Thinkpad X1 Carbon 2012

The advantage of the delay is it has allowed me to see that there are a lot of cool Windows 8 devices coming. So now it makes more sense to wait, especially if one is looking into checking out Windows 8 as it looks like an odd OS for traditional notebooks and desktops.

 

It's the primary reason I backed off buying the T430s for my wife. She is a heavy trackpad user on her T400. She never uses a mouse or the red trackpoint nipple. Therefore, whatever is next must have a good pad and work well.

 

Not sure if this has been posted, but some of you might be interested in looking at the online service training course for the X1C:

ThinkPad X1 Carbon Service Training Course

 

At this point, with the wait times... I will probably wait until windows 8 releases anyways. That way I don't have to screw with the whole upgrade process later on if I ever have to reinstall the OS.

 

I can not believe people are going to wait for Windows 8. There is a reason is selling for 40 bucks. I can't see anyone using that on a non-tablet machine.

 

Not I. Win 8 is the second MS OS I will pass on. The last was Windows ME. I may play with it on my W510 as it has a touch screen but not beyond that.

 

I'm not really interested in Win 8. Our clients won't be on that for ages.

I'm waiting for the I7/8GB/256GB config that is rumored to come later this year AND better pricing and delivery.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

I am typing this to you on my workstation which is running Windows 8 RP. One of the VMWare machines running on my server is 2012 server.

Everything I wished Windows7 and Server 2008 would have had, 8/2012 has. A much more versatile file system. Much better handling of bitlocker. Faster boots, better performance, much better display options.

If all that bothers you is the idea of metro, I haven't seen a metro or interface since the first day I installed it.

 

Wow! MS could use more folks like you on there team. I tried using the RC on my W510 but it was horrid. The GUI formerly known as metro was so in my face that I abandoned it readily. Maybe I didn't give it a fair shake. I, based on your rec will give it a thorough look.

 

Basically, they added hot corners to their GUI. Learn what they do and they really do speed things up. I still am pretty keyboard shortcut heavy but now that you can bring task bars (either duplicates, uniques, combos) to each monitor, I have relied far less on they keyboard commands. They finally listened and updated powershell. Storage spaces is a god send for personal desktops and workstations, with very little performance difference between it and hardware raid. Backup has gotten much better. Thus far I haven't notices any of the permission hickups windows7 had when sharing folders. I ran it on a laptop for about a month (HP Probook) and notice reduction in heat (I'm attributing it to fewer system processes) and about 10-15% increase in battery life. Boot has dropped several seconds as well.

Server2012 comes as a shell with a tiny footprint and allows you to install what components you need. The Cloud abilities really will change business practices in the next couple years.

I don't really care if other people avoid 8. I am already using it and plan to upgrade all my personal machines when it becomes available.

 

It must really be a bad trackpad then, eh? It looks very textured from the photos I've seen.

 

Looks awfully similar to my W510 touchpad. I have no major complaints. I use the two finger scroll applet that was released some time ago along with the Lenovo drivers and I am as happy as I have ever been. I am not a trackpoint user, I've always favored the touchpad. I've never owned a macbook, so I don't have to worry about comparing touchpads to theirs... I always tweak the settings in Synaptics control panel to fit my style and I am great afterward. Note in light of the glowing reviews of the X1C touchpad I still opted for the T430s (ordered but not received yet)...

 

+1 - Everything he said. End of OT.

 

Oops on mentioning possibly factoring Windows 8 into my next laptop purchase. Just saying that since I have to wait on getting a X1C anyway, well why not. If I'm going to spend $2000 why not get a better look at all these new devices that will make better use of Windows 8. If I was sure I was going to stick with only Windows 7 then it is between the 13" Series 9 and the X1C, but since I'm forced to wait on the latter I will keep my eyes open.

 

I thought the rough surface felt nice. Perhaps over time, it'll become tiresome.

 

The Metro UI is actually surprisingly efficient. It beats the start menu hands down. Metro apps on the other hand, are pretty useless on a laptop. The most annoying part of Windows 8 is how they organized the settings menus within Metro. Luckily, control panel is easily accessible. The key to trying out Windows 8 is using it directly on a computer (as opposed to VMWare) or capturing the mouse in VMWare. Mouse emulation in VMWare doesn't allow you to really experience the new UI.

 

The Metro apps you say are useless on a laptop are early, very early, applications. Most of them aren't very well written and the navigation inside them is pretty bad. Each app seems to implement different nav methods and some are pretty poor. That includes the apps from Microsoft, but it's still really early in the life cycle of this OS. I like the full screen experience. It looks good on my W510 or external LCD panels.

As for VMWare, Fusion 5 definitely has some bugs that need to be addressed with Windows 8 but it's early in the game so I wouldn't rush to judgement running VMWare Workstation 9 either. I spent quite a bit of time running Windows Server 2012 on my MacBook Air this evening and it is running extremely well right now.

I have no doubt the X1 Carbon will run Windows 8 well eventually. I would not expect a solid driver and software base for another month at least. Some of you might have noticed some of the coming Windows 8 features won't be possible with the X1 Carbon. It doesn't have TPM 2.0 and some other stuff needed for features like Connected Standby. That was a bit of a surprise to me. I just assumed Lenovo would have implemented TPM 2.0 on this wave. I look forward to hearing about the initial shipments to see if Lenovo stepped up and implemented a UEFI factory image. It seems not.

 

How are the touchpad gestures. I preordered the x1c, but have been using a 13" macbook pro for the last week (my 1st extended experience with osx) and the touchpad gestures are great. I've been using all the 3 fingers gestures and was hoping windows 8 would have something similar.

Do the touchpad gestures work in desktop mode or only metro ui?

 

... Very few laptops currently shipping really offer solid multitouch support given that win7 didn't give much focus to it. I have read that several people with x222's have installed windows 8 and the multitouch has worked very well.

 

I just found this new review, presumably of a production unit: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Review: Finally, A Great Ultrabook Keyboard | PC Perspective

The part that worries me is this: "Fan noise is prevalent even at idle. The volume of noise does not become overwhelming at load, but the fan does have an whiney quality which grated on my nerves. "

I swear that I read reviews of the pre-production units that commented on how quiet it is. I really hope they didn't change something in the production machines that are making it noisy.

 

Are you implying Lenovo might have shipped pre-production units that aren't representative of the actual production?

 

Actually I guess I should change my wording... I don't know what units were reviewed previously but if there are issues with ones that people are getting right now then I guess it would seem that somehow they're different from the earlier ones in some ways. I hope that isn't the case.

 

If Lenovo pulled a fast one and shipped special review machines that don't use the same fans and screens as the production model, it will come out.

Look what happened to NOKIA this week with their optical image stabilization video. They deserved to get reamed for that stunt.

 

Just an FYI for anyone in Manhattan:
The J&R on Park Row has an X1 Carbon on display in case you want to check it out.

 

And Canada Computers seems to have few in stock, although the 4 cyl. version for $1399... One in Markham and two in Mississauga. They're pretty reliable on their inventory.

How come no one received or talk about it ?

 

Anyone know if the 10% newsletter signup is still active anywhere?

 

Mine is about to arrive - is there anything special to look for in a USB to HDMI adapter, or in a USB to ethernet adapter? Or would any of the generic Ebay ones work?

 

It has a mini display port. You'd want a mini-displayport to hdmi.
Just get those cables on monoprice for cheap

 

anyone know if this ICC profile will work with the X1 carbon screen?

https://plus.google.com/110166527124367568225/posts/bLg18FtS8KZ

 

If it's the same panel then possibly, yes. If it's a different panel, then no.

 

Zones has the base i5/4gb/128gb on sale and in stock for $1299... It does include the 3 year depot though.

 

So, I got my X1 in yesterday. 100% the reason I bought this computer was because of all of the good reviews of the trackpad. The other "features" (ex. resolution, weight/size, backlit keyboard, etc.) are definitely pluses, but without a doubt I had high hopes for this trackpad.

I consider myself a Windows person. I do a lot of ASP.NET development, so I'm in Visual Studio a lot. However, I recently spent a lot of time on a MacBook Air running Windows in a Parallels VM. I was hoping to ditch OS X and the VM and find a Windows laptop with a similar trackpad. So far, the trackpad on the X1 is nowhere close. The two-finger scrolling works great, but the overall movement of the pointer is where I have issues. It also doesn't like it when you touch the trackpad with more than one finger.

I'm posting this in hopes that someone has tweaked their trackpad settings and has seen better performance. If so, please share what settings you have changed.

If I can't get the trackpad to perform better, the X1 is going back to Lenovo.


thanks,
-brit

 

Could you be more specific on what the problems are? By better performance, are you saying the tracking, scrolling, etc. is slow?

You are using Windows 7 and the Lenovo factory image?

 

Most of my issues are around the inaccuracy of the cursor and random jumps around the screen. One of the most noticeable issues is when I place two fingers on the pad to right-click. The cursor will move off of the target. I'm assuming this is due to the center of the touch being different since I applied two fingers instead of one.

I have even disabled tap to click to avoid the issues. Didn't help. It REALLY doesn't like it when you touch your second finger to the trackpad.

I have tweaked almost all of the settings and reverted to default several times. I don't think it's a defective trackpad. I think I'm just very picky. I do a lot of graphic design work and cursor precision is very important. I prefer the trackpad on the MacBook for this reason, but I would be forced to use a mouse with the X1.

I used the factory image all day yesterday and got frustrated and decided to upgrade the OS. I have a MSDN subscription, so I installed Win8. All is well with Win8, but after installing the OEM trackpad driver and software, the issues are still the same.

I'm very frustrated. I waited for months for this thing to come out. It's so close to exactly what I need, but there's no way I'm going to use it as it is. I'm typing this reply from the MacBook Air...


-b

 

so of the two people that have X1C's and provided feedback on this forum we have

1) trackpad is dodgy

2) screendoor effect is apparent.

great!

 

First of all, I am disappointed to hear the trackpad isn't as good or accurate as the Apple trackpad but I am not surprised. So far nobody has come close. I counter this by using a mouse. In fact, I use a Microsoft wireless mobile mouse 4000 for several reasons. On/off switch, bluetrack precision on nearly any surface, nano transceiver works with every OS I've tried, etc. It's a highly compact precision mouse.

Although I am using a mid 2012 MBA at the moment, I still use a mouse whenever I can. When I am traveling and that isn't convenient, I use the Apple glasspad on the Air. That thing is practically perfect. Using it WITH the mouse is an impressive combination.

Thanks again for the information.

 

Please don't take my experience as "the gospel". I am very picky about trackpads and have gone through a few Windows laptops looking for one with a good trackpad, including a new Dell XPS13.

The trackpad is completely usable, just nowhere near the MacBook's as the reviews I read suggested.

-b

 

In my experience, Windows touchpad drivers *suck* compared to those on Mac OS X and Linux. I really wish some Windows OEM (or, Microsoft themselves) would ship excellent drivers for their trackpads so that I'd have something better to recommend to people than "try the TrackPoint." Not that I mind the TrackPoint -- I prefer it -- but I understand it's not for everyone.

 

What is this screendoor effect?

 

Just to do some loose comparison, have you tried other Lenovo trackpads? How does X1 Carbon compare?

I have a W500 and use Ubuntu. I don't have issues with the trackpad as you describe (or at least to the same extent). Two finger scrolling doesn't work for me but that's due to drivers being set correctly IIRC.

Just curious to know if X1 Carbon's trackpad is an incremental improvement on previous Lenovos or something completely different.

 

I didn't know you could send it back just like that and get refunded? Can you or someone point at the exact Terms for returns? Thanks.

 

How would you say the X1C trackpad compares to the XPS13? I didn't care for the one on the XPS, especially the buggy "tap to click" behavior.

 

The trackpad was a huge reason I am considering this machine, as well. I don't ever use anything more than two finger scroll and right click, though. You would think any Windows machine would have mastered that by now.

I wish I could try one in a store somewhere. Ugh.

 

My X1C hasn't arrived yet but I tried one out in the Manhattan J&R.

Overall impressions: wow, very nice machine.

The touchpad seemed excellent to me, I really liked the surface, but I suppose its something you have to use a lot to decide how you'll respond to it. To me it seemed consistent with the glowing reviews of the touchpad.

I was also impressed with the screen. Colors were very good, and viewing angles were quite good also. I remember some of the reviewers saying they didn't notice the screen door effect until they were told to look closely for it. When I was trying out the machine at J&R, I forgot to look for it, and didn't notice it.


My mission for the trip to J&R was to try to convince myself to settle for the t430s instead. The mission wasn't successful.

 

That machine would certainly be one of my alternatives. I am sort of trying to do the same thing but it's not working either haha.

 

I haven't had any issues with the touchpad, but my previous machine was a 2011 Samsung 9 series, which had quite a bad touchpad IMHO.

The screen on the other hand does have issues with the screen door effect. It's very evident, to me at least. White background should be just that - white. Instead, there are super fine grey grid lines running through it. It's not a deal breaker and maybe many wouldn't notice, but I would have expected a bit better and it is a bit distracting. Perhaps I was too used to the quality of the Samsung screen.

Viewing angles, color, brightness etc. all seem fine.

 

Who is the maker of your X1C screen?

 

I thought they were all made by LG, but not sure. Is there an easy way to tell? I don't intend to disassemble it.

 

Maybe an even easier way but PowerStrip should be able to provide that info.

 

Just shows same name as device in device mgr, "ThinkPad MaxBright Display 1600x900 (Lenovo)"