Over the last few days, thanks to media credentials, I’ve been bombarded with CES 2025 information. Unfortunately, given when the media dates fell, I couldn’t attend in person. Perhaps next year.
Lenovo presented an interesting showing this year in the sense that there weren’t many groundbreaking show-stoppers. That being said, here are a few highlights that did catch my attention.
Some Firsts: Rolling Screens and CUDs
This rollable screen concept appears to be releasing as the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6. While the idea of a rolling or expanding screen intrigues me, I am unsure what problem this solution solves. It may very well be one of those things that you need to see and use to understand the application. Unlike the Yoga Slim and Yoga Book 9i below, this ThinkBook does not have a product page or pricing information but many outlets report a spring launch at a hefty $3,500 price tag.
The Yoga Slim 9i has indeed some slim display bezels (98% screen-to-body ratio) but what I found catching my attention was the CUD (Camera Under Display). You still have the bump at the top to hold the higher resolution camera that people now demand in a post-pandemic world, which I’m not opposed to given the function it provides. The top cover being made from glass has me worried that it might be challenging to keep looking new. These will start at $1,759.99 USD in February 2025.
Yoga Book 9i Continues
It is good to see that this dual-screen device did well enough to earn it another generation. I saw one of these in person when I went to Lenovo TechWorld 23 and seeing it in the flesh and speaking to the person using it helped me understand why they enjoyed the device. Pricing for this new generation starts at $1,999 USD being available in May 2025. I wonder if this means one day we might see a ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 Gen 2; that would be something I’d like to see as it was a lot of fun to test one of the prototypes.
The ThinkPad X9
For many of you who follow me, this is the elephant in the room. ThinkPads, generally speaking, follow a certain design language. They are generally dark colours, more specifically available in black and have traditionally featured a TrackPoint. To get technical, there were devices branded ThinkPad way back like the 710T and 730T ( If you want to see a wonderful restoration of one of these devices or other cool things, you should check out polymatt’s channel on YouTube) that were tablet computers that had no keyboard and, therefore no TrackPoint. Other machines like foldable tablets and Z series have also strayed from these cornerstones over the years.
Back to the main event. The ThinkPad X9 was leaked ahead of CES 2025 and I covered some thoughts on this in an earlier article:
There is some neat technology in the ThinkPad X9 including its cooling system, the haptic TrackPad and more. The big question many people is why is this called a ThinkPad. Given what people have come to expect from the brand, I think this is a fair question. Several news outlets that are at CES 2025 and have spent time physically with the device mention very specifically it is two things “It is a ThinkPad” in one breath and then mention “Apple” at some point in the article. Historically, these comparisons have been made before but not so directly. It could also be a trend in technology journalism to compare everything to Apple. If you want some excellent coverage of CES 2025, I recommend Andrew Marc David’s channel.
“This ultraportable from Lenovo is indeed a ThinkPad, but it appears to bridge the gap between professional and consumer laptops—prosumer, if you will—dropping the TrackPoint device in the keyboard as a telltale sign.”
Hands On: Lenovo’s ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition Is a Mighty Swipe at MacBook Air (PCMag)
“Lenovo has unveiled two new ThinkPads: the X9 14 and X9 15, both Aura Editions equipped with Intel Core Ultra processors and slim designs. But what they don’t offer might be the most interesting thing about them: namely, Lenovo’s signature red TrackPoint. Instead, they use a haptic trackpad without the ThinkPad’s usual discrete button for a distinctly MacBook vibe.
No doubt, it’s a ThinkPad, through and through. It’s tested to MIL-SPEC 810H durability standards. It offers a Thunderbolt 4 port on each side of the machine, making it easier to arrange docks and displays to your liking. And the design allows access to the SSD and battery to facilitate repairs and replacements.”
Lenovo’s ThinkPad X9 drops the TrackPoint (The Verge)
It is a bit of a wonder to wrap one’s head around the possible decision-making process involved in branding this machine a ThinkPad rather than a ThinkBook, which design-wise, seems to share more in common. Part of me wonders if this is an attempt to avoid what Dell has recently done with renaming all of their PC products. For example, if Lenovo wanted to produce a premium laptop product, that would limit their established product lines. While IdeaPad, Yoga and ThinkBook are good units at their price point, ThinkPad is considered by many to be the most premium business machine Lenovo offers.
So what happens when Lenovo wants to make a laptop of equal quality to a ThinkPad, geared towards business customers and wants to do something different? Do they create a completely new premium line of business laptops or do they use one of their existing brands and establish a new series? Both have pros and cons.
- This device in terms of specs, target audience and quality is too premium for the ThinkBook or IdeaPad range.
- Creating a brand new product line entirely is likely more difficult to market to business customers and may make it more difficult to sell.
- Using the ThinkPad brand, which is very well established, has risks as those expecting a specific design may be alienated by this design.
- So do you create a new machine class, the X9 and put it under your premium laptop line or do you try and create a brand new product line?
I suspect this is why it is called the X9 and not part of an established ThinkPad line that features more historically recognizable features like a sleek black chassis and red TrackPoint. I believe this hypothesis is further supported by the fact they are releasing a series of X9 accessories rather than exclusively relying on the existing ThinkPad catalogue of accessories. The X9 branding is also present on the camera bump. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that if the X9 does well, it could be its own product line separate from ThinkPad but of equal quality.
I do not believe that the X9 will set the trend for future ThinkPad design and I look at it like I would look at the Z13; a testbed that diverts from traditional ThinkPad design but has some of the DNA that makes them amazing machines.
Given the choice between what Dell has recently done with their brands, I’d rather have a ThinkPad without a TrackPoint than the brand-new Lenovo Pro Max Premium Carbon G13…
The ThinkPad X9 will be available in February 2025 and starts at $1,399 for the 14-inch variant.
