Lenovo releases laptop and media centre PCs

CHINESE MAKER of formerly IBM PCs Lenovo has released several systems.

First off is the Ideapad Z Series, which is a line of "metallic effect" notebooks. They come with super sexy Cliclet keyboards that don't take fingerprints and are just under 1.2-inches thick.

The Z360 13.3-inch and Z560 15.6-inch models have onboard optical drives with standard-voltage Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processor options. Though the lowest end Z360 configuration priced at $649 will not have the Nvidia GeForce 315M graphics or Blu-ray, it probably will be able to manage Youtube with the wind behind it.

The Z565 model has a glossy black cover and AMD inside, either the quad-core Phenom II X4 chip or a Phenom II, Turion II, Athlon II or V Series processor.

Lenovo also announced the successor to its IdeaCentre Q110. The Q150 has a pair of Intel Atom options, either a single core D410 CPU or a dual-core D510 processor, both running at 1.6GHz. It will have Windows 7 Home Basic or Premium preloaded, built-in WiFi, four USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI output. There is also an optional wireless multimedia remote with keyboard. The starting price is $249 with availability by the end of June.

Meanwhile Lenovo has also announced its A700 and B305 all-in-one PCs. These will have optional touchscreens and other specifications tweaks.

The A700 will come with options for all of Chipzilla's 2010 Core mobile CPUs, topped off with the slightly elderly 45nm Core i7-820QM, which gives you four cores running 1.73GHz and up to 3.06GHz with Turbo Boost. Its other specifications include a 1080p 23-inch display, built-in 802.11a/b/g/n wireless and a side-mounted Blu-ray drive. If you're feeling extravagant, you can even cram in up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM.

The B305 will have Athlon II X4 processors, ATI Radeon HD5450 graphics, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and up to a 21.5-inch display. There is a built-in wireless and a DVD-RW drive. If you opt for a terabyte of storage you could be looking at a price of $699, but B305 prices will start at $549. It will have Intel 32nm desktop processor options, including the 2.8GHz Core i7-860, along with ATI Radeon HD5570 graphics, up to 8GB of memory, a terabyte of storage, Blu-ray and wireless options. µ