Lenovo's latest ThinkPads include a 16-inch X1 Extreme

Lenovo is coming to Mobile World Congress 2021 with a trio of high-performance laptops that still offer a dash of portability. The headliner is a fourth-generation ThinkPad X1 Extreme (pictured above) that promises both a larger screen and considerably more power than you might expect.

The revamped ThinkPad X1 Extreme now centers on a 16-inch, 16:10 ratio screen with narrow bezels on all sides. Much like the 16-inch MacBook Pro, it offers more visual real estate with relatively little compromise in size — it’s only slightly larger than its 15.6-inch predecessor, and weighs just a bit more at 4lbs. Accordingly, you’ll get a higher-resolution 2,560 x 1,600 screen in the base model, and a 3,840 x 2,400 display (touchscreen or otherwise) in top-end configurations.

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You’ll also get a significant graphics speed-up. While the 11th-gen Core H-series processors and Xe integrated graphics  won’t represent huge leaps, you now have your choice of GeForce RTX video chips ranging from the RTX 3050 Ti through to the RTX 3080. The earlier Thinkpad X1 Extreme lineup generally stopped at the middling GTX 1650 Ti,  so this could be a huge leap forward for GPU-intensive apps and games. A new cooling system with heat pipes, a vapor chamber, and improved airflow helps keep heat in check.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme also carries up to 64GB of RAM,  two 2TB SSDs and an overdue upgrade to a 1080p webcam. Lenovo touts 10.7 hours of peak battery life, although we’d expect that to drop considerably under a heavy load.

The 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Extreme will start at a $2,149 price when it becomes available in August.

You can still expect performance improvements if you’re looking for more modest hardware. The second-generation ThinkPad L13 Yoga 2 convertible (at middle) and its conventional ThinkPad L13 counterpart fit the latest AMD Ryzen 5000 Pro series processors into a compact 13.3-inch frame. Lenovo touts battery life comparable to the ThinkPad X1 Extreme despite the smaller bodies.

Both ThinkPad L13 models are far more modest than the X1 Extreme with up to 16GB of RAM, a lone 1TB SSD, and a 1080p display.

You also won’t pay X1 Extreme prices for the ThinkPad L13 series. Both machines debut in August and will start at $799 for the regular L13, climbing up to $999 for the Yoga variant.