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Lenovo's New Entertainment Platforms Revealed

By Andy Sim - 9 Apr 2009

IdeaPad Y650 and Y450: More Bright Ideas!

More Bright Ideas with New IdeaPad and IdeaCentre Systems

It's evident that Lenovo will continue to stoke the fires of the slimming campaign. A war numerous PC makers are embroiled in to see who can deliver the slimmest entity and yet pack sufficient High-Definition (HD) firepower to impress the masses. With that thought, two multimedia-flavored IdeaPad laptops were officially unveiled by Lenovo today along with the interestingly designed all-in-one (AIO) PC, the Lenovo IdeaCentre A600.

The IdeaPad Y650 and Y450 Notebooks

Let's start with Lenovo's flagship multimedia notebook. To power the display of the light-weight and slim built 16-inch Y650, it relies on an integrated Intel GMA X4500MHD GPU by means of the G45 chipset that it's based on. The X4500MHD's sibling, the X4500, does not boast of 1080p video playback capabilities, and it is proof enough that Lenovo has rested with the correct selection between the two integrated GPU varieties. The heart of the system is of course an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and is accompanied by DDR3 memory.

Besides trimming the Y-series notebook's lid thickness with the use of LED backlights, users can expect a prolonged battery life as well. The widescreen 16-inch glossy screen has a friendly 16:9 aspect ratio and that suits playback of widescreen movies which are normally formatted in this format. Sound-wise, the Y650 has earned the Dolby Home Theater certification and also sports JBL speakers for your jive moments. Another new feature would be Lenovo's Mac-esque Desktop Navigator, which allows you to access shortcuts quickly by sliding your finger along its dedicated sidebar. An ambient light sensor is another key selling point for Lenovo, which helps adjusts the panel's brightness depending on the environment's lighting conditions.

Featuring Intel Centrino 2 processors, the Y650 IdeaPad sports a glossy widescreen panel with a native resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. Lenovo's facial recognition application, VeriFace 3.5, will also be present on the Y650.

It is time to say goodbye to stiff and sharp-angled lids. The Y650 has rounded edges to show, and slender orange trimmings to offer the notebook's appearance some contrast.

Flanked by JBL speakers on either side, the Y650 also offers Dolby Home Theater surround acoustics, a generous wrist-rest and a touchpad with multi-touch capabilities as well. The Y650 is priced at S$2299 and will be made available at the end of Apri

The 14-inch Y450 sibling might be the slighter member from Lenovo's Y-series but it's by no means the weaker sex. Also touting a 16:9 glossy screen, the Y450 flaunts discrete graphics in the form of NVIDIA's GeForce GT series GPUs to tackle those HD missions, while the integrated Intel GMA X4500 GPU on the chipset kicks in to take up the more mundane routine tasks. Like it's bigger Y650 counterpart, the Y450 too uses DDR3 memory. For connectivity, the Y450 carts a Gigabit Ethernet port and Draft-N wireless competency. As a customary inclusion, Lenovo has thrown in a 6-in-1 Multi-Card Reader for the Y450 as well.

As a speedy shortcut for data recovery on the fly, the two IdeaPad notebooks are also equipped with Lenovo's OneKey Rescue System for those dire situations. The Y450 is priced from S$1399 onwards while the larger Y650 brother is priced from S$2299.

Casually known as the "honeycomb design", Lenovo's 14-inch Y450 patterned lid gives the notebook a unique identity compared to possible drab offerings from some of its competitors.

Sporting an obviously smaller touchpad and wrist-rest, the Y450 does not carry JBL speakers, but at least it has a ThinkPad-inspired keyboard to impress. Giving it a run, the keys were notably quiet and comfy for first takes.

It glows! If you believe only Apple's MacBooks can perform that glowing feat, think again. Lenovo has added a glowing white LED at the edge of the Y450 to highlight the IdeaPad's presence.

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