Thunderbolt

Dynabook launched two laptops today. The Portégé X30W-J and Portégé X30L-J are Tiger Lake laptops with Intel's Iris Xe Graphics. Both laptops weigh less than one kilogram (2.2. pounds) and are equipped with two Thunderbolt 4 ports.

We knew before that Lenovo has three upcoming ThinkPad devices this fall: The ThinkPad X1 Titanium, ThinkPad X1 Nano and ThinkPad X12. All three have been leaked again today - by Verizon.

The TravelMate P6 scores points with a low weight, long battery life, and low operating noise. The equipment is also right: A Core i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM (dual-channel mode), NVMe SSD, and Thunderbolt 3. Positive: Acer grants the laptop a three-year warranty.

The new Alienware Area-51m R2 carries over much of what made the original Area-51m great while making some major improvements in key areas. Most eye-catching is the inclusion of a 360 Hz refresh rate Full HD display. This makes the Area-51m R2 the only laptop with this high of a refresh rate. Other highlights include options for Comet Lake CPUs and Nvidia GeForce RTX GPUs as well as a 12-phase power delivery system.

The new ZBook G7 workstations now include Intel's 10th gen Comet Lake-H and Xeon CPUs, which are 30 to 70% faster than the Coffee Lake models on the previous G6 models. The more affordable Power 15 laptops can be equipped with up to 64 GB of RAM, 2 TB of SSD storage and up to an Nvidia Quadro T2000 GPU, while the Fury series supports up to 128 GB of RAM, 10 TB SSD storage and up to an Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 GPU.

There are two new convertibles from Lenovo for the high-end consumer market: The Lenovo Yoga 9i replaces the Yoga C940 line with a new 14 inch model and a new 15.6 inch model.

Replacing the Lenovo Yoga S940 as the clamshell consumer flagship, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i brings many new features. This includes Intel Tiger Lake, Thunderbolt 4, a bigger battery - and the same new design-cues as with the convertible Lenovo Yoga 9i.

With the Gram 17 17Z90N, LG delivers a feather-light 17-inch laptop that offers a display in the 16:10 format. The rest of the equipment is also right: Ice Lake processor, NVMe SSD, 16 GB of working memory (dual-channel mode), and Thunderbolt 3. All this is accompanied by outstanding battery life.

XMG is now offering an i7-10875H CPU option for the NEO lineup of liquid-metal-cooled laptops. The 17-inch model is also getting a 62 Wh larger battery, although it still seems quite small compared to the 93 Wh battery on the 15-inch model. Additionally, XMG finally reveals the brand of the liquid metal thermal compound.

The slim Zenbook 13's wide range of features is convincing: There is an Ice Lake CPU, 16 GB of RAM (in dual-channel mode), an NVMe SSD, and Thunderbolt 3. Furthermore, the battery life is excellent thanks to the integrated 67-Wh battery.

It has been a long time that notebook gamers had to use fat gaming giants. Thanks to refined cooling concepts and hardware that has shrunk significantly, slim laptops can also offer outstanding performance.

Even with Intel's current Comet Lake CPUs, the new ThinkPad X13 model only has a slight edge over its predecessors. Owners of the Kaby Lake version of the X390 do not need to worry about upgrading.

The Aorus 15G XB brings all modern computer games smoothly onto the matte 15.6-inch screen (240 Hz, Full HD, IGZO). The equipment is also right: NVMe SSD, 16 GB of RAM (dual-channel mode), a mechanical keyboard, and a Thunderbolt 3 port.

Razer's compact 15.6-incher is packed with powerful hardware that brings all the latest games smoothly onto the matte Full HD screen (300 Hz, IPS). There's also an NVMe SSD, 16 GB of RAM, and a Thunderbolt 3 port.

On the occasion of Architecture Day, Intel delved into the underpinnings of the Willow Cove architecture that is set to debut with the Tiger Lake CPUs next month. Willow Cove will use Intel's new SuperFin process technology and will offer a much higher dynamic range in the voltage-frequency curve along with improvements to display and memory. Intel also confirmed the arrival of Alder Lake hybrid performance processors in 2021.

The GS66's hardware brings all the latest computer games smoothly onto the 15.6-inch matte display (240 Hz, FHD, IPS). The equipment is also right: NVMe SSD, 16 GB of memory (dual-channel mode), and Thunderbolt 3 port.

Razer’s workstation features a lot of performance, a 4K OLED touchscreen, a Thunderbolt 3 port, 32 GB of RAM (running in dual-channel mode), 16 of VRAM and a 1 TB NVMe SSD.

It's not exactly cheap at $41.99 USD, but it gets the job done and it should hopefully last a little longer than most cheaper USB-C cables. We'll be using this cable for many of our reviews moving forward.

If you own a GeForce-powered XPS 17 or Precision 5750, Dell wants you to contact customer support to work something out. The manufacturer has successfully reproduced the charging issue on a "limited quantity" of laptops and will be reaching out to existing owners as well.

With its powerful hardware, the Zephyrus Duo manages to display the latest games smoothly on its matte 4K screen (IPS, Pantone-validated, 100% AdobeRGB, G-Sync). There are other great features as well: 2x NVMe SSD (RAID 0), 32 GB of RAM (in dual-channel mode), Thunderbolt 3. Additionally, the package includes many accessories.

With the Galaxy Book Flex 13.3, Samsung has an extremely attractive Windows convertible in its range. Minor inconsistencies cloud the otherwise good overall impression a bit, though.

Samsung's Galaxy Book Ion 13.3 is a decent laptop that needs some additional fine-tuning, particularly regarding fan noise.

The leaked slides for the Lenovo Legion Slim 7 gaming laptop highlight top features like the powerful i9 Comet Lake-H CPUs and the quality display options that include 144 Hz 1080p and 4K 60 Hz screens. The slim design restricts the dGPU to an RTX 2060, unfortunately; however, to keep things cool, Lenovo throws in an advanced vapor chamber.

The mystery is finally solved, as a new leak has revealed almost all details about the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano. The upcoming ThinkPad flagship will feature Intel Tiger-Lake CPUs, a extremely lightweight chassis that weighs less than 1 kg - and a 13 inch 16:10 screen. Seemingly, the new ThinkPad laptop is made to compete with Dell's XPS 13 9300.

Even if there were already some discrete updates to the case, the Fujitsu Lifebook U939 remains a notebook of the old school. However, there is still some room for improvement, and in one place, we would even wish for a step back.

One concern that Apple Mac fans have had is whether Apple’s new ARM-based Macs will continue to support Intel’s Thunderbolt high-speed I/O tech. In statement provided to The Verge, Apple has confirmed that it will continue to support Thunderbolt despite its forthcoming transition from Intel to ‘Apple silicon’.

Intel has announced the Thunderbolt 4 protocol and new Thunderbolt 4 controllers, which build on the capabilities of Thunderbolt 3 and also form the basis for the USB4 spec. Thunderbolt 4 offers the same throughput as Thunderbolt 3 along with additional platform and security features while also expanding the Thunderbolt dock ecosystem. Thunderbolt 4 will be compatible all existing USB Type-C and Thunderbolt 3 standards and will be first seen in Tiger Lake-powered laptops later this year.

The major update of the compact 2020 ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the more compact power adapter. You also get new processors, but they do not offer a performance advantage. The new X1 Carbon is once again a very good business laptop, but you can just get the previous model and save money.

Belkin has launched its latest Thunderbolt 3-enabled dock that is calling the Dock Core. The new hub supports up to two 4K monitors at 60 Hz or a single 8K monitor at 30 Hz.

There are many products on the market that claim to convert M.2 NVMe SSDs into fast portable external storage. However, OWC claims that its own such housing is the first to come certified for Thunderbolt 3 speeds. Accordingly, it may achieve 1.533 gigabytes per second (GB/s) in "real-world performance".

Update: Problem fixed. We currently have two review samples from Lenovo's new ThinkPad T-series in our office, but neither the ThinkPad T14 CPU, nor the ThinkPad T15 CPU, can utilize their Turbo Boosts and only run at the base clock of 1.6 and 1.8 GHz, respectively.

Lenovo has released more details of a new addition to the IdeaPad Slim 7 line of notebooks. This one is powered by the Core i7-10750H processor, rather than the Ryzen 7 4700U like its 14-inch counterpart. However, the OEM has included dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics here...even if it is an older card.

Lenovo is revamping its workstation lineup. The Lenovo ThinkPad P15 and the bigger ThinkPad P17 are at the core of the 2020 ThinkPad P series: The new models are internally completely redesigned, with a stronger cooling system, higher clocked GPUs and a modular design with daughtercards instead of a soldered solution.

Lenovo is not just updating existing ThinkPad laptops this year, it is also adding an entirely new option: The Lenovo ThinkPad P15v is an affordable 15 inch mobile workstation, which is something that Lenovo did not offer before.