We first caught wind of the IdeaCentre A310 a little over a month ago, when it popped up in Japan with a Core i3 processor. It has finally made its way to the U.S. and you can pick it up on Lenovo.com as of today.
Many details are still lacking, but it appears the A310 is primarily a processor refresh of the A300. Announced at CES in January and shipping late May, the A300 is a super stylish all-in-one desktop that is quite reminiscent of a certain fruit-shaped competitor. While the overall concept sounded cool, it was using last year’s Core 2 processors and was found to be “meh” in a review by Engadget.
The A310 brings the 2010 Core i3 and i5 processors to the table, though there don’t appear to be any other changes. Two configurations are currently available, both sporting the standard 21.5-inch Full HD screen, 4GB RAM and DVD burner. For $949 you get a Core i3 chip and 320GB storage or for $1129 you can bump up to a Core i5 and 500GB. WiFi, TV tuner, remote control and Bluetooth wireless keyboard/mouse are standard.
There’s even a coupon on the A310 already, taking 15% off the price for those in the market. The coupon expires August 25th.
In Lenovo’s eclectic style of communication, they published a blog post about the new ThinkCentre M70e and A70 models that bring a revised design and lower price point into the mix.
There’s nothing exciting on the technology side of these new desktops; they both appear to use the last generation Core 2, Pentium and Celeron processors. For the average business desktop, there is plenty of horsepower in the “old” chips and definitely helps the wallet as those chips cost less than the shiney new Core i3/i5/i7 versions.
Rather, the appeal is in the redesign and pricing. Apparently they’ve put some concern into where buttons are placed and oriented, so they’re easier to access whether the box is placed on the ground or your desk. In combination with the usability tweaks, the system was also made to be 14mm narrower than previous chassis designs and runs 10% cooler thanks to redesigned cooling systems.
“We grouped together frequently accessed controls near the top of the PC where they are easy to reach whether the PC is placed on the floor, on a desk, or in computer furniture. The indicator lights and power button are on a panel angled toward the use, and the power button is shielded from accidental use by an elegant chrome ring. USB and audio ports are placed conveniently next to the DVD drive at the top of the machine where they are visible and accessible. The red-striped DVD drive eject button, borrowed from our ThinkPad heritage, is easily noticeable.”
This is great and shows a continued commitment to differentiating from the rest of the market, but will the average office manager or IT buyer pick button placement over price? And that is why the M70e starts at $559, while the A70 comes in at near-nettop levels of $379.
While Lenovo hasn’t released further details on configurations or availability, you can bet the starting prices are systems with the lowly Celeron processors. Core 2 Quad chips are available only on the higher end M70e and it appears both models are available in tower or small form factor designs. DDR3 memory is used in both boxes as well, supporting up to 4GB, with a choice of Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics or NVIDIA Quadro FX380 graphics. Storage goes up to 500GB in the A70 and 1TB in the M70e.
Announced back in May with the whole slew of other Idea products, the 23-inch all-in-one IdeaCentre A700 is now shipping from Lenovo’s U.S. website. For those in the market, one of Lenovo’s 15% coupons also happens to apply to the A700.
Lenovo has three models listed for sale, each with an appropriate step up in specification. For once, Lenovo’s pre-configured model specifications make sense! I also really like that the A700 has a ton of standard features: Win7 Home 64-bit, minimum 4GB RAM, Full HD multitouch display, integrated TV tuner, Bluetooth mouse & keyboard, WiFi and a plethora of ports & connections. Check out the table below for a breakdown of the differences between the three models.
Specs
4024-3BU
4024-2BU
4024-1CU
Processor
Core i3-350M (2.26GHz)
Core i5-540M (2.53-3.06GHz)
Core i7-720QM quad core (1.6-2.8GHz)
RAM
4GB DDR3
4GB DDR3
8GB DDR3
Graphics
Intel HD
ATI HD 5470 512MB
ATI HD 5650 1GB
Storage (7200rpm, 3.5-inch)
500GB
640GB
1TB
Optical
DVD Recordable
DVD Recordable
Blu-ray ROM, DVD recordable
Remote control
IR remote
IR remote
4-in-1 gyration mouse
AC adapter
120W
120W
150W
Price
$999
$1149
$1599
The prices seem a bit high, but we all know Lenovo will consistently drop them 10-20% with coupons. Oh, wait, there’s already a 15% off coupon that is good until August 4th: USPLENOVOAIO729
Lenovo’s been on a roll lately, starting to ship models announced earlier in the year, and now we have the IdeaPad Z360 and IdeaCentre B305 to add to the list.
The IdeaPad Z Series looks to be a mid-range series of notebooks equipped with a stylish chassis and full range of features. The Z360, announced back in May, is the smaller 13.3-inch part of this family and has a couple nice configurations for sale.
On the low end you get a Core i3 chip, integrated graphics and 3GB RAM for $849. The higher end model gets you a Core i5, NVIDIA GeForce 310M 512MB graphics and 4GB RAM for $1049.
On the desktop side of things, the B305 was also announced in May is a mid-range all-in-one with a 21.5-inch multitouch display, powered by AMD Athlon II processors. There are three well spec’d configurations available, ranging from dual core to quad core chips, 2-4GB RAM and 320GB-640GB hard drives. Prices for the three configurations come in at $699, $849 and $949.
As luck would have it, you can get 15% off both models right now with coupon code USPLENOVO708, which expires July 14th.
Lenovo’s stylish all-in-one IdeaCentre A300 can now be found in Japan with a new processor and another 10 points added to its name.
Announced back at CES in January, the A300 is a unique product for Lenovo with its surprisingly stylish design and 21.5-inch Full HD display. A perusal of the spec sheet points out the antiquated Pentium/Core 2 Duo processors, integrated-only graphics and lack of optical drive.
The slightly revised IdeaCentre A310 in Japan solves some of these, with its upgraded Core i3-350M processors and included external optical drive. Priced at ¥109,000, the currency conversion nets out to $1,243, which would be several hundred dollars more expensive than the models currently on sale in the U.S.
Engadget recently got their hands on one of Lenovo’s new all-in-one desktops, the Mac-esque IdeaCentre A300. Announced at CES 2010 back in January, the A300 only started shipping last month and now Engadget has shared their thoughts on it.
While they loved the sleek chassis design, performance and build quality were a big letdown. The 21.5-inch LCD may have had a generous helping of 1920×1080 pixels, but the viewing angles left much to be desired if this were to be used as a media center.
They also got to play with the nifty Lenovo Multimedia Remote (with keyboard) and found it to be useful and quite fun. While the remote has a $60 MSRP, Lenovo is constantly putting this thing on sale for $36 or so. It is on sale at the time of publication and you can find the latest price at LogicBuy.
Hit the source link below to check out the full review
Today Lenovo has announced its new business desktop, the previously-teased ThinkCentre M90z. Sporting a 23-inch touch-capable 1080p display, the M90z is powered by the new 2010 Intel Core processors and has the classic Think design we’ve all come to expect.
You can check out the full list of speeds & feeds after the jump, but let’s cover a few unique features of the M90z. Buyers can choose from the standard tilt mount seen in the photos, which allows easy angle adjustment, or an optional height-adjustable base stand that attaches to the back of the M90z via what looks like a standard VESA mount. One can probably mount the M90z on any standard VESA mount, as long as it will support the weight.
Built into the chassis is a convenient hand-hold, for easy carrying of the device. With the optional wireless keyboard & mouse, you end up with a single-cable device. It isn’t entirely clear if every M90z has a touch screen, I’d imagine not, but those equipped with also get the company’s nifty SimpleTap software. Previously, we took a look at SimpleTap on the T400s multitouch.
The 23-inch 16:9 1080p LCD can also double as a standalone monitor, accepting input via a VGA port. There is one last feature of this display that has potential for utility, but we’re a little unclear on the specifics right now. The M90z, as well as the L2321x monitor announced today, have a “dual display” capability.
In short, this feature allows two different video sources to be displayed on one screen simultaneously. The documentation refers specifically to displaying separate video signals at once, but it’s not clear if that is from two external inputs or if it artificially segments the display so you have a little more control over how your windows are displayed and arranged.
We’ll let you know when we get clarification on that, but it sounds like it could be useful.
The ThinkCentre M90z is available through partners now and will be on Lenovo.com later this month starting at $899. Hit the jump for the full speeds & feeds
PCWorld brings us news that Lenovo is preparing another ultra small form factor desktop, but that this one will be powered by VIA’s Nano U2250 processor and chipset.
Described as the “size of a small paperback,” this new IdeaCentre desktop is codenamed Narue 2 and will run Windows 7, support 1080p video playback and even has an HDMI output. The new IdeaCentre is rumored to go on sale in the third quarter, although there is no word on pricing. If this ends up being a clone of the Intel Atom-based IdeaCentre Q150, then it would likely undercut even the $249 starting price of the Q150.
This is actually not the first Lenovo product powered by a VIA chip. A variant of Lenovo’s 12-inch IdeaPad S12 netbook used the same 1.3GHz VIA chip and was found to have better performance, although less battery life as well. Since a desktop doesn’t rely on battery power, the cheaper VIA option is a no brainer.
Lenovo has released a video “behind the making of the ThinkCentre M90z” for all to enjoy. The star of this video (no, it’s not just David Hill) is the yet-unannounced ThinkCentre M90z, which we are able to glean a couple facts about from the clip.
The video, embedded below, is relatively short and is not only a nice high-level behind the scenes of Lenovo’s design process, but also shows off a fair bit of the M90z.
The overall design looks similar to the other ThinkCentre all-in-one, the A70z. The biggest visible change is the display, which definitely looks larger. I don’t know if it’s just a visual trick due to a larger screen than the A70z, but it looks like the M90z could sport a 16:9 ratio LCD. There aren’t enough action shots of the screen to tell what resolution might be offered, but here’s hoping that we can choose from something higher than the A70z’s WXGA+.
What we can tell for sure from the video is that the M90z will offer a touchscreen, which will likely be optional. The ThinkCentre M Series traditionally offers more features and configurations than the A Series, so not only will we see the refreshed 2010 Intel processors, but likely some higher performance options as well.
There’s no other details around the planned announcement of this machine, but it won’t be too long. Businesses don’t tend to discuss details of a new product too long before the official announcement.
Lenovo’s slick new IdeaCentre A300 all-in-one PC, announved back in January at CES 2010, is now available for purchase at Lenovo.com. To help kick off the sales, Lenovo also has a 15% stackable coupon on top of $100 instant savings.
While the A300 is a bit behind on technology, using lower binned last generation Intel chips rather than the new 2010 Core models, the features and design are all there. Every model has Win7 Home Premium 64-bit, a 21.5-inch 1080p display, a spacious hard drive, WiFi, HDMI input/output, and Bluetooth keyboard & mouse.
The lower end model (40181MU) has the Pentium T4400 2.2GHz dual-core chip, 2GB RAM and 320GB hard drive for $799 ($679 after coupon). Upgrading to the 40181OU gets you the Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and TV tuner for $949 ($806 after coupon). If you don’t need the TV tuner, don’t let the processor difference scare you: they’re the same chips, the Pentium just has 1MB L2 cache instead of 2MB.
Both models are listed as shipping within 18 days business days and can be purchased immediately. Details on how to get the discount are below. See more pictures & details on the A300 in this post.
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