Thinkpad X1 Carbon 2012

LOL ... (although I secretly must admit that I am more pleased with my MBA then I originally anticipated. I will 100% migrate from the MBA to the X1c though, even if it's only because of the fact that regardless of its boasted sturdiness, the MBA still feels delicately fragile. I'm sure it isn't but meanwhile it still oozes "handle with care or I turn ugly". And I have seen what battered Macbooks look like ;-)

 

This wait is tough..there is 0 new information this month.

 

In my small company, we were very interested in the Carbon, as we all have gravitated to 13" notebooks. Unfortunately, we are all tablet users as well. Had Lenovo released the Carbon earlier and it turns out to be as good as promised, we would have likely elected to replace a lot of out professional equipment this year. But we are far more interested in the innovations we are seeing in the tablet world, with the Microsoft Surface and Samsung S7H and Windows coming in October and will probably wait on replacing our notebooks (which stay on our desks most of the time) in favor of ensuring that we upgrade our tablets. Of course, our small company won't affect Lenovo's bottom line, but the release date is unfortunate for us. My Acer is feeling relieved.

 

Why should they? They don't sell "lifestyle toys" to consumers. They sell "serious business tools" to institutional buyers.

"Selling computers is like selling fresh fruits," got it? When the fruits are ready, we sell it. No pre-orders.

 

Well it seems like one big marketing tease. We've seen pictures and videos on the Lenovo blogs, but not the specs. There is no reason at this point to suppress the specs.

As for the Air getting battered, I put the Moshi iGlaze translucent case on my 2012 MBA. I bought it @ store.apple.com. I am no longer worried about scratches and it looks and feels great. I don't know how long it will hold up to everyday rigors. Let cha know in a year or so.

The MBA is still king of the hill, but I have a feeling the X1C is going to do very well. It seems to have the best mix of ingredients in the Ultrabook market thus far. Samsung could change that with a couple of minor changes.

 

To help us waiting, there is a now blog post about the user feedback (rant) about the new chicklet keyboard.

Products - Products - Lenovo Blogs

Unfortunately they failed to explain why this move was necessary. Basically the interview states that they needed 4 years to make sure that the new look is equally good than the old one. This is lame.

So maybe the comments section to that post will become a dense collection of all the flaws of the new layout

Actually, as I understood from the various sources we discussed here, the new keyboard will be thinner, and I bet that the top cover of the X1c will be much sturdier, if not lighter, because of the one-piece design and the grid between the keys. But they did not say that...

 

Two weeks down the road with the new island style keyboard I can only say that I love it ... no turning back for me .... Actually, I have arrived at the point where I wish my MBA would have the new Thinkpad keyboard

 

Since I haven't owned a Lenovo before, I like the sounds of a keyboard better than the MBA.

I'm excited.

 

To me the MBA keyboard sounds and feels light and somewhat plasticky, perhaps due to the lack of travel. The keys are relatively shallow.

The new Thinkpad keys sound sturdy yet very silent. The age-old "Thinkpad keyboards will not die on you" feeling definitely still applies AFAIC

 

Great. Sounds like Lenovo/IBM is what the BlackBerry Bold is to the mobile industry in the keyboard/qwerty area. As long as it's not like the original Asus Zenbook. That keyboard had such a shallow feel and literally 10% of my keys would not register. I had my first hands on with the updated Zenbook Prime yesterday and they really improved on it. But the Lenovo E430 on display next to it felt even better. I wonder how close the X1C is to it..

 

In all fairness, the Apple MBA keyboard is what the Zenbook keyboard should have been. Having said that, I would assume that the Thinkpad keyboard, being what it currently is, would require a bit more room inside the body I am therefore quite interested in what the X1 ultimately is going to look like. If all goes well, I will be able to hold a final demo machine in my hands next week .... (fingers crossed)

 

Agreed. Give the Zenbook Prime's keyboard a shot when you get the chance. They really improved it.

Nice! Hope you do in fact get that demo machine. Would love to hear any insight if you're not under NDK.

Side note #1: Lenovo Close to Taking #1 Position for PC Sales From HP - http://blog.laptopmag.com/hp-loses-ground-to-lenovo-in-pc-sales-apples-numbers-foggy
Side note #2: Lenovo just tweeted "This just in. Exciting ‪#lenovolive‬ event in Malaysia tomorrow." Let's hope for some news.

 

this would have been a buy for me this year, but i think i'll wait out one more year to replace my T400.

happy with the overall design of this machine, but still want two more things.
first is thunderbolt and the second is info on the screen of this machine. the T400s screen is the worst part about this laptop and based on reviews ive read about recent thinkpad models, screen quality is still behind other manufacturers. i hope the X1 has a good screen so that next year even further improvement can be made to it.

anyhow, cant wait to get impressions from users here once these things are finally released.

 

Agreed. Hope we see them show up soon. My concern is in the display too. But fortunately, it will be an above average TN. From early reviews, it seemed like the luminosity and white levels were on par with competitors. Black levels weren't terrible but not quite as deep as the say the Zenbook Prime or Samsing Series 9 (13"). As a result the contrast ratio was a bit lower. But again, much better than your average display. I think most people will be impressed.

I hope they even made adjustments since then because that was months ago in an early Russian review.

 

They miss the point that it's the switch to the new keyboard layout and not the chiclet keys themselves that's drawing most, if not all, of the criticism. The standard keyboard layout with all 7 rows was something that ThinkPads offered that other laptops did not, and now they've lost that advantage over their competitors.

I see all of that unused space and wonder why they couldn't have just kept all 7 rows with the chiclet keys. There's literally zero reason to shrink it down for core T, X, and W series laptops. No reason at all.

 

Did you miss the question that specifically addressed that?

The move from 7-row to 6-row only affects functions above the number row, which are generally for editing and navigation. Home, End, Insert and Delete are now positioned in order from left to right as they all address cursor position. Page Up/Down are positioned near the arrow keys so navigational controls are fully grouped. We have seen end-users comfortably adjust to these changes in less than an hour. Depending on personal use of these functions, other users may require a bit more time for the change to feel natural. However, this reset has occurred for every end-user in our extensive testing, typically with an ultimate preference for the new layout over the old. Legacy functions like Pause, Break and Scroll Lock are no longer overtly labelled on key tops, but remain accessible via key combinations using the Fn key (e.g., Fn+P = Pause).​

I know I'm not a traditional Thinkpad user, but as a buyer, I prefer the 6-row based on design. It looks cleaner without it. I fully understand the benefits of the 7th row, but I think it's a sacrifice that had to be made. Hopefully, they're right in other traditionalists adapting to the new layout.

 

Exactly. I've owned ThinkPads since the T2x series, and while I sure love the "old" layout, the 6 row doesn't bother me at all. Frankly, if the key travel is good and it still has a TrackPoint, I'm thrilled.

Please, Lenovo, throw us a bone here...

 

My friend who works at Lenovo told me that 99% carbon x1 will be available on august 20th period. Hope this helps you guys!

 

Makes sense. I'm more anxious to see reviews than the release itself. Still some unknowns.

 

Your post is unclear. We want to know when 100% of the Carbon X1 will be available.

 

You are a lucky one! After last year's experience I'll presumably get my test machine quite a bit after release:-(
I'm looking forward to hearing from your impressions!

 

Great! If possible, please load the X1 Carbon's CPU 100% (with Folding@Home or any other intensive benchmark) and tell us how loud the notebook gets under full load. Noise is an important factor for many of us in purchasing a notebook.

 

I'm more interested in heat on the bottom of the laptop under light/normal/heavy load. I could cook breakfast on the underside of my X61 under normal load.

 

As well as the palm rest. I am interested too.

 

So what are the odds that this is introduced with a decent coupon?

 

Lenovo tends to set the "retail" price at an astronomical level, then "discount" that level immediately as opposed to just setting the price they are willing to sell it at.

It's all about marketing and buying behavior.

So yes, they'll have a killer deal on day one.

 

Like this:

 

Exactly. It's almost insulting.

 

So what's your guess on an out-the-door price at introduction for basic I5/128gb ssd with "discount" - $1,250? Thor - are you still using a Samsung Series 9? If not why? Are you replacing it with a carbon? Why. How is the display on the Sammy? Keyboard. I am considering the X1C because of the KB if the display is decent. Otherwise, I might go for the Samsung.

 

No, at the moment I am using a X301. I am waiting for the specs and price for the X1 Carbon. I would like it to be the machine I carry with me to client locations.

The 13.3" Samsung won't do (for me) because of the lack of a 8GB RAM option. I need more than 4GB. I really dig that machine otherwise.

I have no idea what to expect from Lenovo on the X1 Carbon. I think they would be stupid to price it above the MacBook Air. That would put the i5 128GB 4GB RAM config at about $1200 before options, taxes, etc. I would be looking at a 8GB RAM with 256GB SSD option so I would not expect to pay more than $1600 plus tax.

I just hope Lenovo doesn't decide to get greedy.

 

Don't forget there is also the T430u Ultrabook coming, and since the X1 would represent a higher quality level, I am curious to see how pricing will turn out to be of both machines.

 

how did last years X1 pricing compare to the rest of the lineup?

i'd assume it'll be similar if not better this year.

 

The T430U is far enough down the road that I really don't care. Nobody has been able to articulate why they have so many 14" machines and the differences.

I don't think the X1 from last year is as big an influence as the Ultrabooks already on the market this year. A lot has changed.

 

I hope this is less than $1600 for the 256GB / 8GB model. The high grade carbon material used makes it sound expensive though. Fortunately, I should get a pretty good friends/family discount which is helpful. If I can get this for a comparable cost to the Samsung or Asus then I will go for it. Assuming the display and other features impresses me.

Any chance you're getting that hands on this week for the X1C?

 

Ok i can tell you 100% it will be available 20th aug and onward am so confident that I could put my 10 bucks on it! So better start counting days!

 

What does your crystal ball say for availability of the specs and prices?

 

no such info yet but check back first week of august but I hear 8gb ram is going to be available.

 

The question is.... is it upgradeable to 16?

 

Wow, how many laptops do you currently own?
I think you need to add them all to your sig, it's confusing!

 

Why is this thread not in the main Thinkpad forum.

 

My personal collection (non work machines) is down to a single ThinkPad X301 at the moment. I have tested several machines and returned them, plus I get a steady stream of machines at work to assess. The Retina MacBook Pro I had was purchased by a friend three weeks ago. I have a replacement coming.

We have Thinkpads, Samsung Series 9, and Macs in use in my family. I haven't tested a Dell or HP in a long time. I also haven't looked closely at the latest ASUS.

I think I am down to buying from two suppliers for the family. Lenovo and Apple.

 

No, if anything it will be 8Gb max. At Lenovo I did at a certain point hear 4Gb soldered plus an empty slot, but that has until now not been properly confirmed.

 

Do you know if SSD connectors are soldered or proprietary?

I just customised a few laptops on the web store and US$480 for a 180GB SSD (on x230) seems a bit exorbitant

 

Early russian reviews of the x1 carbon showed it was proprietary, unlike the other thinkpads, but who knows. Maybe someone else could chime in on this.

 

The SSD itself is definitely a custom part. It's much longer than the average mSATA. But the connector looks like mPCIe, so there is still a possibility an mSATA SDD would fit.

 

Why in the world would any modern computer company make any computer with less than 8GB right out of the box, and 16 an easy upgrade? 4GB gives you a few Chrome tabs and a program or two open, but no more. Ridiculous.

 

A couple of off-topic questions about your X301. Given the price of these now, I can pick one up in decent shape for ~ $325-350. I need an office machine for nothing more than on-line research and document production. I'm probably not replacing my Acer until the 3 year warranty is up next year, so I am tempted to wait for the Haswell version of the X1C and see how the new design works before committing. I'm also considering blowing my budget this fall on upgrading my slate from the HP 500 to a new I5UM IB Samsung S7 Hybrid, which is sure to cost as much as a carbon. Are you running W7 on the X301? Are all the W7 drivers available? Do you have the SU9400? My little Acer 1410T w/SU2300 is my current backup and peppy enough for what I need, so the 9400 should be okay. Does your CPU bog down? How far can I upgrade the RAM? 4GB or higher? 6 Cell battery life? How great is the display actually? My main interest is the great keyboard. The X220 feels cramped to me and I would like the extra display and KB real estate. For typing 6-8 hours a day, I would like a more traditional KB.

 

Yes, my X301 has the SU9400 and I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I have 8GB RAM which is the max. I replaced the 128GB SSD (Samsung) with a new Intel Series 320 160GB SSD.

Battery life on my machine with the 6 cell is a little over three hours.

The screen is typical of Lenovo. It is not a high quality screen but good enough for business use. It's rather bright in the higher settings so that helps compensate.

The keyboard is a full size keyboard.

The X301 I bought was $500. It must have been a project backup because when it arrived, I could not believe the condition. Literally like new.

 

Thanks, that was very helpful. I can't believe how little interest there is on ebay for this model, when X201 series notebooks are selling for almost as much as X220 (non IPS) units. I am seriously considering this as an interim step. I need my Acer for the graphics work I do with aerial image processing but would love a traditional Thinkpad to type my work on (I do a lot of large document production). Hmmmm. I'm seriously thinking about seeing if I can cherry-pick one in excellent condition.

It looks like there is a caddy to put a conventional drive in there to boost storage. Something else to think about. Thanks for all your help. I hate decisions. I would love to go for a new Carbon, but the release of W8 and the new slates is really where I need to put my $$. I use my slate now more than my main notebook, which largely stays on my desk. I have fallen in love with the prototype Samsung S7H I have seen, which is an 11.6" FHD IPS display, I5 ULV CPU w/HD4000 graphics, a Wacom Pen, and a clamshell base with keyboard. It would make a perfect travel unit and replace my aging HP Slate 500, who's old Z570 O'Clocked Atom is getting a bit weary.

Again, thanks for all your help. Okay, carbon fans, I turn this thread back over to you.

 

Great news! Dolby appears to have JUST posted some details on the Carbon on their site. I heard something about it supporting Dolby surround sound before but this is great to hear.

As icing on the cake, assuming Dolby didn't get this wrong, the X1 Carbon will have an IPS display!

"300-nit IPS wide-viewing panel with 1600 x 900p resolution"

I pray they didn't get it wrong since they're working closely with Lenovo. I feel Lenovo gave them these tidbits so it should be accurate. But even manufacturers themselves make mistakes like these all the time.

But if true, I'm really excited since this is the biggest concern I had for this machine.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon with Dolby Home Theater v4