Don’t rock the boat. That’s Lenovo’s strategy for the 12th iteration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Instead of messing with a winning formula, the company made minor tweaks to the laptop, delivering a system that’s thinner and lighter than its predecessor. The keyboard has received several updates with a larger touchpad.
However, the biggest changes are under the hood with the X1 Carbon rocking the latest 14th generation Intel processors and integrated graphics. The laptop also offers expanded display options. The changes, in short, are quite incremental. But sometimes a few tweaks and tweaks are all it takes to get the job done.
ThinkPad X1 Carbon design
The 12th generation X1 Carbon is very similar to its predecessor. It has a black matte color that is very susceptible to fingerprints. If you’re familiar with the line, you know the laptop is made from carbon fiber, but this time there’s recycled aluminum and magnesium in the mix, along with some post-consumer materials. Honestly, the biggest design change you’ll notice is the brushed aluminum console that houses the infrared (IR) camera with a physical shutter at the top of the lid.
Lenovo
The 12th generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the latest in Lenovo’s line of great business laptops, and while it needs some tweaking, it’s as solid as expected.
- Lightweight, durable design
- Excellent battery life
- Comfortable keyboard and trackpad
- Performance is a mixed bag
- Power button located on the side of the laptop
Weighing in at 2.4 pounds with a 0.6-inch profile, the X1 is thinner and lighter than previous models, which is always a good thing for a 14-inch system. 2.6 pounds ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED It’s slightly lighter at 0.58 inches. Despite its lightweight form factor, the X1 Carbon is seriously durable, able to withstand drops, spills, dust and extreme temperatures as defined by MIL-STD-810H certification.
Another good thing is the 14-inch screen. The 1,920 x 1,200, 16:10 panel is a matte touchscreen, so unlike its chassis, it resists fingerprints. The finish virtually eliminates any glare and doesn’t wash out the color like I’ve seen on some similar displays. Is the color as vivid as you get on a bright screen? Not necessarily, but far from a deal.
Lenovo has enlarged the trackpad by increasing the size of the glass touchpad to 4.7 inches. Aside from a few minor tweaks to the spill-resistant keyboard, it’s your typical Lenovo Chiclet keyboard, right down to the bright red tick bar. I’m not a big fan of Lenovo moving the power button to the right side of the keyboard. It makes sense for a 2-in-1, but it’s unnecessary in a regular case, and I’d choose it over one of the company’s many Yoga series laptops.
Speaking of the X1’s sides, there’s a healthy number of ports, including two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, two Thunderbolt 4, an HDMI 2.1 port, a headphone jack, and a Kensington lock slot.
Sitting above the display, the ThinkPad X1’s 1080p webcam takes solid photos and will do well in video conferencing sessions. She provided really clear images on Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls, so much so that I received several compliments on my new hair color and style. As expected, everything was overexposed when I sat in my yard at noon. But I was pleasantly surprised by how well the camera adapted to low-light environments, maintaining color vibrancy and good detail.
A pair of speakers cleverly hidden beneath the keyboard did a good job of delivering the voices of my meeting mates. If you’re listening to music or watching a movie, you might want to grab a pair of headphones, as the low-end isn’t very strong despite the pre-installed Dolby Access software.
It is in use
The next generation of laptops means a new generation of chips. For the 12th generation X1 Carbon, that chip is a 14th generation 1.7GHz Intel Core Ultra 7 165U processor with 12 cores and 14 threads. According to Intel, it’s faster than last year’s silicon. In action, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is quite fast and powerful. I threw my usual workload at it, which means about 70 open Google Chrome tabs with a mix of G-Suite apps, social media, news and tech sites, with a few YouTube videos thrown in for good measure. I even edited a video and played a few rounds Hades IIbut the notebook never slowed down.
The Lenovo laptop did not perform that well compared to laptops with similar specifications. With an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU, 32GB of RAM, my review unit outperformed the Zenbook OLED 14 and XPS 14 on the PCMark 10 benchmark, but couldn’t top this year’s 14-inch HP Specter x360, nor the Surface Laptop. 6. In the Cinebench R23 test, the forecast was not so rosy, however, the X1 Carbon fell short against every system.
The X1 Carbon’s integrated Intel GPU isn’t really designed for gaming, but if you can find older or indie games that aren’t as taxing as today’s AAA titles, you might be able to squeeze in some gaming time. For example, when I was playing I was getting 30 frames per second Hades IIthat’s a smooth enough ratio to run most titles.
The X1 Carbon’s score of 3777 in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme is unmatched by any of the competing systems. Note that these laptops have more powerful chips under the hood, with the XPS 14, Zenbook OLED 14, and Surface Laptop 6 with Intel Arc Graphics. The XPS 14 also has a discrete Nvidia RTX 4050 GPU.
Like most laptops this year, the X1 Carbon has an integrated NPU (Neural Processing Unit) to take the load off the CPU and GPU when it comes to AI applications and tasks. For example, during my video calls, Windows Studio Effects perfectly blurred my background, kept me in frame, and made it look like I was making eye contact without any hiccups.
When it comes to keyboards, Lenovo ThinkPads are the gold standard, providing firm, springy feedback. The 12th generation X1 Carbon continues the tradition. I’ve spent hours using this super comfortable keyboard and my fingers never let it down during that time. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the dedicated keys (Fn, F, H, Enter, Down Arrow, Enter, and Volume Up/Down). to act as a guide. And of course, there’s a Copilot button if you want to try out Microsoft’s artificial intelligence. The white backlight is bright enough to use in dark environments, like the one I use in bed while my boyfriend sleeps.
The trackpad, which is 9.1 percent larger than last year’s, has excellent palm rejection and doesn’t send the cursor into the stratosphere. The glass surface was responsive and smooth to the touch, delivering near-instant results whether I was browsing a web page or pinching to zoom in on an image.
The best thing about the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the battery life. The laptop lasted 13 hours and 2 minutes in the PCMark Modern Office battery test. This time was enough to last longer than the Zenbook OLED 14 (12:43). During my regular use, I squeezed the X1 Carbon for about 10 hours before needing to plug it in.
ThinkPad X1 Carbon price and competition
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 12 starts at $1,449, which is what you’d expect from a premium business laptop. This configuration gets you an Intel Core Ultra 5 125U processor with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and Intel’s integrated graphics. You’ll need an extra $474 to upgrade to a Core Ultra 7 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. If you want a similar setup to the model I reviewed, it will cost you $2,285 because it has Intel’s vPro technology and is aimed more at IT admins and businesses.
Almost $500 cheaper, the ASUS Zenbook OLED 14 outperforms the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, while offering comparable battery life and a stunning OLED display. But the Zenbook lacks the deep security features you’ll find on the business-focused X1 Carbon.
Consumers looking for more power, including a discrete GPU, should look at the Dell XPS 14. However, the laptop starts at $250 more than the X1 Carbon, and it gets even more expensive when Nvidia starts adding more features like a GPU. , vPro, RAM and storage.
Collection
The 12th generation Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon continues to reign as the king of business laptops for now. But the gap is definitely narrowing. While there are definitely more powerful alternatives out there, the X1 is one of the few that offers the same level of safety, durability and longevity at a relatively affordable price.
