Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Review

Rating: 9.0.

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

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