Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Review

The IBM ThinkPad has legendary status, and when Lenovo took over production they were keen to take this iconic range into the next century. Equally so, Lenovo were aware that they couldn't mess with the design too much, especially as the primary focus has always been the business audience. The ThinkPad has always been recognised for the superb keyboard, red 'pointing stick' and world class build quality. Today we are looking at the latest ThinkPad X1, entitled 'Carbon', a refresh on the original X1 which we reviewed in September last year. Lenovo offer a wide range of configurations featuring Core i5 or Core i7 processor. The starting price is around £1039.99, although Lenovo seem to continually run web deals reducing the final price by over £100. Key features: Carbon fiber top cover and roll cage – as strong as aluminum at 1/3 the weight Lenovo RapidCharge, for five hours’ battery life on a 35-minute charge Lenovo Mobile Access, for contract-free 3G when you need it Remote manageability via vPro Superior web conferencing with face-tracking 720p HD webcam, dual-array microphones, and keyboard noise suppression Fingerprint reader, TPM and BIOS encryption, for advanced security Dolby® Home Theater™ v4 and Intel® HD 4000 integrated graphics, for rich sound and vision Share connectivity with Mobile Hotspot technology Best-in-class keyboard, with progressive backlighting and larger island-style keys Glass multi-gesture touchpad InstantResume wakes from hibernate nearly four times faster than other laptops Ports include one each of USB 3.0 SuperSpeed, always-on USB 2.0, Mini DisplayPort with audio, and 4-in-1 SD Card reader The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon arrives in an inoffensive brown box with some company branding on the side panels. Inside, the X1 is protected between two plastic green side panels and two foam supports. The bundle is spartan, no unnecessary gimmicks for the business user, just a leaflet on the product covering the main features and key commands, and the 100-240V power supply. The new ThinkPad X1 is a super slim ultraportable machine, wafer thin and very light. It weighs around 1.34 kg and the company class it as the 'World's thinnest and lightest 14" Ultrabook' machine. Dimensions of the X1 Carbon are 331 mm x 226 mm x 18.8 mm (WxDxH). The reason for the lightness is simple - much of the laptop is constructed using Carbon Fibre materials. The Carbon Fibre roll cage is designed to increase durability and strength. The machine can support up to 8GB of memory, and the company offer SSD options to increase boot and operating speed. The 14 inch screen is a HD+ wide display with anti glare and a resolution of 1600x900 pixels. This is an increase over the previous ThinkPad X1 which I still use today. 1600x900 is actually a very good compromise as the resolution is high enough to offer a large deskspace without being too much of an eye strain, like many 1920x1080 panels under 17 inch dimensions. My first impressions of the machine were very positive. It is both light, but rigid and feels as if it could take a reasonable amount of abuse on the move. This is a key prerequisite for a business man as working in less than perfect environmental conditions is commonplace. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon ships with a finger print reader. I have been using this on the previous ThinkPad X1 and it has worked flawlessly for a year now. It is a fantastic option to give additional security on the move, without having to constantly remember (and key in) complex passwords. It only takes a couple of minutes to set up. Lenovo have included a new, larger glass touchpad on the X1 Carbon and it tracks exceptionally well. I still prefer a quality mouse for serious duties, but for working on the move, it is more than adequate. Both buttons offer great feedback and the central button can be used with the famous red 'pointer' which is placed above the 'B' key on the board. I actually have used this joypad interface more than the trackpad with my own X1. At the top left of the keyboard is a mute, volume, microphone and ThinkPad button. At the right is a simple power button. Lenovo have engraved the 'X1 Carbon' name into the screen surround, bottom right. Lenovo include activity lights along the top of the keyboard. While there are many impressive features, the X1 crowning jewel is the fantastic keyboard which is as good as the model on the original X1. This is without doubt the best laptop keyboard on the market today and puts those by their rivals to shame. The spacing is perfect and the curved edges ensure the ultimate typing experience. I still prefer my Razer BlackWidow Ultimate, but for on the move, it is in a class of its own. The company also include a double height return key which is very important to maintain the fastest typing speeds. There is no numpad, however we wouldn't expect one on a 14 inch laptop. I was concerned that Lenovo may have to remove the backlighting option, but it is still available, with two intensity settings (fn + spacebar). Bonus points for ensuring this was not omitted. Lenovo are using an excellent matte coating on the screen which stops reflections and ensures that the laptop can be used with a strong light behind the user. The onboard sound system is slightly disappointing, although it is no worse than the original X1. It can output a reasonable level without distortion, but for serious use we recommend either headphones or external speakers. There are two lights on the lid, battery charge and hibernation. In the central top position of the main screen panel section is a 720p HD webcam which will be useful for business meetings and chatting with friends. Lenovo offer two panels for this machine, a 1366x768 200 NIT HD version and a more expensive 1600x900 300 NITS HD+ version. The 1600x900 screen is a dramatic improvement on last years ThinkPad X1. The text is sharper, the colours are more accurately rendered and the viewing angles are much wider. This was one of the few areas of the original machine that I wasn't that happy with, so it is good to see Lenovo improving the design. The left side of the laptop has a 4-in-1 card reader, headphone jack, Mini Displayport and USB 3.0 port. The other side of the machine has a single USB 2.0 port and a wireless switch. Not the most loaded range of I/O ports, I would have ideally liked to have see one more USB port on the right side of the X1 Carbon. There are no ports on the rear of the machine. The original X1 could be opened to 180 degrees and the new X1 Carbon has maintained this useful feature. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. The Windows experience index isn't the most detailed analysis, but it can give a quick, brief overview of the system and subsequent performance. A score of 5.8 is quite good, held back a little by onboard Intel HD4000 graphics. Lenovo install a plethora of their own applications under the 'Lenovo' and 'Thinkpad' names. Many of these software suites are very useful - such as the Solution Centre, System Update and Mobile Access. The list includes many Intel software packages as well. On the other hand we aren't so sure they really need to install software such as Norton Internet Security, Evernote and Google Chrome. We feel it is always best leaving those software installations to the choice of the individual. Our specific system for review today is: ThinkPad X1 Carbon, 34602SG, UK - 14.0" HD+ LED B/L (1600x900) Antiglare w/ Camera - Intel Core i5 3427U 1.8-2.8 GHz w/ HD 4000 - 8 GB RAM onboard - Intel QS77 Chipset - w/o Ethernet (RJ45) - 256 GB HDD SSD Platine SATA 3 (6 GB/s) (SanDisk SD5SG2256G10.10.0) - WWAN Ericsson H5321 - WLAN Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205S A B G N - Bluetooth - 1 x USB 2.0 Always On - 1 x USB 3.0 - Mini Displayport - HD Audio - Energystar - Cardreader - TouchPad - Fingerprint Reader - Intel AMT - 4-cell Battery - Power Supply 90W - Power Plug UK - Keyboard Backlight UK - 3 Year On-Site Warranty - Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit UK Our X1 Carbon includes a 22nm Core i5 3427U processor, a dual core processor with hyperthreading (total of 4 logical cores). There is 3MB of level 2 cache on this chip. The 3427U is a mid range processor clocked at 1.8ghz, with a turbo up to 2.8ghz. There is 8GB of DDR3 memory installed in a dual channel configuration. The memory is clocked at 1333mhz with 9-9-9-24 timings. As this is a business machine Lenovo have wisely opted to use onboard HD4000 graphics. This should help improve battery life, and reduce operating temperatures. Comparison Systems (for specific synthetic test compares): Lenovo ThinkPad Edge S430 (PC Specialist Vortex III HD72 (featuring Core i7 3610QM). Asus G74SX-91013Z (featuring Core i7 2360QM). Dell XPS 14z (featuring Core i7 2640M). AlienWare M18X (featuring Core i7 2960XM Extreme Edition). MSI CX640 (featuring Core i5 2410M). Intel Core i7 2600k desktop processor. Intel Core i5 2500k desktop processor. Software: 3DMark Vantage 3DMark 11 PCMark 7 Cinebench 11.5 64 bit FRAPS Professional Unigine Heaven Benchmark CrystalDiskMark Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 11 Cyberlink MediaEspresso HQV Benchmark V2. World Of Warcraft Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment: Asus USB BluRay Drive Lacie 730 Monitor (Image Quality testing) Thermal Diodes Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter Nikon D3X with R1C1 Kit (4 flashes), Nikon 24-70MM lens. Game descriptions are taken with courtesy from Wikipedia. SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software. Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting. It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc. Native ports for all major operating systems are available: Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86) Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64) Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64) Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01) Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02) All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of: SMP – Multi-Processor MC – Multi-Core SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86 IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit The Core i5 3427U in the ThinkPad X1 Carbon isn't a powerhouse, although the results are decent. It falls close to the bottom of our chart, above the i5 3210M. PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use. A score of 5,352 points is a great result for an ultraportable, highlighting a well balanced range of hardware installed. CINEBENCH R11.5 64 Bit is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more. CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all: It’s completely free. A score of 2.55 is reasonable, around the same performance as the last generation i5 2410M. Not the ideal machine to be using for mobile rendering duties, but acceptable for occasional, less demanding work. Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand. Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk. Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable: Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems Multicore CPU support Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles) Powerful C++ API Comprehensive performance profiling system Flexible XML-based data structures We use the following settings: 1600×900 resolution. Anti Aliasing off. Anisotrophy 4, Tessellation normal. Shaders High. Stereo 3D disabled. API: Direct X 11. This particular Direct X 11 benchmark is too demanding for the onboard Intel HD4000 graphics. The system struggles to break double digits, generating an average of 8.1 frames per second. 3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads. If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page. 632 points is not going to deliver great real world results when gaming with the latest Direct X 11 engines. Much as we already know - the Intel HD4000 is better paired up with older Direct X 9 or Direct X 10 games at lower resolution. A very important part of overall system responsiveness is down to hard drive performance. We use two of our favourite benchmark utilities Crystalmark X64 Edition and HD Tach to rate performance from the onboard 256GB SanDisk SATA drive. These results are great, around 430 MB/s sequential read, and 400 MB/s sequential write. The SanDisk 256GB drive is also good with incompressible data, so a good choice for a laptop system. The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage. Strong results again, verifying the findings with CrystalDiskMark. Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 is one of the finest solutions for the BluRay experience on Windows and we found this software to work perfectly with this chipset. We tested with the new extended Bluray Disc of Lord Of The Rings. The Core i5 3427U processor is capable of dealing with High Definition BluRay media without a problem. There are plenty of inactive CPU cycles left over for multitasking. The Matroska Media container is a very popular, open standard Multimedia container which is usually found as .MKV files. It is a very popular format in enthusiast circles and can be played directly in Windows Media Player with suitable codecs installed. We use the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP). We ripped our BluRay disc of Sniper Reloaded to 1080P MKV and use Windows Media Player to playback the file. 1080p MKV contained files are demanding of the partnering hardware, and we see a 40 percent load with this test. Still no problems handling the task however. Many people using this system will be enjoying Flash related content so we feel it is important to test with some of the more demanding material available freely online. Full hardware acceleration is enabled. Flash playback varies between 5 and 35 percent during this test. CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats. Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology. New and Improved Features Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously. Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention. Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices. Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment. Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A. Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier. For our testing today we are converting a 3.3GB 720p MKV file (2h:12mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power. We are using the newest version which has been optimised for Sandybridge processors. Hardware acceleration is enabled for the testing today. The final time of 17 minutes and 6 seconds is reasonably good, although not close to the fastest we have achieved from a mobile platform. The ThinkPad Edge S430 performs the same task in 15 minutes and 40 seconds. World of Warcraft (often abbreviated as WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. World of Warcraft takes place within the Warcraft world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous Warcraft release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft on September 2, 2001. We set the graphics to good quality settings. The game is playable at the native resolution of the panel, although it can be borderline in a few sections of the game, dropping close to the sweet spot of 25 frames per second. Battlefield 3 (commonly abbreviated BF3) is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. It is a direct sequel to 2005's Battlefield 2, and the twelfth installment in the Battlefield franchise. We configure the graphics options to a balance set of low settings to try and improve the frame rate. The game is playable, although it does tend to judder from time to time. Intel HD4000 graphics have a hard time with this engine, even on low settings. To test today, we are putting the machine through a variety of ‘real world’ situations, mirroring the real world usage of a potential customer. One as a media movie lover on the move (wearing headphones), a person wanting to watch high definition media on a train journey or bus with two thirds screen brightness. Second as a businessman, with screen brightness around half way. Wireless was enabled. A mixture of checking, answering emails using Microsoft Office and editing pictures in Adobe Photoshop. Lastly as a gamer, playing Left4Dead until the machine turned itself off. Lenovo claim up to 8.2 hours battery life with MobileMark 2007, but our best experience was 5 hours and 45 minutes. Actually a fairly good result. We could almost get 3 hours from the machine when watching movies, which is again a pretty good final figure. The battery charges exceptionally fast, taking around 35 minutes to deliver a close to full charge. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the chassis and 4 foot from the ground with our Extech digital sound level meter to mirror a real world situation. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA - Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA - MP3 player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA - Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA - Threshold of Pain 140dBA - Military Jet take off/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA - Instant Perforation of eardrum The choice of low power Core i5 3427U processor ensures that the cooling system never has to work that hard. We would imagine the noise emissions would increase with a Core i7 in this system however - especially with such restricted physical dimensions. Something worth considering before you spend extra on the highest specified ThinkPad X1. The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 24c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this. Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by running Furmark and Cinebench together. Room ambient temperatures were 23c. We measured results with CPUID Hardware Monitor software. The CPU was loaded with Cinebench in a loop and Furmark stress test. The processor peaks at around 80c, although our particular review system incorporates a Core i5 3427U. With the Core i7 option available from their online store, this is likely to peak close to 90c however, or introduce considerably more fan noise. We attached five diodes to the back of the chassis and measured the temperature after one hour of intensive work and gaming. The only part of the ThinkPad X1 that gets hot is the back section close to the exhaust vent. Most of the hot air is expelled here and it can get toasty when placed on a lap. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is another impressive laptop from the Lenovo portfolio. I was a huge fan of the original X1 and liked it so much that I ended up buying one after the company took back our review sample. The new Carbon version is one of the slimmest business oriented laptop computers we have tested. Lenovo say it is the 'World's thinnest and lightest 14" Ultrabook' and we wouldn't argue. Unlike many of the super slim computers available today, the X1 is very rigid and will undoubtedly withstand years of abuse on the road. The last generation ThinkPad X1 has been my mobile workhorse for almost a year now and it still looks as good as it did the day I bought it. These computers are built to the highest standards and the latest model has a carbon fibre top cover and roll cage, as strong as aluminum but only a third of the weight. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon has improved on the original design in several key areas. The weight and size reduction will be welcomed by the buying public, but the main talking point will be the new 1600x900 HD+ panel. The original X1 was let down by the screen quality, which was distinctly average. The latest HD+ panel has wider viewing angles, improved resolution, enhanced colour saturation and sharper definition. Some may yearn for 1920x1080 resolution, but on a 14 inch panel, it really does push the boundaries of legibility. 1600x900 is a good compromise and one that I think makes most sense. Another year may have passed, but Lenovo still hold the mantle for 'best mobile keyboard'. The X1 keyboard is so comfortable to use, and the spacing is ideal for people with larger hands who generally find a mobile platform uncomfortable. The new large glass touchpad is also a pleasure to use, although I still prefer to use the red ThinkPad 'joystick' when on the move. There are two levels of keyboard backlighting, a feature I am glad they didn't omit on the new model. Onboard audio is not particularly impressive, and even though the X1 Carbon can produce a high output level the bass response is weak. Due to the limited physical dimensions of the new Ultrabook, the audio on the previous X1 is slightly superior. This laptop is not suited for gamers. The onboard Intel HD4000 is fine for acceleration duties and light, low resolution gaming, but it won't handle the latest Direct X 11 engines, and can struggle to produce smooth frame rates with many games unless the image quality is reduced significantly. For a business user however the reduced heat, and extended battery life will be welcomed. Noise emissions are never intrusive, although they will probably increase if the Core i7 processor option is selected at checkout. We think this is a fantastic machine with strong points in all the key areas. there are very few weaknesses and the new improved screen quality ensures that this is a serious machine for a demanding executive. If you are interested in buying one, you can configure one to suit your specific demands on the Lenovo website over here. Pros: quiet. best laptop keyboard on the market. looks brilliant. extremely light. super thin. HD+ screen quality has improved since the last X1. trackpad is better. backlit keyboard. Cons: sound quality is weak. Another USB 3.0 port would be nice. battery life could be better. hot spot at the rear of the chassis. Kitguru says: The ThinkPad X1 continues to impress Kitguru. We love the keyboard.