Lenovo thinkpad display size. Lenovo Thinkpad T16 Gen 1 review: A big-screened workstation for pros

Lenovo ThinkPad X230 review: Lenovo ThinkPad X230

Lenovo’s ultraportable business laptop has Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge CPU and a brand-new keyboard, but can that overcome its old-school looks?

I started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. Now I explore wearable tech, VR/AR, tablets, gaming and future/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future.

• Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps

The time of year has finally come for Intel’s latest Ivy Bridge processors to flood into mainstream laptops, after first appearing in high-end quad-core systems. The Lenovo ThinkPad X230 wins the prize for being the first laptop we’ve seen in 2012 to incorporate a new third-gen Intel Core i5 processor.

Lenovo ThinkPad X230

The Good

The Lenovo ThinkPad X230 fits a full-power third-gen Intel Core i5 processor in a 12.5-inch 3-pounder, and has great battery life and an improved keyboard.

The Bottom Line

There may not be a better full-fledged business ultraportable than the ThinkPad X230, but more efficient, less expensive, and thinner ultrabooks are the real future of this category.

However, we’ve seen the likes of the ThinkPad X230 before: several times, in fact. Lenovo’s X-series laptops have always been high-end ultraportable machines for business travelers who need to work on the go with little compromise. This 12-incher is the successor to the ThinkPad X220. an excellent all-around ultraportable that crammed a fast processor, long battery life, and sturdy construction into a compact but not inexpensive form. The new X230 retains the X220’s unusual 12.5-inch display and spacious keyboard layout, but the keyboard itself has seen a big change.

Gone is the old Lenovo ThinkPad keyboard: not just here, but in all new ThinkPad models. Instead, a clean raised island-key backlit keyboard has taken its place. Don’t worry, this keyboard has been well-tested in other Lenovo laptops already.

While the keyboard is new, the tiny touch pad and red trackpoint remain stubbornly the same. And this ThinkPad remains a somewhat bulky piece of equipment for an ultraportable, one clearly meant for legacy equipment like ExpressCards and IT-friendly software deployment and security.

This is your cleaner, more modern ThinkPad: not a new ThinkPad, really, but a slightly better and more refined one. It’s every bit the high-performing, ever-so-slightly thick road warrior as ever, but in a changing world where MacBook Airs and tinier ultrabooks are gaining ground, one can’t help but wonder how much longer laptops like the X230 will be around.

ThinkPads have an unmistakable and seemingly unchanging design footprint. The X230 looks just like the X220 from the outside, or nearly any other ThinkPad: matte magnesium casing all around gives this laptop a strength, heft, and bulk that’s unique. The X230’s screen opens up a full 180 degrees on smooth metal hinges, the top lip angled down to cup the laptop and offer a place to thumb open the lid.

The X230 is relatively lightweight at 3.46 pounds, but it doesn’t feel that way because it’s bulky. At an inch thick, this laptop’s far from a MacBook Air in terms of being wafer-thin. It’s also a far cry from ultrabooks like the Dell XPS 13. but at least the chassis feels impact-resistant and rock-solid.

The big story on the new X230 is the keyboard, but the clean, raised and slightly convex keys have been seen on ThinkPads before: namely, last year’s ThinkPad Edge series and X1. The large and unencumbered keys are excellent, as good as the traditional ThinkPad keyboard and then some, down to a nice clacky click and good key travel. Gone, too, are some of the busy extra buttons on the top of the keyboard: a simple row of function buttons do double duty for screen brightness, video chat and other hotkeys, while dedicated speaker and microphone mute, volume control, and ThinkVantage hotkeys lie above that. Lenovo’s ThinkVantage software suite gives you one-stop access to all of the business-friendly support and system tools in one place, including troubleshooting, downloading software updates, and managing security and power settings.

Not only does the keyboard have spill resistance (drain holes run to the bottom), but there’s two forms of backlighting: two levels of LED brightness under the keys, and an overhead LED light tucked above the Web camera on the top of the upper lid. Overkill? Sure, but it’s nice for in-flight use on a red-eye in case you’ve misplaced your USB drive.

Not so new is the red trackpoint nubbin, or the ThinkPad Nipple. Dedicated ThinkPad users swear by them, but no one else does. The rubber point’s not the problem; it’s the large set of dedicated buttons above the touch pad that cramps the otherwise fine multitouch pad’s usable space down to practically postage-stamp range. If you’ve learned how to use chiral scrolling for making your way down Web pages, you’ll be fine. If you have no idea what chiral scrolling is (it’s a spiral pattern you make with your finger), you’ll be pissed.

ThinkPads are business laptops, and the X230 comes with plenty of security hardware and software. A fingerprint reader sits next to the trackpad; vPro technology and a suite of encryption and IT-friendly software services lie waiting to entice business use. ThinkPads often feel like the BlackBerrys of the laptop world: reliable, and full of enterprise features that many businesses don’t always need anymore. A MacBook Air or an ultrabook, such as the Dell XPS 13 or HP Folio 13, fit the bill for many, and in many cases might even cost less.

The 12.5-inch display definitely feels smaller than that of a 13-inch laptop, but it’s a solid step up from the more common 11-inch screen. At 1,366×768 pixels, this is the same resolution you’d find on nearly all 11- to 13-inch laptops, and a good number of 14- and 15-inch ones as well. Lenovo’s screens are always clear and bright, with good off-axis viewing, and the X230’s screen is no exception: that’s a good thing, since the X230’s screen hinge opens up a full 180 degrees. Even better, as it’s a business laptop, it has a matte screen, which is better for glare-free reading (a feature sadly almost impossible to find in a consumer laptop).

Stereo speakers, a high-quality Webcam, and better microphones than you’ll find on the average laptop give the X230 an edge for anyone considering heavy Web conferencing.

As with most ThinkPads, the X230 is highly configurable. New to this year’s update are more USB 3.0 ports, and a Mini DisplayPort to go alongside VGA. WiMax 4G and Gobi antennas for 4G LTE or HSPA are also available. CPU options run from a 2.4GHz Core i3-2370M up to a 2.9GHz Core i7-3520M. Storage options include either a 250 or 320GB hard drive, or an SSD up to 256GB. Lenovo hasn’t provided on all these configurations yet, but stay tuned for an update once the systems formally go on sale.

Our configuration as sent by Lenovo rings up at a lofty 1,249, which includes a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5-3320M processor, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive, and Windows 7 Professional. That’s a lot to pay for a laptop with no dedicated graphics and no SSD storage.

Intel’s latest third-gen Ivy Bridge Core i-series processors have never been touted as offering a major performance leap over last year’s Sandy Bridge predecessors, and that’s proven here. In our benchmark tests, the ThinkPad X230 had modest multitasking improvements over last year’s X220 (which had a second-gen 2.5 GHz Core i5-2520M CPU). In single-task tests, the improvement margin grew even slimmer. It’s worth upgrading to newer CPUs assuming are equivalent, of course, but you shouldn’t go buying this year’s version if you already have last year’s processor.

Much has been made of Intel’s next-generation HD 4000 graphics, including by myself. On this system, the improvement is harder to appreciate. Street Fighter IV played in native 1,366×768-pixel resolution at 19.7 frames per second.- hardly eye-popping. Other games play relatively well with graphics settings toned down. Then again, you’re probably not meant to be playing games on your ThinkPad, assuming it was office-issued. Those wanting more oomph will still want to seek out dedicated graphics, which aren’t an option on the X230.

Last year’s ThinkPad X220 had a truly excellent 6 hours and 41 minutes of battery life. You get a little less this time: the X230 lasted for a still very good but not as excellent 6 hours and 4 minutes, with an included removable six-cell battery. Lenovo offers a nine-cell battery upgrade as an option, but the battery life on the X230 is still better than many ultrabooks. With proper management, it’ll last a full work day.

Lenovo ThinkPads generally include a standard one-year mail-in warranty, which may not be adequate for a mission-critical computer. Several other service tiers and terms are available, including at-home service and accidental damage protection. In addition to the onboard ThinkVantage troubleshooting and driver update apps, the Lenovo Web site offers the same information, but an actual tech-support contact number can be hard to find (although chances are your company IT team would handle any problems with the system). If you do need to call Lenovo, try this 24-7 support line: 1-800-426-7378.

Lenovo Thinkpad T16 Gen 1 review: A big-screened workstation for pros

The Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 is a great option for business professionals thanks to its spacious keyboard, enormous screen, and zippy performance.

Sometimes all you need is a gigantic screen. Whether it’s to get a better look at a PowerPoint slide or blow up a dense Excel spreadsheet, it’s easier to get a lot of work done when you’ve got a larger canvas. In years past, that might have meant springing for a bulky 17-inch class laptop. Thanks to narrow bezels, Lenovo’s ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 has managed to cram a 16-inch display into a frame that would’ve housed a 15-inch just a few short years ago. With ultrabook thinness, plenty of ports, and a meaty Intel i7 chip, this business laptop is plenty productive even without external screens or desktop docks.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Specifications and features

Our review unit features an Intel Core i7-1270P CPU, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB of DDR4 RAM, and 512GB of NVMe PCIe SSD storage. For more details, check out the specifications list below:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-1270P (12 cores, 16 threads: 4 performance, 8 efficiency) with vPro
• Memory: 16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz RAM soldered (up to 48 GB with additional SODIMM)
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics (Nvidia GeForce MX550 also available with i7-1260P)
• Display: 16-inch 16×10 WUXGA (1920×1200) matte IPS LCD
• Storage: 512 GB M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe solid state drive
• Webcam: 1080p with physical shutter
• Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, 1x HDMI
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, 5G WWAN (optional)
• Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition and fingerprint reader
• Battery capacity: 86Wh
• Dimensions: 14.25 W x 10.06 L x 0.81 H inches
• Weight: 3.9 pounds, 4.95 pounds with AC adapter
• Price: 1,458.72

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Design and build quality

If we can give Lenovo points for anything, it’s consistency. If you get a ThinkPad, it acts like a ThinkPad. Rarely does a slinky, fashionable computer get the ThinkPad badge but instead these are computers with few frills intended for years of use. The ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 embodies this no-nonsense, function-over-form design. Its most distinctive features are its big screen and wide keyboard, both of which make this big machine perfect for an all-in-one workstation.

Just about everything else about this big, slim wedge is made for getting down to your spreadsheets, emails, and Word docs. Its lightly textured plastic gives it a durable feeling, like it’d be able to sustain some bumps and jostles during its service lifetime. Since it is such an expansive laptop, it has a little bit of flex, but very little of that matters once you place the T16 where you’d likely use it–on a desk. With its rubber feet sitting stably on a work surface, the T16 stays planted very nicely. In an office setting, I can see this working well on its own, or in a hotdesking scenario hooked up to external screens with a Thunderbolt hub.

While I found it to be a bit big for a café table (and you probably won’t be using it on an airplane’s tray table), the slim profile makes it easy to fit into a bag meant for a 15-inch laptop. If you’ve ever thought about getting a portable USB-C powered display for your small ultrabook, you actually might be better off toting one of these big-screened workstations instead.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Connectivity

Although it’s as thin as a smaller ultrabook, the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 manages to fit the ports you’d want in 2023. It has not one but two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-size USB 3 port, a full-size HDMI port, a 3.5mm headset jack, and even a full-size RJ45 ethernet jack all along the left side of the device. On the right side, there’s a well-placed USB 3 port, perfect for a corded mouse if you’re righthanded. Overall, for a device in 2023, it represents a wide variety of options, meaning if you have few enough peripherals the T16 might even be suited for desk duty without a dock or dongle.

Wireless connectivity is exactly what we’d expect from a modern, Intel-based laptop featuring Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1. As some organizations might want mobile wireless as well, Lenovo offers up cellular, although our model didn’t come with 4G or 5G. Finally, if your org uses Smart cards, there’s a spot for an optional Smart card reader as well.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Keyboard and trackpad

Keyboard quality is a hallmark of the ThinkPad brand and the T16 is no exception. It has a light-but-precise-feeling keyboard with comfortable keycaps and I was happy to write the majority of this review on it. Given the big, 16-inch display inside the T16, there’s extra space on the right side of the keyboard that’s given over to a numpad. While I’ve seen some laptop keypads crammed into smaller laptops with uncomfortable narrow buttons, the numpad on the T16 looks and works like a natural extension of the keyboard.

The big touchpad is perhaps less up to par here, and I found it to be overly sensitive and often hijacked my cursor while I was trying to work. The palm detection in particular wasn’t well-tuned by default and since the trackpad takes up a good portion of the wrist rest, it’s an issue I ran into frequently. Its surface is supposedly made from a slippery mylar, which feels fine but it’s a definite downgrade from a glass material.

Real ones know that ThinkPads also come with an alternative to the trackpad, which is called a TrackPoint. This red nub in the middle of the keyboard lets you use the mouse without moving your hands down to the trackpad. It’s an acquired taste, but the TrackPoint is pretty awesome once you’ve mastered it. With three buttons (the middle lets you scroll when held down), it’s a far better option for high-precision mouse use.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Display, speakers, and webcam

The star of the show here is the ThinkPad T16’s honkin’ huge 16-inch widescreen IPS LCD. Although it’s not 4K or any other bananas high-resolution, at 1920×1200 and with a usefully-tall 16:10 aspect ratio, it’s still an excellent default option. The 300-nit peak brightness of this matte-finished panel was also just right, making glare a non-issue in every location. Assuming you’re tackling ordinary business tasks and not video editing or graphic design jobs, the T16’s big screen feels so much more expansive than a usual ultrabook than the extra 2 or 3 inches on paper may suggest.

While I was hoping for impressive audio performance from the ThinkPad T16 Gen 1, I came away disappointed. While the twin 2W speakers are fine, they’re blown away by other, smaller laptops packing twice the speakers with a offering far “bigger” sound. It’s workable if you’re mostly listening to meetings on Microsoft Teams, but if you like to crank up some jams while you get down to business you might want to grab a nice pair of headphones instead.

The webcam is another mixed bag. Although I loved that it has a physical shutter and supports Windows Hello face login, it’s not particularly great at making faces look their best or sharpest (it has a maximum resolution of 1920×1080, and looks rather noisy). I found that in a café involving mixed warm indoor and cool outdoor lighting, it was unable to make me look like anything but a ghost. Compared to other cameras I’ve tried lately, this is passable but not ideal.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Performance

In terms of performance, the ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 is a bit of a sleeper. Although it’s a plain-looking business workstation, it’s quiet and powerful. The 12 core, 16 thread Intel Core i7-1270P has a 28W TDP, and the bigger laptop body means it’s kept cool and quiet even at full tilt. We put the T16 through its paces with our suite of benchmarks and found it to be competent and capable of ripping through typical business tasks, but probably not graphically intense chores like 3D games or creative work.

We use the PCMark 10 benchmark to get a repeatable, comparable look at a laptop’s abilities in a range of normal tasks. With all its cores, the ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 handily beat other thin business notebooks, and bested many of its smaller business rivals. There’s little doubt that for complex analysis work, you shouldn’t end up waiting long at all.

In this performance test, we use Cinebench R15 to get a sense for how well all a laptop’s processors work together to render 3D graphics. With its dozen cores, the ThinkPad T16 held up quite well. It’s clear that the extra threads as well as the bonus performance cores in the Intel P chips make a difference in these types of scenarios.

Your boss would love knowing that you have a ThinkPad T16 simply because it’s rather mediocre at graphically-challenging tasks like gaming. The i7 chip inside has Intel’s latest Xe Graphics onboard, but tested behind some other models with more graphics cores when we threw an the 3DMark Time Spy test at it. Rest assured that if you aren’t planning to secretly play Halo Infinite at work, the T16 should handle business-oriented tasks without struggle.

Our last performance comparison takes a look at video encoding, using a high-definition file ripped from a Blu-ray disk. Using Handbrake, we time how long it takes to turn the movie into a tablet-friendly file that’s heavily compressed. In this test, the T16 was crushed by the high-powered Asus Zenbook Pro 14 Duo with its powerful i7-12700H chip, but bested the U-class processor seen in machines like the HP Dragonfly Folio G3.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Battery Life

Even though it’s a slim notebook, the ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 has a fairly large battery inside, clocking in at 86Wh. In our looping video test, we measured just under seven hours of runtime.

This means it can last a decent amount of time while away from a charger, although its big screen and higher performance P-class chip seem to suck down more battery. ARM-based like the Surface Pro 9, with the SQ3 chip, continue to offer the best battery life around, but we do wonder if there will ever be a big-screened laptop with that kind of processor inside.

Lenovo ThinkPad T16: Conclusion

It isn’t surprising that the Lenovo ThinkPad T16 Gen 1 is a capable workhorse. After all, the ThinkPad name still stands for something and that something is getting work done. While I wouldn’t recommend it for heavy graphics tasks or intensive editing in Adobe Premiere, this is a single machine that bridges the worlds of office desktop and laptop roles with aplomb and as little nonsense as possible.

If you’re considering the T16 for yourself or people in your organization, you’ll appreciate the quality keyboard, full-sized numpad, capable processor, and big display. For people who manage databases, tackle a ton of email, or hardcore spreadsheet jockeying, this is the portable, powerful work laptop that can help you stay in the zone at a desk or on the jobsite.

The new X1 Carbon does almost everything right, but battery life is much shorter than competitors or predecessors.

Tom’s Hardware Verdict

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) offers first-class usability and flexibility with a colorful display and great keyboard, but a high-wattage, P-series processor drags down battery life.

Pros

• Bright, colorful display
• Best-in-class keyboard
• Sharp, 1080p webcam
• Great mix of ports

Cons

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Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon line has a decade-long tradition of delivering industry-leading business laptops that usually sit among the best ultrabooks for productivity. Starting at 1,319 (1,564 as configured), the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) continues this legacy with a fantastic keyboard, a bright and colorful display and solid performance all wrapped up in a lightweight package with strong build quality. It even throws in a sharp, 1080p webcam for good measure.

However, in attempting to upgrade the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s performance for Gen 10, Lenovo has significantly harmed its battery life. The company primarily sells the Carbon with Intel’s 28-watt P-series processors rather than the 15-watt U-series CPUs it used in prior gen products. The result is a laptop that lasted less than 9 hours on our battery test, which is several hours less than both competitors and last year’s X1 Carbon. If you’re willing to compromise on endurance, however, the X1 Carbon (Gen 10) is a strong choice that will make you more productive.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The raven black, boxy, angular chassis of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon hasn’t changed in quite a while so if you’ve seen a prior model, you may not notice any differences. But Lenovo’s ThinkPad aesthetic is like the design of a Rolls Royce or a Jaguar — a classic look that doesn’t need to be reinvented with each product generation. As always, the black chassis has just a few splashes of vibrant red, in the form of the X1 Carbon logo, the illuminated red “i” in ThinkPad which shows the power/sleep status and the TrackPoint pointing stick which lives in the middle of the keyboard. If you want an extra dose of style, you can opt for a lid with a cross-hatch, carbon-fiber pattern.

With a starting weight of just 2.48 pounds (1.12 kg). the ThinkPad X1 Carbon remains one of the lightest 14-inch laptops on the market and is even svelter than 13-inch competitors such as the MacBook Air (2.7 pounds), and Lenovo’s own ThinkPad Z13 (2.78 pounds). Asus’s ZenBook S 13 is just 0.05 pounds lighter, but HP’s Elite Dragonfly is a feathery 2.2 pounds.

The X1 Carbon is a mere 12.43 x 8.76 inches (width x ddpth) and just 0.60 inches thick. Considering the thinness, Lenovo does a great job of fitting in all the major ports you need, including two USB Type-A ports, a full-size HDMI connector and dual Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C connections. HP’s 0.64-inch thick Dragonfly packs in a single Type-A port, only thanks to a drop-jaw hinge and other competitors such as the 0.59-inch thick ZenBook, the 0.44-inch thick MacBook and the 0.55-inch thick ThinkPad Z13 don’t have any Type-A ports at all.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) Specs

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

Our review configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon came configured with an Intel Core i7-1260P CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. With these kinds of specs, it almost goes without saying that everyday tasks such as web browsing, watching videos and editing documents are smooth and seamless. With 16GB of RAM, you can do a lot of multitasking too.

However, Lenovo made a polarizing choice with the processor. While prior Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbons used 15-watt U-series CPUs to save power, this X1 Carbon comes with a 28-watt, P-series processor that has had its TDP configured down to 20 watts. The 12-core processor, which has four performance cores and eight efficiency cores, promises better performance while using just a little more power, but, on our tests, the X1 Carbon didn’t always outpace competitors with 15-watt processors and its battery life (more on that later) is much lower.

On Geekbench 5.4, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall processing prowess, the X1 Carbon returned a single-core score of 1,644 and a multi-core mark of 8,159. That puts it squarely in the middle of the pack amongst its competitors. The MacBook Air and its M2 processor scored 1,932 and 8,919 while Lenovo’s ThinkPad Z13 and its AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U processor, which has eight full-powered cores, delivered a higher multi-core score of 8,768 paired with a lower single-core mark of 1,501. The ZenBook S 13 OLED, which has a Ryzen 7 6800U, scored 1,517 and 7,606 while the Core i7-1265U-powered HP Elite Dragonfly G3 effectively tied the ThinkPad X1 Carbon in single-core, hitting 1,647 while falling behind in multi-core with 6,501.

The 512GB PCIe SSD was pretty speedy, copying 25GB of files at a rate of 1,461.5 MBps. That’s ahead of the MacBook Air (958.9 MBps), the ThinkPad Z13 (930.4 MBps) and the HP Elite Dragonfly (1,157.2 MBps). Only the Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED (1,543.9 MBps) was slightly ahead.

The X1 Carbon (Gen 10) took 12 minutes and 33 seconds to transcode a 4K video into 1080p. That’s a lot slower than any of its non-Intel-powered competitors as the ThinkPad Z13 (7:09), MacBook Air (7:52) and Zenbook S 13 OLED (8:15) were much quicker. However, the Dragonfly (13:09) took a little longer to finish.

To see how well the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) performs over time, we launched Cinebench R23 for 20 consecutive runs. After starting at a high score of 8,078, the laptop settled into the 6,400 to 6,800 range with an overall average of 6,633.

During the test, the 1270P’s four performance cores averaged 2.08 GHz while the eight efficiency cores ran at 1.57 GHz. The CPU package temperature averaged 83.4 degrees Celsius. The processor, with its 20-watt TDP, had an average draw of 19.87 watts.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) is available with a variety of 16:10 aspect ratio panels, with resolutions ranging from 1920 x 1200 up to 3840 x 2400. Our review configuration sported a 1920 x 1200 touch screen which provided bright, sharp images with wide viewing angles and solid color reproduction.

The 16:10 aspect ratio is great for surfing the web or editing documents, because it provides 11 percent more vertical screen real estate than a typical, 16:9 display. That could mean an extra paragraph of text before you need to scroll. However, there will be slightly larger black bars on the top and bottom when you watch movies, all of which have a 16:9 aspect ratio.

When I watched a 1080p trailer for the Netflix show Wednesday, fine details like the main character’s eye brows or the stripes on a girl’s school uniform were sharp and detailed. Colors like the red of school lockers or the blue of pool water seemed particularly vibrant. And images were easy to see – with barely any washout – at a full 90 degrees to the left or right.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s display registered a luminous 406 nits on our light meter, which is brighter than the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 (370 nits) and the Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED (321 nits). The ThinkPad Z13 is a little brighter at 429 nits while the MacBook Air reaches all the way to 489 nits.

According to our colorimeter, the panel can reproduce a full 106 percent of the sRGB color gamut, but a modest 75.2 percent of the wider, DCI-P3 gamut. Those numbers are pretty good overall and about on-par with the ThinkPad Z13 (107 / 75.8 percent) and MacBook Air (107 / 75.9 percent). The HP Elite Dragonfly (80.2 /113) was a tad better, but the Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED (126 / 89. 3 percent) blew all of the competitors away, thanks to its OLED panel.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

Likely because of its high-powered P-series Intel processor, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 10th Gen has much worse battery life than its competitors and than the prior generation. On our battery test, which involves web surfing and video streaming at 150 nits of brightness, Lenovo’s laptop lasted a mere 8 hours and 48 minutes. That might not sound bad when taken in isolation, but consider that the Gen X1 Carbon (Gen 9) we tested last year — which had the same 1920 x 1200 resolution display but a 15-watt U series processor — endured for 15 hours and 39 minutes. If your daily use is more intensive than our test (you run at full brightness for example) you could find yourself needing to plug in well before the work day is done.

All of the X1 Carbon’s current competitors lasted quite a bit longer on our test. The Intel Core i7-1265U-powered HP Elite Dragonfly G3, AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U-enabled ThinkPad Z13 and M2-sporting MacBook Air all endured for around 14 hours while the Ryzen 7 6800U-enabled ZenBook S 13 quit after 11 hours.

Though it was unavailable originally, Lenovo recently added the option to configure your ThinkPad X1 Carbon with a 15-watt, Intel U-series CPU. We haven’t tested a unit with this processor so we can’t vouch for its battery life, but we expect that it would last significantly longer on a charge.

Keyboard, TrackPoint and Touchpad on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The X1 Carbon (Gen 10) has the kind snappy, responsive keyboard that ThinkPads are famous for, but with a slight twist. The keycaps still have the slightly concave surface that makes feeling one’s way around so easy, but they have been squared a bit for what Lenovo says are “cleaner lines.” I liked typing on the more rounded keys of the last-gen model a little better, but these still have plenty of travel and feedback. The soft-touch material on the palm rest kept my wrists feeling comfortable as I clacked my way to 97 words-per-minute and a 4 percent error rate – a typical score for me – on the 10fastfingers typing test.

Like pretty much every ThinkPad, the X1 Carbon (Gen 10) has two different pointing devices: a glass touchpad and a TrackPoint pointing stick. As always, the TrackPoint allowed me to navigate around the desktop with great precision and without ever having to lift my hands off of the home row. If, like me, you appreciate the time and unnecessary movement you save by using a pointing stick, you’ll really appreciate this laptop.

However, if you don’t like the little red nub, you can ignore it and use the 4.3 x 2.3-inch glass touchpad. In my tests, it also provided very accurate movements and responded flawlessly to all the multitouch gestures I tried, including three-finger swipe and pinch-to-zoom. I really appreciated the smooth surface, which gave me just enough friction to keep my finger from sliding around.

Audio on on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The four-speaker audio system is accurate and loud, though not overly rich. When I listened to AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” the guitars, vocals and drums were all clear, with minimal distortion and just a slight hint of tinniness. However, I didn’t detect much separation of sound as all the instruments sounded like they were coming from one place.

At maximum volume, the sound was loud enough to fill a medium-sized room. So, if you’re planning to use the X1 Carbon (Gen 10) for a conference call or a demo with other people sitting around you, they should all be able to hear it.

Lenovo’s Commercial Vantage utility allows you to choose among different audio profiles, including Music, Voice and Movie. I found that the music output was actually clearest and most accurate in Dynamic mode, which chooses the best profile for you. The Music mode seemed a little muffled.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

You can upgrade the M.2 2080 SSD on the ThinkPad X1 (Gen 10) but not the RAM, which is soldered to the motherboard. To get to the SSD, I needed to remove the bottom cover which has five captive, Philips head screws. Unfortunately, after they were loosened, it was really difficult to pry the cover off, even with a spudger.

Once I got the back cover off, I found the SSD underneath a copper heatsink, with one screw holding it in place. There’s also a WWAN slot for the optional 5G module, but there were no antenna wires on our unit, suggesting that, even if you bought a card, you wouldn’t be able to use it. Putting the cover back on was nearly as difficult as taking it off so I don’t recommend doing an upgrade unless you really need a higher-capacity SSD than the laptop came with.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) has air in-take holes under the keys to help keep the system’s thermals under control and, indeed, the skin temperature stayed cool during our testing. When balancing the laptop on my lap and typing on it, the system never felt warm.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 9th Gen Quick Review: 16:10 display goes a long way

Back with another quick review for Lenovo fans, we have the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 9th Gen up for inspection.

Over nine generations, Lenovo has carved out a premium business niche for itself with its X1 lineup. Quickly iterating on a formula of thinness and power, the X1 has earned the industry perception of being the creme de la creme of business laptops.

Fortunately, there is a whole internet of documented history on the X1, and the ninth generation deviates little from it, so today’s review can FOCUS on the few subtle changes that elevate this laptop from an ‘also-ran’ upgrade to a noticeable seat change.

Look and Feel

As previously mentioned, the X1 has built on a steady design aesthetic that hasn’t deviated much over the past few years. The X1 9th Gen maintains its stealth black vogue.

The model I reviewed came with Carbon fiber weaving on the cover, which is a slight departure from the traditional oily fingerprint magnet matte black cover of previous generations.

Another subtle design change comes with the new hinge design that ushers in a dual hinge make up versus the single bar most notably associated with the X1 line up.

Lenovo also shifted the power button on the deck of the laptop and placed it back on the right-justified of the keyboard. For the past few years, it was placed flush on the port side of the laptop making it a hassle to power on and off without muscle memory developed.

The weight and portability remain largely untouched by Lenovo’s latest offering where the X1 9th Gen feels just as light as its predecessors for better or worse.

Per usual, the X1 9th Gen comes with the coveted mil-spec tested design to help protect the device from spills, extreme temps, dust, drops and other unforeseen elements.

Other familiar features are a return of the great key travel from Lenovo’s U-shaped chicklet keyboard and moderately sized glass trackpad.

Regarding the port situation, the X1 9th Gen ups its game by moving to Thunderbolt 4 over the previous Thunderbolt 3 implementation from last year. Users now get two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, and full HDMI slot with support for 2.0 capabilities, along with a mic/headphone jack as well.

:10 Display

Perhaps, the biggest change from 8th to 9th Gen for the X1 is the new 16:10 display aspect ratio screen. Lenovo has finally adopted the narrower but taller screen design to give users and productivity worker better real estate to get things done.

The addition of the 16:10 screen marks a subtle but substantial seat change in the X1’s history as it also brings a overall chassis design that is slightly narrower than previous models.

The black bars that come with a 16:10 screen fade quickly into the background during video watching.

Lenovo sticks with its matte display this generation, which helps with visibility in those overly lit offices or outdoor working conditions.

After years of using a Surface Laptop and watching my wife use her MacBook, the traditional 16:9 displays truly feel outdated and counter-intuitive for a “productivity” machine.

Performance

While not much else has changed for the X1 9th Gen aside from the screen, the other largest upgrade comes in the form of the 11th Gen Intel processor.

As with most laptops coming out in 2021, Intel’s 11th Gen once again proves to be the biggest upgrade for devices this year.

Combined with the improved graphics performance from the Intel Xe graphics spec, the X1 9th Gen packs a substantial boost in performance in 2021.

Rendering videos and exports were speedy as well as transferring files between platforms and software. I don’t shoot any content in 4K but 1080p and even 2K videos 20 mins in length converted and exported in a little under 15 minutes which a world of difference from the relatively slow performance of the Surface Laptop 4.

Photo, CAD, and audio editing were handled with ease by the X1 Carbon 9th Gen. Perhaps, the only blemish in its performance rankings is its gaming stats.

Pushing the upper limits of 30 plus frames still allows for some lightweight gaming, when and/if in a pinch but don’t rely on the X1 for gaming.

Finally, the improved battery design of the X1 9th Gen inches out its predecessor as well some of its competitors going about ten and a half hours of moderate use, 7 hours under heavy and close to thirteen with light use.

The 65W charger quickly charges the laptop and uses a USB-C lead for connectivity which allows the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 9th Gen to be charged by most USC-enabled charger.

Summary

The X1 Carbon 9th Gen is a pricey proposition in most regards which adds to its enterprise cache. However, with improved GPU, memory and battery performance coupled with the intuitive 16:10 aspect ratio, the X1 9th Gen is well worth the yearly upgrade this time around.