Getting a jump on the Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks-off Wednesday, Lenovo announced today several new laptops and its first all-in-one desktop.
The ThinkPad W700ds, which Lenovo claims is the first mobile workstation with two displays, has already received a lot of coverage on gadget blogs because of its novel design. In addition to its 17-inch widescreen display, the W700ds has a secondary 10.6-inch screen–about the size of a Lenovo IdeaPad S10 netbook display–that slides out from behind the primary display. The ThinkPad W700 is one of the several mobile workstations I’ve written about previously since they were some of the first laptops to use mobile quad-core mobile processors combined with large, high-res displays powered by Nvidia Quadro or AMD ATI FireStream GPUs and lots of memory and storage. The ThinkPad W700 is also notable for its built-in digitizer and color calibrator. The ThinkPad W700ds is available immediately and starts at $3,663.
Lenovo also announced several additions to its consumer IdeaPad notebook line, including its first 16-inch widescreen model. All three Y series models share a new design, a black case with a subtle hexagonal pattern and copper trim that looks similar to Gateway’s P series. More important, they are thinner and lighter than the current IdeaPad laptops.
Lenovo says the 16-inch IdeaPad Y650–at one-inch thick at its thinnest point and weighing 5.6 pounds–is the thinnest and lightest in its class. Competitors such as the Acer Aspire 6930, Gateway MC series, HP HDX 16t, Samsung R610 and Sony VAIO FW series (16.4-inch display) are all thicker and heavier. The other two new models are the IdeaPad Y550, with a 15.6-inch display, and the IdeaPad Y450, with a 14-inch display. All of them are geared toward home theater with 16:9 glossy widescreen displays, the “latest generation Nvidia GFX graphics,” surround-sound speakers (the Y650 has JBL speakers) and a OneKey Theater utility for adjusting the display and audio settings. The IdeaPad Y450 and Y550 will both start at $829, and the Y650 will start at a t $1,199. All three will be available in March. Around the same time, Lenovo will update its S10 netbook by adding instant-on, the VeriFace facial recognition technology already found in IdeaPads, and a new LenovoSocial utility for using social networking sites. The 10.2-inch model will start at $349.
Finally, Lenovo announced it was getting into the all-in-one game, an area where there are now many contenders (HP, Dell, Gateway) but relatively few winners not including the successful Apple iMac. Based on a 21.5-inch “frameless” display, the IdeaCentre A series has a thick base that tapers to about an inch thick at the top. Like the IdeaPad laptops, the A series is geared toward home entertainment with full HD resolution (1,920 by 1,080 pixels), integrated sub-woofer and Dolby Home Theatre audio, TV tuner and optional Blu-ray player. It also has an optional, Wii-like remote that works as a game controller, Skype handset, Vista Media Center remote and wireless “air mouse” all rolled into one. The IdeaCentre A600 will be available beginning in April starting at $999.
