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imagine the unholy union of Microsoft’s floor lineup and the iconic Thinkpad, and you have the ThinkPad X1 pill. it is now not Lenovo’s first floor clone — that might be the less expensive and much less geared up Miix 700 — but it is the business enterprise‘s first for its ThinkPad lineup, that’s targeted at theprofessional crowd. After years of honing the art of constructing convertible laptops, Lenovo looks as if asafe wager for handing over a stable, surface-like hybrid tablet. And for the most element, it succeeds.
Gallery: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 pill | 20 images
+16
Engadget ScorePOOR UNINSPIRING right high-quality
Key
Lenovo
ThinkPad X1 pill
eighty one
professionals
Impressively skinny and mild
Comes with a keyboard
really works properly to your lap
Cons
Subpar battery life
Keyboard and trackpad are not as delicate as Microsoft’s floor type cover
Stylus feels slippery at the screen
was alleged to undercut the surface seasoned on charge, but does not
precis
With the ThinkPad X1 pill, Lenovo made a stable try at constructing a floor-like tool for commercial enterprise users. it is no longer genuinely stylish, but it is one of the few hybrid capsules/laptops that’ll get work accomplished. lamentably, terrible battery life and a sloppy keyboard preserve it from being avirtually ought to-have device.
hardware
when you have a gentle spot to your coronary heart for the long-lasting ThinkPad design, the X1 willprobable strike your fancy whilst it’s in computer mode. It has a minimalist black metallic case, a reasonably spacious keyboard and heck, there may be even the love-it-or-hate-it bright red TrackPoint. it is a subdued layout that strikes a chord in my memory of a classic, business–orientated home windowscomputer.
but of route, it is tons more than that: Its keyboard is ultrathin and absolutely removable. there may bealso a kickstand on the returned of the pill. And, lest you forget about, it’s as tons a tablet as it’s miles alaptop. It does not look as ultramodern as the floor devices, but it is no much less outstanding. Toeingthe road between respecting ThinkPad subculture and pushing absolutely new form elements is hard,but the X1 pill manages it properly.
thanks to its 12-inch display screen, it’s fairly hefty for a pill, clocking in at 1.7 kilos. collectively with the keyboard case, it weighs 2.35 pounds. this is nearly precisely the same as the surface pro four (part ofme wonders if Lenovo is attempting to prove it could go toe-to-toe with Microsoft). it’s drastically heavier than standalone 10-inch capsules just like the iPad Air, but it is most effective round 0.1 kilos heavier than the 12.9-inch iPad seasoned. In a way, the X1 is the antithesis than the iPad seasoned: it is able to be a pill whilst you need it, however most people might be buying it as an ultraportable laptop.
The real pill part of the X1 is not an awful lot to look at. Its chassis is normally manufactured frommagnesium (with a piece of plastic thrown in), and it measures an impressive eight.6 millimeters skinny. It feels just as strong as other metallic ThinkPad cases, which laptop users have lengthy praised for theirability to take a licking. Lenovo says the X1 passes 10 navy certification assessments, that are a massivedeal for authorities customers, and it’s able to walking between -20 stages Celsius (-four Fahrenheit) and 60 stages Celsius (a hundred and forty Fahrenheit).
From the the front, there is a massive quantity of bezel around the display, a 2-megapixel webcam uppinnacle and a fingerprint reader on the proper aspect. From the again, it is a chunk more thrilling: A small latch opens up the kickstand, which folds out from the bottom of the tablet (the floor‘s stand comes out from the pinnacle). while that orientation appears a piece bizarre before everything, it makes the X1 a long way less complicated to hold for your lap than the surface drugs, since there may be extra thanonly a single fringe of the stand digging into you.
there is an eight-megapixel camera on the back of the X1, and across the aspects you will find a USBthree.0 port, a USB-C connector, a unmarried Mini DisplayPort and a mixture headphone/microphone jack. The USB-C port is likewise used to price the X1, some thing that is speedy becoming the norm for thincapsules and laptops in recent times. in addition, there’s a microSD card slot underneath the kickstandfor additonal storage.
The X1’s keyboard comes bundled with the tablet (something i have long argued that wishes to happenwith the floor) and it’s pretty skinny, measuring at simply four.6 millimeters thick. It has a e4028a5c6dae3ad5086501ec6f3534d0 array of chiclet keys, and as I mentioned above, there’s the standard ThinkPad TrackPoint nub. underneath that, there are two bodily mouse buttons, a scrolling button and a big multitouch Mylar trackpad. It snaps onto the X1 easily via a magnet, and — like the surface — that connection is robust sufficient to hold up the entire pill through the keyboard (just don’t shake it an excessive amount of).
One intriguing element of the X1 is its expandability, thanks to a few optionally available modules that plug into the lowest of the tablet. Lenovo’s $150 productivity module, as an example, adds an HDMI and a few extra USB ports, along with five greater hours of battery lifestyles. There are also modules for taking3-D photographs and projecting photographs onto walls. Lenovo didn’t have any of those growthservices to be had to check on the time of this evaluate, however we’ll replace as soon as we get a fewhands-on time with them.
show and pen input
The ThinkPad X1’s 12-inch display packs in a 2,one hundred sixty–with the aid of-1,440-pixel resolution,that’s respectable for its length, however now not pretty as sharp because the floor seasoned 4‘s 2,736-by-1,824 pixel show. still, it looks properly, with correct shades and greater than enoughbrightness (I generally kept it around 50 percentage indoors). outdoors, the X1 changed into usable in direct daylight; it’s far simpler to look than my 2014-era MacBook Air, even while wearing sunglasses.but as with each device with a glass–included display, you have to expect a piece of glare.
As a pill, the X1’s display screen is at its first-class when you‘re viewing movies and virtual comics. it is athree:2 factor ratio panel, so you‘ll get black bars with widescreen films, however it made movies andtelevision indicates appearance splendid. the ones proportions had been also well–desirable to comics,because they might refill the display screen without problems while not having to zoom in. Inevertheless sense a bit cramped working on a 12-inch display, specifically after growing used to the13-inch MacBook Air and my 24-inch computing device video display units. it’s also a bit too heavy tokeep with one hand for extended durations, but it’s best for the occasional comedian or news article.
Lenovo also packs in a stylus, known as the ThinkPad Pen seasoned. It uses Wacom’s lively electrostatic (AES) generation to deliver 2,048 ranges of strain sensitivity — twice as tons as the today’s surface Pen. The Pen pro is powered with the aid of a single AAAA battery, which luckily comes inside the box.unfortunately, even though, there is no location to stow the pen on the X1 itself. Lenovo consists of a plastic holster that plugs into a USB port, however it’s not truly beneficial in case you want to use thetablet‘s only USB connection. (It also simply looks bizarre having the stylus grasp off the aspect.)
In Lenovo’s WriteIt app, which comes preloaded at the X1, the Pen seasoned felt tremendously accurate. The pen had no hassle figuring out distinctive ranges of strain, and it captured my scribbles without anybig delays. regrettably, it’s a chunk too slippery at the screen for taking notes or for prolonged use. Microsoft on the whole prevented that issue with the surface seasoned 4, which feels extra like settingpen to paper (and you may customize it similarly with replaceable stylus recommendations).
Typing enjoy
The ThinkPad X1 is a bit deceptive on the keyboard front. It looks like an averagee4028a5c6dae3ad5086501ec6f3534d0 ThinkPad keyboard, but its buttons do not have the identicalamount of depth as Lenovo’s traditional laptops. i used to be nonetheless capable of type fairly fast,but the actual act of pressing down on keys felt comfortable and no longer very pleasurable. perhaps i’msimply too demanding as a heavy typer (I make a variety of noise!), but I anticipated a chunk more from Lenovo, mainly due to the fact that Microsoft changed into capable of deliver a definitely incrediblekeyboard with the cutting-edge surface kind cover.
With the kickstand folding down from the lowest of the X1, I had no trouble balancing it on my lap, bed and in an expansion of other situations. it’s a smart trade from Microsoft’s floor hinge: In standard computermode, it creates a flat floor that makes the X1 feel more like a laptop and not a tablet being held precariously. it’s also more secure on bare legs, which is a superb factor in case you‘re sporting shorts.
while I were given used to the feel of the X1’s keyboard in the end, I never quite were given the grasp of its Mylar trackpad. It continually felt a chunk too stiff and jerky; it’s nowhere close to as clean as glass trackpads like we see at the MacBooks and the floor type cover. It ended up being a trouble navigating menus and alternatives in our historic CMS and home windows apps like Evernote, that have manner too many small buttons to click on on.
i have never been a massive fan of the ThinkPad TrackPoint nub, but I learned to appreciate it at the X1, as i was caught on a flight next to a especially inconsiderate seat neighbor. since I did not havesufficient elbow room to use the trackpad, i was forced to get the cling of the TrackPoint, which requiresmost effective gently moving a finger around. It took me longer than ordinary, however i was capable ofaddress my electronic mail backlog and write a few posts without continuously elbowing the personsubsequent to me. that is all to mention: I sooner or later get it, ThinkPad nerds!
overall performance and battery lifestyles
PCMARK 7 PCMARK 8 (innovative multiplied) 3DMARK 11 3DMARK (SKY DIVER) ATTO (pinnacleREADS/WRITES)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 tablet (1.2 GHz center M7-6Y75, Intel HD 515) four,951 3,433 E1,866 / P1,112 2,462 298 MB/s / 545 MB/s
Samsung notebook nine (2.5GHz center i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) five,309 three,705 E2,567 / P1,541 / X416three,518 539 MB/s / 299 MB/s
Dell XPS thirteen (2.3GHz middle i5-6200U, Intel pix 520) four,954 three,499 E2,610 / P1,531 3,335 1.6GB/s / 307 MB/s
HP Spectre x360 15t (2.4GHz middle i5-6200U, Intel HD 520) five,040 3,458 E2,672 / P1,526 / X420 3,542 561 MB/s / 284 MB/s
Razer Blade Stealth (2.5GHz Intel center i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) five,131 3,445 E2,788 / P1,599 / X4263,442 1.five GB/s / 307 MB/s
Toshiba Radius 12 (2.5GHz Intel core i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) five,458 3,684 E2,865 / P1,622 three,605 552 MB/s / 489 MB/s
Microsoft floor seasoned 4 (2.4GHz core i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) five,403 3,602
E2,697/ P1,556/ X422
three,614 1.6 GB/s / 529 MB/s
Lenovo Yoga 900 (2.5GHz center i7-6500U, Intel HD 520) five,368 3,448
E2,707 / P1,581
3,161 556 MB/s / 511 MB/s
Microsoft floor e book (2.4GHz center i5-6300U, Intel HD 520) 5,412 3,610
E2,758 / P1,578 / X429
3,623 1.6 GB/s / 571 MB/s
I examined the very best-spec X1 tablet (which comes with a middle M7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD) for extra than per week with my normal workflow. That generally is composed of having numerousprograms and windows open right now, inclusive of Slack to speak with co-workers, a couple ofbrowsers and dozens of tabs open for research and writing, Evernote for notice-taking and Spotify for sometunes. regardless of being a decrease-powered middle M CPU, the X1 had no problem preserving up with my stressful ordinary.
It became also my best laptop on an extreme work journey to Austin, which worried masking a primeNVIDIA press event. I wasn’t to begin with planning to apply the X1 in such a high–pressureenvironment, but I managed to get a prolonged article out and a few snap shots at the same time asbalancing it on my lap in a crowded auditorium.
As you could see from the benchmarks above, the X1 I tested lands somewhere between the surface prothree with a middle i5 4300U processor and the surface pro four with a center i5 6300U chip. that’sdecent, given that Lenovo’s pill become running at a paltry 1.2GHz clock speed, while the floor proshave been running between 1.9GHz and a couple of.4GHz. It also controlled to circulation 4K filmsfrom YouTube with out skipping, and it stored up with my workflow even if I needed to start photo editingand transferring large photographs round. No, it won’t damage any velocity data, but it’s sufficient to be productive even as slightly breaking a sweat.
The X1’s largest trouble is battery lifestyles. In my normal usage, it lasted for mere 4-and-a-half of hours. Our battery check, which includes viewing an HD video on repeat till it runs down, became a bit extrapromising, yielding round seven hours of runtime. it can simply be that it is very efficient at gambling video (I tried to turn off all of the strength optimizations I should), but the X1’s subpar performance in differentsituations is worrisome. On the brilliant aspect, the X1 took only round an hour to rate over USB-C. in case you‘re thinking about it, i might severely endorse the non-compulsory $150 productivity modulefor added battery lifestyles. (but keep in mind that‘ll make the X1 heavier.)
BATTERY lifestyles
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 pill 7:05
floor book (core i5, integrated pics) 13:fifty four / three:20 (tablet only)
MacBook Air (thirteen-inch, 2013) 12:51
HP Spectre x360 (thirteen-inch, 2015) 11:34
floor ebook (middle i7, discrete graphics) eleven:31 / 3:02 (pill handiest)
Apple MacBook pro with Retina show (thirteen-inch, 2015) eleven:23
iPad pro 10:47
HP Spectre x360 15t 10:17
Chromebook Pixel (2015) 10:01
Lenovo Yoga 900 nine:36
Microsoft floor 3 nine:11
Samsung notebook nine 8:sixteen
Apple MacBook (2015) 7:47
Dell XPS thirteen (2015) 7:36
Microsoft surface pro 4 7:15
Microsoft surface pro 3 7:08
HP Spectre x2 6:forty three
Razer Blade Stealth five:forty eight
Dell XPS 15 (2016) 5:25 (7:forty with the cellular charger)
Toshiba Radius 12 5:12
Configuration alternatives and the opposition
whilst the X1 become first of all introduced at CES, Lenovo stated it might start at $899 with its keyboard.but it appears the charge has been bumped up over the last few months. The entry–stage X1, which comes with a middle M3-6Y30 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, now starts at $1,029. Coincidentally (orperhaps not so much), it really is the identical charge as the most inexpensive floor seasoned 4 ($899) plus the $a hundred thirty type cowl. Lenovo probable thinks it may justify the higher price due to the fact Microsoft is doing the identical thing, however that still undercuts one in all its preliminaryadvantages over the floor.
For $1,349, you could snag the X1 with a core M5-6Y57 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. And on the pinnacle quit, there is the $1,649 model i’m testing, which provides the core M7-6Y75 processor.that’s a relatively huge pricing unfold, but for the most part, I assume maximum clients would be higheroff with the $1,349 version. that’s if you could get over the X1’s tender keyboard and quick batteryexistence, although.
if you‘re looking for a cutting-edge hybrid tablet/computer, the floor seasoned four continues to be abetter choice, even though you have to shell out more money for its keyboard. It has faster hardware, ahigher keyboard (and trackpad), as well as far greater reliable battery lifestyles.
nevertheless, I apprehend that some agencies are devoted to the ThinkPad logo, and most companyworkers do not have a preference in terms of selecting what type of computer they can use. If it’s yoursituation and portability is your predominant difficulty, then the X1 remains a solid option.
Wrap-up
we’ve visible Lenovo dabble with hybrid ThinkPad designs with its Helix collection during the last few years, however the X1 tablet is its first genuinely a success hybrid. No, it’s not perfect: i would love to see better battery lifestyles and an advanced keyboard. but it does a respectable task of bringing some of the most interesting factors of Microsoft’s floor lineup to business users.