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Lenovo IdeaPad U150 now on sale in U.S., wonders where it can fit in

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

lenovo_ideapad_U150_3

Lenovo’s latest ultrathin notebook, the IdeaPad U150, was spotted more than a month ago in Japan, was officially announced a couple weeks ago, and can now be purchased on Lenovo’s website in the U.S. I’m just left wondering what void it was supposed to fill.

The U150 is an 11.6-inch CULV notebook, slotting in between the budget netbooks and the full-size Core 2 Duo notebooks. It weighs about 3 lbs with a 0.75-inch thickness and no optical drive to speak of, coupled with the 11.6-inch screen it is certainly high portable. Realistically it’s a smaller version of the IdeaPad U350 13.3-inch CULV that I reviewed recently. The rest of Lenovo’s U Series notebooks are all CULV-based, powered by Intel’s low-power dual-cure chips, but the U450p and U550 feature larger screens and built-in DVD burners.

So where does that leave the U150? With the cheapest configuration in the U.S. running $699, and the Core 2 Duo version jumping up to a whopping $849, the U150 doesn’t compete well on price. The U150 does have switchable ATI graphics, unique for the CULV field, and a handy HDMI output, but the configurations on sale today just aren’t terribly competitive.

Do you really get enough added features and performance to opt for the U150 over the $429 IdeaPad S12 netbook, much less the $599 NVIDIA Ion version? It’s looking like the market for the U150 may be a bit smaller, with the netbooks and larger/cheaper CULVs carving up their pieces of the pie.

That said, you can view the IdeaPad U150 configurations here and even get 10% off through 11/17 using this coupon code: USPBANNERS

Read other posts about the IdeaPad U150 or CULV laptops

New IdeaPad notebooks announced: U150, U550, Y550p

Monday, October 26th, 2009

lenovo_ideapad_U150_1

Today Lenovo officially announces three new IdeaPad notebooks, although two of them have been in public already. The new notebooks consist of the IdeaPad U150, U550, and Y550p.

We had already been introduced to the U150 and U550, at least informally. The U150 is an 11.6-inch 16:9 notebook available with Intel’s Celeron, Pentium, and Core 2 Duo processors. To keep the weight down to around 3 lb and thickness less than an inch, you won’t find an optical drive on the U150. Overall it looks to be a smaller version of the U350 and priced in the same $599-$799 range.

The IdeaPad U550 has actually been available for purchase for the last few days at Lenovo.com, and as we knew it is a 15.6-inch 16:9 notebook. You’ll find Celeron, Pentium, Core 2 Solo, and Core 2 Duo processors in it, along with the option for ATI HD4330 512MB graphics. An optical drive is built-in, but they were still able to keep the weight down to 5.29 lb and a little over 1 inch thick.

The laptop we haven’t heard about yet is the Y550p. The ‘p’ moniker denotes high performance models in the ThinkPad line, and even though the IdeaPad U450p isn’t so high performance, the Y550p definitely is. Intel’s new quad-core Core i7 processor is the standard CPU, with the Turbo Boost feature I posted about previously. You’ll also find NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M graphics with 1GB VRAM, available Blu-ray drive, and a large 15.6-inch 16:9 LCD. The Y550p is a little larger at 1.45-inches thick and 6 lb., but that’s not a bad size for the powerful processor in a package that will retail for around $1399.

Hit the jump for the full tech specs and image gallery

Read other posts about the IdeaPad U150 or IdeaPad U550

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Full specs of Lenovo IdeaPad U150 revealed

Monday, October 12th, 2009

lenovo_ideapad_u150_rear-angle

Last week Lenovo’s forthcoming 11-inch CULV was spotted at CEATEC Japan, and now the user’s guide was found online with a full set of specs to it.

It looks like a pretty run of the mill CULV these days. While it lacks an ExpressCard slot, the U150 will have a USB/eSATA combo port, HDMI output, and Bluetooth/WiMax/3G wireless options. It also uses a 2.5-inch hard drive for easy expandability and for some reason there are display sizes listed, 11.6 and 11.1 inches.

If you hit the source link below you can check out a quick hands-on video of the U150. It looks like a decent enough box, but it’s playing a crowded space. Hopefully an NVIDIA Ion option will appear to help the U150 stand out from the pack.

Read other posts related to the IdeaPad U150 or CULV laptops

Display: 11.6” HD display OR 11.1” HD display
CPU: Intel Montevina SFF ULV BGA processor
Memory: DDR3 SO-DIMM (2 RAM slots)
HDD: 2.5” SATA (160 / 250 / 320GB 5400rpm) or 16/32GB mini-PCIe SSD
Webcam: 1.3MP pixels
29Wh 3-Cell battery size and weight: 291.8 x 192.4 x 24.4mm / 1.35kg
57Wh 6-Cell battery size and weight: 291.8 x 192.4 x 34.3mm / 1.50kg
2x USB 2.0 ports
1x eSATA / USB combo port
Headphone and mic-in jacks
VGA and HDMI out ports
4-in-1 card reader
Kensington lock
RJ45 LAN port
Bluetooth / WiMAX / Integrated 3G on particular models / countries
Multi-touch touchpad with 3-finger flicks, 2-finger scrolling

Source: [Lenovo Consumer Support] via [NetbookChoice]

New CULV Lenovo IdeaPad U150 spotted in Japan

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

lenovo_ideapad_u150_front-open

A new Lenovo IdeaPad notebook, definitely a Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) model, has been spotted at the CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) Japan conference.

The IdeaPad U150 is an 11.6-inch CULV notebook sporting a Core 2 Duo processor (likely the SU series), 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, and Intel X4500 graphics. Supposedly it is only 0.53-inches thick and weighs under 3 lb.

It looks laid out very similarly to the U350, essentially just a smaller version. If you check out Netbooked.net, they also have a close-up photo of the model shown at CEATEC. The palm rest has a very weird texture to it, which is probably exclusive to Japan, if not the conference show model.

This is cool and all, but do we really need another CULV notebook? The IdeaPad U350 I’m playing with still can’t handle HD Flash video, so I’m wondering just how much good the dual core ULV really does over Atom for most users. If the U150 has HDMI output it could have some value, but I am less than impressed without something like NVIDIA’s Ion chipset helping out and even providing Flash video acceleration next year.

Source: [Netbooket.net] via [Lilliputing]