Bandwidth Blog attended the Lenovo X1 Series launch in Johannesburg last week Thursday. The X1 line-up is set to shake up the business world with their latest technology!
We are not used to talking much about Lenovo on Bandwidth Blog. Firstly because the company has traditionally specialised in corporate laptop and pc products and secondly they haven’t really dabbled in the smartphone market, until they bought Motorola back in 2014. Their laptop range however has been lauded worldwide as the best corporate devices in terms of security and functionality. We were invited to their Johannesburg launch where they were set to unveil their new X1 family of computer hardware.
The event took place at Studio Blue in Fourways opposite the gleaming lights of Monte Casino. I was greeted by the always friendly event staff and was ushered into the pre-drinks area. After some banter and too many entrees the white curtains dropped revealing the main hall, littered with little high tables and bar chairs. Everyone was invited to have a seat (with another round of drinks of course).
Read: Lenovo buys Motorola Mobility from Google
The proceedings kicked off with some impressive displays of acrobatics, lights, smoke and a VERY loud musical beat. The MC proceeded to introduce Graham Bruam (General Manager of Lenovo South Africa) and Mr Bruam took us through the company’s recent achievements and vision. Lenovo has in the past year shot up over a hundred places to 231 on the Fortune 500 list, they are the number 1 PC seller in the world and won a total of 66 innovation awards at this year’s CES (two thirds more than their competition put together). Lenovo claims to sell a device every 5 seconds world wide. Mr Bruam also hinted at some big news on the mobile side coming later this year, flagship smartphone anyone?
Next up was Janice Bass from Intel. Lenovo and Intel have a great relationship with the latter debuting a lot of their latest tech with the former. Mrs Bass took us through all the new gadgets being introduced through the X1 family including 14nm processing technology, 3D RealSense camera technology (cameras with depth, 3D and virtual reality capability) and WiGig wireless tech that allows users to unlock PCs, share presentations and use peripherals wirelessly.
Read: Lenovo unveil a USB-stick sized PC
The last presenter of the night was Mr Julian Pienaar, Pre-Sales and Product Technologist at Lenovo. He presented the new X1 products one by one.
Thinkpad X1 Carbon
The proverbial workhorse of the Lenovo family. According to the spec-sheet: “The ultimate in go-anywhere Ultrabookâ„¢“¦ now even thinner and lighter than ever! ThinkPad® X1 Carbon is your passport to productivity with stunning 14″ IPS display. It thrives on-the-road with 11 hours of battery life, lightning-fast 4G LTE-A and tough carbon fiber durability. In the office, it connects to a full range of devices ““ even a WiGig dock to reduce desktop clutter. The X1 Carbon is effortless to carry, priceless to experience.”
Specs include:
Processor: Up to Intel® Coreâ„¢ i7 vProâ„¢ Processor
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 520
Memory: Up to 16 GB DDR 3
Storage: Up to 1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD
Camera / Microphone: 720p / Digital Array Microphone
Battery: Up to 11 Hours (52 WHr)
Thinkpad X1 Yoga
This one is a real beauty. The thin Yoga ultrabook can fold in half to become a functional tablet and comes with a nifty stylus. According to the spec-sheet: “Enjoy the freedom of working the way you want, wherever you are, with the amazingly light and versatile ThinkPad® X1 YOGAâ„¢. Use it as a Laptop, Tablet, Tent or Stand mode for easy-viewing of the stunning display. The world‘s first convertible with an OLED display, it delivers the most intense
colors and stunning contrast. It‘s fully connected with super-fast 4G LTE-A and totally versatile with a convenient retractable keyboard. With integrated Stylus Pen with Lenovoâ„¢ WRITEit software, you can enjoy the lightning-fast writing experience, just 15 seconds of charging gives up to 100 minutes of use.”
Specs include:
Processor: Up to Intel® Coreâ„¢ i7 vProâ„¢ Processor
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 520
Memory: Up to 16 GB DDR3
Storage: Up to 1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD
Camera / Microphone: 720p / Digital Array Microphone
Battery1: IPS : Up to 11 Hours (52 WHr)
OLED : Up to 8 Hours (56 WHr)
Thinkpad X1 Tablet:
This one you can describe as more of as an all in one laptop, tablet and projector! “Next time you travel on business, there‘s no need to take your Tablet and Laptop, let alone a projector for presentations. ThinkPad® X1 Tablet does it all! Customize it with optional modules like presenter, 3D imaging or productivity for additional ports, docking options, battery boost, and more. Amazingly light and thin, and with a convenient magnet-attach keyboard that looks and feels like a ThinkPad®, it takes mobile productivity to a new level.”
Specs include:
Processor: Up to Intel® Coreâ„¢ m7 vProâ„¢ Processor
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Windows 10 Home: Windows 8.1 Driver Support
Graphics: Intel® HD Integrated Graphics
Memory: Up to 16 GB LPDDR3
Storage: Up to 1 TB SSD
Camera / Microphone: 2 MP or 8 MP with Flash 1080p
IR Camera, No WiGig and No NFC1 / Dual Array Microphone
Battery: Up to 15 Hours of battery life with Productivity Module 10 Hours with tablet and 5 Hours from Productivity Module
The other product also launched was the ThinkCentre X1, an all in one desktop PC and screen built into one. The night was rounded off by a give-away of course with Lenovo giving away two X1 Yoga’s (valued at around R35,000 ZAR each!). A Jaco won one, but sadly not this Jaco…
All and all the new X1 family from Lenovo is pretty impressive. They have updated their look and feel to still be very strong and functional but less for a lack of a better word “ugly”. The X1 range is sleek, powerful and packed with the latest technology from Intel and others. I would love to own one of these as a personal device, but sadly the range is obviously not really targeted at the public at large. Their corporate partners will devour the new range I am sure!
Should you have the dough to buy one of these babies, I would definitely keep the X1 range in mind. Hopefully we can rope in one of the models for a review in the coming months. Hope you are reading this Lenovo! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge…
Follow Jaco on Twitter: @Jaco_vdWalt
