Last week was a big one for Lenovo, with the company announcing most of this year’s line-up at CES 2024. Covering laptops, gaming, tablets, concept devices, and an AI-powered assistant, there really was something for most people. By our count, there were 42 devices announced, which is too many to cover here, but there were a few highlights.
The new Lenovo Yoga laptops come bundled with new software called the Lenovo Yoga Creator Zone, which hopes to lure in creatives with the promise that they can take text-based descriptions of images, and then use generative AI to make a composite image. It’s bold to try and lure in creatives with the promise of being able to use stolen art to make derivative images in a world where computers make art, so humans have more time to focus on work, but that seems to be the strategy Lenovo is going with.
Lenovo Yoga gets new models at CES 2024
The new generation of Lenovo Yoga laptops attempting to cash in on the AI craze are led by the Lenovo Yoga 9i and Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (which comes bundled with a pen and sleeve). Both laptops are rated to military spec MIL-STD-810H, though Lenovo does not specify which 5 categories were tested against this standard, and says that abuse similar to the treatment in the MIL-STD-810H testing will void your warranty. Both models of that laptop have the new Lenovo AI Core Chip to power the AI functions encouraged by the laptops.
Focussing on actual creative activities, Lenovo claims that the Lenovo X Power tuning solution will get the most out of the Intel Ultra processors and Lenovo AI Core to allocate more processing power to activities like 3D rendering and film colour collection.
The Lenovo Yoga range will also see an update to the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, which was the first fill-side dual-screen OLED laptop. The updated model can now be specced out to have Intel’s latest Core Ultra Processor and a PureSight OLED 2.8K screen.
For students, there’s a new Lenovo Tab M11 tablet, which comes with a Lenovo Tab Pen for people to write notes, draw, and flex their actual creative muscles.
AI personal assistants, solar energy
In bigger news, Lenovo is truly going all-in on AI, launching the company’s new Lenovo AI Now Personal Assistant in China in the first half of 2024. In the announcement, Lenovo said “The AI Assistant will streamline workflows and enhance collaboration in a more personal and immersive manner. Using natural language, users will be able to check and change common settings such as display or performance, search and summarise emails and documents, create meeting invitations, and merge live camera and avatars during video conferencing.”
In terms of concept devices, Lenovo has the new ThinkBook 13x Gen 4 SPE laptop which features an E Ink Prism screen on the outside of the laptop. The thinking is that instead of just having the computer company’s logo on the lid, you could put any image you want, for example information about your presentation, or something to show off your personality. It’s a cool idea with a lot of possible applications.
The other concept was The Mechanical Energy Harvesting Combo, which takes the energy you put into hitting the keys (as well as the power of the sun, through solar panels) and uses it to power the keyboard and mouse. It would eliminate the need to charge devices, and use fewer battery components in manufacturing. It’s a brilliant idea, that will hopefully find its way onto store shelves.
