At Computex last year, we first had our hands on a prototype laptop called “Project Limitless,” which was capable of connecting to all 5G protocols (sub-6, mmWave), an unprecedented feat in a world where laptops are just transiting to WiFi-6 now.
Fast-forward to today, and Project Limitless has become the Lenovo Yoga 5G, a product that will hit the market in 2020 to lead a growing group of always-on, always-connected PCs.
The computing aspect of this laptop relies on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx 5G Compute Platform, which is an evolution of the original Snapdragon 8Cx platform presented a bit more than a year ago. If you didn’t know, “x” stands for eXtreme.
Where the fastest 5G networks are available, users can expect the line between home or office WiFi and mobile broadband to blur.
For many users still subscribing to slow home Internet connections, 5G (if not 4G if you are on DSL) already becomes a much better and desirable experience, that is if there is an appropriate data plan with high bandwidth limits, or no limits.
Yoga laptop screens can fold 360-degrees to turn into tablets, and there are many positions in between that users can opt for, depending on the situation.
Lenovo had to find ingenious ways to distribute the radio antennas so that things will work regardless of the laptop’s mode.
The effective speed will depend on the local 5G network in your area. In our experience, we’ve seen at least 20% to 40% improvement over 4G LTE using the same base stations. We’ve tried phones that could peak at 120 Mbps on sub-6 5G.
On mmWave 5G, we’ve seen handsets reach 2 Gbps in ideal conditions, with a direct line of sight to the cell tower. The reality will fall somewhere in between, but a whole lot of people still have Home internet speed, which is inferior to 200 MBps, according to Ookla’s 2017 report.
At 2.86 Lbs (1300g), the Yoga 5G should be a great example of ultra-mobility PC, with ultra-fast connectivity. As 5G reaches its full potential and future evolutions, it will change how we manage and access data.
Already, many people in our Ubergizmo team have moved tools and files and use a fast internet connection as a way to organize, sync, and backup data more efficiently and resiliently.
It used to be that a stolen or destroyed laptop could ruin a week (or more!) of work. With data hosted in the cloud, the damage is significantly reduced or eliminated.
Filed in . Read more about 5G, CES, CES 2020, Lenovo, Lenovo Laptops and Qualcomm.