Lenovo brings Y-series notebook to US shores

Lenovo today surprised the North American PC business by releasing one of its previously Asia-only notebook models for the US. The Y410 adapts the China-made, 14-inch portable to the Western market and is one of the first American models to include the Shuttle Center control for playing back music and movies without booting the main system. Its lid-mounted 1.3-megapixel webcam is also unique among low-cost notebooks in allowing users to lock down their systems using face recognition rather than passwords or a fingerprint reader.

The system will only be available through certain retail stores in the US and varies in specifications depending on the store: the Staples version sells for $735 with a 1.46GHz Pentium dual-core, 1GB of memory, a 160GB hard disk and DVD burner for storage, and GMA X3100 video. Buying from Office Depot steps up the price to $900 up jumps to a 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo and doubles memory to 2GB. Models should be in stock today at both outlets and ship with a 4-hour battery and Vista Home Premium.