Lenovo fishing for ideas on ThinkPad netbook

We reported last week that Lenovo may be bringing its business oriented Thinkpad brand to netbooks. Well we have now some solid information to back that up, this time from Lenovo itself. A post on the Lenovo Blog, which dates back prior to last week’s rumour, talks about the dilemma about bringing such a device to the market.

“Seriously, designing a netbook is a difficult task that is very different from designing a traditional ThinkPad. User experience items like keyboard stroke, overall layout, key spacing, palmrest size, and pointing device options are all instantly thrown under the development electron microscope for examination. Beyond the usability issues, we also have to balance the typical performance criteria such as weight, thickness, battery life, wireless technology, footprint and of course cost,” says David Hill from Lenovo.

Lenovo is asking the public exactly what it would like to see in a Thinkpad netbook or whether it’s a good idea at all. Lenovo already make a very successful netbook in the form of the IdeaPad S10 but I imagine the Thinkpad would have to look quite different. Personally, I think all they need to do is look at the HP Mini 2140 in terms of looks. It has a high-resolution display and a chassis that screams business. I’d like to see a fast HDD, a trackpoint (I wouldn’t even mind if the touchpad had to be sacrificed). It would need to support the latest wireless standards (Wi-Fi draft N) and have brilliant battery life. What would you look for?

Via Liliputing.