Lenovo is one of those companies that has so many different products and product lines that it's nearly impossible to keep everything straight without a helpful primer. Good news: Here's a helpful primer.
100, 300, 500
In an attempt to simplify its product nomenclature for consumers, Lenovo changed how it labels its various notebook tiers. Now, you'll see 100, 300 and 500 numbering that indicates the level of performance in ascending order. That is, 100-series devices are the lowest end, and 500-series are the highest.
As an example of what you might get moving up from a 100- or 300- notebook, a 500-level machine would use metals for construction instead of plastics, and it might have an Intel RealSense camera and branded speakers. It would also likely have an Intel Core i7 (Skylake) chip in it instead of a Core i5 or lower. (In the past, these systems would have been "G-Series" or "Z-Series" devices.)
One wrinkle in that is Lenovo's Y-series products -- "Y" meaning high performance and gaming-oriented machines -- which will get 700 numbering to set it apart even further from any 100-, 300- or 500-series product. (Lenovo also mentioned to us that the "Y700" name had some "stickiness" in the gaming community, and it didn't want to disrupt that hard won mindshare.)
Further Clarification
But wait, there's more.
In addition to the "hundreds" naming convention, Lenovo has further broken its product lines down with a single "S" that connotes thin and light products. Thus, traditional, everyday devices will be 100, 300 and 500, whereas thin and light Ultrabook-class machines will be 100S, 300S and 500S.
Within each numbered tier, there will be devices at different sizes, too.
Can You Put All That In A Table?
Can we put all that in a table? We sure can. Here you go:
Everyday Systems | ||||
Row 1 - Cell 0 | Size | CPU | OS | Price |
ideapad 300 | 14 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $399 |
ideapad 300 | 15 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $549 |
ideapad 300 | 17 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $449 |
ideapad 500 (AMD) | 14 inches | up to an AMD A10-7300 | Windows 10 Home | starts at $399 |
ideapad 500 (AMD) | 15 inches | up to an AMD A10-7300 | Windows 10 Home | starts at $599 |
ideapad 500 (Intel) | 14 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $499 |
ideapad 500 (Intel) | 15 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $849 |
Thin and Light | ||||
Row 10 - Cell 0 | Size | CPU | OS | Price |
ideapad 100S | 11.6 inches | Intel Atom Z3735F (quad core) | Windows 10 Home | $189 |
ideapad 100S | 14 inches | Intel Celeron N03050 | Windows 10 Home | $259 |
ideapad 300S | 14 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $479 |
ideapad 500S | 13.3 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | N/A |
ideapad 500S | 14 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | N/A |
ideapad 500S | 15 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | N/A |
Gaming/High Performance | ||||
Row 18 - Cell 0 | Size | CPU | OS | Price |
ideapad Y700 Touch | 15.6 inches | up to a quad-core Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $799 |
ideapad Y700 AMD | 15.6 inches | up to an AMD A10-FX-8800P (Carrizo) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $949 |
ideacentre Y700 (desktop system, single GPU) | N/A | up to a quad-core Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $999 |
ideacentre Y900 (desktop system, dual GPU) | N/A | up to a quad-core Core i7 ("K" SKU, Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | starts at $1,599 |
Miscellaneous | ||||
Row 24 - Cell 0 | Size | CPU | OS | Price |
ideacentre AIO 700 (Intel) | 24 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | $1,099 |
ideacentre AIO 700 (Intel) | 27 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Home | $1,899 |
ideapad MIIX 700 (premium tablet) | 12 inches | up to a Core i7 (Skylake) | Windows 10 Pro / Home | starts at $699 |
Chromebook 100S | 11.6 inches | up to an Intel Pentium N2840 | Chrome OS | starts at $179 |
Most of the above systems run Intel Skylake (also known as "Intel 6th-generation Core") CPUs, although there are a few AMD-based systems, and they ship loaded with a version of Windows 10 (except for the Chromebook 100S, which obviously runs Chrome OS).
Stay tuned to Tom's Hardware for additional details and full specifications on Lenovo's new notebooks, desktops, mobile devices and more.
Seth Colaner is the News Director at Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter @SethColaner. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.