The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Review (2015)
by Brett Howse on May 21, 2015 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Lenovo
- ThinkPad
- Ultrabook
- Broadwell-U
Final Words
The X1 Carbon that Lenovo shipped out for review is likely the fastest Ultrabook yet. The Broadwell Core i7 is certainly a step ahead of the other devices we have tested, and the included PCIe SSD is basically the fastest drive offered today. It is also one of the most expensive Ultrabooks around, with the as-tested price as configured on Lenovo.com at $2100. That is a lot of money for an Ultrabook. The base price is a lot less, but at almost $1100 it is missing some important things like an IPS display and 8 GB of memory. Really the starting configuration is about $1300 once you add those on, and the price can go up again if you opt for more storage.
There is a tremendous amount of competition in the Ultrabook space, so Lenovo needs to differentiate the X1 Carbon and its higher than average price. It does that with the construction to start with. The carbon fibre top is incredibly strong for such a thin display, and the magnesium and aluminum lower half is also very stiff and feels solid. Yet at the same time, the weight of this device is extremely impressive at 2.8 to 3.1 lbs. That is only a hair more than the XPS 13, which has a smaller display and a much smaller body.
The keyboard is also very good on the X1 Carbon, and was likely the most enjoyable keyboard I have had the pleasure of using on an Ultrabook. There are devices out there which are better, but most of them are not this thin, and despite the reduced travel, typing was enjoyable. Lenovo also listened to its customer base and reversed their decision on the function keys, and we see a return of a much more traditional keyboard. I don’t love the Fn and Ctrl keys being reversed as compared to most devices, but it really did not take very long to get used to using it in a new location. For those that can’t adapt, you can go into the BIOS and swap the key functions. The backlighting also was nicely done and has several steps for brightness, and really make it easy to use in a dim setting.
I’m also a big fan of the TrackPoint and I personally find it to be a much more efficient way for me to navigate the GUI. For those that don’t like it, you can disable it (or the trackpad) in the mouse settings and just use the trackpad. Luckily the trackpad is also quite good on the X1 Carbon. There was not any latency that I could detect and it was very accurate with taps, double taps, and scrolling.
The fingerprint reader is also something that I wish was on every notebook. It makes it effortless to log in, and while biometrics may have their detractors, they do allow you to have complex passwords but not have to use them as much, which is going to be more secure than a password like 12345 (which is also the combination of my luggage) and with the Windows Hello initiative coming in Windows 10, there should be a bright future for this kind of login.
Not all is perfect, as with most things. The display is good, but not great. It was great to see Lenovo include an ICC profile but it is too bad that it is not more effective. The display is not overly bright, and the color accuracy is just average. Luckily this was the IPS model though.
The other big detraction was the battery life, which was certainly below expectations. The battery inside is not massive at just 50 Wh, but that means the device needs to be even more efficient, which it is not. Some of that comes down to the X1 Carbon having a physically larger display than most Ultrabooks of course, as well as a higher than average display resolution, but there is likely more to the story. In the end, what matters is the actual battery life, and it could not live up to the lofty results of recent times. At least it charges very quickly, which is a big help.
SIM Slot on the rear of the laptop
A lot of the competition has more USB ports as well, and most have SD card readers built in too. The X1 Carbon has just two USB 3.0 ports and no SD card reader. One partial trade-off is that it does offer a model with LTE connectivity.
Despite the battery life, I really enjoyed using the X1 Carbon. It has an understated look about it which is very traditional ThinkPad, but in a much slimmer design. It is very easy to carry around in a bag, and when you get where you need to go, there is plenty of power on tap to get your work done.
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close - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
Samus, Lenovo used the IBM logo on T60 an T61 even though they weren't IBM anymore. Probably because the chassis was built in the same machines and according to the same plans and they had the shape cut out for the IBM logo. In 2007 the T61/p were being built also without the IBM logo and used a ThinkPad logo. But that was it. T61 had the last of the IBM logos in 2007.Samus - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
I understand and agree with you. It's CasualUker that seems to think there are IBM "imprints" on the T430's. LOL.close - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
CasualUker: the last one IBM made under their own name was the T43/T43p. T60 was already a Lenovo affair. Ok, they were probably riding on a lot of IBM knowhow, designs and everything but to be honest it was all downhill from there. I'm not saying they're the worst, they're still among the OK ones, just that the general level of quality and reliability has constantly dropped.I have a running T43. It's 2015 and it's still running. I had two R31 and R32 that ran until a few years ago. Also a running X200 (3 generations after lenovo took over). Had some issues but still running. After that I couldn't get a laptop to run fine for more than 3 years. And I work in a company that buys thousands of Lenovos X, T and W every year, generation after generation. Reliability is down. I have no expectations from a ThinkPad anymore.
sorten - Thursday, May 21, 2015 - link
I have to agree. Thinkpads were brilliant laptops when IBM owned the brand. I had a T20 for years. Our company started using the T440s about a year ago. I'm on my second laptop after the MB failed on the first one, and my touchscreen has stopped working. I'm going BYOD with a Surface Pro 4 as soon as it's available.Daniel Egger - Thursday, May 21, 2015 - link
Totally agree, I've had IBM Thinkpads for many years before I move everything to Apple. A couple of years ago I made the horrible mistake to buy a Lenovo Thinkpad; unusable trackpad and trackpoint is often erratic, soft controlled radio functions sometimes can be activated and other times needed a reboot, locked down BIOS to only support Lenovo branded cards in the two mini-PCIe slots, screen easily cracks due to bogus frame and design and claims from Lenovo that a laptop is not made to be transported around -- service is horrible as well.Nowadays I see them for what they are: always the cheapest and as usual you get what you pay for...
tuxRoller - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
For the enterprise, their service has been pretty great.Very fast response times, and prompt deliveries (had to replace a keyboard and battery, but for two different lappys).
I do wish they'd up their quality, though, b/c, as you say, aspects of their assembly leave room to be desired.
For linux support, however, they are the only real option. Yeah, you can hack it onto a mac (lots of folks do), but you're at the mercy of mathew garrett to fix the issues at that point.
DukeN - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
Hi,Lenovo apologist here - we've bought over around a hundred or so Thinkpad units since late 2007, and have yet to retire one. There were only two that needed a repair (under warranty), and the only other issues we have had til date have been due to keys ravaged or physical damage.
Also, LOL @ the guy citing some guy's IT business closing down because of poor Lenovo service
Samus - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
Do a quick google search into corporate fallout from Superfish before you "LOL" a lot of people irrationally overreacted costing a lot of IT departments their jobs for "putting companies in danger."It was utterly ridiculous, but not really surprising considering how unprofessional of an organization Lenovo is. They are a consumer company, not an enterprise company. Think Ideapad, not Thinkpad. Huge difference. The fact they created the unholy offspring Thinkpad E-series to replace the budget R-series (the E-series is Ideapad internals) then created the joke that is the X100 series that have literally no Thinkpad technologies (Thinklight, Trackpoint, TPM, magnesium...) just goes to show Lenovo is willing to sell anything at any price in any disguise.
carbonx1_is-the-worst - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
agree - worst customer service. tons of problems. tons of costs. i am switching to apple.Mumrik - Saturday, May 23, 2015 - link
My mother buys herself a new Thinkpad every year through her company. Through 4-6 years she has yet to have one last the whole year without the battery, keyboard or pointing device (last year of course) breaking down.