[CES2014] New Lenovo Products Announced
Lenovo has taken the covers off some of their new products being lined at CES 2014 and have unveiled new desktops, laptops, tablets, convertibles and even 2-in-1 machines!
The first one we are about to look at a machine that you may be familiar with – the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Just like the original ultrabook, this one is also made from carbon fibre which is supposedly both lighter and stronger than aluminium or magnesium. Lenovo is also touting this laptop as the “world’s lightest 14-inch Ultrabook” weighing in at around 1.3kgs.
This new version of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultrabook will sport Intel’s latest generation core processor – Haswell Processors, up to 8GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of SSD storage. It still retains a 1600×900 twisted nematic (aka TN) display, but users can choose to upgrade to a much higher screen resolution (2560×1440) by opting for an IPS (In-Plane Switching) screen. Touchscreens are optional in both cases.
The other highlight is that this Ultrabook has an adaptive keyboard with the top row of function keys being touch-sensitive. These touch-sensitive buttons will automatically adjust depending on what type of program you are using, so for example, if you are using the browser, the top function keys will reflect some shortcut keys in relation to the browser i.e Full Screen mode or Print to a printer etc.
Lenovo claim that the updated Carbon Ultrabook will give off an estimated 9 hours of battery juice, which is a slight improvement in theoretical terms on what Lenovo claimed on the original Carbon Ultrabook.
Consumer-Oriented Notebooks
Lenovo has also announced some consumer-oriented notebooks for… well.. consumers! The Y and Z series were announced as entertainment-focused notebooks.
The Y-series sports 15.6-inch display resolutions of up to 3840×2160 touch or non-touch versions. They can be beefed up to an Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM and a Nvidia Graphics card. The base model has Intel Integrated graphics.
Meanwhile, the Z40 series notebook have a 14-inch display with a resolution of 1920×1080, with an AMD graphics card as an upgradeable option and a Z50 series notebook has a 15.6-inch display with the same resolution as the Z40, but has an option to upgrade to a Nvidia graphics card.
Both laptop series have HDMI outputs and because they are using Intel processors, they will support their WiDi wireless display technology (which I am still yet to try out because I don’t have a WiDi capable TV nor a WiDi dongle of some sort!).
2-in-1 Hybrid Devices for Consumers
Also on the table, Lenovo is adding several tablet/PC hybrids to their mobile PC lineup. The new hybrid devices include the Yoga 2 convertible, Flex 14D and Flex 15D and the Miix 2 detachable.
The Yoga 2 has special designed hinges that allow the device to flip all the way back (from a conventional notebook mode) essentially making it a tablet, or you can flip 3/4 of it and turn it into a “stand” mode. The Yoga 2 convertible will be available in 11.6 and 13-inch configurations.
11.6-inch model will have an up-to a quad core Intel Pentium processor, up to 4GB of RAM, and up to 500GB of hard disk storage. The screen resolution for this is 1366×768.
The 13-inch model can be configured up to a fourth-gen Intel Core i5, up to 8GB of RAM, and up to 500GB storage in a hybrid drive (SSD + Hard disk). The screen is an IPS display with a resolution of 1920×1080.
The Flex 14D has a 14-inch display while the Flex 15D has a 15-inch display, surprise surprise! Both are touchscreens and have a maximum resolution of 1366×768 so don’t expect a stunning screen there!
The “D” stands for dual-mode because they can be flipped back into a tablet stand or use it as a conventional notebook. They cannot be flipped all the way back like the aforementioned Yoga series do.
Both the Flex models have quad-core AMD processors, can be configured with up to 8GB of RAM, up to 500GB of hard disk storage with an 8GB flash storage (for quick bootups), or up to a terabyte of hard disk storage with an optional 16GB cache storage.
Tablets
The Miix 2 tablet by Lenovo was also announced today and sports two 10 and 11-inch models respectively. The resolution for both sized tablets are 1900×1200. The 10-inch model will come with a quad-core Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, and 128GB of eMMC storage. The 11-inch model will have up to a fourth-gen Intel Core i5 processor, up to 8GB of RAM, and up to 256GB SSD. Both models support expandable memory and this tablet can be docked to an optional tablet to turn it into a conventional laptop.
Another tablet announced by Lenovo, this time for business-oriented users, is the ThinkPad 8. This tablet will sport a quad-core Intel Atom mobile processor, 2GB of RAM and up to 128GB of flash storage. The 8.3-inch screen features a resolution of 1900×1200 pixels.
