Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 is the longest-lasting laptop I've ever tested

Best Prices Today: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition

$2755.65

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is a 14-inch enterprise laptop computer that mixes Intel’s Lunar Lake CPUs with a confirmed ThinkPad convertible design. This is a high-quality business laptop for individuals who need a snappy desktop expertise in a 2-in-1 kind issue with a pen. It’s optimized for getting issues finished.

While it might be a bit expensive, it’s typical of enterprise laptops. If this machine suits your funds and also you prize battery life and portability, it’s tough to argue with what Lenovo has put collectively right here.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Specs

Lenovo provides the 14-inch ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 in numerous configurations, and all of them are branded “Aura Edition.” The base mannequin begins at $2,125 and contains an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB of SSD storage, and Intel Arc graphics.

At the time of writing, the mannequin we reviewed prices $2,336 and options an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, 32GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD, and sooner Intel Arc 140V graphics, together with an improve to Windows 11 Pro. (The mannequin I received my palms on solely had 512 GB of storage however was in any other case equal to that model — Lenovo provides a “Build Your PC” instrument so you may customise the {hardware} whenever you order.)

These machines include numerous Intel Lunar Lake processors, and we know what to expect from Lunar Lake by now: The Intel laptop computer boasts an extremely lengthy battery life, an NPU for AI duties able to working Copilot+ PC options, and a surprisingly sturdy graphics efficiency for built-in graphics. However, the large draw back with Lunar Lake is the low multithreaded computing efficiency as a result of fewer cores. They ship snappy desktop efficiency, however these chips are higher for workplace work and portability than they’re for heavy compute workloads, as we at all times see in our commonplace benchmarks. But the laptop computer is a conveyable, productivity-focused machine — not a blazing-fast workstation with most battery-draining CPU energy.

• Model: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition
• CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V
• Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X
• Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V
• NPU: Intel AI Boost
• Display: 14-inch 1920×1200 IPS show with 60Hz refresh charge and 500 nits of brightness
• Storage: 512 GB PCIe Gen4 SSD
• Webcam: 1080p webcam
• Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C), 2x USB Type-A (USB 5Gbps), combo audio jack, HDMI 2.1 out
• Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Biometrics: Fingerprint reader, IR digicam for facial recognition
• Battery capability: 57 Watt-hours
• Dimensions: 12.31 x 8.57 x 0.64 inches
• Weight: 2.97 kilos
• MSRP: $2,336 as examined

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Design and construct high quality

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is a stable 14-inch laptop computer product of steel. As it’s a convertible 2-in-1 machine, you may rotate the laptop computer’s hinge 360 levels to put it flat. The hinge feels nice, because it has on earlier convertible ThinkPads I’ve used. Lenovo features a pen to enrich the touchscreen expertise.

Last 12 months, I reviewed the the previous version of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1, and this mannequin carefully resembles that machine from the outside. It’s a grey steel design with the traditional pink ThinkPad nub within the center and a bar on the prime of the display screen the place the webcam sits.

At slightly below three kilos, it’s pretty mild however isn’t absolutely the lightest laptop computer—2-in-1 machines are usually a bit heavier than absolutely the lightest choices on the market. The weight is definitely quite good — it looks like a solid-but-not-too-heavy piece of steel.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Keyboard, trackpad, and pen

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 has a high-quality keyboard — ThinkPads are recognized for that. It is probably not fairly as snappy as costlier high-end ThinkPads just like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, however it feels nice to kind on. There’s no “mushy” feeling as you press the keys. The format works effectively, and you’ll activate a number of ranges of white keyboard backlighting.

The trackpad feels nice to slip your finger over, and also you’ll really feel a satisfying “thunk” whenever you press down on it to click on. The floor is sweet and easy, and the bodily buttons are good to see — most laptops don’t include a bodily right-click button on the trackpad! I do choose haptic touchpads, however the motion on this nonetheless feels satisfying.

If I needed to nitpick, I might level out that the inclusion of the bodily buttons reduces the scale of the trackpad’s floor in comparison with what it may very well be — due to this fact, people who want a bigger trackpad and don’t intend to make use of the bodily buttons could choose the trackpad on a distinct machine.

As a 2-in-1 machine, this gadget features a Lenovo Yoga Pen. It’s an lively pen with a customizable shortcut button, and it really works effectively for sketching on the display screen. You can enter textual content with handwriting, draw, sketch, signal paperwork, or no matter else you would possibly wish to do.

The traditional pink ThinkPad TrackPoint “nub” is right here within the center, too, and you should utilize it to manage the mouse cursor. That’s good to see contemplating Lenovo has began removing the TrackPoint from certain ThinkPad-branded laptops.

People like me may be one cause why — I used to be by no means a giant TrackPoint person, so I don’t discover myself utilizing it on these machines. But the TrackPoint has a faithful viewers of people that adore it — and, if nothing else, it offers the ThinkPad’s keyboard a singular aesthetic that I do love. So sure, I do wish to see the TrackPoint keep on ThinkPad keyboards — even when I don’t personally use it a lot.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Display and audio system

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Aura Edition has a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS show with a 60Hz refresh charge, 500 nits of brightness, and a contact display screen. Lenovo calls this a “low power” show in its specs checklist, and that low energy utilization isn’t only a advertising and marketing promise — it completely reveals within the machine’s lengthy battery life, as we’ll see within the outcomes of our battery life benchmark beneath. (You also can get this machine with a 2880×1800 show with HDR and a variable refresh charge as much as 120Hz. That sounds good, however the higher-end show will eat into the machine’s battery life.)

The show seems to be nice. Lenovo says it has an antireflective coating, and I can inform — it really works very well. You don’t see the type of excessive reflections you usually do on a laptop computer with a shiny show when it’s in brilliant lighting. It’s a handsome show with a good quantity of brightness, however it’s centered on real-world utilization and lengthy battery life. There aren’t any points with this selection — it’s an acceptable selection for this gadget.

The ThinkPad X1’s audio system are loads higher than you would possibly count on from a 2-in-1 14-inch laptop computer centered on portability. They can get surprisingly loud whereas sustaining clear audio high quality, and the sound is “fuller” than I’d count on — they even have extra bass than I might have anticipated. (That mentioned, a machine like this one can by no means ship the type of bass you’d get from a pair of headphones or exterior audio system.)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Webcam, microphone, biometrics

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 has a 1080p webcam with a bodily privateness shutter on the prime of the machine, which is at all times good to see. The picture high quality is sort of good — the standard you’re extra more likely to discover in a enterprise machine than the typical client laptop computer, appropriately on a productivity-focused enterprise machine the place the webcam may be utilized in fairly a couple of video calls.

The microphone setup delivers stable audio high quality and noise cancellation. Although it’s not a studio-quality exterior microphone, this laptop computer’s microphone considerably outperforms the typical laptop computer microphone for voice and video calls.

This ThinkPad has a fingerprint reader to the left of the arrow keys on the keyboard, and you’ll relaxation your finger on it to authenticate with Windows Hello and register. It additionally has an IR digicam for facial recognition, and so they each work effectively.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Connectivity

IDG / Chris Hoffman

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Aura Edition features a stable collection of ports. On the left facet, you’ve received two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C ports) and a USB Type-A port.

On the best facet, this machine has a second USB Type-A port, an HDMI 2.1 out port, and a combo audio jack for headphones.

That’s about what you’d need from this laptop computer — though individuals who need a built-in SD card reader received’t discover it right here. As at all times, you can get a dongle.

My largest nitpick: This machine fees over USB Type-C. It could be good to see a USB Type-C port on both sides of the laptop computer so you may plug in both facet to cost it.

Thanks to Lunar Lake, this machine additionally helps the newest wi-fi requirements: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 each come commonplace on this machine. As ordinary, Intel’s wi-fi {hardware} works effectively.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Performance

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 delivers snappy desktop efficiency. With a Lunar Lake CPU (particularly the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V in our evaluation unit), this machine performs effectively in day-to-day desktop apps like internet browsers and workplace functions.

As at all times, we ran the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 by means of our standard benchmarks to see the way it performs.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

First, we run PCMark 10 to get an concept of total system efficiency. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 delivered an total PCMark rating of 7,626, which is a decent rating for this {hardware}.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a closely multithreaded benchmark that focuses on total CPU efficiency. It’s a fast benchmark, so cooling beneath prolonged workloads isn’t an element. But, because it’s closely multithreaded, CPUs with extra cores have an enormous benefit.

There aren’t any surprises right here — with a Cinebench R20 multithreaded rating of 3,913, this machine struggles together with different Lunar Lake-powered methods on such a benchmark. When it involves multithreaded compute duties, Intel’s Lunar Lake CPUs have fewer cores and are available in effectively behind different methods with extra cores, just like the AMD Ryzen AI 300 series.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

We additionally ran an encoder with Handbrake. This is one other closely multithreaded benchmark, however it runs over an prolonged interval. This check calls for the laptop computer’s cooling kick in, and plenty of laptops will throttle and decelerate beneath load.

The ThinkPad X1 accomplished the encode course of in 1,589 seconds, which is a bit over 26 minutes. Benchmarks like this aren’t consultant of regular desktop efficiency, which doesn’t demand this degree of sustained multithreaded compute efficiency, however it might be a difficulty for some skilled workflows that require this type of factor.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, however it’s nonetheless good to test how the GPU performs — particularly for the reason that Intel Arc graphics in Lunar Lake are surprisingly good for built-in graphics. We run 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU efficiency.

With a 3DMark Time Spy rating of 4,386, this machine delivers the surprisingly good graphical efficiency we’d count on to see from Lunar Lake {hardware} — however continues to be far behind gaming PCs and workstations with extra power-hungry GPUs.

Overall, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 delivers good Lunar Lake efficiency: The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 provides a swift desktop expertise, spectacular graphics efficiency, and albeit subpar multithreaded efficiency. However, the entire image turns into clear when contemplating the battery life.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Battery life

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 features a 57 watt-hour battery, which is just a little on the small facet when it comes to {hardware}. That’s one cause why I used to be completely floored by the battery life in our benchmark.

IDG / Chris Hoffman

To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled till the laptop computer suspends itself. We set the display screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmark. This period of time is a best-case situation for any laptop computer since native video playback is so environment friendly, and actual battery life in day-to-day use is at all times going to be lower than this.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 lasted for a median of 1,478 minutes earlier than suspending itself. That’s over 24 hours of battery life—and nearer to 25 hours than 24 hours.

That shocked me just a little bit contemplating the scale of the battery, however clearly Lenovo has made some good choices right here — other than the environment friendly Lunar Lake {hardware}, I wager that low-power show helps loads, too. And, though real-world battery life shall be considerably shorter for those who’re truly utilizing the machine quite than simply looping a video in airplane mode, that is nonetheless extraordinarily spectacular.

(For context, final 12 months’s ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 machine lasted 1,055 minutes — or 17 and a half hours—in our benchmark. This represents a major enchancment in comparison with the earlier 12 months.)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10: Conclusion

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 is a stable enterprise machine. You’re getting nice construct high quality, excessive battery life, a 2-in-1 expertise with a pen, and a “future-proof” machine that helps every part from Wi-Fi 7 to Windows 11’s Copilot+ PC AI options.

It’s just a little costly, however enterprise machines are inclined to have higher-end pricing. And I like this machine greater than I anticipated to, actually: even the collection of the low-power show and its good anti-reflective coating are choices you’ll actually admire for those who’re in search of this type of PC. Yes, a shiny 4K show is extra spectacular at first look. But battery life and readability in direct daylight and brighter rooms are extra vital for getting work finished.

If that each one sounds good, this can be the machine for you. But I actually do want Lunar Lake had higher multithreaded CPU efficiency — for those who want that to your workflow, that shall be one cause you would possibly search for a extra power-hungry laptop computer. Still: You received’t get this type of battery life for those who do go in search of a beefier CPU.