Why it matters to you
Anniversary editions are rarely that special, but with the Thinkpad’s professional pedigree, this one could be great.
Lenovo’s surprise birthday present for us all, a special edition, 25th-anniversary Thinkpad, has leaked ahead of its release, giving us a look at it both inside and out. The commemorative Thinkpad embodies all of the professional style of its predecessors while packing powerful hardware under the hood to make it a speedy little system.
The Thinkpad range is one of the longest-running laptop brands in existence. Originally debuted in 1992 under its then-owner, IBM, the range has always embodied smart professionalism in a small form factor. Said to be based on the Japanese Bento by its original designer, the Thinkpad range eventually became part of the Lenovo family when the Chinese electronics manufacturer purchased the brand and its developmental division in 2005.
The special edition Thinkpad has a T470 look to it, with the same black paint job with minor red styling choices throughout the design. Its display is a 14-inch 1080P IPS panel that’s powered by an onboard Nvidia 940MX graphics chip. That’s paired up with an Intel Core i7-7500U which turbos up to 3.5GHz, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD).
Lenovo ThinkPad 25 Leak: Das Retro-ThinkPad zum 25. Geburtstag der "besten Notebooks der Welt" – Details & Bilder https://t.co/9nUznjucRF
— WinFuture.de (@WinFuture) September 22, 2017
Originally revealed in a tweet and exposé by German site WinFuture (via Gizmodo), the laptop comes with a full array of contemporary connectivity options. It includes a USB Type-C connector, Thunderbolt 3 port, HDMI connector, Gigabit Ethernet support and an SD card reader. It also supports the latest Wi-Fi standards and Bluetooth 4.2 for wireless connectivity.
Additional features include a 720P built-in webcam with support for Windows Hello biometric login and Dolby Premium speakers for decent audio (for a laptop).
The anniversary Thinkpad cuts a pretty low profile with a maximum width of just 19.95 millimetres and an overall weight of just 3.5 pounds.
Details on pricing and availability are still scarce. The original WinFuture release has little information about it and Lenovo itself is still tight-lipped on the subject, last referencing the Thinkpad range with its curved design concept. Still, 2017 is the 25th anniversary year of the Thinkpad, so we would expect a launch this year, which doesn’t leave much time left for it to hit store shelves.
Considering October itself is the anniversary release month for the notebook range, we’d be surprised if at the very least we didn’t learn a lot more about the anniversary edition then, if not see its final release.