The ThinkPad Goes Ultrabook — ThinkPad X1 Carbon Tested

MojoKid writes "The venerable Lenovo ThinkPad, with its little red TrackPoint nub, has gone the way of the Ultrabook. If there's one small dig ThinkPads have taken with regularity over the years, it's that though there's a ton of quality and substance built into these machines, style was not a hallmark of the brand. The all new ThinkPad X1 Carbon could very well change the utilitarian stereotype of Lenovo's business-backed line-up, however. As the name suggests, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is built from carbon fiber material throughout its chassis and internal rollcage. Its 14-inch display drives a native resolution of 1600x900, and its keyboard, arguably one of the nicest features of the ThinkPad line, is backlit and even more refined with contoured key caps. Battery life hits a max of about six hours on a full charge, and the machine weighs in at 3lbs and .31-inches at it thinnest dimension."

Re:Shiny?

[O('_')O_Bush]

I kinda wish it had an LED backlit screen for that kind of money...

Re:Terrible keyboard layout

[loosescrews]

I got a Thinkpad X230, which has the same keyboard layout and a very similar keyboard. The biggest problem is the odd placement of the Print Screen key. It is where the right click menu key should be. In addition, the keyboard is rather mushy without much travel. I am sure it is much better than a normal chiclet keyboard, but the layout is inexcusable. I really like the backlighting, and the trackpoint is, of course, excellent. While I agree that the keyboard is a draw, I think that the trackpoint is a big one too. At least they didn't ruin that yet.

Re:Protruding lid edge

[itsme1234]

In the video it looks like the lid raises the laptop only when opened quite wide, at larger angles than would be possible on many similar devices. At "regular" angles the laptop sits on it's own feet and the lid moves freely, once you open it too much it will hit the desk and you need to slightly raise the laptop and let it sit on the lid.

Re:Shiny?

[itsme1234]

And it doesn't?!
Even netbooks from 2008 have LED backlit screen, possibly by now it isn't even worth mentioning.

Re:Let me guess the price

[TheRaven64]

Comparing as close as possible specs, the 1.8GHz i5 with 128GB SSD and 4GB of RAM costs $1,199 for the MacBook Air and $1,499 for the ThinkPad. For the 2GHz i7, the MBA is $1,499, the ThinkPad is $1,849. However, the ThinkPad has a 14" screen instead of 13" (not sure if this is a pro or con in a portability-at-all-costs Ultrabook), integrated 3G (need a USB dongle for the MBA). The ThinkPad lacks Thunderbolt, so USB is the fastest peripheral interface. The ThinkPad is marginally larger in one dimension, marginally smaller in two more, so about the same volume and the weight difference between the two is under 0.1%. The ThinkPad comes with a 3-year warranty, but this costs extra for the MBA (unless you buy from the education store), which brings the cost quite a bit closer. The cost of upgrading to 8GB of RAM for the ThinkPad is not listed - it's not even clear that it's an option, which is a shame because that's something I'd be pretty sure to want.

Re:Terrible keyboard layout

[DarwinSurvivor]

I have an x220 and I *LOVE* the reversed Fn and Ctrl Keys (bottom left is Fn -> Ctr -> Super -> Alt -> Space -> ...). I actually got so used to it I had to set up my other machines to switch them as well. The Ctrl key is a VERY commonly used key, and having to stretch your hand to the left to use it (like most keyboards) wears your hand out VERY quickly. But if you REALLY need the Ctrl key on the far left, there's a BIOS option to change it.

Re:Build quality not impressive anymore

[AchilleTalon]

Provided almost all T61(p) are about to die due to the problem with the nVidia chip, there is over 130 pages of complaints on the Lenovo forum on this sole subject and still active. Provided Lenovo picked the nVidia chip, it was up to them to resolve this issue to the satisfaction of their customers. They did really bad. They kept the replacement board unaffordable while the prices were dropping fast (over 1000$ for a replacement board in Canada from Lenovo when I checked less than 10 months ago). They never recalled all the laptops likely to fail, many laptops failed just after the warranty expiration and the few months after. At the very beginning, yes, nVidia is responsible, but before the customers Lenovo is responsible. It is to them to negociate contracts with their providers and get some kind of QA on the products they buy and resell in a laptop. I was a loyal customer starting with IBM Thinkpad, I was willing to pay more for the enterprise level quality. My last experience with Lenovo proves me wrong about this so called enterprise level quality and worst, with the desire of the company to maintain a top quality service.

Sorry, Lenovo, never again.

I prefer to buy a cheap laptop I can replace easily and use a real desktop at my office instead of a boosted laptop.

Re:Build quality not impressive anymore

[nojayuk]

Panasonic have good build quality even in their business range and their Toughbooks are especially well-built. Not stylish though. Expect to pay for that quality though, 50-100% more than an Apple of similar hardware spec, but when was the last time you saw a laptop advertised as being resistant to disinfectant?

Re:Shiny?

[bemymonkey]

Of course it has an LED backlit screen - CCFL backlit screens haven't been sold in laptops for years.

Re:Thinkpads have their OWN style.

[JAlexoi]

Fashion - popular style
Style - distinctive look