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
Wi-Fi Performance
Although an office worker may use this device docked at their desk, there are certainly going to be many times where the wireless performance is important. Lenovo has included the Intel Dual Band Wireles-AC 7265 wireless adapter in the X1 Carbon. This is certainly a device that I have seen in a lot of samples, and it launched in Q3 of 2014, superseding the 7260 model. It offers 2x2:2 performance in both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, and 802.11ac connectivity for a maximum of 866 Mbps assuming you have an 802.11ac router.
The X1 Carbon achieves about the same network performance as other devices with the Intel wireless card, coming in right around 400 Mbps. Although it cannot achieve the same performance as the Broadcom parts at the top of the list, I have found it to be a reliable card which connects without much issue. The first couple of devices I saw with this card did have a few connection issues, but they were both sorted out with driver updates. Since the X1 Carbon is newer, the driver installed worked well.
Speakers
The X1 Carbon has two downward firing speakers which are rated at 1 watt x 2. As always with devices this thin, expecting big performance out of the speakers is going to be quite a disappointment. Normally the biggest offender is the low frequency response, which is practically non-existent on notebooks.
The frequency response for the X1 Carbon was actually not too bad. The low end is, like all notebooks, pretty much not there, but the overall volume was very impressive. On several of the frequencies, the X1 Carbon would sustain over 100 dB(A) which is very loud. Playing the standard music track that I use to test speaker volume, I was able to hit around 87 dB(A) which is right up there with the loudest devices I have tested. The peak frequencies are all in the normal talking range, so this notebook would excel at voice conferences. It certainly does not lack volume.
Noise
Since this is a 15 watt CPU, it is going to require a fan in any sort of device that is this thin. However that does not mean it needs to be loud. A well designed laptop can keep the noise levels in check.
The X1 Carbon is one of those devices. When plugged in, there is a bit more fan noise with everything set from the factory since it chooses active cooling over passive, but it is quite reasonable. Unplugged, the device switches to passive to save power. On many workloads, the fans do not even need to kick in, but when they do, they start at right around 35 dB(A) measured an inch from the trackpad which is very quiet. The next step up is 38 dB(A) and the maximum noise seen on the X1 Carbon was around 41 dB. All in all, the noise output of the X1 Carbon is very reasonable. It is not fanless by any means, but when the fans do kick in, they start out very quiet and slowly move up to a level where they are never a bother.
Accessories
Since this is a ThinkPad, Lenovo needs to cater to the business crowd, and for many business users, much of their work day may be at a desk, but the portability of a laptop is needed for meetings or travel. The ThinkPad line has had docks for a long time, but the X1 Carbon is too thin to support the standard docking port.
To get around this, Lenovo offers a couple of docking solutions. Both connect to the power port of the X1 Carbon, which has a rubber cap installed on the right side. Remove the cap, and you gain full access to the docking port.
The first dock is the ThinkPad OneLink Adapter, which costs just $59.99. It is very basic though, with it just supporting power, Ethernet, and video, and it support PXE boot. It’s basic, but it gets the job done.
For those that need a more robust dock, there is also the OneLink Pro Dock, and it offers a lot more, but also costs a lot more at $179.99. There are four USB 3.0 ports, with one always powered in order to charge your phone, and there are also two USB 2.0 ports. DisplayPort and DVI are both available in order to run a couple of monitors, and it also has Gigabit Ethernet. The 90 watt AC Adapter keeps everything powered. The Pro Dock also has a headset jack.
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Systemsplanet - Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - link
+1 on HP.-2 Dell
I previously bought Dells until two XPS 18's with flaky USB3 drivers that ran at USB2 speeds no matter what perpheral/cable you used. Dell blamed Microsoft. Who knows. Premium Dell price means it should be integrated. With USB2 or wireless backup the machine was worthless to me. Luckily my wife cracked the display while mopping the floor. Never been so happy.
Bought the HP Zbook 17 last December in a minimal config. Installed a Samsung pcie boot disk xp941 which gets 800/700 MB/ss. Pulled out the DVD and it now hosts a total of 4 1TB SSD drives in a laptop form factor. Love the BIOS. Never had such a problem free experience tricking out a new computer.
Reviewed here on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R20OURYM...
Also, 20Gb/s Thunderbolt 2 rocks for backup and high resolution display on a single bus.
mooninite - Thursday, May 21, 2015 - link
Lenovos are a joke. People associate them with "business" and "reliability" and unfortunately put their dollars in an inappropriate place.The ASUS Zenbook line far exceeds what you get from Lenovo. The current Haswell UX301LAA is a marvelous piece of technology. HiDPI screen. i7. Iris graphics. 8GB ram, 512GB SSD. The new Broadwell version is coming out soon and will blow any other laptop - sans discrete cards - out of the water in every category (cpu, graphics, IO, battery life).
It's time for people to wake up and stop drinking the Lenovo / ThinkPad coolaid. They're not the prized, derived from the Gods, piece of hardware any longer.
alexdi - Thursday, May 21, 2015 - link
This review is missing a conclusion. The basic question is: given everything else out there, would you buy the thing with your own money? If not, what would you buy instead and why? The initial tone of the review is almost an advertisement, but then slides down after the CPU charts. What's your verdict?BGADK - Thursday, May 21, 2015 - link
The X1 was one of the ultrabook PC's for business users I evaluated, but in the end I choose the Fujitsu U904. Lighter, and with better specs, even if it still does not have a Broadwell CPU.I hope Anandtech take a look at the U904, which for me is the best ultrabook in the market.
Laststop311 - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
if this had the i7-5650u with 6000 graphics and double the eu's at 48 I would of probably bought it. Would of preferred the 1920x1080 screen being ips. If you game at 1920x1080 its going to look better on a native 1920x1080 screen. Also less pixels means larger pixels that let more light through increasing battery life as well as less pixels to process. Also wouldn't mind if they made it a little thicker and heavier and bumped the battery up to 75wh 50% more than the 50wh battery.If only I could have that laptop changed to those specs I'd be a buyer 100%
coder111 - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
Are they still shipping their computers with malware/spyware rootkits installed?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfish
flabber - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
I have found ThinkPads to be my preferred laptops for two reasons : full maintenance documentation available online, the keyboard/trackpoint.I still have a T41p kicking around, a X61 Tablet and a T61p. Only the T61p had given me a problem with the nVidia graphics adapter. Lenovo had made a recall, but it failed 3 after it had expired.
Great machines - no need to replace my X61 Tablet, so I am sticking with that for now.
Scipio Africanus - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
HP Elitebook/Zbooks will have the same documentation and also has a pretty good keyboard and trackpoint. Their service has been exemplary as well giving me fast turnaround for a simple loose power connector.seanleeforever - Tuesday, June 9, 2015 - link
ScipioI have yet to find a track pointer implementation that's come close to thinkpads. and I have used 4 elitebook/zbooks including the very last generation of them, and number of dell workstations. my work always has HP/Dell but my personal purchase is always thinkpad just for the track pointer. the fact that you even mentioned "trackpoint" in Zbooks means you don't use the track pointer at all.
truth to be told. I desperately want another manufacture to come up with a decent trackpointer so I can dump thinkpad line.
just2btecky - Friday, May 22, 2015 - link
What OS was this laptop tested on, or can The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon miraculously run sans OS? Just curious!