Lenovo X1 Carbon adds tablet and desktop editions, and a Yoga that ditches the LCD

LAS VEGAS—Last year's Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon was a return to form for Lenovo's X1 Ultrabook, with a keyboard to die for, strong performance, and a 14-inch screen in a 13-inch package. This year, Lenovo is taking the X1 branding—light, powerful, high-end machines—and diversifying it. No longer just a laptop, the company is launching a Yoga-brand, 360-degree hinge X1 laptop, an X1 tablet, an X1 all-in-one PC, and even an X1 monitor.

Let's start with the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptop. It's been bumped to support Intel's latest Skylake processors—and with it, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of NVMe storage—and made a little slimmer, down to 0.65 inches. It's shed a little weight, down to 2.6lbs, while still managing to contain a slightly larger 52 Wh battery. It'll be available in February with prices starting at $1,299.

Lenovo's big novelty with the X1 Carbon is an optional docking station using WiGig. This short-range, high-speed (4.6 gigabits per second) technology uses 60GHz radios to transmit video, USB 3, and Ethernet data. The X1 WiGig docking station ($250, available this month) sports DisplayPort, HDMI, USB 3, USB 2, audio, and gigabit Ethernet ports, and makes docking as simple as putting the laptop near the docking station.

The X1 Carbon has, however, lost its optional touchscreen support, and that's because Lenovo now has a ThinkPad X1 Yoga machine to fill that role. This weds the 360-degree hinge of the Yoga line to the build and styling (and TrackPoint-equipped six-row keyboard) of the X1, and if you're willing to pay, it includes one very exciting option: instead of an LCD, you can equip it with a 14-inch 2560×1440 OLED touchscreen. OLED displays have a reputation for three things: an eye-watering price, deep blacks, and lusciously rich colors. We can't wait to see it in the flesh.

The X1 Yoga, like the X1 Carbon, has a Skylake processor with up to 16GB RAM and 1TB NVMe storage, and again supports the optional WiGig dock. Its touchscreen also supports an active stylus, and in a welcome move, Lenovo has figured out a way to have the stylus stored inside the laptop. In spite of this, the system is both thin, at 0.66 inches, and light, at 2.8lbs.

All this doesn't come cheap, alas; prices will start at $1,449 when it starts shipping later this month.

The ThinkPad X1 Tablet takes those same internals—Skylake, though this time the Core m low power variant, up to 1TB NVMe SSD, up to 16GB RAM, and WiGig dock support—and puts them in a 12-inch tablet with a 2140×1440 3:2 screen. Prices start at $899, and shipping starts in February.

Lenovo's riff on the productivity tablet has some unusual features. There is, of course, a kickstand to hold the screen up and a detachable keyboard unit (with the same layout and TrackPoint as in the other X1 devices) to convert the tablet into a laptop-like device. What's unusual is a trio of clip-on modules that provide extra capabilities. The $149 productivity module adds a larger battery and full-size HDMI output. The $279 presenter module adds HDMI input and output and a picoprojector that can present a 60-inch image at a distance of 2 meters. The $149 3D imagine module (expected to be available in May) adds an Intel RealSense 3D camera that can take 3D pictures, a technology that is finding interest in the 3D printing world.

Probably the least interesting machine is the ThinkCentre X1. This is an all-in-one desktop PC coming in March and starting at $1,029, but where the portable machines have specs that put them very much in the high-end, the desktop doesn't. Its resolution is only 1920×1080, and the base model has a 7200rpm spinning disk.

The ThinkVision X1 monitor, however, is an unusual beast. The $799 27-inch IPS screen, shipping in March, has a 3840×2160 resolution and an extremely narrow bezel. It integrates a webcam, but instead of the usual fixed positioning, the camera is mounted on a little arm so that it can be rotated and repositioned. The camera has a dual microphone, and the screen has stereo speakers. As well as the usual DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 2.0 inputs, it also has a USB 3.1 Type C input, and it can use this Type C input for both video and to drive the webcam, microphone, and speakers, as well as its 4 USB 3 ports.

Rounding out the X1 range is an $80 slimline 65W power adapter, $70 X1-branded earbuds, and a $70 X1 wireless mouse. The mouse slides open to store its USB dongle, and on its underside it has a touchpad. This means it can be used as a remote to control presentations as well as a mouse.