At CES, Lenovo is announcing a refresh of its ThinkPad X1 portfolio. New ThinkBook laptops also appear, of which a very wide 20:10 example stands out.
The CES trade show in Las Vegas invariably brings some strange devices and this year is no different despite the pandemic. Lenovo is announcing a refresh of its ThinkPad X1 and ThinkBook portfolio but it is the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3 in particular that catches the eye. ‘Tall and narrow’ is an accurate description, as the thing has a screen ratio of 21:10. That’s wide enough to fit about a classic window and a half side by side.
Does that extra width provide enough space next to the keyboard for a numeric keypad? Yes and no. Keys remain absent: Lenovo chooses to include a full-fledged second screen. That touch screen has an 8-inch screen diagonal and optionally works with a pen. You can run a program in it or open pre-programmed items such as the calculator. The approach is reminiscent of Asus’. That laptop maker has been selling laptop models for a while where the touchpad doubles as a screen or numeric keypad.
The rest of the innovation is a little less spectacular. The 13-inch ThinkPad gets a design upgrade with 16:10 display with extra thin bezels. The device is available with up to a 2.5K resolution and gets Intel’s latest mobile chips. These include the newly announced 12th-generation Alder Lake chips. The laptops come with an optional wireless charging mat. That charges your laptop at 64 watts and can also charge other wireless devices at 10 watts when Qi-compatible.
ThinkPad X1
As for the ThinkPad X1 reels, Lenovo is introducing the X1 Carbon G10, the X1 Yoga G7 and the X1 Nano G2. Again, these laptops all come with 12th-generation Alder Lake processors from Intel. Furthermore, Lenovo provides an FHD webcam at the top but retains the narrow screen bezels. Lenovo also unpacks a blue light filter, but on that note, we like to point out that there is no scientific evidence of a negative impact of blue light, except at night before bedtime.
The X1s come with optional OLED screen and all get an “air intake” keyboard. Air for cooling thus enters through the keyboard, though fortunately it remains spill-resistant. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon and ThinkPad X1 Yoga retain their 14-inch screens. The Carbon is the classic clamshell, the Yoga has the flip-down screen. Finally, the X1 Nano, at 13 inches and weighing less than 1 kg, is the compact variant.