The best news in ThinkPads is no news in ThinkPads. Few laptop brands pay such attention to conservative design as ThinkPads. At this year’s MWC, Lenovo brought new ThinkPads and notebooks, which had their premiere back in January at the American CES.
For this year, it is all about mandatory upgrades of the processor generation and a slight progress within the permitted limits. OLED displays will become more widespread, as an optional option for the more daring, but the appearance of the basic E, L and T series practically does not change, and without a direct comparison with the last generation, you probably won’t notice anything.
The new generation of the E, L and T series
The T series does not change, the keyboard with trackpoint and the range of connectors remain
The basic cheapest E series still has a wired LAN connector, just like the top-of-the-line ThinkPad T14. The thin L series and possibly the thinner T14S variant with a different motherboard no longer have a LAN connector.
The X series took over the camera design from last year’s Z series
The main innovations take place in the X and Z series, which are, after all, somewhat for more daring and demanding customers. The new Xko, in both the classic and the flip-up Yoga version, will get a more pronounced protruding block with a webcam that can reach a higher resolution of 5 Mpx. The external shape of the block with the camera in the shape of an oval protruding from the contour of the notebook was taken over by Xko from the Z series that was introduced last year.
The new Z series uses a unique material on the display cover
For this year’s Z series, the external shapes do not change, so the oval remains as new for the X series, but at the same time, experiments are being made with the design of the outer cover. The latter uses linen fibers for more ecological materials and a unique appearance. Because each lid will be as unique as fingerprints with fibers in a random arrangement. However, to the direct touch, this material does not resemble fabric, rather smooth matte wood. Anyway, it looks interesting.
I was also able to look at the non-traditional laptops introduced in January, such as the dual-display Yoga Book 9i, the Thinkbook Plus Twist combining eink with a normal display and the ThinkBook with unusual accessories clipped onto the display cover. I would like to look at them in more detail with a separate review, but of course I realize that they only play the role of exotic delicacies in the menu, and the main sales will be made by ordinary laptops.
