ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th Gen) Owners Lounge

silent you mean the delta one right?

 

I don't know how to check it . But I have barely heard the fan (including during the second OS install). Do you have instructions on how to check it? (Can it be done through software in either Windows or Linux)?

 

no

5 screws hold the bottom cover

open it and you can look at the fan, if it's made by the delta then you're gucci

 

I'm the kind of "engineer" that is afraid of screwdrivers, but will try to do it tomorrow. Anyway, it is very silent .

 

Point made, will make sure that I get the Delta fan and PM981 ssd.

Decided to re-order and went with i5 8350U/16gb/256gb/FHD non touch/W10 Pro + 1 year onsite for $1272 shipped. Will solely use the laptop for office work and the i7 is just a waste for me and will provide zero real world benefit over the i5. I did some more reading on the 8350 vs 8650 comparison, i5 it is. Ditto with the 512gb ssd and 3 year warranty, considering that the battery is only covered for 1 year. If I decide to keep the laptop for 2+ years I'll pony up and extend the warranty down the road. Thanks for the advice, hopefully the lottery will go in my favor.

 

Why did you buy W10 Pro? That's a waste of money when you can get the 1803/1804 Enterprise which is better in every way and actually give you full control over windows update behavior. I can give you the link to download if you want.


If you are trying to get replacement part for the fan I recommend you say that the current fan has very bad noise rattle issue and that you think the bearing is broken/defective, ask that a part will be sent your way.

Request that you be directed to a supervisor or manager if the employee can't send you THIS EXACT part, confirm what part number (FRU) you will be receiving before you tell them that it's ok to send

01YR204 is the part that you want (check upon delivery if you got this or not)

01YR204

Thermal_module_Delta, YD-2


They will ask you if you're comfortable installing yourself and ok with lenovo not being responsible for user inflicted damage, say yes

the difference between CPUs isn't that significant, only the i7s have +2mb extra cache which would be useless in your scenario

 

I run a small law practice and have used W10 Pro mostly due to remote desktop connection for an assistant and myself. I've never tried an Enterprise edition, isn't there a yearly fee for that? I just did some reading about it, I do like the Direct Access feature which is probably a much better experience vs. regular RDC.

If this is better / cheaper than Pro, I may as well snag the Costco X1C and take advantage of hassle free returns if I get a bad screen or loud fan. As I was placing my order on Lenovo's website the site went down for maintenance, so order never placed.

 

it's free by RUSSIAN STRONK RATIBORUS
forum ru-board com/topic.cgi?amp&forum=2&topic=5328


I have the ISO for 1803/1804, PM me if you want it

 

Decided to buy the i7 8550U/16/512 from Costco which also gives 2nd year warranty for free if you use your Costco CC, so it's a great deal. Good thing I bought from Costco b/c the 1st one had a dead pixel smack in the middle of the screen and it was a quick swap. The new one has a perfect screen. Of course I popped off the bottom cover, the fan says "Delta Electronics" so I assume this is the better fan based on comments here. Also have the PM981 ssd.

Once everything updates I will tinker with undervolting the CPU.

Thanks for the suggestion re: W10 Enterprise. I already have a spare W10 Pro code laying around oddly enough, so I need to upgrade to that anyway prior to Enterprise (thought I read you need to have W10 Pro as a base first, not sure that's accurate).

 

no you don't have to use a "base" os

enterprise, home, pro, etc is it's own independent OS and doesn't require cross licensing

I don't think pro code will work on enterprise version




I'm not sure if the costco come with PM981 exactly, so lottery is also involved there

 

Model number is 20KG-0022US, from Lenovo PSREF site looks like most models in the U.S. are 20KH. Looked up my warranty status using the Vantage tool and it lets me add on additional onsite warranty just fine if I want it which is cool.

My SSD is the PM981 as well. So looks like I got the same X1C I'd get if I'd ordered it from Lenovo direct. I really hate AUO screens and have had horrible luck in the past with dead pixels, debris, backlight bleed. Easy returns / exchanges at Costco sealed the deal for me.

 

b140han03.1 that I have on my X1C6 seems fine

 

Do you guys find that sometimes the touchpad is unresponsive when trying to scroll in Chrome? Tried Firefox and it seems to just be a Chrome bug?

 

I haven't used the trackpad at all honestly, trackpoint is better for almost everything except fancy gestures.

 

Happens to me with the TrackPoint too, it won't scroll at all.

 

It happens to me occasionally with my Dell E5450. I think the issue is strangely (from what I have found), Windows support for scrolling inactive windows (the mac-like ability to scroll windows that aren't the current "active" window). Disabling that seemed to fix the issue, but I like that ability.

 

Did some tinkering and updated to the latest BIOS. I've undervolted the 8550U to -100mV and applied the powercfg.exe fix mentioned in the linked thread below. Now my CPU downclocks properly while idling or low load while on AC power. Before it would stay at max clock speed all the time. WTH Lenovo, fix this officially. Fan has not spun while working within two Chrome windows and using RDC to connect to my office PC.

Ran XTU benchmark and the X1C beat my 7700HQ Blade by 72 points. Impressive little bugger. Although I'm sure the Blade can sustain those high core clocks far longer than the X1C. But I don't plan on gaming / any other 3D work on it, so no big deal. Hopefully the battery life will live up to my expectations. I was able to adjust the turbo boost short power max back to 44W within XTU.

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkP...PU-frequency-pegged-at-max/m-p/4038219#M84088

 

finally updated bios to latest (previously was on three versions behind I think) and also noticed that lenovo put out a newer power manger driver

I managed around 20 minutes extra battery life (might be withint the margin of error for this machine), so defnitely worth updating if you have some time to spare


I also don't notice a problem with the cpu frequency, it downclocks on idle as it should and I have it set at 135SST on battery which gives the CPU a very tame frequency ramp to load increase

 

Interesting, mine definitely didn't downclock before applying those three command prompt commands. I've also updated to the latest bios and power manager driver. As long as it works as it should I'm ok with it. It isn't hardware related.

How do you look up the display manufacturer on this X1? I know it is made by AUO but I'm just curious. I've gone into the bios and also looked under properties in device manager and all IDs say "Lenovo."

 

New member here. Finally upgraded from my X1 3rd Gen i5-5300U. Couldn't pass up the 30% off memorial day sale which ends tonight. Ordered an i7-8650U,WQHD,256GB, and 3Y onsite NBD. Will be selling my 3rd Gen as soon as I have everything setup on the new one.

 

You can use moninfo or displaycal which shows the display make/model

It isn't hidden, it's just an information that's not commonly accessed

 

OK, MAJOR problem here. New Thinkpad X1C, 6th Gen. USB ports on both sides work just fine with USB HDs, flash drives, external speakers, etc.

However, I cannot connect my iPhone 8 to either USB port. I get the connect tone, then disconnect, then connect, over and over and over. Both sides. It's not an Apple issue, same thing for a Samsung Galaxy. I've gone into the BIOS and turned the always on to off, on, every combination, doesn't matter. I saw people in the Lenovo forums who are having the same problem and have since February, but I'm not seeing any Lenovo response.

Has anyone else got this problem? This is a big deal for some of the things I do.

 

I also have an iPhone 8. Just tried connecting it to the X1C 6 and it connects just fine, both USB ports work. How long after you plug the phone in does it disconnect? I left mine connected for a couple minutes and had no issues on either USB port.

 

Thanks, good info. Just for data comparison, was your X1C connected to A/C or on battery?

I plug it into the X1C and I heard the connect tone, then the disconnect tone, then the connect tone, etc. non stop. These are with a half second of each other. It never actually connects. When I was looking at the Device Manager while the phone was plugged in it continually refreshed as the connect/disconnect cycles occurred.

 

The X1C was on battery. Does it make a difference in your case?

 

I don't this so but I just discovered this issue today while traveling so haven't had a chance to see if it's different when plugged in (I assume not.)

 

Would you mind running and posting Crystal Diskmark scores for iyour PM981. Thanks.

 

I'm at home now and have the X1C plugged in on AC power and not battery.

Looked into this further, if I connect the phone to the left side USB port it recognizes the phone and stays connected.

If I connect the phone to the right side USB port it charges the phone but is never recognized by device manager / connected to the PC. I do notice that the option to "allow device to access photos and videos" comes and goes rapidly, but the phone remains charging.

Edit: Appears to be worse when plugged in to AC adapter. I also get the rapid connecting and disconnecting sound, but after awhile it stays connected.

Tried my Razer Blade, no issues at all. This sucks, not happy that there may be a defective USB port.

 

Yeah, no problems with my Dell or Alienware laptops. Got home, plugged into AC, and plugged the phone into the right side USB, it charges but not recognized, e.g. hotspot does nothing. Plugged into the left side and nothing at all, not even the rapid connect/disconnect,

Kinda of a disappointment, I spent close to $3000 on my maxxed out setup.

 

Take that back, I am getting the connect/disconnect sounds on the left side USB. On the right side, the phone makes a noise and it looks like it's charging but the phone is not seen by the computer, also tested by starting up iTunes and the phone is not seen.

 

Right side when viewed from which perspective?

 

Right, my experience is the same. Right side USB port (my right, as I'm facing the screen) the phone will connect and stay connected, but doesn't show up as a device in device manager nor will iTunes recognize it. It will charge the phone though. Left side (my left, facing the screen) just goes wonky. Rapid connect and disconnect, but after awhile it stays connected and is recognized by device manager.

Bummed. Really considering returning it due to this. Shame, because I love the laptop overall. But malfunctioning USB ports, on a $1600 laptop, that's an auto-return in my book.

**EDIT- @jefflackey : Please try this when you get the chance. I have no idea why, but downloading and installing the "ThinkPad Hybrid USB-C with USB-A Dock" driver from the Lenovo X1C 6th gen drivers page completely resolved the problem for me. It is under "software and utilities." I figured to install anything related to USB just for kicks and I did this one first.

NEVERMIND- the right side is still wonky with the iPhone but my S9 stays solidly connected. So weird. Still not acceptable to me :/

 

Hey, since these modern UEFIs are basically miniature operating systems, lets try to isolate the issue.

Boot into the BIOS (UEFI) and see if the issue persists in there. If it does, than the issue is probably more HW related (or some odd power setting in the BIOS). If it doesn't, then we can assume its an OS/driver issue.

Just to make sure, I just booted my laptop into the UEFI and tested the ports. It charges just fine in the UEFI, without Windows, Linux, etc. I am testing this on a Sony Vaio, however, so results may vary a bit.

 

I can get into the bios just fine, but you lost me from there. Sorry. If the phone is plugged into either USB port while in the bios it does charge.

Doing work this morning with phone connected. It seems that the issue only occurs with the iPhone for me. My Samsung S9 has no issues staying connected or recognized.

 

Hi everybody,

It comes to my mind to replace my laptop for business purpose, and I am narrowing down my final choice between the X1 Carbon 2018 and T480s. Most of my office time, will be focusing general MS Office work and internet searches. But I have substantial of travelling and hence size, weight, boot up speed really matters. While in general, I think both X1C6 and the T480s can meet with my office application requirement, I also prefer a great display personally. After some study through the internet information, I cannot find much information about the gamut or the sRGB coverage of X1C6's WQHD display (the non-HDR option). Would anyone know its information?

Or would this display being identical with the WQHD display in the T480s?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks a lot.

 

x1c6

the hdr display is not available on the t480s

the wqhd NON-hdr I think uses the same panel on both model

 

Thanks a lot. Then its much simpler to decide. Cheers.

 

Both of them are the best business laptop.
If more on travels to get X1 Carbon can save a little weight.
If more in office usage , try to get T480s is the best, comes with traditional RJ45 port and SD card slot else.
Regardless of screen display specs from my personal experience for HDR Vs WQHD.
Both of them are the greatest display, for WQHD display still the best, cause it's still Matt surface and lesser issue for reflection and face with very red colour on HDR display.
If compare side by side for WQHD it's still more natural and greater display than the HDR.
I have them both but still prefer WQHD an over the HDR.

HDR on the Right and WQHD on Left side.


WQHD more natural


HDR more into red and vivid

 

Thank you very much for your advices and sharing. Agree with you, the HDR looks a bit reddish on me too. Anyway, as there is a promotion ending soon, I just ordered the T480s with WQHD.

 

OK, been googling and seeing others with the issue of the rapid connect/disconnect when trying to connect a mobile phone to the X1C via USB, even with the 5th gen, and I am not seeing any fixes. This is not acceptable for a $3000 business quality machine.

 

I've been using the laptop for the past day and a half and have had no issues with my Samsung S9, on either USB port. So maybe something has changed with Android 8.0 in the S9. My iPhone 8 always connects / disconnects from that right side USB port. This is not at all a hardware issue, in my humble opinion. For me, the positives far outweigh the negatives with this machine. It is a total joy to use.

 

Well, my iPhone 8 connects with no problems to my Dell Ins 15, my Alienware m17x, my Acer, my wife's laptop, etc. So whether it's hardware or software, it is something i cannot figure out how to fix. The phone doesn't show up in iTunes, nor in the Device manger. It charges on the right side port, it's ignored on the left side port. I just want it fixed!

 

@jefflackey

Your questions same as mine.
I did my all android phone connect to MacBook Pro they are same problem.
Sometime can detect and sometimes can't even found the driver as well.
I dunno why.
That's why switch all my laptop's to windows platform for solved this issue.

 

I hear you, sorry. In this case you should just return the laptop and go with another brand that will work out for you. Not worth the frustration or cost.

 

Guys, I have a X1 Carbon 6th Gen coming but I'm still trying hard to decide what's the best laptop for me.

The X1 Carbon I bought is the fully loaded version with the HDR screen, but I also found a great deal on a new Dell XPS 15 9570 with a 4k 100% Adobe RGB screen too. Basically same price for both machines (~$1800), but 6-core i7, 32gb ram max, and GTX 1050Ti in the Dell. I prefer the keyboard and trackpad with physical buttons on the X1 Carbon though. Battery life would be similar since the Dell has a huge battery to compensate for that hungry CPU. The XPS comes with a 256gb crappy SSD, so that will have to be upgraded later, but not a deal breaker.

I mention the screen because I'm a professional photographer and a nice, colour accurate screen is an important consideration. Now, I don't necessarily need to edit photos on the laptop since I have a desktop rig with a 100% Adobe RGB screen at home, but it's nice to have I guess.

Which one would you pick in my shoes and why?

 

XPS 15 sound like more higher specs than the X1 C6.

IF the weight not an issue, you should pick up Dell.

For those who's concern the weight should remain on X1 C6, cause this is durable and the best keyboard with carbon body, even accidentally drop from height the laptop still survival.

Actually I do not know about your future usage , maybe you plan to carry a laptop to office or somewhere else.
Otherwise just remain on XPS 15 and carry everywhere if you can.

 

Try http://forum.notebookreview.com/forums/what-notebook-should-i-buy.16/ . It is hard to give unbiased advice. Both are excellent machines. I guess the main point is what is more useful to you? I'm on Linux doing software development. A 1050 not only would not be useful, all of the Optimus shenanigans would actually get in my way (I had so many driver issues with my previous machine that I've promised myself that my work notebook would never have a Nvidia dGPU again). The difference between a crappy SSD and the latest and greatest top of the line NVMe will not be that relevant for most users. I would actually prefer a 1080P display if I could get it with 500 nits (1440P is overkill for such a small screen, I really can't understand 4K). More memory and a better CPU is always nice, the Dell is certainly more powerful than the ThinkPad. But to me the keyboard is actually what seals the deal.

If you are in doubt try creating a spreadsheet and assigning points to each machine in each one of the categories that are important to you. Then discount points for design flaws. That's how I ended up with a X1C.

 

My first impressions with this beautiful machine:


Recently picked up X1C6 as my portable workstation mainly for writing, poor programming attempts and bit of prototyping in 3D software (Houdini, Maya, Nuke and Photoshop), nothing super heavy, just being able to start working on stuff on travel and eventually finish it later on more powerful desktop computer at work/home.

Honestly, I struggled a lot picking right tool for my work (CGI/Game development), so this writeup hopefully at least save others some precious time finally to decide which laptop to pick.

I was pretty much skeptical and kind of prepared to return it shortly after many emergency shutdowns due to high temperatures.

My X1 configuration(Basic one): Core i5 8250U, 8GB RAM, Samsung PM981 512GB, Full HD non-touch

Picture :


My Precious X1

8GB RAM is IMHO only limiting factor, mostly in Houdini for simulations, unfortunately 16GB RAM are currently only available in most expensive pre-configured versions, at least in Europe. But 16GB would be still not enough for most of the work done in Houdini or Nuke anyway.

I finally understood that small portable devices are mostly all about tradeoffs, you can’t expect to have powerful rig in small thin laptop body and expect to perform as good as desktops or heavy desktops/gaming replacements. In my experience, it’s better to pick either portability/design or go straight for the performance.

X1C6 Strong points :

• Surprisingly very light, sturdy and portable device, even lighter than smaller XPS13.
  
  
• Great ergonomics, high overall comfort, it can be easily hold in one hand
  
  
• Very smooth and fast experience with latest 8th gen Intel processors, even basic Core i-5 8250U processor, you get almost 700 points in Cinebench R15.
  
  
• Excellent battery life, easily lasts 10+ hours with full HD display.
  
  
• Keyboard is truly amazing
  
  
• Fast NVMe SSD (Samsung PM981)
  
  
• Easily serviceable for internal cleaning, battery or SSD replacement. Unfortunately, RAM is soldered.
  
  
• Very quiet and cool, fans are turned off most of the time and they remain silent even on max PWM.

X1C6 Weak points :

• Sound. Easily biggest and most noticeable downside, I really didn’t expect superb quality, but this is comparable to cheapest laptops on the market.
  
  
• Finger sensor although maybe is very secure, it is slow and usually works on second attempt.
  
  
• micro SD reader is disappointing for any photography related work, also awkwardly unreachable.
  
  
• X1 is fingerprint magnet, but all oil smudges are well hidden on black matte surface and they are easily removable.
  
  
• Full HD display with 300 nits is so so for outside work on direct sunlight.
  
  
• Lenovo Vantage UWP app is horrible.
  
  
• Open Suse Linux support - still having some issues with touchpad functionality, S3 sleep seems to be fixed in 4.14 kernel.
  
  
• It can’t be opened with one hand
  
  
• it is NOT gaming laptop, don’t expect to run graphical intensive games like witcher 3 on it, playing older games is fine though.

What laptops I considered buying :

XPS 13 9370 :

• Beautiful small machine with nice bright screen and thin bezels
  
  
• Small, maybe too small and still noticeably heavier than X1
  
  
• Coil wine was present on all models I tested so far

XPS 15 9570 :

• Probably best looking laptop IMHO.
  
  
• great performer on paper
  
  
• no coil wine comparing to 9370 or 9560, but I tested only one model.
  
  
• better keyboard than XPS13 version
  
  
• It gets really hot with serious throttling... Thermal emergency drops frequency below 1GHZ, shutdowns are pretty common if you simultaneously use CPU and GPU (gaming and GPU rendering)
  
  
• USB-C only
  
  
• although still quite portable, it is much heavier and bigger than X1.

Lenovo T480 :

• upgradability
  
  
• better thermal solution
  
  
• great keyboard
  
  
• RJ45
  
  
• I don’t like typical ThinkPad design and rougher surface.
  
  
• larger and heavier than X1.
  
  
• not as powerful as XPS15, lacking dedicated GPU ( and even basic MX150 is not available in Europe)

MacBook Pro :

I was also thinking about getting Macbook Pro purely for good build quality and good screen. I planned to install Windows/Linux on it at the end. I hate OSX. But I really didn`t like the keyboard on newer generation, glossy highly reflective screens and lack of useful ports.

Final impressions :

My X1 Core I-5 8250U is stable -.95mv undervolted, temperatures are 40-50 ℃ in idle with fan turned off, it reaches 90 ℃ during rendering, fans are certainly not as loud as on XPS13. Only right side of the laptop around fan vent is getting hotter during extreme load.

Thermal throttling is present, but non-aggressive (usually CPU frequency is kept around 3200-3300MHZ all the time, no sudden drops below 1GHZ or any shutdowns or freezes)

Two things surprised me very positively : Battery life and keyboard.

I can’t stress enough how important is to test such expensive laptops like XPS or X1 by yourself. Performance can be measured, but ergonomics are very subjective aspects. Only keyboard “benchmark” we have are our hands and our own writing style. Remember that keyboard is playing huge part on overall experience.

Many reviews contain some basic information about keyboards, mostly how the key travel is deep, how mushy it feels or how loud it is, but that is all.

Overall I´am very happy with X1 Carbon, it feels very solid and still very light and barely noticable in my bag. For the first time I was more paying attention more to build quality, keyboard and ergonomy overall, not just performance and it certainly paid off.

Few benchmarks results : (I can keep adding results if someone is interested)

Cinebench CPU result : 640-700 (AC powered), 530 (On battery)

Cinebench GPU result : 54.25

 

Nice write up, I fully agree with your conclusions. Also have come to the realization that gaming laptops are just not worth it (for me) and am sticking with my desktop for all of that. My Razer Blade w/ 7700HQ and GTX 1060 is 15 months old with Microsoft warranty intact and I'll be lucky if I get close to half of what I paid for it. "Jack of all trade" laptops are great but they still have compromises as you said. This time around I got the X1C6 for the same reasons as you, rather than another thin and light gaming laptop. "Thin and light" and "gaming" don't belong in the same sentence, IMO. Sign me up for BGA, hot temps, gimped MaxQ GPU and / or fans that sound like jet engines! To each his own. Go big (18+ incher, dual power supply, desktop de-lidded CPU, top of line proper GPU x2) or go home when it comes to laptop gaming.

 

yo @Eason did you ever sell your X1C6?