Red is the new black

Business PC manufacturer Lenovo is targeting a hip new crowd with a line of notebooks called IdeaPad.

The units are outfitted with red aluminum-alloy cases, graphics cards, halo lighting and facial recognition features.

The Wall Street Journal positions the product as a strategic shift from business clients to non-professionals, a sector dominated by HP and Apple.

Like Apple and, recently, Dell, Ideapads emphasize design. They also include IBM hardware, the fruit of Lenovo's purchase of the IBM PC unit in '05.

The laptops cost between $799 and $1199, a range that falls neatly between Dell's offerings — most of which cost below $700 — and Apple's, which retail between $1099 and $2799.