Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review: The business notebook to beat

A mean business machine

Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops are widely regarded as the last word when it comes to business notebooks. With excellent build quality and reliable performance, they’ve long been the gold standard for enterprise devices. And among the ThinkPad notebooks, the X1 Carbon sits right at the top of the totem pole.

First announced earlier this year at CES 2016, Lenovo has stuck to the tradition of updating its ThinkPad X1 Carbon notebook yearly (something it has done for the past two years already). Of course, given the pace at which hardware becomes outdated, we would expect nothing less.

This year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon is – unsurprisingly – thinner and lighter than its already svelte predecessor, and comes packed with the latest sixth-generation Intel Core i7 vPro processor and other goodies like a class-leading keyboard. It also looks remarkably similar to 2015’s model, but no mistake, this is a laptop built for 2016.

Business-class hardware

The X1 Carbon comes with an Intel Core i7-6500U (2.5GHz, 4MB cache) processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, which is pretty much in line with most of the flagship ultrabooks on the market today. The processor in our review unit doesn’t support Intel vPro technology, but you can also order the notebook with an Intel Core i7-6600U vPro (2.6GHz, 4MB cache) processor, which adds various security, manageability, and productivity features to help businesses and workers better manage their devices.

For more security, the notebook even features a fingerprint reader on the right palm rest area. The good thing is that this isn’t the sort that you need to swipe your finger on, as is usually the case on a considerable number of notebooks (and the previous generation X1 Carbon). Instead, you just need to press your finger against it and it will read your print just fine. In our tests, setting up fingerprint authentication was a breeze, and we had no trouble with the sensor at all.

When it comes to wireless connectivity, the notebook relies on a 2x2 Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 module, which supports speeds up to 867Mbps across two spatial streams.

All in all, the specifications of the X1 Carbon are more than enough for the usual office and productivity applications, and we didn’t experience any slowdowns even while running multiple programs.

Wrought from carbon

One of the first things you’ll notice when picking up the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is how impressively light it is. Even now, it’s hard to wriggle out of the expectation that this no-nonsense black slab weighs a fair amount, even if I know that it doesn’t. Once cradled under your arm, you’ll marvel at just how light – and how easy – it is to carry around.

That’s all thanks to the extensive use of what Lenovo says is “satellite-grade” carbon fiber in its construction. At a starting weight of just 1.17kg (this figure varies according to region and model specifications), this is one of – if not the lightest – 14-inch business ultrabooks available today. It is also reasonably thin at 16.45mm thin, so it pretty much fulfills one of the key criteria of business notebooks – portability. This is one notebook that you won’t hesitate to carry around in your bag.

Adding on to its light weight is its impeccable build quality. When you turn it over in your hands, you immediately get the impression of an extremely well put together notebook. Business professionals want their machines to be reliable, and the X1 Carbon is literally built to last. For instance, it features a spill-resistant keyboard that won’t instantly fizzle and die if you accidentally tip your morning cup of caffeine onto it in your fugue state.

On top of that, it has been tested to work from -20 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius, and has passed 12 Mil-SPEC tests as well. The latter tests subject it to harsh conditions with dust, vibration, heat, cold, altitude, and even solar radiation, so you can rest assured that it will withstand the trying conditions of your soulless meeting rooms.

And speaking of the keyboard, this is one of the best keyboards in its class. The island-style, backlit keys are spaced just the right distance apart, and provide an extremely enjoyable typing experience with around 1.8mm of vertical key travel. In comparison, other thinner notebooks have closer to a 1mm travel distance. It’s impossible to overstate how big of a plus point this is. As notebooks become thinner and thinner, one of the trade-offs has been the typing experience, which makes us appreciate what the X1 Carbon offers even more. It is also a full-sized keyboard, which means you won’t have to stumble over oddly-shaped or sized keys.

The only thing that may take some getting used to is the placement of the Fn key in the bottom left corner, where the Ctrl key is usually located. Veteran ThinkPad users will be used to this, but first-time owners will probably find themselves accidentally hitting the Fn key in the initial days.

Then there’s the signature ThinkPad TrackPoint and trackpad buttons. The center TrackPoint button provides an alternative way to navigate, and is meant to be used in tandem with the scroll rocker above the trackpad. The trackpad itself also proved to be quite reliable and precise, and I had no trouble getting used to it.

As a business notebook, the X1 Carbon naturally comes crammed with a range of connectivity and expansion options. You’ll find a 3.5mm headphone jack, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and a full-sized HDMI connector on one side, in addition to a Kensington lock slot. On the other side, there’s Lenovo’s proprietary power connector, Lenovo’s OneLink+ docking port, a Mini DisplayPort connector, and a third USB 3.0 port that can also charge your USB devices when the laptop is powered off.

The OneLink+ docking port will hook up with the ThinkPad OneLink Pro Dock that features extra display connectors and USB ports, but the notebook can also connect wirelessly to the ThinkPad WiGig dock, a cube-shaped device that offers Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and further USB and display ports as well.

A microSD card reader and SIM card slot at the rear edge round out the expansion options. The X1 Carbon actually supports 4G LTE wireless cellular connectivity, so professionals on-the-go can access the internet even when out of range of a Wi-Fi hotspot.

One thing that’s missing is a Thunderbolt 3 port. While you’re still not going to miss out on any key functionality because of that, we find it quite a glaring omission that a premium business notebook like the X1 Carbon should lack the next-generation connector that many cheaper ultrabooks have already adopted.

We should also mention the speakers, which are located at the bottom of the notebook. These fire into the table, which means they often sound muffled, and we also felt that the volume was insufficient at times. That being said, we can't say we expected any different from a business-oriented notebook like this one. Suffice to say, it comes with the territory.

The display itself is 14 inches across with a 2,560 x 1,440-pixel IPS panel and has a matte coating to cut down on glare. This means that colors may appear slightly less vibrant than an equivalent glossy panel, but it’s a small sacrifice to make for an overall more useable display under a wider range of lighting conditions. One thing to note is that there is no touchscreen option available, a reminder that the X1 Carbon is a no-nonsense enterprise notebook. A multi-touch display was actually available on the previous generation model, but Lenovo has since moved the feature to its new ThinkPad X1 Yoga.

The display can actually be pushed back to almost a 180-degree recline, so you’ll have absolutely no problem using it on your lap and finding the right angle to work at.

Lenovo also hasn’t bothered with things like ultra-thin bezels, but the aesthetics of the X1 Carbon doesn’t exactly suffer for it. Ultimately, this is a very sensibly designed notebook that doesn’t try to be too fancy where it doesn’t have to be. If ever there was a professional-looking notebook, the X1 Carbon is probably it.

Performance Benchmarking

We ran the ThinkPad X1 Carbon through our usual suite of benchmarks. For comparisons, we included results from the latest ultrabooks from various brands, like the Dell XPS 13 and HP Envy. We also included other productivity-oriented 2-in-1 hybrids as well to flesh out the comparisons, namely, the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and HP Elite x2 1012 G1. This was to provide a better picture of how the X1 Carbon performs against a range of possible alternatives.

Here’s a list of all the benchmarks we used:

• PCMark 8
• 3DMark (2013)
• Tomb Raider
• Far Cry 2

We’ve also included a specifications table with all our compared systems for easier reference:

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[caption=Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Specifications]

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[caption=Test notebooks compared]

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PCMark 8

PCMark 8 tests a system’s performance by putting it through different tasks that reflect the workloads typical of various kinds of users, for instance the casual home user or the working creative professional. The thing to note is that all these notebooks have more or less equivalent specifications, so there aren’t going to be any significant gulfs in performance. Save for the Surface Pro 4 and Elite x2 1012 G1, they all come with the same Intel Core i7-6500U processor and 8GB of RAM.

Having said that, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon still managed to edge ahead to a small lead over some of the other ultrabooks, most notably in the Work and Microsoft Office benchmarks. It fell behind the Acer Aspire R13, but that was a chunky performance-oriented convertible with two SSDs in RAID 0.

That said, we don’t want to quibble over minor differences in synthetic benchmark scores. Given the stark similarities between all these notebooks, you’re not likely to notice any big difference in daily use. In fact, we’ve had the chance to play around with all of them at one point or another, and they’re all zippy and fast and can handle multiple programs at once. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to things like design, features, and build quality when we rate notebooks, and not PCMark scores.

3DMark (2013)

With the exception of the HP Elite x2 1012 G1, which has Intel HD 515 integrated graphics, all the other tested ultrabooks are powered by the Intel HD Graphics 520 iGPU. The latter is the beefier one, which is why the HP convertible falls behind the other tested ultrabooks.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon actually eeks out a lead here (ironically enough for such a business-oriented notebook), and it was a good 11 percent faster than the Dell XPS 13 in Cloud Gate, even though they both use the same iGPU. That could be due to a range of factors, from optimizations at the firmware level to various background processes running because of built-in bloatware. That aside, the other notebooks turned out scores that were much closer to the X1 Carbon.

But as in PCMark, point differences in synthetic benchmarks among systems with very similar hardware often add up to much in the real world, and gaming benchmarks aren’t going to make or break a system, especially in notebooks that aren’t expected to handle gaming or other demanding graphics workloads.

Tomb Raider

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon retained its lead in Tomb Raider, although the Intel HD Graphics 520-equipped notebooks expectedly turned out very similar performances. However, when it comes to the raw numbers, it’s clear that none of these notebooks are remotely capable of being used for gaming.

The HP Elite x2 also continued to fall behind here because of its weaker iGPU. As a result, while the Core m7 processor on that machine might have proven itself quite capable in a general benchmark like PCMark, it’s clear that if you want more graphics processing heft, there’s no avoiding the Intel Core i series processors.

Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2 is a far less demanding game than Tomb Raider, so all our tested systems actually managed to squeeze out playable frame rates on Medium settings. With that said, the performance differentials were also too small to make them worth commenting on, even though the ThinkPad X1 Carbon was near the top of the pack again (it was overtaken by a hair by the Acer Aspire R13 this time).

Battery Life & Power Consumption

Battery life was excellent on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. It lasted a total of 251 minutes – slightly over 4 hours – on PCMark 8 Home’s built-in battery life test, the longest out of all the other notebooks save the Yoga 900 with its large 66Wh battery. Its longevity is all the more impressive because its 52Wh battery is also smaller than the 56Wh pack on the Dell XPS 13, yet it still lasted longer.

The resulting power consumption figures reflect this strong performance, and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon was only beat by the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and HP Elite x2, two systems with lower powered processors. Among competing systems with more similar specifications, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon was the most power efficient.

That’s especially good news for mobile working professionals, as the last thing you want to do is to keep worrying about being near a power outlet.

Portability

Our portability index takes into account battery life, weight, and volume to provide a measure of how easy a notebook is to carry around relative to other compared systems. While the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s light weight and excellent battery life appear to set it up for an especially strong showing in our portability index, that wasn’t quite the case.

That’s because the X1 Carbon isn’t exactly the thinnest or most compact notebook around. For starters, it is actually a 14-inch notebook, while the rest are 13.3-inch models or smaller. What’s more, the Dell XPS 13 actually crams its 13.3-inch display onto the body of an 11-inch notebook, so there’s really no beating it in terms of how svelte the whole package is. With that said, the X1 Carbon still managed to beat the Acer Aspire R13, which was quite a chunky, heavy machine.

The thing to note here is that while the X1 Carbon may appear to fall behind the other notebooks in terms of portability, that doesn’t mean that it is not portable. We don’t have other 14-inch notebooks to compare with, so a comparison with predominantly 13.3-inch models already handicaps the X1 Carbon somewhat.

Taking a step away from the benchmarks, we’d also like to reiterate that the X1 Carbon is in fact an exceedingly mobile machine. At a mere 1.17kg, it is really light, and won’t bog you down. It may not the thinnest notebook out there, but it manages to strike an excellent balance between both form and function.

A premium business notebook with a premium price tag

At the end of the day, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is probably the king of the hill of business notebooks. This is a no-nonsense machine that just works. Its underlying design ethos appears to be more about function and practicality than aesthetics. The X1 Carbon is by no means ugly – in fact it has a certain utilitarian beauty to it – but if you’re looking for a razor-thin design with practically no bezels, you’re better off looking elsewhere.

In fact, we’d go so far as to say that the X1 Carbon is targeted at people who identify themselves first and foremost as business professionals (you know, the people who take their jobs really, really seriously). These people don’t need an ultra-thin bezel, nor do they need a super-thin notebook that has all of one USB-C port. Instead, they need a notebook that’s light, has a good selection of display connectors and USB ports (so there’s no need to hunt for the right adapter), and is durable.

Happily enough, the X1 Carbon checks all those boxes, and with a spill-resistant keyboard and Mil-SPEC certification, it’s also designed to be extremely reliable.

Ultimately, it seems that everything that Lenovo has done with the X1 Carbon has a practical reason behind it. No touchscreen display? That’s because there’s now the ThinkPad X1 Yoga, and frankly speaking, do you really need a touchscreen on a non-hybrid notebook? No Thunderbolt 3 port either? The OneLink+ docking port already works with an external dock, so you’re not lacking for expansion options. What’s more, Thunderbolt 3-compatible devices and peripherals aren’t even that common yet. And how about that quad HD display? Well, you don’t need to work on a 4K screen, and it was probably a good call to save on the pixels and conserve battery.

All in all, there’s little to dislike about the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, except for its price. Yes, this machine costs a staggering S$3,049. This is a great notebook with stellar performance, and yet it’s still a stretch to say that it’s worth every single dollar you’re going to have to pay. Lenovo is clearly charging a premium for the ThinkPad brand, and other tiny details like the touch-based fingerprint sensor and support for 4G LTE.

Then again, business devices tend to be priced a little higher because of their additional security and manageability features and access to a range of docking accessories, just look at the HP Elite x2 1012 G1. It’s simple really. If you want a no-compromises business notebook, this is the machine to get. If not, you could save a lot by going for something more consumer facing.

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