Lenovo Launches ThinkPad With AMD Zacate APU

A new generation of netbook?

Lenovo this morning took the wraps off of a few new ThinkPads. One such model is the new entry ultraportable ThinkPad X120e laptop, the first commercial laptop to feature an AMD Fusion "Zacate" E-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (APU).

"Multimedia elements like audio and video have become important parts of our world, and businesses are embracing this trend in digital content," said Dilip Bhatia, vice president, ThinkPad Marketing and Product Operations, Lenovo. "We've optimized the ThinkPad X120e to not only give businesses an excellent experience creating and consuming multimedia content, but we've also made key improvements to an area that has plagued laptops: battery life."

Thanks to the AMD Zacate, Lenovo boasts that the APU gives 65 percent faster graphics performance, while also extending battery life by up to 30 percent over the previous models. The X120e is now rated for more than six hours of use.

The X120 sports an 11.6-inch screen and a full-size keyboard and weighs under three pounds.  The ThinkPad X120e laptop will be available beginning in February starting at under $400.