Lenovo is coming up with a brand new laptop model this week, specifically designed for the student community. The ThinkPad X131e will pack all the relevant technologies to enhance modern classroom experience. It will also sport a rugged design to withstand the rigors of everyday use and transportation.

Depending on budget, hardware options include Intel Core and Celeron processors or AMD E-Series accelerated Processing Units (APUs). Meanwhile, Dolby Advanced Audio offers a rich and resonant sound experience.

Weighing in at 3.5 pounds, the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e with its 11.6-inch display is easily portable. The LCD display has a 1366 x 768-pixel resolution and the laptop comes with 8GB of RAM, Windows 7 out of the box, a chiclet keyboard, a trackpad, and a pointing stick. The webcam can capture 720p video and you get up to 500GB for max HDD, 128GB for SSD, as well as a multi-card reader.

Other features include one USB 2.3 port, two USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet port, and a full-sized HDMI port. Battery should last up to 8.5 hours of wireless action. An LED light on the laptop's cover will light up when the device is connected to other devices - or to the Web - wirelessly, so students may have to rethink cheating on an exam where laptops are allowed, but Internet is not.

Available configurations for the ThinkPad X131e include: dual-core AMD E-300 and E2-1800 APUs with AMD Radeon graphics, or Intel Core i3-2367M and Intel Celeron 877 processors with Intel HD graphics.

Rugged to the Core

In order to withstand the wear and tear of daily school use, Lenovo equipped the ThinkPad X131e with a number of hardcore protections to keep it safe. The protective features include reinforced hinges, dustless fan, stainless steel brackets, tightly aligned keyboard, enhanced HDD shock performance, and a strengthened AC adapter cable.

"We know from experience that students are our toughest customers - literally - and for that reason we make it a point to go above and beyond our standard ruggedness features in the laptops we introduce for education," Dilip Bhatia, Lenovo's vice president of the ThinkPad Business Unit, said in the press release. "To help combat the extreme wear and tear students subject their laptops to, we've designed our toughest education PC yet by incorporating heavy-duty, military-grade features, while packing the device with top of the line technology so teachers can offer students the latest in digital learning."

Currently, Lenovo's new laptop for students comes in black or red color variants, but customers will soon be able to choose custom colors and etching options. The Lenovo ThinkPad 131e starts with a $499 price tag that goes up depending on configuration.