Lenovo boosts battery in convertible tablet/laptop

Lenovo's newest tablet/notebook features Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture and longer battery life.

Announced today, the Thinkpad X220 convertible tablet/notebook will join Lenovo's upcoming X220 notebook. Both products are the latest additions to the company's X series of ultraportable notebooks and tablet/notebooks with 12.5-inch screens, and both are project to reach store shelves next month.

Notable to both the convertible and the notebook are sharp boosts in battery life. The X220 notebook offers 15 hours of battery life with a 9-cell battery--and up to 23 hours when a 6-cell external battery pack is added. The battery life on the convertible is lower, but it still offers 9 hours of life with a 6-cell battery--and 16 hours by adding on the 6-cell external pack.

The convertible's predecessor, the X201, offers 3.5 hours of battery life with a four-cell battery and 7.9 hours with an eight-cell battery.

Preston Taylor, worldwide product marketing manager for Lenovo's ThinkPad brand, said in an interview that Lenovo relied on both Intel and its own team to coax the boost in battery life over previous models. The enhanced power management found in Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture accounted for about 50 percent of the increase in battery life. But the other 50 percent came directly from Lenovo.