Fresh off launching their latest offerings in their business lineups, Lenovo has launched two new entry-level notebooks for the general consumer. Targeted at first-time notebook buyers who are looking for greater processing power than a netbook, but with greater battery life than normal laptops, the IdeaPad S300 and S400 thin-and-light laptops is Lenovo’s answer.
As we mentioned earlier in our exclusive preview, the build quality of the S400 that we had was pretty solid. At the launch we fiddled around with the S300, the 13.3-inch version, and found it to be similarly well-built. While both laptops are mainly made of plastic, they both are rigid enough to be held confidently with one hand.
More on Lenovo’s latest laptops after the break.
One interesting aspect of the IdeaPad S300 and S400 is the Lenovo Quick Start functionality, which allows users to connect to the internet in 5-7 seconds, without having to boot up into Windows. Other Lenovo hallmarks, such as the OneKey Rescue System and the AccuType keyboard, are also present.
The S300 is the smaller of the two laptops being launched. Coming in two colourways (Silver Grey and an exclusive Cotton Candy Pink), they both use an Intel Pentium ULV 997 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard disk, and Intel HD Graphics. The S300 also sports 3 USB ports (1 USB 3.0) and a HDMI port. There will be two variants of the S300 available in Malaysia: a FreeDOS edition priced at only RM1199, or RM1399 with Windows 7 Home Basic installed.
On the other hand, the 14-inch S400 will be available in an exclusive Crimson Red in addition to Silver Grey. And, like the S300, the S400 will also be available in two variants: one with a regular-voltage Intel Core i3-2365M processor (1.4GHz) and an AMD Radeon HD 7450 GPU, and the other using a Core i5-3317U (1.7GHz, Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz) and Intel HD 4000 GPU. Both variants will have 4GB RAM, 500GB hard disk, 3 USB ports (1 USB 3.0) a HDMI port, and Windows 7 Home Basic pre-installed. In addition, the Core i5 variant will also have a 24GB SSD cache for Ultrabook-like responsiveness. The Core i3 variant of the S400 is priced at RM1699, while the Core i5 variant will cost RM2099.
IdeaPad S300 and S400 laptops that come pre-installed with Windows 7 Home Basic will be eligible for the Microsoft Windows 8 upgrade program, where users can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for only $14.99. Both the IdeaPad S300 and S400 are available in stores now, with one year international warranty.
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