A portable monitor can seriously level up your productivity when you’re on the go, extending your laptop with an extra display that’s slim, easy to carry around, and simple to plug in and use on demand. If you don’t have one already, right now you can score this 16-inch Arzopa portable monitor for just $120 on Amazon, an sizable 29 percent discount off its usual $170 price. Make sure you clip the on-page coupon! With its 2.5K (2560×1600) resolution, this portable monitor delivers sharp and detailed images. And with it being an IPS panel, you can expect vivid colors, true color accuracy, and fluid motion. Though it’s 16 inches on the diagonal, this monitor is slim enough — measuring just 0.36 inches thick — that you can slip it next to your laptop in your bag as you travel. It also has its own kickstand so you can prop it up and adjust the viewing angle as you need it. And this Arzopa portable monitor is compatible with pretty much any device you have, from MacBooks to Windows laptops, gaming consoles, smartphones, and more. Since it has both USB-C and Mini HDMI inputs, it should be easy to use whatever cable works for you. Start making the most of your coffee shop working hours with your very own 16-inch 2.5K Arzopa monitor for $120 on Amazon. Save 29% on this 16-inch 2.5K portable monitorBuy now at Amazon Read...

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Over the last few years, it feels like gaming laptops have grown up a bit. They’ve become a bit broader in their appeal, a little less “futuristic jukebox” and a little more “boardroom bling.” But MSI just said nuts to all that and plastered their newest gaming laptop in dragons, presumably while blasting a Def Leppard album. Somewhere out there, Seto Kaiba is nodding in stoic approval. The MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Norse Myth is a gaming laptop with a “hand-drawn” dragon motif on the lid, plus an inlaid “3D dragon and dragon ring” in the palm rest. MSI says that these artistic touches have a “metallic sheen, refined texture, and a flawless vintage-inspired finish.” Okay, granted, this is all a bit ridiculous and over the top. But if you’re interested in a gaming laptop that truly goes all out, the Dragon Edition might just tickle your Skyrim-obsessed fancy. The design on the lid isn’t just printed onto plastic — it’s actually separate pieces of material creating that tricolor design. I can’t tell what type of material is being used for the effect, but it looks a little more resilient than your usual special edition. The actual hardware doesn’t appear to be any different from the standard Titan 18 HX laptop, though calling this top-of-the-line machine “standard” might be doing it an injustice. You get the latest and greatest in gaming-grade parts, including an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, a just-announced RTX 5090 graphics card, four (count ’em, FOUR!) M.2 SSD slots (only one of which is PCIe 5), and a max 96GB of DDR5 RAM. It’s all outputting to an 18-inch 4K MiniLED IPS screen at up to 120Hz, with four standard speakers plus a pair of subwoofers. But the premium experience even extends to the keyboard, which is a “Cherry Mechanical” design with per-key RGB lighting “by SteelSeries.” (Geez, there’s a lot of co-branding on this thing.) You get a wide selection of ports, including double USB-C/Thunderbolt 5, double USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1 with up to 8K60 output, and a full-sized SD card reader. MSI VP Eric Kuo showing off the Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition. No word on if the package includes that sweet mouse, desk mat, and 3D keychain. MSI Powering this giant is a 99.9 watt-hour battery — the largest you can legally take on a commercial plane — with a power adapter that can output 400 watts. (With that much heat and weight, it might also double as a panini press, but I don’t see that on the spec list.) Just make sure you don’t skip leg day if you want to travel with the Titan 18 HX, because it measures 32mm thick (about 1.25 inches) and weighs 3.6 kilograms (or just under 8 pounds). How big of a hit can this dragon deliver to your wallet? Predictably, MSI didn’t say in its press materials. But the last version of the Titan 18 HX with previous-gen hardware went for $5,000 at the highest level. Allow that to inform your financial planning if you’re hoping to go for a draconic theme for your 2025 gaming setup. If your budget won’t stretch that high, MSI also announced updates to its Raider, Vector, and Stealth gaming laptops, plus Venture and Venture Pro models if you prefer AMD’s all-in-one Ryzen approach. Read...

Lenovo’s Yoga laptop lineup for CES 2025 features a new laptop whose camera hides behind the display, and an updated Yoga Book whose dual, “stacking” screens are now larger than ever before. Lenovo’s laptop lineup includes the ThinkPad, ThinkBook, Yoga, and IdeaPad families. The Yoga family includes 2-in-1s or convertibles, generally emphasizing form-factor flexibility as much as anything else. It’s here you’ll find laptops like the new Yoga Book 9i, which flips over to provide a convertible that can be used as a presentation display or for inking. Though it might not be the most practical, the standout model is the updated Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, with an improved processor as well as larger screens. We liked the 2023 Yoga Book 9i, even if its performance was a little underwhelming. Now, the updated 2024 model includes a Core Ultra 7 255H, a member of Intel’s “Lunar Lake” family. It’s worth noting that we don’t see a laptop from AMD or Qualcomm in this entire bunch. The Yoga Book 9i 14 is designed for road warriors, who may typically tote along a separate, standalone display for extra productivity. Instead of one display, the Yoga Book 9i has two. The Yoga Book 9i can either dedicate one of those displays for use as a keyboard, with a bit of supplemental space for displaying additional information. Alternatively, the Book’s dual displays can be used one atop the other or side-by-side for additional screen space. Between them is a 360-degree Dolby Atmos soundbar, with four speakers. Mark Hachman / IDG Lenovo’s new Yoga Book uses a pair of 14-inch displays instead of the 13.3-inch displays its predecessor used, though the resolution remains the same at 2880×1800. They’re both OLED screens, as before, although Lenovo bumped up the light output to 500 nits and the refresh rate is now 120Hz. Lenovo says that they’ll cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut, like many other OLEDs. Content can be moved between screens via special Air Gestures, and AI-powered Smart Notes can be inked and then read as text. Lenovo A Smart Reader feature generates a synopsis of books in the user’s library to decide what to read next. We’re not sure how that works or what formats it supports. It seems a bit random. Inside the new Yoga Book 9i is up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and up to 1 terabyte of PCI Express Gen 4 SSD storage. Connectivity is provided by three Thunderbolt 4 ports and Wi-Fi 7. It includes a 5 Mpixel webcam with a privacy shutter. It weighs 2.69 pounds, even with an internal 88Wh battery, and measures 12.4 x 8.25 x 0.61 inches. Lenovo The Book ships with the Dish Yoga Keyboard, with a comfy 1.5mm of key travel. All told, the Yoga Book will cost $1,999, shipping in May. The Yoga Slim 9i eliminates the camera notch by placing the camera under the display, a trick that has been occasionally tried on smartphones. The idea is that by putting the camera behind the display a manufacturer can eliminate the camera notch, allowing for a cleaner look and maximizing display space by “shooting” the user’s face through the display glass. In the case of the Yoga Slim 9i, this means that the screen-to-body ratio is 98 percent — almost all screen, essentially. In the Yoga’s case, the display in question is a 14-inch, 4K, 120Hz PureSight Pro OLED display. The new Slim 9i is powered by Intel’s second-gen Core Ultra (Lunar Lake) chip, which Lenovo says offers up to 17 hours of battery life with a 75Wh battery inside. It weighs 2.62 pounds, as befitting the Slim name. Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 9i.Lenovo The Yoga Slim 9i will ship for $1,849 in February, Lenovo said. Lenovo said that “select” laptops will include a 2-month Creative Cloud subscription — a trial for those who don’t have it, but an additional two-month subscription that will be tacked onto an existing Creative Cloud subscription, if a user already has one. Copilot+ PCs will also include what Lenovo calls AI Now, which includes both the option to run a local LLM on the PC but also connect to a cloud LLM, via an undisclosed subscription. Lenovo also announced five additional laptops — less flashy than the Book 9i or Slim 9i, but probably what the typical laptop buyer will purchase, too. They include: Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition: The Yoga 9i Aura Edition includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (Lunar Lake) chip inside, with a 14.2-inch, 2880×1800 120Hz display that tops 1,100 nits and is ideal for content creators, with 100 percent coverage on sRGB and P3, and 99 percent on Adobe RGB. Up to 32GB of 8,533MHz LPDDR5X memory is included, as well as 1TB of SSD storage. The laptop weighs 2.91 pounds with a 75Wh battery inside. The “smart modes” this laptop adds include the ability to block distracting websites in Focus Mode, and wellness features that support eye health and taking breaks. This Yoga will ship in February for $1,599. Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition: The laptop will ship in January for $1,099 on up. This Copilot+ PC is also based on a Lunar Lake chip. It’s a 14-inch laptop, with a 2.8K 120Hz display as well, and a bit lighter than the 9i at 2.76 pounds. It will include the smart modes of the 9i, too. Yoga 7i 2-in-1: This laptop will ship in February in one of two configurations: a 14-inch ($899) and a 16-inch ($949). Both of these Copilot+ laptops include a 2.8K OLED (120Hz) display, a 70Wh battery, 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, and up to a 1TB of SSD storage. They’re somewhat chunky — 3.04 to 3.9 pounds — but with keyboards that include 1.5mm of key travel and a range of ports. The tradeoff is affordability, of course. The Yoga 7i 2-in-1.Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5i: The IdeaPad Pro 5i will cost $1,499 when it ships in February. It’s a chunkier, more powerful notebook, weighing 4.39 pounds and including a larger 16-inch 2.8K OLED screen that outputs at up to 120Hz. Inside you’ll find a new Core Ultra 9 (also known as the Core H). Lenovo’s not releasing the specs of this laptop, most likely because it includes an unreleased mobile version of Intel’s Arrow Lake chip. We should hear more about that at CES. LG, however, has already leaked the chip’s existence with its LG Gram announcement. Read...

For more than three decades, the TrackPoint’s iconic red rubbery nub has been a staple of IBM and Lenovo ThinkPad laptops. But now, no longer. Lenovo has removed its famous TrackPoint from its latest ThinkPad laptops, calling it time for a change. Does that mean the TrackPoint is dead? No, thankfully. It will still appear in the other ThinkPads made by Lenovo, said a company spokesman. But for the 14- and 15-inch ThinkPad X9 Aura Editions launched at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, the TrackPoint has been removed entirely. The idea is that certain laptops — let’s say the Dell XPS — have managed to transcend the consumer, prosumer, and small business markets, and the TrackPoint is a legacy design, according to Lenovo. “That doesn’t resonate with all demographics, so to speak,” said the company’s spokesman. “That was cutting-edge technology at one time. But clearly, it’s a touchpad world.” In the past, Lenovo had defended the TrackPoint as a reason to avoid using the trackpad itself. The TrackPoint debuted with the IBM ThinkPad 700, which launched in 1992. Then, in a 2017 TechRadar interview, Lenovo’s chief design officer David Hill described the TrackPoint as a way for a user to access a pointing device without the need for the user’s hands to leave the keyboard’s home row. Lenovo’s ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition.Mark Hachman / IDG But he also foreshadowed Lenovo’s choice to remove the TrackPoint, too. “It’s a little bit like an automatic transmission versus a stick shift. If you know how to drive a stick, you don’t want an automatic transmission,” Hill said back then in the interview. “If you don’t drive a stick shift, you’re not going to buy a car that’s got one.” Features and specs for Lenovo’s new ThinkPad Aura Editions Lenovo’s new ThinkPad X9 14 Aura Edition ($1,399 and up, shipping in Feb. 2025) and the ThinkPad X9 15 Aura Edition ($1,549 and up, shipping in Feb. 2025 as well) are both laptops built around the vPro versions of the Intel Core Series 2 “Lunar Lake” mobile processor. Neither ships with discrete graphics, relying on Intel’s Arc Xe integrated GPU. Mark Hachman / IDG However, it’s lovely to see that Lenovo is moving premium display technologies mainstream. The 14-inch offers a choice between a 1920×1200 400-nit 60Hz OLED or a 14-inch 2880×1800 500-nit 120Hz OLED. The 15-inch model offers just the latter option, with an average HDR600 capability on top. Up to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory and 2TB of a PCIe Gen 4 SSD are also included. These are Thunderbolt 4 laptops with two ports, as Intel doesn’t offer integrated Thunderbolt 5 solutions quite yet. Underneath the laptop is what Lenovo calls an “engine hub” that houses the critical components, with the Thunderbolt ports sprouting from both sides. Lenovo says that this engine hub will be serviceable by a trained repairperson. Wi-Fi 7 is also included and the laptop is also MIL-SPEC 810H qualified. Lenovo Lenovo isn’t specifying battery life quite yet, though with a battery-sipping Lunar Lake processor inside, it should be fantastic. The 14-inch model includes a 55Wh customer-replaceable battery, for a total weight of 2.74 pounds. The 15-inch includes a whopping 80Wh battery, for a total weight of 3.19 pounds. Lenovo used over 50 percent recycled aluminum in the aluminum chassis and various levels of recaptured plastics in other components. By contrast, the similar Asus ZenBook S 14 includes a Lunar Lake processor alongside a 72Wh battery and a 14-inch 2880×1800 touchscreen 120Hz OLED, which yielded over 17 hours of simulated work in our laptop battery tests. Lenovo’s AI Now adds smart modes We’re always on the lookout for applications that can take advantage of localized AI. With the Aura Edition laptops, Lenovo has provided two sets of such features: the Lenovo Aura Edition features on the one hand, and what Lenovo is calling Lenovo AI Now on the other. Lenovo’s AI Now offers both local and cloud-based AI.Lenovo Lenovo Aura Edition includes “smart modes” that allow users to switch between optimized device configurations like “Attention,” “Power,” and “Wellness.” They sound like they’re designed a bit like the optional Windows configurations, emphasizing entertainment, for example. Smart Care connects users to device diagnostics and 24/7 live agent support. Smart Share is a Lenovo-branded version of Intel’s Unison technology for sharing information between Android and iOS devices. Lenovo AI Now is an optional LLM that’s based on Meta’s Llama 3.0, which processes all data locally using the integrated Lunar Lake NPU. Lenovo also promises new features coming soon: multilingual support, searching across the PC as well as the tablet, plus improved capabilities to extract data from documents, images, or even portions of the two. Lenovo’s USB-C travel dock.Lenovo Lenovo also promises new peripherals to go along with the new laptops, including $49 TWS Earbuds (X9 Edition) with Bluetooth 5.3; a 65W GaN Nano Adapter; a $99 X9 Charging GaN Dock with a 4K60 HDMI port, SD card reader, and USB-A/C ports; and a $59.99 X9 Edition of a wireless mouse that includes a dedicated AI Now button. The earbuds and adapter are available now and the dock will ship in June 2025. Read...