Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook Review
by Dustin Sklavos on May 15, 2013 12:01 AM ESTIn and Around the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
People familiar with Lenovo's industrial design aren't going to be too terribly surprised with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon: black goes with everything. The body is built primarily out of carbon fiber, and the now oddly "traditional" ThinkPad chiclet keyboard is present, as is the trackpoint. Build quality all around is generally excellent; lid flex is minimal, body flex just plain doesn't exist, and there's precious little keyboard flex. Also, the dot on the "i" in ThinkPad on the lid glows red when the notebook is in use and strobes when it's asleep, so that's neat.
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It's hard to find too much fault with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon taken on its own, but in a broader perspective and especially a historical perspective, the Lenovo acquisition of IBM's ThinkPad line still smarts. The X1 Carbon is further evidence of the consumerization of the ThinkPad line; the chiclet keyboard may be the best you can find, but it's still a chiclet keyboard. The touchpad has actually been replaced by a clickpad that has a wonderful surface but absolutely terrible clicking action and doesn't have dedicated buttons; thankfully, the trackpoint's dedicated buttons work just fine in a pinch.
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That consumerization also betrays the X1 Carbon's loftier ambitions as an enterprise-class notebook. Those of you with good memories will remember a period of time where enterprise was all about ThinkPads and that was it, but are you noticing more HP EliteBooks and Dell Latitudes and Precisions running around than you used to? So it is with the X1 Carbon, where the 1-year default warranty, aforementioned chiclet keyboard, and complete lack of serviceability undermine the enterprise dream. Former models of the X1 also supported external slice batteries, but the X1 Carbon forces you to rely solely on its middling 45Wh battery, and that battery is not user-replaceable.
Keeping in mind that this review unit was sent to me by Intel, I'm keen to point out the curious way it highlights the odd dichotomy of Windows 8's user interface. This is a ten-point touch display, yet it's also 1600x900, and the notebook actually shipped to me with Stardock's Start8 installed, thus completely bypassing Modern UI. The traditional Windows desktop has always been absolutely dire for touch, only more so with a decently high dpi on the display, but it's vastly superior for productivity. In a way, the touchscreen in the X1 Carbon has been reduced to a sort of novelty.
Nearest I can tell, Intel added Start8, as it's not an immediately available option when configuring your own X1 Carbon. Keeping Windows 8 in mind, though, it's worth noting that you can't order the X1 Carbon with Windows 7 as an option unless you forego the touch display.
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It must seem like I'm being too harsh on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Truth be told it's actually a very enjoyable Ultrabook to use; keyboard action is excellent, the 1600x900 display is attractive, and it's not too difficult to get used to using the mouse buttons above the clickpad. It's light, it's sturdy, and Intel's inclusion of Start8 is both the best and worst endorsement of Windows 8 on the planet. The problem is that despite the carbon fiber build and inclusion of vPro, this is not an enterprise Ultrabook. It's still priced like one, but it's not.
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gobaers - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - link
Lenovo needs to fork their Thinkpad line into two, one for enterprise (what "Thinkpad" used to be) and one for consumer/prosumer. I thought the "Thinkpad Edge" branding would have been good for this. Taken as such, this should be called the "Thinkpad Edge X1."If they want to keep using "Thinkpad" the way they have been the past few years, why not separate out a line called "Thinkpad Pro" for diehards like me? Give us an X series, a couple T series, and a workstation replacement W series. Give us the keyboard back, magnesium rollcage design, IPS displays, charge $1800 for it. Roll back the numbers a bit; I want mine to be called Thinkpad Pro T30s. It has Haswell.
A guy can dream...
Mumrik - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - link
Dustin, I have a suggestion.Anandtech is a general hardware site, so you don't have to review all laptops. How about just making it a rule that you unless special circumstances are in place simply won't review laptops with 1366x768 or lower resolution?
JFish222 - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - link
Stay Away!I purchased 2 of these for my company (about 3 months apart.)
Normally I would never buy a non-upgradable & difficult to service laptop for the company, but what management wants . . .
The newer of the two laptops had its battery stop holding a charge after about 6 months of use. The older unit's battery stopped holding a charge 5 days after the 1yr warranty expired. Lenovo will not replace it and referred us to a local 3rd party service center (who wants ~$600).
I can't speak on the newer unit, but the older unit that just crapped out shows 84 cycles on the battery. The only good thing out of the whole mess: Management will stop arguing with me when I say no (for now at least). A T430S is close in weight and size, and lacks the repair / mid-cycle upgrade headaches that are sure to happen in any environment.
How they every marketed this to businesses is beyond me!
PS: Only good thing about Lenovo (besides the T series) is they document the hell out of everything. Replacing the batt. will be a headache, but is doable. Anyone who's repaired a laptop shouldn't have to much difficulty, and the service manual tells you exactly what components to remove to get to it.
some_guy - Thursday, May 16, 2013 - link
This is the kind of info I was looking for. Thanks.I am still waiting for something that is closer to my T60 notebooks with the 4:3 SXGA+, nice keyboard, TrackPoint, and runs Linux, though some compromise seems necessary. Perhaps the next version of the Chromebook Pixel.
Belard - Sunday, May 19, 2013 - link
Nobody is making 4:3 screens. 16:10 was fine... but now its 16:9... it sucks. And when I'm ready for the next monitor upgrade... it will be 16:9 ugh... but it will be at least 2560x1400 res (I'd like for it to be 2560x1600 thou)... and be only 27" to get the higher dot pitch.jmsb - Saturday, May 18, 2013 - link
"stopped holding a charge 5 days after the 1yr warranty expired"The x1 carbon has only been out since August 2012 - 9 months at best.
Belard - Sunday, May 19, 2013 - link
There are other Carbon series notebooks.eviljav - Thursday, May 16, 2013 - link
The keyboard layout is terrible. The should put page up and page down back in the top right corner, in a block with delete, home, & end.CrazyElf - Thursday, May 16, 2013 - link
Yeah, it's really the price that kills this laptop. It's not a bad laptop per se, but for the money ... it's really hard to justify.One huge advantage I suppose of getting this over the Mac is that laptops like these are more durable - Lenovo Thinkpads in general are well built (although their cooling solutions could be better). I think they do pass MIL-SPEC 810F (not 100% on this one).
Battery is just so, so. And for the price they ask, I expect a better LCD panel.
CrazyElf - Thursday, May 16, 2013 - link
I wonder if they cheaped out on the battery - not able to hold a charge after only a handful of cycles. This is an example of saving a few dollars here and there for a laptop that costs over a thousand dollars.