Lenovo announces new ThinkPad and IdeaPad Gaming line up

We’re seeing a bunch of newly announced products roll around as 2022 begins picking up speed. CES had us drooling with potential and some of those promises are starting to make their way to fruition, and 2022 is looking big on lightweight laptops. We haven’t seen some of our most anticipated gaming laptops from CES yet, but recently Samsung announced it’s Galaxy Book2 Pro powered by Intel Arc graphics, and now Lenovo is getting onboard with its new line up including the Arm-powered ThinkPad.

One of the biggest pulls for this new ThinkPad X13 is its boast of some pretty extreme battery life. Thanks to the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor these machines are really light on the power. That processor only has 9w TDP, which is pretty low given Lenovo is stating this has the equivalent performance of an unnamed Intel Core i5. Of course, we want to test this out in person before believing the hype, but that’s a laptop that could run all day without issues. It’s just nice to see. Though with 5G support I could see that eating the battery a bit faster than advertised when in use. It feels like a tablet replacement for those wanting something in a Windows 11 laptop. These will be available for purchase in May starting at $1,099 USD.

Lenovo also announced a product it claims is aimed at younger gamers in the new IdeaPad Gaming 3 range. Usually IdeaPads are just budget friendly trimmed down ThinkPads, but instead now they’re aiming for the gaming market. It seems a bit odd but the specs boasted in the 15” and 16” inch models could make for some fun units. 

Both come with Intel and AMD options, though the Intel ones are slightly higher specced with price tags to match. Potential buyers can choose between either an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H or up to 12th Gen Intel Core i7. This is paired with up to an RTX 3060 for the intel models, or an RTX 3050 Ti for AMD. Add 32 GB of DDR4 and 1TB SSDs and the gaming story is starting to come together a bit.

Anyone looking for a hardcore gaming laptop will want to steer clear, as these aren’t quite up to the snuff. But Lenovo has its Legion range to take care of that niche. Instead, the IdeaPad Gaming 3 actually does feel like a smart choice for a lower priced laptop that can also play some games. But it's certainly no Lenovo Legion 5 Pro which stole our hearts a bit with its great fundamentals.

It could be a smart option for students who want to do a little bit of lower powered gaming in between study sessions, or who have some educational games they need to play on the same machine. Titles like Minecraft and Fortnite should run like a breeze. These machines will range from $929 USD to up to $1,489 for the beefiest Intel model, so it might be worth waiting for new Legion model, or other 2022 gaming laptop pricings before making that choice.