Tag: Lenovo

Lenovo Duet 3 Review: More Than I Expected From a Budget Laptop

Audrey

I like cheap laptops. More accurately, I like good cheap laptops… but those can be hard to find. For every hundred bucks that gets trimmed off a laptop’s price, its features, design and performance all typically take a hit. But when I find one that rises above Black Friday doorbuster level, it’s something to cheer about. 

If you need a budget laptop that looks decent, has a passable keyboard, is small enough to go anywhere and is flexible enough to double as a video-streaming tablet, then check out the Lenovo Duet Chromebook. It’s not especially fast, and the touchpad isn’t great, but it’s still one of the best computers you can buy for under $400. Just note that it makes a better secondary or travel laptop than a primary device — which is something I’d say about almost any 11-inch laptop. 

Like

  • Includes a keyboard cover
  • Works as a laptop or tablet
  • Excellent overall value

Don’t Like

  • Touchpad isn’t great
  • Slower performance
  • No headphone jack

Currently selling for $379, this is an 11-inch ChromeOS tablet with a keyboard cover and kickstand. That means it can work as a standalone touchscreen tablet, or as a clamshell-like notebook. In that way, it’s kind of like a cheaper Microsoft Surface 2-in-1. The version tested here has 64GB of eMMC storage, but the model in stores right now has 128GB, which is a plus. 

Microsoft already makes a budget Surface, the most-recent version of which is called the Surface Go 3. It’s $400 and runs Windows instead of ChromeOS, and has an Intel processor instead of the Snapdragon 7c here. But the biggest practical difference to me is that the Lenovo Duet includes its pretty darn good keyboard cover in the box, while Microsoft forces you to buy its keyboard cover for an extra $100 to $129, depending on the color. When shopping at this end of the budget pool, a 25% premium to get the keyboard (which is a must-have) makes a big difference.

Lenovo Duet with keyboard cover

Dan Ackerman/CNET

As a Chromebook, the Duet is less capable than a Windows device in some respects, but as modern Chromebooks can run almost any Android app, the use cases where this would make a real difference to you continue to narrow. And head-to-head, a sub-$500 computer running ChromeOS is usually going to feel speedier and more responsive than a similarly priced Windows PC, because of the lighter OS. 

Read more: How to Buy a Budget Laptop in 2022

Keyboard and kickstand 

I’ve always said the keyboard cover design and build quality are the best things about the Surface line, and that’s true for the Lenovo Duet as well. The Lenovo keyboard is similarly solid, not flimsy like some other clip-on keyboards, and its smallish keys have excellent depth and a satisfying clacky feel. The tiny touchpad, in contrast, is the single most annoying thing about this system — it’s usable, but doesn’t feel as accurate or responsive as I’d like. 

Here’s a quick ChromeOS trackpad tip. If

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 hands-on

Audrey

Foldable screens are officially here to stay. Years of subpar foldable phone iterations have finally yielded worthwhile devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4, whose flexible displays have legitimate productivity and portability benefits. Not to be outdone, PC makers have also jumped on this trend by producing full-size foldable computers. However, as we figured out with 2020’s Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold, they still had a long way to go.

Fortunately, Lenovo has gone back to the drawing board and refined its foldable PC for 2022, promising a larger display and faster performance within a slimmer body that can be easily folded up and packed into a small bag. We got some early hands-on time with this $2,499 computer ahead of its November release, and while it’s still shaping up to be a niche product, it’s still awesome to see in action.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold price and release date

Mike Andronico/CNN

The ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 is currently slated to launch in November 2022 with a starting price of $2,499. There will also be a $2,999 model for those who want a pen and keyboard included.

lenovo thinkpad x1 fold 2022 2

Mike Andronico/CNN

For the uninitiated, the first Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold was essentially a giant 13-inch Windows tablet that could serve as a huge canvas for drawing or watching movies when fully expanded, or act as a laptop when you fold it at a 90-degree angle and plop a keyboard on one half of the screen. And when you fully close it up, it’s about as small as an average sized book, and more portable than a typical laptop.

There’s a lot to like about this design on paper, but as we learned while reviewing it, the original 2020 version of the X1 Fold simply wasn’t ready for everyday consumers. Windows 10 wasn’t optimized for foldable screens at the time, resulting in a frustrating and oftentimes buggy software experience that made it hard to use even the most basic apps. Factor in average performance and short battery life, and you had a device that was extremely hard to justify for its steep $2,499 price tag — and that’s without the optional keyboard.

lenovo thinkpad x1 fold 2022 8

Mike Andronico/CNN

The 2022 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is just as expensive — and will likely remain a niche — but I immediately noticed significant improvements when I got my hands on one at an early preview event in New York City. The first thing that caught my eye was the new display, which isn’t just significantly bigger (16 inches versus 13.3 inches) but also more attractive and immersive, thanks to much slimmer bezels around the screen.

The X1 Fold’s OLED display looked great in action, pumping out bold colors whether I was watching a vivid Dolby Vision video of an amusement park or simply admiring the deep reds and blacks on the PC’s wallpaper. I especially liked using the big screen vertically in portrait mode — a new feature for this year’s model — as I had

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Daily Deals: Alienware, Lenovo, and Acer RTX 3070 Gaming Laptops, 55″ JVC 4K QLED TV for $248, Gaming Monitors, and More

Audrey

There are some really great deals today. If you’re looking for a capable gaming laptop, Alienware, Lenovo, and Acer RTX 3070 (or 3070 Ti) laptops are all on sale today with prices starting at only $1399. If you’re looking for a gaming PC instead, the Alienware RTX 3080 desktop PC just dropped to $1799. In other deal news, pick up the Samsung 980 Pro 1TB SSD for your PS5, a Seagate Firecuda 1TB Gaming Hub hard drive, a 49″ Samsung DQHD gaming monitor, or the Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing Edition at the lowest prices of the year.

Alienware m15 R5 RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop

Use code: 50OFF699

Alienware m15 R5 15″ AMD Ryzen 7 5800H RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Use promo code “50OFF699”

40% off $2,099.99

Update: To get this deal, you must select Support – 1 Year Hardware Service with Onsite In-Home Service After Remote Diagnosis ($100) in the customization page and then apply coupon code “50OFF699” in your shopping cart.

This Alienware m15 laptop is equipped with a powerful AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 8-core processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and of course the RTX 3070 video card. The RTX 3070 found in this laptop has a TDP rating of 125W (115W + 10W dynamic boost), which is higher than the RTX 3070 TDP rating you’ll find in most other gaming laptops. Higher TDP means more power is supplied to the graphics card, and that directly equates to better performance in games. Most laptops are willing to sacrifice gaming performance in order to conserve power and reduce heat, allowing for thinner laptop designs with more basic cooling. Alienware laptops, however, prioritize gaming performance first and foremost. The video cards are more powerful, the proprietary “Cryo-Tech” cooling is more effective at cooling the components, and the main tradeoff is s slightly heftier 5.5lb weight.

Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16″ RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop

Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16" 2560x1600 AMD Ryzen 7 5800H RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Lenovo Legion 5 Pro 16″ 2560×1600 AMD Ryzen 7 5800H RTX 3070 Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Walmart is offering an outstanding deal for a powerful gaming laptop from Lenovo. The RTX 3070 found in this laptop has a TDP rating of 140W. That is the maximum TDP rating you’ll find for a mobile RTX 3070 graphics card, meaning this is the one of the most powerful RTX 3070 gaming laptops you can get. Higher TDP means more power is supplied to the graphics card, and that directly equates to better performance in games.

Acer Nitro 15″ Intel Core i7-12700H Alder Lake RTX 3070 Ti Gaming Laptop

Acer Nitro 5 15" 2560x1440 Intel Core i7-12700H Alder Lake RTX 3070 Ti Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

Acer Nitro 5 15″ 2560×1440 Intel Core i7-12700H Alder Lake RTX 3070 Ti Gaming Laptop with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

The Acer Nitro is jam packed with the newest tech that gaming laptops have to offer. To start off, this is one of the first laptops that features the new 12th gen Intel Core i7-12700H mobile processor with a

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Chinese Laptop Giant Lenovo Plans A Big Press Into The Metaverse

Audrey

China’s Lenovo is planning to invest billions of pounds over the subsequent 5 years on investigation and improvement for new technological know-how, such as goods and products and services linked to the quick-rising metaverse space.

R&D workers at the world’s greatest particular personal computer company will perform on “technology which will aid businesses capitalize on the metaverse,” Lenovo reported in a assertion last 7 days. The firm says the investment must support “businesses of all measurements capitalize on new and rising systems like the metaverse.”

The Beijing-dependent enterprise will devote about $15.7 billion on new tech-related R&D above the future 5 decades, claimed Nikkei Asia. Lenovo explained in its statement that it will double R&D financial investment and increase 12,000 professionals above the coming 3 many years for cloud-related investigate. Cloud technology is a likely component of metaverse enhancement.

The metaverse refers to a nascent but exploding digital earth in which people function and play as a result of avatars. The metaverse market place was value about $45 billion in 2020 and could expand to $596 billion by 2027, forecasts Brandessence Sector Investigate. The consultancy points to the booms in mixed truth and on the net education fueling the metaverse’s development.

Lenovo has completed minor with the metaverse to day, notes Brady Wang, Taipei-centered affiliate director with market place investigate organization Counterpoint Exploration. The corporation could enjoy on present strengths to produce servers and cloud-connected technological know-how for the metaverse, he states.

Other metaverse components, this sort of as networking and cryptocurrency, may get off quicker if Lenovo invests right in exterior firms relatively than doing its possess R&D, says Wang. “Every company is diverse in its technique and it is not uncomplicated to entirely rely on oneself,” he provides. “We will not consider connectivity is much too fantastic mainly because Lenovo is not a connectivity corporation, so they’d want to commit in it. For virtual reality, it’s the exact detail.”

Lenovo did not react to a ask for for comment about the company’s ambitions for the metaverse.

Perfecting personal factors of the metaverse rather of pursuing an finish-to-end virtual system will possibly make a “bigger impact” for the likes of Lenovo, suggests Sean Su, an independent tech sector analyst in Taiwan.

Su claims the use of virtual fact to interpret info would particularly stand out. Normally, he states, Lenovo’s strategy would be “exactly the exact same as every person else, a shotgun and a prayer that they will hit upon something terrific.”

Lenovo’s world Personal computer sales that took off around 2012 nonetheless major sector share charts. It was the world’s largest Pc seller in the first quarter with a 22.7% market place share, according to IDC knowledge. Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing was a billionaire until 2016.

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