ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th Gen) Owners Lounge

Windows 10 doesn't support Dolby Vision HDR yet, I think this is a feature that will be added in the next update, which is scheduled for this spring.

So yes, this is a great screen without HDR with high brightness, good contrast and wide-gamut support, but it will be even better with HDR enabled.

 

I wonder it this display is (or if it could potentially be made) compatible with HDR10. I don't have the laptop with me anymore, but it would be nice if someone could run the dxdiag tool ( https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4040263/windows-10-hdr-advanced-color-settings) and check for HDR10 support. @pdagal, sorry to bother you, any chance that you still have the X1C of your last video around?

 

Question for you folks who have the 6th gen X1 Carbon...I read the review on notebookcheck.net, and though they say the fan isn't loud they say it emits an annoying high pitched sound. Can you tell me if you find that to be the case, or is it not that bad.

 

IMO it isn't that bad. I mean, you can definitely hear the fans. The temps are definitely high for an 15w CPU and the fans run often (at least on Linux). Having said that, I don't think that it was louder or somewhat more annoying/ higher pitched than my other quad-core machines.

 

I'm not sure if this is repeated on the X1 Gen 6, but the Gen 5 had two fan suppliers which were nidec and Delta.

The nidec fan under load would always whine more than the delta because it's a lot smaller in size. While people reported that the delta one is quieter.




I had the Gen5 with the delta fan, and it was reasonably quiet under full 25w load where the system reached its arbitrary maximum CPU temp of 75-76w.

 

I have one, bought from ebay

 

Congratz on the new acquisition. How are you liking it so far?

 

Anyone got a better discount (more than 10% student discount) from lenovo sales reps ?

 

I can't discuss specific amounts due to forum rules but in general Lenovo partners can get good discounts.

 

@fapiha66 ayo hit me up fam, I got that food coupon you need

 

Carbon based diets are supposedly very good for your health .

 

Just to reiterate my request. I wonder if the Dolby Vision display is backwards compatible with HDR10.

If anyone can run dxdiag and share the results I would be very grateful ( https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4040263/windows-10-hdr-advanced-color-settings)

 

Haha, except that it could be a little bit chewy and crunchy.

Probably way off the topic, but have you guys read the book "Grain Brain"? which suggests eating protein instead of grain, the latter of which is basically carbon based. Now I don't know whether I should focus on rice or steak anymore...

 

The Atkins diet and most modern variations really work if you combine it with a lot of physical exercise. I've lost quite a bit of weight with a hyperproteic diet + exercises when I was younger. Just keep in mind that, according to Wikipedia Atkins had "a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension", so I wouldn't advice sticking with this kind of diet for a long time. Let me know how you like your new ThinkPad once you get a chance to play a little bit with it.

Kind regards,

 

@Anthony Accioly will be getting an X1 Carbon 6th gen but the display will be the stock FHD one.

 

Welcome to the team Mobius. Hopefully you will enjoy it. Let me know what you think about the FHD display

 

I think it's the same as the Carbon 5th Gen FHD?

 

My x1 carbon 6th gen arrived yesterday.
I love every aspect of this laptop, but there is a problem with the cooling fan:
When the fan runs, there is a high frequency noise, which sounds like being generated by some plastic stick hitting the fan blades.

I'll try to blow some air gently into the vent and if that doesn't work, I will probably send it for repair or switch a new one.

 

Just demand a replacement

 

Hi Mobius,

I'm not sure if that is possible, maybe they would say fan noise is not a problem big enough for replacement? Also, my laptop is customized, not one of those pre-configured models, so not sure if replacement is applicable to it.

Say if I wanna replacement, should I contact my sales rep. or technical support ?

Thanks!

 

Contact tech and sales.

You are eligible 30 days after delivery for replacement.

Your replacement also have 30 days after delivery to get another replacement in case you get another crap unit.

 

I see.
I actually just asked for a repair and see whether that works. In case not, I will for sure ask a replacement.

 

I'm happy to see that they've opened up full customization for the 6th gen. My plan is the standard non touch FHD, 16 gig RAM, 1T SSD, 3 year warranty plus accidental damage coverage.

It will be costly (about $2800) - I believe from what I see here there are restrictions on pointing people to discounts, but I assume there are some available out there? Any hint on where to start looking?

Thanks.

 

Hi, I just send you a conversation to discuss this

 

99% copy of the 5th gen model, very minor visual differences

@Anthony Accioly


Images put in spoiler cause they're too big

Spoiler

 

Sexy! I know it is early, but how are you enjoying it so far? Can't wait to get to Canada :and pick up mine.

 

It's mostly the same as the X1C5.

A few points.

S3 sleep is not possible anymore, now only smart sleep. Problematic with Linux.
Same cooler as the X1C5, but now with the heat density of quadcore, it overheats in no time if the power limit is unlocked.
Power options in the windows power profile manager is locked (unlockable with registry hack, but sleep will be disabled if you do that)
Keyboard feels a little mushier compared side by side to X1C5.
Trackpoint doesn't flex / bend. The trackpoint equipped by P71 or the older 7-row keyboard slightly squishes when pushed in a certain direction, the one on X1 Carbon doesn't do that since the nipple is so short.
Battery life with FHD panel is similar to the X1C5, it not a little better (undervolted with throttlestop, power saver mode.
Coating still as annoying (if not impossible) as before.
Keyboard doesn't feel as good compared to the 7-row old keyboard, still pretty good for a chiclet though.

 

Finally, after a good year's worth of study and research and narrowing down to three then two options (the Dell XPS 15 and the X1C) I bit the bullet today and ordered a 6th gen Thinkpad X1 Carbon. Got the 1080 touchscreen option, 16 gig RAM, 1T SSD, highest end CPU option, extra AC adapter, 3 year in home warranty with accidental insurance added on, etc. It was expensive, but I tend to hold on to my laptops for a while and they are my only PC, and I also travel a lot with them. It will be really nice to carry this light machine on the road vs. my 147 pound Alienware M17x laptop, and have the battery life of the X1C vs. the literally 0 battery life (even after changing adapters and batteries) of my Alienware.

Shoutout thanks to a couple of people who provided some above and beyond help with the shopping options. I'll be posting here once my new machine arrives (looks like about 10 days or so.)

 

Quite a few gotchas. Sounds like you are a little disappointed. Hopefully the Power Management / S3 / Sleep stuff will be fixed by driver updates. How's the 1080p display? Same thing as last generation?

PS: Lisa just posted a review of the T480s. About halfway through the video you can find the T480s and the X1C6 HDR side by side. The difference can't be unseen.

 

Brilliant specs. I hope you enjoy your new Laptop.

 

I'm curious about the color result after calibration.

Then again the HDR is most likely 10 bit or 8+2FRC, and covers the AdobeRGB +P3 color space much better. No competition there.



Here to post some corrections.

S3 sleep being not existent is by design, and I doubt Lenovo is going to back out on the decision. A fix in Linux to improve compatibility with smart sleep is in the works as we speak.

Battery life, this actually improved by a lot after manual setting of core parking (allowing all cores to be parked if idle), disabling turbo boost on battery, undervolting, and setting SST to 135 using throttlestop. (Thanks @unclewebb ).

I started to use the computer around 12:35 with 94% battery, with around 25mins of sleep and about 45 minutes of youtube playback (FHD) inbetween moving classes and campus buildings. It ended up around 24% around 8:20PM. So I believe the battery life will be close to 9/9.5+ hours if I can manage to drain the entire thing.

Workload includes browsing, editing google docs, and having discord + telegram messenger opened in the background. So I believe the claim of 15 hours is only a little bit optimistic.
If you close discord + telegram, you'll be able to squeeze out a considerable amount of extra battery runtime.

Keep in mind that "smart sleep" is active during the time of the testing.

1080P display is actually better. This is what I have: http://www.panelook.com/B140HAN03.1_AUO_14.0_LCM_overview_32138.html

 

Pretty solid battery results. Are you dual booting? Any chance that you can test Linux + TLP / Power Top?

 

Only W10 currently

Not sure if I want to dualboot just yet. Pretty busy time in school right now.

I still need to sort out the warranty with P71 since the service center broke my mic.
T430 still in pieces and haven't flashed the modified bios in.

 

I actually use Ubuntu 16.04 + windows 10 dual boot.
Generally the battery time on Ubuntu is shorter than windows 10, even with TLP.
I basically used the default TLP settings, namely powersave governor, no cpu boost on battery (so max freq. = 1.6GHz).
When browsing the internet with FireFox, the powertop shows around 5.5-7.5 Watts. With 90% battery, the estimated battery is around 6.5-8 hours. (On comparison, the 90% battery with web browsing with Chrome on Win 10 estiamtes 10 hours).

 

Its a little bit unfair though, as she compares the base-panel-option on the T480s with the most expensive panel option on the X1 Carbon.

The WQHD display on the T480s is clearly worse than the X1 Carbon HDR screen, but its much better than the base FHD panel.

 

I could use some advice from current X1 owners with the HDR screen.

Is there a way to set an sRGB mode (limit the gamut) so that everything does not look oversaturated (for software without color management)?

 

@bloodhawk would know best

 

Speaking to customer reps at Lenovo, they told me that Lenovo are planning to put the 500-nit HDR touch screen (i.e. like the one in the X1 Yoga) in the X1 Carbon. I was told that it may be available as soon as later this month.

 

Thats not possible with Windows. That supersaturated looks is something you will get used to over time.

 

I was afraid of that. So the choice is between the HDR display which is bright (500 nits) but with seriously distorted colors in non-color managed software, or the normal WQHD which is dimmer (300 nits) but has more normal colors?

There's no hardware option to set the HDR display profile to sRGB, like on some standalone monitors?

 

Maybe if the software support limiting the color profile displayed to sRGB?

 

That's what I was wondering. Dell XPS laptops have the PremierColor software utility that lets you pick between sRGB, Adobe RGB, and so on, and it applies to everything -- like the menu options on a standalone wide gamut display.

I was hoping Lenovo had something similar. It seems like a major oversight for a wide gamut display.

 

iirc you should be able to create a srgb LUT based on this display and use that in your editing software


that's what I know of using displaycal

 

I REALLY love this notebook. I so badly want its screen. Laptopmag giving it 5/5, are they confused, this isnt an apple lol, I think even they have lost their fan boi ways of late. https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon#

It reminds me of my XPS 14, or any quality thinkpad. Awesome keyboard, great track pad and like my XPS 14 an even brighter screen, good battery life.

But I cant afford a new Carbon X1, not in the next couple years. But I want one now, I want HDR and dont want to be missing out on all the great HDR content, along with it makes a much better image editing device. I dont do a lot of batch files, but I do narrow down my shots to keepers that I work on as a hobby.

Is there any way possible for me to transfer the Gen6 screen to say a gen 4 machine which costs very little used?

I know with the AW 13 to even contemplate it, that requires the entire chassis, so this might be the same desl

 

eDP port probably doesn't support it, let alone the vbios.

It is possible to do 2560x1440 with T42/30-S model with Javi-jie's @RMSMajestic adapter, but not sure if the T42/30 non S will receive a FHD conversion kit.

 

So do I . But unfortunately I have confirmed with two external sources running the latest (released) version of Windows 10. At this time dxdiag returns false for HDR Support and you won't get neither HDR10 backwards compatibility nor Dolby Vision support.

I've also come across a Lenovo blog post ( http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/eye-popping-laptops-from-lenovos-latest-thinkpad-x1-series/) with the following footnotes:

So, maybe in the next big Windows 10 release (I couldn't get anyone to test it with an insider's build).

 

I think Dolby Vision HDR support in Windows will be enabled in the next Windows 10 release – which is version 1803. Windows 10 1803 will be released very soon, a release in this month is expected.

 

I find the fingerprint reader on X1C6 needing your finger to be excessively perfect on the sensor before it unlocks. The P71 and X1C5 in comparison is more tolerant in terms of slightly misaligned finger placement or imperfect angle.

Pretty annoying.

 

Actually the standard screen on X1C6 is alreay very nice IMO, at least compared to my old HP touchSmart 15.6. The color is much more vivid and more contrast as well (whereas the color on HP is washed out).

Funny thing is before getting this X1C6, I was pretty happy with the HP display, thought it was already good enough for gaming. No comparison no complain I guess

 

X1C5 is 262K colors, at least the one that I got.

X1C6 is 16.2 (6+2frc), same panel but different revision compared to the previous gen

Panel lottery game still applies here