Lenovo launches ThinkPad X131e Chromebook for educational institutions

Lenovo has announced the ThinkPad X131e Chromebook laptop PC, which the company claims is built with rugged features for the daily rigours of K-12 education. As per the press release, 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 Lenovo ThinkPad Chromebook

“The ThinkPad X131e has proven to be very successful in education environments,” said Jerry Paradise, Executive Director - Product Marketing, ThinkPad Product Group. “With the rugged features we added to the X131e, we’ve seen reduced failure rates in the field. This is a huge benefit to schools and students. We’re pleased to be able to offer this hardened ThinkPad Chromebook as a great computer for schools.”

The ThinkPad X131e Chromebook provides students, educators and IT administrators with a 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 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 connect via Wi-Fi; Chrome’s 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 x 768 HD LED anti-glare screen and three USB ports. The laptop weighs less than four pounds and comes with a six-cell battery, so the students can carry the laptop between classes without the need to recharge frequently.

Recognising that one laptop doesn’t fit all, especially when it comes to schools, the ThinkPad X131e offers a number of customisation options including custom colours, 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.

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

The ThinkPad X131e Chromebook will be available starting February 26 through a special bid, with pricing starting at $429 (approx. Rs 23,000), only for educational institutions. Interested institutions can contact a Lenovo sales representative.