Lenovo Introduces Rugged ThinkPad Chromebook for Schools

Lenovo has announced the ThinkPad X131e Chromebook – a fast booting, highly customizable laptop PC built with rugged features for the daily rigors of K-12 education. The ThinkPad X131e Chromebook simplifies software and security management for school administrators and provides students and teachers with quick access to thousands of apps, education resources and storage.

Throughout the course of a typical school day, students’ laptops are often subject to extreme wear and tear. To help school-proof them, the ThinkPad X131e has rugged features including a rubber bumper around the top cover and stronger corners to protect the system in the case of an accidental drop. The hinges and hinge brackets are also strengthened to last more than 50,000 open and close cycles.

“The ThinkPad X131e has proven to be very successful in education environments,” says Jerry Paradise, executive director of product marketing, ThinkPad Product Group. “With the rugged features we added to the X131e, weve seen reduced failure rates in the field. This is a huge benefit to schools and students. Were pleased to be able to offer this hardened ThinkPad Chromebook as a great computer for schools.”

Latest Tools for Today’s Digital Learning Environment

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X131e Chromebook, provides students, educators, and IT administrators with an intuitive, easy-to-manage, and rugged laptop for all their computing needs right out of the box. Using Google Apps for Education along with thousands of web apps in the Chrome Web Store, students can easily create documents, edit spreadsheets, view multimedia videos, create slide show presentations and view PDF files.

Students can use the low-light webcam to communicate with students in other schools across the world or just across town. They can also easily connect via WiFi and Chromes fast start up gets students online instantly. With HDMI and VGA ports, students can present their reports to the class with a projector or big screen TV.

The 11.6-inch X131e laptop features an Intel processor, a 1366×768 HD LED anti-glare screen, and three USB ports. At less than four pounds1 and battery life for the entire school day, students can easily carry the laptop between classes without the need to recharge.

Recognizing that one laptop doesn’t fit all, especially when it comes to schools, the ThinkPad X131e offers a number of customization options including custom colors, asset tagging services to help keep track of devices left on the school bus or in the classroom, and school logo etching to make every device unique to each educational institution (2).

“Chromebooks are in use today by more than one-thousand K-12 schools, and they make an ideal one-to-one device because theyre more cost effective, easier to manage and maintain than traditional laptops or tablets,” says Caesar Sengupta, director of product management, Chrome OS, Google. “Lenovo has a great reputation in schools for making durable and reliable laptops, so were excited to partner with them to introduce the ThinkPad X131e Chromebook.”

Student Tested, IT Approved

As millions of students in education institutions across the country continue to use Google Apps for Education, administrators need a system that is easily manageable but also provides the layers of security required to safe guard a schools ecosystem. In conjunction with Chromes built-in protection, Chromebooks allow schools IT teams to manage security and scalability through one dashboard. This allows IT professionals to configure and manage devices all from one place, saving time, resources and money rolling out multiple computer images.

For the always budget conscious educators and school administrators, Chromebooks cost less than most high end tablets and according to the IDC, require 69 percent less labor to deploy and 92 percent less labor to support3.

The ThinkPad X131e Chromebook will be available starting February 26th via special bid volume pricing starting at $429. Interested K-12 institutions should contact their Lenovo Sales Representative.

For more information, visit:
http://www.lenovo.com

Notes:

1) 3.92 lbs (1.78kg) with 6-cell battery
2) Some customization may require a minimum order quantity
3) Based on research performed by IDC, August 2012, Quantifying the Economic Value of Chromebooks for K12 Education