Lenovo 3000 V200 laptop: four pounds of Santa Rosa for $1199
Sometimes we get so focused on UMPCs and ultra-portables, we inadvertently forget about the ‘standard’ portable devices. Lenovo is here to remind us now that they’ll be offering an Intel Santa Rosa platform in their new four-pound V200 laptop at a reasonable price. $1,199 nets you a notebook with:
- Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 (1.8 GHz, 2 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz front side bus)
- 12.1-inch WXGA screen with integrated web-cam
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
- 1 GB of RAM
- 160 GB, 5,200 RPM drive
- Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 802.11a/b/g
- 8x DVD Recordable optical drive
- 3-cell battery
- Integrated fingerprint reader
Some desirable and well-priced upgrades are included in a $300 premium package: a 2.0 GHz, 4 MB L2 cache CPU upgrade, 2 GB of RAM, 6-cell battery and OS upgrade from Vista Home Premium to Vista Ultimate. As a portability point-of-comparison, the V200 is roughly the same price as a Dell XPS M1210, weighs 10% less and is about the same size: barely wider and thicker with an extra inch on the depth.
(via Small-Laptops)
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This has been out for about 5+ days now, with virtually no fanfare from Lenovo (methinks they don’t want to steal any of the thunder from the T61/R61 and upcoming x61). I’ve been looking for an ultra-portable laptop and this certainly seemed like a good choice. Competitive price, Santa Rosa (although I wouldn’t expect it to have Turbo Memory), and overall some very nice specs. However, I tested the V100 out at a store side by side with the ThinkPad x60, and there really wasn’t any comparison. You will spend more on the x60, but you get a much more UMPC like form factor (less than three pounds for the x60s). I found the V100 to be a little cheap feeling, and at 4+ pounds with the extended life battery, certainly at the upper end of the ultraportable range.
I got the x60, mainly because of the 25% off pricing up through today.
Just another note about the 3000 V series. I canceled the order that I placed for the X60, and got the new X61s. With EPP discounts and Fathers day sale pricing, it actually worked out to be only $2 more, and that is with TurboMemory.