Lenovo has announced a plethora of tablets, computers, and laptops this week. These devices include LePad, S205, S100, Y470, Y570, A320, B520, and B320. Below are the details of each device:

The Lenovo IdeaPad U260 is releasing on November 15th with a price of $895. The U260 is less than an inch thick and it is the first laptop to have a 12.5-inch display with an HD 16:9 screen. The U260 laptop weighs about 3 pounds.

Lenovo Group Ltd. is planning to launch a tablet computer called the LePad said CEO Yang Yuanqing. Lenovo is trailing a bit behind Apple (iPad), Samsung (Galaxy Tab), RIM (PlayBook), and Dell (Streak) in the tablet race as they plan to launch the device next year in the U.S. and China.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) is for sale according to a report by Bloomberg according to three separate sources. Palm is reportedly working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Qatalyst Partners to find a buyer. As of right now Palm has a market cap of about $1 billion.

Although a sale has not been announced, rumor has it that HTC Corporation and Lenovo Group Ltd. have looked at making offers. If someone buys Palm, then they would have access to the WebOS software. Elevation Partners LP owns 30% of Palm.

Palm was founded in 1992 and launched a device called the PalmPilot. Palm was bought by U.S. Robotics. U.S. Robotis was acquired by 3Com Corporation and then Palm was spun off again in 2000. This past year Palm was highly depending on the success of the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi devices, but they have struggled to compete against Apple iPhones, Microsoft Windows Mobile devices, Google Android, Nokia, etc. [Bloomberg]

Lenovo in-house analyst Matt Kohut has recently interviewed with TECH.BLORGE about the future of netbooks.  He believes that touchscreens will help drive the popularity of Windows 7.  Windows 7 and Vista have strong support for touchscreens.  The more that computers become touchscreen, the less Linux will be distributed.  Kohut also predicts that netbook screens will get bigger and will more 3G support.

In regards to the low cost of netbooks Kohut stated:
“What has really helped is that Intel and all the other vendors are getting better at getting the whole system integrated on the chip. With the newest generation of processors, for example, you have your chip, your processor, plus your Northbridge, your Southbridge, and memory controller which is separate, now they are integrating them into the processor.”

[via TECH.BLORGE]

Lenovo has announced that eight of their ThinkPad notebooks.  Eight of Lenovo’s laptops are now built for rugged environments according to the military.  The ThinkPads were blasted with sand and were even heated in an oven.  Other tests include temperature fluctuations, exposure to dust, and jostling.  The laptops that passed the military-grade standards include the ThinkPad X200, X301, X200s, X200 Tablet, T400, T500, R400, and SL300.

The ThinkPads have an Active Protection System encloses the hard drive in an air bag-like system in the event that it is dropped.  The ThinkPads have a spill-resistant keyboard built in and a protective frame called a Roll Cage.  The price of these ThinkPads range from about $1500-$2500 new.  Some of them can be found on Amazon.com for less than $1k.

[via eWeek]

Lenovo Group Ltd. and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) are coming together on a project that will have the BlackBerry automatically sync new e-mail to ThinkPad laptops.  RIM manufactures the BlackBerry devices and Lenovo manufactures the ThinkPad laptops.   The laptop will require a “Lenovo Constant Connect” card in order for it to work.  The e-mail will be in sync even if the laptop is in stand-by mode.

There won’t be a need for the laptop to establish a secure Internet connection to employee servers.  The laptop user will not need to be connected to the Internet for sending e-mails either.

The “Lenovo Constant Card” will cost about $150 or less.  Lenovo plans to start selling it in Q2 of this year.  The card will only be available in the U.S. initially.  It will be compatible with ThinkPads that were made last summer or later.  BlackBerrys must have been made within the last few years as well.

The card connects to a BlackBerry through Bluetooth technology.  When the laptop is on standby or off, new e-mail is store in flash memory.

[via AP]