玩偶姐姐

Keith Shaw: Hi everybody, welcome to DEMO, the show where companies come in and show us their latest products. Today, I'm joined by Brent Lamm. He is the Senior Worldwide Product Manager at Lenovo. Welcome to the show, Brent. Brent Lamm: Thank you so much. Great to be here.

Keith: We usually do software on the show—AI and all that other stuff. We do have some AI-related elements here, but this is hardware, right? Brent: This is 100% hardware. I represent the ThinkPad group at Lenovo. We're part of the commercial product sector—strictly ThinkPad. That’s where I’m based.

Keith: So I don't have to ask you what a ThinkPad is, because I think most people know what that is—or at least I hope so. But what are you here to show us? Brent: Today, I’m here to show a brand-new product for us.

It’s the next generation of our compact, thin, and light design: the ThinkPad X13 Gen 6. This is powered by the AMD Ryzen? AI Pro 300 Series processor, so it packs a lot of punch in a very small form factor. Keith: Who is this really designed for?

Is it anyone in the enterprise, or are there specific roles that would benefit from the AMD chip? Brent: It’s a combination of both the AMD chip and the hardware.

Because this is such a thin, light, and portable device, it’s ideal for mobile users—hybrid workers going between home and office, commuters, frequent travelers—whether that’s on public transit, flying, or working globally. Anyone needing a powerful and efficient system in a compact form factor.

Keith: Here’s the question we ask everyone on the show: What problems are you solving? Why should anyone care about this? In the AIPC space, is it fair to say this is the next generation—Gen 2—of AIPCs?

Are we doing a better job of explaining why people would need an AIPC now? Brent: Absolutely. This is going after that next-gen AIPC space. With the AMD Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series processor, you're getting up to 50 TOPS—trillions of operations per second—on the NPU.

That means you can run multiple AI applications simultaneously at low power, without draining performance or battery life. So, for mobile users who need high performance and long battery life, this system fits perfectly. Keith: So this is a two-part question.

If people don’t have this system, what would they be doing instead? They might have an AIPC from another brand or maybe no AIPC at all. Can you talk about the benefits? Brent: If someone didn’t have a system like this, they’d likely be lugging around something much larger.

Go back five years—during COVID, people stayed home. This is a 13-inch device, but during that period, we saw a decline in the 13-inch market. People gravitated to 14-, 15-, or even 16-inch devices since they were stationary.

But over the last year to 18 months, people have started traveling again. They want compact, lightweight systems that still deliver the performance and features of larger machines. We didn’t sacrifice on performance or user experience—just packed it into a smaller design.

Keith: Want to show off some of the features? Brent: I’d love to. First, let me hand this to you. Keith: Wow. That really is light. It almost feels like it shouldn’t be this light—like a model.

Brent: It’s the lightest ThinkPad we’ve ever made—right around 950 grams, just over two pounds. Incredibly lightweight, yet still MIL-SPEC tested. It’s spill-resistant, dent-resistant, drop-tested—just like any other ThinkPad. Keith: I usually feel my laptop in my backpack. I might need to double-check to make sure it’s still in there!

Brent: Exactly! And none of that sacrifices battery life. You actually have two battery options: a 41Wh battery for ultra-lightweight users, and a 54.7Wh battery if you want extended battery life. Keith: And that’s user-replaceable? Brent: Yes—completely.

Four screws on the bottom, pop off the D cover, two screws for the battery. There's even a QR code on the battery linking you to support.lenovo.com, where you can order a new one.

We even offer augmented reality tutorials to guide you through replacement—and none of this voids the warranty.

Brent: Traditional ThinkPad black design, but with upgrades. We’ve added a communication bar that houses a 5MP + IR camera, all without sacrificing screen-to-body ratio—up to 87% on this 13-inch system. New one-bar hinge design for elegance. User-facing Dolby Atmos speakers.

The classic three-button trackpad and TrackPoint—yes, the “nub”—are still here. That’s been an iconic ThinkPad feature for 30+ years.

Brent: The keyboard is still the best in the business. Inside, you’ve got the AMD Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series processor. It supports up to 64GB of dual-channel, soldered LPDDR5x memory—super-efficient and fast for app processing. That also helps system efficiency overall.

Keith: We’ll dive into the chip in just a second. But what kind of chip again? Brent: AMD Ryzen AI Pro 300 Series—nicknamed “Kraken.” And this includes an NPU—Neural Processing Unit. Keith: Let’s break that down for people: CPU, GPU, and NPU—what’s the difference? Brent: Sure.

CPU: Central Processing Unit—handles instant tasks like searches, low latency, and response speed. GPU: Graphics Processing Unit—handles creative tasks like text-to-image, voice-to-image, or LLM summarization. NPU: Neural Processing Unit—measured in TOPS, designed for low-power background AI tasks.

We’ve partnered with independent software vendors (ISVs) to offload tasks—especially security—to the NPU, freeing up the CPU and GPU.

Brent: Every year, we launch dozens of ThinkPads and benchmark battery life with a clean image. We’ll say 15 hours, but then a customer will report only getting five. One financial services client had 23 background apps running!

That’s where the NPU helps—offloading background processes like security, which isn’t something you're interacting with directly.

Brent: One example: AMD has partnered with BufferZone, a security-focused ISV. They offer anti-phishing protection for commercial users. Normally, that runs in the cloud, which is costly and introduces latency. But now it runs locally on the NPU—even without Wi-Fi—so it's more secure, private, and efficient.

Keith: So the idea is doing more tasks locally—offloading to the NPU without relying on cloud connectivity? Brent: Exactly. Privacy and security are top concerns with AI. Data is the new currency. Keeping tasks local and off the cloud is the most secure way to operate.

Keith: Is the device available now? Brent: It should be available around May 2025. That’s when it will start shipping—both in stores and online. Keith: And you’re just going to give me this one, right? Brent: [Laughs] We’ll talk about it.

Keith: Brent Lamm from Lenovo, thanks again for being on the show. Brent: Thank you for having me. Great to be here. Keith: That’s all the time we have for today’s episode. Be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Join us every week for new episodes of DEMO. I’m Keith Shaw. Thanks for watching! ?