Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 3 (2015) Review

I managed to get my hands on a new ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 3.

ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 3 (Full Review - Article)
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 3 Review | Think.Scopes

Unboxing video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFwvlQDQxgE

Camera & Microphone quality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXL49kP7bnQ

Video Review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD9hHz2NeMY

Enjoy everyone!

If you have questions I will reply in this thread!

 

Can you check the part number of the 1440p panel to see who makes it? Thanks

 

I'm looking to purchase this laptop but with the i5-5200 CPU, 4GB RAM, 2560x1440p display. Will this laptop (with i5-5200 or your upgraded i7 laptop if you have a monitor to test on) smoothly run an external 2560x1440p display and the 2560x1440p laptop display (for multitasking purposes)???
Also, in your opinion, is the i7 CPU /8GB RAM upgrade worth the extra $370 for someone who will not be doing processing-intensive work?

Thanks and awesome review! (UHD upload much appreciated )

 

@droyder: The 1440p panel is a LP140QH1-SPB1 and is the same as the one found in the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 2. The display in my unit is made by LG.

@w_km: The HDMI port supports the 1.4 standard. This HDMI-port supports a maximum resolution of 4096×2304@24 Hz, 3840×2160@30 Hz (tested on ThinkVision Pro2840m).

Then we have a mini DisplayPort or mDP, which carries version 1.2. The mini-DisplayPort supports a maximum resolution of 3200×2000 @60Hz and 3840×2160@60 Hz.

To answer your question if it will run an external monitor at 2560x1440p, it depends on the connection you will use HDMI or mDP. But you can expect between 30Hz and 60Hz depending on what you choose.

Personally I find that 4GB is not enough in 2015. For example Google Chrome is eating up memory like it's nothing. A CPU upgrade may not be worth it because it is already plenty fast. But I recommend that you get 8GB of RAM if you plan on keeping it for several years. But you can also select the Intel Core i5-5300U and 8GB of RAM. There is no need to get the Intel Core i7-5600U to get 8GB of RAM. That should save you 200 EUR. The Intel Core i5-5300U should perform equal to the older Intel Core i7-4600U if not slightly better.

 

Is the ssd user serviceable?

 

Have you tried using the Onelink Pro dock? If so are there any issues displaying to a monitor using it? Thank you

 

Thanks for the info.

I know the LG panels on the Yoga 2 Pro and the Carbon 2 suffered from inaccurate yellows. For example, if you go into Excel and highlight a cell in yellow, the color is closer to brownish mustard color than a true bright yellow. This was a huge issue amongst owners from last year.

Does that issue still remain on your unit?

 

It's a bright yellow on mine.

 

It is an optional-service CRU.
=> Yes, it is.

 

That is the first thing I hear about it. The yellows are also fine here.

A color calibrator is arriving this weekend. I will reply back here!

I will also upload calibrated color profiles for those who want it. I will let you know tonight, tomorrow or this Saturday.

 

Please please try to boot Ubuntu 14.04 from a live usb and see if everything work out of the box.

Thanks for your time.

 

Here are the results from my screen calibrator (Spyder 4 Pro)



The results look okay to me.

Gamut: Normal
Backlight type: WLED

 

Everything works out of the box! Some programs are incompatible with HiDPI though. But you can reduce the display resolution to Full HD if necessary. Everything looks still very sharp.

Cinnamon gave me the best HiDPI experience

The TrackPad may need additional tweaking to your preferences depending on your wishes. But if you are a TrackPoint user you should not worry at all

 

Thank you mr Hendrickx

Another question, how bright is the display panel in terms of nits when on 100 % brightness? Is it easily usable outdoor in a sunny day?

Regards

 

According to the specifications page the non-touch model is rated at 300 nits and the touch model at 270 nits. The touch model is slightly dimmer due to the screen protection cover, which also reduces glossiness further. I found the display panel to be bright enough for various situations.

I found my display to be quite readable outdoors. I believe I made my review semi-outdoors. The room I made the review in has a glass roof and windows. So if you can see the content well on my display, you should be ok. I made the video around 3-4 PM.

Plus I uploaded a calibrated color profile on Think.Scopes | All about ThinkPads, Lenovo & Microsoft! if you can find it. The brightness was a little bit too high or the whites were too strong. But by default, the image quality of the display panel is close to my calibrated results.

 

Great to see you already have one at hand!

how is the battery life so far? I'm keen to get the top spec i7 with 8GB RAM and 256 PCie SSD, without the touch panel.

Would be good to see what you think after having it for a few days.

 

Hi,
I know this has to do with this thread and I do apologize for thread spoiling, but I saw your post a while back on the modded gpu bios for a nvida 525 gpu. My gpu sucks at the moment for gaming because its undervolted and I dont have a huge amount of money to spend on a new gaming laptop You had a link to your "A11 Bios Pack" which increases the voltage, I tried clicking into it but it came up "file not found". I know this a lot to ask but could you possibly do me a huge favor and re upload or even send the the file?
Thanks for your time,
SDog65

 

No it is not bright enough. For that, buy a gen1, I switched back because I had serious problems with the birghtness.
Eg, no working AT ALL at a beach, on a sunny day outside if not in very good shade, back of a car when sunny outside....

If you want a nits measurement and see how bad it sucks, look at this review(touchscreen) here were they measure this idiotic screen:
avg 246 nits (!!!!!!!) not 300
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-Ultrabook-Review.138033.0.html

and here is the measurement for the Gen1(matte, not touch screen):
avg 287
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Update-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-Ultrabook.85315.0.html

both not great, but Gen1 works outside. Has ugly screen door effect though.

The gen3 screen is like a gen1 screen on 70%, i had them side by side on my bed in a semi dark room, swearing at the gods when the gen3 came out. I had to choose, bluish and screen door effect or yellowish and not bright enough for sun-flooded offices etc. I had the matte screens always.

And yes, at least compared to all the mac displays it looks yellowish and the gen1 looks bluish.
(but I don't care much about that, I need the nits though, to be able to work in normal travel light situations, like in a back seat of a car or in trains, not speak of all those offices with floor to ceiling glass walls....)

Also from that review:
"As it compares to the XPS 13-9343, for instance, the X1 Carbon’s average brightness is over 125 cd/m² lower." (speaking about the Gen3 Touch).

So I bought it, wonderful display, but forget about the XPS 13 if you want to use Linux, it has a screwed up keyboard, double-types....they discontinued the "official linux support"....you want you shoot yourself..

(Sorry for the ranting, but I really don't get what kind of circus Lenovo has been doing with its "premium" (and other) laptops. The most screwed up was the Gen2, gz Lenovo. So now let's see what happens with Gen4.)

 

You're comparing a matte screen to a touch screen. The touch is the exact same panel with the digitizer film on top of it--of course it's not going to be as bright (the touch is also rated at 270 nits, not 300--so the performance isn't that far off the stated claim). If your screen was that bad, there were was something wrong with your machine.

I have the QHD non-touch and it's fine. It's not the brightest screen I've ever used, so I end up having it on 100% brightness most of the time, but it's useable outside in direct sun.

 

Yup, I stated above that it is a touch, I don't know which one the other guy is referring to. 270 is crap. 246 is crap. Sorry. It's 2016. Look at the XPS 13. I bought three of those. I am surrounded by others having Macbooks. That is what a good screen is. I would be happy if I had a Thinkpad with 70% of a Macbook's screen, in matte.

My machine was ok A friend bought 20 Gen3s for his company, so I was able to compare them to mine....same ****. Half the people wanted their old ones back, so he returned them.

Let's not debate words. Yes, of course you _can_ use it outside, it is usable. But it is not ergonomic at all. You have to position yourself correctly and in a car or bright office you will have problems, fine in a dim lit office. I basiclaly always pulled the curtains, if there was sunlight outside, just to have better ergonomics, but of course you _can_ work with it. It's just bad for your eyes as it is harder for them to read text etc. I work 14h a day in front of my machine, so I have very low tolerance thresholds for bs.

Just as Jack says, you basically never have to adjust brightness and work all the time with 100%. That should already tell you more than enough. basically you work inside at 100% and would want to go to 140% when outside....but cannot.

In one month the Gen4 will be there, why not wait for the reviews and then decide...the Gen4 will hopefully be a machine that you will be able to enjoy in all light environments. Or get a Yoda with the OLED, that will probably be a fab display. I would wait the 4-6 weeks if I were you...gl & hf

 

I'm not trying to be disagreeable, but this just isn't my experience with the Gen 3 QHD matte screen. I work from home, much of it in a bright sun-lit room, and some of it outside (although I'm certainly not working any 14 hour days, almost all of my work is in front a computer). In direct sun, outside, it's "usable", and in a bright room the brightness is fine. Compared to my X230 I'd say it's 90-95% as bright. Let's put it this way: for me, I feel no need to get a new computer because it's not bright enough. I wouldn't want it any more dim though, so the touch version has no appeal to me.

I still wonder if there was something wrong with your machine, or if you were comparing it to units without the adaptive brightness disabled.

 

As I wrote, I compared my Gen3 to multiple others, all the same. In the forum here there are also more than enough complaints about the yellowishness and brightness of the display. I have them side by side right here. The Gen1 is bluish, the Gen3 is yellowish. I use Linux, no adaptive anything here.

See attached, Gen1 left, Gen3 right, beige table underneath and white piece of paper.

 

The best you can do is report it to support as a defect. It's going to fall on deaf ears here. Display issues are well documented here and everywhere else.

 

Am not Complain Thors just arguing with fellow users about the usability of this yellow beauty...

I am going to be complaining if Gen4 turns out to be another dud

 

The X1 Yoga has a review up with the IPS display. One video review showed improvements: she measured 320 nits!

But, honestly? Lenovo's panels have one of the lowest efficiencies. Anandtech had to put their 3rd gen at 92% brightness (killing battery life) just to get 200 nits.

IMO, for a premium laptop, it's a below-average screen.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9264/the-lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-review-2015/5

 

I happen to have a X1 C at work, but with a TN display, so I always wonder what an IPS display on X1C looks like, and so I read the review in your link. Actually the review says that while the brightness is low, but in other aspects the display on X1 C is not bad at all when compared to the other "premium" laptops.

 

It's not bad, just below average. I'll quote,

Why does Anandtech call it average here, but I call it "below average"? To me, it's not just brightness, contrast, and colors, but also power use. Check out the battery life page, which mentions the display:

So, we combine "average display quality" with "bad power efficiency" and I would call that, overall, a below-average display.