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Two-Pounder From Lenovo Might Be Too Light For Comfort
MojoKid writes: With the advent of solid state storage and faster, lower-powered processors that require less complex cooling solutions, the average mainstream notebook is rather svelte. Recently, however, Lenovo announced their LaVie Z and LaVie Z 360 ultrabooks and at 1.87 and 2.04 pounds respectively, they're almost ridiculously light. Further, with Core i7 mobile processors and fast SSDs on board, these machines perform impressively well in the benchmarks and real world usage. If you actually pick one up though, both models are so light they feel almost empty, like there's nothing inside. Lenovo achieved this in part by utilizing a magnesium--lithium composite material for the casing of the machines. Though they're incredibly light, the feeling is almost too light, such that they tend to feel a little cheap or flimsy. With a tablet, you come to expect a super thin and light experience and when holding them in one hand, the light weight is an advantage. However, banging on a full-up notebook keyboard deck is a different ball of wax.
The few air spaces inside the machines are filled with helium. It actually weighs 5lbs. otherwise.
Do you have ESP?
If you can cut something from 3lb to 2lb, that just means you have room for 1lb more battery.
Same thing applies with phones. Stop making them thinner, and use the saved space for more battery!
and less.
Can I get one with Linux installed?
if not, can I get one with No OS installed?
The new R30 and Z30 models from Toshiba are a magnesium honeycomb design that's supposed to be really tough. I don't believe them. Their modern satellite series is pathetic. They're around 4 pounds but still have 15.6" screens. They're the same old composite material that laptops have been made with for years so naturally it cracks and fractures and bends and really doesn't impress the person holding it. They're so stupidly fragile! I've had 6 HP sleekbooks come in with shattered screens too, which makes sense since the lids are about a half centimeter thick. This stupidity needs to stop.
Weight plays a lot into our perception for how solid and well built things are, even when they're not. Lightweight is great, but go too far and things feel like a fragile toy.
This is almost too good a problem to have with a laptop -- too lightweight? Put more battery in it.
.. than this POS Dell Latitude E7240.. Worst machine I've had and it's ~2kg. The Lenovo x201 which I had before was so much better..
I travel and work a lot with my laptop in one hand so a 1kg laptop would be extremely nice. Oh and this Dell have the excellent screen resolution of 1366x768.. F-ing worthless and makes it feel even cheaper, ignoring the whole keyboard flexing when pushing buttons etc...
courtesy of MojoKid. this time with a hint of critique - as we wouldn't notice.
Light is great, for travelling, as long as strong enough.
But the latest Macbook (around 2 pounds) has two key problems that would prevent me buying it.
1) The keyboard feel really sucks compared to the Macbook Air. Not enough travel. And just feels shaky and iffy.
2) Having only one port (a USB C doubling as the power connector and for any peripheral) is going one step too far.
Firstly, it doesn't have the amazing magsafe connector's safety, which is a showstopper for me.
Secondly, it is not a rare use case to want plug power AND at least one peripheral (e.g. extra screen, usb memory stick, tethered smartphone.)
So this one lost Apple's famous design edge and QA excellence. Are they slipping?
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
It looks chunky enough it should have had room for at least an optional extra battery to last more than 3-4 hours under real use. And, seriously, how can you make a tablet without a real digitizer these days? Why must I use a crayon or my finger to draw figures or edit photos in tablet mode? (Don't even get me started with that Adonis bullshit - been there, done that, not worth a penny much less $100).
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Don't worry, it will soon be weighed down with the burden of crippling malware.
This looks to be a great laptop . . . other than Lenovo totally screwed-up the keyboard. Why is it that Lenovo (and other manufacturers) feel the need to move keys to strange locations, make some keys duplicates and eliminate others? Lenovo has produced laptops with sane keyboard layouts before. Do they have customers that insist on buying laptops that have stupid input interfaces?
Oh, yeah . . . it's also missing the mandatory TrackPoint (pointing stick) and accompanying pointer buttons.
We want everything with bigger screens - but not that much bigger. We want everything lighter - but not that much lighter. Sometimes companies tend to focus on what the consumer says they want - instead of trying to figure out what they really want. Let's face it, we are generally terrible at knowing what we want.
Just tweak the "weight" slider when you 3D print it at home. In your 3D printed home.
Have you checked out /dev/null ?
Unlimited battery life.
Unlimited memory.
Unlimited persistent storage.
100% secure!
The only problem is that it's write only with no user output.
Remember when cell phones kept getting smaller and lighter? Remember when netbooks were going to revolutionize the portable computer? Remember when phablets were the next big thing? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
1 comment, 1000 submissions. He's a hot hardware boner.
"As you can see in my PowerPoint slide, the...ah, ah, Aaachoooo!... Hey, where's my laptop?"
Table-ized A.I.
As long as you can use it without it flying off your lap, (we are talking about a laptop, right?) or desk, and the rest of the specs are what you're looking for, why wouldn't you want it to be as light as possible? As long as the "bottom" where the keyboard is weighs enough so the screen doesn't tip it over backwards, I say the lighter the better! Why would you intentionally want something to be heavy? Screw all the conversations around it being preceived as being cheap because it's light. The only people that would think that are people who know NOTHING about what it takes to MAKE things light in the first place! If it weren't for durability factors and little things like flashpoints, I would say make everything out of magnesium honeycomb! Or whatever is next, of course. (Spiderweb anyone?)
Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.
doubt the lightweight laptop will feel too light once it's in my bag
... and they are in the similar 2 lb weight category.
I bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon. It weighs 2 lbs 12 oz 1270 g. A bit more than the LaCie. OTOH it is built to Thinkpad standards so it is quite rugged. The keyboard is excellent. The machine came with Win 7 professional and no bloatware. It has a 500 GB SSD. It is fast and easy to use. I love it, and think the money was well spent. The battery life is excellent, it will run all day in ordinary usage. (i.e. not playing streaming HD video).
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Lenovo still uses TFT displays in high priced hardware. In this product line you pay an extra $200 to get an IPS display in the Z 360. Our business is a Lenovo authorized reseller. I do not understand why they do not put an IPS display in all their higher end gear. There shouldn't even be a TFT option at $1499. The $1699 model should be the only one available. Reduce the SKU's and hence you have less capital tied up. Sell better products, Lenovo. Your image is tarnishing more all the time. I expect more from the world's #1 PC maker than TFT junk.
That's all that needs to be said when talking about Lenovo.
Superfish
Wankers
As someone who has worked with an Osbourne "portable", IF you think it's too light THEN kindly fuck yourself in the ass while sick with dysentery.
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Just like all those annoying radio/cassette players that kids used to haul around on their shoulder: Basically a nearly empty plastic box with tiny little speakers. And some big iron weights glued inside.
Have gnu, will travel.
I have a 2lb LG notebook. It's great. It doesn't feel "too light", or flimsy, or cheaply made.
If these Lenovo models do, it's not the weight, it's the specific materials used, or the construction, or the design.
A magnesium-lithium case: aren't that two metals highly inflammable?
These people must have never worked at a company that uses macbook pros across the board, or a startup using thin lap-tops.
Everyone holds their lap-tops with 1 hand like if it was a tablet, running around holding them by the lid, and all around handling them like they would their ipads.
Light lap-tops that you can carry with one hand without effort is a definite advantage for convenience.
Then why don't they sell Linux machines with Linux crapware, either native or in Wine? They could make a few extra bucks that way by not having to pay the Microsoft tax.
What in the hell are you talking about???? Light weight is a bad thing? I've been looking for light laptops for years. Now the same morons who think a kickstand is cool for Microsoft surface want heavy laptops to validate their stupidity? C'MON MAN. (and have fun downmodding this post to anyone who actually reads it)
This is hardly news - Apple has been selling lighter MacBooks for a long time.
Reads more like advertising for Lenovo.
Keyboard is crap, trackpad is crap[1]. So, when you need to connect a real keyboard and a real mouse, who cares about the weight?
[1] missing trackpad buttons, making it impossible to click without dragging at the same time. Yes, I have an L540 at work, which I use as a desktop, unlike my previous HP laptop.
I can relate to something being too light. I have owned a couple Macbook Air's and while most times I find the lightness a virtue I do find using a light notebook on a lap or precarious service a bit more problematic. I would almost rather have a bit more bulk then lose even more weight. Eventually the lack of weight makes pulling a notebook on the floor when you trip on the power cord or something more susceptible. Its why i would not buy a new Macbook because the lack of a MagSafe power connector and using the USB C connector is just a accident waiting to happen. I'm sure the Lenovo has just as bad of a power connector and any sudden pull and that notebook would be on the floor.
My reasons for thinking Lenovo builds are now cheap and flimsy have nothing whatsoever to do with their weight.
Weird metaphor.