X1 Carbon Gen 2 (Haswell)

That happened to me with Dell as well - I got them to honor a 20% coupon that had not been available at the time I placed my original order, upgraded next day shipping, and an additional year of warranty.

Considering my average computer lasts about three years, it will be interesting to see what happens during that fourth year of coverage.


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Received my X1 Carbon non touch. WQHD. 8GB ram, 256ssd i5-4300u with windows 7 professional 64 last night. I am a PC guy at work and most of the time but do own a MBA 13" laptop which I have enjoyed for personal use - can't use it for work related tasks though. Spent a couple hours with it - here are some quick impressions from a first time thinkpad user in no particular order:

1. Checked the screen its LG. The matte I love. It looks pretty good. Looks sharper than my MBA mid 2012. I have to find some video of the spotlight/screendoor effect. There was a little something going on that wasn't awesome - but I think its just from reading the forms here that has me noticing it. Not sure I would notice it otherwise but does kind of look like an old school projection TV where looking directly in front of it centered its bright and awesome, however when off center it loses the brightness and clarity just a bit to me.

2. The feel of the keyboard itself is amazing. Can type quick and comfortably. It is a great experience. The backspace and delete keys are no big deal to me and I got used to the placement quickly - the same with home/end.

3. The adaptive function keys are no good. In my opinion it's a bad concept. I accidentally tap brightness or volume/mute settings too often. Cycling through is a pain - if it wasn't for them I think the keyboard would be great. I haven't even used it to work (when I would use the f-keys a lot more) and its already annoying. I think it will most likely prove to be a deal breaker for me.

4. Form Factor: it's pretty awesome. No noticeable difference between the MBA in regards to weight or size to me. The exterior does attract finger prints - that's not a huge deal to me. The build quality is pretty awesome. It feels like a great sturdy and tight piece of hardware. Only complaint I noticed is the sharp lower lip/chin of the thing digs into my palms a little - granted I was using it on the couch and in bed later so it wasn't a proper/typical work/desk/sitting position.

5. Battery life - too soon to tell. But it wasn't fading noticeably quick at all so I am hopeful in spite of recent posts.

6. Trackpad/Trackpoint: ok full disclosure: I have hated all previous trackpads on pc/laptops - I havent had anything recently to compare them to because have been using the mba lately. When I dropped in the microsoft store I did play around with a few nicer laptops samsung ativ series 9 plus and liked the trackpad and didn't notice any difference between say scrolling on websites on those machines vs the MBA (which has a great trackpad). I don't know if its because the x1 I have is equipped with windows 7 while the ones in the MS store were windows 8 - but the X1's scrolling is not near as fluid as the mba or what I experienced (although for a short time in the ms store) the samsung laptop. Pointing/Motion is fine - clicking is fine. Scrolling is a little jerky. I have never used the red nub before so I can't comment on it compared to previous versions. I did accidentally tap on the trackpad while typing a couple times as well.

All in I love the form factor/hardware look and feel and the weight and profile. Keyboard is awesome except (and its a big exception) for the adaptive f key row. Battery life jury is out still. Display looks pretty good but I need to spend more time with it to see if the (slight?) spotlight effect will be bothersome. Trackpad scrolling is not very good at least out of the box and messing with some of the settings trying to correct it.

F Keys & Trackpad are probably deal breakers. I have a t440s on the way as well similar setup as the X1 W7 non touch with more RAM. I expect the keyboard to be acceptable and battery life should be great. The only possible deal breaker would be if the trackpad scrolling is janky/not smooth and maybe the display?

Can anyone provide feedback on their experience with trackpad 2 finger scrolling compared to mac books? Is it just that no one can dial it in except apple? is it a windows 7 thing? Is it a lenovo or X1 thing? Any feedbag appreciated.

Apologies for the ramble/format/typos - just wanted to get this thing out.

 

I use the original AC at my desk (it is two prong) and use the slim in my notebook case when on the road.

 

Is there a reason not to always use the slim?

 

No, I just like to leave one at my desk and keep one for travel...the slim is better for travel for me since it fits in my case better.

 

Thanks. Was just curious if there was any reason to buy the normal one over the slim (ex: charges faster), as the Lenovo page defaults to the normal charger, even though the price is the same for slim.

 

I ordered 2 slims and a OneLink(non pro) which came with what I expect is the non-slim 65w but cant say for certain. They both use the rectangle plug and are rated at 65w.
They are both 2 prong, however I will say this, its not like the slim is really a volume change they just squished it down to be flatter and wider thats all. But they both seem to have about equal displacement, but thats just an eyeball guess.

 

I ordered a touch and a non-touch base model, so when I get them, I'll let you know the comparison. Any other people have comments on the battery life of the non-touch? Is there a driver update for it? I was planning on keeping the non-touch (even though it was $150 more), simply because it was lighter and I assumed the battery would last longer (and I have no use for touch on a laptop).

Anyone else hear about battery life issues on non-touch?

 

Thx for the thorough review. I've been thinking about making the change to this model as well as a PC alternative to my MacBook Pro but I am going to have issues if the scroll on the trackpad isn't as smooth as the MacBook. Also, key travel on the MacBook is great but I'm looking for more. I watched all of the informational videos but your user comments are very helpful. Thanks.

 

one more thing about the scrolling I am curious if anyone else experiences - when on a web page, this thread for example, I've noticed that 2 finger scrolling doesn't seem to work most of the time if the mouse/pointer is in the lower third of the screen area consistently - if I move the mouse up to the upper third and 2 finger scroll it will. anyone?

 

Anyone else having an issue getting a OneLink pro dock? I ordered the second day the configurable option became available and mine still hasn't shipped yet. Just checked and they actually pushed delivery back an additional week. I can't use the laptop without it.

 

We got a few OneLink Pro at work. Out of stock right now though.

I have had my Carbon Touch for two days, the only other Lenovo I have used before is the X240 and I love that one.

First impressions..
Love the touch screen, even if the mate filter takes some getting used to.
They keyboard is not as good as on the X240, keys feel more wobbly on X1.
The biggest let down to me is how bad the touchpad is, x240 is better on this too. I have been playing around with the settings but I just cant get it right, and diagonal movements move the cursor in a small zigzag pattern, lower right corner has some dead space. Coming from HP machines I was expecting this huge pad to be good, but I Think I like HP better. Sad.
Hopefully it will get better with driver updates.

 

@Nizzon: are there any issues with the onelink pro and the new x1 that you've seen? For some reason, i'm just assuming there will be compatibility issues to sort out.

 

No issues so far, but I have only used it for one day.
Well there was one issue... the first one I unpacked had a broken Ethernet port, but thats another story. Also the other X1 touch we got has a broken touchscreen, touch not working, so that one is going back.
Very high % of faulty products so far, hopefully its just a coincidence.

 

Here are the first benchmarks of an X1 with i7-4550u, that I know of:

PassMark Software - Display Baseline ID# 203952

 

Anyone else having issues with unevenly lit screens with significant backlight bleed-through around the edges? I'm also having issues with the touchpad, specifically the top-left edge where you're supposed to press when used in conjunction with the touchpoint. It just doesn't want to register, or rather has a difficult time when "left-clicking." It's more of a mushy feeling to the touch that doesn't exist anywhere else on the touchpad. I'm just wondering if this is a common experience with anyone else?

 

My touchpad also is a bit uneven and a little mushy in some corners, the x240 feels a bit better, more sturdy end even press effect, I guess the thin chassis of the X1 complicate these mechanical things.

EDIT: I should add that after some getting used to and tinkering with the settings for the touchpad its pretty good, its not great but not as bad as I said before. MS and hardware vendors need to work on this,

 

I remember reading a post that the HD5000 options should have been available by the end of last month. As far as I can see in the US, they still aren't now. Does anyone have any more info on HD5000 availability?

 

How accurate has the "Ship Date" been for online orders? It's still in "Released to Manufacturing status and my order has a ship date of March 12, and a delivery date of March 19.


Are they accurate or do they typically ship out earlier?

 

Anyone else having/heard of this - annoying as hell. 2 finger trackpad scroll doesn't work while the mouse pointer is under somewhere below about the lower third of the screen?

 

Mine was 3/21-3/28 after saying delivered by end of Feb when I was ordering, then 2 days ago both dates just disappeared.
F Lenovo

 

Thanks. Yeah I played around with the ultranav settings. I've also determined that the pad itself is rather overly sensitive and is reacting quite actively over minute finger movements like flat fingering to tip of the finger motions (usually present when tapping).

It seems the mushy feeling when clicking near the top of the touchpad is more or less a common experience with many people. I just set it to large button format in the settings and press close to, but slightly below the top of the touchpad. It registers the press a lot better.

 

My delivery dates got pushed back to 3/17 and then 3/19 and now disappeared....Par for the course in the X1 series

 

For those of you with delayed orders, be sure to call in and explain the situation, and request a discount. Lenovo will usually give out a 5-7% discount off your order if the delivery dates get pushed back from initial reported estimates.

 

Did you order a custom or pre-configured X1? My order for a pre-configured never got to the released to manufacturing phase, so I had to cancel and re-order the same configuration. All told it will be about 7 weeks from the first time I ordered until I receive it, assuming it stays on schedule. Way to go Lenovo.

 

The CTO X1 Carbon that I ordered back on Feb 26, just shipped today (3/10) arriving estimated (3/17) hopefully sooner than than. When I first ordered, the estimated ship time was 3/20-3/27. Glad my laptop is finally on its way!

 

What specs you have? I ordered on 2/18 and its still says end of march.....???
I got an i7 touch w/ 512 ssd

 

I got the i7 non touch WQHD (2560x1440) with the 256 ssd.

 

So I've had mine for about a week, and I'm actually starting to get used to the touchpad. I still tap to click most of the time, but the button press is starting to feel more natural.

I'm really really liking the screen. As long as programs behave with scaling, I think it looks great. Sadly, a combination of laggy 2-finger scrolling in firefox and bad scaling in chrome has me using IE for my default browser at the moment. It makes me feel dirty. :/

Tweaking Win8 to banish its more objectionable aspects has also improved the experience dramatically. Maybe it's not fair to take out my frustration with the OS on a hardware review forum, but Windows 8 leaves a such a bad taste in the mouth that it almost ruined the initial experience. With some work, it now behaves basically like a reskinned, peppier Windows 7. I am content.

The function strip is another story. It's an unmitigated disaster. It takes both me looking at the strip and concerted careful finger placement to hit the right key, and I still miss. The volume control responds wildly different to a tap or a hold. Cycling between functions is maddeningly slow, to the point that I just disabled the browser and web conferencing modes. Now I have just about as many hot keys at my disposal as would have fit on a normal function row.

...except they're stupid ones. It's faster to Win+S than to try to stab at the search button, and it's faster to search than to use the fancy new program menu. It's A LOT faster to Alt+Tab than to use the equivalent strip control. And who's actually going to use the gesture or voice commands? The only thing I use now are sound controls, screen brightness and the function keys. What about actually useful keys like bluetooth or external monitor control. I'll be honest, I still don't know how to change external monitor settings without crawling through about 4 menus. A terrible idea terribly executed. It's really a stain on an otherwise fabulous little machine.

It's a shame you couldn't have this screen on last year's model. The battery life doesn't seem to have improved significantly with the refresh, Lenovo's boasting notwithstanding. I really don't know what you could do to get 9 hours. I'm getting 6 tops, and performance takes a noticeable hit if you go extreme on the energy saver settings.

 

Ugh. I ordered mine on Feb 25 and my ship date just got pushed back from March 12 to March 16.
Sucks having to wait.

 

You can use Windows Key + P - or the projector button in the function row.

About cycling through all the different function rows: Do you know quick access mode? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPvXYQ2UPns

 

The traditional Fn+Fx key combination that cycles through display options is mapped to the button on the Fn row that vaguely resembles a projector/battery/insect.

 

I have to agree 100%. The battery life is 6 tops with any light web usage or beyond. Perhaps with all radios off, and brightness at 0%, it might be possible to hit 8 hours, but that would be useless most situations. Also, on the adaptive layout, I did the same thing as you. Disabled two of the modes, leaving only the FN keys and the browsing mode with screen brightness/sound.

Occasionally the adaptive keyboard row becomes unresponsive. I end up having to reboot the machine when that happens and this is occurring about once a day (although I use the machine 10+ hours a day). I have the latest updates installed. Is this happening to anyone else???

 

Ah! Thanks! That will come in handy.

Quick access mode is interesting, I guess, but I don't really need the keys on the web conferencing or browser mode.

 

oh..... (embarrassed silence) well forget I said anything about that. I did seem crazy that didn't make the cut. Thanks.

 

Any further information on whether the non-touch battery performs worse than the touch?

 

Not sure what you're asking. The batteries themselves are, of course, identical. The touchscreen uses more power, so the touch model has shorter battery life.

 

There are in-depth reviews of the i7-4550u version in chinese (with 512gb SSD) and japanese (with 256 SSD):
nb.zol.com.cn
thehikaku.net

 

One of the users above had both models, under the same test, and said non-touch battery was shorter. He suspected there wasn't some Intel program for battery savings on the non-touch.

 

I've experienced this behavior once, and it was after a sleep/wake cycle coming out of deep hibernation. I dismissed it, restarted, and it hasn't happened since.

 

I am not seeing a non-touch WQHD option. Is that something you are seeing on the US site?

 

Yes, I ordered this on the U.S site. Which country are you ordering in?

 

New user here, but I've been following this thread since it was started. Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on the new X1C. I have a few questions before pulling the trigger. I'm leaning towards the 4600U, 8 GB RAM, and 256 GB SSD configuration.

- Outdoor usage: This is my primary concern. Has anyone with the QHD touchscreen used it outdoors? How's the "anti-glare" coating? I understand max brightness will be required (and that this is a harsh environment). My current non-touch X1C is decent outdoors - I find it very usable and I do not want to lose this functionality by going with the touchscreen.

- Touch vs. non-touch: can anyone with experience with both touch/non-touch comment on whether the 280 vs. 300 nits brightness is noticeable? I don't plan on using the touchscreen at all, so I would like whichever is the "better" display. Which has the best viewing angles, blacks/whites, less "screen door effect", etc?

- External displays: I would like to connect the X1C to 2x 1080p monitors via the OneLink dock. It's not a necessity to use the X1C's LCD simultaneously, but that would be an added bonus. I do NOT want the monitors to display as one large display at 3840x1080; I would prefer they are individual. Is this possible? The monitors have DVI and DisplayPort.

- QHD resolution issues: how does Remote Desktop respond? I often do work from a different machine and typically use Remote Desktop through a corporate RDS gateway server. Just wanted to know what to expect.

I would appreciate any input! Thanks!

 

I believe win 8 hosts support scaling over rdp, but otherwise expect everything to be tiny. Don't get me wrong - it's useable (my display is 3200x1800), but very small.


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Thanks, I wasn't sure what to search for exactly. I just found an MSDN blog about high-DPI and RDP. It's supported in Win 8.1 and Server 2012 R2:

Remote Desktop Connection now also updates the scaling level in the remote session to match the client-side configuration. This includes the per-monitor scaling level, which is new in Windows 8.1 and makes it a lot easier to use monitors of different sizes such as a 10-inch Surface device connected to a 24-inch monitor.

 

Starting today X1 2014 is available in UK: ThinkPad X1 Carbon Business Ultrabook| Lenovo (UK). No custom models, though.

 

It has been like that since last Friday but they not available for sale directly from Lenovo, resellers only for now.

I wonder if customization will be possible... And how long until we can buy them from Lenovo directly.

Also I've tried to call their sales team four Times now, they are absolutely useless...

 

Anti-glare coating is overrated. Maybe on a cloudy day this would be usable outside, but in any other conditions involve direct sunlight, the screen is unreadable. I had the touch and non-touch side by side.. the brightness difference is barely noticeable. The screen antiglare coating on the touch model adds a layer of 'haze' over the screen, but it is not that bad. I can't comment on the OneLink dock because mine has not shipped yet. Remote desktop is really unusable. You have to go in to each machine that you connect to and enable display scaling (on the remote computer). I ended up lowering the resolution of my X1 carbon down to 1920x1080 because this alleviated the issue a bit. I am not allowed to screw with the display scaling on remote machines at work.

 

Have you continued to notice a difference in battery power for touch and nontouch?

 

Can you tell me where this setting is? I'd love to be able to change it.


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