According to the Lenovo blog, the entire ThinkPad T431s design came about after Lenovo “shadowed” both ThinkPad and non-ThinkPad users alike, in addition to checking out just what other young adults in different countries liked over a nine month period. This “gestation” period, so to speak, allowed Lenovo to pick up on what folks liked and did not when using notebooks, and armed with such information, resulted in the ThinkPad T431s’ final design. What do you think of the departure from its traditional look? It seems that the ThinkPad T431s will come with 4GB RAM (up to 12GB), a 14” display at 1,600×900 resolution, a 320GB hard drive (SSD optional), and a choice of either Windows 7 or Windows 8, as it is due to hit the market sometime later this April for $949 a pop.