Today marks the start of IFA, Europe’s largest consumer tech show, and Lenovo is kicking things off with a slew of product announcements. In addition to some new ThinkPad Yogas, the company just unveiled a handful of laptops in a variety of sizes and price ranges. Perhaps the most interesting is the Ideapad 100S, an 11.6-inch Windows machine that will retail for just $189. (There will also be a 14-inch version for $259). This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a sub-$200 notebook, but it’s interesting to see Lenovo, one of the world’s biggest PC makers, enter the super-cheap-laptop fray. Like other machines in this class, the 100S cuts corners with a low-powered processor (an Intel Celeron N3050), minimal RAM (2GB) and little on-board storage (up to 32GB). Essentially, it’s the closest thing to the Windows equivalent of a Chromebook. Speaking of the sort, Lenovo will also sell a Chrome OS version of the 100S, priced at $179. (That, too, is pretty cheap compared to the competition.)Slideshow-316531Slideshow-316532
Before I give you the rundown on the other laptops, this would be a good time to clarify that in addition to unveiling new hardware, Lenovo also just switched up its product-naming scheme, and even updated its logo. In brief: PCs will now fall into “good, better, best, bester” buckets, with the 100 series denoting budget machines like the $189 laptop I just told you about. The 300 and 500 series represent the mid range, and the “700” moniker is reserved for high-end stuff. With me so far? Well, there will be some notebooks that have an “S” appended to the end. No, that’s not for speed — this isn’t the iPhone here; it’s for slimness. That brings me to today’s lineup, which includes mid-range machines like the Ideapad 300 and 500, which are accompanied by the lighter 300S and the 500S. From there, you can get each in various screen sizes, ranging from 13 to 15 inches, which explains why you’ll see product names like 300s-14.Slideshow-316533
In any case, I promise I’m done droning on about naming schemes, and I won’t bore you with specs either: All you need to know for now is that Lenovo will be using Intel’s recently announced sixth-gen Intel Core processors (and in rare cases, AMD). Everything will ship next month, with starting prices running the gamut from $249 to $659.Slideshow-316534
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Laptops, Lenovo
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