Lenovo expands its “Idea” PCs range with the IdeaPad U350 and G550 laptops as well as the IdeaCentre C300 all-in-one desktop. Three new thin, light, yet loaded computing devices make their way to the market for consumers and even small-office-home-office users.
While the IdeaPad U350 laptop flaunts a thin and lightweight form factor with superior and highly-reliable features at an affordable price, the G550 laptop offers fast memory and processing teamed with powerful graphics in a new stylish yet professional design for business professionals. Whereas the IdeaCentre C300 all-in-one desktop boasts of efficient entertainment features for families and students.
“Users are demanding thinner and lighter PCs with enhanced connectivity and extra long battery life to fit their increasingly mobile lifestyles,” noted Dion Weisler, vice president, Business Operations, Idea Product Group, Lenovo. “To meet this growing category for ‘thinbooks’, we’re bringing customers products like the new IdeaPad U350 laptop, the IdeaPad S12 netbook and our recently introduced IdeaPad Y650 laptop.”
Speaking about the IdeaPad U350 laptop, it is unblemished in a sophisticated sleek silver shell and stands at one-inch thickness with a weight of 3.5 pounds. At the heart of the machine lays the Intel ultra low voltage CPUs, allowing users to choose either the Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 or Intel Pentium SU2700 or Intel Celeron 723 processor.
It runs on Mobile Intel GS40 and GS45 Express chipsets along with Mobile Intel GMA 4500M and Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHDMemory graphics. It has up to 8 GB high speed DDR3 memory and up to 500 GB of hard drive. Besides, it also sports a 13.3-inch LED panel with 16:9 aspect ratio and high definition (1366 X 768) resolution. It even packs in a 1.3 megapixel camera, multi-touch touchpad and Dolby Sound Room/two 1.5 watt speakers.
Other than that, it also incorporates VGA ports, 4-in-1 multicard reader, an HDMI connector, Dolby headphone, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and non-Intel wireless b/g/Bluetooth.
Furthermore, the Ambient light sensor technology is also inherited in the system to adjust the brightness of the screen according to the environment light for reduced eye strain. It also comes embedded with the Active Protection System to protect the hard drive during a fall and VeriFace 3.5 facial recognition technology to set consumers’ faces as a login password. The U350 laptop also features Quick Start and OneKey Rescue System to recover data in just a few simple steps at the time of corruption. Running on Windows Vista operating system, it offers a battery life of up to 10 hours with 8-cell, 5 hours with 4-cell.
Coming to the next personal computing system, the Lenovo G550 is enclosed in either a hairline-like silver finish or a smooth and glossy slate-colored finish. The 15.6-inch display provides a 16:9 aspect ratio panel and high-definition LED (1366 X 768, 220 nits).
It comes with options of Intel Centrino 2 and Core 2 Duo processors. The laptop from the G series is based on the Nvidia GeForce G105M with 512 MB DDR2 memory or Intel integrated GMA X4500 graphics chipset.
Some of the other features include a numeric keypad, DVD burner/player, up to 4GB DDR3 memory, up to 320 GB hard drive, camera and HDMI port. Connectivity wise, it carries Wi-Fi, Ethernet and optional Bluetooth.
Measuring 318 x 245 x 26.5-36.2mm and weighing 2.49kg, the G550 laptop runs on Windows Vista operating system and bundles VeriFace technology. Users will experience 5 hours of operational time with 6-cell and integrated graphics and 2.5 hours of battery life with discrete graphics.
Moving away from the Idea series of laptops, we come to the latest all-in-one desktop that is named as the IdeaCentre C300. This compact PC possesses the fold-away stand that can be positioned between 12 and 40 degrees. Powered by Intel Atom 230, the all-in-one desktop employs Intel 945GC chipset, Intel integrated graphics, up to 2 GB DDR2 memory, up to 640 GB hard drive, Ethernet and an optional WiFi 802.11 abg.
Moreover, the Lenovo C300 is equipped with a large 20-inch (16:9 aspect ratio) widescreen, a built-in DVD burner/player, a 1.3 megapixel camera. 6 USB, 6-in-1 multimedia card, wired USB mouse and wired PS/2 keyboard. Compatible with Windows XP and Vista operating systems, the latest product from the IdeaCentre series is available in red, black and white color schemes.
Expected to reach the markets by July, the IdeaPad U350 laptop carries a starting price of $649 (approx. Rs. 30,907). The Lenovo G550 laptop is slated to start shipping in the month of June for a suggested price of $599 (approx. Rs. 28,526) onwards. Finally, the Lenovo IdeaCentre C300 all-in-one desktop PCs can be purchased from July at a starting price of $449 (approx. Rs. 21,406).
