Review: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

With its consumer focused IdeaPad U310, Lenovo showed that it ‘got’ the Ultrabook segment and impressed us with a solid, powerful and distinctive Ultrabook with great battery life and an even greater value at around $600.

With the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Lenovo has put all of its efforts into creating one of the most distinctive new notebooks in the market.  

An Ultrabook unlike any other, the X1 Carbon is a premium business-class portable that has the ThinkPad DNA of durability and efficiency while maintaining all the features that matter in the Ultrabook class. There's no whiff of the shameless copying of the MacBook Air's black keyboard, aluminum enclosure and black-bordered display that many Ultrabooks are so obvious about. This is a ThinkPad through and through and proudly so.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon looks and feels reassuringly like a ThinkPad, it is clad in black Carbon Fiber top cover and rollcage and features the all-around rubberized finish that ThinkPad’s have had for years now.  

Exceedingly light, thin and easy to carry, the X1 Carbon is around 3 lbs., which is remarkable considering that it actually features a 14-inch screen and a battery that is capable of churning out 8.2 hours of use.

Despite its slim profile and being one of the thinnest Ultrabooks we’ve tested, the X1 Carbon feels rigid and substantial. Lenovo has successfully managed to translate the tried and tested ThinkPad qualities of strength, durability and functionality into an ultra-slim profile without sacrificing style.

Using the X1 Carbon running Windows 7, I quickly felt at home with the  backlit chiclet keyboard, trackpad and the notebook’s brisk performance. The 14-inch screen is easy on the eyes and has almost no flex to it despite being so thin.

The X1’s are outfitted with Intel Core i5 or i7 processors which are powerful enough for most tasks and can even handle basic video editing without missing a beat.

Starting at $1,320.00 the ThinkPad X1 Carbon ships with 128GB SSDs upgradeable to 256GB, 4GB or 8GB of RAM and the added convenience of adding 3G wireless data making it a truly connected mobile computing solution.

Being a ThinkPad, users will also get all the professional services and features like InstantResume, which wakes from hibernate nearly four times faster than other laptops. 

Lenovo RapidCharge which will generate five hours’ battery life on a 35-minute charge, ideal for on the go users who need juice quickly.

There’s also the full suite of ThinkVantage security, maintenance and update features. Where the X1 Carbon differs from other ThinkPads is its charging port as well as the size of the power brick. The port is a slimmer rectangular port that's designed to fit the thin profile.  

The power brick is larger than what you'd get from a ThinkPad X220 but this is likely because of the RapidCharge feature so it is well worth it.

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 and it also features a glass touchpad.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is clearly. designed and priced for professionals and users who value thin, light and capable ultraportable solution. Add the tried and tested ThinkPad build quality and features plus the new carbon fibre-laced chassis and you have one of the most nearly-perfect Ultrabooks that money can buy.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5