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Lenovo’s first ARM-based ThinkPad X13S features Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3

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Lenovo announced its first ARM-based ThinkPad in the form of the X13s at MWC Barcelona. The laptop is powered by the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 compute platform and runs Windows 11 Pro. It’ll be available from May 2022, starting at $1099. 

The laptop comes in a fanless chassis and Lenovo claims a battery life of up to 23 hours from the 49.5WHr battery. While the chassis itself isn’t quite as premium as its Intel and AMD-based siblings, it does get the ThinkPad carbon-fibre finish and the thumbpad.

The device also supports mmWave 5G and WiFi 6E. The 8cx Gen 3’s 5nm architecture also promises faster processing speeds and a system-level performance boost of up to 57% with up to 85% faster multi-tasking. 

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Lenovo ARM ThinkPad

While the X13s isn’t quite as premium as its Intel and AMD powered siblings, it does ship with the usual ThinkPad features, including ThinkShield. Additional security features include the integration between the layered secure boot and Microsoft Pluton for chip-to-cloud protection.

Lenovo's first ARM-based ThinkPad X13S unveiled: Price and release date
This is Lenovo’s first ARM-based ThinkPad | Source: Lenovo

The laptop gets a 5MP webcam with AI-based auto-framing and triple-array microphones for noise cancellation. There’s also an optional Computer Vision feature powered by an image processing processor on-board the 8cx Gen 3 that allows for human presence detection which automatically dims or turns off the display when the user looks away or isn’t around the computer.

Window Hello facial recognition is done with the help of an optional IR sensor camera. Apart from this, there’s a dedicated fingerprint reader, a camera shutter and a Kensington lock slot on board as well.

Lenovo's first ARM-based ThinkPad X13S unveiled: Price and release date
The Lenovo ThinkPad X13s | Source: Lenovo

Here are the hardware specifications of the ThinkPad X13s.

SpecificationsLenovo ThinkPad X13s
ProcessorSnapdragon 8cx Gen 3
RAMUp to 32GB LPDDR4
StorageUp to 1TB PCIe SSD
Display13.3-inch
1920 x 1200 IPS Panel
300 nit brightness
GraphicsQualcomm Adreno GPU
ConnectivityWiFi 6 or WiFi 6E
Bluetooth v5.2
5G mmWave
SecurityFingerprint reader
Window Hello facial recognition
Camera shutter
Kensington lock slot
Battery49.5WHr
Ports2 x UBC-C 3.2 Gen 2
3.5mm headphone jack
SIM slot
OSWindows 11 Pro

Other newly released devices from Lenovo include the 2-in-2 ThinkBook 14s, running the 12th Gen processors from Intel. Another convertible is the IdeaPad Flex 5i powered by the 12th Gen i7 U series and finally, the IdeaPad Gaming 3i which runs the higher-performing 12th Gen H series and the AMD 6000 series processors.

The existing Intel and AMD-based ThinkPad lineup have also got a refresh, including the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5.

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Yadullah Abidi

Yadullah is a Computer Science graduate who writes/edits/shoots/codes all things cybersecurity, gaming, and tech hardware. When he's not, he streams himself racing virtual cars. He's been writing and reporting on tech and cybersecurity with websites like Candid.Technology and MakeUseOf since 2018. You can contact him here: [email protected].

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