8565U(Whiskey Lake) is not too old because the latest Comet Lake is the almost same chip. But I hope it has Ice Lake.
And 1080p/60Hz display is the best choice for ultra-lightweight laptops to achieve longer battery life. Personally I prefer 1440p display even battery life getting shorter.
1: rip off the Japanese market. Unlike the lenovo brand NEC and Fujitsu have a virtual monopoly on the traditional business and corporate market in Japan. So there is no reason for Lenovo who own NECs PC business and have a controlling stake in Fujitsu computer division to upgrade the potato specs and use old parts bin thinkpad components and make huge margins on them.
2 for the US market ? I think Lenovo don't intend NEC computers to actually be competitive or sell but have the brand in the US as a place holder to edge against any trade war against Chinese companies. NEC wouldn't be hit by the tariffs as it is classed as a Japanese company. Lenovo would just 4d chess and re-brand all of the consumer computers for the US market as NECs.
VAIO laptops are justified for being more expensive because they are one of the few Japanese brands that still have [MADE IN JAPAN] laptops and cannot compete with $0.20/hr chinese labor but the NEC lavie is virtually identical and manufactured side by side with the Lenovo Yogas in mainland china so there is no other reason why there is a huge premium especially when the NEC versions have inferior specs ..
I highly doubt that Lenovo maintains indpendent design teams for the companies it acquired over the years. These are probably just variants emerging from the same group that handles the rest of Lenovo's computers. Product differentiation is a difficult prospect in an industry where the primary components are provided by a limited number of upstream companies (CPU, RAM, etc) and designs are constrained highly by the need to conform to form factor expectations as well, but I don't think the best bet is to nurse along acquired brands in an attempt to maintain an illusion of independent companies.
Is it just me, or is the main "innovation" here the available colors? Not impressed, where's the innovation that justifies the pricing? I just don't see it.
Nobody said anything about innovation. The refreshed design, weight(they remain the only company offering lithium alloy chassis), and largely the SSD capacity justify the price. And at least the battery's now decent and they throw in more ports than Microsoft. Last time I checked the Lavie Z series(now this "Pro Mobile") had 42Wh batteries...or was it even lower.
I doubt any today's hipsters and graphic designers were even alive when NEC Mutlisync CRT monitors were big deals in professional graphics. NEC has never been associated with hip, anywhere. Even Fujitsu has more cool factor than NEC, and that is not saying much either.
Really? What do any of these devices do that deserve their price tags? 1800USD/3100NZD for that thin and light... for that money I can buy a 13" macbook pro 2.4ghz with 256gb. And it includes 8gb ram.
Or I could buy a base macbook air and a new ipad with pen and still have change left over.
I think it is insane that Japanese companies once led the tech world (or at least had a lot of power) and today they are withering away and being taken over by Chinese and Taiwanese while the Koreans just beat them in everything from smartphones to OLED TVs. This are hard times. What is going on. I knew things got bad when Sharp was allowed to be bought by Foxconn and Japan inc. did nothing.
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timecop1818 - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
> Lenovo will use Intel’s 8th Gen Core processors (Whiskey Lake, up to Core i7-8565U)Why is this news in 2020?
Who would want to pay for shitty 1080p screen and 2 generations old processor?
Cliff34 - Saturday, January 4, 2020 - link
Exactly for 2000 dollars. Wow.hnlog - Saturday, January 4, 2020 - link
8565U(Whiskey Lake) is not too old because the latest Comet Lake is the almost same chip.But I hope it has Ice Lake.
And 1080p/60Hz display is the best choice for ultra-lightweight laptops to achieve longer battery life.
Personally I prefer 1440p display even battery life getting shorter.
antivank - Sunday, January 12, 2020 - link
This is my theory why Lenovo are does this,1: rip off the Japanese market. Unlike the lenovo brand NEC and Fujitsu have a virtual monopoly on the traditional business and corporate market in Japan. So there is no reason for Lenovo who own NECs PC business and have a controlling stake in Fujitsu computer division to upgrade the potato specs and use old parts bin thinkpad components and make huge margins on them.
2 for the US market ? I think Lenovo don't intend NEC computers to actually be competitive or sell but have the brand in the US as a place holder to edge against any trade war against Chinese companies. NEC wouldn't be hit by the tariffs as it is classed as a Japanese company. Lenovo would just 4d chess and re-brand all of the consumer computers for the US market as NECs.
VAIO laptops are justified for being more expensive because they are one of the few Japanese brands that still have [MADE IN JAPAN] laptops and cannot compete with $0.20/hr chinese labor but the NEC lavie is virtually identical and manufactured side by side with the Lenovo Yogas in mainland china so there is no other reason why there is a huge premium especially when the NEC versions have inferior specs ..
evilspoons - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
"UP TO" 8 GB of soldered RAM. In 2020. For $2100 USD. Uhh, that should be the STARTING point...p1esk - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
1080@60hz 27 monitor for $1800? Yeah, that’s definitely CES2020 material.mischlep - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
Your Pro Mobile and Vega spec images are probably reversed.Ryan Smith - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
Thanks!Cullinaire - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
It's been decades since I remember drooling at nec PC hardware, mainly the multisync CRTs and multispin cdrom drives, external scsi of course.These don't have quite the same impact...
Cullinaire - Saturday, January 4, 2020 - link
I do like the keyboard layout on the laptops though.PeachNCream - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
I highly doubt that Lenovo maintains indpendent design teams for the companies it acquired over the years. These are probably just variants emerging from the same group that handles the rest of Lenovo's computers. Product differentiation is a difficult prospect in an industry where the primary components are provided by a limited number of upstream companies (CPU, RAM, etc) and designs are constrained highly by the need to conform to form factor expectations as well, but I don't think the best bet is to nurse along acquired brands in an attempt to maintain an illusion of independent companies.s.yu - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
From what I could tell Lenovo has just the opposite strategy for Motorola, as phones of that brand mostly resemble Chinese ODM.eastcoast_pete - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
Is it just me, or is the main "innovation" here the available colors? Not impressed, where's the innovation that justifies the pricing? I just don't see it.s.yu - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
Nobody said anything about innovation. The refreshed design, weight(they remain the only company offering lithium alloy chassis), and largely the SSD capacity justify the price. And at least the battery's now decent and they throw in more ports than Microsoft.Last time I checked the Lavie Z series(now this "Pro Mobile") had 42Wh batteries...or was it even lower.
s.yu - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
I was talking about the first model, as for the others, they're probably just selling the looks...s.yu - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
I believe la vie means *the* life.wr3zzz - Friday, January 3, 2020 - link
Lenovo really screwed up the Think??? branding to feel that NEC would carry a better brand cachet than the old IBM legacy in the US.ABR - Saturday, January 4, 2020 - link
Different market segments. Thinkpad targets techies and business; these are clearly aimed more at hipsters and graphic designers.wr3zzz - Saturday, January 4, 2020 - link
I doubt any today's hipsters and graphic designers were even alive when NEC Mutlisync CRT monitors were big deals in professional graphics. NEC has never been associated with hip, anywhere. Even Fujitsu has more cool factor than NEC, and that is not saying much either.nerd1 - Saturday, January 4, 2020 - link
It was unique decade ago but now there are bunch of sub-kg laptops with large batteries, for example LG gram series.flyingpants265 - Sunday, January 5, 2020 - link
Very nice, but I have personally never been a fan of superlight laptops.cycomiko - Sunday, January 5, 2020 - link
Really? What do any of these devices do that deserve their price tags? 1800USD/3100NZD for that thin and light... for that money I can buy a 13" macbook pro 2.4ghz with 256gb. And it includes 8gb ram.Or I could buy a base macbook air and a new ipad with pen and still have change left over.
Seems like a solid swing and a miss
ReallyBigMistake - Sunday, May 17, 2020 - link
I think it is insane that Japanese companies once led the tech world (or at least had a lot of power) and today they are withering away and being taken over by Chinese and Taiwanese while the Koreans just beat them in everything from smartphones to OLED TVs. This are hard times. What is going on. I knew things got bad when Sharp was allowed to be bought by Foxconn and Japan inc. did nothing.