Lenovo Launches Tough New Laptops, Chromebooks for Education

Lenovo today unveiled a massive new education lineup consisting of four laptops, some in both Chrome and Windows flavors. Each of the laptops are MIL-SPEC tested, drop tested up to 29.5 inches (2.46 feet) and have spill-proof keyboards up to 330ml (0.03 oz).

The top-of-the-line machines are the ThinkPad 11 e and 11 e Yoga, which be sold in February for $429 and $499, respectively. Both have 11.6-inch, 720p displays, and the Yoga, a convertible 2-in-1, has an embedded pen for the touch screen. Both only come with Windows.

Next up is the $349 500e Chromebook, a 2-in-1 with ChromeOS launching this month. It also has a pen embedded in the laptop for its 11.6-inch 720p display and runs on an Intel Celeron N3450 processor with up to 8GB RAM and 64GB of storage. It has a 5 MP camera and Lenovo promises 10 hours of battery life.

Lenovo's 300e ($279) comes with either Windows or Chrome with an 11.6-inch, 720p display. Both are 2-in-1s, but only the Windows model supports a stylus. The Windows version uses Intel's Apollo Lake CPUS, while the Chromebook has a MediaTek MTK 8173C processor. Lenovo estimates 8 hours of battery life on Windows 10 and 10 hours on Chrome.

Finally, the entry level 100e ($219) includes a Intel Celeron N3350 processor and 11.6-inch screen with up to 10 hours of battery life. 

Lenovo's Chromebooks include support for Google Classroom and G Suite for Education, while Windows laptops allow for Microsoft's Intune Management system to remotely oversee large fleets of machines. Lenovo didn't specify which version of Windows the notebooks will use, as its data sheets say "Up to Windows 10." We suspect that means it defaults with Windows 10 S and allows for a free upgrade, like many other machines with the starter OS.

Photo: Lenovo

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