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MagyarMWC 2022 | Lenovo ThinkPad x Snapdragon: Fanless ARM ThinkPad X13s offers long battery life
Intel once dominated the PC market so completely, the company became part of the "Wintel" alliance, a word that combines Microsoft Windows and Intel.
This alliance has been unraveling for years, especially since Microsoft started to publish Windows for ARM CPUs. WOA (Windows on ARM) has not yet been a huge success, but Microsoft, Qualcomm and the PC manufacturers certainly keep trying. At this point, there are already examples out there that ARM processors can work in laptops.
A partner in this quest for the ARM-PC is Lenovo. At MWC 2022, Lenovo is announcing a new laptop of its most well known brand, ThinkPad, which is using Qualcomm Snapdragon chips: The Lenovo ThinkPad X13s.
Lenovo ThinkPad X13s: business customers as the right target group?
In the tradition of the ThinkPad X series, Lenovo tries to target the enterprise sector. Highly mobile workers who often travel on planes seem like the perfect customer group for the ThinkPad X13s: The 13.3 inch laptop with its magnesium chassis only weighs 1.06 kg. At the same time, the ARM platform promises great endurance, with up to 29 hours of battery life during video playback from the 49.5 Wh battery.
The heart in this effort is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. This Qualcomm processor is not probably not going to win any performance contests, although it is supposed to be 85 % faster than the 8cx Gen 2. The CPU can be paired with up to 32 GB LPDDR4X-4266 memory and it can offer mmWave 5G, a first for this technology in a ThinkPad laptop.
Not a lot of ports, but a good webcam: ThinkPad X13s Gen 1
Lenovo seemingly bets that business customers will be less focused on pure performance and instead take advantage of the mobility features of the ThinkPad X13s. This bet may work out for Lenovo - due to the ARM CPU, the ThinkPad X13s G1 is also fanless and completely quiet.
Less advantageous is the port selection: Only two USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, certainly not a lot for a business laptop. It would have been nice had Lenovo offered the same port selection on the ThinkPad X13s as on the x86 model ThinkPad X13.
Quiet great for the business sector should be the webcam, which offers a relatively high resolution of five megapixel. Not extremely high resolution is the matte 16:10 screen, which is only available in the WUXGA resolution (1,920 x 1,200). Max brightness: 400 cd/m².
Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Gen 1: Pricing and availability
The Lenovo ThinkPad X13s enters the market in May, with a competitive starting price of $1,100.
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 | Battery | 49.5 Wh, Rapid Charge |
| OS | Windows 11 Pro | Webcam |
|
| RAM | up to 32 GB LPDDR4X-4266 (on-board) | Security | FPR in Power Button, TPM, Kensington Lock Slot |
| Storage | Up to 1 TB PCIe SSD | Ports | 2x USB C 3.2 Gen 2, 3.5mm Audio, Nano SIM |
| GPU | Qualcomm Adreno GPU | Input | 95 % keyboard, backlit, Clickpad, TrackPoint w/buttons |
| Audio | Dolby Audio Speaker System, Qualcomm Voice, three Mics | Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, 5G sub 6 eSIM, 5G mmWave eSIM |
| Display | 13.3 inch, 16:10 aspect ration, WUXGA resolution:
| Chassis | ThinkPad X13s G1: 1.06 kg, 298.7 x 206.4 x 13.4 mm |
Source(s)
Lenovo
