Lenovo has announced the launch of a new line of notebook and desktop PCs for the consumer market.

The IdeaPad notebooks and IdeaCentre desktops are consumer-oriented, while Lenovo’s ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops are business-oriented, clarified the company.

The new PCs will be made available in several countries including the U.S., France, Russia, South Africa, India, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, China, the Philippines and Singapore

All three IdeaPad notebook PCs, the Y510, Y710 and U110, will be sold in the U.S., announced the company.

As for the technology, the notebooks are powered by Intel (News - Alert) Centrino processor technology which would provide advanced features like facial recognition, Dolby Home theatre surround sound and dedicated gaming controls. The frameless screens, touch-sensitive control surfaces and unique textures are additional unique features offered by Lenovo in its notebook PCs.

The IdeaPad Y510 is expected to be available in BestBuy.com, Micro Center,
Newegg.com, Office Depot and Tiger Direct, while IdeaPad Y710 will be available at TigerDirect.

IDC (News - Alert) expects that the world wide consumer PC market will grow at a rate of 10% annually through 2011. To cater to this growing market, Lenovo set up a consumer business unit in 2007.

Liu Jun, senior vice president and president, Consumer Business Group, at Lenovo, said in the press release, “Our ThinkPad notebooks are well-known around the world as the best engineered computer for business, quality, reliability and thoughtful design. We’re now bringing Lenovo’s expertise in design and engineering to consumers with our Idea-branded PCs. We are confident we will grow our consumer business by blending innovative technologies like facial recognition with stylish designs to enhance the way people use technology in their personal lives.”

Lenovo also announced its new Ideas marketing campaign, aimed at consumers worldwide, to promote its PCs. Lenovo hopes to highlight the power of individual ideas and how its PCs help in further development of these ideas. Lenovo plans to use web-based promotion and merchandising besides point-of-sale and traditional media advertising.

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Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

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