Thinkpad X1 Carbon 7th Generation first look

Someone at Lenovo forum has posted a first look review of the new Thinkpad X1 Carbon 7th Generation
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkP...1-Carbon-7th-Gen-X1C7-first-look/td-p/4449954

Release date is still in June.

 

Whiskey lake. Disappointing. Looks like Lenovo is pushing the thinness again. That's what happens when the T series is needlessly being pushed to become more like the X1 Carbon. The X1 Carbon itself has to get even thinner - with all the compromises of that pursuit.

 

Nice first look but pretty scant on any actual user feedback. The new BIOS setup is a pretty big change. I can't remember my Lenovo forum credentials or I'd ask a bunch of questions over there about throttling, temps, and benchmark performance.

 

But at least they addressed the anemic audio problem from the previous generation. The reviewer said the audio is much better.

 

Will Lenovo UK & other countries start selling the X1C7 at the same time as the Lenovo US store?
Cheers.

 

X1 Carbon 7th Gen user guide is out https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/x1yoga_x1carbon_ug_en.pdf

Notice the new speaker grille above the keyboard.

X1 Carbon 7th gen hardware maintenance manual dated May 2019 https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/tp_x1_carbon-yoga_hmm_en.pdf

X1 Carbon 7th gen Product Specification Reference
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad X1 Carbon (7th Gen)/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_7th_Gen_Platform_Specifications.pdf

 

X1 Carbon 7th generation is now on sale
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/X1-Carbon-Gen-7/p/22TP2TXX17G

I can’t wait for the real comprehensive review of the retail units.

 

The more i read as i struggle to decide between the 3 screens, the more i realize that i know so little regarding Windows 10's scaling capabilities or lack of.

With so many UHD and WQHD units of X1C sold (as well as many other models from various manufacturers), why would all these people be buying these resolutions at a merely 14" screen size IF they are unable to use it without issues?

i just don't understand and can't figure out if the UHD or the WQHD might give me issues or not?

look forward to learning more here. thank you in advance.

 

Just spent 1 1/2 hours at Bestbuy. They had:


- Yoga FHD 13.9",


- Yoga UHD 13.9", and a


- Microsoft Surface Laptop WQHD (almost identical to WQHD but not exactly the number of pixels).


Comparisons:


FHD and WQHD have fuzzy letters, not jagged, i.e. not pixelated, but has gray cotton fuzz around all the letters. Useable, of course, but not great. Akin to my current X1C1's 1600x900.


WQHD is almost identical to the FHD (both Yogas 13.9") prior to ClearType adjustments. After ClearType adjustments, the WQHD is barely perceptibly better - but by merely a hair. I'd say that after ClearType, one would be hard pressed to tell them apart, but slightly perceptible. Sadly, WQHD is essentially the same as the FHD in practical terms.


The UHD is an entirely different animal: it's like someone scrubbed your eyeballs and it is crystal clear, no visible fuzziness around the letters at all. Furthermore, the plain white parts of websites of the UHD is a very different white from that of the FHD and WQHD: the FHD/WQHD is a much bluer white. The UHD appears to be more white. Of course, this likely as to do with settings and color gamut adjustments, not to be taken seriously with this cursory viewing.


I am stunned by how inadequate the FHD/WQHD appeared to my eyes, and how crispy clear the UHD was.


fyi: my day-to-day desktop is a 42" 4K monitor (not a TV), and my infrequently used laptop is the X1C1 at 1600x900.

 

Finally, a video review of X1 Carbon 7th generation.



Vast improvement in the screen and audio department.

 

“Vast improvement in the screen”

I don’t know about that.... I would love the option to stick the same 1440p HDR screen from the 6th gen on the 7th.

That screen is awesome!

Lou’s impression is based off last years entry level screen.

 

Finally, a more detailed review from notebookcheck
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenov...eference-among-business-laptops.427853.0.html

One thing worth mentioning. The reduction of weight and thickness come at a cost.

the buttons of the TrackPoint are now completely flat. However, this is a matter of taste. Unfortunately, the slimmer chassis also affects the key travel. It is down to 1.5 mm from 1.8 mm on the 2018 X1 Carbon, and the height of the button caps was also reduced from 5.3 to 4.5 mm.

 

I started a thread. I’m having trouble deciding on this box http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/macbook-pro-13-vs-lenovo-x1-carbon.829736/

 

X1 Carbon Gen 7 - Quick Review. Too hot. Not powerful enough for 4K screen.

Lenovo sent me my new permanent tester laptop (X1 Carbon Generation 7). It's quite the beast... at least in terms of cost.

• Core i7-8665U (same as the previous gen?!)
  
  
• 16GB RAM (onboard)
  
  
• 256GB SSD
  
  
• 14" UHD 4K 500nits IPS, Glossy Dolby Vision HDR400 monitor
  
  
• IR camera
  

The 4K screen takes so much power to run that I can't even use Chrome to play videos without stuttering. Even Edge is a bit stuttery (you know things are dire when you're using Edge). Turning it down to 1080p makes everything look soft. I've turned it to 4K with 175% zoom for now... 1440p is not an available option for resolution in software either. You can purchase a 1440p screen. It's not HDR (if that matters)

On top of that the thing runs so hot that it burned my stomach. Had to pull out my lapdesk instead. Color me unimpressed. Not even sure I'll keep this one. Might go back to my previous generation one (which has THE SAME PROCESSOR and doesn't burn my gut, but has a 1080p matte screen)

It does have a carbon fibre lid though...

Oddly, the new 4th Gen Yoga has a 9th gen processor. I'll start testing that and the X1 Extreme Gen 2 next week.

Total As-Built Cost before discounts: $3008!!!

 

Yeah so I have the X1C 7th Gen now with the UHD screen. It's quite nice.

It did initially run fairly hot, but I found an old program created called TPFanControl, basically lets you set your own fan curve via a text file... it has been much better since.

Never have had problems running video though, maybe some poor driver install took place or you need to update.

i5-8265u
16gb RAM
256gb SSD (I already put in my own 500gb 970 evo though)
4K UHD HDR screen

My remaining gripes (since fixing the fan speed - it literally never turned on that I could tell) is that the touchpad is small, would love if they removed the mouse buttons on the machine for the trackpoint and just expanded the touchpad. The WiFi has an issue of slowing speed down after sleeping the machine (seems to be related to the "modern" standby). And then I would have liked if they kept the SD Card slot, but not a huge deal for me since I use it only a few times per year.

Also, known before I bought it, the UHD screen does kill the battery life... it's roughly 40% lower than that of the base FHD panel. I've seen estimates of 6-8hrs with tests showing closer to 6hrs and the FHD is 10 or higher. I can say for myself, 6hrs does seem fairly close based on my usage, if not less. But, I typically am on the charger so I opted for the nicer visuals.