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Lenovo’s new laptops are ready to scan your face in Windows 10

Lenovo’s new laptops are ready to scan your face in Windows 10

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The Z51 offers a depth-sensing infrared camera for an optional $100

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Lenovo has announced a pair of new mid-range laptops that are unremarkable apart from one detail. The Lenovo Z51 — a 15-inch device with a price tag starting at $499 — offers Intel's RealSense 3D camera as an optional extra. RealSense uses a trio of lenses (a conventional camera, an infrared camera, and an infrared laser) to measure depth, allowing users to control their laptop using hand gestures, or even scan objects for 3D printing. The camera costs an additional $100, but with a free upgrade to Windows 10 coming this summer (the Z51 ships with Windows 8.1), users will be able to sign in using their face as a password.

Prices start at $599 for the Z51 with RealSense

The rest of the specs on the Z51 and Z41 (the 14-inch version, which doesn't offer the option of RealSense) seem fairly standard. Both notebooks come with up to 16GB of RAM and a 5th generation Intel i7 processor, a 1080p resolution screen, and up to 1TB of storage — either as a hard disk drive or a solid state hybrid. Unfortunately, Lenovo has only published the highest specs for both devices and their lowest starting prices, making it difficult to get a full picture of what sort of value the two laptops offer. However, it does state that the $599 Z51 with RealSense comes with 8GB of RAM and an i5 processor. (Unusually, press shots also show that the Z51 has an optical drive!)

The Chinese company also showed off the new ThinkPad 10 during its Lenovo Tech World event in Beijing today. This is the next generation of Lenovo's "business tablet" — a 10-inch Windows 10 device that comes with up to 128GB of internal storage and a pair of keyboard accessories to get work done on the move. There's an Intel Atom quad-core processor powering the thing, and Lenovo is promising a hearty 10 hours of battery life. Prices start at $549, though you'll have to spend at least an additional $110 for a keyboard accessory. As with Microsoft's Surface, we found that this extra was a must-have in our review of one of the ThinkPad's predecessors.

The Lenovo ThinkPad 10. (Lenovo)