After leaving Dell to become chief executive of Lenovo, Bill Amelio is stepping down from his post as CEO. Amelio joined Lenovo to help with the integration of IBM's PC business. The so-called "amicable" departure comes with the announcement of a quarterly loss three-times higher than expected. The US executive has been replaced by Lenovo's Chairman Yang Yuanqing who will continue to live and work from Lenovo's North Carolina office -- Yang's board leadership duties will now be assumed by Lenovo's co-founder, Liu Chuanzhi. That puts Lenovo back into the hands of executive Chinese leadership as it attempts to recapture ground given up to HP and Acer in corporate sales. And with IT bugdets slashed in a bid to keep corporations afloat, the executive changes are meant to accelerate Lenovo's strategy to dominate China's PC market, grow its business into emerging markets (specifically India and Russia), and expand upon its burgeoning sales to individual consumers. Seems like a reasonable move to us.

Lenovo's IdeaPad series of notebooks is quite different than the company's popular line up of ThinkPads. Ideapads are currently available in three series of products. The "U" series designates an ultraportable style with 11.1" or 13.3" widescreen displays and Intel Core 2 Duo processors. The "Y" series is for family entertainment and is available with up to a 17" screen and Intel 2.8GHz Core 2 duo processors. And finally, there is the super mobile "S" series netbook with its Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor and 10.2" display. Within the "U" and "Y" series there are a lot of models to choose from.
The Lenovo IdeaPad lines differ quite a bit from the Thinkpads we have reviewed in the past, such as the Lenovo Thinkpad W700 Mobile Workstation or the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Ultraportable Notebook as you'll see in the pages ahead.
In this article, we'll be showcasing the Ideapad Y530 specifically, which offers a competitive array of features at a reasonable price point. With multimedia capabilities being a focus these days, we thought this model would more than cover the bases with its generous yet rather portable 15.4" display and Intel Core 2 Duo processor packed inside.