Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review: The business notebook to beat
By
Performance Benchmarking, Battery & Portability
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:
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon | |
|
|
| Launch SRP |
|
|---|---|
| Processor and Chipset |
|
| Operating System |
|
| System Memory |
|
| Video & Display |
|
| Storage |
|
| Optical Drive |
|
| Connectivity |
|
| Audio |
|
| I/O Ports |
|
| Battery Type |
|
| Dimensions |
|
| Weight |
|
| HP Elite x2 1012 G1 (with Travel keyboard) | Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (Core i5-6300U, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) | Acer Aspire R13 | Dell XPS 13 (2016) | HP Envy 13 | Lenovo Yoga 900 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Launch SRP |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor and Chipset |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Operating System |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| System Memory |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Video & Display |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Storage |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Optical Drive |
|
— |
|
|
|
|
| Connectivity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Audio |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| I/O Ports |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
— |
|
— |
| Battery Type |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Dimensions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Weight |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
