Lenovo launches depth-sensing laptop and Surface 3 rival
If you're in the market for a mid-range laptop, Lenovo has revealed an interesting option at its Tech World event in Beijing. The 15-inch Z51 laptop has an Intel RealSense 3D camera that can be used for scanning, gaming or gesture control. If you're not into that gimmick, the Z51 and 14-inch Z41 have pretty decent bang for the buck, however, with 1080p displays, optional discreet AMD graphics, 16GB max memory and up to a Core i7 CPU. Both will arrive next month starting at $499, but on the off-chance you want a depth camera, you'll pay an extra $100 for the 15-inch model.
Lenovo also revealed the Ideapad 100 (above), a $249 laptop coming next month that could give potential Chromebook buyers pause. It's available in 14- and 15-inch sizes, with a 1,366 x 768 non-touch screen. Lenovo says it's aimed at buyers "who need only the most essential features" like web browsing, meaning the max configuration has a mere BayTrail-M N3540 CPU and 500GB of storage. Still, it'll let you watch a movie with four hours between charges, as long as you don't mind holding 4-plus pounds of computer on your lap.
Lastly, there's the 10-inch ThinkPad 10 (2nd generation) Windows 10 tablet pictured above. Lenovo's pitching that to business pros with features like a ThinkPad Pen Pro stylus, 1,920 x 1,200 IPS touch screen, Intel Atom quad-core CPU, up to 4GB RAM, a 5-megapixel camera, LTE connectivity and 10 hours of battery life. Lenovo says it'll also bring "a full PC experience," à la Microsoft's Surface 3, provided you're willing to spend up on accessories. You can add, for instance, a folio keyboard for $110, an ultrabook keyboard for $119, a tablet dock for $129 and $70 4-way privacy film. That's on top of $549 for the tablet itself, which is $50 bucks more than a base Surface 3. Still, it's good to have options, and hopefully we'll get a better look to let you know if it's worth it. The ThinkPad 10 will be available August 2015.
