NEC Also Updates Its Product Offer, LaVie M

A lot of technological advancements were showcased at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show and immediately afterwards. Naturally, as it always occurs after such hardware releases, companies are going out of their way to launch new products or upgrade, update, refresh or enhance their existing lines. NEC is upgrading its LaVie M ultra-thin laptop, which is now going to be available with a stronger central processing unit.

The LaVie M is not a new product, as the market learned of its existence months ago. Back then, the ultra-thin had a decent screen (13.3-inch display with a 1366 x 768 resolution), but its insides bordered on the netbook area. It had a low-power 1.2GHz Celeron SU2300 processor and 2GB to 4GB of RAM. The refreshed version retains most of these features, as well as the storage and I/O specs, but presents a boost in performance.

The 1.20 GHz Celeron processor has been replaced by a newer, more highly capable chip from Intel. Known as the Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400, the processor operates at 1.40Ghz. The laptop's memory and storage capacities remain the same, of 4GB and 320GB, respectively, while the 13.3-inch screen gets its images from the GMA 4500 integrated graphics. While not exactly groundbreaking, the new laptop specifications are good enough for the machine to work well under the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. The ultra-thin will also come pre-loaded with Office personal 2007.

The laptop comes in two versions. Both models weigh 1.61 kg, measure 330 × 220 × 27-30.5 mm and have a battery life of 4.9 hours.

The high-end model has maximum memory and storage capabilities (4GB and 320GB, respectively), as well as Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi b/g/n, three USB2.0 ports, mini D-Sub 15, HDMI output and an SD Card reader. This device is known as the LM550 and is priced at 130 000 Yen (975 Euro).

The low-end model, the LM530/WH, retains the Intel Celeron SU2300 (1.20GHz) CPU, only has 2GB of memory and lacks Office Personal 2007. It costs 110 000 Yen (825 Euro).