Last week Lenovo unveiled the company’s full 2024 laptop range, letting journalists from the APAC region poke and prod the many new systems. As one of the assembled journos, I got to go hands-on with the new laptops, and am pleased to confirm that they look and perform exactly as you’d expect the latest computers from one of the world’s biggest PC brands to behave.
Being a tech event in 2024, the running theme was all about AI. This generation of laptops will largely move on from the Intel Core I series of chips that have served us so well for over a decade, to make way for the new Intel Core Ultra chips. These chips have in-built AI acceleration, a 25% reduction in processor power consumption and up to two in-built Intel Arc GPUs for improved graphics performance.
The benefit of an AI computer is currently difficult to fully quantify, given that most consumer AI tools use the power of the cloud, rather than local computing power. However, Lenovo detailed a few aspects of their new computers that will take better advantage of the chip’s NPU (Neural Processing Unit). One example provided was the gaming-focused Legion range using AI to better control how the computer’s resources are deployed during long, intense gaming sessions.
Lenovo Creator Zone promises private Gen AI
More interestingly, though was the announcement of the new Lenovo Creator Zone software, which promises to be a “privacy-focussed, generative AI software that turns text or sketches into visuals”.
Most generative AI is, famously, the opposite of privacy, often using a wide variety of copyrighted images and text from across the internet to mash together a “new” work based on someone else’s style, skill and effort.
Speaking with GadgetGuy, Ricky Ng, Consumer Business, PCs and Smart Devices, Lenovo Asia Pacific, talked about how Creator Zone will allow creatives to train an AI on their own work (or, really, any work they can feed into the program), to generate sketches or other aspects of creativity faster.
“The Creator Zone is not like an app that we release once and then it comes with this set of features – it will be extended,” Ng said. “One of the features that we know that we will be bringing in is local image model training.”
“So, I think this is something that would be quite different from what’s available, at least without having to purchase the expensive AI devices today. Creator Zone is designed to be security and privacy-focused. So, all image training will be stored locally.”
Unfortunately, Lenovo is staying tight-lipped on further details of Creator Zone until later in the year, but it will be available from day one to people in select markets on eligible Lenovo Yoga Pro laptop models (including this current range of Lenovo Yoga Pro laptops). Lenovo could not be drawn further on whether Australia would be one of the markets selected.
Dual-screen popularity
The latest laptop range from Lenovo is quite similar to last year’s range, only with updates across the board, and this extra focus on AI. Of the new models, the dual-screen Lenovo Yoga Book 9i received special attention, getting a bigger update than most.
According to Ng, that’s because of the Book’s surprising popularity. Across the Asia Pacific, the reception has been “overwhelmingly good”, with competitors also pushing dual-screen laptops, like the Asus Zenbook Duo.
“…for a period of time, we had backlogs that we had to fulfil, and we managed to negotiate for higher production capacity,” Ng said. “I think right now when we see our competitors coming in with a similar offering, I think it’s just a testament that there’s a segment for such a product.”
“We didn’t want to be out of the conversation or not on the bandwagon so for this time around what we did was, on top of just changing the CPU, we increased the amount of memory in the product up to 32 gigabytes, we have also refreshed the accessories pack so that they’re all colour matched.”
The latest Yoga Book also has a 35% battery life improvement, so while it may look the same on the outside, the inside is brand new.
Forming a Legion of Lenovo laptops
This new range comes at a good time for Lenovo and takes advantage of the brand’s recent success. High-end devices like the Yoga Book and the powerful Legion gaming line are seen as big reasons behind Lenovo’s increasing popularity.
“I think we’re fortunate we’ve been the fastest growing brand in retail now for the last five years, we’ve become the number one outright Windows PC brand,” Chris Osborne, Director, ANZ Consumer Retail Channel, said. “And with that, we’ve got growth across every single price band, every single category.”
“For us, probably the big shift over the course of the past three years has been the push into premium and the push into gaming.”
One fun fact that came out of this conversation was that the Yoga 7 is, for the most part, the most popular Lenovo laptop in terms of sales. This year’s Yoga 7 2-in-1 model has been updated with up to the 14th Gen Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, 16C and 16GB of memory.
The new Lenovo laptops will be in stores soon, with pricing and release date details to come.
Full Lenovo 2024 consumer laptop range
| Lenovo Legion 5i (16” Gen 9) | Intel Core i9-14900HX Intel Core i7-14700HX Intel Core i7-14650HX Intel Core i7-13650HX Intel Core i5-13450HX Coldfront Hyper fans WQXGA (2560 x 1600) resolution 240Hz refresh rate NVIDIA G-SYNC |
| Lenovo Legion 9i (16” Gen 9) | Intel Core i9-14900HX 5600Mhz Dual Channel DDR5: 64GB (2 X 32GB), 32GB (2 x 16GB) memory Legion Coldfront Liquid internal cooling system 3.2K Mini-LED NVIDIA G-SYNC tuned screen |
| Lenovo Legion 7i (16” Gen 9) | Intel Core 14th Gen i9-14900HX Intel Core 14th Gen i7-14700HX Up to 32 GB of memory Coldfront Hyper fans 3.2K panel with 100% DCI-P3 or WQXGA (2560 x 1600) panel with 240Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time |
| Lenovo Legion PRO 7i (16” Gen 9) | Intel Core i9-14900HX Up to 32 GB of memory Legion Coldfront Liquid internal cooling system NVIDIA GeForce RTX Graphics 16:10 WQXGA (2560 x 1600) display |
| Lenovo Legion PRO 5i (16” Gen 9) | Intel Core i9-14900HX Intel Core i7-14700HX Intel Core i7-14650HX Intel Core i5-14500HX Intel Core i5-14450HX Up to 32 GB of memory Legion Coldfront Liquid internal cooling system NVIDIA GeForce RTX Graphics WQXGA (2560 x 1600) Display |
| Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9 | Intel Core i5-12450HX Hyperchamber thermal design fans Up to 32 GB of memory Minimalist 15″ design NVIDIA G-SYNC 15.6″ 16:9 display |
| Yoga Pro 9i (16″, Gen 9) | Intel Core Ultra 9 (185H) Intel Core Ultra 7 (155H) Up to 32 GB of memory 16″ 3.2K PureSight Pro display Intel Arc graphics or up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Series graphics |
| Yoga Pro 7i (14”, Gen 9) | Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 Processor Up to 32 GB of memory 14.5″ up to 3K PureSight Pro screen Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Series graphics or Intel Arc graphics |
| Yoga Book 9i (13″, Gen 9) | Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor (155U) Up to 32 GB of memory Twin 13.3″ 2.8K PureSight OLED screens Intel Graphics |
| Yoga Slim 7i (14″, Gen 9) | Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor 125H Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor 155H Up to 32 GB of memory Intel Arc graphics 14″ WUXGA OLED display |
| Yoga 7i 2-in-1 (14″, Gen 9) | Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor (155H) Intel Core Ultra 5 Processor (125H) Up to 32 GB of memory Intel Arc graphics 14″ 2.8K PureSight OLED display with Dolby Vision |
| Yoga 9i 2-in-1 (14″, Gen 9) | Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor (155H) Up to 32 GB of memory Intel Arc graphics 14″ PureSight OLED Display |
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Alice Clarke travelled to Thailand as a guest of Lenovo
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