Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Review: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Few laptops have been as expected in 2012 - if such a feeling obviously exists - as Lenovo's ultimate ultrabook, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon . At 14 inches diagonally and a hair beneath 3 pounds, Lenovo is gift a appurtenance at the same weight as many 13-inch ultrabooks, inclusive the MacBook Air , but giving you an additional in. of shade size and more room to widen out.

The difference of lot of space shade to weight on the Carbon is unequivocally quite jarring. It's at least 25 percent lighter than other 14-inch laptops I've tested, a actual jump deliver in portability. That levity is mostly due to the dependence on CO essential element in the lid and in the inner hurl confine (hence the name). Lenovo says this pattern selection gives the cover the same strength as aluminum, but at a third the weight.

The X1 is slim similar to the MacBook Air, that creates it look thinner than it obviously is. At 23mm (including the footpads) in the rear, it's unequivocally no thinner than other ultrabooks on the marketplace - and quite a bit fatter than a few not long ago expelled laptops, similar to the Samsung Series 9.

The X1 Carbon comes in 4 configurations, starting at $1,400. Lenovo sent us the top-of-the-line model ($1,850), that features a third-generation Core i7 at a on fire 2.5GHz, 256GB SSD drive, 4GB RAM, and a dazzlingly splendid shade with 1600 x 900-pixel resolution. Ports add a mini-DisplayPort jack (keep compatibility in mind, as this is the usually video connector available), a card reader, and two USB ports (one 2.0, a 3.0). Wired Ethernet is existing around an enclosed USB dongle.

Performance is dazzling, as you'd expect from a P.C. with a top-of-the-line fragment similar to the X1 Carbon offers. There's no dedicated video card, so do not expect to be gaming with it, but broad app opening is very speedy. That performance, amalgamated with the super-bright LCD, comes at a cost, though. The Carbon's battery life, at hardly 3 hours, just isn't impressive.

Another complaint with the Carbon is its clickpad. I'd considered Lenovo had worked the kinks out of its touchpad issues, but the X1′s clickpad - which, in a initial is to company, uses a potion aspect - is a bit rattly and loose. This creates clicks and even taps tough to complete without the cursor jumping around on the screen. This became increasingly frustrating during my testing, but fortunately, the Carbon moreover features the important ThinkPad indicating stick, too. So, if the clickpad gets to be as well aggravating, you have an out.

The set of keys is in line with Lenovo's pierce to island-style keys on all its laptops. The action and journey are good, but not great. In general, it's a of the improved ultrabook keyboards I've encountered, and it's fitting for long-form typing.

Of course, cost is going to be the large adhering indicate with this laptop, and we think many buyers will ride toward the lower-end configurations. The $1,400 chronicle is about in line with the $1,200 MacBook Air, and that's evidently the appurtenance that both Lenovo is targeting and that buyers are going to have to import the Carbon against. They are both model computers, but in the end, we still have to give the wave to Apple for now, as the feeble battery and frustrating clickpad on the X1 tips the beam in Cupertino's favor.

WIRED Head-turningly svelte and blazingly fast: Everything you wish from an ultrabook. MIL-SPEC approved. Absolutely dazzling display. Good aged flat-black Lenovo charm.

TIRED Slow to foot (nearly 30 seconds). Surprisingly cart during normal operations, similar to running Windows Update. Clickpad is merely OK. Puny battery.

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