Lenovo Refreshes Ideapad Lineup With Windows 10, Skylake, and Carrizo

This week is the IFA conference, and while traditionally a mobile focused show, Microsoft’s recent launch of Windows 10 coupled with Intel’s launch of the new 6th generation Skylake architecture means that PC makers are taking the opportunity to refresh their PC lineup here. Lenovo has updated much of their lineup.

The Ideapad 100S is a new model to the lineup, which is going after the budget conscious consumer. We’ve actually seen quite a few laptops targeting this spot over the last year, driven by Microsoft’s free licensing for Windows on low cost devices coupled with competition from Chromebooks. Lenovo’s two models in the Ideapad 100S range are an 11.6-inch and 14-inch model. The 11.6-inch model leverages tablet class parts, including an Intel Atom Z3735F quad-core processor coupled with 32 GB of eMMC and up to 2 GB of DDR3L memory. The 14-inch model switches from a tablet class quad-core to the dual-core Celeron N3050 which is also based on the Atom cores, but this time the 14nm Airmont cores. The Celeron has more TDP to play with, and has a higher base and turbo frequency. The 14-inch is listed as either up to 64 GB of eMMC or 256 GB SSD possibly in some markets. The low resolution 1366×768 display is likely going to be TN on something this low cost.

Keeping with the “S” slim lineup, the ideapad 300S comes in both an 11.6 and 14-inch model. The smaller one will be powered by Braswell with the Pentium N3700. This is a quad-core processor based on Airmont cores. The 14-inch model will be offered with up to Core i7 though, and the larger display also comes with a 1920×1080 resolution. The small model sticks with integrated graphics but the 14-inch version will be offered with the GeForce 940M.

Next up in the slim line is the ideapad 500S which is a lineup of three sizes, with 13.3, 14, and 15.6-inch models  available in ebony black, platinum silver, or flamenco red. These are available with Skylake, and can be had with discrete graphics as well. The smaller 13.3-inch model can be had with the GeForce 920M GPU, and the larger 14 and 15.6-inch models offer the more powerful GeForce 940M. The displays on offer are up to 1920×1080, and storage is up to 256 GB of SSD or up to 1 TB of hard drive.

Moving down in price a bit is the ideapad 300 which is offered in 14, 15.6, or 17.3-inch sizes. The smaller two models are offered with the Pentium N3700 Braswell processor as a base option, or you can choose Intel’s more powerful Core as well. All are available with discrete GPUs, with the Braswell models being available with the GeForce 920M, and the Core models available with the Radeon R5 M330. System memory is up to 8 GB on Braswell, and 16 GB of DDR3L on Core. The display can be up to 1920×1080.

Next up is the ideapad 500 series, which is quite interesting because there will be versions with both AMD’s Carrizo CPU and versions with Intel’s Skylake processors. The AMD based on has a starting price of $100 less. There will be 14-inch and 15.6-inch models available with up to 1920×1080 resolution. The AMD based one can be had with the FX-8800P APU which is the top tier from AMD, and the AMD Radeon R5 M330. It will be available with up to 8 GB of memory, and both SSD and HDD storage options are available. The Intel version can be had with up to Core i7, and the GPU option is the AMD Radeon R7 M360 which has more stream processors than the R5 M330 available with Carrizo on this laptop.

Lenovo is also refreshing their All-in-One lineup with the ideacentre AOI 700 Series. There will be a 24-inch model and 27-inch model and both can be had with up to UHD 3840×2160 resolution. Skylake is available again, along with the NVIDIA GTX 950A GPU. These devices will support Windows Hello, with the Intel RealSense 3D Camera available on this AIO. The AIO also has stereo JBL speakers with a 2 x 3 watt amplifier.

The list just keeps going, and next up is a new tablet from Lenovo. The ideapad MIIX 700 is a 12-inch tablet with a 2160×1440 resolution, which you may notice is the same resolution and aspect ratio as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. The similarities don’t stop there, with the MIIX 700 available with a kickstand and folio case with keyboard dock. It is powered by up to Core i7 as well, and you can get it with 8 GB of LPDDR3 memory and 256 GB SSD. It also features the Intel RealSense 3D camera, and therefore supports facial recognition login with Windows Hello. For those that need to use it on the go, it can be outfitted with optional LTE support.

Finally, Lenovo is offering the Chromebook 100S, which is powered by the Intel Celeron N2840. This is two Silvermont cores, and is on the 22nm process. As is typical with a Chromebook, 16 GB of eMMC is available and up to 2 GB of RAM. Lenovo is claiming up to eight hours of battery life on this $179 Chromebook.

Clearly there has been some pent up designs waiting on the release of both Skylake and Windows 10, and Lenovo has an offering for much of the consumer space with these new models and refreshes. There are a couple of very interesting plays here, like the MIIX 700 tablet which is clearly a play at the Surface Pro 3, with the same screen size and resolution, but a $699 starting price. I’d be very interested in checking out the ideapad 500 with both the Carrizo and Skylake offerings to see how they stack up to each other, so we will have to try and get some for review.

Gallery: Lenovo IFA PC Refresh

Source: Lenovo

Lenovo Refreshes Ideapad Lineup With Windows 10, Skylake, and Carrizo

This week is the IFA conference, and while traditionally a mobile focused show, Microsoft’s recent launch of Windows 10 coupled with Intel’s launch of the new 6th generation Skylake architecture means that PC makers are taking the opportunity to refresh their PC lineup here. Lenovo has updated much of their lineup.

The Ideapad 100S is a new model to the lineup, which is going after the budget conscious consumer. We’ve actually seen quite a few laptops targeting this spot over the last year, driven by Microsoft’s free licensing for Windows on low cost devices coupled with competition from Chromebooks. Lenovo’s two models in the Ideapad 100S range are an 11.6-inch and 14-inch model. The 11.6-inch model leverages tablet class parts, including an Intel Atom Z3735F quad-core processor coupled with 32 GB of eMMC and up to 2 GB of DDR3L memory. The 14-inch model switches from a tablet class quad-core to the dual-core Celeron N3050 which is also based on the Atom cores, but this time the 14nm Airmont cores. The Celeron has more TDP to play with, and has a higher base and turbo frequency. The 14-inch is listed as either up to 64 GB of eMMC or 256 GB SSD possibly in some markets. The low resolution 1366×768 display is likely going to be TN on something this low cost.

Keeping with the “S” slim lineup, the ideapad 300S comes in both an 11.6 and 14-inch model. The smaller one will be powered by Braswell with the Pentium N3700. This is a quad-core processor based on Airmont cores. The 14-inch model will be offered with up to Core i7 though, and the larger display also comes with a 1920×1080 resolution. The small model sticks with integrated graphics but the 14-inch version will be offered with the GeForce 940M.

Next up in the slim line is the ideapad 500S which is a lineup of three sizes, with 13.3, 14, and 15.6-inch models  available in ebony black, platinum silver, or flamenco red. These are available with Skylake, and can be had with discrete graphics as well. The smaller 13.3-inch model can be had with the GeForce 920M GPU, and the larger 14 and 15.6-inch models offer the more powerful GeForce 940M. The displays on offer are up to 1920×1080, and storage is up to 256 GB of SSD or up to 1 TB of hard drive.

Moving down in price a bit is the ideapad 300 which is offered in 14, 15.6, or 17.3-inch sizes. The smaller two models are offered with the Pentium N3700 Braswell processor as a base option, or you can choose Intel’s more powerful Core as well. All are available with discrete GPUs, with the Braswell models being available with the GeForce 920M, and the Core models available with the Radeon R5 M330. System memory is up to 8 GB on Braswell, and 16 GB of DDR3L on Core. The display can be up to 1920×1080.

Next up is the ideapad 500 series, which is quite interesting because there will be versions with both AMD’s Carrizo CPU and versions with Intel’s Skylake processors. The AMD based on has a starting price of $100 less. There will be 14-inch and 15.6-inch models available with up to 1920×1080 resolution. The AMD based one can be had with the FX-8800P APU which is the top tier from AMD, and the AMD Radeon R5 M330. It will be available with up to 8 GB of memory, and both SSD and HDD storage options are available. The Intel version can be had with up to Core i7, and the GPU option is the AMD Radeon R7 M360 which has more stream processors than the R5 M330 available with Carrizo on this laptop.

Lenovo is also refreshing their All-in-One lineup with the ideacentre AOI 700 Series. There will be a 24-inch model and 27-inch model and both can be had with up to UHD 3840×2160 resolution. Skylake is available again, along with the NVIDIA GTX 950A GPU. These devices will support Windows Hello, with the Intel RealSense 3D Camera available on this AIO. The AIO also has stereo JBL speakers with a 2 x 3 watt amplifier.

The list just keeps going, and next up is a new tablet from Lenovo. The ideapad MIIX 700 is a 12-inch tablet with a 2160×1440 resolution, which you may notice is the same resolution and aspect ratio as the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. The similarities don’t stop there, with the MIIX 700 available with a kickstand and folio case with keyboard dock. It is powered by up to Core i7 as well, and you can get it with 8 GB of LPDDR3 memory and 256 GB SSD. It also features the Intel RealSense 3D camera, and therefore supports facial recognition login with Windows Hello. For those that need to use it on the go, it can be outfitted with optional LTE support.

Finally, Lenovo is offering the Chromebook 100S, which is powered by the Intel Celeron N2840. This is two Silvermont cores, and is on the 22nm process. As is typical with a Chromebook, 16 GB of eMMC is available and up to 2 GB of RAM. Lenovo is claiming up to eight hours of battery life on this $179 Chromebook.

Clearly there has been some pent up designs waiting on the release of both Skylake and Windows 10, and Lenovo has an offering for much of the consumer space with these new models and refreshes. There are a couple of very interesting plays here, like the MIIX 700 tablet which is clearly a play at the Surface Pro 3, with the same screen size and resolution, but a $699 starting price. I’d be very interested in checking out the ideapad 500 with both the Carrizo and Skylake offerings to see how they stack up to each other, so we will have to try and get some for review.

Gallery: Lenovo IFA PC Refresh

Source: Lenovo

Alienware Refreshes Lineup With Laptop Updates, And Liquid Cooled X51 Desktop

Today Alienware announced some refreshes to its lineup. On the laptop front, the Alienware 13, 15, and 17 notebooks have been updated, and the Alienware 18 notebook has made a comeback. The X51 Desktop is also refreshed, and can now be used with the same Alienware Graphics Amplifier that was available for the notebooks.

Alienware 15 with Graphics Amplifier

Starting with the laptops, the line was refreshed with the graphics amplifier as an option almost a year ago already, and the company says the new models have over 20 updates on tap. This includes USB Type-C ports for USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt 3 capabilities. Each of the laptops offers a different choice of processors, with the smallest of the bunch being outfitted with the 5^th generation dual-core Core i5 and i7 U series, and the larger models offering quad-core 4^th generation CPUs. On the GPU side, the NVIDIA GTX 960M graces the Alienware 13, the Alienware 15 offers a choice of the NVIDIA GTX 965M, GTX 970M, GTX 980M, or an AMD offering with the R9 M395X. The 17-inch model comes standard with the NVIDIA GTX 970M and can be upgraded to the GTX 980M. Unfortunately all models come standard with a spinning hard drive as the base option, but PCIe SSDs are available in all models. There are quite a few configurations available so it is easiest to reference this table.

Alienware is also offering dynamic overclocking capabilities for the CPUs which will hopefully take some of the guesswork out of the task for the non-professional overclocker. On the networking side, Alienware has gone with the Killer Wireless-AC and Gigabit Ethernet combination similar to what we have seen from some of the competition.

Alienware 17

The displays should be good, if the Dell XPS 13 is any indication. Similar to that device, the Alienware 13 will also offer a 3200×1800 IGZO display with touch. The 15-inch model has just one display option with a 1080p IPS matte panel, and the 17-inch model starts with a 1080p base offering but will also offer a UHD 3840×2160 IGZO IPS display. The large panel notebooks are one of the few mobile devices which would be capable of running UHD but to this point it has been difficult to get one over 1080p so this should be a nice treat.

All of these laptops can also be connected to the Alienware Graphics Amplifier which would give you access to a desktop class GPU if you need even more compute power.

Alienware 18

Back after a hiatus is the Alienware 18 which we last saw back in 2013 when the dual GPU 18.4-inch monster was reviewed by Dustin Sklavos. There are different offerings, but it will offer dual GTX 970M with 12 GB of GDDR5, or dual GTX 980M graphics with a combined 16 GB of GDDR5 memory. The Intel CPU is going to be socketed, so customers will be able to upgrade it on their own, and it will ship with a factory overclock. The Alienware 18 will be available with up to 32 GB of system memory and four hard drives. The Alienware 18 Special Edition should be plenty capable, but once again the base model ships with a spinning disk, and you have to upgrade to a mSATA SSD boot drive which is a shame for a notebook which starts at $2500.

The extra-large laptop displays have not yet made the leap to high resolution, so the Alienware 18 is only available with 1080p offerings.

Finally, Alienware has refreshed its X51 desktop. The X51 fits in space wise between the small form factor Alpha and the large form factor Area-51. Alienware is targeting active keyboard and mouse gamers with this device, and the refreshed R3 model has moved to Skylake for the higher end models, and keeps a Haswell i3 model as the base. The $700 model comes with the NVIDIA GTX 745 GPU, and upgrades are available to the AMD Radeon R9 370 or NVIDIA GTX 960. There are a couple of interesting additions to this desktop. Alienware is offering a custom liquid cooling setup which should keep the temperatures in check, and will allow Alienware to offer overclocking of the CPU. It also adds support for the Alienware Graphics Amplifier which was first released on the notebook line. This may seem like an odd addition to a desktop, but the separate 460 watt power supply and chassis would allow a much larger GPU than could fit inside the small case of the X51. I think it is a neat addition especially if you have a laptop too, but it might be a hard sell to have someone buy a desktop and then buy something they have to put on the top of their desk.

Alienware’s new products are all available now at Alienware.com.

Source: Dell

Gallery: Alienware Refreshes Lineup With Laptop Updates, And Liquid Cooled X51 Desktop