Matsushita Electric has downgraded the optical drives in their lightweight Let'snote notebook series and removed their recommended retail price. The Y2 and W2 Let'snotes now come standard with DVD combo drives instead of Super-Multi DVD drives. This sounds like an attempt by Panasonic to re-invigorate sales of these Let'snote models. The Super-Multi DVD drive equipped models obviously haven't been selling as well as they would like.

Matsushita Electric announced on 29 September that it has added DVD combo drive models to its Let'snote Y2 and Let'snote W2 notebook series. The new models will go on sale 29 October with no fixed retail price and come installed with Windows XP Professional (SP2).



The low-price models replace those that were previously equipped with Super-Multi DVD drives. Street prices are expected to be approximately 15,000 yen lower (Let'snote CF-Y2EW1AXR - 250,000 yen, Let'snote CF-W2EW1AXR - 230,000 yen) than the previous models.

With the exception of the optical drive, specifications remain the same. The Let'snote Y2 comes with a 1400x1050 (SXGA+) 14.1" LCD display, Pentium M 738 (1.40GHz/low voltage), 256MB memory (Max 768MB) and a 40GB hard disk. It uses the Intel 855GME chipset with in-built graphics.

Battery life is a maximum of 7 hours. Dimensions are 309 mm x 243 mm x 33-46 mm and weight is 1,499 g.

The Let'snote W2 comes with a 12.1" XGA LCD display, Pentium M 733 (1.10GHz/low voltage), 256MB memory (Max 768MB) and a 40GB hard disk. It uses the Intel 855GM chipset with in-built graphics.

Battery life is a maximum of 7.5 hours. Dimensions are 268 mm x 209.2 mm x 27.5-41.5 mm and weight is 1,290 g.

Inspired by:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2004/1008/pana.htm

News Release:
http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/jn041008-1/jn041008-1.html