Lenovo Unveils 3D Laptop

Lenovo has introduced its first laptop capable of displaying movies and pictures in 3D, joining several rivals in a nascent market driven in large part by the success of Hollywood movies.

The Chinese computer maker unveiled the IdeaPad Y560d Thursday. The consumer laptop supports 3D through technology from TriDef 3D, which provides the player software and the polarized glasses needed to view 3D content.

In entering the 3D market, Lenovo joins rivals Acer, Asus and Toshiba. However, the latter three use Nvidia's 3D Vision technology, which includes software, a GeForce graphics card and special glasses.

Much of the 3D-related media attention is directed at high-definition televisionmakers. The manufacturers see 3D as a way to drive sales of high-end systems, which carry fatter profits than commodity systems.

Helping to drive consumer interest is Hollywood, which has been releasing a steady stream of 3D movies. Some of the films have been box-office hits, such as "Avatar," directed by James Cameron. "Avatar" has become the highest-grossing film ever.

Without HDTVs to push, computers makers are outfitting desktops and laptops to take advantage of the 3D craze. Lenovo's Y560d features a 15.6-inch, high-definition 16:9 widescreen. Besides showing 3D content, the TriDef software can also convert 2D videos and photos to 3D.

The laptop also includes Lenovo technology for combining solid-state drives and hard disk drives within a notebook. Such systems use an SSD for faster boot up to improve performance of frequently used applications.

The Y560d is available with up to an Intel Core i7 processor and Advanced Micro Devices' ATI Radeon HD5730 graphics card. The system is also available with a Blu-ray disc player, and integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi is available as an option.

The Y560d, which will ship with Windows 7, is scheduled to be available by the end of the month. The price is expected to start at $1,200.