I have recently noticed that Lenovo have increased their use of the new rectangular shaped power connector in the next series of ThinkPads that they are going to release this year (2013). If you haven’t seen the new power connector that i am talking about, have a look at the image below. For those whom do not know, the rectangular power connector first debuted in the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, for space saving reasons.
But it seems that Lenovo ThinkPad designers decided that the rectangular connector is suitable for ThinkPad of all sizes, and they have even put this type of connector in the new ThinkPad Edge E531, which have more than enough spaces to accommodate a barrel shaped connector (maybe it is used due to the OneLink Dock connector?). I truly hope that Lenovo won’t implement this type of connector for the sake of aesthetics in all future ThinkPad, whether they are big or small. There is a reason i don’t like the rectangular power connector that Lenovo uses, you have to get the connector in the right orientation in order to plug it into the jack, which is not a problem with the barrel shaped connector (other than 170 watts adapter of the ThinkPad W520/W530) of the older ThinkPads. If Lenovo is to use a rectangular shaped power connector, i wish they take some design hints from Apple Macbook laptops, which uses magnets to correctly orientate the connector to the jack.