Thinkpad X1 Carbon 2012

Ah so there's physically not enough room for it...

 

not bad but 128gb ssd is too small

 

I am sorry but where am I going to get the SSD that fits X1C other than from Lenovo? Proprietary parts usually cost much more then their open standard analogs.

 

I thought the 3 year warranty was standard with the carbon. I'm going to wait a week to see if anything else changes

 

I think you guys are getting tripped up on the term serviceable. It is serviceable, but only with a Lenovo sourced part at this time.

 

The warranty expiration is a year away. There are inevitably always third party options after a product like this is released. Not to mention the second hand market. This is forgetting the fact ssd reliability is excellent with both Toshiba and Sandisk.

 

Can anyone provide a bit of insight as to where I can get these discount codes? I was under the impression being on the mailing list would yield one, but so far no success.

 

It took me an hour or two to get mine after I registered. It's not instant. But make sure you update your account through the site and mark that you want to receive promotional e-mail.

 

Discount codes for what?

 

[X1 Carbon] 8Gb option incompatible with i7 option... - Lenovo Community

So it looks like we won't be able to WAIT until i7/8GB since there is some reason why it can't happen.

 

If you register with their e-mail newsletter, you get a 10% code. I managed to use it in conjunction with the employee discount for a total of about 20% my X1C.

 

Lenovo chat rep says they will ship on the 22nd.

 

Are you sure it's using both? I'm using a USA IBM EPP, and only one of the two codes works (newsletter doesn't) but USXDISCOUNT allows me to checkout. Problem is, the EPP one is less of a discount :-/

 

I have a 15% off code but the website won't let me use it.

That's the only way to configure the $990 dollar or so base model. I spec'd out a higher model and still won't let me use the code.

 

Thanks so much. Just got it! That was an easy $180 banked. I wonder if it'll stack on the Student discount ... Only one way to find out!

 

You can always negotiate with the reps too..

 

how much negotiation latitude do reps on the phone have?

how far should we go to negotiate with the reps?

can't they just say "no" and hang up and save their time and move on to another caller?

 

I did some negotiating with a rep via online chat earlier today and the best they were able to offer me was $1400 on i5/8gb/128SSD--YMMV

(the rep stated it was a launch day only deal)

 

Yea it's very much YMMV. Best results with the online chat.

 

I tried to use the 15% off as well, but wouldn't let me check out. Rep offered something more expensive than the USXDISCOUNT code, so I just ordered with USXDISCOUNT. Worst case, I'll talk to post-sales to get a new coupon applied later.

I'm just thrilled to finally be able to order this thing. i5/8gb/128gb.

 

why would "best results with online chat" rep rather than phone rep?

wouldn't the phone reps be more experienced and thus know their "way around the company" better?

 

WOW.

Just read the engadget review and Tim Stevens says this: "Lenovo kindly kept the X1 Carbon's SSD free of most bloatware -- a good thing since there's only 128GB to work with."

One of the Verge lemmings said the exact opposite.

 

engadget full review up

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review: the definitive Ultrabook for pros -- Engadget

 

Engadget states three-year warranty as well. Makes me wonder if the 1yr warranty was a mistake? Or did they change their mind last minute?

 

Yea, all those 50mb Excel and Word files are going to fill up that drive super quick. . .

 

Doubt it, since my work computer (and most of the other ones on site) are standard at 160GB. My dad's work computer is currently 160GB, upgraded from 80GB. And you probably mean 50kb Excel and Word files.

 

For me, both discounts were applied, but strangely..

Subtotal - $2905.00
Web Price (Configured)- $1879.00
EPP Discount (USXDISCOUNT) - $1597.15
Mailing List Discount - 1503.20

The mailing list coupon didn't exactly bring it down 10%, but with it did bring it down more than just the EPP discount alone. Total came down to 20% off the standard web price.

Glad it worked! Hope you get a good price.

 

This is the second review to complain about the screen. Saying pixels are visible producing the grid screen door effect.

 

I wonder if Engadget had a pre-production model, considering the comment about no bloatware. Some reviewers have said it's one of the best TN panels they've seen.

 

All the reviews have been pre-production from the photos I've seen. I'm going to wait for user feedback, the screen is the only reason I'm changing from the X220.

 

Nice. I got the base system for $1,000 flat after talking to a rep. + $92 for 2 year replacement warranty! Sick deal. Thanks for the help.

 

Initially, may have said that the SSD in X1 Carbons were Sandisk SSDs, and that they performed very poorly on 4K speed tests - which are true when one looks at these reviewers doing 4K tests. So...that's a bummer.

Then, someone posted a teardown picture of the inside of an X1Carbon, which showed a Toshiba SSD.

Which SSD is the one that will go inside the consumer X1 Carbons rather than the reviewers' early samples? Confusing. Whichever one it is, is it any good including its poor 4K performance? I mean real life performance: any good?

Also, most say the LCD is rather nice on the x1C. they mostly said that for a 14", the 1600x900 hits an excellent sweetspot. the Z 2012's 1080 was downright annoying when i tried it out last week because on every single website, one needed to do Control ++++++ to increase the size, otherwise, you'd not be able to read it!! 1080 is too much resolution for a 13.1" LCD on the Z 2012.

Then, the Engadget review just posted today says that one sees space around each pixel on the x1c's LCD!! they didn't quite like the LCD on the x1C!!! can that be true? or is that an early reviewer's sample?? Highly conflicting points of views, right?

i can't believe that the pitch is so poor on the 14" 1600x900. that just doesn't sound right to me.

any ideas from the good folks on this forum?

thx in advance.

 

There are some experienced Thinkpad users who are ordering this X1C. If there is a problem with the display, the owner's reviews will flesh it out. I would wait for them ... if you can stand waiting.

The price on this X1 is really nice @ > $1k for a base model with discounts. It is really tempting. For those of you who have ordered, what delivery date are you getting?

 

Remember, this is coming from acknowledged Mac fans using Retina displays.

 

We've been seeing Toshiba SSDs in them but mostly Sandisks. I'm not sure which the production model will have and if there will be a difference between the 128GB and 256GB.

As for the inconsistencies on reviews for the display, I would say it just comes down to preference. Some are impressed while others aren't so much. It might not appear as vibrant as the Sony but the 1600 x 900 resolution will be good for you, since you said the 1080P is hard for you to see.

I doubt the screen will be bad, but I don't think it will have the viewing angles or vibrancy as say the Asus Zenbook Prime IPS. It won't have the sharpness of the Macbook Retina either.

 

I don't know about delivery date but estimated ship date is 08/21/2012.

 

At the factory they will use whatever SSD they have in the bins as they assemble them. No modern PC manufacturer is going to single-source any part including an SSD. They may have Sandisk, Toshiba and a 3rd provider before it is over.

A major PC manufacturer will not risk having to shut down their production line due to non-availability of any single part.

If they can get tons of a single part, they may try to single-source it for awhile, but I guarantee you they have at least one backup supplier.

Which SSD will the end-purchaser get?
You have to order one and see what you get.

 

Andrew, said his unit's screen doesn't have any screen door effect. Hopefully there aren't any quality problems awaiting users.

 

so strange that still, in 2012, for a top of the line slim machine, one STILL needs to tilt the screen forward and backwards in order to get the best/right colors/contrast!! i've had that on every single one of my laptops - ever!

you'd think that for a costly 2012 August/Sept purchase, they would have gone IPS or something superior by now!

oh well, we'll have to live with this as one of its compromises.

i went to see the Sony Z 2012 last week at the Sony Store here in Manhattan going in with high expectations due to the glorious review by Lisa Gade ("...this is a love story..." was how she began the entire review?!?!?!). I was seriously underwhelmed. It felt every bit as flimsy as every single other Vaio's I've ever touched. Plus, the 1080 resolution for the 13.1" size LCD is just not good for web browsing whatsoever. You cannot possibly see any webpage without pressing Control ++++++, no matter if you were 10 years old! it's plain ol' too tiny to see.

 

Pot luck sorta sucks. It's not so bad when you are getting top of the line flash storage devices. That remains to be seen with the X1C.

Regarding the display, this is starting to sound like there are multiple suppliers of the screen and it is pot luck, too.

 

From Engadgets review..

Disk I/O is of course another thing, and we were not left wanting. Though of a rather limited size, just 128GB, our X1 Carbon's SSD averaged 510 MB/s (reads) and 339 MB/s (writes), which on the read side at least is right up there with the latest MacBook Air's chart-topping 551 MB/s. That'll have your latest quarterly presentation loaded in no time -- or all your favorite Quake mods. It also helps deliver a very respectable 21-second bootup from cold.

 

I agree. Not sure if I can handle having only 128GB of HD space, though.

 

We have a range of reviewer comments on the screen.
We have a range of reviewer comments on SSD performance.
We have a range of reviewer comments on thermals and heat.

Everyone loves the keyboard.
Everyone loves the chassis.
The price is good.

The real story will emerge over the next 3-6 months.

 

Again, those are the sequential read/write speeds.

Generally, most reviewers want to make the manufacturer happy with their review, and a few don't care as much what the manufacturer thinks.

 

While I'd love to believe the Engadget review/reviewer, someone pointed out that the 4K measurements is the KEY, not just merely input/output metrics, nor just merely the Windows Experience Index either!

I thought that the gentleman who pointed that out many pages ago was insightful and helped to educate me, at least, if not others as well. I'm personally grateful for that!

I have no idea what 4K measurements are but it is certainly great and a huge asset of this forum and other fora that there are giving individuals like that person who pointed out truly important metrics rather than just having many of us following "joe schmoe's review" and just agreeing, even though not every "joe schmoe reviewer" is as knowledgeable as others.

Heck, there are some so-called reviews that are just akin to unboxing and "user's experience 'reviews'" only, far from an objective, scientific review backed up by measurements.

 

Would dearly love to know if the SATA form factor on this HDD is 1.8" or if it's a proprietary connector. If just 1.8" yeah, that's a premium on cost, but not insurmountable.

 

RE SSDs

Toshiba isn't competitive on their 256GB drives. Most likely they'll get the lions share of X1C's 128GB configs and Sandisk for the 256GB.
Similar to MBAs - Apple mainly sources Toshiba for 128GB & Samsung for 256GB & 512GB. FYI Toshiba uses a Sandforce controller, so if that bothers you....

RE Screen quality
There's no reason to believe that the X1C's screen is going to be any better than the crap Lenovo installs on the T430/T430s. Engadgets review could very likely be based on the RTM model and the previous reviews on early pre-prod models. It's funny how wishful thinking can lead us to believe it's the other way around. We just don't know what the screen quality will be like on the X1C or if it will come down to a panel lottery each time either.

One thing is for certain, We have 2 T430S's here, one with an AUO and other with an LG screen and both have horrid screen door grids. They're some of the worst screens I've ever seen on a notebook.

 

My pleasure!
I don't know what it all means, and there is no top-quality SSD that wins every single benchmark result, but 4K is the best indicator of real-world performance.

 

Except that the screen part number is different, every review so far has been consistent with the basic screen specs (that are different from the T430/T430s' panels), and every actual picture of the X1C screen reveals far better contrast and viewing angles than the T430/T430s screens. As for the screen door effect and other more minute details, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

Anyone have the code for mailling list? I think I signed up, but I haven't gotten an email yet.