Lenovo IdeaPad U410
The news announcements at CES are never ending, with Lenovo mass announcing its new IdeaPad laptop range and its IdeaCentre Desktops for the first and second quarters of this year – all designed to be colourful (with a brand new colour scheme), slim and powerful.
The IdeaPad U310 and the U410 will be its “ultra” laptops featuring an Intel Core processor and a 13.3-inch screen. They come in two flavours – a Ultrabook version with 64GB SSD drive, or a standard thin laptop with up to 500GB HDD storage. Lenovo is touting their thinness, with the U310 measuring 18mm thick and U410 at 21mm. Graphics-wise, the U310 uses Intel’s integrated graphics, while the U410 adds a NVIDIA GeForce 610M 1GB graphics card. Both will be out in May from US$699.
Lenovo IdeaPad S206
The IdeaPad S200 and S206 are also small, lightweight and thin, measuring at 20.7mm thick and weighing 1.3kg. They feature an 11.6-inch screen, a 0.3-megapixel web camera and have storage capacities up to 32GB via an SSD drive. The S200 feature an Intel Atom dual core processor, while the S206 has an AMD dual core processor. Both are out in June for US$349.
The IdeaPad Y480 and Y580 are designed to be for multimedia purposes with both powered by the latest Intel Core processors. The Y480 is a 14-inch model, while the Y580 is a 15-inch model; and both include graphic card options including the NVIDIA GeForce GTX660M 2GB GDDR5 graphics card. It also adds JBL-designed speakers with Dolby Home Theatre V4 support, an optional TV tuner and Intel’s Wireless Display technology. The Y-series of laptops will be out in April for $899.
The IdeaPad Z580, Z480 and Z380 are targeted for those who need a balance of both multimedia and day-to-day work. Coming in 15.6-, 14- and 13.3-inch models (respectively), these include a backlit LED display, integrated DVD reader or Blu-ray drive, HD graphics support, HDMI output and Intel’s Wireless Display technology, The Z series will be out in April for $599.
Lenovo IdeaCentre B340
Now, we come straight to the IdeaCentre announcements. It’s B Series all-in-one PCs get an upgrade with the B540 and B340. The B540 features a 23-inch display with multi-touch; includes an Intel Core Processor and NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 650M 2GB graphics card with DirectX 11. The B340, however, is a smaller 21.5-inch desktop and includes an option to transform the PC into a television with a click of a button. It also includes Picture-in-picture so you can switch between PC and TV modes. Both will be out in June for US$699.
The K430, however, is a more traditional desktop with powerful processing capabilities. It includes the latest Intel Core processor, up to 32GB of DDR3 memory, and gives you the option to have dual NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards, and optional twin hard drives in RAID0 configuation. It also has capacities up to 4TB HDD and 128GB SSD storage. It’s pretty much big on the hardware. It will be out in May from US$599.
I should also point out that there hasn’t been any Australian availability, but will most likely be around the same time as the US. Fingers crossed.