Rounding out the new IdeaPad notebooks, Lenovo brings the IdeaPad Z series to consumers with a 25% thinner design than the company’s G series without commanding a premium price.
The new IdeaPad Z series are configurable up to an Intel Core i7 3rd generation processor with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. Lenovo offers up to a NVIDIA GeForce GT 645M GPU with 2GB of RAM.
The IdeaPad Z400 and IdeaPad Z500 come with 14-inch and 15-inch screens, both of which use 1366 x 768 resolution. The IdeaPad Z500 is 25.4mm thick and the IdeaPad Z400 is 26mm thick.
Lenovo will ship both of these notebooks with Windows 8, and equips the new Z series with its “intelligent Touchpad”, which the company says is optimized for the new Windows 8 interface with, “easyscroll, zoom and rotate functions.” The keyboard on the Z series is backlit, for easier use n low light situations, not a common feature for sub $600 notebooks.
The IdeaPad Z notebooks include Dolby Home Theater v4, a sound solution that delivers better than average sound rom notebooks speakers. The Z400 and Z500 include a 720P webcam for video chat and the choice of a DVD drive or Blu-Ray drive.
The IdeaPad Z400 will be available November 2012 starting at US$549 and the IdeaPad Z500 will ship in September 2012 starting at US$549.
The IdeaPad Z series join the new IdeaPad Y series notebooks, which offer multimedia chops and a bay that allows users to switch between graphics, storage and a fan. Lenovo also announced the IdeaPad U510, an Ultrabook with a 15.6-inch display.