Michael Crider
Lenovo is coming to CES with a stacked deck of new product announcements. The latest include, among many others, a unique all-in-one desktop with a rotating screen, a tiny netbook-style laptop from NEC, and a cheaper version of the already-revealed Tab P11 Pro. Let’s take a look at that all-in-one first.
Yoga AIO 7 Desktop
All-in-one desktops tend to be either cheap machines designed for terminal-style access for multiple users, or serious design pieces meant for creatives who don’t want a laptop. The Yoga AIO 7 definitely falls into the later category, with a combination of AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor and GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card (on the mist stacked configuration). But it’s the unique form factor of the machine that will turn heads, literally: it’s the first all-in-one I’ve ever seen with a monitor that can rotate to portrait mode.
Said screen is no slouch. The 27-inch panel is 4K IPS, quite a step above the usual all-in-one fare. Other notable features include a built-in JBL speaker bar, color-matched wireless keyboard and mouse, and a detachable 5MP webcam. The screen also doubles as a cast point, allowing Chromecast-compatible video to be sent directly to it. A USB-C port can charge up a laptop, though it’s not clear how much wattage it’s outputting.
Lenovo says it’s already selling the Yoga AIO 7 in China (as the “Yoga 27”) and that it’s coming to other markets in February, starting at $1600. There’s no word on a release in North America.
Lenovo Tab P11
We saw the Tab P11 Pro last year, a sort of premium take on the convertible kickstand-keyboard form factor that was such a dynamite success on the Chromebook Duet. The P11 Pro runs Android, and so does its little brother, the P11 (not Pro). The IPS screen is only a hair smaller at 11 inches, but it’s a notably downgrade from the larger tablet’s OLED panel in both quality and resolution (2000×1200).
The P11 runs on the Snapdragon 662 chip paired with “up to” 6GB of RAM, which adds an LTE connection to at least some models. Lenovo is claiming up to 15 hours of battery life, which is pretty reasonable for an Android tablet. Unlike the Chromebook Duet, it doesn’t come with a keyboard in the box, and samesies for the add-on Precision Pen 2 stylus and Smart Charging Station 2 charging stand.
While its hardware isn’t awe-inspiring, its price is pretty dope for an 11-inch Android tablet. Lenovo says the P11 will ship later in January starting at just $230.
NEC LAVIE MINI Concept
In partnership with Japanese electronics maker NEC, Lenovo is showing off the LAVIE MINI. It’s a teeny-tiny convertible laptop that reminds me of the Asus EEE series of netbooks. But this one’s packing a lot more juice: underneath its 8-inch fold-back screen and chicklet keyboard are 11th-gen Intel Core processors with Iris Xe graphics, up to an i7. It can also cram in up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. All that power us stuffed into a package just 1.28 pounds light.
Recognizing that the LAVIE MINI is small enough and powerful enough to have some surprising portable gaming chops, NEC is also showing off a controller add-on, which adds the full suite of buttons you’d see on a Nintendo Switch (or perhaps more pertinently, a Razer Kishi). There’s also a dock that allows the user to quickly turn the LAVIE MINI into a game console or desktop by connecting to an HDMI screen, plus multiple USB-C and USB-A ports.
There’s no word on when the LAVIE MINI will be released, or even if it will—it’s explicitly a concept. Even if it does get a release date, this seems like a product unlikely to make it out of NEC’s home market.
