Lenovo releases ULV notebook, 12 inch netbook and 20 inch all-in-one Atom desktop

Lenovo shucked off its ThinkPad business suit and premium price tag for the overnight launch of a handful of stylish and affordable consumer PCs.

Fighting for the limelight will be the ‘thin and light’ IdeaPad U350 notebook and the almost-as-thin IdeaCentre C300 desktop.

The former is Lenovo’s entry into the ultraportable space where slimmed-down subnotes are driven by Intel’s ULV processors. The 13.3 inch IdeaPad U350 joins Acer’s Aspire TimeLine and will be followed by dozens of similar sylphs in the coming weeks following Intel’s official launch of the ULV platform during next week’s Computex techfest in Taiwan.
The inch-think U350 weighs 1.5kg and the chassis is decked out in an eye-catching silvered metal finish with an patterned lid.

Lenovo is citing four hours for the U350’s four-cell battery running on the single-engine 1.3GHz SU2700 or 1.4GHz U3500 processors. Creature comforts include an ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness to suit the environment and simulated surround sound. The starting price is US$649, and the U350 will supersede the more expensive IdeaPad U110.

The IdeaCentre C300 is a cheap and cheerful version of the stunning A600, which made its debut at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show and was packed to the gubbins with everything from a Blu-ray drive and inbuilt subwoofer to a wireless remote which doubled as a VoIP handset and accelerometer-driven Wii-like game controller.

But belts and budgets have tightened significantly in the past six months, so the C300 swaps the A600’s Core 2 Duo powerplant for a nimble low-power Atom 230 (the desktop version of the netbook N270) and throws away most of the high-end extras.

So while the C300 looks like a dazzling desktop with a 20 inch widescreen panel and elegantly detailed design, it’s more like a netbook in iMac clothing. That includes integrated Intel graphics (there’s no option for Nvidia Ion here, alas) and a maximum 2GB of RAM – enough for email and Web, Skype (helped by the 1.3 megapixel webcam), playing music and casual work done in the likes of Office.

At the same time, the C300 also has an optical slot drive and optional Wi-Fi (which we think should be standard rather than a cost-extra item), six USB ports plus FireWire and the mandatory memory card reader, all for US$450.

With the U350 and C300 vying for attention, Lenovo also slipped in the long-rumoured IdeaPad S12 netbook. While baked to the standard Intel Atom N270 recipe, this 12-inch netbook can also be ordered with Nvidia’s Ion GPU for seriously enhanced graphics including HD 1080p playback.
The S12 includes an ExpressCard slot and full size keyboard, and is rated for six hours of battery life. The starting price is US$450, with an extra US$50 for the Ion model (which also has HDMI output).