Lenovo’s Refreshed ThinkPad X1 Line Brings Dolby Vision HDR and Amazon Alexa

Lenovo last week unveiled its refreshed line of ThinkPad devices. But a key part of its ThinkPad family was missing: the X1 line. At CES, Lenovo is today unveiling the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Yoga, and Tablet. Here’s what’s new.

Let’s get the basics out of the way first: this year’s X1 line has the latest 8th gen Intel Core processors under the hood that will offer improved performance and power usage. Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon and Yoga now include the new ThinkShutter webcam cover that’s supposed to protect users from being spied on. You can charge the devices with the Type-C port, too. Interestingly, the new ThinkPad X1 line features Lenovo’s “Crystal” experience, a bloatware free experienced inspired by Microsoft Signature laptops, but it will still likely include some custom Lenovo apps. And lastly, these laptops feature both a fingerprint reader and an IR camera that work with Windows Hello for added security.

Lenovo is bringing Amazon’s Alexa smart assistant to the ThinkPad to the new X1 line this year. The devices now include 360-degree far-field microphones with support for Wake on Voice that will let you talk to Alexa on your device, and use it to play music, get news, control your smart home, and more. The addition of Alexa is particularly interesting as Microsoft and Amazon are already adding the ability to use Alexa via Cortana in Windows 10 natively. These devices are one of the first to include Amazon Alexa support. 

A more exciting addition is the new Dolby Vision HDR technology. The new X1 Carbon and Yoga laptops are the world’s first laptops to come with Dolby’s Vision HDR technology, capable of pushing up to 500 nits of brightness. Dolby’s Vision HDR is essentially a superior HDR experience that provides a broader palette of vibrant colours, greater contrast and brightness. Lenovo is also bringing a multi-touch FHD display option for the X1 Carbon today without compromising the weight of the device.

As for the X1 Tablet, Lenovo hasn’t changed a lot about the device, now in its 3rd generation. There’s a new 13-inch 3K HDR display, along with an optional LTE-A support. The new Tablet comes with an improved Lenovo Pen Pro stylus that supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. Lenovo has also upgraded the processor inside the tablet to the 8th gen Intel Core processors, although an ARM variant of the device with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors would undoubtedly be a sweet addition to the ThinkPad family.

Along with the new ThinkPad X1 devices, Lenovo launched a new ThinkVision X1 27-inch 4K UHD monitor with incredibly thin bezels, going on sale this month for $799.The new ThinkPad X1 Carbon and Yoga are going on sale this month, starting at $1,709 and $1,889 respectively. The X1 Tablet will be available for purchase sometime in March for a whopping $1,599.