ThinkPad T431s bottom

Thanks to IBMThink from Germany for telling me about the new ThinkPad T431s and the existence of a Chinese user manual that have detailed information this new ThinkPad Ultrabook.

The new T431s have the following specifications as listed in the User Manual.

  • Length = 331 mm (13.03 inch)

  • Width = 226 mm (8.9 inch)

  • Height/Thickness = 20.65 mm (0.81)

  • Maximum Heat Dissipation Rate of 45 Watts (154 BTU/hrs) or 65 Watts (222 BTU/hrs) depending on model (This suggests there could be a dedicated GPU options in the new T431s).

ThinkPad T431s Ports (left side)

  • 14 inch LCD with 1600 x 900 Resolution

  • Internal Li-Ion Battery (so no RapidCharge?)

  • 2.5 inch 7 mm or 9 mm HDD

  • M.2 (new mSATA standards) Slot

  • Single Slot DDR3 Low Voltage (1.35 V) SODIMM

  • Windows 7 or 8 option

  • WIFI and WWAN

  • Bluetooth modules integrated within the WIFI

  • Fingerprint Reader 

  • Smart Card Reader

  • 2 x USB 3.0 ports (one always on) 

  • Gigabit Ethernet

  • VGA

  • mini Displayport

  • ThinkPad X1 Carbon type rectangular power supply connector

  • Audio Combo port

  • SIM Card slot

  • Kensington lock slot

  • Dedicated Dock Connector

ThinkPad T431s port (right side)

The New ThinkPad T431s should have Ivy Bridge ULV and given its thickness of less than 21 mm, it would be classified as an Intel Ultrabook. So i am making a guess that the weight of the T431s would be similar to the T430u and T430s (or slightly less).

ThinkPad T431s Dock Compatibility

The ThinkPad T431s uses the same dock series as the post-T400s ThinkPads, so all your Series 3 docks are compatible (if you use a dock adapter, but not sure it is shipped standard with the new laptop).

ThinkPad T431s dock adapter

ThinkPad T431s main features

Obviously ThinkPad T431s will use totally different keyboard design, due to the removal of the physical trackpoint buttons, which is incompatible with the Precision keyboard used on the ThinkPad T430s. There are no dedicated sound and mic mute buttons like on the ThinkPad Precision keyboard, so everything is integrated into the Fn key row like on the ThinkPad T430u.

ThinkPad T431s LED indicators