The touchpad issue you mention in this review seems to be effecting a good number of units if not all. We discussed it extensively in the Lenovo forums and found that there must be some sort of strange driver conflict between the touchpoint drivers and the PTP drivers. Either way, the current fix is disable the following and it fixes the problem for good, not sure what effect it has on touchpoint usage though. Settings>Mouse & Touchpad>Additional Mouse Settings>Advanced options>Thinkpad tab>Advanced settings>Advanced Tab and deselect "Edge tap filtering"
Hi Lisa, thanks for the review. I personally believe that keyboard and screen are two most important components of a laptop/computer; could you maybe in the future do a comparison video of different laptops' keyboard, e.g. key travel, registration force, comfort to type on, etc. I am also a huge Thinkpad fan; IMO the red trackpoint is really convenient. But in your video comment section people seem not fully understand its function; could you maybe in the future do a video on the functionality of the red trackpoint and perhaps demonstrate how it can actually help improve productivity? Thanks
Ethernet Port - The reason Lenovo chose to go with the Ethernet port is because it is a native port. Meaning the Ethernet hardware circuitry is on the laptop itself , rather than being on the USB C dongle. This means the MAC address of the Ethernet is assigned to the laptop itself rather than the adapter. This feature is quite valuable in enterprise business environment, as all the settings can be made on the laptop, rather than having to change the settings on a USB C dongle every time the dongle is changed.
Hi there, have you used the dongle? will the ethernet dongle get the speed of 1Gbps like the traditional RJ45 in every regular laptop? I'm considering to get one, but if the speed of using ethernet dongle is just around 100Mbps, I'm not going to buy it :). can you please help?
Lisa, they use a proprietary ethernet port in order to retain the same MAC address as the laptop. If they used a thunderbolt connection, they would've had the MAC address of the adapter.
Lisa, you are doing just an awesome job at reviewing tech - thanks for these videos, I really like them and they helped me make a well-informed buying decision!
@Jeffrey Sullivan Who the fuck makes two fake accounts and replies to their own original comment to make it seem legit? Get a life, nobody wants your script kiddie RAT trojan.
Yes! Thank goodness for no touch screen. I am worried that in a few years I might not be able to find a laptop without touch...We need a smackdown with the XPS 13!
I received my X1 a few days ago and updated the BIOS to the most recent version. I haven't had any problems with the fan. The only other difference is my processor is the i5-7300u (also running Linux Mint 18.1 Cinnamon)
Really varies depending on what processes are happening. I have TLP installed. On average maybe 7-10 hours. The battery can disappear much faster than that though (~5 hours). Also will sometimes say it can go for ~15 hours.
after a couple of weeks searching a perfect laptop for my computer's science studies i think this is a really good option. the only negative points are the price and the ddr3 memory slot.
My Lenovo T410 TouchPad pointer at times would stick and I would have to tap the TouchPad firmly to wake it up and get and the pointer to move (Win10). The fix for me was bring up the Control Panel --Mouse Properties -- SmartCheck -- PalmCheck and uncheck "Prioritize for TrackPoint and keyboard input." I also moved "PalmCheck" from the Maximum setting to just above the midpoint. This isn't an original solution, but it worked for me and hope passing it along helps increase the satisfaction of others when using their laptop. Best
For those who interested in this laptop, I have few useful info that I could share with you guys as I am using one currently. 1. The backlit keyboard needs to be manually turned on with each startup. The backlight is off by default. 2. If opt for windows hello IR camera, the camera will work 9 out of 10 attempts and may have to resort to using the finger print scanner for windows hello login. 3. Trackpad works well. Smooth and precise, no complaint here. 4. This laptop is very solidly built and likely will withstand test of time. Seems like lenovo is doing very strict quality control testing here. 5. I found the WQHD screen ok not great as I expect, color doesn’t pop or as saturated as like in other laptop that I have owned even though it is considered premium screen. The screen they use is an LG type screen, LEN40AA. If you want to adjust the scaling of text in windows 10 to say 125 or 150%, certain text will appear blurry and not as crisp as the scaling at native resolution. If you want to save some money here, opt for full hd screen should be adequate, that has better contrast and deeper blacks. Wqhd screen provides larger estate to work on provided your eyes can adjust to the small text. For me, I have no problem at reading small text. I mean for those with deteriorating eyesight, preferably to go for full hd screen, you will find it plenty enough. 6. Keyboard is ok but not great as some other reviewers have claimed. Response is good, not mushy. Dampening is ok only, can still can feel the bottoming out but this is expected for thin and light notebook. Typing experience is very positive with no error at all. 7. For those concerning about fn and ctrl key swapping, I think it is no a major concern at all because you just have to get used to the ctrl key position. If still not get used to the placement of ctrl key, you can swap the fn and ctrl key using thinkpad vantage software or in the bios. 8. Fingerprint works great, fast and much more reliable. Good thing that it has a light strip above the fingerprint pad to let you know where to place your finger tip in poor lighting condition 9. Camera is one of the poorest I have seen in all laptops in low lighting condition. Low resolution, narrow angle, grainy and a lot of artifacts. The narrow angle camera really bugs me a lot as it also result in multiple failure of facial recognition with windows hello. I suggest to stick with the normal camera rather than upgrade to the IR camera that performs poorly in poor lighting condition and cant detect well unless you are directly in front of the computer within the angle of view of camera. To adjust the facial recognition, make sure you set the facial recognition according to the distance you will look at the IR camera. If you sit close to the screen like me, then set the facial recognition close to the screen. Otherwise, it will fail to recognize you. 10. Battery life will certainly last you day. Here’s what I have tested. About 6 - 6 ½ hours watching youtube in chrome. About 7-8 hours of netflix, word processing 9-10 hours. Mixed usage 7 to 8 hours. Range 6 hours to 8hours. Never rely on windows battery meter, you need to download battery bar to get accurate estimate of battery life. 11. Battery charged up fast up to 80 percent then it will trickle charge slowly for 1 hour till full charge. All together will takes about 2 hour to charge from 6% to full. You will notice that during charging, the top part of laptop near to the microsd card slot will becomes quite warm which I measured about 40.8 degree celcius. 12. The matte surface of the laptop does attract oil print, but if you keep your hands clean, you can avoid this problem. Avoid eating snack and browsing on the thinkpad. 13. This laptop runs cool and quiet, thus may explain the battery endurance. 14. Resume from sleep is very fast. 15. Fan noise is nearly inaudible even at full load. Fan does not kick in easily unless doing some benchmark and installing updates. 16. Speaker is ok, good enough for music listening, has a hint of bass too. Be sure to set the audio software under Lenovo vantage to music mode as it provides most pleasant listening. 17.You can run dota 2 on this laptop, the game is still appears good. you can set the resolution to 1920 X 1080 and texture to high and rendering to about 80% and still able to run the game at 50 to 60 fps. 1. Comes with Standard preloaded games of Microsoft that consume almost 1gb of storage. I suggest to uninstall the games. Bloatware in this laptop is almost non existent, Not even Lenovo customizing software is been installed in this laptop. It just preinstalled with windows, and Lenovo vantage. 2. Use Lenovo vantage to update the system to latest OS or download Lenovo own system update to update all the drivers and bios. Assessories 1. Bluetooth mouse. Do not choose wireless mouse as wireless mouse need a dongle to use whereas Bluetooth mouse can connect directly to your computers Bluetooth. This will avoid using the precious usb type A port. 2. Get a laptop sleeve to protect the laptop from any scratch though it won’t scratch easily. Ordering part of this laptop 1. If your laptop is heavily customized, expect building time of about 3-4 weeks. And delivery may takes 7 to 10 days. I ordered mine on the 3rd february and received it on 12 march 2018. So be very patient to wait for the laptop to arrive and if you really need a laptop urgently like within 1 week, you will likely get frustrated with the delay. Otherwise, I would say it is totally worth the wait because it is such a well build machine, apart from the low quality camera. 2. Lenovo package this laptop in a premium retail packaging that you will see in most unboxing videos, not some cheap brown cardboard. The packaging is very well protected from any bumps and knocks. 3. Courier should not be tampering with your packaging and always check to make sure that the sticker is only original lenovo sticker, not some other second layer tape that tape over the Lenovo cellotape. 4. Warranty will start from the day you start using the laptop. 5. Always wait for the promo period for warranty. Always get the 3 year warranty to protect your expensive laptop. Repairing certainly costly if it is done outside of warranty in view of it has mostly soldered components. 6. WWAN 4g LTE is an option that is only available during ordering. If you plan to install it later on, you cannot do so because the laptop does not come preinstalled with WWAN antenna. So, make a wise purchase decision. For me, the sierra em7455 lte is worth the upgrade if you working in places where wifi connection is slow or unreliable. It wont drain the battery life as the mobile connectivity can be turned on and off at the windows connectivity setting at right corner of taskbar and windows 10 autoswitching between lte and wifi. 7. 256gb nvme ssd from intel has a read speed of 1500mb/s and relatively slow write speed of 500mb/s. if you want faster nvme with triple speed of that intel , go for 512gb with Samsung pm961but that will cost at least 200 dollars extra I suppose 8. The OS including all other updates will only take up 40gb of the total storage space. 9. 16gb ram is overkill if you plan to do light browsing, watching video stream. I barely can use up to 35 % of total ram. 10. If I would choose between 5th gen and 6th gen x1 carbon, probably I will go for 6th gen that comes with more processor cores, thus better performance. However, design wise, I still prefer the 5th gen traditional design because, the thinkpad logo is silver textured that contrast well with the matte surface. On the other hand, the new 6th gen x1 carbon has thinkpad logo that is blacked shiny that doesn’t stand out. 11. It doesn’t comes with rj45 Ethernet dongle, you have to pay extra for it during ordering. So for those who doing IT work, make sure you add the rj45 dongle into your ordering. 12. The whole package when delivered to you should weigh 3.1kg. 13. Be sure to order 65watt charger at a measly extra cost of few dollars, as it provide fast charging. 14. Intel low voltage processor kaby lake processor is by no mean weak processor. Choosing between 7200 u vs 7500u vs 7300u vs 7600u. for me, 7200u and 7300U is more worth it than higher options. 7300u does come with vpro technology. 7500u and 7200u do not have vpro tech.
Thanks so much for your in depth comment review, John! For a noob like myself who is facing a massive internal battle on which long-term usage laptop to buy - your comment definitely helps. Just wanted a quick personal opinion from yourself. In terms of buying a laptop that will stick fine for the long term, you reckon this is worth the buy? Also, I'm aware the 2nd gen X1 carbon had a pretty sweet gesture control feature, by chance, would you know if this 5th gen has this feature? Not sure if you'll respond, but major thanks if you do!
Thanks for the review! I would still buy this as my next work laptop because of the keyboard but I'm a bit disappointed with the battery life 😕 I didn't believe in the 15-hour promise but I would have hoped for 9 to 10 hours!
The most comprehensive review of the X1 carbon 5th Gen, and I've seen a lot of them. As a student I think the size, keyboard and I/O is perfect, if only it were a tad bit cheaper :(
One small correction: it was a good assumption to say that it only has two lanes of pci-e for the thunderbolt 3 but all lenovo laptops have all four lanes. Very high quality products.
Fellow dane here. The first 2 generations of the X1 Carbon was behind the Macbook Air in terms of design/features, but with the 3rd generation af forward they have really made their own nice part of the market. Also the rising prices of the Macbooks and probably incomming discontinuation of the Macbook Air line, I foresee a rise in the sales of this unit.
Thank you very much for this review, it was very informative. Constructive criticism would be to slow down your speech at certain parts such as 4:20 or at the very least display the parts you're referring to on the screen.
I've literally been waiting for your review before I made the decision to buy this laptop. I'm going to wait for a X13 smackdown and maybe a review on the next generation yoga to make a decision. The price tag is definitely WAY high for my liking, and that's unfortunate.
Jeg høre du er halv Dansk. Så jeg prøver lige på dansk at sige tak for alle dine virkelige gode og informative videoer. Håber du forstår hvad jeg skriver. 👍🏻✌🏻
Hi Lisa, another great review. You’re now my “go to” channel if I’m thinking of making a tech purchase. Can I ask what colorimeter you use? Many thanks
have the 4th gen and standout features are the matt screen and keyboard - I've used many many other windows and Mac laptops and the X1C whilst not the shiniest piece of bling is a genuine pleasure to use on a daily basis.
I'm on the same bote as you, man. And i'm from Argentina and I will be buying and importing it, so no second thoughts for me when I click the buy button :P. I wanna be sure which would be better for me.
T470 has upgradeable memory up to 32GB, has way better battery life and does not throttle on turbo mode, but it has a worse screen and is a little thicker and heavier.
***** I'm not even gonna bother with customs because there are workarounds about that. Besides, I'm paying an importer a small fee and he's gonna do all the quirks and magic about our stupid customs. Don't worry, that problem was THE VERY FIRST THING that came to mind when I decided to buy a laptop. Here in my country, a $1500 ThinkPad costs around $40000 to $50000 ARS. IN U$D that would be something like $3125. So I prefer buying it in the US, pay someone to bring it for me and maybe it would cost me a couple of hundreds more, but not twice as much or more...
Hey Lisa, I have used this thing for a week now. I guess you do not want to trust the battery life estimation by the system; it will tell you 7 hours left 100% and the same thing at 60%. Typically I do some programming and watch some RUclips, and X1C gen5 will last for 8-10 hours. When playing games like Asphalt, I got a battery life of right above 4 hours. BTW, I have the same configuration as yours, except for I ordered 128G and upgrade to an Intel 600p 512G myself.
Nothing too modern. I've played some old rpg games which are not demanding. Since it has two thunderbolt 3 with separate pci lanes, you could theoretically get an external graphics setup.
Control Panel --- Mouse -- UltraNav -- TouchPad Settings -- Smart Check Settings --PalmCheck and there uncheck "Prioritize for TrackPoint and keyboard input."
Seems like a great laptop except for the well documented touchpad issues. Will this comment/question see the light of day? Has the touchpad lag and deficiencies been resolved? Community threads seem to implicate both windows software and Lenovo hardware. Laptop seems perfect except for the above summary. So, please let me know Genuine thanks from someone who can't afford to make a mistake.
Liked your review, and yes you're correct on the price drop. Currently here in Canada loaded, it's going for $2,025. 25. That includes the $674.75 ( $2,699.00 ) discount. When comparing with Apple and similar, it's still a very good deal.
On every laptop review please do a extensive battery test. For example playing fhd video in loop, browsing and playing youtube. Switching to low power mode or eco mode. For all laptop including msi, gsync off test and gsync on test for msi gt73vr because it has option for integerated graphics switch. And also for gaming laptop include extensive gameplay but dont record inside the laptop using inbuilt recorder, record the display outside using your camera. If you think gameplay will extend the video length then post the gameplay in seperate video and include the link. These were the points missing in your review, and also for gaming laptop, play it in room temperature above 30 degree Celsius and include the room temperature on all gaming laptop review, i bought msi gt73vr after seeing your video. My room temp without AC is between 28 to 38. My cpu temp is always at high 80 and it does thermal throttling. But battery which you didn't cover extensively is phenomenal. 5 hours+ with integerated graphics. Battery is really a pleasant surprise for me but multi tasking not so much.
main reason I believe there is a delay and the upcoming price cuts is because of Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5. long shot, there's a possibility some think pad configurations with AMD.
The device looked so nice in the thumbnail - mostly because the diagonal 'Thinkpad' branding was obscured. I really don't know why they think putting something so aesthetically displeasing in such a prominent position is a feature. It's a shame, because I'd buy it if not for this.
Looks solid in the exterior. The Samsung notebook was a disappointment with its flimsy cover. It reminded of the Note 4's. I am actually awaiting for the quad one with the pen. Hope you get that one to review as soon it's available!
I really wish lenovo can fit a quad core inside a t480 in the future maybe next year when i go off to college. A 1050m or something similar in power would also be lit.
Hello Kyle! I recently purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon as a part of research requirement from school, we are required to submit a consumer behavior analysis on our recent purchase. May I kindly ask for your help by filling the very short survey here? www.surveymonkey.com/r/VLRSL93 (It will not take you more than 5 minutes, I promise. Thank you very much!)
Lisa, any chance there is an issue with your unit? Didn't last years model have better battery life? Also, some twisting / build quality demonstration would be nice!
Waiting for a yoga OLED updated with Kaby lake, Bluetooth 4.2 etc. Currently a mostly specced out skylake OLED X1 Yoga comes in at £2300 in the UK, that's a lot for an 18 month old APU
Hi Lisa! I'm a huge fan.. thing is do you think you can get Lenovo to send a review model of the Lenovo Yoga 720 15 inch? it has a quad core Kaby Lake Processor and even a Nvidia GTX 1050 Graphics Card. It's coming out on April but I'm so impatient haha. I'm really excited for that review and I hope you can compare it with my other choice the HP Spectre X360 15 2017
about the fan_noise in 10:42 : Check your windows energy management profiles. On the T460s the default setting disallowed the CPU to go below 70% (=>fan running on room temperature) when the notebook is plugged in. I noticed because idling in Linux was a lot quieter. I do not know what the benefit of a high minimum frequency is - on load it pretty much immediatly raises the frequency anyway. When playing around with the power profiles max frequencies you can create a "fanless" profile - on the 460s its around 65% (tested with 5 threads compression for ~10 minutes).
Great review, however, there is one mistake. The reason why the fans kick in while the machine is using AC power is due to bios settings. There is an option to have passive and active cooling for each power states. IT will try to passively cool to save battery, and avoid turning the fans on. While active cooling which is set by default to on, while in AC mode, it tries to keep the machine as cool as possible and does not take into consideration the power used on fans as its plugged in anyways. Just though you should issues a little blurb in video as it's not bad bios issue, set up that way and is intentional.
Hello everyone! I recently purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon as a part of research requirement from school, we are required to submit a consumer behavior analysis on our recent purchase. May I kindly ask for your help by filling the very short survey here? www.surveymonkey.com/r/VLRSL93 (It will not take you more than 5 minutes, I promise. Thank you very much!)
It would be fun if you could compare with the new x270, as they now tend to have very similar dimensions, making it harder to differentiate the two product lines.
4:50 I actually might do this... I want to replace my computer with a nice lightweight laptop and this seems like a very good idea since the thunderbolt ports have external graphics compatibility
Lisa love your Reviews and I am not sure about this and you are absolutely correct about price tag.And I am big fan of Lenovo but there is a line in a song that comes to mind. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.Thanks so much for sharing and always in such detailed information about the product's 👍
The touchpad issue you mention in this review seems to be effecting a good number of units if not all. We discussed it extensively in the Lenovo forums and found that there must be some sort of strange driver conflict between the touchpoint drivers and the PTP drivers. Either way, the current fix is disable the following and it fixes the problem for good, not sure what effect it has on touchpoint usage though.
Settings>Mouse & Touchpad>Additional Mouse Settings>Advanced options>Thinkpad tab>Advanced settings>Advanced Tab and deselect "Edge tap filtering"
Mam, I've become a fan of your channel! there's no loud obnoxious music, nothing but professionalism and you actually review the important features.
Your reviews are terrific. Definitely the most thorough reviews I've seen. Would love to see the XPS 13 smackdown.
Hi Lisa, thanks for the review. I personally believe that keyboard and screen are two most important components of a laptop/computer; could you maybe in the future do a comparison video of different laptops' keyboard, e.g. key travel, registration force, comfort to type on, etc. I am also a huge Thinkpad fan; IMO the red trackpoint is really convenient. But in your video comment section people seem not fully understand its function; could you maybe in the future do a video on the functionality of the red trackpoint and perhaps demonstrate how it can actually help improve productivity? Thanks
Nathan Lin honestly, i think Lenovo Will win All keyboard comparisons, and Dell All the screen comparisons :D
Ethernet Port - The reason Lenovo chose to go with the Ethernet port is because it is a native port. Meaning the Ethernet hardware circuitry is on the laptop itself , rather than being on the USB C dongle. This means the MAC address of the Ethernet is assigned to the laptop itself rather than the adapter. This feature is quite valuable in enterprise business environment, as all the settings can be made on the laptop, rather than having to change the settings on a USB C dongle every time the dongle is changed.
Hi there, have you used the dongle? will the ethernet dongle get the speed of 1Gbps like the traditional RJ45 in every regular laptop? I'm considering to get one, but if the speed of using ethernet dongle is just around 100Mbps, I'm not going to buy it :). can you please help?
Lisa, they use a proprietary ethernet port in order to retain the same MAC address as the laptop. If they used a thunderbolt connection, they would've had the MAC address of the adapter.
Would love to see a smackdown between this and the XPS 13!
Please another smackdown with the Dell xps!
Lisa, you are doing just an awesome job at reviewing tech - thanks for these videos, I really like them and they helped me make a well-informed buying decision!
im waiting on the Yoga version for months now. keep watching this video over and over LOL Great review as usual Lisa!!!!
I remember watching your first X1 carbon review..... Finally bought one.... The first GEN lool!
@Jeffrey Sullivan Who the fuck makes two fake accounts and replies to their own original comment to make it seem legit? Get a life, nobody wants your script kiddie RAT trojan.
can't wait for a comparison with dell xps 13. Those two are on the very top of my list at the moment!
Great, comprehensive review! I'm glad you review ThinkPads, it's not easy to find much quality content about them on RUclips.
Yes please to the X1 Carbon (5th Gen) vs XPS 13 smackdown.
yes. I wish to see smack down between x1 carbon and xps 13
This laptop looks amazing.
Martin Staykov It is
Yes! Thank goodness for no touch screen. I am worried that in a few years I might not be able to find a laptop without touch...We need a smackdown with the XPS 13!
Definitely smackdown XPS 13 vs Lenovo X1 Carbon. You do my favorite reviews Lisa. Awesome!
I received my X1 a few days ago and updated the BIOS to the most recent version. I haven't had any problems with the fan.
The only other difference is my processor is the i5-7300u (also running Linux Mint 18.1 Cinnamon)
Marco Avena How's your battery life on the carbon with Linux?
Really varies depending on what processes are happening. I have TLP installed.
On average maybe 7-10 hours. The battery can disappear much faster than that though (~5 hours). Also will sometimes say it can go for ~15 hours.
The perfect ultrabook. It took years but finally perfection is here.
after a couple of weeks searching a perfect laptop for my computer's science studies i think this is a really good option. the only negative points are the price and the ddr3 memory slot.
Love these things. Wish these things had 16:10 screen ratio. I'm a reader/writer not a movie watcher so at moment stuck with more expensive macs.
My Lenovo T410 TouchPad pointer at times would stick and I would have to tap the TouchPad firmly to wake it up and get and the pointer to move (Win10). The fix for me was bring up the Control Panel --Mouse Properties -- SmartCheck -- PalmCheck and uncheck "Prioritize for TrackPoint and keyboard input." I also moved "PalmCheck" from the Maximum setting to just above the midpoint. This isn't an original solution, but it worked for me and hope passing it along helps increase the satisfaction of others when using their laptop. Best
unlike a macbook pro this thing will still be working in 5 years time. worth every penny.
@Lisa You are an absolutely excellent reviewer. You've nailed yet another review. Very informative. Thanks so much!!
For those who interested in this laptop, I have few useful info that I could share with you guys as I am using one currently.
1. The backlit keyboard needs to be manually turned on with each startup. The backlight is off by default.
2. If opt for windows hello IR camera, the camera will work 9 out of 10 attempts and may have to resort to using the finger print scanner for windows hello login.
3. Trackpad works well. Smooth and precise, no complaint here.
4. This laptop is very solidly built and likely will withstand test of time. Seems like lenovo is doing very strict quality control testing here.
5. I found the WQHD screen ok not great as I expect, color doesn’t pop or as saturated as like in other laptop that I have owned even though it is considered premium screen. The screen they use is an LG type screen, LEN40AA. If you want to adjust the scaling of text in windows 10 to say 125 or 150%, certain text will appear blurry and not as crisp as the scaling at native resolution. If you want to save some money here, opt for full hd screen should be adequate, that has better contrast and deeper blacks. Wqhd screen provides larger estate to work on provided your eyes can adjust to the small text. For me, I have no problem at reading small text. I mean for those with deteriorating eyesight, preferably to go for full hd screen, you will find it plenty enough.
6. Keyboard is ok but not great as some other reviewers have claimed. Response is good, not mushy. Dampening is ok only, can still can feel the bottoming out but this is expected for thin and light notebook. Typing experience is very positive with no error at all.
7. For those concerning about fn and ctrl key swapping, I think it is no a major concern at all because you just have to get used to the ctrl key position. If still not get used to the placement of ctrl key, you can swap the fn and ctrl key using thinkpad vantage software or in the bios.
8. Fingerprint works great, fast and much more reliable. Good thing that it has a light strip above the fingerprint pad to let you know where to place your finger tip in poor lighting condition
9. Camera is one of the poorest I have seen in all laptops in low lighting condition. Low resolution, narrow angle, grainy and a lot of artifacts. The narrow angle camera really bugs me a lot as it also result in multiple failure of facial recognition with windows hello. I suggest to stick with the normal camera rather than upgrade to the IR camera that performs poorly in poor lighting condition and cant detect well unless you are directly in front of the computer within the angle of view of camera. To adjust the facial recognition, make sure you set the facial recognition according to the distance you will look at the IR camera. If you sit close to the screen like me, then set the facial recognition close to the screen. Otherwise, it will fail to recognize you.
10. Battery life will certainly last you day. Here’s what I have tested. About 6 - 6 ½ hours watching youtube in chrome. About 7-8 hours of netflix, word processing 9-10 hours. Mixed usage 7 to 8 hours. Range 6 hours to 8hours. Never rely on windows battery meter, you need to download battery bar to get accurate estimate of battery life.
11. Battery charged up fast up to 80 percent then it will trickle charge slowly for 1 hour till full charge. All together will takes about 2 hour to charge from 6% to full. You will notice that during charging, the top part of laptop near to the microsd card slot will becomes quite warm which I measured about 40.8 degree celcius.
12. The matte surface of the laptop does attract oil print, but if you keep your hands clean, you can avoid this problem. Avoid eating snack and browsing on the thinkpad.
13. This laptop runs cool and quiet, thus may explain the battery endurance.
14. Resume from sleep is very fast.
15. Fan noise is nearly inaudible even at full load. Fan does not kick in easily unless doing some benchmark and installing updates.
16. Speaker is ok, good enough for music listening, has a hint of bass too. Be sure to set the audio software under Lenovo vantage to music mode as it provides most pleasant listening.
17.You can run dota 2 on this laptop, the game is still appears good. you can set the resolution to 1920 X 1080 and texture to high and rendering to about 80% and still able to run the game at 50 to 60 fps.
1. Comes with Standard preloaded games of Microsoft that consume almost 1gb of storage. I suggest to uninstall the games. Bloatware in this laptop is almost non existent, Not even Lenovo customizing software is been installed in this laptop. It just preinstalled with windows, and Lenovo vantage.
2. Use Lenovo vantage to update the system to latest OS or download Lenovo own system update to update all the drivers and bios.
Assessories
1. Bluetooth mouse. Do not choose wireless mouse as wireless mouse need a dongle to use whereas Bluetooth mouse can connect directly to your computers Bluetooth. This will avoid using the precious usb type A port.
2. Get a laptop sleeve to protect the laptop from any scratch though it won’t scratch easily.
Ordering part of this laptop
1. If your laptop is heavily customized, expect building time of about 3-4 weeks. And delivery may takes 7 to 10 days. I ordered mine on the 3rd february and received it on 12 march 2018. So be very patient to wait for the laptop to arrive and if you really need a laptop urgently like within 1 week, you will likely get frustrated with the delay. Otherwise, I would say it is totally worth the wait because it is such a well build machine, apart from the low quality camera.
2. Lenovo package this laptop in a premium retail packaging that you will see in most unboxing videos, not some cheap brown cardboard. The packaging is very well protected from any bumps and knocks.
3. Courier should not be tampering with your packaging and always check to make sure that the sticker is only original lenovo sticker, not some other second layer tape that tape over the Lenovo cellotape.
4. Warranty will start from the day you start using the laptop.
5. Always wait for the promo period for warranty. Always get the 3 year warranty to protect your expensive laptop. Repairing certainly costly if it is done outside of warranty in view of it has mostly soldered components.
6. WWAN 4g LTE is an option that is only available during ordering. If you plan to install it later on, you cannot do so because the laptop does not come preinstalled with WWAN antenna. So, make a wise purchase decision. For me, the sierra em7455 lte is worth the upgrade if you working in places where wifi connection is slow or unreliable. It wont drain the battery life as the mobile connectivity can be turned on and off at the windows connectivity setting at right corner of taskbar and windows 10 autoswitching between lte and wifi.
7. 256gb nvme ssd from intel has a read speed of 1500mb/s and relatively slow write speed of 500mb/s. if you want faster nvme with triple speed of that intel , go for 512gb with Samsung pm961but that will cost at least 200 dollars extra I suppose
8. The OS including all other updates will only take up 40gb of the total storage space.
9. 16gb ram is overkill if you plan to do light browsing, watching video stream. I barely can use up to 35 % of total ram.
10. If I would choose between 5th gen and 6th gen x1 carbon, probably I will go for 6th gen that comes with more processor cores, thus better performance. However, design wise, I still prefer the 5th gen traditional design because, the thinkpad logo is silver textured that contrast well with the matte surface. On the other hand, the new 6th gen x1 carbon has thinkpad logo that is blacked shiny that doesn’t stand out.
11. It doesn’t comes with rj45 Ethernet dongle, you have to pay extra for it during ordering. So for those who doing IT work, make sure you add the rj45 dongle into your ordering.
12. The whole package when delivered to you should weigh 3.1kg.
13. Be sure to order 65watt charger at a measly extra cost of few dollars, as it provide fast charging.
14. Intel low voltage processor kaby lake processor is by no mean weak processor. Choosing between 7200 u vs 7500u vs 7300u vs 7600u. for me, 7200u and 7300U is more worth it than higher options. 7300u does come with vpro technology. 7500u and 7200u do not have vpro tech.
Thanks so much for your in depth comment review, John! For a noob like myself who is facing a massive internal battle on which long-term usage laptop to buy - your comment definitely helps. Just wanted a quick personal opinion from yourself. In terms of buying a laptop that will stick fine for the long term, you reckon this is worth the buy? Also, I'm aware the 2nd gen X1 carbon had a pretty sweet gesture control feature, by chance, would you know if this 5th gen has this feature? Not sure if you'll respond, but major thanks if you do!
Thanks for the review! I would still buy this as my next work laptop because of the keyboard but I'm a bit disappointed with the battery life 😕 I didn't believe in the 15-hour promise but I would have hoped for 9 to 10 hours!
I love the X1 and seems like they are making it better every year (except for the missteps with the touch strip and clunkpads). Smackdown PLEASE!
Lenovo always put dual heat pipes in their top ThinkPad models not matter if it is Ultra low voltage CPU or not, which is very nice.
A fantastic review as always. Thanks Lisa! Keep up the great work
Other sources had problems with loud fans as well, but it was indeed improved via an update BIOS version 1.15. Just to let you guys know.
The most comprehensive review of the X1 carbon 5th Gen, and I've seen a lot of them. As a student I think the size, keyboard and I/O is perfect, if only it were a tad bit cheaper :(
One small correction: it was a good assumption to say that it only has two lanes of pci-e for the thunderbolt 3 but all lenovo laptops have all four lanes. Very high quality products.
Caleb Whitehead what's the use of the other 2 if there's no way to use them with this laptop?
finally a proper review instead of A sneak peek!!
Can't wait for the future laptops that have 5 t3 ports that are all 4 pcie lans and that's it.
Fellow dane here. The first 2 generations of the X1 Carbon was behind the Macbook Air in terms of design/features, but with the 3rd generation af forward they have really made their own nice part of the market. Also the rising prices of the Macbooks and probably incomming discontinuation of the Macbook Air line, I foresee a rise in the sales of this unit.
I'm buying one today for 320 bucks. Very excited.
Really wish I waited for this instead of buying a 15 inch MacBook Pro. Looks great. Thanks for the video!
Remembered how IBM prices Thinkpad Laptop? this is not overpriced.
Thank you very much for this review, it was very informative.
Constructive criticism would be to slow down your speech at certain parts such as 4:20 or at the very least display the parts you're referring to on the screen.
Definitely would love a SmackDown with XPS 13. Also, hope you will review the T470s soon.
Best reviewer as always. Would love to see the xps13 smackdown. Maybe one with a macbook too...?
Exceptional as ever .. waiting for the review of Lenovo thinkpad x1 gen 2 (the best i/o port combo in the market). Cheers !!
Man if they could just provide a version without the knob and dedicated buttons it would be a dream laptop.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and LG Gram, the top two thin bezel ultrabooks for now IMHO.
I've literally been waiting for your review before I made the decision to buy this laptop. I'm going to wait for a X13 smackdown and maybe a review on the next generation yoga to make a decision. The price tag is definitely WAY high for my liking, and that's unfortunate.
Why have I never seen this channel before.
Jeg høre du er halv Dansk. Så jeg prøver lige på dansk at sige tak for alle dine virkelige gode og informative videoer. Håber du forstår hvad jeg skriver. 👍🏻✌🏻
i just got one today and i love it
what about the brightness? is it good? :-)
Hands down my favourite work station.
The ethernet port is designed for the enterprize market, according to Lenovo. I think Linus Tech Tips also reported this.
Hi Lisa, another great review. You’re now my “go to” channel if I’m thinking of making a tech purchase. Can I ask what colorimeter you use? Many thanks
Definitely want a smackdown with the XPS 13
have the 4th gen and standout features are the matt screen and keyboard - I've used many many other windows and Mac laptops and the X1C whilst not the shiniest piece of bling is a genuine pleasure to use on a daily basis.
Can you review the Thinkpad T470? Im trying to decide between the X1C and the T470 (not s or p versions). Thank you!
I'm on the same bote as you, man. And i'm from Argentina and I will be buying and importing it, so no second thoughts for me when I click the buy button :P. I wanna be sure which would be better for me.
T470 has upgradeable memory up to 32GB, has way better battery life and does not throttle on turbo mode, but it has a worse screen and is a little thicker and heavier.
***** I'm not even gonna bother with customs because there are workarounds about that. Besides, I'm paying an importer a small fee and he's gonna do all the quirks and magic about our stupid customs. Don't worry, that problem was THE VERY FIRST THING that came to mind when I decided to buy a laptop. Here in my country, a $1500 ThinkPad costs around $40000 to $50000 ARS. IN U$D that would be something like $3125. So I prefer buying it in the US, pay someone to bring it for me and maybe it would cost me a couple of hundreds more, but not twice as much or more...
Erik Coll
Did you finalize your selection?
I would say T470 is better
myrang3r Worst screen in what sense ? Cause to the best of my knowledge it's FHD IPS display.
I'm unsure if anyone has mentioned this, but the 2017 X1 Carbon does have x4 PCI lanes on each Thunderbolt port.
Hey Lisa, I have used this thing for a week now. I guess you do not want to trust the battery life estimation by the system; it will tell you 7 hours left 100% and the same thing at 60%. Typically I do some programming and watch some RUclips, and X1C gen5 will last for 8-10 hours. When playing games like Asphalt, I got a battery life of right above 4 hours. BTW, I have the same configuration as yours, except for I ordered 128G and upgrade to an Intel 600p 512G myself.
I never believe the Windows estimated battery life in the first few weeks. It's rarely correct.
Good Review as always! Please also do a review on x270! :)
Hi...Lisa...thank you very much for review this model. I will decide to buy this model.
I personally have this ultrabook and i love it. Very compact and powerful, thunderbolt ports and glass trackpad are great!
Ajay Kumar have you tried gaming in it
Nothing too modern. I've played some old rpg games which are not demanding. Since it has two thunderbolt 3 with separate pci lanes, you could theoretically get an external graphics setup.
How is it holding up to this date?
you know what Lisa? only you could get me to look into various tech gadgets. 😗
mobiletechreview, one of the only tech youtubers keeping it real, i will always support you!
Control Panel --- Mouse -- UltraNav -- TouchPad Settings -- Smart Check Settings --PalmCheck and there uncheck "Prioritize for TrackPoint and keyboard input."
Seems like a great laptop except for the well documented touchpad issues. Will this comment/question see the light of day? Has the touchpad lag and deficiencies been resolved? Community threads seem to implicate both windows software and Lenovo hardware. Laptop seems perfect except for the above summary. So, please let me know Genuine thanks from someone who can't afford to make a mistake.
Liked your review, and yes you're correct on the price drop. Currently here in Canada loaded, it's going for $2,025. 25. That includes the $674.75 ( $2,699.00 ) discount. When comparing with Apple and similar, it's still a very good deal.
On every laptop review please do a extensive battery test. For example playing fhd video in loop, browsing and playing youtube. Switching to low power mode or eco mode. For all laptop including msi, gsync off test and gsync on test for msi gt73vr because it has option for integerated graphics switch. And also for gaming laptop include extensive gameplay but dont record inside the laptop using inbuilt recorder, record the display outside using your camera. If you think gameplay will extend the video length then post the gameplay in seperate video and include the link. These were the points missing in your review, and also for gaming laptop, play it in room temperature above 30 degree Celsius and include the room temperature on all gaming laptop review, i bought msi gt73vr after seeing your video. My room temp without AC is between 28 to 38. My cpu temp is always at high 80 and it does thermal throttling. But battery which you didn't cover extensively is phenomenal. 5 hours+ with integerated graphics. Battery is really a pleasant surprise for me but multi tasking not so much.
main reason I believe there is a delay and the upcoming price cuts is because of Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5. long shot, there's a possibility some think pad configurations with AMD.
Thanks Lisa! Smackdown vs. ThinkPad Yoga!!!!
I can't wait for the x1 yoga review and comparism to the HP spectre 2017
Hoooray! Waited for X1 review so long!
I Love Lenovo Thinkpad that used since T 420 till T450 are good laptop with a high performance
Bios update fixed another reviewers fan problem.
And, yes, do a smackdown or two, please.
It would be great if you ever done a Dell XPS 15 vs LG Gram 15 2017 smackdown. Keep up the good work!
The device looked so nice in the thumbnail - mostly because the diagonal 'Thinkpad' branding was obscured. I really don't know why they think putting something so aesthetically displeasing in such a prominent position is a feature. It's a shame, because I'd buy it if not for this.
I am curious to know how this compares to the Dell XPS 13.
That's odd, early on in the video there's clear reflection on the screen, but mid-way through it's a matte display.
Comparison video versus the XPS 13 would be great!
Looks solid in the exterior. The Samsung notebook was a disappointment with its flimsy cover. It reminded of the Note 4's.
I am actually awaiting for the quad one with the pen. Hope you get that one to review as soon it's available!
I really wish lenovo can fit a quad core inside a t480 in the future maybe next year when i go off to college. A 1050m or something similar in power would also be lit.
Just bought mine can't wait to get it!
Hello Kyle! I recently purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon as a part of research requirement from school, we are required to submit a consumer behavior analysis on our recent purchase. May I kindly ask for your help by filling the very short survey here? www.surveymonkey.com/r/VLRSL93 (It will not take you more than 5 minutes, I promise. Thank you very much!)
FYI it has 4 lanes, not 2
heavily considering getting this as my first laptop it just has that classic/sleeper laptop look and LTE feature looks like it would be useful
Lisa, any chance there is an issue with your unit? Didn't last years model have better battery life? Also, some twisting / build quality demonstration would be nice!
Waiting for a yoga OLED updated with Kaby lake, Bluetooth 4.2 etc.
Currently a mostly specced out skylake OLED X1 Yoga comes in at £2300 in the UK, that's a lot for an 18 month old APU
Please make the compare video with the DELL. I am right now undecided between the two
And is the battery really that much less than Lenovo claims?
Hi Lisa! I'm a huge fan.. thing is do you think you can get Lenovo to send a review model of the Lenovo Yoga 720 15 inch? it has a quad core Kaby Lake Processor and even a Nvidia GTX 1050 Graphics Card. It's coming out on April but I'm so impatient haha. I'm really excited for that review and I hope you can compare it with my other choice the HP Spectre X360 15 2017
about the fan_noise in 10:42 : Check your windows energy management profiles. On the T460s the default setting disallowed the CPU to go below 70% (=>fan running on room temperature) when the notebook is plugged in. I noticed because idling in Linux was a lot quieter. I do not know what the benefit of a high minimum frequency is - on load it pretty much immediatly raises the frequency anyway.
When playing around with the power profiles max frequencies you can create a "fanless" profile - on the 460s its around 65% (tested with 5 threads compression for ~10 minutes).
Great review, however, there is one mistake. The reason why the fans kick in while the machine is using AC power is due to bios settings. There is an option to have passive and active cooling for each power states. IT will try to passively cool to save battery, and avoid turning the fans on. While active cooling which is set by default to on, while in AC mode, it tries to keep the machine as cool as possible and does not take into consideration the power used on fans as its plugged in anyways. Just though you should issues a little blurb in video as it's not bad bios issue, set up that way and is intentional.
I want one, and planned to buy one. But the price pushed me away to cheaper alternatives like Dell XPS 13 and Razer Blade Stealth. :(
Smackdown time!
2017 Dell XPS 13 9360 with the 1080p display VS 5th Gen Lenovo X1 carbon (this laptop) VS 2017 Samsung notebook 9 13 inch
you are awesome as always. thank you.
Another great review, Lisa!
Great review Lisa, I'm loving mine. Do you have the ability to test with an eGPU solution to see how that does?
Hello everyone! I recently purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon as a part of research requirement from school, we are required to submit a consumer behavior analysis on our recent purchase. May I kindly ask for your help by filling the very short survey here? www.surveymonkey.com/r/VLRSL93 (It will not take you more than 5 minutes, I promise. Thank you very much!)
Awesome review! What would recommend, x1 carbon or x270? Considering price, specifications etc.
Smackdown with the Gram 14? Seeing how expensive the LG laptops also are, the X1 seems like the no-brainer choice.
I've waited so long for this video! Thanks Lisa! Lenovo is still the best brand for business!
It would be fun if you could compare with the new x270, as they now tend to have very similar dimensions, making it harder to differentiate the two product lines.
4:50 I actually might do this... I want to replace my computer with a nice lightweight laptop and this seems like a very good idea since the thunderbolt ports have external graphics compatibility
Great info packed review. 👌 thanks a lot 🙏. How did you adjust the display to be less pale etc.?
Lisa love your Reviews and I am not sure about this and you are absolutely correct about price tag.And I am big fan of Lenovo but there is a line in a song that comes to mind. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.Thanks so much for sharing and always in such detailed information about the product's 👍
please do a SmackDown with the xps