Lenovo isn’t the first company to build a Chromebook, of course, but it will be offering up the first Chromebook not built by Samsung or Acer. The new member of the ThinkPad line-up will be based on the recently-refreshed Lenovo X131e.
This won’t be a Chromebook that shoots for a rock-bottom price the way Samsung’s newer ARM-based machine or Acer’s hard drive model do. The 11.6-inch X131e is a modestly ruggedized notebook designed to handle the daily rigors of student use. It sports a sturdier-than-normal keyboard, rubber bumpers to absorb minor drops and dings, and active hard drive protection. Schools can also customize the existing Windows version a number of different ways, and that includes donning the school colors.While consumers remain cool to Chrome OS, Google is understandably excited about the addition of its newest partner. Chrome OS product manager Caesar Sengupta was happy to have Lenovo as a partner due to their “great reputation in schools for making durable and reliable laptops.” Sengupta also noted that Chromebooks are currently in use in more than 1,000 schools, a number that could definitely grow now that there’s a more durable option available to interested IT decision makers.
The X131e with Chrome OS will go up for sale on February 26, and it will be interesting to see how it’s received. Pricing has yet to be revealed, and that’s likely been the deciding factor with most Chromebook purchases to date — especially in schools where IT budgets are famously tight. If Lenovo can convince administrators that the added durability of the X131e and the security and manageability of Chrome OS are a perfect match, they may be able to make their presence felt in the increasingly cloud-focused education market.
