Lenovo's ThinkPad X100e appears in an FCC document

The ThinkPad X100e appeared alongside a mysterious pair of netbooks: The ThinkPad Mini 10 and ThinkPad Mini 11

The FCC issued Taiwan-based manufacturer Realtek Semiconductor Corp. a test report on the 4^th of December, which contains the results of tests carried out on an WLAN 802.11 b/g/n adaptor used in three host machines: Lenovo's ThinkPad X100e, ThinkPad Mini 10, and ThinkPad Mini 11.

The ThinkPad X100e

Lenovo are rumoured to be releasing the ThinkPad X100e on the 5^th of January 2010, as part of their initiative to introduce ultraportable, lightweight, business netbooks that truly live up to their name. Several rumours about the X100e's specifications circulated last month, suggesting that the netbook would be powered by AMD's Athlon Neo processor and ATI's Radeon HD 3410 GPU, or Intel's Centrino 2 ULV processor and Intel's GMA 4500MHD GPU. It was also suggested that the machine would have a 12.1” WXGA TFT (1280 x 800) display.

A more recent article by Engadget.com, claims that the details of the X100e have been leaked, with a photograph of the new netbook showing a white exterior and black interior (pictured). Engadget.com state that the machine is not a netbook, but an 'entry ultraportable'; leaving semantics aside, the website goes on to state that the machine will have an 11.6” (1366 x 768) display, an AMD Athlon Neo processor, up to 4GB of RAM, up to 320GB of hard drive space, optional 3G and GPS, and will be available in red, black or white.

The machines in Lenovo's ThinkPad range generally score very well in reviews, and hopefully the X100e will not disappoint consumers who are eagerly anticipating its release. Whilst the machine may be called many things from now until next January, its size means it will attract all kinds of UMPC buyers, and provided its battery life is high, it should live up to its intended role as a business UMPC.

The ThinkPad Mini 10 and ThinkPad Mini 11

These two machines, if they actually are in development, will be an entirely new product range from Lenovo, as they brandish the adjective used by other netbook manufacturers like Dell and Sony. However, Lenovo does produce docking stations for its existing ThinkPad range, such as the Thinkpad Mini Dock Series 3, therefore the Mini 10 and Mini 11 could just be new docking stations.

It does seems unlikely, however, that Lenovo would bother placing WLAN capabilities inside a docking station designed for a UMPC, as virtually every netbook or notebook should have an WLAN adaptor. There is no official word yet regarding the X100e or Mini 10 and 11, and speculation at this stage could lead to a multitude of conclusions, and it is made very difficult by the new naming convention for the Mini 10 and 11. Hopefully Lenovo will produce something that warrants such names, in their typically impressive style.