Lenovo’s ThinkPad line has been a staple of the workplace for years, and for the last little while, the X1 Carbon has been its crown jewel. The X1 Carbon and other members of the X1 family have been updated for 2017 with Intel's newest processors and slick new design elements, overall refining an already impressive collection of business laptops.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Lenovo has updated the ThinkPad X1 Carbon for 2017 with Intel's new Kaby Lake processors; Thunderbolt 3 connectivity; a slimmer, more compact design; and – in a drastic departure from past Lenovo products – it now comes in silver as well as its usual black.
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is Lenovo’s flagship ultraportable business laptop, and the new model continues to impress us with its thin and light design, 15 hours of estimated battery life, and capable processing. Its Thunderbolt port offers complete connectivity with an array of USB-C- and Thunderbolt-equipped accessories, and its two USB 3.0 ports and single USB 2.0 port connect with current and older peripherals. Storage options range up to 512GB with an NVMe solid state drive, and you can configure it with up to 16GB of RAM.
Lenovo has managed to shrink down the already compact X1 Carbon thanks to an ultra-thin display bezel. This thin stripe around the display measures a fraction of an inch, allowing Lenovo to cram a 14-inch display in a 13-inch system. This one change improves the laptop’s already impressive portability, making it lighter and easier to slip into a laptop bag.
Despite the slim bezel, Lenovo still places the webcam above the display, a feat other laptops with narrow bezels have struggled with in the past. The Dell XPS 13, for example, houses the webcam in the lower-left corner of the display, which many customers and reviewers find off putting. With the Lenovo’s more traditional positioning, webcam use is no different than on any other system.
The new version of the 14-inch X1 Carbon weighs just 2.5 pounds, measures only 0.6-inches thick and has a slightly more rigid frame, despite using the same sort of carbon fiber construction as past models.
The new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon arrives in stores in February, starting at $1,349 for the base configuration.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga also gets an update with Intel's latest Kaby Lake processors, USB-C connectivity and a sleek silver color option. As with past models, it features a 360-degree hinge, which allows you to use it in multiple positions, including as a laptop, tablet and various positions in between. The thin and sleek design echoes that of the X1 Carbon and has several useful features, including a built-in fingerprint scanner and a dynamic keyboard that adjusts itself according to whether it is in laptop or tablet mode.
This keyboard design solves a common issue with 2-in-1 designs, in which folding a laptop into tablet mode leaves the keyboard exposed. In the past, the X1 Yoga solved this problem with a bit of mechanical wizardry that raised the keyboard deck to sit flush with the top of the keys. This solution has been refined here, with a stationary deck and keys that instead recede into the laptop chassis to achieve this same flush surface position. The end result is the same, with none of the extraneous key presses or key motion in tablet mode, but it’s a cleaner-looking, more elegant solution.
The ThinkPad X1 Yoga boasts an impressive OLED display and optional 4G LTE for mobile broadband. The 2-in-1 business system starts at $1,499 and will be available in February through retailers and Lenovo’s website.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet
The third member of Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 family is the X1 Tablet. The tablet is, in many respects, identical to the previous model – there are no significant design changes, and it has the same looks and mechanics. However, it does have improved processing and battery life, thanks to Intel's new Kaby Lake processors. Like the previous model, it features a detachable keyboard, an IPS display and several dockable cases that offer expanded functionality. The new model introduced at CES boasts Intel’s 7th Gen Kaby Lake processors, up to 16GB of memory and up to a 1TB solid-state drive.
The new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet will arrive in March, starting at $949.
