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Lenovo's Core i3 / i5-based IdeaPad Z560 now available to order
We'd heard it was coming in June, and it looks like Lenovo's new Core i3 / i5-based IdeaPad Z560 is now already available to order directly from the company, with a promised ship date "within 13 days" (i.e. sometime in June, unless Lenovo really starts to move these out). Starting at just $739, the laptop packs a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 LED-backlit display, along with your choice of integrated Intel HD or discrete NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics, 3GB or 4GB of RAM, 320GB or 500GB hard drives, a DVD burner, a six-cell battery and, of course, your choice of Intel's latest and greatest ULV processors. Still undecided? Then perhaps our recent hands-on will help sway you one way or the other.
Lenovo officially rolls out new IdeaPad Z Series
Typical loose-lipped Lenovo had a bit of a hard time keeping its new IdeaPad Z Series a secret, but at least now we can see why. First off, the new line of laptops ditches the glossy, fingerprint-loving covers for ones with a "metallic effect," and even better, the entire line sports chiclet keyboards that are similar to that on the S10-3. If you haven't noticed, we really have a major thing for Lenovo keyboards lately. And while the laptops may come in at under 1.2-inches thick, the 13.3-inch Z360 and the 15.6-inch Z560 have onboard optical drives, and both pack standard-voltage Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processor options. Oddly, Lenovo doesn't seem to be announcing the 14-inch Z460 we had seen a few weeks back, but we assume that one will be up for grabs in other markets. Though the lowest end $649 config won't have NVIDIA GeForce 315M graphics or Blu-ray, it should pack enough power to handle watching that cute girl cry over Justin Bieber on YouTube and those other necessary productivity tasks. Sneaking into the new family is also the 15.6-inch Z565, which differs from its new-born brothers with a glossy black cover and AMD internals. Like the HP ProBooks and Dell Inspiron M501R, the Z565 can be configured with AMD's newest quad-core Phenom II X4, as well as with other new Phenom II, Turion II, Athlon II and V Series processors. We'd imagine there will be good deals popping up all over the place, but unfortunately all of the systems won't be available until June. In the meantime, you've always got the gallery and press release below to cheer you up. %Gallery-92603%
Lenovo IdeaPad U Series updated with Core i3, i5, i7 ULV processors
Well, thank you, Lenovo! Not only for updating the thin and light IdeaPad U Series laptops with new chiclet keyboards and ambient light sensors, but for finally giving us some details on Intel's new Core i3, i5 and i7 ULV processors. That's right, the new IdeaPad U lappies will be available at the beginning of June and will pack brand new Core 2010 ULV chips, which is in line with what we have heard about the release. Like the current U Series, the 11.6-inch U160, 13-inch U360,14-inch U460 and 15-inch U560 all measure less than an inch-thick and don't weigh more than 3.8 pounds. And according to the spec sheets, all will be configurable with your pick of ultra-low-voltage Core i7 (1.6GHz Core i7-640UM, 1.06GHz Core i7-620UM), Core i5 (1.2GHz Core i5-540UM, 1.06GHz Core i5-520UM, 1.2GHz Core i5-430UM) and Core i3 (1.2GHz Core i3-330UM) processors. There's no indication of discrete graphics options, but on the lower end there are also be Pentium and Celeron processor choices -- we're assuming the $679 starting SKU doesn't get the Core 2010 ULV love. We don't have any performance stats from Lenovo, but it does claim that the entire series continues to be all about portability and long battery life. Regardless, we're still extremely excited about the entire group, though something about that 11.6-inch U160 and the ability to configure it with a Core i7 UM processor has us exceptionally giddy. We're hoping to spend more time with these soon, but till then, be sure and check out the hands-on pics below. %Gallery-92605%
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3s slims down, retains its old specs sheet
What's this? A Lenovo product that hasn't been leaked before its official announcement? Truth is that's the biggest surprise we've got for you here, considering the updates to this S10-3s are fairly minimal -- but hey, if you've always thought previous Lenovo netbooks were too plus-size, we guess there's reason to get excited. While the S10-3 that was introduced at CES is an inch thick, the S10-3s seems to have been on that P90X routine that's making the rounds, as it measures just .6-inches thick and tips the scales at 2.4 pounds. Internally there's been little renovation -- it will be available with Intel's Atom N450 / N470 processors, a gig of RAM and your choice of 160/250/320GB hard drives. Those impressive measurements, a $379 starting price and a downright luscious chiclet keyboard could really put Lenovo ahead of the other Pine Trailers, but we'll hold final judgment until it's available in mid-April and we see it for ourselves. Till then you've got some pretty press shots and a full PR to read below. Go forth! %Gallery-89873%
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t review
Who says you have to pick between a netbook and the coming onslaught of standalone tablet devices? Okay maybe some (eh hem Apple), but Lenovo's trying to have it both ways with the IdeaPad U1 and the S10-3t. In clamshell mode the S10-3t looks like any old 10-inch netbook, but swivel around its capacitive mulitouch display and it turns into that slate device you've been dreaming of. That's not all: the S10-3t is one of the first netbooks (or netveritbles) that has the new Intel 1.83GHz Atom N470 processor. But can the S10-3t straddle both worlds and do it well? And perhaps more importantly, is it worth the premium $649 price tag? That's the question we've been asking ourselves for the last few days, so hit the break for some answers in our full review.%Gallery-87678%
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t multitouch tablet up for order with Atom N470
If you have yet to join the Pine Trail party, how about this multitouch tablet netbook from Lenovo? Word has it that you can now order the IdeaPad S10-3t with Atom N470 processor (along with 250GB HDD, 2GB RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit) billed at $649 -- $100 more than its N450-equipped sibling (160GB HDD, 1GB RAM and Windows 7 Starter). Mind you, the page does say that it won't be shipped for at least four more weeks, and this spec isn't even listed on the main product page yet, but the source link's there for you reckless venturers. [Thanks, OneLove]
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3 and S10-3t hands-on
Don't worry Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3, we didn't forget about you -- even if we are totally smitten with your futuristic sibling the IdeaPad S1 Hybrid. The 10-inch S10-3 throws away the design of the S10 and S10-2 for a thinner body and a decorated lid, and we've got to say the 2.4 pound netbook felt quite light and sturdy in our hand. Under the lid we're loving the same chiclet style keyboard that we saw on the Skylight, though the touchpad with integrated mouse buttons is a bit small for our tastes. For $399 ($379 on Amazon) the S10-3 seems like it could be quite a worthy 10-inch netbook competitor, though we will have to see what its Intel Atom N470 and three-cell battery (there's an optional six-cell) provide in terms of battery life. The $499 S10-3t tablet version is going to take a bit more of a sell though. The convertible netbook (fine, netvertible) is thicker and heavier than the S10-3 largely due to its hinge and thicker touchscreen. But regardless of the somewhat awkward design (especially with a protruding six-cell battery strapped to its back), the capacitive touchscreen was quite responsive to our touches and gestures, and we're pretty impressed with Lenovo's Natural Touch interface that its got running on top of Windows 7 Home Premium. We also like that you can choose to flip the screen around and that the orientation will adjust automatically thanks to the accelerometer. But don't take our word for it, hit the break for a look at the finger-friendliness in in action. %Gallery-81638%
Lenovo's S10-3 hits Amazon for pre-order
Really want one of Lenovo's latest IdeaPads as soon as possible? Willing to pay a little premium for the priviledge? Check out Amazon, where you can now plunk down 380 of your hard earned dollars to get first in line -- or close to it, anyway. The S10-3 was said to be headed for retail sometime this month when it was announced, so a pre-order at this point isn't particularly surprising, but a price that's $30 higher than MSRP is. A little. We wouldn't be particularly inclined to click the little shopping cart next to a listing without a picture or a proper model name, but more power to you impulse orderers.
Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid hands-on and impressions
There's no hiding the fact that the first images of the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid amazed us, and now after seeing the device we can say the feeling was well-founded -- the detachable resistive multitouch display worked better than we ever expected for such an early preproduction unit. Check the mouthwatering gallery below and then head over the break for full impressions and a few videos showing off the U1's finer points. %Gallery-81541%
Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid: laptop by day, unhinged tablet by night
We're still trying to wrap our heads around what Lenovo's just announced here, but it appears that the 3.8-pound IdeaPad U1 Hybrid is a 11.6-inch laptop with a retractable multitouch screen. It's sort of like the Always Innovating Touchbook, but in our opinion a lot more interesting. When the screen is locked into its upright position in the laptop's chassis, it's powered by a CULV Intel Core 2 Duo processor and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. But when the screen is pulled from its shell it morphs into a Qualcomm Snapdragon powered-multitouch slate with a 16GB SSD that boots Lenovo's customized Skylight Linux interface. Two processors and two operating systems? Hybrid is right. It seems like we'll have to wait until June to buy the $999 device, but we've been promised a look at it in Vegas so stay tuned. Updated: Hit the break for the press release. %Gallery-81440%
Ion netbooks head-to-head: Atom, overcharged?
It's been more than a year since NVIDIA announced its Ion platform, promising to bring HD video and gaming to the underpowered Atom CPU. After all the hold ups, we started to wonder if we'd ever see the platform packed inside a netbook, so imagine our surprise when no less than four Ion-based machines launched in the past few months. With bigger screens, better specs, more graphics muscle and, of course, the resulting higher price tag, each of these Ion machines promises quite a bit, but which one lives up to the hype? We got them all together and spent the past few weeks testing the ASUS Eee PC 1201N, Lenovo IdeaPad S12, HP Mini 311 and the Samsung N510 -- follow on past the break for our complete faceoff. %Gallery-81099%
Lenovo IdeaPad shown to possess Pineview CPU by FCC photo shoot
Remember that Pine Trail fast-tracking we were talking about? Yeah, it's for real. Intel's latest submission to the FCC reveals details of a new member of Lenovo's IdeaPad netbook range, and is the first confirmed sighting of the Pineview processor every netbook diehard has been waiting for. The documentation suggests an S10-3 moniker for the new 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 machine, which is likely to pair up that Atom N450 with 2GB of RAM and 250GB of storage. Click past the break to see the sticker with all the specs on it, and do make your voices heard in the comments below regarding that buttonless touchpad -- a Synaptics ClickPad, perchance?
Lenovo's IdeaPad S12 finally on sale with Windows 7, NVIDIA Ion
Lenovo made us a promise back in August that the Ion-powered version of its IdeaPad S12 would finally be loosed after the introduction of Windows 7, and lo and behold, that very machine is now available to order directly from the outfit itself. The lone Ion configuration starts at $599, and as predicted, it packs a 1.6GHz N270 processor, Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), a 256MB Ion GPU, 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 12.1-inch display (1,280 x 800), a 250GB hard drive, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi and a six-cell battery. So, if you've held on this long, are you finally jumping in now that the opportunity has presented itself? [Via Mark's Technology Blog]
Lenovo IdeaPad S12 gets ION powerup on October 22 in Japan
At this point, we're not really sure which date has been discussed more in the history of humanity -- the Mayan doomsday prediction or Microsoft's October 22, 2009 launch of Windows 7. Lenovo's S12 was originally supposed to be the first ION-sporting netbook on the scene, but the Chinese company opted to hold back the NVIDIA infusion till Windows 7 showed up, and has been shipping a version of the 12-inch IdeaPad with only standard netbook specs so far. Well, come this Thursday it's out with the old and in with the HD video-decoding new in Japan, where the ION-powered S12 will be unleashed with 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, a 1280 x 800 glossy display, multicard reader and a HDMI port for company. Priced somewhere near ¥68,800 (about $757), the new machines (available only in white) are likely to dip below $600 when they make their inevitable journey Stateside.[Via Netbooked]
Lenovo's IdeaPad S12 with NVIDIA ION on hold pending Windows 7 debut
We were all excited for Lenovo's NVIDIA ION-powered IdeaPad S12, which was gonna be the first netbook to market with the HD-capable chipset -- but alas, it was not yet meant to be. Gizmodo reports the company has decided to delay the portable until the end of October, just after Windows 7's launch on the 22nd. By then it'll have to face competition from Samsung, whose $599 N510 will launch first in September, and possibly a rumored HP device coming in the next few weeks. We can take solace in the fact that the ION upgrade will only add $50 to the current $499 tag, but having to wait
Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 now shipping
At long last, Lenovo's IdeaPad Y650 is now available for shipping. For those who need a quick memory jolt, the 16-inch laptop's packing a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor and X4500 integrated graphics, 1366 x 768widescreen TFT LCD, up to 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, 320GB HDD, DVD burner, 6-cell battery, WiFi and Bluetooth. Base price is $1,300, but we suggest you shell out the extra Benjamin and upgrade to the 2.53GHz processor and NVIDIA GeForce G105M 256MB graphics card.
