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Lenovo's newest ThinkPad laptops can help make anywhere your office

They'll be able to stretch your workday, too -- whether you like it or not.

Joshua Goldman Managing Editor / Advice
Managing Editor Josh Goldman is a laptop expert and has been writing about and reviewing them since built-in Wi-Fi was an optional feature. He also covers almost anything connected to a PC, including keyboards, mice, USB-C docks and PC gaming accessories. In addition, he writes about cameras, including action cams and drones. And while he doesn't consider himself a gamer, he spends entirely too much time playing them.
Expertise Laptops, desktops and computer and PC gaming accessories including keyboards, mice and controllers, cameras, action cameras and drones Credentials
  • More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
Joshua Goldman
2 min read
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Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a showcase for the company's latest business laptop tech.

Lenovo

Lenovo is updating six of its ThinkPad laptop lines with Intel's 10th-gen Comet Lake mobile processors including its premium seventh-gen 14-inch X1 Carbon ultraportable. The announcement comes less than a week after Dell said it's updating its Editors' Choice award-winning XPS 13 and much of its Inspiron lineup with Comet Lake chips. 

The new Comet Lake-architecture CPUs don't promise any of the advances of its newly minted 10th-gen Ice Lake siblings, such as on-chip Thunderbolt 3 support, acceleration for voice-control processing, improved integrated graphics and more. But they do offer slightly faster clock speeds, compatibility with faster memory for the U series (LPDDR4x 2,933MHz, LPDDR3 2,133MHz and DDR4 2,666MHz) and an upgraded supporting chipset that adds Intel's variation on Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Wi-Fi 6 Gig Plus.  

For the two premium models in the lineup -- the X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga -- you'll find the new top-end six-core Core i7-10710U processor. That's a lot of performance for a laptop that's 14.9 mm thick and starts at 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg) for the Carbon and less than 2.9 pounds (1.4 kg) and just 15.5 mm thick for the Yoga. Lenovo claims more than 18 hours of battery life for both, too, and with Wi-Fi 6 Gig Plus and optional global LTE-A wireless, you can set up office just about anywhere. 

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ThinkPad X1 Yoga

Lenovo

But there are some limitations: It's tough to tell people they can work anywhere but not have a screen bright enough to see past glare when used outside. Though these new models start with a 300-nit FHD display, you can get them with a 400-nit FHD panel or 500-nit HDR400 UHD screen. 

These are business systems, so Lenovo includes its best privacy options as well. You'll find a fast match-on-host fingerprint reader, an IR camera for facial recognition and a physical shutter for blocking the webcam. Lenovo will also offer a FHD display with its  PrivacyGuard feature that makes it harder for people to read your screen from the sides. There's dTPM 2.0 for security also. 

Look for both the updated ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga in September. Prices start at $1,479 for the Carbon and $1,609 for the Yoga. 

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Lenovo ThinkPad X390

Lenovo

Although the X1s are the stars here, the 10th-gen Core i5 and i7 processors (sans the six-core i7) will be available on the mainstream 13.3-inch ThinkPad X390 and 14-inch T490, which start slightly above $1,000,  and the new value-focused 13.3-inch ThinkPad L13 and L13 Yoga, priced at $749 and $919, respectively. As you might imagine, there are fewer features and display choices, the laptops aren't as light and thin and don't have the extreme battery lives of the pricier models, but they're not the thick, clunky ThinkPads you're probably picturing, either. 

The Lenovo ThinkPad X390, T490, L13 and L13 Yoga are expected to be available in October. 

Watch this: Lenovo updates the crown jewels of its ultraportable portfolio at CES 2019

Lenovo sticks to the script with new ThinkPad X1 models at CES 2019

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