VXL announced two portable thin clients designed in conjunction with Lenovo. The 11.6-inch Itona TL100 includes a 1.0GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, while the 14.1-inch Itona TL412 has a dual-core, 1.86GHz Intel Celeron processor, the company says.

The new Itona TL thin clients currently support either Windows XP Embedded or Windows Embedded Standard, but Linux support is promised for the fourth quarter. In May, VXL announced seven desktop Itona thin clients that run Linux.

Similar to earlier portable thin clients, VXL's Itona TL100 and TL412 are basically designed to offer all the features of a standard netbook computer except for its hard disk drive. This eliminates the risk of sensitive information getting into the wrong hands in the case of loss or theft, the company says.

VXL touts a "new laptop collaboration" with Lenovo, through which the latter's ThinkPad laptops will be used as a basis for thin clients. No claim for exclusivity was made, but we note that another vendor, Devon IT, allied with Lenovo in 2008 to create a thin client ThinkPad, the SafeBook LVO, followed by a SafeBook E5400X model in 2008. More recently, however, Devon IT changed partners, basing this year's SafeBook Vostro on a previously released Dell laptop.

VXL Itona TL100

VXL's "new" Itona TL100 and TL412 are, of course, also based on previously released laptops. The TL100 (above), for example, appears to be based on the ThinkPad X100e, which includes both an 11.6-inch display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and an AMD Athlon MV-40 processor.

VXL specs the speed of the MV-40 as being 1.0GHz, but we believe that's a typo, since AMD and Lenovo have said the CPU's clocked at 1.6GHz. Lenovo also notes that the portable is offered with a three-cell battery that provides 2.2 hours of life, or a six-cell battery that delivers 5.1 hours of operation, though VXL is silent on this score.

Expandable to 4GB of RAM via two SODIMM slots, the Itona TL100 has 1GB of RAM and 1GB of flash storage as standard, says VXL. The current Windows versions are said to include Windows Media Player, Adobe Acrobat Reader, XLmanage Workgroup Edition remote management software, and clients for Citrix's ICA (independent computing architecture) and Ericom's Blaze. No details were offered on what software will be available in the Linux version.

Hardware features on the Itona TL100 are said to include a VGA port, a gigabit Ethernet port, three USB 2.0 ports, a microphone input, and a headphone output. Like the ThinkPad X100e, the TL100 also includes a "4-in-1" memory card reader and 802.11b/g/n wireless networking. However, we saw no mention of the "high-sensitivity webcam" previously specified by Lenovo, leading us to wonder if this has been disabled.

Features and specifications listed by Itona for the TL100 include:

• Processor — AMD Athlon MV-40 (Itona says 1.0GHz, Lenovo says 1.6GHz)
• Chipset — AMD RS780 northbridge and SB710 southbridge
• Memory — 1GB of DDR2 RAM (expandable to 4GB); 1GB of flash storage
• Display — 11.6-inch screen with 1366 x 768 pixels
• Expansion — 4-in-1 card reader
• Networking:
  • LAN — gigabit Ethernet
  • WLAN — 802.11b/g/n
• Other I/O:
  • 3 x USB 2.0
  • VGA
  • audio — mic in, headphone out
• Battery/type life (per Lenovo) — 3-cell, 2.2 hours; 6-cell, 5.1 h
• Dimensions — 11.1 x 8.2 x 1.2 inches
• Weight — 3.3 pounds

Stepping up to a 14.1-inch screen …

VXL's larger Itona TL412 is, we'd venture to say, a variant of Lenovo's previously released ThinkPad SL410. It has a 14.1-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, a dual-core, 1.8GHz Intel Celeron P4500 processor, and two memory slots that accept up to 4GB of DDR3 memory, says VXL.

VXL Itona TL412

According to VXL, the TL412 (above) has an ExpressCard slot, a bay that can accept an available optical disk drive, and a port for an optional Lenovo docking station. Standard connections include gigabit Ethernet, VGA, and 802.11b/g/n wireless networking, the company says.

Multimedia-centric features are said to include an IEEE 1394 port, stereo speakers, a microphone input, a headphone output, and even an S/PDIF digital optical output. Again, however, VXL neglects to mention the webcam (a two-megapixel model in this case) that was cited by Lenovo for the underlying ThinkPad SL410.

The Itona TL412 is said to include 1GB of RAM and 1GB of flash storage. It offers the same software as the TL100, VXL adds.

Features and specifications listed by Itona for the TL412 include:

• Processor — Intel Celeron P4500 (dual-core; 1.6GHz)
• Chipset — Intel HM55
• Memory — 1GB of DDR2 RAM (expandable to 4GB); 1GB of flash storage
• Display — 14.1-inch screen with 1280 x 800 pixels
• Expansion:
  • ExpressCard slot
  • port replicator port
  • optical media bay
• Networking:
  • LAN — gigabit Ethernet
  • WLAN — 802.11b/g/n
• Other I/O:
  • 4 x USB 2.0 (1 always powered)
  • VGA
  • 1 x IEEE 1394
  • audio — mic in, headphone out
  • S/PDIF shared with headphone socket
• Battery type — six-cell, lithium-ion
• Dimensions — 13.5 x 9.2 x 1.3 inches
• Weight — 5.1 pounds

Availability

According to VXL, the Itona TL100 and TL412 are both available now, the former with a three-year warranty and the latter with a one-year warranty that may be upgraded to three years. Linux-based versions of both devices will be available next quarter, the company added.

Further information about the Itona TL100 and TL412 may be found on the Itona website, here and here, respectively.

This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.