I've seen AI injected in countless gadgets this year,Watch Anal Angels Vol.7 Online from indoor security cameras to the buzzworthy Humane AI Pin. And now, with the launch of the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12, AI is set to make a splash in the laptop industry, too.
No, the presence of AI in laptops isn't new per se. However, what is novel is that AI will take center stage — more than ever — with PCs in 2024, starting with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon refresh.
As I mentioned at the outset, we've had AI in PCs, but the concept of an "AI PC" — as in AI being the absolute star of the show — is the new trend. For example, I recently reviewed the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2, right? It had this AI-powered "Windows Studio Effects" feature, which allowed the webcam to do cool things, including following your every move. (See GIF below.)
What propels this feature to work is something called an NPU, a processor that handles AI and machine-learning tasks. The webcam inside the Surface Laptop Studio 2 can detect my presence because of the AI-capable NPU packed inside.
Now, the laptop industry wants to take it one step further. Why confine AI to an app like Windows Studio Effects? Hell, why rely on the cloud to power ChatGPT, Copilot, Bard, and other popular AI chatbots if there's a better way?
The powers that be (i.e., popular chipmaker Intel) want to, instead, launch a new era of PCs that run AI locally, meaning you're not just relying on the cloud — your laptop is powering it all. And ideally, the NPU would be doing a lot more than just facilitating a semi-fun, stalker webcam feature. This is where the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 comes in, powered with brand-spankin' new internals that make it a so-called "AI PC."
The new ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 is refreshed with Intel's next-generation AI-capable chips called Intel Core Ultra processors, which feature an NPU (in addition the CPU and GPU), that's capable of "inferencing," a fancy way of saying that it helps AI make predictions.
Other specs that come with the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 include the following:
14-inch display
Up to a 120Hz, 2.8K OLED touch panel
Up to 64GB of DDR5 RAM
Up to 2TB of SSD storage
Up to Intel Arc graphics
Up to Wi-Fi 7
Two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB Type-A ports, HDM 2.1, and a headset jack
It's worth noting that Lenovo substantially upgraded the webcam. The best you could get with the previous-generation model is an FHD shooter (1080p). Now, you can snag a configuration with an 8-megapixel camera, so you'll likely get a lot of "Holy smokes, which webcam are you using?" on Zoom calls.
Now that the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 has an NPU, you may be wondering, "OK, what does this mean for me? How does it benefit my workflow?"
According to Lenovo, this AI laptop now gets a boost to the following tasks:
Text predictions
Background blur
Meeting transcripts
Digital content tools (e.g., Adobe Lightroom)
Microsoft Teams
Faster Windows Copilot
This list isn't exhaustive, but it gives you a glimpse of how the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 can possibly improve your work routine. I'm skeptical, of course, so until I get the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 to Mashable's lab, it's difficult to say whether the new NPU does, in fact, benefit users' workflow.
Wondering about the price? The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 has a starting price of $2,989 and has limited availability in December (yes, this month), but its official release is March 2024.
If that’s too pricey for you, Lenovo is also coming out with a ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen ($2,639) 9 and an IdeaPad Pro 5i ($1,149).
Topics Lenovo
(Editor: {typename type="name"/})
The 10 Most Anticipated PC Games of 2016
Jaime Davidovich’s Pioneering Television Art
Staff Picks: Finn Murphy, Robert Rauschenberg, and Prog Rock
The fat bears are already extremely fat
Poem: Sidney Wade, “Another Passionless Day”
Staff Picks: Jeremy Sigler, Mai Der Vang, Nathaniel Mackey, and More
Shop Owala's Memorial Day Sale for 30% off tumblers
Finding Refuge in the “Green Mountains” of Vermont
Boeing's new VR simulator immerses astronauts in space training
When Drummers Become Writers: The Strange Wisdom of Method Books
接受PR>=1、BR>=1,流量相当,内容相关类链接。