beggining of q1 last year?

It really doesn't make sense for Lenovo to rev the X60 on the same old Napa chipset when Santa Rosa is only a few months away -- the hypothetical new X61 would be at a competitive disadvantage in a few short months' time.

Santa Rosa gives them >3GB, onboard flash cachem, better graphics, EFI and HSDPA WWAN -- enough to justify a model number change.

Or at least that's what I think ...

[rexy]

From everything I have read Santa Rosa can really make use of Vista and 64 bit. Unlike the current chip set (950)
A much better graphics card (x3100 I think), built in 512 or 1GB Flash and
letting us use much more RAM.
I can't wait until it becomes available in a Thinkpad x60.

[tomh009]

From everything I have read Santa Rosa can really make use of Vista and 64 bit. Unlike the current chip set (950)
A much better graphics card (x3100 I think), built in 512 or 1GB Flash and
letting us use much more RAM.
I can't wait until it becomes available in a Thinkpad x60.

The onboard flash cache concept is still something that we'll have to see how it plays out. Intel is pushing the concept, but meanwhile hard drive manufacturers are keen on (and Microsoft is supporting in Vista) hybrid drives.

Santa Rosa will definitely support onboard flash, but we'll have to wait and see how many notebook designs actually include the flash memory.

[jamse]

mmmm wait did the new x60 get released beggining of q1 last year?

It really doesn't make sense for Lenovo to rev the X60 on the same old Napa chipset when Santa Rosa is only a few months away -- the hypothetical new X61 would be at a competitive disadvantage in a few short months' time.

Santa Rosa gives them >3GB, onboard flash cachem, better graphics, EFI and HSDPA WWAN -- enough to justify a model number change.

Or at least that's what I think ...

wait can you link me to your santa rosa articles? also does santa rosa chipset get around the crappy battery life that vista has on current laptops? or is that b/c most test havnt been on an official release?

[rexy]

Here are two good links.
Many more can be found if you google "Intel Santa Rosa"
If seems from what I have been able to gather from other links battery life may increase by nearly 25%.
hence the name "Centrino Pro"

Santa Rosa platform
The code-name Santa Rosa refers to the fourth-generation Centrino platform, scheduled for release in April 2007 with the following features:[1]

second generation Intel Core 2 processor (code named Merom) that uses Socket P
800 MT/s front side bus with Dynamic Front Side Bus Switching to save power during low utilization
Intel Mobile 965 Express chipset (code named Crestline) with Intel's GMA X3000 graphics technology
Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n mini-PCIe Wi-Fi adapter (code named Kedron)
NAND flash-memory caching (code-named Robson)
WWAN Internet access via HSDPA codeveloped with Nokia (code-named Windigo) [1][2]
EFI, a successor to BIOS
WiMAX [3]
Intel Dynamic Acceleration (IDA), better Windows Vista Aero support [4]
The Santa Rosa platform will be branded as "Centrino Pro".[5]



http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/11/07/intel ... ap_update/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino

[tomh009]

wait can you link me to your santa rosa articles? also does santa rosa chipset get around the crappy battery life that vista has on current laptops? or is that b/c most test havnt been on an official release?

Rexy's links are good ... as far as Vista goes, Santa Rosa will definitely improve things. But based on early data from the RTM version, Vista's power consumption isn't dramatically worse than that of XP: without Aero, the gap might be 10% or so. Still, need more data -- and losing 10% still isn't great.

So things like the hybrid disk technology will be more than welcome! (Note that you'll be able to run hybrid disks with current notebook chipsets as well.)

[Tab]

[...] and maybe the SXGA+ screens will then also become available on non-table X series as well.

It's all speculation for now, though ...

Over on the GottaBeMobile.com forums it looks like most people are opting for the SXGA+ screen for the X60 tablet. I don't know if that's just the enthusiast market speaking or if it represents significant demand.

[jamse]

i would love to have an x60 with an sxga that would be perfect for me

[dorin]

thanks alot for this posts here. i was sooo close to buy an x60s, though my x40 still makes a very good job (used as main comp).

had no idea how the "future" will look like!

but now i can wait till next summer or so and get the new x61, x70 or whatever the name will be

so, thanks alot guys!

[tomh009]

i would love to have an x60 with an sxga that would be perfect for me

I think the set of Santa Rosa features is pretty much a given, and hybrid disks are more than likely (the "Robson" flash cache in the Santa Rosa chipset will likely function as Vista ReadyBoost, rather than ReadyDrive, assuming Lenovo includes the cache on board).

But the screens are a big question mark. I think we'll see something more, but the question is what: will it be SXGA+ (1400x1050), or will we see a wide-screen version with WXGA (1280x800) or WSXGA (1440x1900)?

I will go out on a limb and forecast another four months of wild rumours and improbable speculation until the real story comes out!

[jamse]

i would love to have an x60 with an sxga that would be perfect for me

I think the set of Santa Rosa features is pretty much a given, and hybrid disks are more than likely (the "Robson" flash cache in the Santa Rosa chipset will likely function as Vista ReadyBoost, rather than ReadyDrive, assuming Lenovo includes the cache on board).

But the screens are a big question mark. I think we'll see something more, but the question is what: will it be SXGA+ (1400x1050), or will we see a wide-screen version with WXGA (1280x800) or WSXGA (1440x1900)?

I will go out on a limb and forecast another four months of wild rumours and improbable speculation until the real story comes out!

mmm i hope they dont make the next gen x-series into a wxga, i really dont like wxga at all, but sxga on the x series would make me very happy

[sxr71]

so does anyone have rumor information on the next version of the x-series, excluding the recent tablet business? is it going to coincide with the release of santa rosa (end of Q1, begin Q2) or sooner? hmm..

Given that Lenovo just launched the X60 tablet, I would bet that X61 is not quite around the corner. But once the Santa Rosa chipset comes out -- giving us more than 3GB of memory -- that new chipset should merit a new "X61" name. Hitachi might have their hybrid hard disks available by then -- and maybe the SXGA+ screens will then also become available on non-table X series as well.

It's all speculation for now, though ...

Santa Rosa is exactly what I am waiting for.

[sxr71]

I think Lenovo has better sense than to push widescreen models on business customers like everyone else seems to be doing. They might give us an option, but I doubt they will do that on the X-series like they did with the T-series.