The Power to Think
Being a major user of ThinkPad I am constantly looking for ways to keep mine up and running longer. I’m sure I am not alone in this quest. Extended batteries, fresh batteries, software settings, strategic placement of multiple AC adapters within the design center and my home all matter. I have also used AC/DC adapters to further extend my ability to power up in environments like cars and airplanes. Unfortunately , the category of AC/DC adapters has usually been secret code for thicker and heavier adapters. Not one of my favorite design attributes.
We just announced a very exciting AC/DC adapter that finally solves the size and weight dilemma. My team did the design for the adapter working closely with the engineers to solve packaging and thermal issues in addition to creating the overall aesthetic impression. The case is more form fitting that a spandex catsuit.
The complete kit is shown here.
The product weighs in at a scant 425 grams and measures an inspiring 15.5 millimeters thin. This is nearly half the thickness of our previous version. Amazing! The ribbed texture was created to add stiffness to a very thin wall plastic case, provide a nonslip surface and dissipate heat similar to a more traditional heat sink. It also looks nice.
I know this is top of mind so I’ll answer it now. It even fits in an envelope : )
An assortment of tips are included to match the adapter to your favorite notebook, as is a handsome carrying case. It can also be used to charge things like your cell phone or other handheld device. For those of you who are too impatient to wait, we offer a dual charging “Y” cable lets you charge two devices at once. Finally a solution that lets me travel with only one adapter. My life just got simpler.
David Hill
Lenovo Meet the Modder Dean Liou
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 2
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 1
Lenovo H320 desktop
January 16th, 2008 8:13 pm
Can you give us a link to this product on the Lenovo website? Or a model number? Thanks.
January 16th, 2008 8:17 pm
When will this be available? Looks as light as air
January 16th, 2008 8:17 pm
Love the “envelope” joke! I would love to see a blog post on your reaction to the design of the macbook air, and maybe a design comparison to the x series?
any word on pricing yet? this looks like a fantastic power adapter!
January 16th, 2008 9:21 pm
You always announce wonderful new things, I go to the Lenovo website to buy one, and there is never anything there! Can’t you get the Lenovo website minders to put new products on the site immediately? (Tell them the website is the real marketing–you know, like Apple does it.) Or at least include the part number in your announcement so that I can place an order elsewhere?
January 16th, 2008 9:43 pm
Wow, really pleased to see this! Great job with the engineering and design.
I would also like to hear Lenovo’s thoughts on the MacBook Air. I’m personally rather dubious about it (sacrifices *so much* for just being thin), but still. What kind of steps is Lenovo making to still be the best all around ultra-portable computer?
And go easy people on the product order numbers. If David had to wait until the product was ready to be purchased before announcing it, the purpose of this nice blog would be diminished.
January 16th, 2008 10:00 pm
The adapter is announced, but not available yet. I shared it here so my readers can get the information first and understand the thinking behind the design. I will get more details about availability and pricing.I’m trying my best to be a blog not a catalog.
January 16th, 2008 10:13 pm
David, thanks for the reply. 1) It is often harder than it should be to find things on the Lenovo site. 2) I don’t think that this kind of company blog and purchasing routes can be divorced any longer: if I can’t find this charger easily, it may well just disappear off my radar for a long time. 3) Perhaps Lenovo itself might, indeed, do a better, clearer job of promoting new products as they become available. As Anonymous Coward noted, Apple’s good at this.
January 16th, 2008 10:16 pm
Point taken on finding things on the web. I will make certain this is not hidden on the web and will post a link as soon as it is available. Thanks for the feedback and interest.
January 16th, 2008 10:22 pm
What ever happened to the piezoelectric PC power adapters? The units I saw at CES in 2004 were the size of a pen and were cool to the touch.
http://live.psu.edu/story/5020p
January 16th, 2008 11:14 pm
Sony had a thin notebook way before Apple’s Airbook. It never sold too well b/c it was expensive. My opinion is that the Airbook is a fad product with some potential issues relating to heat, battery life, speed (1.*” HD), and construction. Apple should have just released a 13.3″ macbook pro IMHO.
Just my two cents.
CJ
January 17th, 2008 2:22 am
I take it this won’t be taking a standard IEC C13 cord for inlet? Then, what?
January 17th, 2008 3:16 am
If this worked across multiple vendors, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.
Many other ports are standardized, why can’t power be standardized as well (for instance, why does Lenovo have 3 ports of their own?!?!?)?
Really, having a standard connector across vendors would reduce your costs, improve everyone’s lives and allow you to innovate in the important areas instead of having build attachment systems so you can ship 3 different plugs.
January 17th, 2008 7:17 am
Ill take 1 please.
January 17th, 2008 2:24 pm
Just superb!
January 18th, 2008 8:55 am
Hi,
this looks realy nice. Is this working on a normal power oulet ( 220 V) as well? Only an airline Car -adapter is shown…
Other remarks:
- I support the argument of Paul: please try to establish a power connector standard. It is getting silly: I have a small laptop, a small phone , a small digicam, and on the same time I carry 3 rather huge power supplies.
- I would appreciate a post on your thoughts of both the apple macbookair and the asus eee PC as well.
Here are mine:
-EEE PC: nice concept, but I need to get some work done on the way, so I will likely buy a used x40. similar price, not much heavier, more performance
- Macbook air: to big of a footprint for tables in trains in planes.
Likely heat issue. At least one of the folloing missing: 2nd usb port, UMTS/3G support, networkport. If you have a small and slow harddrive you likely have a USB- harddisk as well, so you need a power USB port + something to attach a network or 3 G adapter on.
January 18th, 2008 10:37 pm
Companies these days like putting things into envelopes to demonstrate the thinnest of their products.
January 20th, 2008 11:32 am
David,
I can hardly wait for this to be available! I’ll take four of them….
See you in the Forums.
January 20th, 2008 4:46 pm
Looks quite cool and make sense with such portable-friendly proportions and low weight. It’s thin design reminds me somehow to a chocolate bar. – I’ll hope it’s also meant to be plugged into a usual power outlet and that it won’t get too hot during common operation usage.
January 21st, 2008 3:40 am
Will that be on the X300?
January 21st, 2008 11:45 am
Based on some of the comments I added a photo of the complete kit. Enjoy.
January 21st, 2008 11:59 am
since this works with both styles thinkpad sockets (IBM 56W/72W and lenovo 65W/90W), this will be a welcome addition to the lineup. i’ve had one backordered now for a few weeks now and am anxiously awaiting its arrival.
even if it weighs the same as my 65W or 90W adapters, it’s the thickness (or, rather ‘thinness’) which will be important. the 12V auto adapter, for me, is simply an added bonus.
January 21st, 2008 12:13 pm
As marketing manager for this offering, I want to respond to the questions above about power capabilities and cables. This adapter ships with a carrying pouch, tips to support 16V, 19V and 20V notebooks (basically the whole line up), an AC line cord, and a DC line cord. It can be plugged into a standard AC wall outlet, the DC outlet (“cigarette lighter” outlet) in most cars/trucks/boats, or the hypertronic outlet in some airline seat consoles. The package includes everything you need to work in any of these environments. A dual charging cable and peripheral charging tips can be purchased separately.
January 21st, 2008 1:43 pm
Sounds like a wonder box – I like this design very much. One more question: does “hypertronic” describe the same system (EMPower?) as 72W travel adapter uses of today?
January 22nd, 2008 3:54 am
Douglas Adams said it best:
http://www.douglasadams.com/dna/980707-03-a.html
I have quite a number of dongly things for which the gizmo is missing and vice versa.
for low voltage (and low current) devices, USB seems to be a very good idea for providing them with power and there are.
Now if my mobilephone only had a USB-mini-connector instead of a proprietary one so I could use a standard cable instead of the USB-proprietary one…
It would be great if several manufacturers could agree on one 20 Volt x Ampère connectionn for things using more power.
January 22nd, 2008 9:20 am
Wow! You have no idea how much I want one of these – not only can i charge my iphone/ipod with it, it will work on all thinkpads so no more need for 2 adapters.
The only thing that looks worrying is that the connector from notebook>adapter looks fixed, a retractable cable option like kensington have would make it perfect (i hate cables and think everything should be retractable these days)
January 25th, 2008 3:31 pm
To David Hill: Fantastic. I saw it here, I ordered it 10 minutes later. You’re terrific. Post more often. Your insights are great.
To Ashley Durham: C’mon. You could have provided a link:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILib.....684D2848E9
And to Lenovo in general: You really ought to make your customers more aware of these blogs. Moreover, you should have announced an accessory like this via email, and on the “extras” tab on system update. If you spend part of your life on airplanes and in hotel rooms (as I do, along with what I bet is a large number of ThinkPad owners,) this is adapter is a breakthrough. You really ought to be making more out of it.
January 28th, 2008 12:34 am
Oh, yes, very nice. Now if only I could convince my superiors to replace my current adapter. (If you remember some X61s’s were shipped with whiny adaptors? It’s annoying when you’re trying to sleep with your computer on.)
February 2nd, 2008 1:48 am
I can’t wait for these to start shipping. My business parter likes to flaunt his super-thin Dell power adapter, and I’m excited to be able to compete here.
On a related note, there’s a new mouse listed under accessories, the ThinkPad Bluetooth Laser Mouse, but there’s no picture! Can you shed any light on this new product? Images, design notes, anything?
February 13th, 2008 6:54 am
I did a comparison between the X61s and the MacBook Air on my blog, http://tinyurl.com/2hwkrp for those interested (one of the comments above).
February 19th, 2008 10:13 am
I went to the link provided and it says the item is not available. What’s going on? I’d like to order one.
February 24th, 2008 4:10 pm
my slim a/c adapter showed up a few weeks ago. overall it’s an excellent setup and almost up to my standards. unfortunately there are two areas where this adapter falls short; the cable thickness and the case design.
unlike the photo above, the cable leading from the adapter housing to the power tip is markedly thicker than what’s pictured and less pliable than one would expect. the standard a/c adapters utilize 4mm cable where the slim adapter has 5.5mm cable. this seemingly minor difference makes handling the cable much less convenient and much more difficult to bundle up and stow in its included case. the difference could be due to the slim adapter’s ability to power two devices simultaneously since the cable is rated to 300V rather than 150V as on the standard adapters. if the cable has been increased in size as a permanent design change then the images above should be updated to better reflect the actual product and better match customers’ expectations of what they will receive.
my second point is with the included case. while sufficient enough to carry everything in one shot, it lacks build quality and innovation. i would have gladly paid $10 extra for a better case. it needs to utilize thicker material, a heavier/stronger zipper with a single zipper pull, pockets for each respective item (adapter, power cable, auto/airline cable, and optional Y-cable), along with more than two elastic loops for the various charging tips. those of who add the optional Y-cable and a few more tips will find this case quickly shrinks in size and bulges from overload. i’d love the opportunity to design a new case for this system.
March 8th, 2008 6:16 pm
Will this become the standard adapter that comes with newly purchased ThinkPads?
March 19th, 2008 2:16 pm
A great piece of hardware! Really love it. Just a little concern – will it work on European 220v instead of US 110v power source?
March 29th, 2008 10:36 pm
This slim Ac/DC power adapter looks exactly like the third party version I own, except mine cover other popular PC brands along wth a splitter to connect cell phone, pDA at the same time etc. It also has a retractable code between the power adapter and the notebook. Also check another aftermarket brand (i**) which has even smaller footprint and weight.
To me, no point to make the slim adapter compatible with all notebooks, especially those marketed as desktop replacement. How many owners of desktop replacements will travel with one?
My point is why Lenovo spend the time and energy to develop a product that already has mature and robust designs in the marketplace for quiet sometime. All users will mucher happier if Leneovo becomes the first vendor to include an AC/DC slim adapter with every notebook Lenovo sells. BTW, I have three Thinkpads and bought 3 slim adapters.
Lastly, I was wondering what happen to notebooks with built-in power adpaters like those found in earlier Toshiba Tecra’s. Ideally, it is detachable too and come with rectractable cord.
Yes, it will add another 8oz or so to the weight, but you’ll never lose/forget to bring the power adapter again.
April 2nd, 2008 2:07 pm
Where is the Y-cable and other optional tips available ?
July 22nd, 2008 4:12 pm
My brother Paolo bought it in Deutschland for 120 euros… But it’s true, it’s a very beautiful piece of design!
6voto mona
September 18th, 2008 4:40 pm
Hello,
May I suggest you making two version of this power supply:
1. Ultralight. The smallest and lightest usable (I would say 65W or less, yes, mostly for ultraportables), that would not allow connecting much to your PC – you would use that power adapter strictly to charge your PC when on travel possibly by plane/train and some walking at destination.
2. Light and powerfull. The actually made, 90W (or 110W) for full usage with loaded system, peripherals etc or for big machines, that you will take with you only to office or car ride.
Personally I would have only the ultralight and then seaprate normall office 90W at desktop
December 9th, 2008 8:59 am
I’d really like to find a right angle adapter for the 20v 7.9mm barrel plug on the AC adapter. All of Lenovo’s power adapters have plugs that stick way out of the computer. When I use my X61 tablet in portrait mode in my lap, either the plug pokes me in the belly, or the machine blows hot air on me. A right angle adapter would fix that.
December 27th, 2008 1:18 pm
Glad to see this thread is still alive. I’d like to second the comment of a right angle adapter for the plug, I also have a tablet and the plug sticking out is ridiculous. It reminds me of my HP iPaq hx4700 of a few years back, a rather powerful pocketPC rendered useless to me because the power plug stuck out to 2/3 of the length of the unit itself.
October 31st, 2009 11:43 am
I just received the 90W AC/DC. Compared to my X200, 425g is not scant! I would definitely buy a 65W ultralight version as suggested by Wojciech Czyz. I don’t want lots of options – just the thinnest, lightest cords, right-angle connector (no exchangable tips), X200 only.
I have a Madsonline charger for my mac that is the size of a credit card and wraps up to the size of the std 65 AC adaptor without the AC cord – where is the equivalent for the X200? This is seems to me a major oversight for an ultraportable.
I would even take an ultralight/ultracompact DC-only charger – is there such a thing?