Thinkpad X1 Carbon 2012

You could use dd from linux (booted from usb drive) to make a backup image the whole drive.

 

Great, I'd hate to offend a "Super Model"! Rather than focus on the reviews that came later in the cycle, as it were, I was considering those that imparted IPS screens, near touchpad perfection, and other lavish praises on early units. It just seems that those units must have been cherry picked, prepped, or something similar. Though, I admit that I have not had the extensive experience that you have with the systems or scenarios. Thanks for your comments...

 

Just to take a step back for a moment...

You have not seen either a pre- or production X1 Carbon in person, but are basing your confidence that Lenovo must have sent better units out to those who saw early machines on forum posts.

Right?

 

You are correct, I have no personal experience with the X1C, and I'll add that a combination of reviews and owner commentary were considered. Suffice it to say, were I to have bought one after reading those reviews, I would have been horribly disappointed considering reports of loose touchpads, griddy screens, and etc. I think I'll give them a year or two to work out the kinks...

 

This is what I don't understand. You seem to think that you know something about what what percentage of X1 Carbons have defects. (In fact, you seem to think the fraction is close to 100%??)

My extensive experience with internet forums suggests to me that the way you are inferring knowledge here is not valid.

 

<--- I have rather extensive experience in this forum as well as forums in general. At this point I feel I should go back to my original post on this matter, I simply supported having a reviewer share that his review was on a preproduction unit as opposed to a retail unit. The experiences of consumers that have received units differ from that of reviewers in some areas, and could be coincidence... The differences may be related to unit origin/date. I don't know, but if all the information isn't provided... We may never know... Not to slight your extensive experience, but inferences and opinions here and elsewhere are worth every cent you pay for them, take them or leave them.

 

Is there an X1C owners thread? If not, it may be worth splitting out actual owners experiences into a separate thread. Considering I have my second unit coming on Wednesday, I would be more inclined to share experiences and a side by side comparison.

 

Not to my knowledge. I think one is needed! Can't wait to read of your experiences and comparison. After which several general Q&A threads can be consolidated into it omitting this thread and the shipping thread.

 

Anyone who owns or has ordered a X1 Carbon is free to start an owners thread.

 

Got mine today; Going to clearify somethings i've been reading on this forum, hopefully shed some light on your concerns.

1. I didn't receive my internet dongle, even though i ordered with it....
2. the Gap problem ; yes just a lil bit, doesn't bother me at all, barely visible.

IMAGE HERE

3. Trackpad being loose, like shown in the owner's thread? Not at all for me, mine is pretty damn solid.
4. Screendoor effect? Barely noticeable
5. I can't hear the fan at all.
6. came with like soo much bloatware and random stuff.

I hope that answers some of your problems.

 

Order Status -- allegedly shipping on September 24

This is for an i5/8GB RAM/ 256GB SSD ordered on August 17. This is the 5th? postponement. Not that I got an e-mail. I phoned into the customer services rep for the Cal State Bar group. He said that he could not see a purchase-specific date for my order which is still "on" notwithstanding the cancellation e-mail, but his information is that the very early orders should ship out on the 24th.

My advice -- when absorbing the above information, remember NOT to overdue your maximum daily intake of SALT.

 

This is an interesting comparison of boot times between a 2011 Macbook Air running Mountain Lion OS and the X1 Carbon with Windows 8

Boot time battle: Macbook Air (Mountain Lion) vs. Lenovo X1 Carbon (Windows 8) - YouTube

just wish Lenovo was as fast as Apple in shipping... Gives me something to do while I wait on Lenovo's slowness in shipping this thing out of the factory.

 

I've been waiting for this machine for months. Finally headed down to a local store in NYC to spend some time with it in person. Got a chance to compare it side-by-side with the Zenbook, Samsung S9, Acer, etc.

The X1C showroom piece looked and felt great. Solid construction, extremely light and thin. No problems with a loose trackpad and the bezel was flush with no gap. Decent travel on the keyboard, although nothing like the machines of yore. The trackpad felt nice and responsive, too.

But the screen. The screen was a huge letdown. There was a blueish tint that I tried to fix through the color settings till it wasn't a huge issue. But there was just no getting around the "screen door" effect or grid or mesh or whatever you want to call it. It was so obvious -- I could see it in images, I could see it when viewing text on a white background. It just kills the machine for me. So very sad.

I also made the mistake of comparing the X1C and Zenbook side-by-side. Oh my goodness. The IPS screen on the Zenbook was just so vibrant and saturated and generally delicious. It looked like it was painted onto the screen. I wanted to lick it. Surprisingly, the keyboard felt great. Perhaps not as much travel as the X1C, but it somehow felt easier to type on. May be the spacing of the keys. And once I'd seen the Zenbook, the X1C looked far less punchy and insufficiently contrasty, too. I had to crank up the DPI on the Zenbook to 125% or even 150%, but, my oh my, text-rendering was just so beautiful. No jagged edges, white backgrounds were evenly lit and not too harsh (probably a touch warm, but I prefer that to the cool whites on X1C out of the box).

Overall build construction on the Zenbook seemed solid -- not obviously any worse than the X1C. I didn't reboot the machine so I didn't see any backlight bleed issues. Even in my 20 or so minutes with Zenbook, I had a few palm-rejection problems (as in, my palm would cause the mouse to jump around while typing). I looked up the driver version in the showroom piece, and it wasn't the latest. I've read enough about workarounds (updating using Samsung drivers and using some touchpad lock software) that I'm willing to take my chances on this.

The Samsung S9 was gorgeous to look at, too. Seemed well put-together, and the display was somewhere in between that of the Zenbook's and X1C's. (Probably closer to the Zenbook, though.) The main reason I couldn't warm up to the S9 was the keyboard -- there just isn't enough travel in the keys. Much preferred the keyboards on the X1C and Zenbook.

Sony Vaio Z was on display too. Very light, almost plasticky, but very little flex so I imagine it's well-built. Very nice 1080p display, but obviously not the same viewing angles as the Zenbook. Again, I just couldn't get excited about the keyboard. The trackpad was a touch small, although probably the most responsive of any of the machines I looked at.

Incidentally, the X230 was there too in all its IPS glory, and I really have to ask why Lenovo didn't spend a bit more to offer their IPS on the X1C. Would have made the machine so much more competitive.

Anyway, as is probably obvious, I'm leaning towards the Zenbook. That was a real surprise for me. I went in there thinking it would be a slam dunk for the X1C. If nothing else, from pictures, the Zenbook's spun metal top just looked tacky. But I realized that almost all pictures of that top are taken with a flash which greatly exaggerates the texture, and in reality, the top is actually quite understated and holds its own aesthetically.

Finally, I didn't think there was a HUGE difference in terms of size between the 14" display of the X1C and the 13.3" on the Zenbook (haven't actually checked how much that 0.7" on the diagonal translates to actual screen sizes). I plan to hook up to an external display at work anyway, and while on the road, I think I'd be productive (MS Office work and browsing, mostly) on either.

 

Just curious, which store in new york did you go to? The sony z in my neighborhood micro center has flex all over the place.

 

Ditto --

@BobTheZealot: where did you go in NYC please? I also am in nyc and went down to J&R to see the X1C the day after it went on display. None of the laptops at J&R were hooked up to the internet so one couldn't see/do much on them. i did look the sample video in Windows just to see how much heat would be generated when playing back a video for around 10-15 mins.

Wherever you went appears to be far better set up for comparisons. Did you go to B&H? They didn't have the X1C back when i went to J&R to see it.

Thx in advance.

 

Sadly, I made do at the J&R downtown, too. When I went, some of the machines in the row further away from the entrance (that had the S9 13" and the Vaios) had internet connections. The Zenbook and X1C did not (in the row nearer the entrance). I can't remember which, but on one machine I was able to connect to the hot spot on my phone and on the other I had to load up random help files and pictures and other local content to test the browser. It's just crazy that they don't hook them up to the internet. That's the ONE thing they have to do in addition to connecting power. But no.

I didn't stress test any machines for heat.

 

Thx for your reply, BobTZlot.

I did stress test the X1C for heat to the extent possible via that video, which i had put on infinite repeat for roughly 10-15 mins. I did a brief write up about my visit, with several pictures of the X1C, many pages ago, possibly on the x1c shipping thread, as that thread, for a brief moment, got off topic somewhat.

The J&R situation appears akin to many, if not most, family-owned companies, at least to the outsider, which I am one of: quirky in its operations. It makes no sense. There is no consistency in its practices.

I doubt the store's operations/profitability is that important to them now considering the value of the real estate properties they own.

I was dumbfounded when I got there and discovered all these laptops not connected to the internet s

 

@pepper_john, DualMonitors: Which way are you guys leaning? I'm ready to pull the trigger and am desperately trying to like the X1C, but that display just doesn't seem to cut it. The rest of the machine seems nice, and I prefer the X1C styling overall.

 

oh, i didn't realize you didn't know that already --

i ordered my early September already, and am eagerly waiting for the shipping confirmation. lenovo has had a horrible record of shipping the x1c out on a timely basis for many of us here, though they seem to have started shipping more regularly only recently, sort of like some bottleneck issue has been finally resolved and the manufacturing pipeline has finally gotten unclogged.

 

Is anyone having problems doing Windows Update? I'm stuck on a set of 12 of them just failing no matter what I do. I've uninstalled my antivirus but it's no use

 

Not sure, but maybe this is your issue?
Lenovo Community - Lenovo Community

 

I had the same issue. I installed each update one by one (sometimes in groups of three or four) and it all updated fine. Not sure what the issue was.

 

I will probably go with the T430, as I am a cpu hog. As for the display quality, I don't care too much about it as I have a 24" FHD external monitor at home.

 

IMA, X1C is more elegant than T430, unless you need one with more powerful CPU and GPU.

 

Thanks for the first impressions. Since the X1C screen was a let down but the X230 seemed great, why did you not consider the X230 since its still rather light and great keyboard.. only slightly thicker than the rest? I know you seem to prefer the Asus but would you consider the X230 your second choice? or would it be the Sammy?

 

The X230 is a great machine. But, a 13" screen seems to hit some sort of usability threshold for me. I didn't notice the 0.7" so much going in between the X1 Carbon and the Zenbook, but I definitely felt the 0.8" going from the Zenbook to the X230. I do a fair bit of spreadsheet work when I'm on the go, so the 12.5" would be just a bit too small.

If it weren't for that, I'd very seriously consider the X230, especially if you can pick it up for $600 to $800 or so (maybe refurbished from Lenovo). At that price, it'd be very hard to pick the Sammy over the X230.

To be honest, while the X1C is slick, I find the X230 attractive in its own right. Sure, it's not an ultrabook, but there's something honest and workmanlike about that machine. It just sweats build quality, like a well-crafted tool that's designed to be used and not admired from afar. Really makes you wish Lenovo put the IPS screen in some T430!

Incidentally, I went back to J&R and spent another hour bouncing between the machines. I played with the gamma on the X1C to see if that helped the screen door effect. Wasn't successful. That display is adequate, but not great. Couldn't warm up to it. Ended up pulling the trigger on a Zenbook. Let's hope I don't have to iterate through a whole bunch of returns to get a good piece.

 

There are a lot good comments about X1C. and many X1C owners felt the screen door effect is not a problem after a few days of use.

Here is one comment copied from another thread
"I love it! It's an amazingly well built machine, and just small details on how the keyboard is laid out, feels like they were thoughtful when putting it together. Trackpad is great, keyboard is phenomenal, the screen is bright and colors are vibrant. I do have some screen door effect but it's not that distracting to me. Very happy w/ the purchase."

 

I can see the screen door effect if I get up close but at my normal working distance there's no way I can see it.

 

Hi All

Does anyone know if Lenovo gives away some discounts/ coupon codes right now for X1C?

 

But i have to say that the screendoor effekt is present and noticeable and depends on the brightness of the screen. Maybe my eyes are better. But the rest of the machine is brilliant.

 

It would seem there are a couple of variables on this issue. First, it certainly sounds like there is a variance of quality on these screens. Then of course there is a wide variance of eyesight.

Does anyone still believe the quality of the machines sent to the reviewers is the same as the machines now shipping to customers?

 

One part is clear: in the SlashGear unboxing video, you see that the reviewer clearly received an ethernet dongle. Considering how few of us actually received our dongles, it is quite obvious that the reviewers' units had some type of TLC treatment.

maybe triple quality control checks? no bezels of LCD's not flush with the screen? no stuck button like one person who posted whose ThinkVantage (or something like that) button is stuck in the "down" or "pressed" position?

i think this view is realistic based on what the reviewers all received, complete with dongles, and not overly cynical.

what do y'all think, may i ask?

 

I think it's mostly due to eyesight variances, and also personal preference. It really is a shame more retail brick-and-mortar stores don't carry these so people can see how sensitive they are or aren't to it before ordering.

As suggested by DualMonitors, I would guess that Lenovo did some thorough QC on the reviewer units. It's pretty amazing that not a single reviewer has had any of the wide range of issues that so many users have reported.

 

Not only do I think that all screens on current X1 Carbons are the same from the standpoint of the screen door effect, I think that the reviewers' laptops also were exactly the same from this standpoint.

Yes this is just a guess. But several people have already recieved multiple machines and though they have noticed variation in some areas the screens have been consistent.

If I am wrong it will be easy to demonstrate so.

I think the most likely explanation is that some people are much more sensitive to this issue for some reason.

 

The simpler explanation is that if 5-10% of machines have had problems which would have been noticed by a reviewer, 10-20 reviews is not enough to expect a problem to show up.

 

C'mon now! That's not nearly as entertaining as a good, ole conspiracy theory!

 

Yea, I am sure it was totally random. That must be it.

 

Thats also my opinion. I dont think there is much variance in screen quality because all screens are from one manufacturer and all are fully automatical produced by the same machines.

 

I would like to agree. But I've had three T420's and a T420s. All four had the AOU screen. All four had some degree of the "screen door" effect. The T420s was the most pronounced and the last T420 I had was the least. The variance wasn't my eyesight.

It's a shame this even needs to be discussed. It would have been cool to have a killer 14" Flexview that is beyond reproach. That would have made for a nice 20th Anniversary ThinkPad.

 

While i also agree that some people are certainly more sensitive to this issue than others, it is also true that PC processors, while made from "the same machines", also have variances. As such, they grade those variances and sell them with slightly different model numbers at different prices due to minute differences in speed.

So, just because an object is machine-made doesn't automatically imply that there are no variances that we may notice. Again, some may notice the differences to a greater degree than others, certainly!

 

Yes, but you can't see the differences in the processors, now can you?

Seriously, the screen issue would be a major macroscopic variation from piece to piece for a part which requires microscopic precision to function at all.

Anyways, technical issues aside, show me two X1C's with different levels of the screen door effect and I will say you are right. (To people mentioning other thinkpads, the X1C is unusual in that all the LCDs appear to be exactly the same part from exactly the same manufacturer.)

 

Someone already mentioned their company had received several and in their side-by-side comparisons there were differences. I don't recall if it was in this thread, the other owners thread, shipping thread or what.

It's pretty clear from the owner reports that is bugs some people, and other people barely notice.

 

double post, sorry!!!!

 

Care to provide a link?

I have not seen any side-by-side comparisons where the screen door effect was more pronounced on some machines than others.

On the other hand there are posts where people report identical screens in multiple machines. For example, here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thinkpad-edge-x1-x100e-x120e-sl-l/688697-lenovo-x1-carbon-owners-thread-5.html#post8853414

 

I'll see if I can dig it up in the next day or so. I am not sure if it is on this site or not.

 

Imaging initially via USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 Flash Drive:

may i ask if anyone is expecting to do so or has already done so?

i'll get my x1c early next week and plan to image at the first opportunity using Acronis' boot up disk.

i was told that Windows 7 and Acronis both do NOT support USB 3.0 so using a USB 3.0 flash drive for this imaging purpose is ineffective -- that is, we'll end up only able to plug the USB 3.0 flash drive into the USB 2.0 port and have to live with the limits of the USB 2.0 flash drive speeds.

may i ask the good folks here to shed some light on this please?

Thanks in advance.

 

you posted this in every X1 Carbon thread?

 

You overdramatize the situation. I do Acronis with USB 2.0 drives all the time.

 

Kaso: my point was that Acronis and Windows 7 do not support booting from USB 3.0 drives. you wrote USB 2.0.

or, did i misunderstand your point?

 

A USB 3.0 capable drive, when plugged into a USB 2.0 port, will behave like a USB 2.0 drive.

Speed should not be the concern. That's what I meant.