x1 carbon questions

Folks: I've read through the mega-thread, and it's hard to tell truth from fiction. A few questions; any help appreciated.


1. is the screen good or bad? It seems there's no consensus, either here or in the reviews. I'm coming from an x220 IPS. I'm also holding in my hands a 15" retina (more on that later). I mostly use word, stats packages, and komodo IDE.

2. has build quality really dropped from the x2xx series? The screw-tightening, thin metal bar holding up the trackpad stories are worrisome.

3. why, oh why, can't one buy from amazon or b&h photo an 8gm ram model? Ordering through lenovo sucks.

I have owned thinkpads in the x series for 10 years. I'm a little tired of the small, lousy screens. I bought on an impulse the 15" Apple retina, but have a hard time imagining myself using macOS (I prefer win7) or being seen with an Apple laptop. But, it is a very nice piece of hardware, and all the things apple does that annoy me (e.g., soldering in ram, using proprietary ssd sizes, etc.), is now present in the x1 carbon. And, the x1 carbon is just as expensive as the apple.

Weird.

 

Run parallels or fusion on your rMBP with Win 7 and call it a day. Don't spend for an X1C given your current hardware. And this is coming from someone who praises the unit heavily.

 

I'm in a similar situation. I've have been using Thinkpads for quite sometime, this will be my fourth or fifth. I now use a T61 and it was the first where I'd say the quality wasn't as good as the prior model (X31) I owned. I need a new notebook that's light and has good battery life. In the end, it looked like all the PC hardware is a compromise; I didn't see anything that looked as good as what Apple makes. I looked at a youtube video someone was good enough to post and figure I can live with the screen on the X1c.

Decided to order a X1c on Amazon, should be here in a couple of days. Was going to pick one up at B&H but the 256gB drive model was out if stock. Unfortunately I'm stuck with Windows as I have a few programs for work I need to run on Win7. I was really torn between Fusion on a MBP, the X1c or a Win8 PC. Fusion 5 on a first gen MBA worked but the battery life wasn't good. I wanted the rMBP but what really turned me off is Apple is returning to what killed in in the 1980s, hardware that can't be upgraded except with Apple parts at a super premium. The MBP has a proprietary hard drive and you can't upgrade the RAM if you manage to get the cover open. No thanks.

EDIT - Well I'm back to square one. After posting above I decided to see what a RAM/SSD upgrade would cost from crucial.com. Found out the ram is soldered to the motherboard and the hard drive is a 1.8" which really isn't readily available and nothing above 256gB. So, I cancelled this order.

 

While the RAM on the rMBP isn't user upgradeable, you can top it out at 16GB from the factory for a not too crazy $200. OWC does sell replacement drives for the retina line of MBPs. The only issue is that they top out at 480GB at the moment, however I suspect in the coming months the capacity will increase.

OWC SSD for MacBook Pro with Retina display 2012 - OWC Aura Pro Sandforce Driven

 

Thanks. I'm really glad I caught this thread. Just priced out a rMBP with a 500gB drive, which should be plenty, and 8gB RAM, came out to $2700. Ouch. Definitely superior hardware to any PC manufacturer. Still, for that much money and having to run Windows in Fusion, I think I'm just going to stick with my T61 for now. I'll have to take a closer look at the ultrabooks.

 

Well, here I disagree. The x1 carbon with a dual core i7 (instead of the quad core in the Macbook) and only 4gb of ram (instead of 8gb in the Macbook) and a max 256gb ssd drive is 1800$. The Mac is 2200, but there's a 200 education discount on it (which may not apply to all of you). So for either 200 or 400$ (depending), you get a better cpu and double the ram and a discrete graphics card.

Sure, you could add another 500 for the larger ssd, and Apple is ripping you off, but it's not like Lenovo is any different.

I'm really very sad about this. I guess I'm keeping the Apple, but ick, that's just wrong. I fondly remember buying every member of the x series, and on day one opening the back of the case and replacing the min config of ram with a couple of sticks I'd ordered from newegg. Same with ssd drives.

 

It is the price we pay for the extreme thinness, I suppose. Apple started this trend with non-replaceable or serviceable components and treating the pc as an appliance that's upgraded every year, and I'm afraid other oem's have caught on. It is sad.

 

I just ordered a X1 Carbon speced with the Intel i7-3667U 2GHz 256GB SSD, 4GB, 3444-25U a 3 year depot warranty including the 3 year battery replacement warranty for $1650 out the door from Dave Whittle on the Bay (he has one more at this price). I wasn't too crazy about the non upgradable appliance aspect that MR Crispy quoted (very true) but that makes it just like the several Apple Devices around my home. I've been using ThinkPads on & off since my 1996 760EL, Haven't bought a new one since the T61 I sent my youngest to college with so I'm pretty excited about this X1 Carbon due to arrive Tuesday. I did buy a Lenovo Slim DVD/CD so I can feed it software CD's. I'll post impressions and such after it arrives.

 

Lenovo Yoga allows one to upgrade RAM in the aftermarket if that is what you are looking for.

 

Not really, there are ultrabooks I checked out with user replaceable components. I'm sure the Samsung Series 9 is about as thin as it gets and you can upgrade the RAM and drive, ASUS and Acer ultrabooks too. Not sure when Lenovo when this route. I could have lived with 8gB, but I run VM and don't want to be stuck at 4gB.

Yea, I actually considered the Yoga and Twist. Right now, I'm planning to look at the Samsung Series 9. I work in NYC and there are a couple of places I can actually see one. I may just wait to see if the X1 Carbon Touch is real next month.

 

Samsung 9 13" has soldered ram, I believe. Don't know about the ssd form factor.

Mjdart: As for buying the i7 x1 carbon, I was on the brink, but the 4gb of ram wasn't ok with me either. Hope you like the machine though.

 

I was looking at the Samsung 15", didn't check the 13". If the X1 had 8gB, I'd probably just keep it but with 4gB fixed, I'm not even going to open the box. Yea, I could order one but it was a compromise to begin with and I really don't like fixed components. So stormslayer, you went with a MBA rather than an ultrabook? What do you think of the Series 9?

 

Clarification: The 15" Samsung Series 9 notebook has two DDR3 SoDIMM slots and can be upgraded to 16GB of RAM. The 13.3" model has soldered RAM and is currently limited to 4GB of RAM. Both models use mSATA SSD storage devices and can be upgraded.

 

I may be idiosyncratic, but here's what I've found. I hope it helps others. My usage is mostly email + web stuff, MS Office, Komodo (for python coding), and stata + R for stats applications. Up to this point, I've used various X series thinkpads for the last decade. I looked at a lot of machines this time, so here's my thoughts:

Samsung 9 13" and 15": The reviews are right that the build quality is good, especially on the 13". The screen is also good -- way better than any thinkpad I've ever owned. The keyboard and trackpad, though, suck. I'm spoiled -- I've never used anything but a thinkpad keyboard and I like the eraser thingy -- but I didn't much care for the Samsung's input devices. I was most interested in the 13", but the fixed 4gb ram was a no go.

Asus zenbook ux31: clone of the Samsung 9, but not quite as good build quality. Screen great, keyboard and trackpad bad (worse, in fact). Has soldered ram like the 13" Samsung and again stuck at 4gb ram. Hard to describe, but didn't feel as solid as the samsung much less the macbook air.

HP Elitebook 8470P: built like a tank. Decent screen but one can pay more and get a really good screen. But, way too heavy and the screen was only 14". Battery life wasn't great either.


So, I ended up with and am probably keeping (i.e., not returning at the end of 14 days) a macbook 15" retina. It's not light (4.4#), but for a 15" screen and 7 hours of battery life, I'm ok with that. The screen is gorgeous, really gorgeous, and I lucked into a samsung panel that apparently doesn't have the burn-in problems other folks are having. For 8gb ram, a really fast 256gb ssd, a quad core i7, and a good discrete graphics card, I paid 2000$. Downsides: soldered ram, weird form factor for the ssd, glued in battery, but increasingly that's true of the competition from the above. I also hate the MacOS. I'm also really embarrassed to be carrying about an Apple product and miss my carbon fiber thinkpad -- aluminum isn't so great on cold mornings or for gripping.

But all in all, for the price, it's just a better machine. The keyboard is reasonably close to the thinkpads. The trackpad is better. The battery life is good. Build quality is good. The screen is wonderful. And it's fast.

It's also not like I can get my hands on an x1 carbon with 8gb of ram anytime soon, either. Sigh.

 

MB 13 inch Retina is pretty good. If i could somehow find a replacement high resolution screen for the T430u, then that would be better than most of the Ultrabook on the market in terms of upgradeability.

 

FYI, the 3M Carbon Fiber skins you can slap on the Mac make the aluminum more tolerable, easier to grip, and damn hard to scratch. Here's a pic of my 15" rMBP.

 

I also considered that, for what it's worth. It's 3.5 pounds, give or take. The screen is great, but it's a bit small in terms of effective real estate -- the retina scales things optimally at 1280 x 800. It's also a bit pricier for what you get than the 15" -- the 13" has a dual core processor, lacks discrete graphics, and if you add a 256 ssd, it's only 100$ cheaper than the much more powerful 15" (n.b., the 15" has a 200$ edu discount; the 13" has only 100$; if you're not connected to a .edu the difference would be 200$ cheaper).

I looked at the T430u as well, but the screen was the end of me.

 

is that thing a marriage between X1 Carbon and MBP Retina? Love this skin.

 

Thanks. stormslayer my needs are similar unfortunately I need software that runs on Win95 (use a vm which works great) and need to support offsite servers so the 1300x768 screens (whatever they are) don't work well, too much scrolling. Do you use Bootcamp, Fusion or Parallels? The little I read on it it seems to font and icons are too small on retina displays, but I just scanned some sites about it. Don't need it for gaming or video.

KB is very important to me as well. I also really like the pointing stick or whatever that's called; I disabled the trackpad on my Thinkpad. I've been through various A, T and X models, even have and Edge 13, Thinkpads have always served me well. HP and Dell had a couple laptops that looked good but just too heavy. I have to have portability, a 14" screen is great, could live with 13". Looking to keep it around 3.5lbs with a battery that will get me 6-7 hours.

Maybe I'll check Apple's return policy and give it a shot.

Read the thread about the x1 carbon touch. I may just wait another month at this point.

 

The technical term is isometric joystick, but in ThinkSpeak, it's called the pointstick.

 

Actually in "ThinkSpeak" isn't it called a "Trackpoint"?

 

Or the red nipple.

 

Don't be crude.

 

This is hardly the first time the term has come up on these forums. Feel free to use the search and see for yourself. Assuming of course search actually works now.

Besides, there is nothing crude about a nipple anyway and is an apt description of the previous versions. Now that the point is flattened, it looks more like a red mushroom.

If you are really offended by the term, you might want to change the thread in this forum with "Nipplemouse™" in the subject line and stop trying to single me out. I noticed you didn't comment on that thread.

 

It was a joke.