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IFA 2014 Lenovo Announcements - Android Tablet, Gaming Laptop, Gaming Desktop
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IFA 2014 Lenovo Announcements – Android Tablet, Gaming Laptop, Gaming Desktop

The world’s largest PC maker arrived at the IFA trade show in Berlin with quite a few new products. Today Lenovo announced an 8” tablet, a 17” gaming laptop, and a gaming desktop PC.

Lenovo Devices
  TAB S8 Y70 Touch ERAZER X315
Form Factor 8″ 1920×1200 IPS Touchscreen Tablet 17.3″ 1920×1080 Touchscreen Laptop Desktop
CPU Intel Atom Z3745 (1.86 GHz quad-core) up to Haswell Core i7 quad-core AMD Kaveri A8-7600 (3.1GHz quad-core)
AMD Kaveri A10-7850K (3.7GHz quad-core)
Memory 2GB LPDDR3 Up to 16GB DDR3L A8: 8GB DDR3
A10: 12GB DDR3
Graphics Intel HD Graphics Up to NVIDIA GTX-860M 4 GB VRAM A8: AMD Radeon R9 255 2 GB VRAM
A10: AMD Radeon R9 260 2 GB VRAM
Storage 16 GB eMMC Up to 1 TB + 8 GB SSHD or 512 GB SSD A8: 1 TB + 8 GB SSHD
A10: 2 TB + 8 GB SSHD
Connectivity Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n; BT 4.0; Optional LTE Optional BT4.0; 802.11ac/bgn Wi-Fi; 1G LAN 1G LAN, 802.11ac Wi-Fi
Dimensions 209.8 x 123.8 x 7.9 mm
8.1 x 4.8 x 0.31 inches		 422.9 x 190.6 x 25.9 mm
16.6 x 11.4 x 1.1 inches		 375.9 x 360.7 x 175.3 mm
14.8 x 14.2 x 6.9 inches
Weight 299 g
0.65 lbs		 3.4 kg
7.5 lbs		 7.48 kg
16.5 lbs

The Lenovo TAB S8 is an 8” Android tablet with a 1920×1200 resolution “Infinity” screen, which is the marketing term for the thin bezels surrounding the 16:10 dispay. Powering this tablet is the Intel Atom Z3745 SoC which has four Bay Trail cores at up to 1.86 GHz. There are dual front speakers, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and optional LTE data. There is an 8 MP rear camera with F/2.2 aperature, and a 1.6 MP fixed focus front facing camera. Lenovo claims the 4290 mAh battery will last up to seven hours. The TAB S8 is available in ebony, blue, canary yellow, and white, and starts at $199 with availability in September.

Moving from the 299 gram (0.65 lb) tablet, we hit the other end of the spectrum with the 3.4 kilogram (7.5 lb) Y70 Touch gaming laptop. This is the first gaming laptop from Lenovo to be offered with a 17” screen size – in this case a 17.3” 1920×1080 touchscreen. This behemoth of a laptop is powered by up to a Core i7 quad-core processor, has up to 16 GB of DDR3L, and can be equipped with a NVIDIA GTX-860M GPU with 4 GB of dedicated memory. Storage options are up to 512 GB Solid State Drive (SSD), or up to a 1 TB Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD) which has 8 GB of SSD cache. Audio on the laptop should be a highlight feature, with JBL stereo speakers and an integrated 3.0 watt subwoofer built in. Wireless options are 802.11ac, and a gigabit Ethernet connection is also included. Battery life is rated for only 5 hours, but with a curb weight this high, this is not the kind of machine you would take and use on the go anyway. The only optical disc option is an optional external DVD/Blu-ray drive. A backlit keyboard with red lighting completes the experience. The Y70 Touch will be available in October with a starting price of $1299.

The final announcement today is the ERAZER X315, which Lenovo considers an affordable gaming desktop. With a starting price of $599, they could be right. Lenovo went with the AMD Kaveri for the X315 series, with choices of the A8-7600 (3.1 GHz quad-core) or A10-7859K (3.7 GHz quad-core) APUs. Memory is up to 8 GB for the A8 version, and 12 GB for the A10, and GPU options are the AMD Radeon R9 255 with 2 GB of memory for the A8, or an R9 260 with 2 GB memory for the A10. Storage options are both SSHD drives, with 1 TB for the A8 and 2 TB for the A10. This desktop also includes four USB 3.0 ports (with one always powered), two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI input, and wireless connectivity with 802.11ac supported in addition to the Ethernet port. The case includes front lighting and a “knight’s armor” design. The ERAZER X315 will be available in November. 

Lenovo has announced three devices aimed at three completely different markets. The tablet looks to have a great display for the $199 price. A 17” laptop with a 1080p display seems like a low resolution offering for this day and age, but for a gaming device it makes sense with the amount of GPU power available in a mobile device. The desktop looks to be a decent gaming machine for a starting price of $599, but we will have to wait for a review to know for sure.

ASUS EeeBook X205: The $199 Windows Alternative to Chromebooks
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ASUS EeeBook X205: The $199 Windows Alternative to Chromebooks

When ASUS introduced the first EeePC back in 2007, it became a huge hit and essentially ushered in the era of the netbook. Using Linux as the core OS and sporting low-end hardware in order to target a price of $200 (though it ended up shipping at $300 initially), the ultraportables world was forever changed. Google essentially revised and reinvigorated the netbook market with their Chromebook initiative, which brought us $200 laptops in 2011 that again used an alternative OS. Considering the $200 Chromebooks have been one of the highest volume laptops for the past year or two, others are looking to get a piece of that market. Now ASUS is teaming up with Microsoft to release a Windows 8.1 with Bing laptop that hopes to steal some of the thunder from budget Chromebooks.

As you’d expect from any full laptop selling for $200, the components are going to be relatively low-end. ASUS is using an 11.6″ 1366×768 LCD – and no, it is not a touchscreen – the first sign of compromise. The processor comes courtesy of Intel’s quad-core Atom platform (Bay Trail), and the X205 will ship with 2GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage (plus two years free of 500GB ASUS WebStorage). It also features two USB 2.0 ports, 802.11n WiFi, micro-HDMI, and microSD support. There will also be a version with 64GB of storage at a slightly higher price point. In other words, this is sort of like what would happen if you took a basic tablet and converted it back into a laptop, and then used Windows 8.1 instead of Android.

The overall quality of any $200 laptop is obviously going to be a concern, as that price point is far below what we usually see for Windows laptops. For those that want a higher performance computing device, this is obviously not going to fit their needs, but Windows 8.1 has taken steps to improving performance on low memory devices, and you still get a full keyboard and presumably decent battery life. You also get full compatibility with the existing library of Windows applications, which is going to be the real selling point. Is the market still interested in such a device, or have most people moved on to tablets and Chromebooks? We’ll find out how well the X205 does at retail in the coming months.

ASUS' Zenbook UX305: Core M and QHD+
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ASUS’ Zenbook UX305: Core M and QHD+

Today at IFA ASUS announced a couple of new laptops. The first continues the refinement of the Zenbook line with an update geared around Intel’s Core M line of processors. Andrei is at IFA Berlin and can hopefully provide some hands-on impressions later, but the design language looks similar to the existing 13.3″ Zenbook. The big news outside of the Core M processor is that the display has been upgraded yet again, this time to a 3200×1800 QHD+ panel. Other aspects include three USB 3.0 ports, an SD card reader, micro-HDMI, and 802.11ac WiFi connectivity.

We’ll have more information on the Core M processors as well coming next week at IDF, but in the meantime it’s interesting to note that ASUS has made the switch from the U-series line of Intel CPUs to what is effectively the Y-series Broadwell replacement. This is even more surprising as the UX301 shipped with the Core i7-4558U, which was a 28W CPU with a GT3-based Iris Graphics 5100 GPU. What we know of Core M suggests that the TDP has been cut way down, and the UX305 may actually be fanless, though it’s likely Intel will have configurable TDP support as well. In any case, we may very well see a regression in performance from the UX301 to the UX305, though battery life should improve in the process.

Pricing and availability on the UX305 has not been announced, but there should be 128GB and 256GB SSD models, and likely multiple CPU SKUs. We’d expect the price to be similar to the existing UX301 – i.e. $1500+, depending on model – but the switch to Core M may result in prices being closer to $1000. For students and businesses that need highly portable laptops, the UX305 may be exactly what they want.

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Seasonic Platinum SS-1050XP3 & SS-1200XP3 Power Supply Review

Very powerful PSUs may not be all that useful to most users, but they certainly are the pride of any company. Today we’re looking at the new pinnacle of Seasonic’s retail PSUs, the Platinum XP3 series, products designed with very advanced users and cryptocurrency miners in mind. Their advertised performance seems amazing, especially when combined with their reasonable retail price. How well can they perform though? We will find out in this review.

ASUS Unveils the ZenWatch at IFA
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ASUS Unveils the ZenWatch at IFA

Today ASUS threw their hat in the ring of Android Wear smartwatches with their new ASUS ZenWatch. All of the Android Wear watches sport a common hardware platform and the ZenWatch is no exception. It sports a 1.63″ curved 320×320 AMOLED display, and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad Cortex-A7 part running at 1.2GHz, paired with an Adreno 305 and 512MB of RAM plus 4GB of NAND. ASUS claims that the internal 1.4Wh battery will get a user through the day, and the IP55 rating for dust and water resistance should resist environmental hazards but not to the extent of other smartwatches like the Sony SmartWatch 3.

Android Wear watches typically have to compete on price or on design and build, and it looks like the ZenWatch has chosen to go with the latter. The stainless steel design with the curved cover glass and leather strap all convey a more premium feel than other plastic smartwatches. Of course, this also means that the ZenWatch is priced as one of the more expensive smartwatch options at 199 euros. ASUS expects that the ZenWatch will be put on sale sometime during the second half of 2014.

Source: ASUS via The Verge