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Lenovo LaVie Z series review: super light, super compromised
The Lenovo LaVie Z series is a winner. Or at least it was before I tested one for this review. The HZ550, as it was originally called, captured our attention at CES for being the lightest-ever 13-inch laptop: just 1.7 pounds. Its sibling, the touchscreen HZ750, wasn't much heavier at 2.04 pounds. In either case, Lenovo promised surprisingly robust performance, with the help of full-fledged Intel Core CPUs (i.e., not the sort of watered-down chips we typically see in thin-and-light machines). The combination of portability and processing clout was enough to win the LaVie series a Best of CES Award in the PC category, beating out some stiff competition. While I don't regret my decision -- the LaVie was, after all, one of the more memorable products we saw at CES -- I don't think you should actually spend $1,399-plus on it. Here's why.
Best of CES 2015 Awards, PC: Lenovo LaVie HZ550
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-431162{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-431162, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-431162{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-431162").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Lenovo typically brings a lot of new product releases to CES. And it did it again in 2015. However, there was one particular highlight: a 13-inch laptop with top-end specs, but somehow weighing in at 1.7 pounds.This is Lenovo (and NEC's) slender LaVie HZ550. For reference, that's 43 percent lighter than the latest MacBook Air -- and in person you'd think it was a dummy laptop shell. Despite that, the laptop still packs fifth-generation Intel Core processors: It's got muscle too. Was it the best PC we saw at CES? We think so, yes.
Lenovo's skinny new ultraportable claims to be the lightest 13-inch laptop
It's impossible to convey in a photo how light Lenovo's new ultraportable, the LaVie HZ550, is. So instead I'll say this: When I first picked it up, I was sure I was handling a prototype; some sort of dummy unit without any actual components inside. In fact, though, the HZ550 is very real, and at 1.72 pounds, it's stupidly, record-breakingly compact; in fact, Lenovo claims this is the world's lightest 13-inch laptop. What's more, the company just announced what it says is the lightest 13-inch convertible notebook: a machine called the HZ750, which has a 360-degree hinge that allows it to fold back into tablet mode. At 2.04 pounds, it's lighter than any laptop with a touchscreen and rotating hinge has the right to be. Either way, even in a field of increasingly skinny notebooks, both of these stand out.
