A luxe Lenovo Chromebook leads new lineup of laptops, desktops and monitors

lenovo chromebook c340
The Lenovo Chromebook C340 in tablet mode. (Image credit: Lenovo)

Lenovo has announced a host of new products ahead of IFA 2019. These include Chromebooks, tablets, a laptop, all-in-one PCs and monitors, with a focus on affordability for most.

 And, many of them will come in time for the holiday season, albeit  late for back to school shoppers. 

Affordable and portable

One of the highlight products from the bunch is the affordable, new Chromebook S340. It should be available in September, according to Lenovo, and will start at just $249 (about £210, AU$370).

The Chromebook S340 is set to include up to an Intel Celeron N4000 processor and 8GB of LPDDR4 memory, giving it stronger multitasking potential (i.e., more Chrome tabs) than plenty of other Chromebooks out there at this price. And, up to 64GB of eMMC storage should be plenty for documents and apps.

This Chromebook will feature a 14-inch, Full HD IPS touchscreen, as well as fast USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports that can open the door for useful external storage. However, it's worth noting that for many of these specs, Lenovo lists them as "up to," so for the starting price of $249, the processor (CPU), memory (RAM), storage, and display configurations could be notably reduced.

While the Chromebook S340 has a 180-degree hinge, Lenovo is also launching a pair of 360-degree, convertible Chromebooks in the C340 line. There will be an 11-inch and 15-inch model. 

The 14-inch C340 can come configured similar to the S340, but weighs just 2.6 pounds and doesn't offer a Full HD display option. The 15-inch model, meanwhile, can bump up its CPU to an Intel Core i3-8130U with 4GB of DDR4 RAM and 128GB of storage (albeit still eMMC).

A pair of tablets

Lenovo also has new Tab M7 and Tab M8 Android tablets coming in October. The smaller Tab M7 will start at $89 (about £75, AU$135), while the Tab M8 will start at $109 (about £90, AU$165) for an HD version and $159 (£135, AU$235) for a Full HD model.

Their size, price, and true Android experience could make them serious contenders for Amazon's best Fire tablet deals later this year.

Serious computers

While the Chromebooks and new tablets are better geared for users with basic computing needs, Lenovo is also introducing the IdeaPad S540 laptop starting at $999 (about £830, AU$1,480) this October.

The IdeaPad S540 is set to be a serious competitor in the Ultrabook category. It will feature several Intel Comet Lake processors from a 10th-Gen Core i3 up to the six-core Intel Core i7-10710U. It will also feature 8 or 16GB of RAM, up to 1TB of PCIe m.2 SSD storage, and up to Nvidia GeForce MX250 graphics.  The 13.3-inch IPS display will have a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution for a 16:10 aspect ratio, and will boast 300 nits of brightness. All of this makes it a highly versatile option for computer users, especially those on the go thanks to its 2.62-pound weight.

There's also the Ideacentre A540, a capable all-in-one PC with either a 23.8-inch, Full HD touchscreen or a 27-inch, Quad HD touchscreen. The A540 is powered by 9th-Gen Intel Core T-Series processors and AMD Radeon RX 540X or 560X graphics. It can also come with 4 to 16GB of RAM and 128GB to 2TB of PCIe SSD storage. The 24-inch model will start at $799 (£665, AU$1,185), and the larger model at $1,299 (£1,075, AU$1,925) with releases expected in September.

Monitors to boot

Rounding out the offerings, Lenovo also has a 28-inch, 4K monitor with 99% coverage of the sRGB color space and 90% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut. It also includes AMD FreeSync technology and will be just $299 (about £250, AU$445) in November.

There will also be a 34-inch, curved gaming monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate, cinematic 21:9 aspect ratio, and WQHD resolution. It will cost $479 (about £400, AU$710) with a launch in February 2020.

Mark Knapp

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