 ThinkPads are, well, ThinkPads. They're a line of business laptops that most people can spot from a mile away. So they're red and black, they have clickers and webcam shutters and keyboard nubs, and most of the time when you buy a ThinkPad, you know exactly what you're getting. But today we're looking at a brand new ThinkPad line that Lenovo is hoping will make the ThinkPad cool among a younger Gen Z audience. This is the ThinkPad Z series. There's a 13 inch and a 16 inch model and they're both unlike any ThinkPad we've seen before. The ThinkPad Z13 starts at $1549 and the Z16 starts at $2099 and both of them will be shipping in May. So Lenovo has tried a couple different funky things in ThinkPads this past year. We've had haptic touchpads and 16 by 10 screens, different colors, different materials, and they've experimented with even more features throughout this design process, not all of which made it to the final form. This ThinkPad Z series is essentially where Lenovo landed after seeing which of this year's releases customers liked and which ones they didn't. The first thing you'll probably notice about the Z series is that it doesn't really look like a ThinkPad. Okay, so there is a big logo on it that says ThinkPad, and don't worry, the little red track point is still here. But this new device comes in three color options. So there's a gray, there's a black, and there's a blackish recycled vegan leather. And Lenovo's changed a number of the other features that have been staples of the ThinkPad line for years. So if you've ever used say the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, you'll know that they famously have the control and the function keys reversed from where they are on most keyboards, but they're in their normal location on the Z series. Most ThinkPads also have half-sized arrow keys, but they're full-sized on this device. And Lenovo got rid of the discrete mouse clickers, which are another famous ThinkPad feature. Now there's also an infrared FHD webcam, which you won't miss because it lives in a very visible enclosure, like it's literally labeled. And there's finally, finally a 16 by 10 display on this device with impressively tiny bezels, like really, you can barely see them. Also and I'm really excited about this, Lenovo says almost its entire portfolio is going to be 16 by 10 this year. There's a fun little tidbit for you. So what we have here is a device that looks a lot more like some of the most popular consumer laptops on the market than it does like a traditional ThinkPad. Mainly it's very thin at just over half an inch thick. You're making some trade-offs for that thinness though, and some of them are a big deal. There's a bit less keyboard travel on this than there is on some larger ThinkPads and it's noticeable. There's also a haptic touchpad, which is probably my least favorite part. The click was really shallow on the unit I tested. Lenovo says you'll be able to customize that. The RAM is also soldered, so you can't upgrade it on either model. And finally, the biggest one, ports. There are two USB-C ports on the Z13 and that's it. That's not a lot. That could end up being a deal breaker for people who need to connect a lot of things. But the thing I'm most excited about here is what's on the inside. So this entire line is AMD exclusive and they'll all include AMD's brand new Ryzen 6000 processors. And the 16-incher can also include AMD's discrete graphics. So it's a lot of AMD. In fact, Lenovo worked with AMD to make a Lenovo exclusive Ryzen Pro U series chip that you'll only see in this line. Now Lenovo says that this processor will be both more powerful and more efficient than AMD's other offerings. Now I have no idea if that's true. We generally expect that higher wattage chips would be less efficient. So you know, we'll have to wait and see how it actually performs. The long and short of all this is, Lenovo is trying to expand the ThinkPad line to a generation of people that it thinks care more about mobility, that is a thin chassis, and mobile power than they do about things like a super comfortable touchpad, a useful port selection and a keyboard with lots of travel. As an ostensible member of the audience they're targeting, I'm not sure if I agree. Don't get me wrong, I love a thin device and I love a good AMD system. But some of these trade-offs are serious considerations. And these models, like some of the other funkier ThinkPad models this past year, are leaving behind some of the features that have made ThinkPad so popular in the past. And they're venturing more towards the mainstream consumer laptop sphere. That's a competitive field. And these ThinkPads, rather than being in a class of their own like they are in the business sphere, are going to be competing with the XPS, the Galaxy Book, the MacBook. They're going to be competing with devices that are thin but also have more ports and are more comfortable. ThinkPads are really great computers and I can't wait to try these ones out. I just really hope they're not falling victim to the thin at all costs mindset that brought us the butterfly keyboard. ThinkPad keyboards have always been some of my favorite keyboards on the market because they have so much travel and they're so sturdy, but I'm going to need a little more time to fall in love with this one because it's a little bit flatter. So what's your favorite laptop keyboard?