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    Received X1 Carbon Gen 2 i7 model - Initial Impressions

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by canfrag, Jan 15, 2014.

  1. canfrag

    canfrag Notebook Enthusiast

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    View attachment 107497

    Received my X1 Carbon Gen 2!

    I bought the i7 model with the 2560x screen.

    Initial thoughts:

    Screen is pretty nice but a lot of programs are really not ready for it. Particularly stupid is that Lenovo's own programs sometimes appear with miniscule icons when in 2560x. Screen is bright, it has a slight haziness due to the touch screen. Still, at least no screen-door effect.

    The keyboard is a disaster. This adaptive row is driving me crazy. Firstly, it ships defaulting to controls rather than function keys, so things like brightness instead of F keys. You can switch between the different adaptive row layouts but you have to have minimum TWO (F keys + bright/vol/mic controls). They have some other ones like Internet Explorer control, too. .

    The ESC key is gone from its usual spot. It's now next to 1. FN has replaced the ESC key.

    Backspace is not the last key on the right edge of your keyboard now, DELETE is. Backspace is right next to that.

    Double tap shift to caps lock works pretty nicely. I haven't really noticed the new location of the Home/End keys since I don't use them that often.

    The feeling of the keyboard itself is good, actually feels a little better than my old X1 Carbon.

    Touchpoint/pad. WHY. What was wrong with the original touchpoint buttons?

    Nice bonus - comes with an ethernet dongle and a dedicated mini-proprietary port to plug it into.

    All-in-all ... it's a nice laptop marred by very stupid design decisions on the keyboard. What the hell, Lenovo.
     
    canfrag, Jan 15, 2014
    #1
  2. vobasf

    vobasf Newbie

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    Is the screen matte or glossy?
     
    vobasf, Jan 15, 2014
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  3. bennyblanco99

    bennyblanco99 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hrmm.. thanks for the quick review.. this might drive me to a MacBook Pro.. :(
     
    bennyblanco99, Jan 15, 2014
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  4. canfrag

    canfrag Notebook Enthusiast

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    Semi-gloss, not mirror shine but not matte. It's tolerable.
     
    canfrag, Jan 16, 2014
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  5. jamesjix

    jamesjix Notebook Enthusiast

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    I think you may want to checkout U904 by Fujitsu

     
    jamesjix, Jan 16, 2014
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  6. Robisan

    Robisan Notebook Consultant

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    @canfrag Can you try lowering the resolution to 1080 for a little while and let us know how the screen performs? Presumably you'll still have the benefit of the higher pixel density while making the fonts more tolerable. One would hope that MS & windows software makers will update/adopt scaling for hi-res screens during the lifetime of this unit. Thx.
     
    Robisan, Jan 16, 2014
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  7. JWBlue

    JWBlue Notebook Deity

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    How is the fan noise?
     
    JWBlue, Jan 18, 2014
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  8. dust7

    dust7 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah, that's my question as well. I returned my gen1 X1C because it was horribly loud, even when just surfing the web. When playing a video the fan maxed out after 20 seconds.
     
    dust7, Jan 19, 2014
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  9. jcb193

    jcb193 Notebook Consultant

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    How big is the charger?
     
    jcb193, Jan 19, 2014
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  10. newtoboston

    newtoboston Notebook Enthusiast

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    I haven't had my hands on one of these yet but my colleague ordered and received one, and reports that the charger is nicely small.
     
    newtoboston, Jan 20, 2014
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  11. rhlitt

    rhlitt Notebook Enthusiast

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    I recently received the T440s with the 1600x900 matte screen and the screen isn't too clear. No improvement in clarity over previous T series screens.. Is your feeling that the X1 gen 2 semi matte screen with 1600x900 should be better? I have the opportunity to pay the difference and exchange it for an X1 2nd generation as it was sent in error (not my fault).. Anyone else have this or an opinion?
     
    rhlitt, Jan 20, 2014
    #11
  12. pepper_john

    pepper_john Notebook Deity

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    1600x900 matte screen on T440s is the same TN screen on T430/s. The IPS FHD is supposed to be different.
     
    pepper_john, Jan 20, 2014
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  13. dust7

    dust7 Notebook Enthusiast

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    My first gen X1C with the 1600x900 matte screen had the most horrible screen door effect known to man. Would not recommend. I assume they use the same screen in the gen 2 X1C with tn display.
     
    dust7, Jan 21, 2014
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  14. Crazysah

    Crazysah Notebook Evangelist

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    How is the battery life on this thing?
     
    Crazysah, Jan 23, 2014
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  15. Pirx

    Pirx Notebook Virtuoso

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    Couple hours.

    Just read the reports in this forum. Yeah, wild idea, I know...
     
    Pirx, Jan 26, 2014
    #15