Lenovo asserts its new 100w, 300w and 500w machines are ready for any demands e-learning can throw at them

The Lenovo 500w Gen 3, 300w Gen 3 and 100w Gen 3 are small PCs that might strike a consumer as being up-to-date Chromebooks, and do in fact strongly resemble the 100e to 500e series that also launched today (March 23, 2021). However, they distinguish themselves with a speckled finish that is dark blue rather than gray in those new devices, as well as by running Windows 10 instead.

Accordingly, they come with options on the Microsoft Learning Tools and Windows for Education solutions many educators may value. The Redmond giant promotes them as "proven" to help develop writing and reading skills, as well as other practical features such as making text-highlighting easier.

The Lenovo 1-500w Gen 3s deliver this potential through 11.6-inch HD displays with 250 nits of brightness. They are protected with Corning Gorilla Glass in the 300w and 500w, which are convertibles with 360° hinges whereas the 100w is a clamshell.

The first 2 also have a silo for an optional AES pen, although the OEM claims that an ordinary No. 2 pencil can be used with them instead thanks to their robust displays and to Lenovo Pencil Touch technology, which has been developed for accuracy in using this kind of input.

Speaking of durability, the new 1-500w series are rated to meet the MIL-SPEC-810H and Lenovo EDU Spec standards, and are also built to be shock-, drop- and spill-resistant. Their ports are reinforced, too, and include 1 USB type-C 3.2 Gen 1, 1 HDMI 1.4b port, a 3.5mm jack and an SD card slot, even if it is micro.

The new education-centric PCs also support up-to-date Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 standards, with additional, optional 4G/LTE connectivity in the 300w and 500w. Lenovo has equipped their series with equally new AMD 3015e processors, although the 500w also has a choice of an (unspecified) Intel Pentium CPU.

The 100w, 300w and 500w Gen 3 also naturally have webcams, albeit 720p ones; however, they have classic Lenovo physical shutters for extra security on top of what Windows 10 might offer. Finally, the 100w and 300w have 4GB of RAM, wherease the 500w can have up to 8, and all of them have up to 128GB of internal storage.

The new 300w will be available from May 2021 (as will its new line's own $19.99 Targus cases) and will cost US$359. The 100w and 500w will be released in June, and are slated to start at $299 and $429 respectively.

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