Lenovo Brings HDR, Amazon Alexa to Premium ThinkPads

LAS VEGAS—Lenovo announced a major overhaul of its acme-of-the-line ThinkPad business organization laptops at CES on Monday, adding back up for the Amazon Alexa voice assistant and other consumer-friendly features that could drag the ThinkPad from stodgy board room veteran to status symbol ultraportable.

CES 2022 bug art Perhaps the nearly noteworthy addition to the X1 Carbon laptop and the X1 Yoga are far-field microphones that give them the capability to listen to spoken commands from as far equally thirteen feet away. These aren't the first such microphones in a laptop, but they volition go immensely more than useful later on this yr one time Amazon'southward new Alexa app for Windows 10 rolls out. The X1 serial volition so part just like any other Alexa speaker, assuasive you to ask questions and make requests of the assistant even when the laptop is closed.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga

The microphones already work with Microsoft's Cortana voice assistant, merely Alexa is far more than capable, with thousands of third-party skills.

Some other significant ThinkPad X1 enhancement: displays that back up Loftier Dynamic Range (HDR), which broadens the screen'southward contrast and makes colors appear more vivid. Dolby Vision (but not the competing HDR10 standard) volition be available on the X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga following a software update later this yr. HDR is still in its infancy on TVs, and until at present it has been completely absent-minded from PCs.

At a press briefing at CES on Sunday, a Lenovo representative explained that the company expects nearly business customers will stick with the regular total HD (1,920 past 1,080) displays, and that HDR will really be well-nigh intriguing for early on adopters who are ownership an X1 as their personal reckoner.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet

Some other addition to the X1 lineup is an integrated physical webcam cover. If you're worried about hackers hijacking your webcam, just slide the plastic tab to cover the lens, rather than placing a sticker over information technology and dealing with the sticky residue when you remove it.

The new X1 Carbon (starting at $1,709) and X1 Yoga (starting at $1,899) will exist bachelor subsequently this month. In March, Lenovo will also announce an updated ThinkPad X1 Tablet (starting at $1,599), a detachable Windows tablet in a new 13-inch, ruggedized form factor that meets MIL-SPEC durability standards. The tablet also includes an optional Dolby Vision screen, but not the far-field microphones.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.