Last week I tuned into a press preview of today’s Lenovo announcement. It was an online presentation so, you know, I went on and did other things while half listening. I was nearly ready to close the tab after listening to 20 minutes of some product manager explaining every little detail about the consumer-oriented IdeaPad K1 Honeycomb tablet. All he really had to say was, “We made a Honeycomb… → Read More
The joint venture NEC and Lenovo announced back in January is now reality: the companies today said they have finally set up “NEC Lenovo Japan”, which Lenovo holds a 51% stake in (NEC holds the rest of the shares). The joint venture is limited to the Japanese PC market at this point, but NEC Lenovo instantly gained the bragging rights to call itself the country’s biggest PC maker (about 25% market… → Read More
We’ve heard many things about Lenovo’s tablet plans, but they’re a bit hard to parse. After all, Lenovo is among the tablet faithful, and their convertible Windows machines have been selling steadily for years. We’ve heard they’ll be bringing a new Android tablet (the Ideapad) to the US, but whether it’s just a revamped LePad, a resurrected U1-type device, or something more interesting, we can’t… → Read More
USB 3.0 devices have been available since late 2009. I tested several first-gen USB 3.0 external hard drives in early 2010 and the spec hit several laptop platforms a bit after that. Still, even though it’s nearly halfway through 2011 now, USB 3.0-equipped computers are rare. One Lenovo product manager expects the spec to hit the big time next year. → Read More
Let’s just say it: The Lenovo X1 is real, m’kay? It’s not even a leak anymore. A full-fledge stream of info has been pouring out of Lenovo about the upcoming notebook. Last week it was an X1 ad spot on the official Lenovo YouTube channel and now the notebook appeared — along with most of its stats — on a Lenovo notebook comparison screen. The damn thing is even listed on Amazon. → Read More
It was only a matter of time until Lenovo broke into the Honeycomb party. The company’s upcoming Tegra 2 tablet is reportedly set to hit this June with an iPad-ish WiFi/3G and storage pricing scheme starting with a 16GB WiFi-only model. Not that exciting, right? You’re probably saying it’s more of the same ol’ Android nonsense. → Read More
Did the story about Lenovo’s 23-inch tablet sound a little too advantageous? Yeah, it was. Lenovo has no plans on introducing a 23-inch tablet, countering what William Cai, a senior specialist in marketing, stated a tech conference recently. Ray Gorman, executive director of Lenovo communications, said via ZDNet: “As you know, it is usually not Lenovo’s practice to talk about unannounced… → Read More
Lenovo be crazy. Or smart. Either way it seems the firm is hoping to out a 23-inch tablet by the end of 2011. This comes right from William Cai, a Lenovo senior specialist in marketing, during a talk at this year’s Gadget Show Live. I’m going with smart rather than dumb.
The man goes on to talk about the obvious challenges with the project with battery life being the biggest issue. Apparently the… → Read More
A new technology that we’ve been hearing about for a few year finally is getting unveiled today at CeBIT in Germany. Tobii Technology has partnered up with Lenovo to create a laptop with integrated eye tracking control. It is said that it will add to the functionality of a keyboard and mouse, rather than killing them. → Read More
Nevermind the Lenovo LePad was officially announced — read: not prematurely leaked — seven months ago back July 2010. The Android 2.2 tablet will finally ship in China next month and then worldwide in June. So yeah, that’s nearly a year from announcement to worldwide launch. Craziness. Just ship the damn tablets already. Last year the 1.3GHz Snapdragon CPU and Android 2.2 skin… → Read More
Underwriters Laboratories’ UL Environment group — which validates claims, through lab testing, that a company or its product is environmentally sustainable, and helps thwart “greenwashing” — today reported that its first-ever Gold level Sustainable Product Certification (SPC) for a laptop was given to the forthcoming, Lenovo ThinkPad T420.
According to a UL press statement, the SPC Gold… → Read More
Big shake-up in the PC industry: Yesterday, the country’s biggest PC maker NEC and Lenovo announced a plan to form a joint venture to create Japan’s largest “PC group”. Lenovo will hold a 51% stake in the joint venture (to be incorporated in the Netherlands), while NEC will own the rest. → Read More
Hopefully you weren’t sitting on the Android tablet sidelines, patiently waiting for Lenovo’s options. Yeah, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. The company’s COO recent stated that the Lenovo’s US-market tablet will not be based around the Android 2.2 Froyo release, but rather Honeycomb. Therefore, if Google pushes back Honeycomb, Lenovo’s tablet will obviously have to suit. This puts the… → Read More
Lenovo has voiced guarded enthusiasm for getting into the enterprise tablet market — you know, that’s the one with almost no players at the moment. The Nav9 I recently reviewed is aimed in that direction, and of course HP’s Slate is intended for enterprise as well, but tablets have historically been far less convincing to businesses than, say, Blackberries, so it’s still a market in… → Read More
The ThinkPad has long been looked upon as the standard of PC notebooks. Partly because the line has been a staple since 1992, but also because they’re just so damn good. The notebook line will hit the 60 million mark sometime this month. That’s impressive and an achievement that should be celebrated with a bit of booze and bonuses for everyone involved.
But Lenovo, the current owner of the brand… → Read More
At CES, we saw two compelling new products from Lenovo: the LePhone, a slick and powerful Android smartphone, and the U1, an interesting hybrid notebook-tablet. Unfortunately, neither one was destined to make its way into our hands. The LePhone is looking to be an Asia-only device, and the U1 has been shelved to make way for an Android-powered variant. But Lenovo isn’t giving up — well, not… → Read More
The iPad is the king of tablets and might hold that title for years to come. However, there are a ton of alternatives that we’ve featured over the last few months, mostly in these two posts (1 & 2) detailing the top 14. But since I ran those posts, a lot has changed and while some managed to make it to the market, others were delayed or scrapped entirely.
It’s sad, really. While the iPad… → Read More
Seems people really like those all-in-one PCs à la the iMac. Sales this year are expected to grow some 63 percent from last year, to 11.5 million units worldwide. And while that’s good news for computer makers overall, there are winners and losers in the data. The big surprising loser? Yup, Apple. → Read More
Whoa. This isn’t your Dad’s Lenovo. Heck, it isn’t even your cool older cousins. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560d is a 3D multimedia machine with a 15.6-inch screen running Windows 7 and up to 8GB memory and 750GB hard drive. It has TriDef 3D technology with 3D glasses and Dolby Home Theater surround sound. A Core i7 adds a wee bit of power along with a Radeon HD5730. Also it has a… → Read More
The blogosphere cried out in anguish that day, when Lenovo’s compelling (and slightly bizarre) U1 combination tablet and laptop was unceremoniously canceled, and the Skylight OS ditched for Android. The press release implied, but did not say outright, that the U1 was being sent to the great concept bin in the sky. I asked for clarification, and a Lenovo spokesperson told me: the U1 is being… → Read More
It appears that Lenovo’s U1 hybrid tablet/laptop, which we saw at CES, is being scuppered. My guess is that the Skylight OS, a custom implementation of Linux, just wasn’t good enough to compete with the tablets on the market — and possibly the cost of continuing to support such a project was too much. Whatever the case, the U1 is off the table, as is the Skylight smartbook, though they say… → Read More
Ready for your daily dose of viral marketing? This Lenovo video is just that, but it’s also an interesting look at the development of Lenovo‘s upcoming ThinkCentre M90z all-in-one workstation. These folks know all-in-one desktops and the M90z looks to be the best yet. Launch data and specs should drop soon. Hopefully. → Read More
Lenovo’s new line-up is heavy on the all-in-ones but has a few surprises up its sleeve. I got a chance to look at most of the new line last week and came away extremely enthused by the twee Q150. From the press release: If your idea of fun is tricking out your living room entertainment center, then the Lenovo IdeaCentre Q150 is the perfect solution. At just 0.82 inches wide and 6.7 inches… → Read More
Lenovo announced their latest models today, a whole slew of new laptops, all-in-one models, and desktops. We’re going to talk about the latest laptops here, but make sure you check out our other coverage on their new products. → Read More
Lenovo’s previous nettop entry was just your standard Mac Mini-clone, encased in a drab black box. But the just-announced Q150 shouldn’t have any issues standing out from the crowd. Forget about the sleek exterior, it’s the included bitch’n Lenovo wireless keyboard/mouse that will please the masses [of nerds]. → Read More
Lenovo’s latest IdeaCentre PCs aren’t lacking, well, anything. They bring the latest power and hardware to the all-in-one form factor. Seriously, a person could buy a model from either the A or B Series and feel confident that the systems will be able to handle nearly any task — gaming included. → Read More
According to a report based on a source from an Asia-based Reuters correspondent, smartphone maker HTC has decided not to bid for Palm after looking at the company’s numbers. The source, which reportedly has direct knowledge of the talks, said there “weren’t enough synergies to take the deal forward”.
That leaves Palm, which has been struggling to boost sales of its new range of smartphones… → Read More
Lenovo makes good laptops. This much is clear. But I feel like they’re not particularly exciting. It’s like buying a Subaru. Great cars, sure, but not a lot of flair there (unless they make that gullwing prototype). But I’m going to be honest, if I were to buy a car today, it would probably be a Subaru — or a Leaf, but that’s another story. I’m not a fancy man. I just need to get… → Read More
Lenovo has just updated its site with some encouraging words, saying that its freaky U1 hybrid tablet-laptop is “coming soon.” The news isn’t really the imminence of its arrival, but rather that it’s arriving at all. I gave it a thorough hands-on at CES, and it seemed pretty beta — but a cool idea. Maybe they’ve worked out some of the kinks? → Read More
Lenovo’s latest flatscreen all-in-one just broke cover and it’s an Intel Nvidia mash-up made in heaven. Behind the 16:9 18.5-inch 1366×768 screen hides a dual-core Intel Atom D510 CPU, which isn’t too bad on its own, but the optional touchscreen and GeForce G210 GPU makes it into a solid multipurpose desktop. Of course you’re not going to be running Crysis 2 on it, but it should handle full-screen… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
