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Wednesday, May 27th, 2015
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| 12:01a | Lenovo Launches Three Value Notebooks At Tech World
Today Lenovo is holding their Tech World conference in Beijing, and as part of the festivities they are announcing three laptops for those on a tight budget. The Lenovo ideapad 100 is a 14 or 15-inch laptop which starts at just $249, and the Lenovo Z41 and Z51 are 14 and 15-inch models starting at $499. We don’t have the full list of available models of these devices yet, but let’s start with the ideapad 100 first. At just $249, it certainly is going to be easy on the wallet. It is available in a 14-inch model which is 20.2 mm thick, and a 15-inch model which is 22.6 mm thick. It is powered by the Intel Pentium N3540, which is a BayTrail-M class part. This is a four core model which has a base speed of 2.16 GHz and a turbo frequency of 2.66 GHz. The specifications do say “up to” the N3540 though, so the assumption is that the base model will be something else. The display is what you would expect in a budget offering with a 1366x768 resolution, and likely a TN panel. Somewhat surprisingly you can get up to 8 GB of memory, and up to 500 GB of storage through a hard disk drive or 128 GB with a solid state drive. It seems to have all of the connectivity covered with two USB ports (one 3.0, one 2.0), HDMI out, a 4-in-1 card reader, and somewhat surprisingly an Ethernet jack. On the downsides, the battery life from the 30 Wh battery is rated at just four hours, and the weight is hefty at 4.2-5.1 lbs depending on the model.
It is certainly a budget offering, but for many people this will likely fit the bill. It’s surprising they could only fit a 30 Wh battery in though on an up to 5 lb laptop, and a larger battery would make this a lot more appealing for people who need something on the go.
Lenovo ideapad 100 15 Gallery: Lenovo ideapad 100
     The Z41 and Z51 models ramp up the price, but offer quite a bit more potential as well. The Z41 is a 14-inch laptop, and the Z51 is the 15-inch model and both have 1080p panels, but it is not stated whether they are TN or IPS. The processing power on tap is quite a bit more than the ideapad 100 (yes it is written in all lower case in the press release) with Intel Broadwell Core i7 as the top processor available. Once again it is “up to” i7, so expect the base model to come with something less than that. The base models of both use integrated graphics from Intel, but both can be outfitted with a discrete GPU. The Z41 is available with the AMD R7-M360, and the Z51 bumps that up to the AMD R9-M375. Memory is up to 16 GB of DDR3L, and storage is up to 1 TB of HDD or SSHD. The Z models have two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, HDMI, a 4-in-1 card reader, VGA, and once again, an Ethernet jack. Wireless is 802.11ac as well. The 15-inch model will even be available with an optional Intel RealSense 3D camera system which should set it up for Windows Hello login when Windows 10 ships. The integrated 41 Wh battery is once again just rated for four hours though, so this is not going to be the best device for someone on the go. The 14-inch model is also a rather hefty 4.63 lbs, and the 15-inch comes in at 5.07 lbs. It is available in ebony black or chalk white, with the 14-inch model also available in crimson red.
The ideapad 100 models will be available online and in retail stores in June, and once again starts at just $249. The Z41 and Z51 are also going to be available in June, starting at $499 for both models. The Z51 with Core i5, 8 GB of memory, and the RealSense 3D camera starts at just $599.
Depending on the prices with discrete GPUs, these could work out to be reasonable priced laptops with some gaming potential as well. We’ll have to wait and see how the pricing works out for those models though. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9:00a | The AMD A10-7700K and AMD A6-7400K CPU Mini-Review In recent months and quarters I have had discussions about why CPU manufacturers offer a number of processors each separated by $7 and 100 MHz. The obvious answer (but not always the logical answer) is to cater for what the customer wants by overloading them with choice. As a result, sometimes direct CPU comparisons can be difficult, as it requires testing every CPU released. Thankfully for AMD’s Kaveri, todays tests of the A10-7700K and A6-7400K plugs a few holes in our AMD benchmark numbers to allow those comparisons. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11:00a | Spot the CPU: Russian Baikal-T1 SoC Goes MIPS
If you keep your ear to the ground with the technology press, you can’t help but notice a few news stories hitting the ground when it comes to Russia, and a slow progression away from x86 relying on home-grown silicon for enterprise applications. These stories have to be taken with a grain of salt, as sometimes the sources are not the best. However one of our more regular sources of news, Imagination Technologies, has lifted the lid on a press release regarding the implementation of MIPS into a communications based SoC with a Russian fabless semiconductor company. The SoC at the heart of today’s press release is the Baikal-T1, which uses the dual core MIPS P5600 Warrior CPU at its base, clocked at 1.2 GHz but supporting a fabric that also integrates dual gigabit Ethernet, 10 gigabit Ethernet, SATA 6 Gbps, DDR3 and PCIe 3.0 at once. The 25x25nm package is manufactured on 28nm (TSMC we would assume) for a sub-5W power consumption.
In a world where we discuss smartphone, tablet and notebook SoCs moving to 64-bit, perhaps linking back in to a 32-bit core seems like a regression. Imagination is keen to point out their Enhanced Virtual Addressing for 4GB use and Extended Physical Addressing for 1TB technologies help on this front, as well as enhanced instruction bonding featured in recent generations of Imagination MIPS.
So perhaps a 5W communications processor is not that exciting but it sets a small precedent here. Most of our readers are situated in the west, where x86 and ARM are the key players in anything above 1W. Security concerns regarding backdoor implementations in both designs and algorithms are causing two of the world’s largest superpowers, Russia and China, to pursue other avenues, even if this is via the government or commercial. On the commercial line, nation states will offer contracts to those who can satisfy the criteria, and if the criteria is non-x86 + non-ARM to avoid potential issues, especially when it comes to networking, then commercial will come in to fill the void. To that extent, ELVEES, another Russian SoC semiconductor company, is already using 32-bit and 64-bit MIPS in their designs for video analytics. Source: Imagination Technologies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10:00p | Lenovo Launches ThinkPad 10 Tablet Refresh And Lenovo Cast Accessory
Today at Lenovo Tech World, the company has taken the wraps off of an updated version of their ThinkPad 10 tablet, and they are launching their first screen sharing device, the Lenovo Cast. The second generation ThinkPad 10 replaces the first gen model which was launched about a year ago. It keeps a lot of what made the ThinkPad 10 a decent tablet, including the 10.1” 1920x1200 16:10 display. It continues to offer 2 or 4 GB of LPDDR3 memory, as well as both 64 and 128 GB eMMC storage options. The big change is to the processor, with the ThinkPad 10 now being powered by the 14 nm Intel Cherry Trail Atom, specifically the x5-Z8500 or x7-Z8700 models. It is also rated at the same ten hours of battery life with the integrated 32 Wh battery, and includes the ThinkPad Pen Pro technology with WRITEit. WRITEit is a Lenovo software add-on which allows the pen to be used for almost any input. Since this tablet is aimed at the enterprise, it also includes features that you will be hard pressed to find in consumer level tablets including optional dTPM encryption, a fingerprint reader, or a smart card reader. Lenovo will even do laser etching and asset tagging of this model to assist companies with inventory control. As an enterprise tablet, it also has a full assortment of accessories including a folio keyboard, ultrabook keyboard, QuickShot cover, tablet dock, protector case, and more.
The ThinkPad 10 will ship with Windows 10 pre-installed, and the launch timeframe for the tablet is August 2015, which fits into the summer time frame that Microsoft has promised for Windows 10. The price at launch is $549 for the base model.
The second item launching today is the Lenovo Cast, which is a Miracast and DLNA module which can be connected to any television with HDMI. Lenovo is promoting the dual frequency Wi-Fi available on the Lenovo Cast as an upgrade over many of the other Miracast devices on the market today. Since it supports both DLNA and Miracast, it should work with almost any device which supports either of those standards. As with most of these devices, it is powered by micro USB to allow it to be powered off of a TV USB port. Lenovo is claiming that the device will support casting from up to 20 meters and through up to two walls, but that is not at 1080p, where it drops to 5 meters on 2.4 GHz or 15 meters on 5 GHz Wi-FI. The included Realtek wireless chip is the RTL 8192DU which is 802.11 a/b/g/n. The Lenovo Cast includes a 1 meter USB to micro USB cable, a 1 meter HDMI cable, and a bracket to mount the Lenovo Cast on the back of a television. At just 70mm x 15 mm (2.76 x 0.59 inches) and a weight of just 50 grams, it should be an easy accessory for travel too. The Lenovo Cast is launching in August for $49 USD with worldwide availability. The ThinkPad 10 is a bit of a price premium for a tablet, but not excessively so, and hopefully we can get our hands on one to see how it compares to the Surface 3 which is the only other device around with Cherry Trail at the moment. I believe this is the first device that I have seen which has specifically stated it will launch with Windows 10 as well, and assuming Microsoft hits their time frame, Lenovo should not have to hold this device back. There is a lot of competition in the casting space, but a small DLNA and Miracast device for $49 is, I think, a good price especially considering it comes with dual-band Wi-Fi and all of the necessary cables and even a mounting bracket. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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