1. LENOVO THINKPAD X1 CARBON
PC Magazine called the ultralight Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7 the best business laptop following its release last fall. Thinner and lighter than its predecessor, now only 0.6" thick and 2.4 lbs., the X1 Carbon has improved battery life and a large 14" monitor with a 3,820 × 2,160 HDR400 display. Privacy features include a physical shutter that slides to cover both the webcam and PrivacyGuard, which darkens the screen for those on either side of you. Another option, PrivacyAlert, offers an alert on the screen when anyone is shoulder surfing. It works with an IR camera in the computer. The laptop’s secure environment is completed with ThinkShield security features including self-encrypting solid-state drives (SSDs) and Intel vPro processors, discrete TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0, FIDO (Fast Identity Online) authentication, and a Kensington lock slot. The processor is 8th or 10th Generation Intel Core i5 or i7 running on Windows 10 Pro. Memory is up to 16GB and storage is up to 1TB on an SSD. The battery will provide up to 18.3 hours and has Rapid Charge technology. Even with the 14" monitor, the X1 Carbon measures 12.71" × 8.54" × 0.58", and the starting weight is 2.4 lbs. www.lenovo.com
2. SAMSUNG GALAXY Z FLIP
At its Galaxy Unpacked 2020 event in February 2020, Samsung introduced four phones, the most unusual of which was the Galaxy Z Flip, a folding flip phone that has a 4.6" display when closed and a 7.3" screen when opened. The most amazing feature is the Flip’s screen. It’s glass that bends, not just in an arc, but folds in half and then opens without breaking. Samsung calls the bendable glass composite simply “Ultra Thin Glass.” When the phone is opened to 90°, the top half is display and the bottom half interactive controls. The Galaxy Z Flip will join last year’s innovative Fold, a phone that opens sideways into an almost tablet-size display (a phablet). The Flip comes in three colors—mirror black, mirror purple, and mirror gold—and retails for $1,380. www.samsung.com
3. DELL XPS 13 2-IN-1
The latest version of Dell’s XPS 13 convertible two-in-one, the 7390, has a long list of improvements including a 13.4" display that’s available in a UHD plus 3,840 × 2,400-pixel resolution certified HDR400 with Intel Iris Plus graphics and an Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor. The screen is Gorilla Glass 5 and is touch- and pen-enabled. Memory is available up to 16GB with 512GB storage on an SSD. There are two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a headphone jack, and microSD slot. Two fans and a vapor chamber keep the thin 360° laptop cool. The case measures 11.7" × 8.2" and is about a quarter- to half-inch thick. The second-generation keyboard is quieter and about 25% thinner than the usual laptop keyboard, and it has a full-pad fingerprint reader. The trackpad is matte glass. www.dell.com
4. YAMAHA DESKTOP AUDIO SYSTEM
The Yamaha Desktop Audio System is a compact wireless player for your smartphone or computer that will stream music and podcasts wirelessly over a Bluetooth connection. It uses near-field communication to set up one-tap pairings with compatible devices, and there’s an app for your phone for controlling the play and alarms on the device. The output is full-range audio with Yamaha’s SR-Bass technology despite its compact size, and there’s also AM/FM radio. The iOS or Android DTA Controller app lets you set up per-day flexible alarm times and radio presets, as well as tailoring fade-in times and frequency curves. It’s available in three colors: dark green, red, and white. www.yamaha.com
March 2020
