When Lenovo launched the ThinkPad X1 Carbon in 2012, the uber-light 14-inch laptop computer took the business notebook world by storm with its svelte, 3-pound carbon-fiber chassis. when adding barely screen version in 2013, the ThinkPad-maker has free its second-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon, complete with a power-efficient Intel fourth Generation Core Series processor, associate degree nonobligatory QHD (2560 x 1440) screen and a first-of-its-kind adaptative perform Row with keys that light-weight with completely different symbols, betting on what application you employ. Its new processor and screen supply spectacular enhancements over the first-gen X1 Carbon, however this $1,679 ($1,299 to start) Ultrabook additionally includes a few annoying drawbacks that create it but a no brainer for productivity-minded users.
The new ThinkPad X1 Carbon appearance nearly the image of its forerunner with a straightforward, however terribly skinny raven black carbon fiber chassis that is adorned with the ThinkPad brand on its lid and adds a splash of color with the red TrackPoint nub and some of red stripes on the clickpad. sadly, Lenovo ditched the luxurious fool lid and deck on the first for a less-attractive and cozy arduous matte surface.
The new X1 Carbon may be a bit lighter than its forerunner, advisement simply two.8 pounds while not bit and three.15 pounds wherever the first-gen model was two.99 and 3.25 pounds, severally. This machine is additionally a little bit agent, measuring .69 inches thick while not bit and .72 inches with bit as opposition .74 and .81 inches on the first. Overall, the bit screen version of the X1 Carbon 2nd-generation (13 x eight.9 x.73, 3.15 pounds) is barely a bit bit larger than the 13-inch MacBook Air (12.8 x 9 x 0.68 inches, three pounds) however is way agent and lighter than different 14-inch business laptops, together with the horsepower ZBook fourteen (13.4 x 9.3 x 0.83 inches, 3.96 pounds) and holler Latitude 7440 (12.2 x 8.3 x .79 inches, 3.9 pounds).
Like the original X1 Carbon, the second-generation model is made to require a little of a licking. owing to its sturdy carbon fiber and Mg chassis, the X1 Carbon has passed variety of MilSpec tests, together with ones for humidness, extreme temperatures, sand exposure, high altitudes, vibration and mechanical shocks.
On the new X1 Carbon, Lenovo has created some radical changes to its ancient ThinkPad keyboard, each in terms of layout and practicality. a brand new adaptative perform Row sits at the highest of the keyboard, substitution the quality perform row you will find on the first X1 Carbon and each different laptop computer created. rather than tactile keys, the adaptative Row has electrical phenomenon bit buttons that remove darkness from with completely different symbols betting on what app you are victimization. or else, you'll be able to switch modes manually employing a button button to the left.
The adaptative Row supports four main modes. Home mode, that shows by default, options customary volume and brightness controls together with shortcuts to the task change menu, the all apps menu, the snip tool and also the voice and gesture controls. internet browsing mode, that seems after you ar victimization Chrome, i.e. or another browser, shows forward, back and refresh buttons. internet conference mode, that displays after you ar victimization Skype or another video occupation app, shows electro-acoustic transducer and camera controls. perform mode shows traditional perform keys F1 to F12. there is additionally a lay flat mode, that is meant to look after you open the lid one hundred eighty degrees (it did not work systematically for us), and provides shortcuts to the voice and gesture management apps.
The symbols on the adaptative Row keys ar engineered into their grey crystal rectifier lights therefore there isn't any chance of adding your own shortcuts. Lenovo's settings computer code permits you to disable any of those modes or set a distinct default.
Overall, we tend to found the adaptative Row abundant less helpful than ancient perform keys. as a result of the flat keys supply no tactile feedback and alter functions supported what you are doing, we tend to had to appear down once touch them. not like ancient keyboards, wherever we tend to may merely hold down associate degree Fn key and alter settings like brightness with one stroke, we tend to had to hit the mode modification button one to a few times to form it modification to the mode we wanted. The keys do not modification instantly either; there was atiny low, however noticeable delay whenever we tend to modified modes.
Lenovo has modified the layout of the opposite 5 rows on the keyboard, too. in situ of the Caps Lock key, Lenovo has place 2 half-sized keys for Home and finish. to urge the caps lock perform, you want to double faucet on the left shift key, when that atiny low inexperienced light-weight on the key illuminates to point that the notebook is in caps lock mode. However, we tend to found ourselves accidentally coming into caps lock once we hit the Shift key only once too several.
Lenovo has additionally replaced the total size backspacer with a small typewrite and small Delete key. sadly, we tend to found it way too straightforward to accidentally hit Delete once we wished to hit typewrite.
ThinkPads as a bunch ar famous for having the most effective laptop computer keyboards, mostly owing to their sturdy tactile feedback and solid key travel. sadly, the new X1 Carbon does not quite reach this high customary, as its keys felt stiffer and shallower in our tests than the X240 and T440s. all the same, we tend to achieved our typical rate of eighty six words-per-minute with a 2-percent error rate.
The keyboard backlight provides 3 settings: high, low and off. In either high or low, the sunshine provided over adequate illumination to examine all the keys. sadly, we tend to had to change to perform key mode (which isn't the default) on the adaptative Row to alter the keyboard brightness mode.
Like different ThinkPads, the new X1 Carbon offers each a TrackPoint inform stick and a touchpad. like different models, we tend to like the TrackPoint, as a result of it provides precise navigation round the desktop while not forcing USA to carry our hands off of the house row. However, the stick's corresponding buttons ar currently engineered into the highest of the touchpad. On the primary review unit we tend to tested, these buttons were unpleasantly stiff, generally forcing USA to double click 2 or 3 times for it to register. On a second unit we tend to tested, the buttons felt less stiff and didn't miss any of our double clicks.
The 3.93 x 2.75 in. glass touchpad is slightly larger than the three.93 x 2.4-inch version on the first ThinkPad X1 Carbon. sadly, the pad was additionally quite an bit less correct than the one on its predecessor; it felt slippery in our tests and even often jumped once we clicked whereas victimization the pad 2 bimanual. However, multitouch gestures like pinch-to-zoom, rotate, 3 finger swipe and four-finger vertical swipe worked swimmingly. The intrinsic touchpad buttons needed less force and were additional correct than the TrackPoint buttons on high of the pad.
Lenovo offers the ThinkPad X1 Carbon with a customary 1600 x 900 show or a QHD (2560 x 1440) bit screen. The 14-inch, QHD panel on our review unit displayed sensible pictures with perfect viewing angles. once we watched a 1080p offline trailer for Skyfall, the objects were sharp and colours (like Daniel Craig's blue eyes and also the red in a very British flag) appeared notably vivid. pictures didn't wash out, even at ninety degrees to the left or right.
The X1 Carbon's screen measured 268 illumination unit on our photometer, slightly higher than the 252 illumination unit class average and concerning on par with the Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (263 lux). However, the ThinkPad X240 with its 1366 x 768 bit screen (325 lux) and also the dicot genus shoot for S7 (329 lux) ar abundant brigher.
The 10-point bit screen was extremely attentive to our touches and even allowed USA to draw with all of our fingers right away in Windows Paint. However, once we 1st got the system, the screen didn't settle for bit input till we tend to manufactory resetted it. After that, the bit worked additional swimmingly for the foremost half, however we tend to did expertise many incidents wherever the screen stopped operating when we tend to woke the X1 Carbon from a protracted sleep. It started operating once more as before long as we tend to rebooted.
Lenovo sent USA another review unit, that we tend to used solely concisely, however we tend to didn't expertise the higher than issues. However, Re/Code's Walt Mossberg noted identical issue in his X1 Carbon review.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon delivers spectacular audio output for any laptop computer, as well as a business ultraportable. once we contend the bass-heavy "Forget Pine Tree State Nots," music was wealthy, clear and loud enough to fill atiny low area with no distortion even at most volume. The guitar-heavy "Symphony of Destruction" was clear and utterly free from tinniness, if not to a fault wealthy. At eighty two decibel on our sound take a look at, the X1 Carbon fell slightly below the eighty three decibel ultraportable class average however was louder than the ThinkPad T440s (81 dB).
Enabled by default, the bundled electrical engineer theater v.4 computer code provides you fine management over the audio settings and enhances the sound greatly. once we disabled electrical engineer, each songs measured hollow and lifeless.
to form the ThinkPad X1 Carbon this skinny, Lenovo created some compromises on the amount and sort of ports enclosed. On the left facet, there is a USB three.0 port, HDMI out, mini DisplayPort and also the power port, that options Lenovo's OneLink connecter that permits you to attach it to a moorage station for each power and information. On the proper facet, there is another USB three.0 port, a Kensington lock slot and atiny low, proprietary local area network port that needs associate degree adapter to plug into wired networks.
Lenovo more the local area network port to the present version of the X1 Carbon, as a result of IT customers wished to be ready to boot and manage the device over the LAN. However, so as to form area, Lenovo removed the SD Card reader that was gift on the first X1 Carbon. If you've got to require photos with a DSLR or mirrorless camera and own the X1 Carbon, you will need to bring your own reader or use USB.
The 720p digital camera may be a high-definition disappointment. In each low light-weight and underneath direct overhead lamps in our workplace, pictures we tend to shot of our face were extraordinarily screeching. Image quality didn't improve once we unemployed up Skype. additionally to exposure and brightness controls, the camera includes a face chase feature, that did an honest job of following our face.
If you get bored with victimization the keyboard and touchpad, you'll be able to attempt waving your hands at the ThinkPad X1 Carbon or reproof it. Lenovo bundles the laptop computer each with its own gesture management computer code and Dragon Assistant, a voice management application.
If you alter it, the gesture management application can run within the background associate degreed solely power on the digital camera once you are in an application that supports it. With gesture management enabled, we tend to were ready to jog back and forth between photos within the Windows eight.1 Gallery app and between points in a very video (but not between videos) by waving a hand to the proper or left. we tend to were additionally ready to begin associate degreed pause the picture show by pushing toward the camera with an open hand.
The application is meant to support variety of eReading apps, workplace applications (for presentations) and media players. once we unbroken our hand near the digital camera, the computer code recognized our gestures most of the time, however once we leaned back in our chair, it uncomprehensible several of our motions. In theory, the gesture controls would be sensible for business shows, however in apply it's easier to use a wireless clicker or hit a key on the pc.
With the enclosed Dragon Assistant computer code, you'll be able to send email, conduct internet searches, post to Twitter or Facebook or management a music player on your laptop computer along with your voice. sadly, just like the gesture management computer code, this application is additional of a gimmick than a useful feature. so as to urge the computer code to pay attention to USA, we tend to had to hit a voice assistant button on the keyboard adaptative row; there isn't any thanks to have the computer code perpetually listening. once we did speak to the computer code, it absolutely was usually terribly slow in reacting to our commands and even slower once it went resolute the cloud and sought for a response.
We additionally found that we tend to had to achieve for the keyboard and touchpad to shut Dragon's email window when we tend to opened the Pine Tree Statessage musician with it so tried to try and do one thing else by asking the computer code to "Show me one thing funny." Giving additional imprecise commands like "show Pine Tree State one thing funny" remarked an online search of YouTube for comedy however does not really begin video playback.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon stayed pleasantly cool throughout our tests. when streaming video for quarter-hour, the touchpad measured a cold eighty degrees, the keyboard a cool eighty five degrees and also the undersurface was an inexpensive ninety three degrees Fahrenheit. we tend to think about temperatures below ninety five degrees comfy and people underneath ninety degrees impalpable.
With its Intel Core i5-4200U, 8GB of RAM and solid Intel HD 4400 graphics, our review configuration of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon offered slightly higher than average on most of our tests. However, a comparatively slow SSD command it back.
On PCMark7, an artificial benchmark that measures overall perofrmance, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon scored a solid four,734, that is much higher than the three,974 ultraportable class average and also the ThinkPad X240 (4040). This socre is even slightly higher than the Core i7-4500U powered Sony VAIO professional thirteen (4,698). However, the dicot genus shoot for S7-392-6411, that additionally includes a Core i5-4200U CPU, scored a rather higher five,051.
The X1 Carbon's 128GB Samsung SSD is slower than a contemporary solid state drive ought to be. tho' it shoed to Windows eight.1 in a very brisk one seconds (faster than the sixteen.6-second average) it took a extended fifty nine seconds to finish the laptop computer File Transfer take a look at, that involves repeating four.97GB of mixed media files. that is a mediocre transfer rate of eighty six MBps, that is much below the 113.9 MBps class average and miles behind the Sony VAIO professional thirteen (391.5 MBps) and MacBook Air 13-inch (242.4 MBps). Even Lenovo's own ThinkPad X240 was nearly double as quick (141.4 MBps). we tend to additionally experienced some lag once gap sure applications, notably Lenovo utilities.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon's Core i5-4200U processor completed our OpenOffice computer programme Macro take a look at (in that we tend to match twenty,000 names with their addresses) in mere five minutes and twenty six seconds. this point is almost a second quicker than the 6:32 class average and concerning on par with the MacBook Air 13-inch (5:33), tho' slightly behind the Sony VAIO professional thirteen (5:10).
The notebook's integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400 chip offers enough performance for HD playback and lightweight vice. On 3DMark violent storm Extreme, an artificial graphics take a look at, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon scored a powerful twenty six,342, well higher than the class average of twenty,144.
When we unemployed up World of Warcraft at 1366 x 768 resolution, the X1 Carbon provided a reasonably sleek frame rate of thirty eight independent agency at default settings. This born to associate degree unplayable twenty independent agency with the computer graphics turned up. Those rates ar above the catgory averages and thirty one. eight / sixteen {fps|Federal professionaltective Service|FPS|independent agency} and also the 30/14 independent agency offered by the Sony VAIO Pro thirteen. However, the MacBook Air provided slightly higher rates of forty two and twenty six independent agency at a rather higher resolution of 1440 x 900.
as a result of it options a power-efficient Intel fourth Generation Core Series processor, the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon offers considerably longer endurance than its forerunner. whereas the first X1 Carbon with bit screen lasted for less than five hours and fifty two minutes on the laptop computer Battery take a look at, that involves continuous surfriding over Wi-Fi, the new model managed a additional respectable time of 7:15, that is concerning half-hour higher than the ultraportable class average (6:42). Neverthe less, this runtime is behind dicot genus shoot for S7 (8:53) and far shorter than the Apple MacBook Air (11:40). With its 6-cell battery, the ThinkPad X240 lasted an implausible twenty hours and twenty eight minutes
We would expect the non-touch version of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon to last for much longer, because the original non-touch model managed a time of 7:45.
additionally to the gesture management and voice computer code, Lenovo includes solely some of utilities. The adaptative Keyboard Settings application provides restricted management over that of the adaptative layouts will seem. the general Lenovo Settings app provides management over some camera, audio and power settings. QuickCast permits you to share files between Lenovo devices that have the computer code put in. Lenovo answer Center includes a backup perform, secret vault and update checker.
There's additionally a good quantity of bloatware on board, together with Evernote bit, Accuweather, rara Music, Kindle, Zinio and drawing app Skitch bit. All of those apps ar on the market at no cost from the Windows Store therefore we'd have most popular to transfer them on our own as necessary.
Lenovo backs the ThinkPad X1 Carbon with a customary annual warrantee on elements and labor. you'll be able to additionally purchase extended warranties of up to five years, accidental injury insurance or on-the-scene service for costs starting from $129 to run over $500.
Configuration choices
As of this writing, Lenovo.com solely offers 2 configurations of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The $1,499 model offers a 1600 x 900 non-touch show, Core i5-4300U CPU and one hundred eighty GB SSD, and a $2,099 model with a 2560 x 1440 bit screen, 256GB SSD and a Core i7-4600U processor.
However, the corporate plans to supply a configure-to-order choice on its web site among succeeding few weeks, with costs starting from a $1,299 choice to choose completely different CPUs, SSD sizes, RAM amounts, versions of Windows and your alternative of either screen.. Our review unit is predicated on the configure-to-order system and comes with the 2560 x 1440 bit screen, 8GB of RAM, Windows 8.1 skilled and a Core i5-4200U for $1,679.
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