Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review: The ideal business laptop

Price When Reviewed

$2,703

Best Prices Today: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon could also be top-of-the-line enterprise laptops you may get your arms on. This isn’t your common laptop computer. It’s a high-end product that mixes the most recent Intel {hardware} with plenty of further touches that make it simply good to make use of. It incorporates carbon fiber to make it extra light-weight and sturdy. Of course, it additionally prices greater than a typical skinny and lightweight machine, and the CPU efficiency isn’t the quickest underneath heavy strain.

This newest model encompasses a 14th-generation Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, bringing the ThinkPad X1 Carbon into the Meteor Lake era. It additionally has some keyboard tweaks that may make it much less odd to make use of in case you’re new to ThinkPads. But it’s nonetheless received the basic design touches you may be on the lookout for from a ThinkPad, together with that basic purple “nub.”

If you’re on the lookout for a high-end enterprise laptop computer with numerous considerate touches — or, heck, in case you’re on the lookout for an superior client laptop computer at this worth level and gaming isn’t a precedence for you — this may simply be the laptop computer you should purchase. But, whereas the laptop computer feels snappy and is a typically a pleasure to make use of for day-to-day duties, with an ideal keyboard and a lovely display screen, the benchmarks affirm that it is a thin-and-light laptop computer that makes some efficiency trade-offs to realize its glossy kind issue and unusually mild weight.

Looking for extra choices? Check out PCWorld’s roundup of the best laptops.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Specs

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is obtainable in a wide range of configurations. You at all times get a speedy Intel Core Ultra 7 155H processor and Intel Arc graphics. It begins at $2042 on Lenovo’s web site for a machine with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. The machine we reviewed prices $2703 and included 32 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD, and a micro-SIM slot for mobile connectivity.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon options two Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports in addition to two basic USB-A ports. The ThinkPad expenses by way of certainly one of these Thunderbolt ports, and so they’re each positioned on the left. As far as the 2 USB-A ports, one is positioned on all sides of the machine, supplying you with extra flexibility.

There’s additionally a handy HDMI port and an audio jack on the suitable facet of the machine. If you’re on the lookout for an SD card reader, Ethernet, or extra USB ports, you’ll want a dongle. That’s not stunning, however it’s one thing to concentrate on in case you’re on the lookout for a enterprise laptop computer with essentially the most doable built-in ports.

Our evaluation mannequin got here with a 2.8k OLED show with out a contact display screen, however Lenovo additionally presents the choice of a touch-enabled OLED show and lower-resolution 1920×1200 shows.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) additionally packs an Intel Evo Edition sticker, which Intel is making use of to higher-end laptops the present the “best experience.”

• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
• Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc
• Display: 14-inch, 2.8k (2880×1800) OLED 120Hz with HDR True Black 500 and Dolby Vision, Eyesafe certification
• Storage: 1TB NVMe PCIe SSD
• Webcam: 1080p with IR digicam and privateness shutter
• Connectivity: Two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, combo audio jack, HDMI, Kensington Nano safety slot
• Networking: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, elective Nano SIM
• Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition, fingerprint reader
• Battery capability: 57 Watt-hour
• Dimensions: 12.31 x 8.45 x 0.59 inches
• Weight: 2.42 kilos
• MSRP: $2,703 as examined ($2,042 base)

Lenovo has additionally provided variations of its earlier ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptops that include Linux preinstalled as a substitute of Windows. I’ve lengthy thought of this top-of-the-line Linux laptops you should purchase, and it’s nice to see PC producers providing the choice. Lenovo tells me a configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) with Linux needs to be out there round mid-March.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Design and construct high quality

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Lenovo’s line of ThinkPad laptops has a basic type. It’s not gaudy, however I don’t take into account it boring both. It’s a glossy, matte black design with purple highlights, together with the basic purple ThinkPad “nub” within the middle of the keyboard. On the again of the laptop computer’s display screen, the dot within the purple “i” in ThinkPad lights up when the laptop computer is on. It combines retro touches with a glossy, fashionable design.

Bezels are small, however the webcam “bar” above the highest of the laptop computer’s display screen juts out a bit, supplying you with a pleasant handhold to grip once you’re opening the laptop computer.

Build high quality feels glorious: Lenovo makes use of “aerospace-grade carbon fiber” in addition to recycled aluminum and magnesium. The matte end on the physique of the laptop computer feels nearly “rubbery” – in a great way! It’s not clean metallic, and it doesn’t get chilly to the contact. It’s not creaky plastic, both. It feels good.

That materials doesn’t simply give the ThinkPad X1 a definite really feel: It additionally makes the machine extraordinarily mild. The ThinkPad Carbon X1 weighs simply 2.42 kilos. Dell says the 2024 mannequin of the Dell XPS 13 laptop computer will begin at 2.6 kilos. The newest model of the HP Spectre 360, one other laptop computer we like lots, weighs in at 3.43 kilos. Of course, the ThinkPad Carbon X1 is costlier than these competing laptops, however you’re getting one thing good for the additional cash.

Lenovo says the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) “aspires to be one of the toughest in its class” and is graded to MIL-STD 810H requirements. It needs to be extra sturdy, rugged, and immune to excessive environments than your common laptop computer.

The Lenovo X1 Carbon can lie flat, too — one thing that’s very handy to be used on airplanes, for instance.

The software program is sweet and clear, too: You received’t discover plenty of included apps mechanically beginning along with your PC. Lenovo bundles a number of helpful utilities, however it’s a really good setup that will get out of your approach.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Keyboard and trackpad

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The ThinkPad’s full-size keyboard feels spacious and good to kind on, with loads of journey for a laptop computer keyboard, and it’s good and quiet. The keyboard has an elective backlight with white lighting. There’s one enormous change right here for ThinkPads: Lenovo has put the Ctrl key within the backside left nook of the keyboard and the Fn key to the suitable of the Ctrl key. This is how most different laptops do it, however ThinkPads did it their very own approach up to now.

As somebody who’s used ThinkPads from time to time however has spent most of his time with different laptops, I feel that is nice – in case you’re new to ThinkPads, that is the best way you’ll count on it to work. If you’re an skilled ThinkPad consumer, it might be bizarre: But excellent news, you possibly can swap the keys again round within the included “Lenovo Commercial Vantage” software program underneath Input & Accessories.

The glass trackpad feels glorious, and it options three buttons above it – the third button within the center can operate as a center click on in case you change a setting within the ThinkPad’s TrackPoint software program, however it scrolls round internet pages by default. It’s good to have these bodily buttons.

As far because the TrackPoint, affectionately often known as the “red nub,” it’s undoubtedly right here! You can place your finger on the nub and apply strain to maneuver the mouse cursor round in your display screen. It appears to work effectively, however I’ve by no means been a nub particular person. If you like it, excellent news: It’s right here! If you don’t use it, it doesn’t get in the best way, and it provides plenty of visible aptitude and ThinkPad type to the keyboard.

One factor I’ve observed as I stand up to hurry with the ThinkPad X1’s keyboard is it beeping at me. All keyboards can solely deal with it once you press so many keys at a time, and so they’ll miss a few of your keypresses. If you press too many keys directly, the ThinkPad will beep at you to let you realize. So, whereas it appeared like the issue was I used to be typing too shortly, the issue was that I used to be really lifting my fingers from the keys too slowly.

The beeping is one thing you can disable if you like,, however it’s an attention-grabbing characteristic as a result of the ThinkPad is alerting you that you will have misplaced a keyboard enter – one thing that could possibly be extraordinarily good to know when coding, writing, or doing anything in your pc. As I shortly received used to the keyboard and have become quicker at lifting my fingers from the keys, I wasn’t encountering the beeping a lot anymore. (And once you hear that beep, do not forget that the common laptop computer wouldn’t beep – it might simply miss a few of your keypresses. The ThinkPad’s beeping could be very useful.)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Display and audio system

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has a 14-inch show. The mannequin we reviewed got here with a 2.4k (2880×1800) OLED show with a 120Hz refresh price and HDR help: HDR True Black 500 and Dolby Vision. Lenovo additionally says it’s Eye Safe-certified to cut back blue mild. It’s a 16:10 show which, to me, is crucial for productiveness on a laptop computer: You get plenty of vertical house for getting work carried out.

The OLED show appears nice – it’s lovely, vibrant, and lots brilliant. I’ve been utilizing a laptop computer with a lower-resolution show recently – one with out an OLED show – and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s show was an instantaneous enormous improve as quickly as I laid my eyes on it.

Our mannequin didn’t have a contact display screen, however Lenovo presents touch-screen fashions. As normal, we’d count on the contact display screen to require extra energy and reduce the laptop computer’s battery life a bit. Lenovo additionally presents fashions with lower-resolution, non-OLED shows – to be exact, they’ve full HD (1920×1200) IPS shows.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) options an attention-grabbing speaker setup: Lenovo has positioned the audio system under the keyboard. Lenovo says these upward-firing audio system provide an ideal expertise in Dolby Atmos content material – kind of like how Dolby Atmos-enabled soundbars characteristic upward-firing audio system. (While the audio system are under the keyboard, Lenovo says the keyboard continues to be spill-resistant.)

Lenovo describes the speaker audio as “clear and clean.” They sound fairly good so far as built-in audio system go: Speech is obvious, so this may work effectively for on-line calls and listening to YouTube movies. I streamed the Dolby Atmos-enabled Dune on Netflix and the audio wasn’t unhealthy; you possibly can actually watch a film and have an honest expertise so far as laptop computer audio goes. But these are nonetheless built-in audio system on a light-weight laptop computer: You aren’t going to get plenty of booming bass, and this isn’t going to compete with a severe exterior speaker setup or stable pair of headphones.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) encompasses a 1080p webcam on a bar above the show. It additionally features a Windows Hello-compatible IR camera for facial logins. There’s a bodily privateness shutter subsequent to the webcam, and once you slide it, you’ll see a purple dot seem rather than the webcam – a pleasant clear signal the webcam is disabled.

That privateness shutter doesn’t block the Windows Hello webcam, so you possibly can nonetheless signal into your laptop computer with facial recognition even whereas blocking the usual webcam.

Thanks to the neural processing unit (NPU,) this laptop computer helps Windows Studio Effects for webcams: Features like Automatic framing to maintain your face within the body as you progress round, Eye contact to make it appear to be you’re trying on the webcam even once you aren’t, and Background blur for blurring your background. They work high-quality, and it’s cool that they occur in your PC so that they’re appropriate with any video utility, however they’re not life altering. They’re nonetheless good to have — particularly Eye contact for video calls.

The webcam is okay, however I wouldn’t name it glorious. It will serve you effectively in on-line conferences. Still, a higher-resolution digicam can be good to see in future high-end enterprise laptops at this worth level. I’ve been in plenty of on-line conferences, and the ThinkPad X1’s webcam beats the video high quality I see most individuals utilizing. So that’s excellent news: You could also be on the high of the pack – until somebody has an external 4K webcam, which in fact you possibly can plug into this or another laptop computer anyway.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) additionally options dual-array microphones paired with Dolby Voice know-how. Lenovo says they “do a great job of picking up voices” and suppressing noise, and so they did sound nice – that is the type of laptop computer you need to use for on-line calls with out plugging in an exterior microphone, and everybody will be capable to hear you clearly. I had no urge to plug in an exterior microphone.

In addition to the Windows Hello-enabled IR digicam for facial recognition sign-in, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) encompasses a fingerprint sensor close to the bottom-right nook of the keyboard, to the left of the arrow keys. This isn’t a key you possibly can press down – it’s a sensor you relaxation your finger over. Like the Windows Hello-enabled digicam, it really works effectively, supplying you with a number of biometric sign-in choices.

Unlike on the earlier technology mannequin, the fingerprint reader is not built-in into the ability button. The energy button has moved “off the keyboard” and onto the suitable facet of the laptop computer, close to the headphone jack.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Connectivity

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Business laptops typically characteristic extra connectivity choices than garden-variety skinny and light-weight machines.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) options Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. Lenovo tells me there needs to be some ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) configurations with Wi-Fi 7 out there in mid-March. Windows 11 doesn’t even help Wi-Fi 7 but — Microsoft solely just added Wi-Fi 7 help in an Insider construct of Windows 11 that’s at the moment being examined. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) additionally options Bluetooth 5.3 {hardware} — once more, the trade is as much as Bluetooth 5.4.

Both Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 are high-quality. You nearly actually don’t have a Wi-Fi 7 router but, and you could by no means discover the omission of Wi-Fi 7. But it’s necessary to notice the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) hasn’t gone bleeding-edge with future-proof connectivity choices throughout all ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) configurations — nonetheless, if that’s necessary to you, it feels like Lenovo could have an answer with upgraded, extra bleeding-edge radios quickly.

In addition, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon goes above and past with an elective nano-SIM slot — our evaluation unit had one, however we didn’t take a look at the mobile speeds. You have the choice so as to add mobile connectivity to your laptop computer, supplying you with an always-on web connection – wherever with a mobile sign, anyway – with out the effort of tethering to your smartphone or utilizing a cell hotspot. That’s nonetheless a fairly uncommon characteristic on laptops, and it’s the type of factor that units high-end enterprise laptops just like the X1 Carbon aside. (Of course, you will have to pay for a mobile plan by way of a mobile service for this — there’s no free lunch.)

As far as ports, you get two Thunderbolt 4 ports — appropriate with USB-C — on the left. Bear in thoughts that the ThinkPad X1 Carbon expenses by way of certainly one of them, so certainly one of them might be in-use whereas charging and also you’ll at all times must plug the charger in on the left facet of the laptop computer. Additionally, there are two basic USB-A ports — particularly, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports — one on all sides. You’ll additionally discover a combo audio jack for headphones and a microphone, and a handy HDMI 2.1 port on the suitable. There’s additionally a Kensington Nano safety slot for bodily locking the laptop computer.

You received’t discover a built-in Ethernet port, an SD card reader, or anything right here. For extra ports, you’ll want a dongle. There are enterprise laptops that embody extra built-in ports, however you must count on them to be thicker and heavier than the ThinkPad X1 Carbon – the ThinkPad X1 Carbon hews just a little nearer to the thin-and-light selection, and it isn’t the type of beefy enterprise laptop computer that packs the utmost variety of doable ports.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Performance

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon contains Intel’s new Core Ultra 7 155H, which has 16 cores: Six efficiency cores, eight environment friendly cores, and one other two low-power efficient cores. It’s designed to supply plenty of efficiency once you want it and lengthy battery life in day-to-day duties.

Our evaluation mannequin got here with 32GB of LPDDR5X reminiscence and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. The laptop computer contains Intel Arc built-in graphics.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Our first test, PCMark 10, is designed to benchmark the system’s total efficiency. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) delivered a robust rating, clocking in just a little above another latest laptops with the identical Core Ultra 155H chip, just like the Dell XPS 16 9640.

Digging into the outcomes, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) scored notably effectively on PCMark’s App Startup benchmark, implying speedy storage could also be mentioning its efficiency.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Next, we ran Cinebench R20, a multithreaded CPU take a look at. Here, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon fell behind these different Core Ultra 155H laptops, whereas it ran forward of some laptops with Intel and AMD chips launched final 12 months.

That’s not vastly stunning — these rivals that beat the ThinkPad X1 Carbon are 16-inch laptops, whereas it is a 14-inch laptop computer. The ThinkPad is probably going held again by its cooling. While the laptop computer’s followers usually aren’t audible, they spin up underneath load, with heat air blowing up by way of the keyboard. It’s not uncomfortable or too heat in any respect, however the laptop computer’s efficiency is probably going restricted by its cooling setup.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

We additionally ran a Handbrake video encoding take a look at. This is one other multithreaded CPU benchmark that calls for sustained CPU efficiency.

The outcomes confirmed the laptop computer’s limitations on the subject of sustained CPU utilization, with the ThinkPad needing 1,835 seconds — that’s over 30 minutes — to encode our take a look at file. Combined with the PCMark benchmark above, that means the ThinkPad has stable “burst” CPU efficiency however struggles with the cooling wanted to ship it over an extended time period.

What can we make of this? Well, a laptop computer this light-weight and compact isn’t going to have the quickest CPU efficiency. It’s necessary to look simply past the precise CPU within the laptop computer: Cooling is such an necessary issue that bigger laptops with the identical CPU and higher cooling will ship higher efficiency.

This isn’t the type of machine that may ship the best CPU efficiency underneath sustained excessive demand. That’s not what it’s optimized for. It’s optimized for being skinny, mild, and snappy in day-to-day pc use.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

We additionally run 3Dmark’s Time Spy benchmark to get an concept of the GPU efficiency. Results right here had been as anticipated. The Intel Arc graphics listed below are an enormous leap from the previous-generation Intel Iris Xe graphics. However, Intel’s Arc graphics nonetheless don’t come wherever near the efficiency of a discrete NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU. This isn’t a gaming laptop computer, however it’s nice to see Intel’s graphics efficiency enhance. You might do some gaming on it in a pinch!

Overall, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) feels snappy in day-to-day use. I’ll be sincere, I had a really optimistic notion of the efficiency primarily based on utilizing the laptop computer for day-to-day. But, owing to its thin-and-light nature, this laptop computer isn’t a CPU pace demon for workloads that use plenty of CPU energy over an prolonged time period. That a lot is obvious.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Battery life

Battery life was cheap, and it needs to be loads of juice to make it by way of a workday — assuming you’re not utilizing extraordinarily demanding functions all day. With its 57-watt-hour battery, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) supplied aggressive battery life. The solely laptops that surpass it in our comparability under are heavier laptops with greater batteries.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Our commonplace battery take a look at loops a 4K copy of the Tears of Steel movie with the laptop computer’s show set to 250 nits, keyboard backlighting off, and airplane mode turned on. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) ran for a mean of 632 minutes — that’s simply over ten and a half hours.

While different laptops beat the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the dimensions of the battery is a giant issue. For instance, the 16-inch Dell XPS 16 delivered 974 minutes of battery life in our testing, for instance — that’s one other three hours. But it has a 99-watt-hour battery and weighs 5.03 kilos. It’s greater than twice as heavy because the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12). The HP Pavillion Plus had longer battery life, however it additionally has a bigger battery — a 68 watt-hour battery, in contrast to the 57-watt-hour battery right here — so it’s heavier. There’s no free lunch: The smaller the battery, the lighter the laptop computer — however the much less the battery life.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon has an OLED show, so it achieves longer battery life in our take a look at due to all of the black displayed on the display screen on this take a look at. Lenovo tries to maximise that benefit by setting Windows 11 to darkish mode out of the field, too.

Ten and a half hours of battery life is a offered quantity, however you nearly actually aren’t going to see it in day-to-day use. Laptops are very optimized as enjoying native video recordsdata like this. This is a greatest case situation for the laptop computer: Turn on Wi-Fi, fireplace up some functions, and begin utilizing functions with bright-white backgrounds, and the laptop computer goes to undergo battery energy quicker. Still, it’s a good way to check battery life between laptops.

Is this sufficient battery life? Well, that relies upon — if you wish to be away from an outlet for an prolonged workday, maybe you’ll desire a heavier laptop computer with greater battery. But this ThinkPad expenses shortly, and it’s uncommon I see individuals go a whole eight-hour workday with their laptop computer on your entire time and with out ever going close to an outlet.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12): Conclusion

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is a lovely machine for getting work carried out. It’s properly constructed, extraordinarily light-weight, and nice to kind on, with a lovely show and stable battery life that looks like it might solely be improved by packing a much bigger, heavier battery into the laptop computer.

But it’s costly. You’re paying further for lots of considerate touches, however you possibly can spend much less cash and get an ideal expertise. I’ve at all times preferred the HP Spectre x360 sequence, and as I write this, the HP Spectre x360 starts at $1,099 on HP’s website — $1,000 lower than the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12.) Meanwhile, Dell says its 2024 XPS 13 laptop will begin at $1,299.

You can by no means “have it all,” and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) makes some noticeable tradeoffs with CPU efficiency to realize its glossy kind issue. Those trade-offs reveal themselves underneath our benchmarks that hit the CPU laborious over a protracted time period — like our video-encoding benchmarks — and also you’ll discover them in case you have a CPU-heavy like that.

But you in all probability aren’t this machine if you’d like the workhorse laptop computer with most CPU efficiency. If you spend plenty of time in browsers, Office paperwork, and on-line conferences, you could get pleasure from the remainder of the laptop computer a lot that the CPU efficiency might not be an element. The lightest, smallest laptops simply received’t have the most effective efficiency in excessive conditions. That’s how it’s

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a superb machine. But how a lot further is that premium expertise price it to you — maybe you’d like a less expensive choice? Is the gradual CPU efficiency underneath load an issue to your workflow — maybe you’d like a bigger laptop computer with the identical CPU? These are questions solely you possibly can reply.

Still, I used to be blown away by the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12.) I’ve liked utilizing it. Between the worth and efficiency, it’s not for everybody — however perhaps it’s the perfect machine for you.