Update 2011-06-02:

The original rumored prices for the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 at $2,920 seem to have been exaggerated. We’re sure you can still build up to that number, but it seems the baseline is around $1,585 and it’s on “just-released” sale for just $1200. Very very tempting…

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Ok drool, this system is sick.

No question that there are quite a few IBM/Lenovo fans out there. But walking around, how many do you see. Lenovo never could get the design quite right, since their notebooks still look like they are from 1997 (no disrespect to 1997). Even with this model the design hasn’t changed.

However, a few other things have changed – and we think those more than makes up for “vintage” look and almost makes it purchase-worthy, almost. The price is extreme, and we just don’t see the value. Considering the current market, we think releasing it at about $1800, and dropping it down to about $1200 withing a few months will actually get people to purchase it. We looked at the rumored specs, and we just don’t see where they are getting this price.

Let’s start off with some positive features:

First, the obvious: it’s super thin. apparently it’s 21.5mm, which isn’t quite as thin as some of the competition, but get a reality check people – that is awesome. It’s not a race to make the absolute thinnest laptop, it’s about having an overall good package in a thin body, and arguing that a Macbook Air or Samsung Series 9 is thinner is a waste of time. That extra few millimeters will not benefit anything but your ego, and the other specifications of the X1 just add to it’s lure and give it a huge edge on the competition. Not much else to say here until we get our hands on one.

Second, the battery: Even though you can’t replace it or swap it out, supposedly it will last a long time, and charge to 80% in just 30 minutes. Rapid charging is something we’ve been promised before, we’ll wait until we get our hands on it to pass judgement, but for this price – it had better live up to it’s expectations.

Third, the speed: You’ve got a Core i5 and 8GB of RAM. Upon first glance, we expected a glorified netbook – maybe a Core 2 Duo with 3GB of ram, but we were pleasantly surprised with the specs until we saw the price, which was a bit out of line.

Fourth, the SSD: We are glad it came with an SSD. We are sick of not seeing manufacturers put 7200rpm drives in their systems, but the SSD is a good option.

Fifth, the backlit keyboard: Not revolutionary, but we’re glad Lenovo didn’t drop the ball on this.

Sixth, a 13.3-inch Gorilla Glass LCD. We hope the rest of it is durable too, but it’s great

All things considered, we are drooling over the Lenovo ThinkPad X1, but we were stunned at the initial price, $2, 920 – wowzers! That’s quite honestly a little bit psycho, bonkers at best, and we just don’t see it. This will definitely keep us from clicking “Add To Cart” for at least a year. If they had released this a year or two ago, but it’s a little late in the ultra-portable game to be asking a price like that.

At this price, we are quite honestly insulted at a few things:

• Display resolution only 1366×768 – this is the same as my 2 year old Netbook – and because the X1 is large it’s actually a lower resolution per inch. We are quite frankly disappointed, and getting tired of seeing these low resolution displays. For almost $3,000 – we wouldn’t even consider a purchase without Full 1080p. Pixel nerds – don’t even try to defend that and act like it’s unnecessary. Not 768. Not 1440×900. We want full 1920x1080p – end of discussion. Everyone wants it, and none of the manufacturers want to cough it up. We’re sick of hearing about it. 1080p. period. suckas.
• Non-removable battery – We’d be fine with this at a lower price, but if we spend $3k, we want to be able to spend another $500 on an extra battery and charger.
• Nothing on this computer is revolutionary. It’s a great system, they put it together well, but we don’t see that value in it. We’ll wait for the full specs to pass full judgement, but for now we’ll conclude that this price is ridiculous.