Lenovo refreshes its mainstream ThinkPads with more color and material options

Today, Lenovo is refreshing its mainstream ThinkPads, something that it often does this week of the year, which is typically Mobile World Congress. The new models include Gen 2 of the ThinkPad T14, T14s, T15, X13, X13 Yoga, L14, L15, P14s, and P15s. To break that down a bit, the T-series is meant to be the workhorse, and it's the most popular ThinkPad. The X-series is meant to be super-light, the L-series is more budget, and the P-series is for mobile workstations.

As for what's new, there's quite a bit this year, as opposed to last year, which was mostly a spec bump. For one thing, the T14, T14s, X13, and X13 Yoga are all available in aluminum now, and they come in a new Storm Grey color. Aluminum isn't a traditional material when it comes to ThinkPads, but it's been gradually making its way across the lineup, as you'll already find it in the X1 Yoga.

Another thing making its way across the lineup is a 16:10 display, which is taller than the usual 16:9 screen. This feature is reserved for the ThinkPad X13 and X13 Yoga, although you'll find it on most of the X1 models. That's also true of 5G connectivity, which is coming to the ThinkPad T14s and ThinkPad X13.

Another big improvement, of course, is Intel 11th-generation processors, which means that they come with more powerful 'Iris Xe' graphics and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity. It's also worth noting that last year's models that had Thunderbolt 3 only had the base spec, which got 20Gbps data transfer speeds and could connect to one 4K monitor. This year's models get double the bandwidth. The alternative, which doesn't get Thunderbolt, is to use AMD Ryzen 5000, which is available in most of the new models.

That's not all though. There are a couple of other key features. Lenovo is adding a fingerprint sensor / power button to the keyboard deck, something that we've already seen on its ThinkBook line. The webcam on the X13 and T14s is being upgraded to FHD as well, something that should really help for those that are still working from home.

Finally, the ThinkPad P14s, P14s i, and P15s come with your choice of Intel or AMD processors in the 14-inch model, and 11th-gen Intel processors in the 15-incher. And being that they're meant to be powerful, they'll also come with dedicated graphics as an option. If you choose the Intel model, you can get it with an Nvidia Quadro T500.

As far as pricing and availability goes, it's as follows: