Lenovo 3000 Series C100 Available, V100 Ultraportable and N100 Widescreen Coming Soon (pics)

Lenovo 3000 C100 Notebook Front (view larger)

At a press conference today in New York City Lenovo unveiled its Lenovo3000 series of notebooks. The C100 mainstream 15.4" screen notebook is available for purchase now via Lenovo.com. The N100 widescreen 14.1" and 15" notebook will hit the virtual shelves in March, and the V100 ultraportable with built-in optical drive will be available around May.

Lenovo 3000 C100 (view larger)

The Lenovo 3000 C100 (pictured above) has a starting price of $599 when configured with an Intel Celeron M processor. You can get up to a 2.0GHz Pentium M processor (Sonoma family). The C100 is available now at Lenovo.com. The basic specs for the C100 are as follows:

• Pentium M or Celeron M processor
• Windows XP or Pro
• 40 - 100GB 5400RPM hard drive
• 256MB - 1GB RAM
• CD, CD-RW/DVD or DVD Recordable optical drive
• 4 USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, VGA and S-Video ports, 3-in-1 multicard reader, PCMCIA slot
• Weight of about 6.2lbs
• Thickness of 1.3"
• Warranty of 1-year

Built-in Lenovo Care software is like the "Access IBM" software found with ThinkPads that provides easy management of your notebook (view larger image)

The look of the C100 isn't very striking, but the price point is very nice. The selection of ports is good. The oddly positioned front loading CD drive is rather annoying in this author's opinion, but it could be argued it makes for easy access. There is no pointing stick available like on ThinkPad notebooks, but the keyboard is "ThinkPad-like" meaning it's a good keyboard, but not quite the same as a 7-row fully blown ThinkPad keyboard.

C100 from the left side (view larger)

Lenovo 3000 C100 next to N100 on the right(view larger)

Coming in March is the N100 widescreen notebook from Lenovo. That will be available in 14.1" screen and 15" screen size. No word on price points yet, but expect the configurations to be similar to the C100 and you will also have an option of a glossy screen.

Lenovo C100 (on the left) next to the widescreen N100 (on the right) that will be coming in March (view larger image)

Lenovo N100 widescreen notebook (view larger image)

Most exciting for me is the V100 ultraportable release in the 3000 series. This 12.1" widescreen notebook will be coming to the market in late May. It has a built-in optical drive on the right side (this is a somewhat rare feature for an ultraportable notebook) and hasfeatures such as FireWire, 3-in-1 media card reader, ThinkPad like keyboard (notice they have the blue Enter button on the V100, like all ThinkPads do), fingerprint reader for security,port replicator/docking station abilityand a wireless on off button. The V100 will likely come equipped with a Pentium M ULV processor, although all final specs are not settled. They indicated built-in EVDO will not be an option with this V100 like it is the Lenovo ThinkPad X60 ultraportable series. Lenovo had a "hand assembled" early model of the V100 at the press conference, pictures are below.

Lenovo V100 ultraportable keyboard (view larger image)

Lenovo V100 ultraportable from the right side (view larger image)

Lenovo V100 ultraportablefrom the left side (view larger image)

Many questions were asked of Lenovo reps as to whether we'd be able to walk in to any retailer such as Best Buy or Circuit City and buy these new Lenovo machines right off the shelves. For now Lenovo.com is the only way to get the currently released C100, but Lenovo indicated they plan on trying to get these notebooks on the shelves in more places and their current strategy of promoting Lenovo via Olympic telecasting is how they're trying to build brand recognition and make customers more aware if they start to see these Lenovo branded products in stores. Lenovo will also be sponsoring the next Summer Olympics in Beijing China to build the brand further -- by that time in summer of2008Lenovo hopes to be a prominent name in the American technology market.

Also of note at the press conference, Lenovo representatives were asked the question as to whether they would consider AMD processors for any notebooks including ThinkPad and Lenovo branded products. The answer was that Lenovo is open to AMD and "possible for consideration" in upcoming notebook releases. The new Lenovo3000 series of desktops will contain an option for AMD processor.

 

That 12" model is pretty hot...I think this entire family is going to sell very well for them.

 

It looks nice when closed too, has a curved look. The key will be price point on the ultraportable, if they get the price close to $1,000 for such a notebook then it'll sell very well for someone that might want a good ultraportable for when travelling. Unfortunately, they wouldn't quote any prices yet for the V100.

 

Oh no, what happened to the trackpoint? I don't know if I can go back to a touchpad after getting used to the nipple. Was that done to help costs?

 

Well, I think they have to be able to differentiate the business line (Thinkpads) from the consumer line.

 

wow, some of them look alot like think pads! with the steel hinges especially

 

Watch out! Cuz, here comes Levono. The N100 looks very nice, it might be worthy of my eye in the future.

 

Wow not bad...not bad at all.

 

That's not something to complain about on a budget notebook, especially when you're getting the best one out there at a bargain price.

Those notebooks look great for budget users. I could even see businesses picking them up.

 

Yeah, i'd miss the trackpoint as I'm so used to it, but it is a cost cutting measure to get the price down on these more small biz / consumer oriented machines.

 

Looks well...

 

looks great...does anybody know is Lenovo planning on releasing any turion laptops? personally i can't buy a anything with an intel chip in it. if work buys it then it's a different story.
scott

 

My thoughts exactly. Not only are they going to get their foot in the door even more with the consumer market, but I'll bet small to medium size businesses that can't afford an expensive Thinkpad leasing program would jump all over these.

 

There's a fingerprint reader on it and they couldn't afford a trackpoint?

Also, if going with the IBM style keyboard, why not go with it all the way and keep the standard layout of the six navigation keys?

Again strange decisions from Lenovo.

 

Honestly, I think they look pretty cheap (referred by the public as "Made in China" products). Compared to budget notebooks by HP/Compaq and Acer, Lenovo's design is so boring and dull. Look at that wasted space on the screen bezel of the V100 ultraportable. They could've easily made that to a 13.3" display.

Not well executed design in my opinion.

 

Well, if you shov all that sets the Thinkpad apart into a Lenovo, then who will go for the ThinkPads ???

A lot of my friends comming from Dell etc.. think my Trackpoint is a joke... a true joke. I don't even explain it to them 'coz one will never understand without using really using it. The FingerPrint reader on the other hand is a good selling point. People go.. WoW!!! a finger print reader!!! Personally, i would gladly have a trackpoint over a Finger Print reader, but for most folks who don't know what a Trackpoint is, the FingerPrint reader will be a chief selling factor.

 

I think it was about time for Lenovo/IBM to come out with something that could hit Best buy and futureshop. IBM was kept out of of big market until this announcement. Don't you agree that at the rate laptop mania is propaged, 7-eleven will soon sells laptop ?

But i guess interesting features such swappable bay, trackpoint and dedicated graph card will still be available only on higher end series. I will stay tuned but it doesn't changes anything in my next buying plans.

 

wow, that's cool - an ultraportable, budget (as I understand not very pricey) model!!!

 

Maybe they will! As it was said, it's only early-hand assembled model...

 

In order for Lenovo to be successful, they have to make notebooks that stand out from the crowd of HP/Compaq/Acer/Averatec/budget notebooks in major electronic retail stores.

Like someone else has suggested, a better design, modular/swappable drive bay, and a trackpoint will give Lenovo a good advantage over other competing notebooks.

 

The two most important things that budget user ask for is low price and stability. As long as Lenovo keep the price low and provide good quility laptops/customer services, they are in the right direction.
V100 looks cool! C100 looks like the crappy dell 1150 that i am typing on right now.
Lenovo have been making thinkpad for years. I believe they can make a good quility laptop if they are willing to do so.
Also, there is no point to add cool features to budget laptops. Who will buy their thinkpad if all those cool features are avaliable in Lenovo?

 

Hmm, well some of the Lenovo notebook cases look indeed pretty cheap and like adopted ODM Barebone cases. The one of the C100 looks to me like some old fashioned Compal case. Even once upon a time Wistron/Aopen also used similar looking cases.

The cases of the widescreen models look slightly better, but those trackpads and mouse buttons don't look much stylish at all to me. All those cases look somehow poor in design and probably too much budget and ODM barebone like.

A fingerprint reader is often overrated in functionality etc. and as a supplier part a plain low cost part, so all in all nothing spectacular. - I too would prefer a tactile trackpoint much more, especially on the V100 model.

 

I wonder if the V100 is a sign of things to come over at the ThinkPad division.

After all, haven't there been people clamoring for two things:

A widescreen X series
An X series with an integrated optical drive

If so, then I wonder if the IBM-layout, TrackPoint-equipped version will be sold as the X70 or something, or the X61w...