Lenovo's Lecoo Air 14 LNL brings big hardware upgrades to the budget ultrabook line

Lenovo revealed an upgraded Air 14 LNL ultrabook model from its budget brand Lecoo, meant to refresh the Air 14 that launched back in May as Lenovo's first dig at Intel's Project Firefly.

The new 14-incher has been shown alongside an updated Air 16 at Lecoo's latest event, swapping the entry-level "non-Ultra" chip of its predecessor for the oldie but goodie Intel Core Ultra 5 228V processor.

Lenovo Lecoo Air 14 LNL specs and features

The Air 14 LNL pairs the Lunar Lake upgrade with a 14-inch 2.8K panel running at 120 Hz and 450 nits. This is a notable jump in both resolution and refresh rate compared to anything Lecoo has offered at this size before. The chassis is described as lightweight alloy, and despite the upgraded screen, processor, and battery capacity, Lecoo says the LNL weighs 1.18 kg and is as thin as 14.98 mm.

The battery has grown to 80 Wh, and the company says that it is enough for 21 hours of office use. Given the efficient Lunar Lake processor, it might very well get pretty close to those endurance numbers. In the box, buyers get a 65 W GaN charger, while the laptop offers a backlit keyboard with 1.5 mm of key travel, facial recognition for quick logins, and a rather standard port selection.

The original Air 14 launched at the end of May came with a lowly Core 5 315 chip, a 1920x1200 60 Hz screen with 100% sRGB coverage at 300 nits, 12 GB of LPDDR5 memory, a 512 GB SSD, and a considerably smaller 50 Wh battery. Needless to say, it is lighter and closer to the "under 1 kg" selling point of Lenovo’s budget Lecoo brand than the upgrade.

The Air 14 LNL gives up a small amount of that class-leading slimness and heft for a sharper, faster display, efficient Core Ultra performance, and a 60% battery capacity increase. Its predecessor brought portability at a very aggressive price point that undercuts even the 512GB MacBook Neo that is available for under $800 on Amazon. Lecoo has not yet confirmed pricing or a release date for the LNL variant, but it will certainly be more expensive than the $440 starting tag equivalent of its predecessor.