X1 Carbon Touch

What kills the UX31A for me is the 4gb of soldered RAM. There is just absolutely no excuse for that. Most of these ultrabooks, the mb supports at least 8gb but I guess they solder 4gb just to be able to inflate prices of future models with 8gb, while the ram itself costs $20. It's extremely frustrating. That's why the only semi-viable alternative to X1CT I see is XPS 12.. But it's small and ugly.

 

I have 2 other laptops with this same driver not working properly, the Sony Vaio S15 and the HP Spectre XT Touchsmart.

The HP is a great touchscreen ultrabook with a full HD 15.6" IPS display (glossy). Downside is battery life at 3.5-4 hours.

 

Normally I would agree because I am a big iron snob, but I have to tell you, one of my favorite machines right now only has 4GB of RAM. It's one of the thinnest and lightest ultrabooks on the planet and so far I am really digging the unit I am typing on.

 

So what is it that you're loving?

 

My go to machine here lately is the Series 9.

I'm betting Samsung will be showing touch models next week at CES.

 

Wow, I will have to say that at least Lenovo keep SKUs simple. I found about 5-6 of the series 9 13.3" that ranged from $900 to $1500, and it was difficult to see the differences (HD3000 vs HD4000, etc).

 

Agreed. Samsung blows when it comes to model simplicity. I paid $1150 for mine which included Ivy Bridge, HD 4000, TPM and Win8 Pro.

 

By "production quality issues" I meant all of the people that have received their X1CTs are complaining about the touch screen not working correctly.

Sorry, wasn't very clear on the Asus laptop - I was specifically speaking about the Zenbook Prime Touch.

 

They pre-announced the Series 7 Ultra Touch. That thing looks awesome. I might cancel my X1CT order and wait for that. http://blog.laptopmag.com/samsung-i...-7-ultra-with-amd-graphics-1080p-touch-screen

 

Oh I see. Yeah, I'm one of those with the touchscreen issues.

I thought I linked to the Zenbook Prime Touch?

 

Another 13.3". I have to have 14". It really makes a difference. That's what sucks about the X1T having so many issues.. it's really the only nice 14" ultra touch out there, and there doesn't seem to be any others on the horizon.

 

Any word on when the i7 version will be back? I asked them a few times and they either tell me they don't know or within a few days. Anyone know anything more concrete?

 

Here's to hoping either the touch or the regular model has an i7/8gb model...

After a month of debating between X1 and MBA13, I finally decided to go with Lenovo.

Crossing my fingers hoping it's just a website glitch.

 

So far mine is doing fantastic. After updating bios and all the other software updates from lenovo my wifi now works after sleep mode.

The screen is still a bummer as for sharpness but everything else makes up for it.

My last complaint is fingerprints, drives me nuts trying to clean it all the time lol.

 

@Darkhan, can you also turn on the laptop by swiping your finger across the reader and login in directly without entering in a password just like it was possible in X1 Carbon non-touch screen model as well? If so, does it works with signing into a Microsoft account as well or only if you create a local account on the windows 8 laptop?

 

OK. 24 hours with the Carbon touch. Laptop is fast, very happy with that. Screen is fine, touch still working.
Battery life is pathetic. Average of 2.8 hours per charge with normal use. I charged it 3 times since I got it yesterday afternoon. If I cannot improve on that, the laptop is worthless for me. I have it set to energy saver.

 

try to turn off the Bluetooth if you haven't do so. Also set the screen brightness at 50% -70%.

 

Not surprised. This is what stopped me from getting the original X1 Carbon and with the Touchscreen I can only imagine the battery life being worst.

 

2.8 hours seems ridiculously low compared to the rated time. I'd expected maybe 3.5 at the worst.

 

BT was off. I will keep monitoring and reporting.

 

Hi,

I have been lurking here for a while, reading every post. Your comments have been very helpful. Mine will be shipped on Jan 13, it’s a i7,8gb,Intel 240, 3yr depot. Was lucky enough to get a corporate discount, come to $1550 plus tax. This machine is replacing my T61 of 5 years, which is a beast. It is hot, that screen and battery suck, but it has served me very well. Still running very quick with 4gb of memory, use about 4 hours a day.

Anyway, I wanted to ask about a clean install, is that something you guys recommend? Or am I better of just deleting the recovery partition till things stabilize? Want to know the cost/benefit and what you guys are doing now. Also, thinking about putting Steam in this thing to see if I can get a few games out of it, anybody try it?

Kind Regards, Stu

 

Also, anybody know the cost of battery replacement? Has anybody here tried to replaced the battery in the x1c themselves?

 

For everyone who has received an X1CT, could you reply with the following?

1) How would you rate the display (1 worst, 10 best)

2) What is the battery life you are getting

3) Are you happy you bought the X1CT? Would you purchase again if you had the choice?

Thanks!

 

Isn't the battery covered under the warranty for the machine? I thought in that case of the Carbon it was.

 

Yes I can, this is not an issue.

 

I don't think this screen is well suited to 50-75%. I never had mine below 90-100% (x1c) and it still wasnt ridiculously bright. will say that I seemed to get better battery life than the Lenovo widget predicted. Try a clock or stopwatch and see if it's still less than 3hr.

 

I'm waiting on mine still. Kinda odd because I preordered the exact hour it was available to do so, and it is set to arrive 1/17. Oh well. If this screen nonsense happened to me, I would be calling multiple times a day and speaking to the highest tier level supervisor until I got something better than "hang tight". I would do this over and over again until someone was notified that this was an urgent situation affecting many. Then I'd go to Lenovo corporate and try and talk to some kind of PR person and tell them that this wont stop until something is done, and done quickly.
Just sayin. I feel really bad for the many that waited and waited for this to come and then got a crap screen on a $1500+ purchase.

 

You might not do any of those things if you already did them on the x1c. I spent dozens of hours, and no matter how many elevations or assurances I got, it shipped when it shipped. Good luck people!

 

I hear you but I would still try the tech route and higher levels of corporate base on quality control issues.

 

Lenovo has gotten too big for its britches. A mature company that cares about its customer base, should not make it hard to get a quality issue on its premier ultrabook escalated. Especially in the USA where they have no retail presence and therefore there is no face to the company.

Compare and contrast that to Apple. It's like night and day.

Just this morning I contacted Samsung about an issue with the warranty for my Series 9 notebook. The 1st Tier helpdesk person was very professional, listened to my case attentively, discussed it with the Supervisor on site, then calmly passed me over to Executive Customer Relations. The lady I spoke with there was also extremely patient and listened to the case, looked at the evidence I provided, then escalated my case. The experience was totally pleasant, professional and caring.

That's the way it should be. You should not have to haggle or fight with a company over OBVIOUS issues.

If this keeps up, the T430s we bought may be our last Lenovo product. Lenovo's cavalier attitude is appalling.

 

Hello everyone,

I Just received my X1 Carbon Touch tonight. The machine has been flawless for the past couple of hours. I have no issues with the Touch Screen it is working perfectly.
The Keyboard is out of this world, just wonderful. I am very happy with the laptop and I do hope you all figure out the touch panel problems you are having.
I will report in if my panel stops working, or is acting up in anyway. All in all I am not regretting buying this machine, I was worried at first with the touch screen,
but everything has been a positive experience so far I am one happy X1CT owner :thumbsup:

 

Someone with a fully working X1 Carbon Touch should post an 5 ~ 10 minute overview video of their new machine on youtube. None exist right now.

 

Ill try to see if I have some time this weekend, I never uploaded anything on youtube, but I am sure it would generate tons of hits

Actually there is one thing I noticed this morning which is what some other users have noticed in their device manager with an exclamation mark
-> UsB-IF xHCI USB Host Controller

Happily touching and typing on my new X1CT, I7 180GB HD machine, have a nice day everyone.

 

I would also like to know answers to these questions!!

Sent from my Incredible 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

OK, let me try to answer this"

1) How would you rate the display (1 worst, 10 best)

6-7. I like that its not glossy. Works well in bright rooms. Colors are not very bright, kind of washed out a bit.
Compared to my old Sony, its not as nice. Touchscreen (still) works. It holds fingerprints like crazy. Glossy screens are easy to wipe, the matte coating on it holds prints. Almost need a wet wipe to clean screen.

2) What is the battery life you are getting

4 charging cycles now. All around/below 3 hours until battery is at ~ 15%. BT is off. Screen at ~ 80% brightness because of environment. Battery savings at "energy saver".
Regular usage (Outlook, web, Word, PP)

3) Are you happy you bought the X1CT? Would you purchase again if you had the choice?

Not sure yet. I am not 100% sold. I'll report back in a few days.

 

1: Display: 7. I'm a stickler for displays and I actually like the color accuracy / vibrance of this one when looking straight on. My gripe is that I do notice a little bit of an effect from what I think is a thin film over the touch panel (non removeable). I guess I can see what others are saying is a screen door effect. It's not terrible though and I actually like the display. It's just not an IPS I can say that. Side angles hold up pretty good and extreme vertical angles are still viewable, but there is some color distortion. Oh and anti-glare with a semi gloss is perfect. It's rare to find that.

2. I can't comment on battery life yet since it has been mostly plugged in, sorry.

3. If the touchscreen was working perfectly, I would be ecstatic with the machine. Unfortunately, I received one from the batch of on/off responsiveness. When the touchscreen is working, it works very well! Gestures, accuracy, etc. are top notch. I was told by a Lenovo rep that Wacom supplied the touch tech in it which is good to hear, since I use their products for my design work.

I guess if I could change one thing about the laptop as a whole it would be that the display was an IPS. But honestly it's actually pretty good. I think you'll notice people showing their disappointment (for good reason) because of the expectations they have for such a high end machine. But I'll take an above average display on a machine that excels in every other way. Excellent keyboard, glass touchpad is nice and smooth with the matte coating, build quality is excellent (I appreciate edge to edge glass display since my original X1C had the plastic screen bezel sticking out a bit).

I guess what frustrates me is how long I've been working with Lenovo on getting a fully working machine since August (from non touch to touch model). If the touchscreen is fixed with a driver update I will be extremely happy. I just hate to have to get a replacement unit knowing the i7s are sold out and the wait will take another month with shipping and everything. If it ends up being a hardware problem, and Lenovo agrees to send me a replacement model while I keep this one, I will be happy. With the price I got this for, I just can't get it anywhere else. i7/256gb/8gb for $1350.

 

How often do you use touch, and for what? Just curious.

 

For me? It's a nice addition for Windows 8 when you want to select tiles or scroll through them. Also, the browser has a fluidity to it with touch where you can pinch zoon, and scroll the pages as if it were a modern mobile phone. The trackpad works really well for gestures too, but I noticed it's not as smooth for things like pinch-zoom in browsers. This could be because the browsers aren't optimized as well for the trackpads, or a limitation from the hardware itself.

But its a good complimentary thing thing to have touch. It's also nice knowing you have a capacitive touchscreen so it's future-proof. So this is why I'm a little more upset that mine isn't working correctly.

 

I agree with urbanglowcam. I find myself using the touch screen more and more and now if I went back to a system without it I would miss it.

 

Just to update my original posts. I have sent the X1CT in for repair instead of returning it, it has been received and in repairs according to the status page. I will let you guys know what comes of it.

I figured if sent it back i would be waiting forever for a replacement, then again i might be in for a long wait for repairs since they don't have a clue or even acknowledged the problem and I'm not entirely sure they would have any replacement touchscreens on hand.

 

Finally picked mine up, arrived beginning of the week but I only arrived yesterday so a trip was needed to UPS. Very early impressions and a quick reference to the Yoga; Yoga is a much better Windows 8/consumer device while the X1CT is a much better work device. Screen is matte, probably already stated from other owners/reviewers. This will make those who hate a reflective screen very happy, again an indication that this is a "work" laptop. For those wanting more of a media device this will be a bummer, IPS is much better for such content. As far as "screen door effect", I just see a matte screen as I've normally seen a matte screen, just how they've always looked to me. Touchpad is bugging me as far as "taps", they don't seem to register half the time. I didn't have this issue with the Yoga. Oh, one good thing about the screen is that the backlight is very consistent, no clouding at all. While I do love IPS displays it often feels like pure luck if you can avoid clouding or screen bleed. Anyway, just a few early thoughts and was wondering if others were having an issue with "tap" on the touchpad.

 

Keep us updated sultan2you please. I still have mine on hand. Last time I sent my X1C in for repairs I never saw it again. Due to a long wait with backordered parts, I eventually got a refund and that's why I have the X1CT today. I hope you don't go through the same thing.

But if they are able to show signs of successful repairs and send it back to you, I will send mine in as well. Good luck

 

About my issue with "tap" on the touch pad, I've noticed that it only works if I tap the area smack in the middle of the pad. If I'm off at all it won't register.

 

Okay found the setting, under Smart Check Setting disabling "Edge tap filtering" addresses this.

 

Hi Dayton,

where did you find the software located for the trackpad?

Thanks!

 

I did re-install the Synaptic UltraNav driver from Lenovo, but I bet it was the same one I had. The trick is, the system tray icon for UltraNav is disabled so the settings appear buried. Bring up Mouse Properties from the Control Panel and that gives you access to the UltraNav tab. Enable the system tray icon for easy access and then tweak away with the touchpad settings to achieve your desired result.

 

+Rep Dayton!!

Big Thanks!! works perfect!

 

Nice! Now if we could only get the touchscreen to work for some of us less fortunate.

 

Sorry to hear about touch, it has been exceptional on mine. Better than the Yoga, super responsive and it's yet to miss a Windows 8 gesture. The Yoga would miss a gesture here and there, especially the down sweep to close a metro app.

 

Could everyone that has received an X1CT post the battery life they are getting?

I am concerned that only 3 hours has been reported by a couple of owners. If that is the case, and the battery life is not the 5 hours reported in the Engadget review, that would be an X1CT deal killer in my opinion.