Lenovo Aura Edition AI Laptop
The new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Gen 13 features new smart features
Lenovo and Intel have collaborated to engineer their best laptops enhanced with artificial intelligence powered by Intel Core Ultra processors capable of processing 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS). These high-end laptops are known as the Lenovo Aura Edition. We got an exclusive hands-on experience of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13.
What sets the Aura Edition apart from the non-Aura Edition? Aura Edition computers come with the following smart features: Smart Modes, Smart Share, and Smart Care. By pressing F8, the Smart Modes widget will appear to let you choose one of the five modes – Shield, Attention, Collaboration, Wellness, and Power.
Shield mode enables the camera to detect onlookers looking over your shoulder and blurs your screen to protect information. Attention mode disables notifications and blocks distracting websites to improve focus on your tasks. Collaboration mode calibrates your camera and enables effects like background blur. Wellness mode uses the camera to analyse your posture, adjusts display settings to reduce eyestrain. Finally, Power mode is the shortcut to select one of the three Windows power settings – Performance, Balanced, and Efficiency.
Smart Share is a feature that allows fast and convenient sharing of files between the Lenovo laptop and your Android or iPhone installed with the Intel Unison app. File sending is quite fast, taking me just under 2 minutes to send a 500MB file. The software also syncs contacts, messages, photo gallery, so you will never miss a notification when you are using the laptop. Quickly run Smart Share by pressing F11 on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura Edition or tap the phone against the side of the laptop display.
For Smart Care, you can access service support directly from the laptop through live chat and receive assistance remotely, or create a ticket, download a user guide, and search topics with step-by-step video. This is so much faster than going to the Lenovo website and searching for topics related to your laptop model.
These Aura Edition features improve the already spectacular ThinkPad X1 Carbon, now in its 13th Generation. The laptop is impossibly lightweight at only 986 grams and feels astonishingly sturdy.
It retains all the iconic ThinkPad features, including a fingerprint-proof matt surface, red LED on the “ThinkPad” logo, iconic red trackpoint, full-sized Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, 3.5mm headphone and HDMI ports. Its 65W USB-C PD charger is tiny, only to be bogged down by the thick power cables.
The X1 Carbon supports both facial and fingerprint authentication, so logging in to Windows is doubly fast. The battery capacity is slightly smaller with only 57W, but thanks to the new Intel Core Ultra processor, the power consumption is greatly managed to achieve excellent balance. The 14-inch 2880×1800 display is vivid and sharp, though I find the red tone is too excessive.
The protruding camera system allows the user to easily flip open the laptop with a single hand. The red TrackPoint now has an added feature: by double-tapping it, you can pull out an on-screen quick menu which you can rearrange based on your preference. Another underrated feature is the Cool and Quiet On Lap feature which cools down the laptop when it detects that you are using it on your lap. The stereo speakers are functional and sufficiently loud but lack the lower frequency rumbles that some other laptops can produce.
We Say: If you are looking for an ultra-lightweight, powerful, and smart productivity laptop, the new Gen 13 ThinkPad X1 will stretch your performance boundaries without straining your muscle.
Rating: 4.5/5
From S$4,071
www.lenovo.com
Technical Specifications:
Processor Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Processor (LPE-cores up to 3.70 GHz P-cores up to 4.80 GHz / 32 GB MOP)
Operating System Windows 11 Pro
Graphic Card Integrated Intel Arc Graphics 140V
Memory 32 GB LPDDR5X-8533MHz
Storage 1 TB SSD M.2 2280 PCIe Gen5
Display 14″ 2.8K (2880 x 1800), OLED, HDR 500, 100% DCI-P3, 400 nits, 120Hz
Camera 1080p IR+RGB
Connectivity Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE201 2×2 BE vPro & Bluetooth 5.3
Battery 3-Cell Li-Polymer 57 Wh
Dimensions 313 x 215 x 14.4 mm
Weight 986 g
