Thinkpad Carbon X1 Extreme (upcoming)

Yes please, GPU benchmarks with temps will be more than welcome!

 

This was with undervolting by 100mV on cache and cores. That is: it would get too hot before and after undervolting, which is why I went with the repaste.

I can run some longer tests later. In a brief run under furmark the GPU would run in the mid 60s. It lists as being restricted by TDP under furmark. If I started 7-zip alongside furmark, the gpu would top out in the low 70s and the hottest CPU core would be at 97C.

 

Thanks mate, 97C is so hot for me to be honest. I don't feel Lenovo did a good job this time.

 

If you could run some cinebench r15 for me I would greatly appreciate it!


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Cinebench R15 Scores

CPU before undervolting and repasting: 1004
GPU before repasting: 108.03

CPU runs after undervolting and repasting: 1252, 1252, 1240, 1217, 1202 (ran back-to-back.)

GPU runs after repasting: 113.66, 108.37, 106.70, 105.40, 104.47 (ran back-to-back)

As for the design, it seems to be a capable, and nice-sounding cooler (there is almost no fan whine, most of the noise you hear is just quiet air fwooshing, something I appreciate.) It's just the mounting mechanism that leaves much to be desired.

 

The results aren't surprising to say the least, thank you for your contribution - it's appreciated.

 

Definitely. The GPU was fairly well-covered already so repasting that had essentially no effect (the GPU is never hitting a thermal limit.)

The CPU scores now seem to be in line with the top end of 8750H results, which is neat.

 

Thanks for your hands on testing. How is the battery life? Do you have the 4K HDR screen or the FHD screen? And speaker and headphone jack quality?

 

I went for the FHD model, mostly to avoid the battery overhead that 4K screens seem to place on these types of systems, and also to avoid the basically-glossy finish that they have the nerve to market as 'anti-glare.' It is a very good screen, definitely better than the FHD IPS panel in the P50s. It's the same panel in the FHD P52 according to the model (more info about the panel in here from Notebookcheck's review: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenov...-Workstation-Review.322974.0.html#toc-display ) (edit: my does not seem to 'bleed' as badly as their sample does, the only backlight bleed I can see is two very small spots along the bottom edge, and only on pure black and at or near max brightness.)

Battery life is good so far. Coming from the P50s with 42whr internal and 24whr external, going to a single 80whr battery instead of a combined total of 66whr, I was worried that the far-more powerful hardware would hamper usable battery without having to tweak clockspeeds. If you're pushing this thing 100% you probably will never break two hours (assuming conservative brightness,) but under a modest gaming load (Skyrim at 1080p and very high settings,) I can get a good 2.5 hours of it, versus the ~2 hours from the P50s. I am, however, undervolting the CPU by 100mV.

As for speakers, they sound "okay." They're ThinkPad speakers... you can't expect much at this point. Loud, clear, but nowhere near MacBook levels of depth or range.

One issue I'm running into now is some popping noises happening whenever audio stops. More annoyingly, it even happens in games. Haven't been able to remedy this yet. Lenovo did release a new sound driver today that did address another issue: a 1-2 second delay when playing audio from silence. Hopefully the popping is just another thing they can address.

 

That seems good on the battery front. Display seems okay, but is inferior to the FHD XPS 15 9570, primarily in terms of brightness. I wish it would have been closer in brightness to that one. As for the audio, the popping is unfortunate. I had hissing issues when I had an XPS 15 9570 for a little less than a month. Not sure whether I will give Dell another shot when there's a major sale going on, or whether to go with this. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Probably leaning towards this, given the better port selection and better keyboard. The trackpoint is also nice to have.

 

There seem to be two different FHD panels you can end up with, Innolux (like I have and what is measured in that P52,) and BOE Hydis. Could be that one is better than the other, possibly closing that brightness gap, and perhaps getting even closer to 100% SRGB. For my use cases the brightness of this panel is fine, and it has a very nice black level.

Speaking of trackpoint, it is definitely different than those I've used in the past. It feels shorter than the P50s trackpoint, but it still has a decent range of input to it. Has a different-feeling acceleration curve to it. Not worse, just takes some getting used to. It does not have the awful stiffness that a T460s that I tried had, so that is good. It's no X220, but then nothing ever will be again.

 

90% sRGB and 300 cd/m² just a shame for that price!

 

Exactly. The only reason in my opinion to get the X1E over the XPS 15, Gigabyte Aero 15, or HP equivalent is the 4K HDR Dolby Vision, 100% sRGB and 88% AdbobeRGB, 8+2 Bit, 400 cd/m² screen. There is nothing else that completely sets it apart from its competitors that are considerably less expensive

 

But it will be fake HDR.
For real HDR you need true 10Bit panel with 1000 cd/m² peak brightness and multi-zone backlight.
You can get regular 4K with 100% sRGB and 400 cd/m² in XPS 15 for noticeably less money.

Personally, I like X1E for dual m.2 slots, extra TB3 port and normal camera placement in comparison to XPS 15, but price gap is almost 1000€, at least in Germany.

 

This is what has me interested is the dual m.2. Up to twice as much storage as XPS 15. For a media / content creator, that's huge, not having to lug around an external all the time.

 

Not only more storage, maybe RAID 0 speeds.

 

Totally forgot about that, too.


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Anyone who already owns this laptop has tested it with Linux? Any major issue? Thanks

 

Guesstimates as to what discounts may look like three months out?

 

I think there are a few things:

- 2x 2280 M.2, allowing for bigger storage capacity + RAID

- Important features for Enterprise users: Native Ethernet (via Adapter) + Smartcard reader

- ThinkPad keyboard / TrackPoint

- 4K screen has a digitizer for a Wacom Pen

- Lighter than the Dell XPS 15 or HP EliteBook 1050 G1

Whether you need or want any of those things entirely depends on your use-case, as always.

 

The trackpoint and its dedicated buttons, and the number of keys in general, are the two biggest things that kept me from ever considering a Precision 55x0, XPS 15, Zbook Studio (or whatever the equivalent HP machine would be,) etc., as this machine is primarily used on the go. The FHD screen's deficiencies in certain metrics weren't substantial enough for me to consider a less-usable system as a whole. And I'm still worried about the battery life impact of the 4K screen to have considered it. It's difficult to fully quantify that as comparing reviews of FHD vs. 4K-equipped systems tends to not be fair as the FHD systems tend to skew towards having lower-end internals, versus 'fully loaded' 4K systems, but there do appear to be at least a few hours lost in the worst cases when piecing together reviews of XPS 15s between its two screen options.

Honestly if I'm to name one major thing that the machine is outclassed by, its the battery capacity. I can armchair engineer all day of course, but when popping the bottom off, I can definitely envision something closer to Dell's 97wHr battery sitting in here--there is definitely room wasted around the battery, due to the side edges of the bottom case sloping in cutting off usable space. And these speaker enclosures seem to take up a lot of room in spite of how average they sound.

 

<rant> I just have to say Lenovo is frustrating. While I really hate laptops over 12.5" and weigh more than 3lbs, the X1 Extreme/P1 has the specs I need and it's under 4lbs. What I want is the touchscreen, 64GB of RAM, and the i7-8750H to get the six cores. You can custom build the X1 Extreme with the memory and processor, but not the screen. You can get the already preconfigured X1 Extreme with the screen and the proicessor, but not the RAM (I asked, they won't sell it separately). The P1 has no higher end configs nor custonmizable option right now. It's like they don't want to sell it. </rant>

 

I think it will eventually be fully customizable. Early in releases they seem to have limited options for some reason. Give it some time.


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Oh, I'm sure. It's just annoying right now because the 64GB of RAM is actually 50% off "list" price. I just want to order the base specs, and I'll put in my own M.2 SSDs. The graphics card is irrelevant to me for my needs, I just need the other horse power and the pen-enabled screen sooner rather than later. If Lenovo would sell the 2666 64GB SO-DIMMs alone, I'd be all set. You can't get them anywhere.

 

There will be more custom options in a month or two, going by lenovo release history. (and they will have the "instant savings")

Otherwise, I think you missed this, but the touch screen X1E/P1 is just over 4 lbs:

Weight Starting at:

• FHD non-touch: 3.76 lbs (1.7 kg)
• 4K Touchscreen: 4.06 lbs (1.8 kg)

Its a bit more than 1/4 lb difference. This is due to the full glass panel. The Full HD has much thinner panel with plastic bezel.

 

I didn't. Carrying something like a Wacom Intuos S separately is a half pound bringing the FHD up to 4.5lbs. 4lbs is about my upper limit, so 1.8kg is in the acceptable range. Everything with this stuff is a tradeoff. I would be thrilled if Lenovo had done this in a 13.3" form factor. I really hate 15" but it's more about weight and funcitionality than size to be honest.

 

14" form factor for me, even 13.9". Haven't had a 15" machine in years and right now have an HP Spectre x360, a Yoga 920 and an X1 first gen, but damn I miss the keyboard.

 

It is disappointing how so few manufacturers are pushing to have large capacity batteries in their laptops. Dell and Gigabyte are pushing it close to the legal limit, but other manufacturers keep delivering smaller batteries in their competing machines. MSI has been improving in this area, simply because their laptops typically had terrible battery life.

My ideal form factor would be a compact 17 inch laptop with thin bezels, which doesn't exist as far as I can tell. The 15 inch form factor is a compromise for me. A hypothetical MSI GS75 would be interesting, but their build quality is still not up to par.

 

My ideal is 11" - 12.5". I'm currently using the Fujitsu U727 which has a 12.5" screen with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB M.2 drive. It's not enough power (mainly memory). The U procs max out a 32GB,, so even if I could get the SO-DIMMs, I need the H or a Xeon. From a form factor standpoint, that's about as big of a laptop as I want. I had a 14" once. Key word there: once. WAY too big for me. 15.6" is even bigger so ugh. Now that bezels are shrinking you can get more in a smaller laptop size screen wise. That I'm OK with.

If I didn't need the specs, the X1 Extreme/P1 wouldn't be on my radar.

 

Follow up: if you peek at the Lenovo UK site, there are more customizable models. The 4K touch screen adds 4 weeks to the build, so I'm guessing they're waiting in the USA to release versions customizable with it until it's more plentiful. If you want to see configurations with a Xeon, check out the P1 on the UK site.

 

Have you seen this TongFang or the Asus GL704? They're both ~17 inch notebooks with thin bezels

 

Lenovo promo today with the THINKQUICK5 discount, plus the B&N Gold discounts. 1TB/32GB UHD model is $2,692.40 with shipping in 10 to 12 days. I have work to do so I'm going in now and hopefully don't see any tremendous deals too soon. I know the configurable machines will be there in another two months or so.

 

You can still get %15 off with THINKEXTREME15 on the pre-configured models

 

First test-results from Notebookcheck are available: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenov...GTX-1050-Ti-Max-Q-Laptop-Review.335608.0.html

 

Wasn't able to do it on the regular Lenovo site or the URL for B&N Gold. Will pick up the phone in the morning and see if that code is still being honored.

EDIT: Update. Support chat this morning, custom units expected in the usual 4-6 week time frame which will line up with Black Friday, Cyber Monday most likely. Really want to pull the trigger on this, but if I could eke out another $200-400 just waiting a few more weeks I will.

EDIT: Toll-free number maintains Lenovo doesn't stack coupons any more, but going in and out repeatedly, adding and removing items from my cart, the B&N Gold site threw a 10% THINKQUICK10 and, via Me.id, let me log in to AARP.org and get a second, additional discount for a total off of $458.35. Got the $2,789 20MF000CUS unit (512GB SSD, 16GB memory, UHD touch panel) for $2,370.65 and a three year depot warranty for another $69 that was also on promo. Have two 1TB Crucial and Samsung Pro 960 M.2 SSDs and will upgrade when I get the unit, along with throwing a second 16GB DDR4 SO-DIMM in it and I'm good. Taxes though...

 

Which options will be presumably available once the custom config will be open on Lenovo site?

 

Yeah, my custom build P52 ordered 9/22 has an estimated ship date of 10/25 I think and arrival to me 11/1.

 

I was surprised myself having done this a few times in the past (eighteen ThinkPads so far, have also ordered direct from Dell, Sager, Compaq), I got a shipped notification yesterday before the day was out with a delivery date of a week from today.

EDIT: Have a UPS tracking number showing the unit coming out of Greensboro, NC and arrival for next Thursday the 4th.

 

If it's the usual you'll be able to specify your drive size, memory, monitor with attendant savings or increased cost dependent on what you choose. I usually like to order these bare bones, with the exclusion of the LCD, then do the drive(s) and the memory myself. Thinking about it more yesterday and for now I'm going to leave the 512GB M.2 in there and throw my 1TB Samsung 960 Pro in the second slot, going old school with apps on the boot drive and data on the second. 16GB DDR4 SO-DIMMs are pretty stable right now at about $162 a stick, but a 15% off koopun at eHoseBags and my eBay bucks after next Monday and I'll be able to snag a Crucial for $115 to bump the RAM to 32GB then it's virtual machine city. I have terabytes of VMs going back fifteen years.

 

A sidebar question, any ThinkPad out there now close enough in chassis dimensions, footprint that a carbon fiber skin would work for the X1 Extreme with maybe a little bit of straight edge cutting? P50, P51 maybe? Need to look at the physical specifications and see which machine's closest.

 

None match too well. If full skin, it is the only 15" in lenovo's lineup without numpad. Which gives it centered track-pad, so no palmrest skins wil. It is also about 1/2" less wide than any other 15" lenovo. Closest is P52 14.86” x 9.93” vs X1E 14.24” x 9.67". But at that point you might as well save a buck and buy a regular square and cut yourself.

I'd imagine one will come out soon. It is a flagship device.

 

My october 4 ETA for my X1E has now gone to 10/24. :/ I will cancel if it doesn't ship by 10/11.

 

Lol, as long as it doesn't end up like your 9575 order.

 

I ain't sayin' doodly because my tracking # has my unit already out the door, just gotta be mindful of Somali UPS pirates now as it makes its way across country.

 

Ok, so to sum it up, the X1E is a good laptop but not that "slim and thin 15" performance miracle" that we have been dreaming about? It sounds kind of similar to the XPS15 unless you have any specific requirements, like 2 SSDs etc.

Considering the laws of physics, unless Dell where complete morons, I guess this is perhaps what was reasonable to expect. But glad to see that there are finally appearing any real XPS15 competitors...

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I have a feeling it will have worse thermals than the XPS 15 - and of course the smaller battery size...

Dell's thermal solution has issues but it is more down to how power hungry the chips are, I think maybe the Razer Blade 15 can beat it at some benchmarks due to the vapour cooling system and perhaps a couple of other machines such as the ASUS/MSI (in the ultra thin category). The MacBook Pro has far worse cooling and Apple had to allow the CPU's to reach ~100 degrees to compete with the benchmarks of other laptops (and still fails to compete).

 

As recently as seven years ago a W520 workstation with two 1TB HDDs, 32GB RAM and a slice battery to give it the battery life of these machines would weigh 7.5#. It's not Nirvana and may never be, but as I'm no longer a hard-core road warrior in airport terminals coast-to-coast and overseas on a weekly basis I'm good with it.

 

X1E have little bit better cooling system and performance.

 

Are they airborn these days as well?

 

That does not say anything regarding performance profiles etc?

Edit:

See now that that graph seems to be from Notebook check, please include a reference also and not just the image. Thanks.