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Lenovo cranks out Y, V, and Z Series IdeaPads
Lenovo's flood of laptops continues with the Y, V, and Z Series IdeaPads with Intel's new Sandy Bridge CPUs. First on offer are the three Y Series laptops, the Y470, Y570 and Y570d. The Y470 is a 14-incher, while the Y570 and Y570d are nearly identically spec'd 15.6-inch (1366 x 768 resolution) LED paneled laptops. All three feature up to Intel Core i7 CPUs, a host of graphics options (including NVIDIA's GeForce 555M), up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, an up to 1TB HDDs. All three also boast Blu-ray drives, JBL-designed speakers, plus Mini-PCle, a six-in-one card reader, optional TV-out, HDMI, RJ45, three USB 2.0 ports, and a 2 megapixel webcam. A six-cell battery comes standard on all models. The Y570d -- you may have guessed -- packs 3D, and comes with a pair of 3D glasses. Computing never looked cooler! The Y Series laptops will be available in May (yes, May) for a base price of $899.99. Find out about the rest after the break! %Gallery-112394%
Kodak Easyshare V603 reviewed
We're liking the looks of this Easyshare V603 6.1 megapixel shooter from Kodak, but just because Kodak makes it sexy doesn't mean the pictures will turn out -- as their V570 so completely evidenced. Luckily, the V603 seems to have pics as well as looks, and that 2.5-inch LCD doesn't hurt nothing neither. Kodak had to lose the optical viewfinder, but the LCD seems to be plenty usable in bright sunlight, so it shouldn't be missed. The 3x optical zoom is just average, but the built-in flash manages pretty well for its size. With ISO values from 80-800, you should find something that works. Noise is minimal up to ISO 200 and shouldn't be much of a problem at ISO 400 for small prints. The reviewer liked the feel and controls of the camera, and at 0.9-inches thick it shouldn't be too bothersome in a pocket. Image quality was pretty good, and though the camera on auto has a tendency to overexpose images, that's an easy fix in the settings. Operation was also quite speedy, and the interface is pretty easy to get along with. It's not hard to find a 6 megapixel camera for less than the V603's $280 pricetag, but it seems to be a pretty good compact offering from Kodak all the same.
Kodak's EasyShare V610 with 10x optical zoom
Even though we didn't previously know its name, we've been waiting around for Kodak to announce the EasyShare V610, their first Bluetooth-enabled camera ever since we saw it appear in the FCC not too long ago. What we weren't expecting was a device that claims to have 38-380mm focal length 10x optical zoom (which can be engaged while recording video!). This is a feat not accomplished by mere mortal compact digital camera makers, and has previously only gone into cleverly designed cameras like Ricoh's R4 (7.1x zoom) and Panasonic's TZ1 (10x zoom). We're still trying to figure out exactly how a camera with no expanding barrel or crazy folded prism optics system is going to work a 10x optical zoom (and how useful we can make that without a little OIS assistance), but each of the V610's two lenses, much like the V570 before it, feature a 6 megapixel sensor capable of shots up to ISO 800 (with pixel binning, no doubt). It also features, as mentioned, Bluetooth 2.0 for transferring images on the go, as well as to Kodak kiosks and printers (sounds like it will have the OBEX profile), a 2.8-inch display, 28MB of internal flash, SD slot, and comes ready to roll in a 4.4 x 2.2 x 0.9-inch body. It could be available as early as May for as little as $630 US, but we don't have any solid info yet; check out a comparison shot of it and the V570 after the break.
