Lenovo today announced its new portfolio of notebooks catering to small to medium business users (SMBs) as well as meeting the needs of general users.

 

The portfolio includes the premium ThinkPad Edge S series, the mainstream ThinkPad Edge E series and entry level Lenovo B series.

 

The company explained that its Edge 11”, 13”, 14” and 15” offerings include new technologies such as the Lenovo Solution Centre to solve common tasks, along with “rich visual and deluxe audio features”.

 

"Small businesses are demanding a notebook that can do it all – they want great performance for work tasks and an excellent experience for their own personal computing," explained Luis Hernandez, vice president, ThinkPad Edge Business Unit, Lenovo.

 

"The new ThinkPad Edge notebooks exceed these expectations with extras like a new progressive design, speedy boot up and easy management features," he asserted.

 

 

 

 

The first notebook detailed by the company, the ThinkPad Edge S430 is a 14” notebook that is particularly aimed at business professionals. It boasts the latest Intel Core processors, a DVD burner or a second hard drive for up to 1 TB of storage, choices of Intel integrated or NVIDIA Optimus graphics, Dolby Home Theatre v4, USB 3.0 ports and Intel ThunderboltTM technology.

 

The company elaborated that Thunderbolt enables users to transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds, and backup a year’s worth of continuous MP3 playback in a little more than ten minutes. The notebook further offers Lenovo Solution Centre, powered by Intel Small Business Advantage, a set of tools allowing remote management for energy savings and deploying updates.

 

Reflecting the need by many professionals for portability, the notebook is less than 25 mm thin.

 

 

The new ThinkPad Edge 14" E430 and 15" E530 notebooks similarly offer SMBs a choice of  their desired level of performance. The notebooks can either be equipped with Intel Core processors or AMD Fusion APUs (on the E435 and E535 models), and users will further be able to choose from integrated or discrete graphics.

 

The company elaborated that notable features of the E series notebooks include fast boot times, up to 1 TB of storage that can be combined with solid state drive (SSD) storage, USB 3.0 ports and a high resolution web camera. The E series will additionally include smaller 11.6” and 13.3” form factors.

 

The E series ThinkPad Edge notebooks will sport a graphite grey interior; however users will be able to choose from three colours for the notebook cover, including Midnight Black, Heatwave Red or Cobalt Blue.

 

 

The Lenovo B series is the entry level offerings of the group, which is geared towards affordability and an entry level business user. Nonetheless, it does share some of the features found on the S and E series, including the choice of Intel Core processors (on the B480 and B580) or AMD Fusion APUs (on the B485 and B585 models).

 

Similarly, users will be able to choose from integrated or discrete graphics. Additionally, up to 1 TB of storage, USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI out port and a 4-in-1 multi-card reader will also be included.

 

 

While the ThinkPad Edge E430/435, E530/535 is slated for a worldwide release this April, the ThinkPad Edge E130/135, E330/335 and Lenovo B480/485, B580/585 series notebooks will apparently only be available in “select markets.”

 

There is no official word as yet as to whether South Africa is included amongst those selected, nor any indication given as to the recommended retail price locally for any of the new series.