Hasta La Gadget!

The traditional chalk and blackboard is still a staple in most of the classrooms around the world, although those living in emerging countries and more backwater areas might not even have a classroom with four walls to call their own, but will instead have to settle for a shack or even in an open air environment. Some of the private schools in tropical countries, on the other hand, have superb facilities and include air-conditioning all year round, now how about that? Well, for areas where learning online is starting to pick up, the notebook would be an essential tool for kids to bring to class, and with over 1,000 schools using Chromebooks these days, it opens up the door for teachers and students alike to take advantage of the web’s vast educational resources. Having said that, Lenovo has just announced a Chromebook that will be based on their popular ThinkPad laptop range, and have dubbed it the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e Chromebook.

Since all classrooms possess unique hardware and software needs, the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e Chromebook intends to deliver the hassle-free experience of Chrome OS alongside the ThinkPad’s rugged design, where there will be specialized features such as a rubber bumper located around the top cover for added protection, stronger corners, reinforced hinges and hinge brackets, and a high definition (HD) LED anti-glare screen.

All of the above mentioned seems to make the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e Chromebook well armed to handle the everyday rigors of a classroom, and thanks to a battery that Lenovo claims is able to last up to 6.5 hours courtesy of its latest-generation Intel processor, the ThinkPad Chromebook ought to have more than enough underneath its hood to handle even the most active students and teachers.

The new Lenovo ThinkPad X131e Chromebook will hit the US for a mere $429 each from February 26th onwards, and schools are then able to add management and support from Google for a one-time cost of $30 per Chromebook.

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[ Lenovo ThinkPad X131e Chromebook copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

When we talk about the younger generation, most of the time, we would think of them being irresponsible with a dash of cheekiness, and who can blame them for their youthful optimism? There is a downside to that though, as some of them do take things in life lightly, and as such, getting them a shiny new device for their birthday might not be such a good idea. After all, with the number of scrapes and falls that your son or daughter had gone through over the years, do you think giving them a shiny new MacBook Pro is going to help slow them down? Woe to your wallet when they return home from school with a broken display on their MacBook Pro.

Well, here we are with Lenovo who has a heart to help out this particular group of consumers – with the latest release, the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e. Lenovo says that “we know from experience that students are our toughest customers – literally – and for that reason we make it a point to go above and beyond our standard ruggedness features in the laptops we introduce for education.” Let us see how far they have gone with this particular promise right after the jump.

Built specially for students using technologies which enhance classroom learning alongside a rugged design that is meant to meet the physical demands of the average school day and beyond, the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e will come in two choices where processor options are concerned – the Intel Core or the Celeron processors, where they are also accompanied by AMD E-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) to deliver strong performance, Dolby Advanced Audio for rich and resonant sound so that your ears will also benefit from the experience, vibrant HD graphics and USB 3.0 connectivity – useful when it comes to transferring data in the blink of an eye.

Teachers, too, will fall in love with the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e simply because it also comes with a wireless activity LED indicator on its cover. This makes it easy for teachers to help identify those students who are connected to a Wi-Fi network in the classroom, checking out their Facebook account instead of working on that assignment. I can think of a few ways to circumvent this though, so while it is a nice thought, it might not work as intended due to the ingenuity of our youth these days.

Among the heavy duty features that can withstand the rigors of a student’s life include reinforced hinges, stainless steel hinge brackets, a tightly aligned keyboard, a dustless fan, a strengthened AC adapter cable, an enhanced HDD shock performance among others. It is rather affordable when you think about it – price start from $499 upwards.

Press Release

[ Lenovo ThinkPad X131e plays nice with students in classrooms copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]