Lenovo has recently announced a 3D notebook, the IdeaPad Y560D, which is equipped with a 15.6-inch screen, Intel Core i7 processor and an ATI Radeon HD 5730 graphics card at a price about US$1,200. Lenovo will also offer Blu-ray drive as an option for the notebook….
Television may be rotting the brain of existing generations, but it’s highly likely that 3D will indeed be the downfall of mankind. Or Double Stuff Oreo cokies, one. Either way, the former is finally joining the latter in terms of availability, with Lenovo’s first 3D lappie up for order on the outfit’s webstore.
The 3D laptops are coming fast and furious now, with Toshiba announcing one the other day and now the normally staid Lenovo venturing into the third dimension with the IdeaPad Y560d.
Which will be the company’s first 3D enabled laptop. The display in question is a 15.6″ 16:9 panel with a rather low 1366×768 resolution. To provide the 3D experience, Lenovo provides their “TriDef” technology that consists of the display, the glasses, and the software. The latter is of particular interest as Lenovo says the “TriDef Media Player” and “TriDef Photo Transformer” software will be able to convert and display conventional 2D video or photos as full viewable 3D versions.
Fun is a notebook that brings multimedia to life—and the IdeaPad Y560d does this in a dramatic fashion with a truly unique 3D viewing experience,” said Lenovo VP of business operations Dion Weisler, in a statement. “While 3D technology has been around for ages, it has not been readily accessible to consumers within the home. Lenovo is helping bridge this gap by delivering consumers a 3D experience on a familiar PC platform that can be viewed and enjoyed when and where they want.
The Y560d is a little different in that it uses passive polarized 3D glasses rather than active-shutter ones, and uses an ATI Radeon HD 5730 graphics card instead of an Nvidia one. The laptop does offer switchable graphics, meaning it will rely on the integrated chipset for less-demanding graphics tasks to save battery life.
Inside, consumers will have the option of CPUs ranging from Core i3 to Core i7, and will get switchable graphics. However, the fact that the Y560 is using an ATI Radeon HD5730 GPU (with 1GB of memory) means that there’s no Nvidia Optimus onboard.
There are plenty of storage options available with 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, 640GB and 750GB drives spinning at 5400RPM, or 320GB and 500GB 7200RPM drives. You can also team the HDD with an optional 32GB or 64GB SSD, which enables Lenovo’s “RapidDrive” technology. This is part of Lenovo’s “Enhanced Experience for Windows 7”, which should dramatically improve performance with up to 66% faster boot times, reductions in application launch times, and faster file copying. A good SSD can do that for any laptop, of course, but the ability to use two drives in the Y560d means you can still get mass storage while reaping the performance benefits from a smaller SSD.
A Blu-Ray drive is a welcome addition for multimedia enthusiasts and the laptops comes with the requisite HDMI port for showing 1080p content on an external display. The multimedia experience also includes JBL designed speakers with Dolby Home Theater surround sound. Lenovo’s “OneKey Theater II” technology offers a one-touch optimization for clearer, brighter video and richer audio to make the most of the multimedia experience.
Other extras include an ambient light sensor that will dynamically adjust the brightness of the display based on ambient light to reduce eyestrain (we prefer to manually control display brightness, but at least it can be disabled) and Lenovo’s Energy Management tools that are designed to protect the longevity of the battery by minimizing unnecessary charging/discharging.
Under the hood, the IdeaPad Y560d is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM, up to 750 GB of storage, and features ATI Radeon HD5730 graphics with 1 GB of video memory; the system also features switchable graphics so users can toggle back to energy-saving integrated graphics for everyday computing needs. The Y560d features an HDMI output for connecting to a big screen, and is available with an optional Blu-ray disc drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth wireless networking; it also features an integrated JBL-designed speaker system.
Included software: McAfee VirusScan Plus, CyberLink YouCam 3.0, VeriFace 3.6, Lenovo ReadyComm 5.0, OneKey Rescue
System 7.0, Lenovo Energy Management Software 5.0, Power2Go 5.5, Power2Go BD 5.5 (w/Blu-ray ), WinDVD (for Home Basic/Starter w/o BD Optical), PlayMovie (for Premium/Ultimate w/BD sku), MediaShow, IDEA wallpaper tool, Lenovo DirectShare, Lenovo SlideNav 2.0, OneKey® Theater II, Microsoft Office Professional Hybrid 2007, DDNi 1.x, IDVault, ooVoo, Tridef 3D APP and PowerDVD9.
Along with a few other laptops like the Origin EON15-3D and the Asus G5IJ-3D, the Y560d promises an affordable 3D laptop experience for the masses. It will be available by the end of June and retail at $1199 for the basic model, which is a great price for anyone interested in an entry level 3D laptop. Like always however, extra power and features are going to cost you extra, so keep that in mind if you are in the market for a 3D laptop.
Resources :blog.laptopmag.com,anandtech.com,digitimes.com
