Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook Review
by Dustin Sklavos on May 15, 2013 12:01 AM ESTConclusion: Prosumer Grade
Much as Mark Rosewater can't go a month without mentioning how he used to write for "Roseanne," I have a hard time not mentioning my background in video production. The reason to bring it up with the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is simple: whether you're a hobbyist or a professional in any kind of content creation field, you have a pretty good idea of what "prosumer" means. Consumer grade hardware and software are generally (but not always) not worth your time, but professional grade kit often requires a substantial investment. Thus there's the middle ground: prosumer. Prosumer kit is typically fully featured, but doesn't cost an arm and a leg. You get 90% of the power of professional grade stuff at a fraction of the cost.
That's essentially what the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is. Weird as it sounds, the ThinkPad is basically the Windows user equivalent of a Mac and has been for a while. The name has a cachet to it, and you have a good idea of what it represents. In the case of the X1 Carbon, we get a strong and sturdy build, great quality display, and the best chiclet keyboard in the business. We also get the kind of price premium we've come to expect for the ThinkPad brand, a premium that predates Lenovo's ownership.
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I have often said that you cannot charge Apple prices for Dell products. That's not necessarily to disparage Dell, but merely to make a point: you can't make bargain consumer grade hardware and still try to sell it at a premium. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a fine Ultrabook, and the $1,187 touch-free entry level model is without question the best deal in the lineup (though the 4GB of DDR3 stings mightily) and easy to recommend. If you want 8GB of memory you'll have to fork over at least $200 more (you get a CPU upgrade in the process), which is a bitter pill to swallow.
Where the Carbon runs into trouble is that its price is, like its battery life, barely competitive, and the higher-priced models are almost impossible to justify. Actual business-class kit is more expensive, but the Carbon is really competing with the likes of Dell's XPS 13. Dell will sell you an XPS 13 with a 1080p IPS display, faster processor, and 8GB of memory for $1,299. Married to the 14" form factor? Not a problem, they'll give you an XPS 14 with the same resolution display for $999, and at $1,199 you can even get dedicated graphics hardware.
Ultimately, if you're still smarting from what Lenovo has done with the ThinkPad brand like I am, it can be difficult to appreciate the X1 Carbon. It bears repeating this really is an excellent Ultrabook, falling short primarily in battery life and price but otherwise pretty tough to argue with. And Lenovo has been thriving compared to some of the competition, so they must be doing something right. I just don't like how they've sacrificed the ThinkPad brand on the altar of consumerism, and the X1 Carbon doesn't buck the trend. It's a fantastic Ultrabook, but it's not enterprise.
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Hrel - Thursday, May 16, 2013 - link
At 1200 bucks I would expect AT LEAST:8GBx1 DDR3 1600 RAM. A 256GB/240GB SSD. Wireless a/c 5Ghz. Then if they could fit a larger battery in it, 54Wh for instance, that would help a lot too.
For $1320 I expect better specs than these...
Not a bad system, just not suited well in the market; especially with Haswell right around the corner.
boe - Thursday, May 16, 2013 - link
If this thing was about 1lb lighter and had a higher resolution screen, I'd be interestedsmilingcrow - Thursday, May 16, 2013 - link
The Dell XPS 14 was mentioned but the screen is a washed out mess worthy of a laptop less than half its price. Its a poor TN panel with its one saving grace being the resolution of 1600x900.The XPS 12 and 13 in contrast have wonderful 1080P IPS panels. What were Dell thinking!
relativityboy - Thursday, May 16, 2013 - link
In your review you said "High resolution" that's HILARIOUS!WTH? Did someone pay you to say that?
frakkel - Friday, May 17, 2013 - link
I love the x series. But why did they go for 16:9 format. I dont buy a labtop for watching movies. Please go back to screens with a more square layout e.g. 4:3 or at least 16:10Belard - Sunday, May 19, 2013 - link
Yep... I miss the 16:10 screens like my current 5+ year old ThinkPads. To give you an idea of the height loss. a 14" 16:10 has the same height as the 15" 16:9 - I noticed this during their transition from the two aspect ratios. So we went with the older 14" model which results in a smaller and lighter notebook.A major reason Lenovo went with 16:9 is that they still have to get their displays from a supplier. And because everything is 16:9, it costs LESS money. To go with the 16:10 could had $50~100 to the costs or more because of mass-production.
At least they still make screens that are NOT gloddy.
crispbp04 - Friday, May 17, 2013 - link
The use of the term "kit" to refer to hardware is driving me, in the words of Gwen Stefani, B-A-N-A-N-A-S.coastwalker - Saturday, May 18, 2013 - link
Hardware Enterprise vendors are in a difficult situation. Windows 8 is destroying their market. No business with any sense is going to buy the consumer mobile phone interface that Windows 8 is. This is great news because it probably means that we can switch back to Apple again like we did in the 80s. I cant wait!Shinobi_III - Sunday, May 19, 2013 - link
What's the point of 5Ghz wifi anyway? You point it out as absurd that it's not included.But it doesn't offer more performance, and the range is atrocious.
I have a wifi router from Asus with both, and 5Ghz is 75% signal one room off, and doesn't even work down stairs. The 2.4G works out in the garage!
RoslynWan12 - Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - link
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