A neat and fashionable laptop satisfies hurry life is the developing trend of PC market. One of the latest model to join this trend is the Lenovo IdeaPad U350.
This Lenovo lapto introduced at the end of last May and expected to release in next July
With thickness from 17 to 24.9 mm and weighing 1.6 kg, U350 is one of the flatest model on the market. However, to achieve this, the U350 to “sacrifice” the optical drive. Read the rest of this entry »
Lenovo and RIM’s Constant Connect is now finally available. What will Constant Connect do for you? It will let your ThinkPad get your BlackBerry emails whenever the two devices are within a certain range of each other. What’s even more interesting is that the technology behind this product will let your laptop get those emails even when the laptop is turned off. Unfortunately this product will only appeal to those customers that own both a RIM BlackBerry and a ThinkPad laptop but the whole concept is pretty darn interesting. Constant Connect will be available for $149 so go ahead and grab it if it looks interesting to you.
Information security is something very important. Lenovo knows that very well. The Lenovo ThinkPad USB Secure Hard Drive is a great gadget perfect for if you are one of those people concerned with protecting your data. You will need it, especially in this time when portable and mobile are increasingly taking huge part of your daily life.
The ThinkPad USB Secure Hard Drive has a 128-bit security encryption system. It also features a metal dome switch keypad. Is using the encryption via hardware a good choice? Yes, it is. Although the encryption system via software is extremely safe, there is a chance of faults or bugs preventing it from behaving as anticipated. This type of faults, on the other hand, does not affect hardware.
The portable ThinkPad USB Secure Hard Drive has the following features: high-speed USB 2.0 Interface, built-in USB cable with an integral storage slot, shock-mounted 160GB 5400 rpm hard drive, and multi-colored LED device status indicator. Definitely, this easy-to-use hard drive is an affordable and great option. The 320GB hard drive costs $219 while the 160GB one costs $179.
The Chinese electronic colossus, Lenovo, has just unleashed one of its newest ultraslim notebook, the Lenovo Y650 Notebook. This latest offering features advanced multimedia functions and mobile technology. It has 16-inch display, ideal for the movie buffs out there. It supports 1366 x 768 resolutions, enough for 720p videos. In order to maximize the audio and video quality, you can switch the mode to OneKey Theater, which will provide you a movie-like experience like no other.
The Lenovo Y650 Notebook has the latest NVIDIA graphic (GeForce G105M), which provides a remarkable cinematography for video games. It performs better than its precursors GeForce 9300 and GeForce 9200 as it sports eight processor cores and 64-bit memory bus. Read the rest of this entry »
When it comes to buying a laptop, check out the add-ons and the freebies. In this case, the Lenovo Thinkpad seems to have a great bonus added to it as it has announced that it is the first PC maker to offer laptops that are Optimized for Microsoft Office Communicator 2007.
As a certified partner in the Microsoft Partner Program, this qualification means that the Lenovo ThinkPad X301, T400 and T500 laptop PCs meet Microsoft’s stringent requirements for high quality audio and video, giving users an excellent unified communications experience, while also lowering the total cost of ownership for a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) environment.
Unified communications refers to the convergence of multimedia including voice, video and data over a common Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure. Customers can communicate through voice and video conference calls, email/calendaring and instant messaging in real-time, irrespective of the communication device.
The network requirements for VoIP, call set up and call quality management are important functions to build upon for customers who want to expand the capabilities of their network.
To help customers maximize their networks, Lenovo has extended unified communications capabilities to several ThinkPad laptops.
With the market for unified communications continuing to grow, many companies are seeing the benefits including increased productivity, greater efficiency and reduced travel and communication costs.
Lenovo this morning confirmed the existence of its mystery netbook by posting teaser images on its photo feed. The system is now called the Pocket Yoga and has both the ultra-wide, VAIO P-like display and leather-bound shell of leaked photos. Concept sketches, however, show the PC not only supporting a touchscreen for a stylus but a convertible design that would let the display flip backwards to use it as a very small tablet. The computer still doesn’t have specifications, though its size would likely dictate an Intel Atom or similar chip. Previous photos have also suggested it would have a built-in webcam as well as a seemingly trackpoint-like controller to back up the touch display. Read the rest of this entry »
If one were to assemble an all-star team of laptops, the 13-inch space would arguably be the best place to start. It’s made up of forward-looking products like the Apple MacBook 13-inch (Aluminum), the Lenovo ThinkPad X301, and the Sony VAIO VGN-Z590. To succeed in this space, you’d better bring your A game. The Lenovo IdeaPad U330 ($1,199 direct) delivers a flurry of features—an optical drive, an HDMI port, and switchable graphics—to suit road warriors and stay-at-home users alike. Where it stumbles is in its design, more like that of a small-business model than a consumer-oriented IdeaPad. It’s in dire need of a makeover, especially given that $100 is all that separates it from the base configuration of the handsome aluminum MacBook.
Specifications:
Price as Tested: $1,199.00
Type: Gaming, General Purpose, Media, Ultraportable
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo P7350
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
Weight: 4.2 lb
Screen Size: 13.3 inches
Screen Size Type: widescreen
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 3450
Storage Capacity: 250 GB
Networking Options: 802.11n
Primary Optical Drive: Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW
If Apple’s and Sony’s latest laptops are any indication, cramming a laptop with features and fast parts isn’t enough; design is just as important. While Apple is testing the waters with a new aluminum manufacturing process for its MacBooks and Sony is touting a thin carbon-fiber lid for its VAIO Z590, Lenovo’s glossy-black plastic top on the U330 just isn’t striking a chord with customers. In fact, it’s reminiscent of the Dell Vostro 1310—a small-business laptop. A splash of color, like that of the Sony VAIO VGN-CS190, or an embedded pattern, as on the Toshiba Satellite M305-S4835, would’ve livened up its look.
The U330 is lighter than the MacBook 13-inch (aluminum) by three-tenths of a pound, not bad if your itinerary involves frequent travel. Both have a 13-inch LED widescreen and a built-in optical drive, but the minor difference in weight can be attributed to the MacBook’s glass screen. The U330’s screen is fine for movies, photos, and working with multiple windows. Bigger screens like the 14-inch ones found on the Sony CS190 and the Toshiba M305 can be rewarding from a multimedia perspective, but they’re at least a pound heavier. The U330 offers a more traditional alternative to the “Chiclet”-style keyboards (so named for their small, lozenge-shaped keys that resemble pieces of the classic chewing gum) found on the CS190 and the MacBook, and in my opinion, a more comfortable typing experience as well. The mouse buttons are devoid of any clicking noises, or any resistance, for that matter.
The U330’s feature set is admirable given its price point. It has an HDMI port, which other systems like the Toshiba M305 and the Sony CS190 don’t have. The MacBook has a similar technology called DisplayPort, in which both a digital-video and an audio stream can be carried across the same cable. A dual-layer DVD burner is included, although a slot-loading drive like the MacBook’s would’ve enhanced its overall look. Its pair of USB ports matches that of the MacBook, although the U330 has other useful connections like a FireWire port, a 6-in-1 card reader, and VGA-out. Its 250GB hard drive is average in this price range.
As for processors, the MacBook’s is more powerful than either the CS190, the M305, or the U330. Although the CS190 runs a previous-generation processor, it makes up for it by bundling 4GB of memory, twice that of the U330. The U330 runs a 2.0-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor, which is a notch below the MacBook’s. With 2GB of memory, though, the U330 is speedy enough to run an assortment of applications. Its SYSmark 2007 Preview Overall score trailed the MacBook’s by 2 percent, pretty even considering the processor speed gap. Keep in mind that the MacBook was tested with Windows Vista Home Premium (via Boot Camp), so its innards may not be optimized in this environment. Having said that, I should point out that Windows Media Encoder 9, a processor-intensive application, completed our encoding task in 1 minute 16 seconds on the U330, giving the system an 8 percent advantage over the MacBook and a 13 percent one over the CS190. The score for on the Adobe Photoshop CS3 test also surpassed those of the MacBook, the M305, and the CS190.
Aside from raw horsepower, the U330 is also equipped with an ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics chipset. In fact, it can switch between two GPUs: The ATI chipset, which invigorates 3D-related tasks, and an Intel integrated chipset, which prolongs battery life. This gives the U330 a significant advantage over its competitors, as the MacBook, the CS190, and the M305 all have integrated chipsets only. You can switch between the discrete and integrated GPUs through Lenovo’s battery management software, without rebooting.
The U330 turned in respectable gaming benchmark scores when using the discrete ATI chipset. Yet even with integrated graphics, the MacBook scoredhigher on 3DMark, Crysis, and World in Conflict, which calls for an explanation. The MacBook’s integrated chipset is from Nvidia, not Intel, and has some of the 3D benefits of a discrete chipset as well as the energy specification that bolsters battery life. The CS190 and the M305, on the other hand, run Intel’s integrated graphics, which isn’t nearly as effective for gaming and 3D tasks as the as the chipsets in the U330 and the MacBook, judging by our tests.
With the Intel chipset, the U330 scored 3 hours 40 minutes on the MobileMark 2007 Preview tests, exactly a half hour better than the MacBook did. The U330’s better battery score was the result of its battery’s greater size (57 Wh, compared with the MacBook’s 45-Wh one). With the ATI chipset, the U330’s battery life proved dismal: It managed a score of 2 hours 40 minutes on MobileMark. Great battery life is a function of both the size of the battery and the parts used. For example, the Toshiba M305’s 78-Wh battery and integrated graphics delivered a MobileMark score of 4 hours 57 minutes.
Squeezing in every desirable feature on a 13-inch laptop that won’t break the bank is a tall order. The Lenovo IdeaPad U330 is about as good as it gets at this price point, bundling features like an HDMI-out port, dual-layer DVD drive, and switchable graphics. Its performance and battery scores were also respectable. The U330 delivers on all fronts except for one: If Lenovo is going to continue calling it a consumer laptop, the design needs to be revisited.
Lenovo’s ThinkPad W700ds is a mobile workstation with a “pocket door” configuration that supports two displays. The 17-inch display is similar to its ThinkPad W700 sibling, but this model comes with a 10.6-inch LCD that slides out from behind the main screen and can be rotated at a 30-degree angle. The W700ds comes with a choice of Intel Core 2 Quad processors running at 2.26GHz, an NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M graphics processor, and a maximum of 8GB of RAM and 960GB of SSD. The 11-pound W700ds is expected to be priced at around $3,600, however more details should be available at the CES Expo in January 2009.
