Lenovo Joins Microsoft and Qualcomm’s AI Fever Dream on PC

Lenovo has announced it’s joining Microsoft and Qualcomm’s foray into AI-based computing with a new lineup of laptops specifically tuned for the Snapdragon X Elite architecture. For the same price as Lenovo’s other laptops, you get to be the first to foray into the world with an ARM-based chip tuned specifically for AI-based tasks.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x 14 Gen 9 is the first release with the Snapdragon X Elite processor. It’s available with up to 32GB of memory and up to 1TB of storage. The display is a 14.5-inch 3K OLED touchscreen with a peak brightness of 1000 nits.

It’s compatible with Dolby Vision and Atmos Audio, so you can forge a stereo sound-like experience with only the laptop speakers. Since this is a laptop meant to be mobile, there aren’t as many ports as you’d see on other Lenovo devices. The Yoga Slim 7x has two USB Type-C ports on the left and one USB Type-C on the right. You’ll need adapters if you have anything USB-A.

Lenovo also bundled Qualcomm’s new chips into the ThinkPad series, which is meant for the workers and practical at heart. The ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 is available with up to 64GB of memory and 1TB of storage. It has a 14-inch display in three options: a low-power IPS display, an IPS touch display, or a 2.8K OLED. There are more ports on this one than the Yoga Slim. The ThinkPad T14s has two USB-A, two USB-C, an HDMI 2.1 port, and an audio jack.

One thing to note about the Snapdragon X Elite platform: it’s not like using an Intel or AMD-based processor. The chip is ARM-based, which Microsoft has tried before with releases like the Surface Go 3. Even with the Qualcomm DNA behind it, this won’t be a system for gaming or arduous graphics tasks. But it is souped up to help with generative AI and processor larger language models. If that’s your focus, this may be a laptop for you.

The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x will be available in June for $1,200, and the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 will also be available next month for $1,700.