Lenovo’s upcoming T490 and X390 combine consumer-oriented aesthetic and power with the brand’s business laptop line.
Both the Lenovo T490 and X390 are powered by a 10th Gen Comet Lake processor of your choice and are available for pre-order today, starting from $1,019 (X390) and $1,129 (T490) and start shipping in October.
Design
Opting for a shiny black finish and bold red accents, these new laptops offer a premium look in a subdued design.
Measuring 13 x 9 x 0.7 inches and ranging in weight from 3.2 - 3.4 pounds, the all-black T490 is as slick as it is functional. The slightly smaller x390 comes in at 12.3 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches and weighs between 2.7 - 2.9 pounds. Both laptops are equipped with backlighting illuminating the keyboards for easier typing in dark areas. And true to form, each notebook has Lenovo’s signature TrackPoint nub that offers accurate mouse control using your finger.
Display
You can purchase a 14-inch T940 in either a 500-nit WQHD Dolby Vision panel configuration or in an improved 400 nit full HD display (touch options available). The obstructive thick bezels of previous models are a distant memory thanks to the 0.3-inch bezel offering a full view of what you’re working on.
An inch smaller than the T940’s display, the 13-inch X390 comes in configurations of Full HD with and without touch and similarly thin 0.3-inch bezels.
Specs
A powerful new 10th Gen Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor of your choice combined with an Nvidia MX250 GPU with 2GB of VRAM enables fluid multi-tasking and media production from the T490. The X390’s integrated graphics are decent but won’t be as smooth as a discrete GPU when it comes to content creation.
Configurable up to 48GB, the T490 offers easy DDR4 (2400MHz) RAM expansion unlike most laptops. The X390’s doesn’t go quite as far with up to 32GB of RAM. Both systems will offer plenty of room to store files with up to 1TB PCIe SSD in addition to Intel Optane SSD.
For the T490, you will be able to connect an ethernet cable to a built-in RJ-45 port. This joins a host of ports including 2 USB-A 3.1 Gen1, a USB-C, SD Card Reader, audio jack, and HDMI 1.4.
The X390 has everything above in addition an extra USB-C port, but loses the ethernet port, which can be added using a dongle.
BATTERY
Lenovo claims that the T490 battery will last 15 hours while the X390 has an estimated run time of up to 17 hours on a single charge. Both laptops are equipped with the Rapid Charge utility feature, charging the battery 80% within an hour.
BOTTOM LINE
The T490 and X390 are looking to offer solid performance, and we’re looking forward to putting the laptops through their paces in our lab. Stay tuned for the laptops’ benchmarks and future reviews.
