Let's Talk Tech
After reviewing the LaVie Z laptop, my biggest complaint was how used to a touchscreen I’ve become on Windows laptops and convertibles. Thankfully there is a touchscreen version, and today we’re going to take a look at Lenovo’s LaVie Z 360!
Shop the LaVie Z 360 on Amazon
LaVie Z Speaker Test
Non-Touchscreen LaVie Z Review
It’s insane how light this laptop is. Lenovo and NEC partnered to build a notebook PC with one goal in mind: The World’s Lightest Laptop. No performance compromises as the LaVie Z is packing a Core i7 processor, but did they have to skimp elsewhere? Let’s take a look!
Shop the LaVie Z on Amazon.
LaVie Z Speaker Test.
More info on the LaVie Z.
Lenovo’s third iteration of the Yoga laptop is an ambitious product. Trying to compete against laptops and tablets, while maintaining better-than-tablet performance, in a fan-less shell.
Has Lenovo bitten off more than they can chew? Let’s take a look at the Yoga 3 11!
Shop the Yoga 3 11
Yoga 3 Speaker Test (Laptop Mode)
Yoga 3 Speaker Test (Stand Mode)
Lenovo wrapped up their Tech World conference by talking about the future and showing off some concept products.
As we throw around buzz words like “Internet of Things” the tech industry is actually facing it’s next major hurdle in how we can better integrate data and services into people’s daily lives. Products like smartwatches are another step in that conversation.
Lenovo’s Magic View concept takes the standard smartwatch face we all understand (which looks a lot like the display found on the Moto360), and adds a second virtual screen. That small rectangular patch below the watch face is a virtual privacy display which can project content up to 20 times larger than the watch face.
Projection was a hot topic for phones too. Smart Cast is the world’s first laser projector in a mobile phone. Not only will it display the contents of your screen onto a flat surface, but it will also allow you to interact with the UI through the projection.
Lastly, Lenovo announced a partnership with Microsoft to bring exclusive features to Cortana on Lenovo PC’s. REACHit will provide cloud search and sync access to Cortana for popular services like DropBox and Google Drive. Files in the cloud and on various PC’s, Tablets, and Phones will all be accessible to users regardless of where they are or which device they’re using.
As Lenovo continues their lead in the PC space, most of the talk at Tech World focused on a future where services and information are a bit more fluid than the traditional PC experience. Buying Motorola was certainly a step in expanding their influence in the mobile market, and now “Internet of Things” is looking like the next arena they want to play in.
You can see more from the conference on Lenovo’s Youtube channel.
As Lenovo continues their lead as the number one PC manufacturer, the company took the wraps off of two new lines of laptops available next month.
Lenovo Z41/51
Billed as the “Ultimate multimedia workstation for music and movie lovers”, these new Z laptops are focused on home entertainment. Full HD displays will be powered by Intel processors (up to a Core i7) and there will be options for discreet AMD graphics. Dolby is on tap for their surround sound technology, and the Z51 will also come with Intel’s RealSense 3D front facing camera. The RealSense camera can be used for gaming, capturing 3D photos, or scanning objects for 3D printing.
The 14″ Z41 and 15″ Z51 will start at $499. A Z51 with 3D camera and 8GB of RAM will sell for $599
Lenovo Ideapad 100
Getting down to basics, this new Ideapad is focused on delivering a streamlined experience at a low price.
In 14 and 15 inch flavors, Ideapad 100 borrows from recent tablet success using an Intel BayTrail low power processor, and can be configured with up to 500GB of storage. The slim notebook will start at $249 when it’s released later next month.
You can catch Lenovo’s full press release below.
Continue reading “Lenovo Announces Z41/Z51 and Ideapad 100 “Simple” Laptops”
Lenovo is building out a line of small form factor PC’s under the “THINK” branding. The hardware certainly has a business-grade focus, and can be paired with an excellent monitor dock. Is the M83 a good fit for personal use too? Let’s take a look!
SuperFish has been an ugly security black mark for Lenovo. It’s often been a criticism in my reviews of their gear that they include too much “value added” software (bloat), and removing a lot of it will noticeably improve system performance.
SuperFish however was a piece of adware. If a Lenovo owner opted into the “service”, SuperFish would analyze images and searches to insert ads for similar products and to do cost comparisons. While that doesn’t sound terrible, behind the scenes SuperFish would install its own security certificates which allowed the service to intercept encrypted traffic.
It’s doubtful that Lenovo or SuperFish seriously wanted to peek in on your private and secured data, but such a gaping hole could easily have been exploited by another attacker.
Lenovo detailed that this adware package was only installed on consumer systems, not on Thinkpads and business systems. Today they’ve published details on removing the service, and they’ve released an app to aid in the removal.
This thing is HUGE! Wrapping up a couple weeks with the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro, I was really curious to see how such a large slate would affect productivity. On paper, it’s a terrific collection of specs and features, with a truly novel option in including a projector, so let’s see how it performed real world!
Shop the Yoga Tab 2 Pro on Amazon.
More info on Lenovo Products.