Wednesday 10 February 2021

Lenovo's gorgeous new Ultrabook aims to be a better tablet and laptop than Surface Pro. Here's how they did it.

It is no secret that of all the laptops announced at CES 2021, the new ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga is among those I found the most interesting. It's the kind of 2-in-1 laptop that you expect to be ARM-based instead of Intel x86-powered. With 5G, a titanium lid, packed with features like Thunderbolt 4, and one of the first haptic trackpads, the X1 Titanium is both familiar and unique. It is quite literally the thinnest ThinkPad ever made.

But I had many questions about how Lenovo made the Titanium Yoga, and just as importantly, why. After all, you can order the 6th Gen X1 Yoga, which is also a 2-in-1 business laptop with optional 5G. What makes this so special?

So, we sat down with Thomas Butler, Executive Director of Commercial Portfolio & Product Development, at Lenovo to find out just what went into the ThinkPad X1 Titanium and why it exists.

Benefits of a tablet, but more like a laptop

Why make ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga?

Lenovo has been doubling down on its ThinkPad line for years with revised generations of current home runs like the perennial X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga. That line has recently expanded with the X1 Extreme (15-inch workstation), X1 Nano (smaller X1 Carbon), X12 tablet (Surface Pro-like), and even the experimental X1 Fold (new form factor).

The strategy has paid off with a recent second consecutive record-breaking quarter with revenue up 22 percent year-on-year of $17.2 billion. Compare that to Microsoft's admirable $2 billion on Surface, and you get the idea of why Lenovo is one of the biggest PC makers on the planet.

X1 Titanium is "optimized for a tablet without penalizing you for the weight of that keyboard."

The X1 Titanium Yoga is another alternative for those focused on mobility and connectivity. It is not low-priced either, starting at $2,909 (Core i5, 8GB, and 256GB storage) and heading north of a sobering $3,800 for the Core i7 with 16GB and 1TB. That makes it not only of the thinnest ThinkPads ever but also one of the most expensive too.

Butler explained the reasoning behind the X1 Titanium, which aims to solve "the detachable problem," as he calls it. While devices like Surface Pro and even Lenovo's new ThinkPad X12 are tablets with floppy detachable keyboards, they are not great laptops for many people.

So, what about making an actual laptop feel like a tablet? How do you gain the portability and benefits of a tablet PC, but without compromising the design?

The X1 Titanium's base is no thicker than an iPhone 12 or a pen.

That's where the X1 Titanium leaves its mark. Combine unique materials for the chassis, extreme thinness, a 3:2 display, and the X1 Titanium becomes a great tablet and a great laptop. As Butler puts it, X1 Titanium is "optimized for a tablet without penalizing you for the weight of that keyboard." For comparison, Lenovo's new ThinkPad X12 is nearly identical in weight to the X1 Titanium but comes with a smaller 12.3-inch display instead of a larger 13.5-inch one.

Category ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga (Gen 1)
OS Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 Pro
Processor Intel 11th Gen with vPro
Core i5-1130G7
Core i5-1140G7
Core i7-1160G7
RAM Up to 16GB LPDDR4x
Graphics Intel Iris Xe
Storage Up to 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD
Display 13.5 inches
3:2 aspect ratio
Touch
Dolby Vision
2256x1504 (2K)
450 nits, 100%sRGB
Anti-reflective, anti-smudge
Pen Lenovo Precision Pen
Ports Two Thunderbolt 4
3.5mm audio
Audio Dual top-firing speakers
Dolby Atmos
Four microphones
Connectivity Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.1
Optional: WWAN 4x4 MIMO 5G (LTE CAT20) / 4G (LTE CAT9)
Camera Front-facing 720p
Privacy shutter
Security IR camera
Fingerprint reader
Battery 44.5Wh
Dimensions 11.71 x 9.14 x 0.45 inches
(297.5mm x 232.7mm x 11.5mm)
Weight From 2.54 pounds (1.15kg)
Color Titanium

And like a Surface Pro device, Lenovo wanted something with a full-sized pen instead of a siloed one like with X1 Yoga (the Titanium is just too thin to house one anyway).

Inside the densely packed, but not stacked, ThinkPad X1 Titaniun Yoga.

The X1 Titanium is undoubtedly small and light at just 2.54 pounds (1.15kg). With a 3:2 display, the Titanium is only slightly larger than an 8x10 sheet of paper. However, that screen is still a notable 2256 x 1504 resolution that supports Dolby Vision HDR with 100 percent sRGB color accuracy.

And this gets to the crux of why X1 Titanium exists. While the bigger X1 Yoga and other 2-in-1 laptops can turn into a tablet, they are only decent at it for short durations. Lenovo refers to this as "anecdotal tablet use" — laptops like the X1 Yoga or HP EliteBook x360 excel at it. But by being lighter, thinner, and more symmetrical in design, the X1 Titanium is suited for more than just occasional tablet indulgence. Flip its keyboard around, and the X1 Titanium truly feels more like an iPad Pro than a convertible laptop PC.

However, the only way Lenovo could pull off the Titanium's design is with some recent technological innovations.

Radically thin

Key ingredients: Intel, Sensel, 5G, and titanium

Titanium, Magnessium, and Carbon unite.

As the name implies, X1 Titanium relies on titanium as one of the core materials for its chassis. The pricey metal is used in the lid (along with carbon) due to its specific structural properties. Titanium is extremely lightweight but also incredibly strong. As Lenovo puts it, titanium lets them get "radically thin."

This is not the first Lenovo laptop with titanium. Lenovo first experimented with the metal back in 2005, but it never really caught on for what they needed. Now, 16 years later, titanium has finally found its niche.

Besides protection, titanium does double duty as the laptop's core when it is in tablet mode. When flipped around, it supports the display acting more like a tablet than a laptop. The titanium also has the pleasant side effects of being lustrous and shimmery, giving the X1 Titanium a distinct silver colorway that also resists fingerprints.

The bottom chassis of the Titanium is a different story. It utilizes Lenovo's other favorite go-to materials: carbon and magnesium. Carbon is like titanium reversed: it is even lighter but not nearly as rigid. Magnesium is needed in the bottom half for "windowing," a term used to expose the internal Wi-Fi and 4G/5G antennas since radio waves do not bode well traveling through metal.

But it is not all fancy metals and alloys that make the X1 Titanium unique. Intel and Sensel are also needed to get that chassis so thin.

The X1 Titanium is built for more than "anecdotal" tablet use, which is why it's so thin.

Intel's 11th Gen processors, Iris Xe graphics, and Evo platform let Lenovo cram a real quad-core 10nm Core i7 processor into the Titanium without using much space. Indeed, the entire motherboard is only a few inches long, thanks to Intel onboarding many advanced features like Thunderbolt 4 for the two Type-C ports and Wi-Fi 6.

I have already done a deep dive on Sensel – the US company behind the new haptics-based touchpad in the Titanium. Without moving parts and a few millimeters thin, Lenovo had more space to put in a decently sized battery.

Popping off the bottom lid of the Titanium, and you can see how packed it is inside. Lenovo crammed in two top-firing Dolby-tuned Atmos speakers, a 44.5WHr battery, a cooling fan with heat piping, SSD, two Type-C ports, and a 5G modem with antennas (5G requires more sophisticated antennas than just 4G). There's almost no "stacking" either of the components, which is why the Titanium's base is no thicker than an iPhone.

Even the keyboard, a hallmark of Lenovo laptops, is not compromised. While regular ThinkPads have an ample 1.5mm of key travel, Lenovo only drops to 1.35mm on the Titanium — what Butler considers the bottom threshold for ideal typing. That is still way more than Apple's widely panned Butterfly switches (0.7mm) and even its more recent scissor-switch in MacBook Pro (1.0mm).

Future-proofed

ThinkPad X1 Titanium pushes the edge (with few compromises)

It is easy to read the headlines of the X1 Titanium and think Lenovo went thin for the sake of thin. It does make for good marketing. But that overlooks the benefits this design enables compared to existing 2-in-1 laptops and tablet-based PCs. Lenovo tells me it could have gone even thinner, but that wasn't the point as it would have sacrificed fundamentals like battery size, audio quality, and its keyboard.

Lenovo didn't make the X1 Titanium thin for headlines, but to solve "the detachable problem."

In my conversation with Butler over the ideas that fed the X1 Titanium, it's evident that Lenovo has a clear target for this premium laptop. Ultra-mobile, working professionals who prioritize connectivity (5G), conferencing, inking, and tablet mode over everything else.

The X1 Titanium, though, does have minor tradeoffs besides that high price. With only two Thunderbolt 4 ports, road warriors will miss having expandability. Lenovo makes up for that by including a full port replicator in the box, complete with two Type-A ports, standard and micro SD card readers, full HDMI, and Type-C. Need Ethernet? There is a separate Type-C to RJ-45 connector included too.

Sure, it is the dongle life, but at least it is part of the package. And if that bothers you, Lenovo gladly points you to its latest X1 Yoga as an alternative. Want the smallness of the X1 Titanium but don't care about the tablet part? Check out the new X1 Nano.

But it's the coming together of all the latest tech that makes the X1 Titanium worth discussing. Lenovo could not have made this laptop without all these key pieces coming together in 2021. An increasing number of workers only need a quality display, a full keyboard, connectivity, and the ability to act as a tablet. For those people, the minimalist ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga makes a ton of sense.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga

From $2,909 at Lenovo

This convertible laptop has optional 5G support, a thin-and-light metal body, and runs on 11th Gen Intel Core processors. It also has a unique haptic trackpad.



0 comments:

Post a Comment

ShortNewsWeb

Blog Archive

Categories

'The Woks of Life' Reminded Me to Cook With All the Flavors I Love (1) 10 Scary Podcasts to Listen to in the Dark (1) 13 of the Best Spooky Episodes From (Mostly) Un-Spooky Shows (1) 13 Spooky Movies Set on Halloween Night (1) 1Password Now Generates QR Codes to Share Wifi Passwords (1) 2024 (15) 30 Movies and TV Shows That Are Basically 'Competence Porn' (1) 30 of the Most Obscenely Patriotic Movies Ever (1) 31 Spooky Movies to Watch Throughout October (1) 40 Netflix Original Series You Should Watch (1) 55 Box Office Bombs Totally Worth Watching (1) Active Directory (1) Adobe's AI Video Generator Might Be as Good as OpenAI's (1) AIX (1) and I'd Do It Again (1) and Max Bundle Isn't a Terrible Deal (1) Apache (2) Apple Intelligence Is Running Late (1) Apple Intelligence's Instructions Reveal How Apple Is Directing Its New AI (1) August 18 (1) August 4 (1) August 5 (1) Avoid an Allergic Reaction by Testing Your Halloween Makeup Now (1) Backup & Restore (2) best practices (1) bleepingcomputer (57) Blink Security Cameras Are up to 68% Off Ahead of Prime Day (1) CentOS (1) Configure PowerPath on Solaris (1) Documents (2) Don't Fall for This 'New' Google AI Scam (1) Don't Rely on a 'Monte Carlo' Retirement Analysis (1) Eight Cleaning Products TikTok Absolutely Loves (1) Eight of the Best Methods for Studying so You Actually Retain the Information (1) Eight Unexpected Ways a Restaurant Can Mislead You (1) Elevate Your Boring Store-Bought Pretzels With This Simple Seasoning Technique (1) Everything Announced at Apple's iPhone 16 Event (1) file system (6) Find (1) Find a Nearby ‘Gleaning Market’ to Save Money on Groceries (1) Five Red Flags to Look for in Any Restaurant (1) Five Ways You Can Lose Your Social Security Benefits (1) Flappy Bird's Creator Has Nothing to Do With Its 'Remake' (1) Four Reasons to Walk Out of a Job Interview (1) Four Signs Thieves Are Casing Your House (1) gaming (1) Goldfish Crackers Have a New Name (for a Little While) (1) Hackers Now Have Access to 10 Billion Stolen Passwords (1) How I Finally Organized My Closet With a Digital Inventory System (1) How I Pack Up a Hotel Room So I Don’t Forget Anything (1) How to Cancel Your Amazon Prime Membership After Prime Day Is Over (1) How to Choose the Best Weightlifting Straps for Your Workout (1) How to Enable (and Turn Off) Apple Intelligence on an iPhone (1) How to Keep Squirrels Off Your Bird Feeders (1) How to Set Up Your Bedroom Like a Hotel Room (and Why You Should) (1) How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac (1) How to Take Full Control of Your Notifications on a Chromebook (1) Hulu (1) I Chose the Beats Fit Pro Over the AirPods Pro (1) If You Got a Package You Didn't Order (1) If You Hate Running (1) Important Questions (17) Install and Configure PowerPath (1) interview questions for linux (2) Is ‘Ultra-Processed’ Food Really That Bad for You? (1) Is Amazon Prime Really Worth It? (1) It Might Be a Scam (1) July 14 (1) July 21 (1) July 28 (1) July 7 (1) June 30 (1) LifeHacker (124) Linux (36) Make and Freeze Some Roux Now for Easy Turkey Gravy (1) Meta Releases Largest Open-Source AI Model Yet (1) Monitoring (3) music (688) My Favorite 14TB Hard Drive Is 25% Off Right Now (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Apple AirPods Max (2) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Apple Pencil Pro (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Google Nest Mesh WiFi Router (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Google Pixel 8 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: PlayStation 5 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Samsung Odyssey G9 Gaming Monitor (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: SHOKZ OpenMove Bone Conduction Headphones (1) My Favorite Tools for Managing Cords and Cables (1) Nagios (2) Newtorking (1) NFS (1) OMG! Ubuntu! (688) Oracle Linux (1) oracleasm (3) osnews (26) Password less communication (1) Patching (2) Poaching Is the Secret to Perfect Corn on the Cob (1) powerpath (1) Prioritize Your To-Do List By Imagining Rocks in a Jar (1) Red Hat Exam (1) register (64) Rsync (1) Safari’s ‘Distraction Control’ Will Help You Banish (Some) Pop Ups (1) Samba (1) Scrcpy (1) September 1 (1) September 15 (1) September 2 (1) September 22 (1) September 23 (1) September 30 (1) September 8 (1) Seven Home 'Upgrades' That Aren’t Worth the Money (1) ssh (1) Swift Shift Is the Window Management Tool Apple Should Have Built (1) System hardening (1) Tailor Your iPhone's Fitness Summary to Your Workouts (1) Target’s ‘Circle Week’ Sale Is Still Going After October Prime Day (1) Target’s Answer to Prime Day Starts July 7 (1) Tech (9542) Tech CENTRAL (21) Technical stories (121) technpina (7) The 30 Best Movies of the 2020s so Far (and Where to Watch Them) (1) The 30 Best Sports Movies You Can Stream Right Now (1) The Best Deals on Robot Vacuums for Amazon’s Early Prime Day Sale (2) The Best Deals on Ryobi Tools During Home Depot's Labor Day Sale (1) The Best Early Prime Day Sales on Power Tools (1) The Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch on Netflix This Month (1) The Best October Prime Day Deals If You Are Experiencing Overwhelming Existential Dread (1) The Best Places to Go When You Don't Want to Be Around Kids (1) The Best Strategies for Lowering Your Credit Card Interest Rate (1) The Best Ways to Store All Your Bags and Purses (1) The Latest watchOS Beta Is Breaking Apple Watches (1) The New Disney+ (1) The Two Best Times of Year to Look for a New Job (1) These Meatball Shots Are My Favorite Football Season Snack (1) These Milwaukee Tools Are up to 69% off Right Now (1) This 2024 Sony Bravia Mini-LED TV Is $400 Off Right Now (1) This Google Nest Pro Is 30% Off for Prime Day (1) This Peanut Butter Latte Isn’t As Weird As It Sounds (1) This Tech Brand Will Get the Biggest Discounts During Prime Day (1) Three Quick Ways to Shorten a Necklace (1) Three Services People Don't Know They Can Get From Their Bank for Free (1) Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Monday (4) Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Sunday (11) Try 'Pile Cleaning' When Your Mess Is Overwhelming (1) Try 'Rucking' (1) Ubuntu News (346) Ubuntu! (1) Unix (1) Use This App to Sync Apple Reminders With Your iPhone Calendar (1) Use This Extension to Find All Your X Followers on Bluesky (1) veritas (2) Videos (1) Was ChatGPT Really Starting Conversations With Users? (1) Watch Out for These Red Flags in a Realtor Contract (1) Wayfair Is Having a '72-Hour Closeout' Sale to Compete With Prime Day (1) We Now Know When Google Will Roll Out Android 15 (1) What Is the 'Die With Zero' Movement (and Is It Right for You)? (1) What Not to Do When Training for a Marathon (1) What to Look for (and Avoid) When Selecting a Pumpkin (1) What's New on Prime Video and Freevee in September 2024 (1) Why You Can't Subscribe to Disney+ and Hulu Through Apple Anymore (1) Why Your Home Gym Needs Adjustable Kettlebells (1) Windows (5) You Can Easily Add Words to Your Mac's Dictionary (1) You Can Get 'World War Z' on Sale for $19 Right Now (1) You Can Get a Membership to BJ's for Practically Free Right Now (1) You Can Get Beats Studio Buds+ on Sale for $100 Right Now (1) You Can Get Microsoft Visio 2021 Pro on Sale for $20 Right Now (1) You Can Get This 12-Port USB-C Hub on Sale for $90 Right Now (1) You Can Get This Roomba E5 Robot Vacuum on Sale for $170 Right Now (1) You Can Hire Your Own Personal HR Department (1) You Can Search Through Your ChatGPT Conversation History Now (1) You Can Set Different Scrolling Directions for Your Mac’s Mouse and Trackpad (1)

Recent Comments

Popular Posts

Translate

My Blog List

Popular

System Admin Share

Total Pageviews