Lenovo's ThinkPad T431s Gets Priced And Dated

Lenovo's surprise reveal of the ThinkPad T431s, complete with the first major shift in design for some time, has been followed up with the more mundane stuff: when you can get it, and for how much. The ThinkPad T431s will drop in the US and Europe come April, Lenovo has confirmed today, with prices kicking off at $949 for the 14-inch notebook.

In the UK, meanwhile, the T431s will start at £1,119; it's unclear why there's such a significant price disparity between US and UK pricing, but one possibility is that Lenovo won't offer the more entry-level spec variants in every country. Either way, the core specs are the same: up to 12GB of memory, a choice of HDD or SSD storage, and a 1600 x 900 display with useful anti-glare finish.

Connectivity includes two USB 3.0 ports and a docking port, for dropping the ThinkPad into one of Lenovo's desktop hubs. There's also a 720p HD webcam, optional integrated WWAN with mobile hotspot feature, and Bluetooth 4.0, together with up to 9hrs of battery life.

However, it's in the general design that the notebook has seen the most departure from ThinkPads of before. Lenovo says the refreshed aesthetic – which features a "streamlined" keyboard, thinner display bezel, and larger, smoother trackpad – are the result of thousands of hours of customer research spread over nine months.