The global pandemic and necessary lockdowns have seen many folks staying at home to work, and a good number may continue to do so as restrictions are eased. To meet the needs of this remote workforce, Lenovo has launched a new brand to market a range of purpose-built accessories.
Lenovo says that it recently undertook a study to "understand the behaviors and attitudes of Business End Users and IT Decision Makers across all business sizes who have been forced to work from home due to COVID-19." This revealed that 83 percent of those surveyed expected to work remotely for at least half of the time, with 60 percent of employees happy to do so.
"These user insights are what inspired our vision for the new Lenovo Go line of accessories – to empower the employee experience through smarter accessories that enable people to thrive in a work-from-anywhere world," said Eric Yu, senior vice president of Lenovo’s global SMB, Visuals and Accessories, Intelligent Devices Group.
To start the ball rolling, a USB-C power bank and a wireless mouse have been announced.
The power bank is essentially a 20,000-mAh capacity battery with a 65-W output, and is designed to keep a user's laptop running longer while away from a wall socket. It's reckoned capable of juicing up a laptop's own battery at least once, which in my case could see me and my XPS 15 2-in-1 working for eight hours or so without needing to plug into the wall.
But it has another two USB ports too, and can simultaneously charge up to three devices at once, and will continue to juice up connected gadgetry even if it's plugged in and receiving a top up itself. It goes on sale from next month for US$89.99.
The wireless mouse, meanwhile, is suited to those remote workers who have to control more than one device in front of them. It can pair over Bluetooth 5.0 with up to three at the same time via the company's unifying receiver, with the user cycling between them using a button behind the scroll wheel up top. A utility button can also be programmed for virtual meetings, with Teams shortcuts already on board.
Lenovo reckons it can be used on virtually any surface thanks to its blue optical sensor, and DPI sensitivity can be adjusted on the fly. Users can expect two to three months per charge from its 380-mAh battery, and the mouse is Qi compatible too, so it can be wirelessly charged using, say, a charging mat, as well as over USB-C. This one also goes up for sale from June for $59.99.
The images that accompanied the announcement also show a pair of headphones with boom mic and a pair of earphones on the upcoming product roster, with Lenovo confirming that Go-branded audio products should be incoming later in the year.
Source: Lenovo
