Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 overview: all enterprise

A laptop computer ought to be pretty refined by the point it’s hit its tenth era. That’s notably true with one as iconic because the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the corporate’s marquee business-oriented skinny and light-weight laptop computer.

Lenovo didn’t mark the X1 Carbon’s tenth era with a spectacular transforming. As a substitute, it additional refines the celebrated design with a number of small however significant refinements, because it’s been doing in each era since its launch.

These small tweaks, alongside an replace to Intel’s Twelfth-gen CPUs, depart this premium enterprise laptop computer on the high of its sport, even when its value nonetheless doesn’t make it a very reasonable mainstream shopper choice.

Worth and configurations

I reviewed a $1,680 configuration with a Core i7-1260P CPU and a 14-inch 16:10 UXWGA (1920 x 1200) low-power IPS show.

After all, Lenovo supplies a number of different configuration choices with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10. CPUs vary from the 28-watt, 12-core/16-thread Core i5-1540P to the 28-watt 14-core/20-thread Core i7-1280P with vPro. As we’ll see within the show part beneath, there are a dizzying variety of show choices that make it doable (if difficult) to dial in exactly the specified effectivity and show decision and high quality.

Relating to pricing and utilizing Lenovo’s configurator, issues begin at $1,320 for a Core i5-1540P, 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM, a 256GB PCIe SSD, and a 14-inch 16:10 WUXGA (1920 x 1200) low-power, anti-glare IPS show. On the excessive finish, you’ll spend $2,595 for a Core i7-1280P with vPro, 32GB of RAM, a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, 4G LTE, and a 14-inch 16:10 WQUXGA (3840 x 2400) anti-reflective, anti-smudge contact show.

These are steep reductions from the retail costs, and so they aren’t out of line for the enterprise viewers that’s more likely to be most within the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10. When it comes to value, it’s cheaper than the extra highly effective Apple MacBook Professional 14 and across the similar value as a equally configured Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7.

Design

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 enjoys the identical skinny and light-weight chassis as earlier than, constructed of magnesium alloy within the chassis and carbon fiber within the lid. It’s subjected to the same old army testing for robustness as all ThinkPads. Nonetheless, like most laptops with magnesium and carbon fiber, there’s some bending within the lid and flexing within the keyboard deck.

Within the ThinkPad’s case, although, it’s very minor and most of the people gained’t discover it, however it doesn’t fairly reside as much as the requirements of extra strong machines just like the Dell XPS 15 and the MacBook Professional 14. The hinge is completely balanced, gentle sufficient to open the lid with one hand however stiff sufficient to carry the show in place.

The magnesium and carbon fiber do convey a significant profit by way of the ThinkPad’s weight, which is available in at simply 2.48 kilos. It’s additionally skinny at 0.60 inches, with bigger bezels for a contemporary laptop computer and thus extra width and depth than some.

By comparability, the strong aluminum MacBook Professional 14 with a 14.2-inch show weighs 3.5 kilos and is 0.61 inches thick, whereas being simply barely thinner and shallower regardless of the bigger panel. The MSI Status 14, however, is somewhat wider and somewhat shallower whereas weighing a whopping 4.64 kilos and coming in at 0.63 inches thick. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 is without doubt one of the lighter 14-inch laptops round whereas being fairly sized in all dimensions.

Aesthetically, what can I say? The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 appears to be like exactly like a ThinkPad — all-black chassis, minimalist strains and angles, pink LED do on the stylized ThinkPad X1 brand on the lid and pink TrackPoint nubbin in the course of the keyboard. It’s a conservative, iconic design that’s recognizable from a distance. Finally, it’s extra placing than simplistic machines just like the Status 14 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7, whereas being much less elegant than the MacBook Professional 14. However no one will likely be embarrassed taking it right into a enterprise assembly.

Ports and connections

Connectivity is usually strong for a 14-inch machine, with two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 assist, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a full-size HDMI 2.0b port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. There’s no SD card reader, which is disappointing.

Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 present the most recent in wi-fi connectivity, and a Nano SIM slot is non-compulsory supporting 4G LTE WWAN.

Keyboard, touchpad, and webcam

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10’s keyboard has barely modified from the usual ThinkPad model. The keycaps are squared off, giving a extra streamlined look and, for my part, a greater really feel. The switches appeared a bit lighter than many ThinkPads I’ve examined, and that’s an enchancment in my ebook. I’ve often discovered ThinkPad keyboards to require an excessive amount of pressure. There’s nonetheless loads of journey and a exact, snappy bottoming motion, making it a superb keyboard for lengthy typing classes. Lenovo additionally constructed air consumption holes into the keyboard to enhance thermal efficiency, and waterproof seals preserve the keyboard’s spill resistance. The format stays the identical, together with the odd swapping of the left Fn and Ctrl keys.

The touchpad is wider than earlier fashions and nonetheless hosts two buttons to assist the pink TrackPoint nubbin in the course of the keyboard. That makes the touchpad barely bigger than up to now however nonetheless smaller than you’ll discover on many aggressive 14-inch laptops. Its glass floor is easy and supplies dependable assist for Home windows 11 multitouch gestures. And the TrackPoint works in addition to ever for these ThinkPad diehards preferring it.

Home windows 11 Hey passwordless assist is offered by a fingerprint reader constructed into the facility button embedded within the deck above the keyboard. The ability button’s placement helps keep away from unintentionally urgent the incorrect key, and the fingerprint reader labored rapidly and reliably in my testing.

Lastly, the webcam is Full HD (1080p) and has a webcam privateness shutter. The webcam supplies glorious video high quality in regular and low-light environments and may meet anybody’s videoconferencing wants. There are alternatives for a Full HD webcam with infrared for facial recognition and one other with Lenovo’s Laptop Imaginative and prescient expertise.

Efficiency

Intel’s Twelfth-gen Core i7-1260P is our most-reviewed CPU during the last a number of months. It’s widespread amongst skinny and light-weight laptops just like the Carbon X1 Carbon, and we’ve seen some stratification within the chip’s efficiency. As a 28-watt, 12-core (4 Efficiency and eight Environment friendly), 16-thread processor, the Core i7-1260P has offered not less than strong productiveness efficiency, however some laptops have carried out higher than others. The Acer Swift 3 2022 and MSI Status 14 are two laptops that offered total superior efficiency than the common, whereas the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 is amongst these offering considerably much less efficiency.

That’s not a shock given how earlier fashions within the line have dealt with efficiency. This ThinkPad was notably gradual in our CPU-intensive benchmarks in comparison with opponents, together with video encoding in Handbrake and the 3D rendering benchmark in Cinebench R23. The laptop computer’s PCMark 10 Full end result, a measure of a mixture of productiveness, multimedia, and artistic duties, was additionally decrease than the common and even fell behind the ninth era mannequin with a Core i7-1165G7.

Oddly sufficient, I used Lenovo’s thermal administration utility, and it carried out worse in some assessments in efficiency mode than in balanced mode.

Regardless of having a better wattage chip inside, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7 carried out extra just like the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 with a 15-watt, 10-core (two Efficiency and eight Environment friendly), 12-core Core i7-1255U. I can’t say that the ThinkPad suffered from any uncommon points with throttling, not less than not more than the remainder of the thin-and-light subject, however it didn’t carry out as much as this CPU’s potential.

After all, that doesn’t imply you’ll discover. It’s nonetheless a quick sufficient laptop computer for demanding productiveness duties, and it’s quicker than Intel’s Eleventh-gen equivalents normally. However the ThinkPad’s skill to deal with heavier duties in artistic functions is considerably lower than with another aggressive machines.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 makes use of Intel’s Iris Xe graphics, and it was a mean performer in each the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark and Fortnite at 1200p and epic graphics. You’ll need to restrict your gaming to older titles and esports.

Show and audio

Lenovo presents a mind-boggling assortment of show choices for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10. There are seven 14-inch 16:10 panels to select from, differentiated by an alphabet soup of acronyms. First, there are three WUXGA (1920 x 1200) LP (low-power), AG (anti-glare) panels, one non-touch and two touch-enabled. One of many WUXGA shows with contact consists of Lenovo’s Privateness Guard characteristic. Subsequent is a 2.2K (2240 x 1400) AG IPS display screen, adopted by a 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED AGARAS (anti-glare, anti-reflection, anti-smudge) show. Lastly, there are two WQUXA (3840 x 2400) IPS shows, one LP AG non-touch and one LP AOFT (Add-on Movie Contact) AGARAS contact.

Whew.

My overview unit was outfitted with the WUXGA LP AG contact show, which appeared wonderful throughout my testing. It was a lot vibrant, colours appeared dynamic with out being oversaturated, and blacks had been deep for an IPS panel.

My colorimeter confirmed my subjective expertise. The show hit 411 nits of brightness, which is effectively above our 300-nit threshold and greater than vibrant sufficient for any indoor lighting situation you’re more likely to face. Its distinction was additionally glorious at 1660:1, effectively in regards to the 1000:1 we wish to see in premium shows. That resulted in true blacks, for instance, textual content that pops on a white background (my private normal) and loads of element in darkish pictures.

Colours hit the premium laptop computer common of 98% of sRGB and 76% of AdobeRGB, though I’ve seen extra shows currently falling within the 80s for AdobeRGB. Coloration accuracy was okay at a DeltaE of 1.96, beneath the two.0 mark that’s the minimal for artistic work however nonetheless increased than I wish to see. The MSI Summit E14 Flip and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 had wider and extra correct colours.

This is a superb show for productiveness employees and media customers, however it falls wanting what creators are in search of. Nevertheless, Lenovo presents so many show choices that definitely anyone can dial in a show that can meet their wants.

Two downward-firing audio system put out a stunning quantity of quantity, and the standard was higher than I anticipated. Together with clear mids and highs with out distortion, I heard a contact of bass. The audio system had been robust sufficient for Netflix binging classes and casual music listening, though a superb pair of headphones will nonetheless present the highest quality.

Battery life

My overview unit used a 28-watt CPU and a low-power WUXGA (also referred to as Full HD+) show. Its 57 watt-hours of battery capability is somewhat gentle for a 14-inch laptop computer, particularly in comparison with the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7 with its 75 watt-hour battery. I wasn’t anticipating all-day battery life.

After working our suite of battery benchmarks, I got here away principally impressed. Its 7.5 hours in our internet looking take a look at that cycles by means of a sequence of advanced web sites is about half an hour lower than we wish to see, however it was aggressive amongst our comparability group. The Yoga 9i Gen 7 lasted longer, as did the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 (with 71 watt-hours) and the AMD-equipped Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED with a power-hungry show. Even so, the ThinkPad did okay. In our video take a look at that loops an area Full HD Avengers trailer, it lasted for 14.5 hours, a powerful rating doubtless because of its low-power show. And at last, within the PCMark 10 Purposes take a look at that’s the most effective indication of productiveness battery life, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 made it to 10.75 hours, an above-average end result.

General, the ThinkPad’s battery life is fairly good, promising a full day’s work until you push the CPU. You’ll get much less out of a few of the accessible higher-resolution shows in addition to the OLED choice, however follow this show and also you gained’t want to hold your charger with you.

Our take

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 is a well-built and extremely configurable laptop computer with choices for the type of administration and safety that companies crave. For that viewers, it’s a strong providing at a good value.

For anybody else, the ThinkPad’s efficiency is missing and it doesn’t provide as a lot to justify its excessive value. ThinkPad followers will find it irresistible, however different mainstream patrons ought to do their procuring first.

Are there any alternate options?

Dell’s Latitude 7430 is a probable different for the enterprise market, providing comparable administration and safety and the same pricing scheme. It doesn’t provide the identical breadth of show choices because the ThinkPad.

Lenovo’s Yoga 9i Gen 7 is a powerful competitor for the mainstream market, providing a extra beautiful design, the flexibleness of a 2-in-1, higher efficiency, and comparable battery life. It prices a bit much less as effectively.

Lastly, Apple’s MacBook Professional 14 is a compelling choice that’s exceptionally well-built and presents superior efficiency and battery life. It presents only one show choice, however it’s nearly as good as something Lenovo has to supply. You’ll spend a bit extra on the excessive finish, although.

How lengthy will it final?

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 is well-built and may final for years of typical abuse. Its elements are totally up to date and can maintain Home windows 11 buzzing alongside. I’m glad to see the three-year guarantee, which ought to be included with all enterprise class and premium laptops.

Do you have to purchase it?

Sure, in case you’re a businessperson who will profit from plugging into an enterprise setting or a ThinkPad fan who’s in search of the most recent and best.

Editors’ Alternative