CES 2017 is just a couple days away now, and Lenovo is taking the wraps off of its latest devices. The company announced nine new laptops last week, and today it also showed off a new speaker that"s powered by Amazon"s Alexa along with an all-new line of gaming laptops.
But the firm is also releasing an all-new trio of ThinkPad X1 laptops and hybrid devices, along with the Miix 720. Of the four, the headlining device for Lenovo at CES will be the fifth-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon.
The new X1 Carbon comes in a smaller body now, fitting a 14-inch "IPS display into a typical 13-inch form factor." This is a trend that we"re seeing across the PC market as more efficient processors are allowing for thinner bodies and narrower bezels, but Lenovo doesn"t stop here.
The 2.5-pound laptop promises up to 15.5 hours of battery life. As far as ports go, the device has Thunderbolt 3, which is capable of powering two 4K monitors or one 5K display through a single port. It even offers cellular connectivity, as it includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon X7 LTE-A modem.
Security is beefed up with the Carbon with Windows Hello support. It includes an IR camera for facial recognition, as well as a fingerprint sensor.
The new ThinkPad X1 Yoga features some of the same enhancements as the Carbon, such as Thunderbolt 3 and improved security. It also has a redesigned rechargeable ThinkPad Pen Pro with a soft elastomer tip that Lenovo says feels more natural.
One feature that seems interesting is that the keyboard will actually retract when the device is in tablet mode. If you"ve ever used a 2-in-1 in tablet mode, then you"ve probably felt the keys on the back, and it"s a bit awkward.
The hybrid device also features a 14-inch OLED display, promising "absolute blacks and 100 percent Adobe RGB color space."
Like the two devices mentioned above, the X1 Tablet includes Snapdragon X7 LTE-A connectivity. There"s no Thunderbolt 3, but it does contain a standard USB Type-C port, as well as a USB 3.0 port.
It also has a smaller display than the other two at 12-inches, but it"s also a different form factor. The Carbon is the laptop, the Yoga is the hybrid, and the Tablet is the detachable.
The Miix 720 is also a detachable device, which is more a Surface-style hybrid. It features a 12-inch 2880x1920 display and the pen has 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity.
But unlike the X1 Tablet, the Miix includes a Windows Hello camera, as well as Thunderbolt 3, for which Lenovo promises that you can use up to two 4K displays.
The Lenovo Miix 720 will start at $999.99 in Champagne Gold and Iron Gray, and unlike Surface devices, that includes a keyboard; however, the Active Pen 2 will be $59.99.
As for the ThinkPad X1 family, the Carbon will start at $1,349, the Yoga will start at $1,499, and the Tablet will start at $949. All of the above will be available beginning in February with the exception of the Tablet, which will arrive in March.