RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.----Lenovo today announced two new ThinkPad notebooks PCs - the first ThinkPad T61 14.1-inch widescreen notebook and the first ever R Series widescreen, the ThinkPad R61 14.1-inch widescreen notebook. Lenovo engineered the PCs with its latest innovations, including a new Top Cover Roll Cage for excellent durability, an improved cooling system, enhanced wireless connectivity with Ultra Connect II and longer battery life through its Battery Stretch control option. Featuring the latest Intel® Centrino® Pro and Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology, the ThinkPad T61 and R61 14.1-inch widescreen notebooks, respectively, offer users the strongest, coolest, quietest and best performing ThinkPad lineup yet.

Lenovo also today introduced the Lenovo 3000 N200 15.4-inch widescreen notebook offering top connectivity and graphics capabilities with the latest Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology.

“The technologies we’ve designed and integrated into our new ThinkPad notebook PCs demonstrate Lenovo’s best engineering at work,” said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president, Notebooks, Lenovo. “Improvements in durability, reliability and wireless connectivity will help to make our customer’s PC experience more enjoyable and productive. With the latest Lenovo technologies, we are continuing to set the standard for innovation and reliability.”

Rock Solid Reliability from Top to Bottom

Engineered with a new Top Cover Roll Cage in addition to the original hard drive magnesium roll cage, the new notebooks provide rock solid reliability with top to bottom protection. The new honeycomb-designed roll cage cushions the notebook’s LCD, reinforcing the screen and helping reduce stress on the display structure and antenna. The new Top Cover Roll Cage reduces the stress on the LCD screen by 25 percent on average when the notebook is dropped compared to previous ThinkPad notebooks. Combined with features like the airbag-like sensor of Lenovo’s Active Protection System and a shock-mounted hard drive, these notebooks provide the highest level of Lenovo notebook reliability and durability.

Improved Wireless for Road Warriors

Lenovo offers its best wireless performance with Ultra Connect II. This connectivity design helps reduce the effect of conductive material and LCD noise, boosting WWAN and WLAN performance and eliminating the need for external antennas. The notebooks offer several different connectivity options such as WWAN¹ on select ThinkPad T61 models and WLAN with 802.11n technology², GB Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth and modem. When used with Access Connections, Ultra Connect II helps give road warriors an easy to manage wireless experience.

Cooler, Quieter System Designed by Nature

Owls are known for their silence during flight, and the unique shape of an owl’s wing inspired the design behind Lenovo’s improved cooling system design. The system reduces surface temperature by up to 10 percent and lowers the noise level by three decibels over previous ThinkPad notebooks, giving Lenovo its coolest and quietest notebooks yet.

Stretching Out PC Battery Life

Lenovo puts users in the driver’s seat for up to 15 percent longer battery life³ with Battery Stretch. Whether it’s finishing a presentation or watching the end of a DVD, Battery Stretch allows individuals to select and manage options like minimizing refresh rates and disabling radios and Bluetooth options in the Power Manager ThinkVantage Technology software to maximize their battery life.

Packed with Security and Performance

The new notebook PCs offer cutting-edge security with select models offering full disk encryption hard drives, an integrated biometric fingerprint reader and a smart card reader. Users can also opt for Intel® Turbo Memory with both notebooks and new IT management capabilities with Intel® Active Management Technology in the ThinkPad T61 14.1-inch widescreen. To enhance the multimedia experience, the notebooks offer choices of Intel integrated or NVIDIA discrete graphics and a four-in-one media card reader. Users can also opt for an integrated camera with the ThinkPad R61 14.1-inch widescreen notebook.

Lenovo 3000 N200: Another Smart Choice for Doing Business

Lenovo gives customers another smart choice for doing business with the Lenovo 3000 N200 15.4-inch widescreen notebook. This notebook features leading technology in a thin and light form all at a good value. With today’s always-connected environment in mind, the notebook offers WLAN with 802.11n technology, 10/100 Ethernet and Bluetooth connectivity options. Integrated fingerprint readers help individuals manage their passwords and information. And to help lower the total cost of PC ownership, Lenovo Care Tools help manage IT tasks with automatic updates, one-button system recovery and simple network connectivity.

Choices of Intel integrated graphics or NVIDIA discrete graphics combined with options like an integrated camera and microphone, a five-in-one multicard reader and Vibrant View display add up to an excellent multimedia experience.

Pricing and Availability⁴

The ThinkPad T61 and R61 14.1-inch notebooks start at approximately $1,399 and $1,249, respectively, and will be available in mid-May.

The Lenovo 3000 N200 15.4-inch widescreen notebook starts at approximately $1,099 and will be available at the end of May. All three notebooks will be available through Lenovo Business Partners and online at www.lenovo.com

About Lenovo

Lenovo HKSE: 0992 ADR: LNVGY is dedicated to building the world’s best engineered personal computers. Lenovo’s business model is built on innovation, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction as well as a focus on investment in emerging markets. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services worldwide. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com

¹WWAN Service Providers: Requires separate agreement with select third party service provider, and is subject to credit approval and applicable service agreement/terms, rate plan and coverage maps of the provider. Service is available in select metropolitan markets, not available in all areas. Service provider, not Lenovo, is solely responsible for service. Lenovo customers may be contacted after purchase to activate service. Special credit and tenure restrictions and additional charges may apply to international roaming. A network connection, third-party software, additional hardware, and/or subscription to a third-party service may be required for certain solutions/applications. Additional restrictions apply. Offer subject to change.

²11n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapters: are based on the Draft Release Version 1.0 of the IEEE 802.11n specification, which has not been finalized.

³Battery life and recharge times will vary based on many factors, including use of Battery Stretch and other system settings and usage. A description of the environment under which the test was performed is available upon request. See http://www.pc.ibm.com/ww/thinkpad/batterylife/

⁴Prices do not include tax or shipping and are subject to change without notice. Reseller prices may vary. Price does not include all advertised features. All offers subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice.