After seeing it at CES this January, one our most anticipated products became the Lenovo Lavie-Z laptop. Born out of a partnership between NEC and Lenovo, the Lavie-Z promises to be the world's lightest laptop.
Our old-school postage scale doesn't have the accuracy to reach the 1.87lb that Lenovo clocks the Lavie-Z in at
Even after using the machine breiefly at CES, it is difficult to put into words what picking up a sub-2lb laptop is really like. Even after using the machine off and on today, it still feels like it's not a real machine. Lenovo and NEC have been able to accomplish this weight shedding through the use of a Lithium-Magnisum composite for the external housing of the machine, which seems durable, yet is incredibly light.
This may be a lightweight machine, but the specifications aren't compromised over other ultrabooks. The Lavie-Z is only listed in one configuration on Lenovo's site currently, but it's a high end one. A Broadwell Intel i7-5500U dual core processor, 8GB of RAM, a 2560×1440 IGZO display, 256GB SATA M.2 Samsung SSD, and Intel 802.11AC wireless make up this machine. At $1500 for this configuration, there doesn't seem to be much of a markup over other i7-equipped ultrabooks.
We'll of course put the Lavie-Z through our normal paces including performance and battery life, and we certainly hope they live up to the striking first impressions of this laptop.
Stay tuned for our full review in the coming weeks!
I’d rather see more durable
I’d rather see more durable laptops than lighter laptops. This ridiculous obsession with thin and light has made far too many sacrifices in every other area (durability, noise, battery life, performance, temperature, upgradability, repairability).
If we were talking about
If we were talking about phones I would agree with you, putting a large battery and making it thicker would make a HUGE improvement. However when it comes to a notebook, I wouldn’t carry it around with me if its heavy. So I would gladly sacrifice upgradability (not completely, I still need to be able to upgrade the SSD) and battery life (as long as its good enough) and make it lighter.
Also remember that when the laptop is heavy the impact will be greater. By building the laptop with a strong yet light materials, you can expect a slight improvement in durability.
personaly, I’d like to see
personaly, I’d like to see more “bit tough durable” laptops with 2 inches of impact shielding and a 1 lb battery, and I’d like to see more ultra slim/ultra lights. And I’d like to see many other choices in betwine, so the smart customer has the choice to buy what is right.
The problem is the average laptop customer is buying a comodity, and they know very little about it or what they will actually need. the average young person will buy something that is “cool” light and shiny, the average baby-boomer will buy what they feel is either the best of the best, the best deal, or the longest lasting. And those are the people the big box company’s are hunting.
You gotta admid tho, packing what used to be, well much much bigger depending on how far you go back, packing all that into the weight envelope of a bag of apples, THAT is pretty fucking cool!
Totally agree
Totally agree
I agree. All this new ‘thin
I agree. All this new ‘thin laptop’ fashion/trend thing isn’t really the best, nor practical in my opinion
If they put the same thin components in these thin laptops but made another thicker laptop and added an extra battery or two, wouldn’t that satisfy everyone and give them more profit?
Also, why not have more laptops that have specific HDD cut-outs that make it easy to simply put a new SSD and replace the HDD rather than having to disassemble the whole back of the laptop. Or maybe even have a trayless 2.5″ hot-swap laptop solutions similar to desktop PCs’ 5.25″ trayless racks?
That could also be done for other upgradable components (if it’s upgradable) like RAM or M.2 SSD, but for some reason most of these laptop companies just wanna go with whatever causes them to be that way, etc
— If they put the same thin
— If they put the same thin components in these thin laptops but made another thicker laptop and added an extra battery or two, wouldn’t that satisfy everyone and give them more profit?
Exactly.
They’ve already done the work to design a laptop with the motherboard, cooling, batteries, etc.
So why not make another laptop with a slightly thicker case to hold a slightly thicker set of internal batteries?
The two laptops would be identical… except for the Z-Height.
It wouldn’t be that much more work to design and build both models. And like you said… it would appeal to a broader range of customers.
There could be a 2lb laptop with 10 battery life for the road warrior who demands the lightest possible machine…
Or a 3lb laptop with 20 hour battery life for the power user who NEVER wants to worry about battery life during the day.
They’d just have to design a thicker bottom shell for the laptop to hold the larger batteries.
Think of how the Intel NUC has the two different lids… one to accommodate a 2.5″ HDD… and one without.
I don’t see why someone couldn’t design one laptop that comes in two editions… one slim-n-light… and one with MAXX battery.
Which CPU is this using? I’m
Which CPU is this using? I’m assuming that “i7-550U” is a typo? Just in the market for a new laptop and I’m curious about the SKU. Looks like an exciting product.
I’d get this over the Apple
I’d get this over the Apple equivalent.
I wonder where Ryan got that old school postage scale.
It is on loan from the
It is on loan from the Smithsonian.
Staples?
Staples?
Another win for the “Easy
Another win for the “Easy Button”!