Lenovo's New 13-inch ThinkPad X390 Is as Light As the MacBook Air

At Mobile World Congress today (Feb. 24), Lenovo announced the new ThinkPad X390 and ThinkPad X390 Yoga, a pair of portable laptops designed for enterprise users.

The clamshell ThinkPad X390 will start at $1,099 while the base model ThinkPad X390 Yoga will go for $1,359 when they are released in June.

Lenovo ThinkPad X390

Lenovo's smallest ThinkPad now has a larger display.

Running Windows 10 Pro, the ThinkPad X390 can be configured with up to a Core i7 CPU, up to 32GB of RAM and up to a 1TB PCIe SSD. Graphics are limited to integrated HD Graphics 620.

The X390 sports a 13.3-inch panel, which is a bump up from the 12.5-inch display on last year's ThinkPad X280. The additional real estate doesn't compromise the laptop's compact frame, in fact, the X390 (0.6 inches thin) is even slimmer than its predecessor. And at 2.7 pounds, this compact machine weighs as much as the MacBook Air.

Lenovo achieved that remarkable feat by reducing the display bezels by 50 percent, enabling the company to put a 13.3-inch display in a 12-inch frame. We've seen this design trend hit the consumer market over the past few years, but it's nice to see it adopted on the business side.  

Also new to the X390 are some clever security features, including an HD webcam that not only supports Windows Hello login via IR facial recognition but also has a ThinkShutter cover so you can protect yourself from snooping eyes.

The ThinkPad X390 can be configured with either a standard 13.3-inch, 1080p touch screen (300 nits) or a 13.3-inch, 1080p PrivacyGuard non-touch (400 nits) panel. PrivacyGuard and its accompanying PrivacyAlert software use a built-in privacy filter to conceal sensitive information by reducing the display's viewing angles.

Despite its slim design, the ThinkPad X390 houses a wide variety of ports, including a Thunderbolt 3, a USB 3.1 Type-C port, two USB 3.1 inputs, an HDMI, a microSD card slot, a Kensington lock, and a headphone/mic combo jack. There is also a side connector for Lenovo's proprietary dock.

Battery life is rated at an outstanding 17.6 hours but we'll have to wait to get our hands on a review unit to get a better idea of real-world endurance.

Lenovo ThinkPad X390 Yoga

The ThinkPad X390 Yoga is the 2-in-1 sibling of the X390. The X390 Yoga also received a design overhaul, and now features a chassis that's 12 percent thinner (9.6 inches) and 5 percent lighter (2.9 pounds) than its predecessor, the X380 Yoga.

The ThinkPad X390 Yoga will be available with up to an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of RAM and up to a 1TD SSD. It sports an integrated HD Graphics 620 GPU and battery life is rated at 14.5 hours. Unique to the ThinkPad X390 Yoga is a garaged stylus so you can take notes or draw on the display without worrying about losing the included pen.

The X390 and X390 Yoga have dual far-field noise-canceling microphones, which should improve voice quality during conference calls. Both laptops also feature the new Wi-Fi 6 protocol but only the ThinkPad X390 comes with LTE connectivity. A 13.3-inch, 1080p IPS touch screen with 300 nits of brightness is the only display option available for the Thinkpad X390 Yoga. While this convertible doesn't have a PrivacyGuard, it does feature an HD IR camera with a ThinkShutter cover.

The ThinkPad X390 Yoga has the same ports as the ThinkPad X390, so you'll find a Thunderbolt 3, a USB 3.1 Type-C, two USB 3.1 ports, an HDMI, a microSD card slot, a Kensington lock and a headphone/mic jack. There is also a mechanical side docking mechanism for business users.

We will publish a full review of the ThinkPad X390 Yoga closer to its June release.

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