Lenovo has been mighty busy. In addition
to its usual lines of laptops, the company is teaming with NEC to launch a line
of Lavie devices. Available in March 2020, the partnership is yielding a
laptop: the Lavie Pro Mobile.
The US$ 1,599 Lavie Pro Mobile is outfitted
with an 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8565U processor, which might mean the companies
are looking to incorporate Intel’s vPro technology. The laptop also has 8GB of
RAM, a 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD and an integrated Intel UHD 620 GPU.
At 13.3-inches, the 12.1 x 8.5 x 0.6-inch
Lavie Pro Mobile is the latest laptop to enter the featherweight mobile
professional line. Weighing a mere 1.9 pounds, the Pro Mobile is lighter than
all our faves -- including the Dell XPS 13 (2.7 pounds, 11.9 x 7.8 x 0.5
inches), HP Elite Dragonfly (2.5 pounds, 11.9 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches), Apple
MacBook Pro (3 pounds, 12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches) and HP Spectre x360 (2.8 pounds,
12.2 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches).
And how did Lenovo and NEC manage to make
such a slim notebook? By using ultralight components. The laptop’s lid is made
from racing car-grade carbon fiber with the rest of the system being
constructed from magnesium-lithium alloy. And to further boost the design, the
laptop is colored in a striking Bordeaux.
For such a slim system, the Lavie has a
nice amount of ports, including a USB 3.1 Type-C Gen. 2 port, a USB 3.1 Type-C
Gen. 1 port, a USB 3.1 Type-A Gen. 2 port, an HDMI 1.4 and a microSD slot.
There’s also a fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button. The Lavie Pro Mobile has a 13.3-inch, 1920 x
1080 display which Lenovo claims averages 300 nits. It’s brighter than the
Spectre x360 (287 nits), but not the Dragonfly (373 nits), XPS 13 (382 nits) or
MacBook (408 nits).
Like the majority of the notebook, the
keyboard is made of magnesium-lithium. The laptop features a lift-up hinge to
slightly raise the keyboard for a more comfortable typing experience. However,
I’m hoping that the keyboard is better than the last time Lenovo created a
Lavie laptop, the Lavie Z. While I initially liked the feel of the Lavie Z’s
keyboard, I was quickly frustrated by the undersized island-style keys with
their undersized key travel. With a 49 watt-hour battery, Lenovo and NEC are
claiming the Lavie can last 15 hours on a charge.
