Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon, one of the leading ultrabooks for business users and enthusiasts, is getting upgraded to Intel’s new Comet Lake, 10th Gen CPUs. Available in September, the new X1 Carbon configs will start at $1,479 and will be joined by a Comet-Lake-powered X1 Yoga, Thinkpad T490, ThinkPad X390, ThinkPad L13 and ThinkPad L13 Yoga.
The new models with Comet Lake will not immediately replace those with 8th Gen “Whiskey Lake” processors that just launched a couple of months ago (there is no 9th Gen for U series CPUs). In fact, the new X1 Carbons are still considered part of Lenovo’s same “7th Gen” lineup and have the same size, design and weight, tipping the scale at just 2.4 pounds and maxing out at 0.6 inches (15mm) thick.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Specs
| CPU | Intel Core i5-10210U / Intel Core i7-10510U / Intel Core i7-10710U (6 cores) |
| RAM | 8 / 16GB LPDDR3 |
| SSD | Up to 2TB PCIe NVMe |
| GPU | Intel UHD 620 |
| Screen | 14-inch 1920 x 1080 (400 nit), 1920 x 1080 IPS Touch (300 nit), 2560 x 1440 (300 nit), 4K IPS (500 nit) |
| Battery | 51WHr, 18.5 hours |
| Ports | 2 x USB 3.1 Type-A, 2x Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 1.4, 3.5mm audio, proprietary Ethernet (with dongle) |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6, Optional LTE |
| Size | 12.7 x 8.5 x 0.59 inches (323 x 217 x 14.95 mm) |
| Weight | 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg) |
The biggest benefit of Comet Lake is its increased performance, which Intel claims is 16 percent faster overall than last year’s models and 41 percent quicker on productivity tasks such as running Office 365. The top of the line, Core i7-10710U is also the first U-series processor that has 6 cores and 12 threads, which should help with heavily-threaded workloads like those you find when video editing.
Comet Lake also brings with it Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) support so the new X1 Carbon and its siblings will be able to get faster wireless connections than their immediate predecessors. Lenovo claims that the added performance Wi-Fi won’t harm battery life as the new X1 Carbon is rated for 18.5 hours of endurance. (The current model is advertised as lasting 18.3 hours.)
Like the current, 7th Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbons, the new ones will be available with a variety of screen options, which range from non-touch, 1920 x 1080 on the low-end to 4KIPS on the high end. They will have the same port selection: 2 USB 3.1 Type-A ports, 2 Thunderbolt ports, HDMI 1.4 out, a 3.5mm jack and proprietary Ethernet.
The other Comet Lake enabled ThinkPads are all slated to launch in the September to October timeframe. The X1 Yoga with Comet Lake will bow in September for $1,609 while the T490, X390, L13 and L13 Yoga are planned for October at starting prices of $1,129, $1,019, $749 and $919 respectively.
