While gaming laptops seem to get most of the attention, for some of us, desktops are the only way to go. You can get more performance, more storage, more RAM, and a quieter system in a well-built desktop. Today Acer is announcing the GX Series of gami…
We’re here at CES for our first liveblog of the week, Qualcomm’s annual CES presentation.
Lenovo has already announced updates to many of their business focused ThinkPad lineup, but today they are also announcing a successor to the MIIX 700 with the MIIX 720. The new model offers quite a few nice changes, but also a price bump over the predecessor.
Of course, as a new product launching in 2017, the MIIX 720 upgrades the CPU to Kaby Lake, but unlike the Core m7 version in the MIIX 700, the new model appears to feature 15-Watt processors. Lenovo doesn’t list the exact CPU models available, but they do list In the HD 620 graphics, rather than the HD 615 which would be featured on the Y series, so expect the MIIX 720 to offer up to a Core i7-7500U CPU, assuming the graphics aren’t a typo. Despite the higher powered CPU, the device dimensions have not changed, nor has the weight, with the MIIX 720 keeping the same 292x210x8.9mm dimensions and 780 gram weight (11.5×8.27×0.35” and 1.72 lbs). This means that they’ve added active cooling, which is a disappointment to some, but more performance, which should be pleasing to most.
The extra performance will be necessary to drive the higher resolution display, with the MIIX 720 offering a 12-inch 2880×1920 3:2 panel, which is an impressive 288 pixels per inch, which is much higher than the 214 pixels per inch of its predecessor, and even a bit higher than the 267 pixels per inch of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. Lenovo rates the display at 400 nits brightness, and it’s got Gorilla Glass over the top.
Lenovo has also outclassed the Surface Pro 4 with the inclusion of not one, not two, but three USB ports, with one USB 3.1 Type-C port, one USB 3.0, and one USB 2.0 port. It also offers up to 16 GB of DDR4 memory, and up to 1 TB of PCIe storage.
The battery is only 41 Wh, and Lenovo rates the MIIX 720 for up to 8 hours of battery life. This is a reasonable sized battery for a small tablet like this, where severe internal constraints always limit available battery capacity.
The tablet also features a Windows Hello capable front-facing camera, which something that is great to see on more and more devices. Once you’ve used a device with Windows Hello, it’s really tough to go back.
As with the previous MIIX 700, the MIIX 720 features a detachable full-sized, backlit keyboard, and there is a new Lenovo Active Pen 2 which will be included on the second wave of device shipments, which offers a clickable shortcut button for Windows Ink, and up to 4096 levels of sensitivity.
The MIIX 720 also features the watchband hinge on its kickstand, which is one of the most elegant solutions around.
The new Lenovo MIIX 720 is available in either Champagne Gold or Iron Gray, beginning in April 2017 for $999.99 and up, and the Active Pen 2 will be available in February for $59.99.
Source: Lenovo
Just last week, Lenovo announced a substantial overhaul of most of it’s ThinkPad lineup. One of the main new features were a new silver color, along with USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 on many models. Today, the X1 family gets the same treatment, with …
When Amazon announced the Echo, it’s likely even they were not prepared for the response to the device, and Echo is the primary funnel to Amazon Alexa, which is their intelligent personal assistant, which has been so successful in the Echo as a voice based assistant. Today Lenovo is announcing they have partnered with Amazon to bring Alexa to the Lenovo Smart Assistant.
Lenovo’s take on the voice-based IoT assistant is available in three colors, and offers eight 360° far-field microphones with noise suppression and acoustic echo cancellation. All of this is to make it able to be used at up to distances of up to 16 feet, or 5 meters, away.
Lenovo will also be offering a Harman Kardon edition of the Smart Assistant, which will offer better quality speakers for an improved audio experience when using the assistant to playback music.
Some may be wondering why Lenovo would want to create such a device, but the device will be able to control Lenovo smart home devices, and is a foot in the door for them to be part of this arguably large IoT market. It will also work with many existing 3rd party products as well.
The design is typical for this type of device, with a large cylinder meant to be used upright. A small footprint is ideal since these are almost certainly going to be used on a counter in a home. Lenovo’s multiple color options, as well as the Harman Kardon audio version, bring a bit more customization than perhaps you would see otherwise. The Lenovo Smart Assistant will be available in May starting at $130, and the Harman Kardan model will be priced at $180.
Lenovo is also announcing the Smart Storage solution, which is a NAS device meant to be used to sync between multiple devices in the home. There’s no doubt that our digital lives create an enormous amount of data, and the Smart Storage NAS will be available with up to 6 TB of space.
The design is certainly interesting, with an upright chassis that is much more appealing to look at than most NAS on the market, and the Smart Storage smarts include the ability to use facial recognition to organize your photo library. It features dual-band wireless access, as well as Ethernet and USB 3.0 ports. Lenovo’s press material doesn’t delve too deeply into the other software features of the Smart Storage, so we’ll have to wait for some hands-on time at CES this week.
Finally, Lenovo is also offering a new interesting take on the HTPC keyboard. One of the biggest issues with a HTPC keyboard is you want it to be wireless, portable, and easy to use, but often it would be handy to have access to a trackpad or pointer control. Lenovo’s solution is the Lenovo 500 Multimedia Controller, which offers a full keyboard experience, as well as a full track pad.
Where is the trackpad you might be asking? The entire keyboard is the trackpad. This gives a huge surface to use for pointer control, as well as Windows 10 gesture support, without adding extra space that would be necessary for its own trackpad. The trackpad defaults to 150 DPI, but can be set to up to 1000 DPI if needed. The keyboard connects over a USB dongle, which is on the 2.4 GHz spectrum, and it is powered by two AAA batteries that Lenovo says will give up to 8 months of use. It will be available in March for $54.
Source: Lenovo