Thinkpad X1 Carbon 2012

Weight of the default and alternative power A/C adapters? I have the now discontinued "Slim Adapter". It is indeed less tall than the default adapter that came with my T40, but was a bit heavier, limiting its value. I now use the default (65W) A/C adapter that came with my X220, and that is acceptably small and lightweight.

I am trying to get a handle on whether one is better off in terms of weight with Lenovo's Ultraslim A/C ($79 + $10 for the tip) than with the default A/C adapter, but don't have the information to make that evaluation.

The Lenovo Slim Power Tip enables the ThinkPad X1 Carbon to be used with the Lenovo 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter...This tip can also be used with the ThinkPad and Lenovo 90W Slim AC/DC Combo Adapter - Backed by a 90-day limited warranty
Lenovo Slim Power Tip | Lenovo | (US)

The only technical specification Lenovo shows for the default ThinkPad 90W AC Adapter for X1 Carbon - US/Can/LA is the model number (#0B46994). I know this has been described as a brick. I could find no information about dimensions or weight.

As for Lenovo's Sim Adapter (5.6" x 3.1" x 0.6")(now discontinued) and its Ultraslim Adapter (4.5" x 2.7" x 0.6"), I could find not information about their weight other than Lenovo's statement about the Ultraslim adapter:

The new AC travel configuration is 19% lighter and 15% smaller than the ThinkPad 90W Slim AC/DC Combo Adapter
The new DC travel configuration is 64% lighter and 70% smaller than the ThinkPad 90W Slim AC/DC Combo Adapter

 

Is the keyboard spillproof? Many places claim it is but I don't see any drainage holes on the bottom.

 

The keyboard is spillproof, but without the drainage-system.The keyboard is close.

 

That's a confusing one! Where does the liquid escape?

 

Personally, I'm seriously considering it. Not quite sure about 13.3" vs 15.0" though. I love the small footprint of the 13" but the resolution might be too much for my eyes. The 15" would be "just right" in that regard.

 

i know for certain that the 1080 screen of the Sony Z 2012 was totally silly for every website that i tried!

i went to the Sony Store 2 weeks ago with high hopes for the Z 2012 as it received an unbelievable review from Lisa Gade. after seeing it in person, i realized that it is an extremely niche laptop -- and disagree with many of Lisa Gade's points in her review.

you cannot read anything on websites unless you constantly hit Control +++++++! the 1080 resolution is really ill suited for the 13.1" screen of the Z 2012. additionally, the speakers are horrendous. not just merely poor, but down right impossibly lousy.

when you factor in how flimsy it felt, i lost interest in buying a flimsy, 13.1" laptop. the RAID 0 certainly didn't help. The KISS principle makes more sense to me!

 

I'm pretty sure I couldn't live with a 13.3" HD screen; I'm still not sure whether the X1's 14" will seem too hard to read. The reviewers seem happy with it, but it's hard to say.

But I can get the base X1 for 950, while the S9 15" is very hard to find with any discount at all, plus it's a half pound heavier.

Re the power supply, does anyone know if the X1 be used with a lower wattage supply (e.g. 65W)? I was wondering about getting a lightweight 3rd party PSU on Ebay.

 

If you are going to spend this much on a laptop, you shouldn't cheap out and get an eBay charger for it. I bought a 2nd charger for my X1 Carbon for $64.19 w/tax directly from Lenovo and the funny thing is that it is shipping before my laptop. They aren't expensive, so do yourself a favor and don't go cheap. Also, the reason why the power brick is so big is because it is 90W. That is due to the high power flow needed for Rapid charge to work. Although it hasn't been tested yet, but I don't think Rapid charge will work with a 65W adapter.

 

I'm wondering the same thing. I'm starting to lean back towards the 15" S9.

True. But keep in mind the 15" S9 comes with 8GBs of RAM (and you can add even more) while the base X1C is stuck at 4GBs. And the S9's SSD can be upgraded/replaced -- not sure about the X1C.

 

I think its more on the lines of spill-resistant rather than spill-proof.

 

That's always been the case, even so drain holes were included.

 

one think to look forward to with battery life is that many tests are showing that laptops gain about an hour of battery life with Windows 8 vs. Win 7.

Windows 8 Enterprise: RTM preview | ZDNet

it also sounds like gestures could work more smoothly with Win 8.

 

Back in the day (circa 2001 - 2003) I had an Inspiron 4100 (14.1" screen) and Inspiron 8100 (15.4" screen). Both had 1600x1200 resolution. People call me "eagle eye". I have always had excellent vision. This was 10 years ago and back then I felt that 1600x1200 was usable but uncomfortable on a 14" screen. It was almost perfect on a 15.4" screen and I used that setup for a couple years. When I later got a Latitude D820 with 1920x1200 15.4" screen I felt fonts were just a tad small and that it was not comfortable for reading.

These days my vision is still just about as good as back then but I do notice eye fatigue more. I would not buy anything higher than 1680x1050 in a 14 inch screen. For both 13 and 14 inch screens, I feel that 1600x900 is the sweet spot when it comes to the 16:9 format. I still prefer 16:10 for the extra vertical resolution. However, I have justified 16:9 because 1600x900 is a much nicer rounder spec than 1680x1050

 

I miss 16:10.

 

^^^ OK, here we go.

 

I miss 4:3. As a programmer, I want as many vertical pixels as possible to fit more lines of code on the screen. I typically rotate desktop monitors into portrait mode. It's a bit tougher with a laptop.

To bring it back to the X1 Carbon - I'm disappointed that they raised the price by another $80 in the US store, and that we still haven't heard about the i7 coming back or any better RAM upgrade options. Hopefully they're just having short-term supply issues.

 

Where can I find info on the cost of 3g service for the x1 carbon?

 

You'd have to subscribe to a service from AT&T, Verizon, etc. I believe if you have a smart-phone subscription with either, that you can add a data service for $10/month on one of the new "sharing" plans plus you may have to increase your data subscription.

bert

 

I can't find rates for WWAN 3g on verizon's website. All I find is phone/tablet stuff. I do see the phone tethering service for 20/month.

 

Maybe the information is included in the box? Would be interesting to hear from someone who's receiving their laptop soon.

$10/month doesn't sound that bad, though the usual data limit may be quite prohibitive.

 

I have a WWAN card in my T410s. I picked up an extra SIM card and had my carrier share the data usage with my mobile phone plan (6GB/month). This added $10 a month to my mobile phone plan (plus initial activation charges).

This feature has saved my bacon many times over and by not tethering to my phone, it saves the battery on my phone.

I don't use it very often, but having your own internet connection is very handy when on the road or at client sites (or visiting my folks out in the country).

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

I was low - it's $20/month. See https://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/plan-information/?page=share-everything

I have a plan with 2 smartphones and one USB data device (4g/LTE). I pay $40/month for each smartphone and $20/month for the USB data device. That gives you unlimited talk/text and allows tethering. Then you have to add a data plan: $50 (1gb), $60 (2gb), $70 (3gb), $80 (6gb) all the way to $150/month for 20gb.

When I get the X1 Carbon, I'll probably continue to use my USB data device as it's faster than the 3G device inside the X1 Carbon.

bert

 

Is this on display anywhere? I've been having trouble trying to find high-end ultrabooks on display anywhere...

 

may i ask if the Part # 0B46994 "90W AC adapter for X1 Carbon" is really identical to the included power brick that comes with the X1 Carbon? If one were to look at the link below on Lenovo's site, one would see that the actual power cord section is absent from the picture. Lenovo appears to be very unclear as to what this item really is, specs, etc., as they show nothing under the Tech Specs tab:

ThinkPad 90W AC Adapter for X1 Carbon - US/Can/LA | Lenovo | (US)

 

You could also check out Lenovo's Mobile Access service. I believe the X1 Carbon comes with a SIM card included for this service. It offers pay as you go data without having to deal with the carrier.

To get full details for pricing for your country you need to create an account here: Lenovo Mobile Access

Check out:
http://mobile.lenovo.com/docs/FAQ_US.pdf
http://mobile.lenovo.com/docs/userguide_US.pdf

Not yet available in Canada, but available in the US and a bunch of European countries.

 

i'm wondering if it's done via Verizon, ATT, Sprint, or TMobile?

in Manhattan, at least, only Verizon is head and shoulders above everyone else. my TMo cell's reception is decent now (was poor for many years), but nothing compared with my friends' Verizon network.

however, the "pay as you go/a la carte" plan is very smart. for many folks, the occasional use is worth paying for, but it would not have been worth signing up yet another costly monthly plan for -- especially considering all those weeks of possibly not using it, or the vacation weeks, etc.

 

I'm guessing that since the card is GSM and the service is SIM based, it's going to be either AT&T or T-Mobile.

 

it's a bit funny:

all of us enthusiasts for this X1C model have said so much about it, and have said everything there is to say about it, that there is nothing more to say until it's actual, first delivery!

we literally have said everything there is to say about vetting this machine! ha ha...

 

I have pulled the trigger today.

Pricing seems to be fair for german conditions (1375€ for the i5/8Gb/256Gb)

Hopefully the shipping date is right, so I can compare it to the Vaio Z soon.
Difficult decision between these two beauties (I've really fallen in love with the 1080p screen )

 

Where from did you order it? Did you extend the warranty? I am from Austria btw....

 

ThinkPads are generally not sold in stores as the biggest buyers of them are large institutional buyers.

 

I ordered from this shop: uni-notebooks.de

But the offer is their education price.
Otherwise it's much more expensive :/

It's the standard 3 year onsite-warranty.


Edit: Onsite is just valid in Germany, it's no international onsite-warranty (just depot warranty outside from Germany).

 

I don't suppose they deliver to other european countries like the netherlands? 1375 euros incl. tax is really cheap.

 

Don't know about the Netherlands, but they are shipping to Austria too.
So I guess the Netherlands should not be a problem at all.

 

The Ericsson H5321gw card in the X1 Carbon supports multiple modes including CDMA/EVDO, so it does work with Verizon (3G only). (see Ericsson H5321gw - 3G/GPS/HSPA+ Mini PCI Express Card - 21Mbps)

bert

 

I also ordered from uni-notebooks.de today. However, I am not sure if this price is actually accurate as all the other Lenovo student-discounted sites show a price in the 1600 Euro range.

Let's hope this works out : )

Manuel

 

Just want to bring up a new topic to get my mind off the shipping delay news..

Considering the SSD storage is premium, I am planning to do a clean install to free up valuable space and get rid of the bloat.
Found the clean install guide at this forum, not sure if it is applicable for X1 carbon.

What are the first things you plan to do to prep the machine once you receive it?

 

These days I'd be a bit apprehensive at doing a clean install. Supposedly Lenovo is installing a lot of proprietary applications that ONLY come pre-loaded from the factory. Some of these are the boot-up enhancements while another (which I saw in a few posts above) is the Lenovo Mobile connect applications that lets you pre-purchase blocks of cellular data/time. These custom applications MAY be able to be re-installed but not sure if anyone knows for sure.

I think a safer option to go with a new laptop would be to simply uninstall modules you know for sure you won't need. I used to be in the clean-install camp but with storage getting faster and cheaper, it's just not worth the time and complexity in reinstalling a new OS (my opinion). You may save a few GB of HD space and some megs of RAM but not sure if you'd even notice it in day to day use.

 

The only software I can think of not on support.lenovo.com or in SWTOOLS for the past 8 years is the mythical and magical Lenovo "Enhanced Experience" which advertised 10 second boot. That software reminds me of a unicorn.

Don't worry, a cursory check at support.lenovo.com appears to have everything you need to flatten the machine if desired. See ThinkPad Mobile Broadband for the mobile software.

As for the steps, they don't change much from ThinkPad to ThinkPad.

1. Create factory rescue and recovery disk set.
2. Observe factory image for a few days and assess the value of the design.
3. Make copy of SWTOOLS
4. Capture Windows serial number if desired
5. Flatten and reinstall OS if desired
6. Re-install core drivers
7. Re-install core software like Power Manager and Mobile Broadband Mgr
8. Tune pagefile size
9. Tune hibernation file size if desired

 

Have there been any conclusive tests regarding Enhanced Experience's performance? (It'd be even better if someone wanted to test it with their new x1c, of course.. )

 

It's not so much the price as the weight, which I care about a lot - and I don't care about rapid charge, if i have a plug i'll leave it plugged in.

 

Yes, I'm keeping that in mind. On the other hand, a 50% increase in price is a lot for 4GB of RAM and a swappable SSD! It seems the X1C comes with a much faster SSD than the Samsung, too.

The microHDMI on the Samsung may be a weak point, too, since I plug in and out of a second monitor all the time. My 13" has become somewhat finicky, and someone in the Samsung thread reported the same thing on the 15".

 

I will do a clean install of Windows 8 RTM. I have been playing with the preview on my T61. Will love to see it on the X1 Carbon.

 

I couldn't agree more. As it stands, the machines reviewed didn't have any spectacular boot times beyond what a good clean install and SSD can provide an average notebook, IMHO.

 

don't most of the reviews talk about a roughly 20 seconds to 45 seconds boot time?

 

Yes, that is exactly the point. I don't believe that the Lenovo enhanced experience actually exists in any tangible way. I haven't seen any real evidence of it being anything more than marketing fluff.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Is it possible that without their "unicorn software layer", that the boot up time might be 1 1/2 minutes?

I built a new desktop pc around March of this year and, it is taking roughly 60 seconds or so (haven't timed it recently, only weeks after i built it) for it to boot up, so far far longer than the 20 seconds it is taking many reviewed laptops take.

i don't know why my desktop is taking as long as it is taking. do any of the good folks here on this forum know please? Thx!

 

If Lenovo tuned the X1C for Windows 8 logo requirements and also worked on their UEFI implementation, then hopefully the X1C should boot from a cold start with no help from hibernation in less than 20 seconds. None of the reviews I've read could spell UEFI.

Nearly every ThinkPad I've ever used could not get past the cold boot POST ThinkPad logo in 8 seconds. Makes it pretty hard to achieve a 10-15 second boot. I define boot as the time it takes from the time you press the power button to the Windows desktop.

 

The i7 version is back on Lenovo's website, but will "ship in more than 4 weeks"

 

Labor Day Sale Pricing:

Does anyone know when Lenovo typically announces their Labor Day Sale prices? It's only a week away and I was hoping to see the pricing early this week.

Thx in advance.