NVIDIA has a new lineup of mobile GPUs coming out and recently announced a number of manufacturers who would be adopting the new chip. Lenovo is among those ranks and the IdeaPad Y460 will be getting the new GPU, at some point.

Announced at the recent IFA conference, the new GPU lineup is the first mobile variant to use NVIDIA’s Fermi architecture and supports Direct X 11. The chips are all also Optimus-enabled, allowing seamless switching between the discrete NVIDIA chip and the Intel HD graphics that come on every 2010 Intel Core processor.

NVIDIA’s 400M GPUs in performance level from mid-range (GeForce GT 445M, 435M, 425M, 420M, and 415M) to enthusiast (GeForce GTX 460M, 470M and 480M).

The IdeaPad Y460 currently only ships with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 switchable graphics, so it will be interesting to see when the new NVIDIA GPUs hit the market.

Source: [NVIDIA]

Today we bring you Lenovo’s newest 14-inch consumer notebook, the IdeaPad Y460, with a rather nice coupon attached to it.

I really liked the Y450 when I reviewed it last year and the Y460 looks like it doesn’t change much. The refreshed Y460 now sports Intel’s newest platform, but looks to keep the already quite excellent chassis.

The model on sale here is powered by the speedy Core i3-330M 2.13GHz chip and runs Win7 Home 64 with 4GB RAM, Intel HD graphics, a 320GB 5400rpm HDD, DVD burner and Bluetooth.

At the normal price of $899 this isn’t exactly a steal, but at $699 it sure is a bargain. This deal ends April 5th, or when 150 units have been sold. Details on the deal are below

How to get the deal

1. Click here to configure your IdeaPad Y460 model 0633-47U (left column)
2. Apply coupon in shopping cart with no spaces before/after: USPY32947

Our sister-site LogicBuy alerted us that some of Lenovo’s recently announced PCs are now available for purchase, including the ThinkPad X201, ThinkPad X201s, and ThinkPad X201 Tablet ultraportable notebooks.

We covered the announcement of the new X201 models last week, citing the major revisions as Core i5 and i7 processors, an updated fingerprint reader and the optional touchpad. Lenovo also recently updated their handy PSREF documents, which confirm to us that the X201 models officially support a maximum of 8GB RAM, via two 4GB sticks. This is great news for power users, who can now really take advantage of a 64-bit operating system.

Also of note is that the controversial, and optional, touchpad on the X201 is a $20 option. The X201 Tablet is particularly limited in its configuration options: you can’t even get an 8-cell battery, so expect those offers to expand in the coming weeks.

On the opposite side of Lenovo’s laptop spectrum, the value line G455 and G555 laptops are also now for sale. We knew at launch that both would be powered by AMD dual core processors, with the smaller G455 starting at $699 and the G555 at $729.

Lastly, you can also pick up the refreshed IdeaPad Y460. The overall design appears the same as the IdeaPad Y50 when I reviewed it, but with more powerful Core i3 and i5 processors and ATI graphics.

Hit the jump to check out the base specs and price of each model

ThinkPad X201

• Base specs: Core i5-520M 2.4-2.93GHz, Win7 Home 32, 12.1″ WXGA LCD
• Intel HD graphics, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 160GB 5400rpm HDD, 4-cell battery
• ThinkPad WiFi, WWAN upgradeable, 1 year warranty
• Base price: $1,099
• Configure your own

ThinkPad X201s

• Base specs: Core i7-620LM 2-2.8GHz, Win7 Home 32, 12.1″ WXGA+ LCD
• Intel HD graphics, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 160GB 5400rpm HDD, 4-cell battery
• ThinkPad WiFi, NO WWAN capability, 1 year warranty
• Base price: $1,349
• Configure your own

ThinkPad X201 Tablet

• Base specs: Core i7-640LM 2.13-2.93GHz, Win7 Pro 32, 12.1″ WXGA WVA LCD
• Intel HD graphics, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 250GB 5400rpm HDD, 4-cell battery
• Intel 6200 WiFi, WWAN upgradeable, 1 year warranty
• Base price: $2,134
• Configure your own

Lenovo G455

• Base specs: AMD Athlon II X2 M320 2.1GHz, Win7 Home 32, 14″ WXGA LCD
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD4200 512MB, 3GB DDR2 RAM, 320GB 5400rpm HDD
• 6-cell battery, b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, 1 year warranty
• Base price: $699
• Configure your own

Lenovo G555

• Base specs: AMD Turion II M520 2.4GHz, Win7 Home 32, 15.6″ WXGA LCD
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD4200 512MB, 3GB DDR2 RAM, 320GB 5400rpm HDD
• 6-cell battery, b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, 1 year warranty
• Base price: $729
• Configure your own

IdeaPad Y460

• Base specs: Core i3-330M 2.13GHz, Win7 Home 64, 14″ WXGA LCD
• Intel HD graphics, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320GB 5400rpm HDD
• 6-cell battery, Intel WiFi 1000, Bluetooth, 1 year warranty
• Base price: $999
• Configure your own

If you missed the rather subtle announcement at CES, Lenovo is debuting a new feature on their IdeaPad Y560 and Y460 models. Dubbed ReadyDrive, this technology combines SSDs and spinning drives to maximize performance and still offer low cost, high capacity storage.

Boot time is said to be especially improved, with a claim from Lenovo of up to a 66% reduction. Unfortunately this system will only be available on these select IdeaPads for now, but a ThinkPad version isn’t out of the question.

Matt Kohut covered this topic well, so I’ll let him cover the important details:

The breakthrough is using a Lenovo patent-pending technology that connects both the SSD and HDD simultaneously as one big, contiguous drive.  Unlike my setup above, this storage is dynamically pooled and managed.  The end user does not need to do anything.  The system manages the SSD depending on usage. Programs, documents, and other files are dynamically moved on and off of the SSD so that you can always get the fastest speed possible.

This sounds like a neat system, but its success will be determined by two things. The first is of course price: I know Lenovo is very sensitive to price, so they wouldn’t do this if it was going to be cost prohibitive, but value in the eyes of the customers is what matters in the end.

The exact implementation will also be important to ReadyDrive’s success with customers. A black box that magically routes all the data where it would best go sounds nice on paper, but in practice it must be flawless. One question that enters my mind is partitioning. It would be safe to assume that there must be at least one partition on the HDD where ReadyDrive can play with all its data, but can there be an additional one that remains untouched? Questions, questions.

You can also view a Q&A on Lenovo’s website here.

Source: [Inside the Box]

Hit the jump for a breakdown of each model, along with official pics

Y460 & Y560

These mainstream 16:9 notebooks get a refresh with Intel’s Arrandale platform, meaning Core i3, i5 and i7 processors for all. Only the larger 15.6-inch Y560 gets the Core i7 of course, but it looks like it will be dual core only.

The chassis’ look similar to the prior generation, but ATI graphics have been stuffed inside and it looks like a Blu-ray drive is standard! The Y460 actually gets a choice of three graphics cards: the Intel integrated, ATI HD5740 512MB and HD5650 1GB.

The Y460 will be available in February, while the Y560 won’t appear until March. Both machines will start at $849.

G460 & G560

Details are a bit more scarce on the G460/G560, but it looks like HDMI output has been added and some form of the new Intel processors have been added. I wouldn’t expect a full Core i3 given the super-budget nature of these boxes, but we don’t quite know yet how Intel will repackage Arrandale in budget form or if the last generation chips will be repackaged for the new chipset.

V360 & V460

These are the other brand new IdeaPads, although I’m left scratching my head as to why they are here at all. These machines are supposed to be for the Small-Office-Home-Office (SOHO) market and will feature 13.3-inch (V360) and 14-inch (V460) screens. All that is known about these machines is they will feature switchable graphics, a fingerprint reader, and “all new 2010 Intel Core processors.” Both will be priced at $749, with the V460 appearing in March and the V360 in May.

Lenovo is trying to fill up the alphabet

I actually like the Y Series. They may not be the thinnest or lightest, but the chassis and keyboard are solid with a good balance of features and price. I guess the G Series fills that “bottom barrel” requirement and although not discussed here, S Series is exclusively for netbooks. The U Series already seems a bit redundant, regardless of the thinner and lighter chassis’ with mainly CULV processors.

But now a V Series? Because the regular IdeaPads aren’t good enough, and neither are the plethora of SMB-oriented ThinkPads, we must embrace yet another product line. Give me, and your utterly confused potential customers, a break. Near as I can tell, the only “SOHO” specific features here are the fingerprint reader and switchable graphics, both of which are easily added as options to the Y and U Series to make them SOHO compatible.