Lenovo and Intel Redefine the AI PC Experience with New Aura Edition Lineup

The journey to establish a new benchmark for AI-powered PCs began with a bold question: "How can we redefine the premium laptop experience to exceed expectations in performance, battery life, and user experience?"

To answer this, Intel and Lenovo—longstanding innovation partners—embarked on a multi-year co-engineering initiative. Drawing on deep user insights, world-class design, and advanced prototyping, the two companies have jointly defined, designed, and developed a next-generation computing platform that sets the stage for intelligent personal computing.

Introducing Lenovo Aura Edition: A New Era of AI PCs
Launching in September 2024, the Lenovo Aura Edition series debuts with 11 AI-powered devices across consumer, commercial, and SMB segments. These laptops are equipped with groundbreaking features that push the boundaries of modern computing, including:

• One-tap photo sharing from smartphone to PC.

• Crystal-clear displays with 120Hz refresh rate enabled by embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.5 technology.

• Intelligent AI software that adapts to individual usage patterns, delivering 40% better efficiency than current industry standards.

Ma Zhaochun, VP of Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group and General Manager of Consumer & SMB Laptop Development, emphasized that this project marks an unprecedented level of collaboration. “From day one, we co-defined the specs, co-developed the platform, and brought to life a uniquely capable AI PC lineup. This initiative has shown that our brands can break technical barriers together—and we look forward to deepening this collaboration in future platforms.”

1. User-Centric Innovation at Its Core
At the heart of the Aura Edition is user-driven design. Intel and Lenovo conducted over 10,000 in-depth interviews and community reviews to understand what real users want in a next-gen laptop. Early feedback highlighted demands for better display quality, immersive audio, longer battery life, and smart features that simplify daily tasks.

With this input, engineers developed functional prototypes, which were then tested by more than 4,000 PC enthusiasts in real-world environments. Their insights directly influenced innovations such as Smart Share, allowing seamless content transfer from phone to laptop with just a tap.

These iterative tests refined critical areas like thermal performance, AI assistance, and all-day battery life, shaping the final product and setting the foundation for future innovation.

2. Joint Engineering Breakthroughs
The Aura Edition is the result of Intel and Lenovo’s most in-depth engineering collaboration to date. Together, the teams optimized everything from system architecture to memory, thermal efficiency, and power delivery.

One standout achievement was pushing LPDDR5x memory to its limits. By working closely on signal integrity, firmware tuning, and circuit optimization, the teams achieved stable performance at 8,533 MT/s—a milestone in mobile memory capability.

Bhavesh Shroff, Senior Director of Platform Engineering at Intel’s Client Computing Group, noted: “We took calculated risks, guided by shared goals and data. The result is meaningful innovation with tangible customer benefits.”

Beyond memory, the collaboration led to simplified system board layouts, allowing for thinner, lighter designs, and advanced thermal management, enabling peak performance even under heavy workloads—especially for models like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition and Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition.

3. A Global Collaboration Powering Local Impact
The development effort brought together engineers from China, Taiwan, India, Israel, Malaysia, and the U.S., tackling over 50 co-engineering challenges across 10+ technical workstreams. This global synergy helped accelerate time-to-market and ensured the final products met the highest standards.

One example of global teamwork: Intel’s Israel-based team co-developed new AI models for camera image quality alongside Lenovo, resulting in smarter imaging capabilities.

Leading independent software vendors (ISVs) such as Adobe partnered in the development, optimizing apps like Adobe After Effects, Lightroom, and Premiere Pro for superior performance on Aura Edition systems.

Setting the Pace for the Future of AI PCs
Powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra processors, the Lenovo Aura Edition lineup represents the first step in a broader vision to reshape premium PCs around AI. Looking ahead, future Aura devices will be built on Intel’s upcoming Panther Lake CPUs, manufactured using the Intel 18A process node.

Gao Shan, Intel China VP and GM of Client Computing Group, summarized:
“To lead the future of AI PCs, we must innovate faster and collaborate deeper than anyone else. Aura Edition is not just a milestone—it’s a statement of what’s possible when two industry leaders align on vision and execution.”