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Lenovo woos gamers with new Razer Edition desktop and curved gaming monitors

By Koh Wanzi - on 5 Jan 2016, 11:30am

Lenovo woos gamers with new Razer Edition desktops and curved gaming monitors

Lenovo ideapad Y900

Lenovo isn’t the first name that springs to mind when you think of gaming, but that doesn’t mean that the company doesn’t still have a few cool products up its sleeve. In fact, it’s hoping to capitalize on the fact that PC gaming remains one of the few bright spots in an overall flagging market – analysts estimate that it could reach US$35 billion by 2018, partially thanks to the rise of eSports and free-to-play games.

Following up on last year’s ideapad Y700 and ideacentre Y900 gaming laptop and desktop, Lenovo has updated its range of gaming products with the 17.3-inch Y900, a special Razer Edition ideacentre Y900 desktop, and its first ever curved gaming monitor.

 

Ideapad Y900

Lenovo ideapad Y900

The new 17.3-inch ideapad Y900 is intended to replace your gaming desktop. This is no budget gaming machine, and it comes packed with enthusiast-level features like an overclockable sixth-generation Intel Core i7 K-series processor, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M graphics card, and a mechanical keyboard to boot. It’s not every day that you see a mechanical keyboard on a notebook, even one of this size and calibre, and the ideapad Y900 joins the MSI GT80 Titan SLI in the rarefied ranks of notebooks that provide satisfying tactile feel of mechanical feedback.

You can also configure it with up to 64GB of DDR4 RAM, a 512GB PCIe SSD in RAID 0, and a 1TB HDD. The six-cell 90Wh Li-polymer battery is rated for up to five hours of battery life, but most gamers probably aren’t going to stray too far from a power socket (it weighs 4.6kg).

The display is a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel IPS matte panel, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M card should be able to power most games at that resolution. But if some additional performance is needed, Lenovo has incorporated something it called One Key Turbo, which allows you to boost your system performance with the flick of a switch.

The ideapad Y900 starts at US$1,999 and will be available in the US in June.

 

Ideacentre Y900 Razer Edition

Lenovo ideacentre Y900 Razer Edition

When Lenovo and Razer announced a partnership to build Razer-style machines back in November, they also teased the release of a Razer Edition ideacentre Y-series desktop with Chroma lighting and other Razer hallmarks. Now, Lenovo has finally unveiled the ideacentre Y900 Razer Edition desktop, featuring an overclockable sixth-generation Intel Core i7 K-series processor, up to dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 cards in SLI and 32GB of DDR4 RAM. On the storage front, users can opt for up to a 256GB SSD and a 2TB HDD for extra storage.

The red Y-series logo now glows Razer’s signature green instead, and the logo, front panel, and rear exhaust fan have all been tricked out with LEDs that support Razer’s Chroma multi-color LED lighting.

Lenovo has intended for the desktop to be upgradeable, and the side panel comes off easily to give you access to its innards, similar to what a DIY PC would offer.

The ideacentre Y900 Razer Edition will be available in June in the US starting at US$2,299.

 

Y27g and Y27g Razer Edition Curved Gaming Monitor

Lenovo Y27g Razer Edition curved gaming monitor

Finally, Lenovo also announced its first ever curved gaming monitors in the form of the 27-inch 1,920 x 1,080 pixel Y27g and Y27g Razer Edition monitors. Both monitors use vertical alignment (VA) panels, which should provide improved viewing angles over more conventional TN screens. As it turns out, Lenovo is claiming both horizontal and vertical viewing angles of up to 178°, which should more than satisfy most users.

More importantly, the Y27g and Y27g Razer Edition both support NVIDIA’s G-Sync variable refresh rate technology, which should mean less tearing and stuttering, and consequently smoother gameplay, when paired with an NVIDIA card. They also have a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz, which should mean even more fluid gameplay if you have a card that can take advantage of the upper limit of the refresh rate.

One key difference between the two is that the Razer Edition supports Chroma lighting, so the Y-series logo and LEDs on the back can be customized with your color and lighting effect of choice.

Lenovo Y27g Razer Edition rear

The Lenovo Y27g will be available in the US starting in June at US$549.99. The Razer Edition will cost slightly more at US$599.99 and will be available at the same time.

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