August 6 - 3:45pm EDT   Lenovo is preparing a lower-cost version of its IdeaPad S10 netbook for at least some regions, the company said today. The S9 will have the same chassis as the 10-inch model but shrink the screen to 8.9 inches. It will also replace the 80GB hard drive with 8GB of flash storage and ship both with the S10's Windows XP and a special Linux variant. The 1.6GHz Atom processor and 1GB of memory carry over from the larger-screened model. [full story]

August 4 - 7:25am EDT   Lenovo this morning contributed its share to the rapidly growing netbook field with a new IdeaPad model. The S10 shares the same 10-inch screen and 1.6GHz Atom processor as larger rivals like the MSI Wind but promises a unique design with a multi-touch trackpad, front-mounted speakers, and a keyboard at 85 percent of full size and thus comfortable enough to type on for long periods. A 1.3-megapixel camera is built into the lid. Bluetooth and an ExpressCard slot are also rare additions for connections to wireless keyboards, 3G modems, and similar peripherals. [full story]

July 15 - 12:20pm EDT   Lenovo may be the next large PC maker to enter the mini notebook field, according to reports from those in the notebook business. The company plans to expand its IdeaPad yet again to include the G series and will target the line both at budget notebooks as well as the mini notebook field led by the ASUS Eee PC, Acer Aspire One, and other very small systems. Specifics of this system are vague, though most of these systems now use an Intel Atom processor and come with flash-based storage as well as an option for Linux. [full story]

July 15 - 1:30am EDT   In addition the ultra-portable X200 and U330, Lenovo on Tuesday morning announced its new Centrino 2 ThinkPad SL notebooks as well as new IdeaPad notebooks. The trio of black-glossy covered ThinkPad SL notebooks, targeted to small- and medium-size business includes the SL300, SL400 and SL500; all offer built-in high speed mobile broadband connectivity along with Centrino 2's 802.11n networking, the latest Core 2 Duo processing, and new software that helps with data recovery, Internet connection setup, and a new optional service package featuring on-line data backup and on-site warranty repair. Some models also offer the now-in-vogue (but optional) Blu-Ray DVD player ... [full story]

July 15 - 12:15am EDT   Lenovo tonight had its turn at upgrading to Centrino 2 with two new notebooks that are billed as blurring the lines between ultraportables and full-power models. The ThinkPad X200 is Lenovo's first major X series update since the X300 but is smaller than both the X300 and its rival MacBook Air while keeping many features and only thickening a tenth of an inch to 0.8 inches. Although it uses just a 12-inch display, the X200 still finds room for up to a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo on the new Intel platform as well as up to a Blu-ray optical drive. [full story]

June 3 - 12:00pm EDT   Alongside its new chipsets, Intel on Tuesday has also unveiled the Z-P230, a new version of its ultra-small solid-state drive. The flash disk is roughly four times smaller than a 1.8-inch hard drive found in an ultraportable notebook but holds either 4GB or 8GB of storage on chips that are no larger than a penny, as much as quadrupling the storage available through the Z-P140 introduced less than a year ago. The added capacity makes the drive a good match for handhelds as well as extremely low-cost desktops and notebooks, according to Intel. [full story]

April 29 - 11:35am EDT   Lenovo today held its last IdeaPad unveiling for the US this season with the formal launch of the IdeaPad U110. The final version of the PC announced in January is now billed as a crossover ultraportable designed equally for fashionable users as well as serious travelers. Externally, the 11-inch system has a textured metal shell that recalls Lenovo's "Cloud of Promise" Olympic theme and is one of Lenovo's most compact systems yet, weighing under 2.5 pounds and measuring between 0.7 and 0.9 inches thick. [full story]

April 21 - 11:20am EDT   Lenovo today signaled a change in its philosophy by pulling the last notebook in its signature T series with a standard ratio display from its lineup. The PC builder has withdrawn the 4:3 ratio, 14-inch ThinkPad T61 from its store and now offers all its mid-size notebooks, including the 3000 and IdeaPad series, only in a widescreen ratio. Lenovo hasn't explained the decision but is considered one of the few computer vendors in North America to continue selling standard-ratio designs. [full story]

April 2 - 11:10am EDT   Lenovo today with Intel's help confirmed that it will be one of the first companies to produce a Mobile Internet Device (MID) based on Intel's Atom processor with a new all-in-one device. The IdeaPad U8 will serve as a hybrid communicator and media player and will pack multiple control schemes to match: users can tap a 5-inch touchscreen to navigate menus, browse the web via Firefox, or other complex functions, but also use a unique optical joystick that substitutes as a mouse pointer and lets an owner steer the device with one hand. [full story]

January 3 - 8:35am EST   Aiming directly at the same retail space dominated by the likes of Acer and HP, Lenovo today introduced its new IdeaPad line of notebooks. The company claims to borrow the build quality of the ThinkPad series but adds that the new range has features just for home users: every model has touch-sensitive media controls, Dolby Home Theater audio processing, and a facial recognition system that uses a built-in webcam for security and other features. The IdeaPads' construction is also unique among home notebooks: each has a "frameless" display that lets the LCD run nearly to the edges of the bezel, allowing the PC maker to place a large screen in a relatively small space. [full story]