Lenovo thinks thin for 2014

Computer maker Lenovo is thinking of making computers slimmer than ever with a new model that will be hitting this year, bringing carbon fibre to a light new lappy with some cool technologies thrown in for good measure.

There’s good news if you like machines with style and grunt that won’t take up too much room in your backpack or home, with Lenovo announcing that the next generation of its X1 ThinkPad will not just be updated with Intel’s fourth-generation Core processors running on Haswell technology, but will also incorporate a whole heap of new technologies that look to make people smile.

One of these is the material used in its construction, with carbon fibre used, hence the name of the “X1 Carbon.” This material is lighter than the magnesium and aluminium commonly used on high-end laptops like the Apple MacBook Air and Samsung Series 9, and is just as strong, if not stronger.

The X1 Carbon will also come with a 14 inch screen, either a 900p TN (1600×900) or an even higher resolution 14 inch IPS display with 2560×1440, the latter of which will have ten-point multitouch working here on a screen with a resolution higher than Full HD and stronger colour and images thanks to ColourBurst technology.

Up to 8GB of RAM will be included, and as much as 512GB solid-state storage, but over in the “cool stuff” department of the laptop, well that’s where things will make you smile.

One of these is voice control taking advantage of Nuance’s Dragon dictation technology, while the X1 Carbon will also be controllable through gestures away from the screen, making it possible to flip pages and scroll without having to touch the display at all. The keyboard is also “adaptive” meaning some keys will change or even disappear depending on if they’re needed at all.

Other technologies such as 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Near-Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth 4.0, and USB 3.0 are included, with Windows 8.1 running here and a hinge that allows the screen to lay flat with the keyboard like previous ThinkPad X-series laptops.

Lenovo is telling us that up to nine hours of battery life are possible here, with a super-fast “Rapid Charge” capable of providing an 80 percent battery in only 50 minutes of charging, with all of this in a machine that weighs roughly 1.3 kilograms.

As for pricing and availability, there’s no word on that for Australia yet, though you can probably expect it sometime from March or April. We’ll let you know when we hear of anything sooner.