An IBM ThinkPad user boasts that they can install “(almost) all versions of Windows from NT 4 to 10 22H2,” with driver support, without resorting to virtual machine (VM) technology. The ThinkPad T43 from 2005, used by Redditor MatiHalek, was already a firm favorite among retro tech enthusiasts and well known for being IBM’s final design prior to the Lenovo acquisition. The confirmation that it can run 26 years of Windows OSes certainly adds to the T43’s considerable charms.

I installed (almost) all versions of Windows from NT 4 to 10 22H2 on my ThinkPad T43 with drivers! from r/windows

So, what did Mati actually do? In the post embedded above, you can see they posted a gallery with 10 Windows screenshots, most of which show an iteration of the System > About control panel as evidence of the version of Windows installed and running. This gallery will take many readers on a journey down memory lane as the Windows UI evolves through the eras.

Mati says that they didn’t use VMs to install any of these Windows versions. They were all real software-to-metal installs on the single-core Pentium M CPU, though it wasn’t always an entirely straightforward process getting Windows to behave. We’d assume most difficulties would be due to support and drivers for graphics and storage interface hardware.

The Redditor didn’t install the 26 years of OSes sequentially in a strictly experimental fashion. “When I got this laptop, XP was installed, so I decided to dual-boot Vista with that XP. Then I did the upgrade path Vista-7-8-8.1-10RTM,” they explained. Subsequently, Windows 22H2 wrinkles forced them into doing a clean install for this pretty recent OS from Microsoft. However, modern OSes don’t appear to be Mati’s passion as “after that, I wiped the hard drive and multi-booted 98, NT 4, and 2000.” They end their post by indicating they will be keeping this 20th-century OS trio on the IBM ThinkPad T43, simply out of preference. It's probably the most responsive choice, given the hardware.

IBM ThinkPad T43 hardware

As we mentioned in the intro, the ThinkPad T43 was the final laptop from IBM’s stables, before Lenovo took the reins. Mati was correct to assert that it originally shipped with Windows XP, and it launched just a few months before Vista hit the scene.

Key components of the T43 were as follows:

• Intel Pentium M processor
• ATi Mobility Radeon X300 or X300SE graphics
• 14.1-inch screen in resolutions up to 1,400 x 1,050 pixels
• Support for up to 2GB of DDR2
• Storage config between 40GB and 100GB HDD
• Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, and modem connectivity options
• Ports included 2x USB 2.0 ports, a parallel port, VGA, S-Video, a PC Card slot, and a docking station port

Beyond the hardware tech specs, the IBM ThinkPad T43 earned a lot of praise due to its durable, perhaps legendary, build and keyboard quality. It isn’t light for a 14-incher in 2026 terms, of course, weighing in at approximately 2.3 kg (5.1 pounds).

Do any readers still cherish an IBM ThinkPad T43? If so, do you still run an older version of Windows like Mati does, or have you moved to an alternative OS like Linux?

E-waste is a serious problem, and while laptops and PCs can rapidly become obsolete after only a few years of use, there’s a natural desire to keep these machines running for much, much longer. One intrepid YouTuber has salvaged an old Lenovo ThinkPad X230 laptop, circa 2012, and given it a ‘modern upgrade’ by swapping out its tired TN panel for a $25 IPS alternative that significantly improves the display quality.

When it comes to LCD technology, TN panels are the most basic form. This original tech, while offering fast response times, often delivered poor color accuracy and contrast levels, along with the worst viewing angles compared to its rivals. Most modern LCD displays and gaming laptops ship with an IPS or, if it’s budget, a VA panel. IPS is the best all-rounder, and for $25, it isn’t a bad upgrade on a 14-year old laptop.

The YouTuber, onionboots, explains in a recent video his quest to see how a “near-perfect” ThinkPad X230 could be improved. One of the “few” modifications that they’ve not tried on their Thinkpad-centric YouTube channel is an upgrade to an IPS display. A common complaint, he notes, is that the stock display panels included in the X230 had “plenty of critics.”

This laptop, which shipped with 3rd Gen Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs and up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, typically came with a 12.5" LED-backlit anti-glare display with a 1,366 x 768 screen resolution. While one of the options available included upgrading to a higher-resolution display that bumps it to full HD, it requires soldering to the motherboard which onionboots doesn’t “quite trust [himself]” to do. Instead, he used a compatible IPS panel from the same period, using the same plug-in connector and the stock 1,366 x 768 resolution.

Most of the disassembly (and reassembly) of the X230 and its sibling, the X220, is “so easy” that onionboots “would almost call it fun.” After considering a $70 display, onionboots instead uses an almost identical alternative from eBay that lacks screw brackets to save the $45 difference. The display works and, for the money spent on this LG display from 2012, onionboots notes what a “visually noticeable upgrade” it is, giving him ideas to upgrade his X220 with the same upgrade.

He does note issues with the rigidity of the upgrade, believing that the missing display brackets lacking in the $25 purchase would help to keep the whole display assembly rigid and more secure, and while he can “live with the flex” himself, others may prefer the more expensive upgrade. He also notes some minor quality-of-life issues, such as mild ghosting, that he believes are simply typical of a panel of its era.

Enthusiasts like onionboots prove that there’s plenty of life left in old electronics. While plans for a whole series of upgrades, including a keyboard mod and a firmware jailbreak, are on the backburner for at least a few weeks, it’ll be interesting to see what other upgrades this YouTuber is able to make to this ThinkPad in the future.

Lenovo (via CRN) has sent a letter to partners warning them of price hikes on select PC and server configurations coming in March due to a shortage of DRAM and 3D NAND memory, which will consequently increase costs, reports CRN. In a February 2 letter to partners, North America channel chief Wade McFarland outlined new ordering deadlines and repricing conditions that affect both the Intelligent Devices Group (IDG), which sells client devices like desktops and notebooks, and the Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), which sells servers.

The warning applies to 'certain products and configurations' within Lenovo's commercial IDG lineup, which includes a broad range of products, from smartphones to high-end ThinkPad laptops. Lenovo instructed partners to place their orders with distributors by February 25 and ensure they reach Lenovo no later than February 28 to receive their products at current prices, subject to availability and shipment timing. Lenovo explicitly stated that any orders received before February 28, but not shipped by March 31, 2026, will require repricing.

On the server side, ISG shortened quote validity to 14 days in its internal bidding system and 30 days on the external platform used by resellers and distributors. Lenovo announced that select larger ISG deals, both in backlog and in active quoting, have already been repriced due to cost increases. In addition, Lenovo suspended the new customer bonus nomination program on January 26. This program granted partners up-front discounts for securing Lenovo contracts with new customers, but in the current market situation, any up-front discounts can hurt Lenovo more than they benefit it.

The cost pressure on Lenovo is a consequence of 3D NAND and DRAM shortages and price hikes across the industry, driven by demand from the AI sector. Although large PC OEMs tend to secure memory through long-term supply contracts, CRN reports that Cisco, HPE, and now Lenovo have all adjusted their hardware pricing structures and ordering policies accordingly.

Channel reaction has been mixed. Camden Haley of Connection expects higher prices for some commercial PCs next month but praised Lenovo for providing clear order dates and sticking to communicated timelines, contrasting that approach with other OEMs that have repeatedly revised policies. Yet, the chief executive of another Lenovo partner, who remained anonymous, argued that the March 31 shipment condition effectively gives Lenovo the ability to reprice backlog orders if supply delays occur, though he expressed understanding of the supply environment.

There have been design derivations in the recent past, but most of Lenovo’s ThinkPads hew pretty close to their IBM-era heritage: A boxy black rectangle with familiar rounded-bottom “smile”-shaped keys, and that oh-so-distinctive red rubber TrackPoint. But with its new ThinkPad X9, Lenovo is going in a different direction – and after a different kind of customer. But fret-not, loyal TrackPoint users: your trusty pointing stick will remain on other existing ThinkPad models.

Aside from its lack of a TrackPoint, the ThinkPad X9 Aura Edition features a 50% recycled aluminum shell with a ribbed bottom that gives the laptop a very distinct feel in your hands, reminding me of a fancy metal suitcase. Offered up in 14- and 15-inch sizes, the laptop’s bottom also has a rectangular “engine hub” strip near the back that aids in cooling while also making room for full-size ports.

You get HDMI 2.1 on the left edge, along with one Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C. The right edge houses another TB4 port and an audio jack on the 14-inch model, while the 15-incher adds a USB-A port as well.

The company says the new design retains the same MIL-SPEC 810H rating as other ThinkPads, and the screens are OLED all the way. You get two screen options for the 14-inch model, 1920 x 1200 non-touch with a 400-nit rating, or a 2.8K touchscreen with 500 nits of brightness. The larger 15-inch model has a 2.8K resolution, and will be offered with or without touch.

Both sizes offer up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of PCIe 4.0 solid-state storage and feature Intel CPUs up to Core Ultra 7. These aren’t the lightest laptops, but they aren’t particularly heavy, with the smaller model tipping the scales at 2.74 pounds while the 15-incher starts at 3.19 pounds.

The keys of the keyboard technically retain their bowed-bottom design, but that’s really just a design choice, as the keys here are square and definitely feel different than a traditional ThinkPad keyboard. We’ll have to spend more time with a review unit to pass full judgement, but definitely expect an adjustment period if you’re thinking of opting for an X9 as an upgrade from your older ThinkPad.

The large touchpad is haptic and, combined with the keyboard and look of the deck, make it clear the company is angling the X9 toward MacBook users.

Another nice modern move is that the company is including a tiny 65W GaN charger with the X9, with a removable cable. While I would have liked a second USB charging port here for my phone, it’s nice to finally see a laptop maker ship a USB-C charger that’s as travel-friendly as sub-$50 models from the likes of Anker and Baseus.

Lenovo says the X9 will be available beginning in February, starting at $1,399 for the 14-inch model or $1,549 for the larger 15-inch sibling. As with the ThinkPad Z series, we like the look and feel of the X9, but we’ll have to spend more time with a review unit to figure out how we feel about the keyboard, how well they perform, and what their battery life is like. In its press materials, Lenovo only makes a vague “all day long” battery life claim.

Lenovo’s ThinkPads are known for their superior build quality, industry-leading keyboards, unique TrackPoint nubs and excellent performance and battery life. The X1 Carbon has long been the flagship ThinkPad, thanks to its light weight, plethora of ports, and luxurious carbon fiber / magnesium chassis.

The 13th generation Carbon – dubbed the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) Aura Edition – shaves the already-low weight down by an impressive 0.25 pounds to just 2.17 pounds while leaving in place everything that makes this series great. Designed to compete with the best ultraportable laptops, it also upgdates to an Intel “Lunar Lake” Core Ultra processor, which allows for longer battery life but limits its RAM to 32GB. This is also one of a few “Aura Edition” laptops, which means that it has a handful of harmless, but not particularly exciting software features that Lenovo developed in collaboration with Intel.

At $2,013 to start (and as configured), the X1 Carbon (Gen 13) Aura Edition demands a premium price. But it also delivers a no-compromise productivity experience in a very svelte chassis.

Design of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) brings the typical ThinkPad aesthetic, with “eclipse” black, soft-touch material – mostly recycled carbon fiber and magnesium – used throughout the shell. A bright red status light adorns the ThinkPad logo on the lid, and there are touches of red on the inside – the TrackPoint pointing stick, the red stripes on the TrackPoint buttons, and the red dot in the ThinkPad logo on the deck. This is not an original look but it is a classy one, particularly when you feel the soft-touch material.

At 12.31 x 8.45 x 0.56 inches (312.8 x 214.75 x 8.08-14.37 mm) and 2.17 pounds (986g), the X1 Carbon (Gen 13) is very thin and light. Its dimensions are about the same as the Gen 12 model that preceded it, but it’s a full 0.25 pounds lighter. By comparison, the Dell XPS 13 (0.58 inches thick, 2.7 pounds) and ThinkPad T14s (0.67 inches thick, 2.72 pounds) are both larger.

Considering its svelte form factor, the X1 Carbon (Gen 13) has room for all the ports you might need, including two USB Type-A ports, two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a full-size HDMI port. The power button is located on the right side so you can easily power on the laptop, even if the lid is closed and it’s docked.

As usual, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) is designed to withstand some abuse. According to Lenovo, it is tested against 12 MIL-STD durability tests, including those for extreme vibrations, humidity, sand / dust, and mechanical shock.

ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) Specs

Performance of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

With its Intel “Lunar Lake” Core Ultra 7 258V CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a PCIe Gen 5 SSD, the X1 Carbon is ideal for productivity work and ready for heavy multitasking. Even with more than 50 Edge tabs open and a 4K video streaming, the system was smooth and stable.

On Geekbench 6, a synthetic test that measures processing performance, the X1 Carbon scored a strong 2,762 single-core / 11,131 multicore. Those scores slightly edge out the Dell XPS 13 (9350), which we tested with the same Ultra 7 258V processor, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition, which had a Core Ultra 7 256V CPU, and the ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6) with its Qualcomm X Elite Snapdragon processor – though the T14s does better on the multi-core test. Last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) and its Core Ultra 7 155H CPU was neck and neck, beating the newer model on multi-core. This isn’t surprising considering the 155H actually has 16 cores to the 258V’s 8 cores, and it also supports hyperthreading.

The speedy processor allowed the X1 Carbon to transcode a 4K video to 1080p in just 7 minutes and 36 seconds, using Handbrake. The XPS 13 took about a minute longer, but the Yoga Slim 7i was actually about a minute faster while the T14s and its Qualcomm processor ruled the roost at 5:34.

The 512GB PCIe Gen 5 drive in our system copied 25GB of files (reading and writing at once) at a rate of 1,944 MBps, which bested all of its competitors by at least a few hundred MBps. The T14s was way behind at just 1,069 MBps, while the other models hovered around 1,500 to 1,600 MBps.

To see how the ThinkPad X1 Carbon performs on long-running tasks, we ran Cinebench 2024 ten times in a row, a process which took a couple of hours. During the run, the laptop averaged a score of 497.8, with a high of 523 on the first run and a low of 491 on the last two runs. Overall, it was pretty consistent. The average clock speed during the run was 2.63 GHz for the performance cores and 3.06 GHz for the efficiency cores. The average CPU package temperature was 74 degrees Celsius.

Display of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13

The X1 Carbon Gen 13 only only offers one panel option: a 2880 x 1800 non-touch OLED display that runs at 120 Hz. In our tests, this panel offered good color, sharp images and strong brightness, though some competitors were a little bit brighter and more colorful. Lenovo’s own Slim 7i ruled the roost in our screen testing.

When I fired up a 4K, 60 fps video of a Costa Rican jungle, the greens in trees and on a snake stood out as did fine details such as the hairs on a sloth or the ridges on a lizard’s skin. The red in a parrot’s feathers was pleasing, but wasn’t quite as vibrant as I’ve seen on some other colorful displays. Colors didn’t fade, even at 90 degrees to the left or right.

The X1 Carbon’s screen hit 379 nits of brightness on our light meter, which was within a few points of the Dell XPS 13 (9350) and last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12), which we also tested with an OLED panel. However, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition again was a much-brighter 487 nits while the ThinkPad T14s’s panel hit 452 nits.

The 13th Gen X1 Carbon’s screen reproduced 82.4 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 116 percent of the narrower sRGB gamut. Those numbers compare favorably to the XPS 13’s IPS display, but fall short of the Yoga Slim 7i’s impressive 108.5 / 153 percent marks.

Keyboard, Touchpad, and TrackPoint on ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

As we’ve come to expect from prior models, the keyboard on the X1 Carbon (Gen 13) offers nothing short of a spectacular typing experience. The keys have a snappy feel, a relatively deep 1.5mm of travel, and a gentle curve on the caps that makes feeling your way around a snap for touch typists. I particularly like the soft-touch material on the palm rest, which made my wrists feel really comfortable while I held the laptop on my lap.

Using the 10FastFingers typing test, I scored 100 words per minute, which is within my normal range, with about a 4 percent error rate. This generation of X1 Carbon is the first to come with a dedicated Copilot key. If you’d rather use that key for something else – launching a favorite program, for example – you can reassign it in Windows Settings.

Like most ThinkPads, the X1 Carbon comes with two pointing devices: a red TrackPoint pointing stick and a 4.7 x 2-inch glass touchpad. I’m partial to the TrackPoint because it allows me to navigate around the desktop with great accuracy while never having to move my hands off of the home row.

I should note that, as on the 12th gen model and some other ThinkPads, you get a Quick Menu if you double tap on the nub. This menu allows you to adjust the brightness, change the battery charging threshold, select an audio playback device, or enable voice typing, among other things. I wish there was a way to configure the double tap to launch an app or a macro, because these quick settings aren’t that exciting.

If, for some reason, you don’t like nubs (and you really should reconsider if you don’t), there’s the touchpad. In my tests, this pad offered accurate navigation around the desktop and responded immediately to multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and three-finger swipe.

Audio on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

The sound output on the X1 Carbon is very loud, but can also be quite tinny. When I listened to AC/DC’s “Back in Black” at maximum volume, the rock classic filled my dining room, but the drums and guitars were painfully distorted. Even at lower volumes, the speakers, which are hidden below the keyboard, outputted an ugly stew of harsh percussion. The Dolby Atmos software allowed me to choose between Music, Voice, Gaming and Dynamic profiles, and I found the Dynamic profile was best.

Upgradeability of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

Like other ThinkPad X1 Carbon models, the Gen 13 is upgradeable in only one way: You can swap out the SSD with any M.2 2280 PCIe SSD of your choice, with up to Gen 5 speeds. Considering how much money Lenovo charges for storage – there’s a $500 premium to go from 500GB to 1TB or $700 to go to 2TB – you might want to buy the X1 Carbon with just a 512GB SSD and then add your own 1TB or 2TB aftermarket drive.

To get to the inside of the X1 Carbon, just unscrewed four captive Philips head screws and then pry off the bottom panel. The panel came off fairly easily, but you have to be gentle and make sure you don’t break it when trying to get it to pop out or pop back in. The 2280-sized SSD is located underneath a metal heatsink on the left side of the system.

Battery Life of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) lasted a solid 11 hours and 28 minutes on our battery test, which involves surfing the web at 150 nits of brightness. That’s enough to get you through a typical workday, though you can expect your real-world results to vary if you turn your brightness up or do heavy multitasking. Last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12), which has the same 57 Whr battery and we tested with the same OLED panel, lasted two hours less on a charge, so this is a definite improvement.

However, the Dell XPS 13, which we tested with the same CPU but an IPS display that operates at 1920 x 1200, lasted 17 hours and 29 minutes on a charge. The ThinkPad T14s and its Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor lasted an epic 21 hours and 3 minutes on a charge while the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i, which also has a Lunar Lake processor (an Ultra 7 256V), endured for 14 hours and 8 minutes.

Heat on ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) stayed cool throughout anecdotal testing, but when I hit it with a heavy load, the keyboard got a bit toasty. After I ran our Cinebench Stress test (under maximum performance mode) for 15 minutes, the middle of the keyboard hit 110 degrees Fahrenheit. To be fair, it wasn’t painfully hot to the touch, but it was noticeably warm. At the same time, the touchpad registered a cool 86 degrees, and the hottest spot, the middle bottom, hit 115 degrees. Under normal conditions, you probably won’t push the heat this high.

Webcam on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

The laptop’s 1080p webcam captured sharp, relatively color-accurate images in my tests. When I shot an image of myself with natural light coming through the window, the dark blue in my shirt came through correctly, and fine details such as the hairs in my beard were clearly visible.

The colors and sharpness weren’t quite as good when I shot images under the harsh, fluorescent lights of my office, but they were acceptable. Even with all the lights off and just ambient light from my monitors glowing off of my face, the image quality was decent.

Smart Modes, Software, and Warranty on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

As its name suggests, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) Aura Edition, is part of Lenovo’s “Aura Edition” program, which means that it has a few “smart features” that aren’t particularly unique or exciting, but hey, you get them. These features aren’t enabled by default, but hitting F8 brings up a menu where you can toggle them on or off.

Attention Mode brings up a timer that’s supposed to help you focus on tasks for a set amount of minutes (20 minutes by default) until you give yourself a break. It also has a to-do list you can update. The whole thing reminded me of a Pomodoro timer, which is something you can find elsewhere. Or you can just use free Chrome extensions like StayFocusd that block websites you might be tempted to visit.

Collaboration Mode has a low-light video enhancer for better conferencing, but lots of video software has image enhancement built in. Shield Mode is supposed to use the webcam to warn you when someone is looking over your shoulder or blur your screen so they won’t see your work, but I was unable to make this happen by having someone lurk behind me. Wellness Mode is supposed to remind you to sit up straight and not slouch, but you could always find a mother or school marm to scold you for your posture instead.

Then there’s Smart Share, which is actually just Intel Unison, which allows you to sync your phone – Android or iPhone – with the PC so you can download photos from your handset directly to your hard drive, send text messages, or make calls. Intel Unison is available as a free download and works on other laptops as well, but the extra special feature for Aura Edition laptops is that you can – on some phones – tap your handset against the screen bezel to initiate photo sharing. Unfortunately, this didn’t work with my Google Pixel 8a, but it’s also unnecessary as you can use the app on mobile or on the PC to share files without banging your expensive handset into your expensive laptop’s bezel. Incidentally, Windows has Microsoft’s PhoneLink built-in and it does all of the same things as Intel Unison, though the file sharing on Unison is better.

Finally, there’s Smart Care, which is a panel that lives in the Lenovo Commercial Vantage app and gives you shortcuts to all of the various support options you get. So there’s a button that sends you to file a ticket or schedule a call with a support agent, and another that takes you to a knowledge base where you can find your own solution and another for conducting a support call or chat.

Speaking of Lenovo Commercial Vantage, that’s the primary utility app on all ThinkPads, including this one. Vantage allows you to control some device settings such as the Microphone volume and the power profile, but for most things, it just links you to Windows 11’s own Settings menu. A couple of unique things you can do in Vantage include setting what the F12 key does – open an app, visit a website, etc – or swapping the Fn and CTRL keys. Vantage also runs hardware scans, displays your battery health and checks for driver updates.

There’s also a Dolby Atmos app that allows you to change your sound profile. I found that, once again, the Dynamic profile gives the best mix of volume and richness so I’d stick with that.

Other than that, the laptop is blissfully free from preloaded software, except for all the usual cruft that comes with every Windows 11 PC. That includes Microsoft Clipchamp and the XBox app, but thankfully no annoying, free-to-play games like Candy Crush.

Lenovo backs the X1 Carbon (Gen 13) with a standard one-year warranty on parts and labor. You can pay extra to extend that warranty up to five years or add other services such as accidental damage protection.

Configurations of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13)

At least for now, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) is available in just three configurations, which are identical but for their storage capacities. Our configuration, which has an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 2.8K OLED non-touch display, Windows 11 Pro and a 512GB SSD, is available on CDW for $2,013. On Lenovo.com, there’s a $2,519 configuration which is identical but has a 1TB SSD, and a $2,719 config that has a 2TB SSD. You’re paying hundreds for just a little more storage.

While it’s always possible that Lenovo could come offer different configurations of the X1 Carbon (Gen 13), it’s not going to have any with 64GB of RAM, as was available on the Gen 12 model. Unfortunately, Intel “Lunar Lake” CPUs come with the RAM built onto the CPU package, so OEMs don’t have the option to offer more than the chipmaker builds in. Since Intel only makes Lunar Lake chips with 16 or 32GB of RAM, those who want more are out of luck. It’s worth noting that the Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered ThinkPad T14s is available with up to 64GB of RAM.

Bottom Line

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) Aura Edition is an excellent productivity laptop that’s so light you’ll barely notice its weight in your bag. Even when I picked up a 12th Gen X1 Carbon that I had on hand, the difference between the two was very noticeable. The new model feels more like a manilla folder in the hand than a powerful PC laptop.

Despite that light weight, you still get a snappy, best-in-class keyboard with deep travel, all the ports you need, strong performance, extreme durability, and all-day battery life. When it comes to endurance, Lenovo gives you a solid typical day’s worth, but competitors such as the Dell XPS 13 or Lenovo’s own ThinkPad T14s do last longer. And the OLED screen on the X1 Carbon (Gen 13), while vibrant, doesn’t pop as much as the one on the company’s own Yoga Slim 7i laptop. However, none of these laptops puts all of these pieces together in such a compact package.

The fact that this is an “Aura Edition” laptop should really have no bearing on your decision of whether to buy it or not. The added software features offer fun parlor tricks like the ability to tap your phone (depending on model) on the bezel to transfer files or a built-in mother who nags you not to slouch. But they don’t move the needle on value.

If you’re looking for excellent productivity in a paper-light chassis, the X1 Carbon (Gen 13) is hard to beat. Its main competition at the time of publication is the 12th Gen X1 Carbon which is available with less RAM and a lesser screen for less money (starting at $1,396 right now). The older model has shorter battery life with the same OLED screen, but probably would get similar or longer endurance if you buy it with an IPS panel (which is not an option for the 13th Gen model). You can also custom configure the 12th Gen model to have 64GB of RAM, while the 13th Gen SKUs top out at 32GB. However, we expect the 13th Gen model to eventually go down in price.

Overall, if you’re looking for the best mix of productivity, portability, and performance, the X1 Carbon (Gen 13) Aura Edition is a fantastic choice. You’ll feel its impact on your wallet, but not on your back.

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Lenovo showcased some of its upcoming devices at Tech World 2024 in Seattle, including the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition. The next-generation convertible notebook has an Intel Core Ultra 200V (codenamed Lunar Lake) processor with upgraded hardware configuration and software. Since it is also meant to be used as a tablet, the touchscreen display—along with its new Stylus and 360-degree hinge—comes in handy.

For hardware, Lenovo offers three different displays, of which the highest spec is the 2.8K OLED 14-inch 120Hz touchscreen display. The other core components are up to 32GB LPDDR5X-8533 RAM and up to 2TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe storage. What is appreciated here is the customer-replaceable 57 Whr battery unit offering up to 18 hours. The company claims its Lenovo AI Now functions to minimize battery drain and optimize performance- which is something we'll have to see how effective it is.

The Lenovo has adequate I/O, such as two Thunderbolt 4 and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports. For video output, it features an HDMI 2.1 port and a 3.5mm audio jack. Lenovo packed this in an aluminum alloy-based chassis, weighing 1.3kg and measuring 312 x 217 x 18mm.

Lenovo is advertising this 2-in-1, keeping AI in mind—for both Microsoft's Copilot+, which needs 40 TOPS NPU and its own AI app, ' Lenovo AI Now.' Along with compatibility with Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro, Lenovo confirms support for Linux.

Lenovo didn't mention which 200V series CPU it will be using, but if we have to guess, it is likely the CPUs with up to 32GB LPDDR5X-8533 support—the Core Ultra 5 228V and the 238V, Ultra 7 variants 258V and 268V, and the Ultra 9 288V. All the Lunar Lake variants are expected to have NPU TOPS between 40, 47, and 48, and hence, all of these are made to be compatible with Copilot+.

ThinkPads are consistent with their lightweight and durable design, regardless of the specs and material used for their chassis. However, with Microsoft Copilot+ and Lenovo's AI Now coming into play, it will be interesting to see how they perform AI tasks over the 200V series. We'll know once Microsoft rolls out Copilot+ features, starting in late November.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in1 Gen 10 Aura Edition is pricey, with a recommended retail price of $2,199 upwards. However, the Gen 10 will likely be picked up by someone who needs to convert a notebook to a tablet on the fly since earlier leaks indicated that Lunar Lake-based notebooks from Asus and Acer are rumored to start from $1,017 onwards.

With the release of the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processors earlier this year, a new crop of laptops have focused on power efficiency and AI features. Lenovo’s ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6 with Snapdragon) is the first ThinkPad powered by the chip and it specifically runs on a 12-core, Snapdragon Elite X1E-78-100 with a powerful NPU with 45 TOPS.

Starting at $1,666 (current street price and the price of our review unit), the ThinkPad T14s is not only one of the best Snapdragon-powered laptops on the market, but one of the best ultraportable laptops you can buy with any processor. It lasted an incredible 21 hours on our battery test – one of the longest marks of any system we’ve ever tested – and yet it offers all the best features you can find on a ThinkPad. It has a world class keyboard, an accurate pointing stick, a bright and colorful screen, good performance and a sturdy, sub-3 pound chassis. So, though it’s not cheap, if you’re willing to commit to an Arm-powered laptop, the T14s is a fantastic system.

Design of the the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The ThinkPad T14s is thin, light and very consistent with Lenovo’s time-tested ThinkPad aesthetic. Like most other ThinkPads, it has a matte, raven black color with a red pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard, a red status light on the lid and some red accents on the TrackPoint buttons.

The lid and deck have a luxurious soft-touch feel that’s really pleasant, particularly when I put my wrists on the palmrest. Many other ThinkPads, including the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) don’t have a finish that feels quite this soft so it’s a real plus. The lid itself is made of 50 percent recycled carbon-reinforced plastic while the deck is made from 90 percent recycled magnesium alloy.

At 2.72 pounds, the T14s is really light, but some competitors are even svelter. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is just 2.42 pounds (1.24 kg) and the Dell XPS 13 (9345), which has a 13-inch display, is 2.62 pounds. The T14s is 12.35 x 8.64 x 0.67 inches (313.6 x 219.4 x 16.9 mm), but the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is just a tad smaller at 12.31 x 8.45 x 0.59 inches and the HP OmniBook X (12.32 x 8.8 x 0.56 inches) and Dell XPS 13 (11.63 x 7.84 x 0.60 inches) are also quite a bit smaller.

The T14s manages to pack in all the ports you’ll need, including two Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C ports, two USB 3.2 Type-A Ports (5 Gbps), a 3.5-inch audio jack and a full-size HDMI 2.1 port.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon) Specs

Performance of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

With its 12-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 CPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD, our review configuration of the ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6) handled everything we threw at it, from simple web surfing to playing videos and running intensive benchmarks for hours at a time.

On Geekbench 6, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall processing performance, the T14s registered a 14,486 multi-core score and a 2,459 single-core score. Those numbers are right in the middle of the pack when compared to other laptops with Qualcomm CPUs. The Dell XPS 13 (9345) (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100) and Acer Swift 14 AI (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100) both scored a little higher while the HP OmniBook X (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100) and ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) trailed.

The ThinkPad T14s took 5 minutes and 34 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p in Handbrake. That time is faster than the OmniBook X and X1 Carbon, but slower than the XPS 13 and Swift 14 AI.

The 1TB PCIe 4 SSD was reasonably fast, transferring 25GB of files at a rate of 1,069 MBps. That is acceptable, but quite a bit behind most of its competitors including the Acer Swift 14 AI (1,891 MBps) and ThinkPad X1 Carbon (1,512 MBps).

To see how well the T14s performs during long-running, processor-intensive tasks we ran Cinebench 2024 10 times in a row and recorded the scores, processor clock speeds and temperatures. During the run, Lenovo’s laptop averaged a score of 732 with a high of 751 on run number five and a low of 675 on run number two. The CPU ran at an average clock speed of 2,107.6 MHz while the CPU ran at an average temperature of 69.4 degrees Celsius.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The T14s is available with a choice of three panels. You either get a 1920 x 1200, with or without touch, or an OLED 2880 x 1800 panel that operates at 120 Hz. Our review unit had the 1920 x 1200 non-touch panel which is likely the best for power consumption as higher resolution panels and those that operate at higher refresh rates tend to use more juice.

When I watched my favorite test video, an HDR movie of animals in the Costa Rican jungle, the greens in a lizard’s skin and the reds in a parrot’s features were pretty colorful but not as vibrant as I’ve seen on the very best laptop screens I’ve tested. Fine details such as the scales on a snake were easy to make out.

According to our colorimeter, the screen can reproduce a solid 70.6% of the DCI-P3 color gamut which is not as good as the HP OmniBook X (80.2%) or ThinkPad X1 Carbon (82.1%), the latter of which had an OLED panel on our test unit. However, the Dell XPS 13 was far worse at 66.9%.

The screen is very bright, hitting an eye popping 452 nits on our light meter. Among its direct competitors, only the Dell XPS 13 (456 nits) did better.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Trackpoint on the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

Like most other ThinkPads, the T14s has a world-class typing experience, complete snappy keys have curved keycaps that make them easier to locate by feel. There are also raised lines on the Enter, Fn, Down Arrow and F + J keys so you find these markers in the dark (or if you’re visually impaired). The F + J keys have had these marks on prior ThinkPads but the others are new additions.

Tapping away on the T14’s keyboard was a pleasure as I managed a strong 100 words-per-minute on the 10 Fast Fingers typing test, along with a 3 percent error rate. Those are both good marks for me on any laptop, and I was able to achieve them because I was comfortable typing.

Using the built-in Lenovo Commercial Vantage control panel software, you can configure the F12 key to launch any program, open a website or enter any text you want. Unfortunately, you can’t use the app to remap F12 into another key such as Print Screen, but you can do that with a third-party utility such as SharpKeys.

For navigation, the T14s has both a TrackPoint pointing stick and a 2.4 x 4.53-inch glass (non-haptic) touchpad. I always prefer the TrackPoint because it gives me the most accurate navigation around the desktop and I don’t have to lift my hands off of the home row and disrupt my typing position to use it. Double-tapping the TrackPoint brings up the TrackPoint Quick Menu, which gives you easy access to Microphone, Audio Playback and Camera settings.

If you don’t like pointing sticks – and really, you should give them a try – the touchpad has a lot to offer. In my tests, it offered smooth navigation with just the right amount of friction. It also responded flawlessly to multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and three-finger swipe.

Audio on the ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The ThinkPad T14s’s dual speakers, located on either side of the keyboard, provide sound output that’s loud enough to fill a small conference room and is accurate, though not rich. When I played AC/DC’s "Back in Black," there was some separation of sound between the drums on the right side and the vocals / guitar on the left. And the percussion, while not layered, was mostly free from tinniness.

Using the included Dolby Access app, I was able to choose among different sound output profiles for Music, Movies, Games and Dynamic. I found that Dynamic, which automatically predicts the kind of output you need, to be not only the best but the loudest choice.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

While you can’t upgrade the RAM, which is soldered to the motherboard, you can change out the SSD, but you’ll pay a premium for the replacement. While most computers and laptops use 2280 length SSDs, the T14s requires a 2242 drive, which is less common and costs more. For example, a 2TB WD Black SN770 in 2242 form factor currently goes for $194 while the 2280 size of the same drive is just $118.

To upgrade the laptop, you need to loosen the five captive Philip’s head screws and pry open the rear panel, an easy process that takes just a couple of minutes. The SSD is located underneath a copper heatsink in the upper right corner of the motherboard.

Battery LIfe on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

We need only one word to describe ThinkPad T14s’s battery life: wow.

On our battery test, which involves surfing the web and streaming videos with the screen set at 150 nits of brightness, the T14s endured for 21 hours and 3 minutes. That time is the longest we’ve seen on a laptop. The Dell XPS 13 (9345), which uses the same Snapdragon Elite X CPU, came close to matching this mark, hitting a time of 19 hours and 31 minutes, though that’s with a smaller display.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The ThinkPad T14s stayed cool throughout our testing . It never got particularly warm, even when we pushed it to its limits.

When I ran Cinebench 2024 and took the temperatures after 15 minutes, the middle of the keyboard was a mere 92 degrees Fahrenheit and barely felt warm to the touch. The touchpad was a cool 77 F, which is barely room temperature. However, like most laptops under load, the bottom got toasty, hitting 114 F.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The 1080p webcam on the ThinkPad T14s captured sharp, colorful images of me in both regular and low light scenarios. In the shots I took, the reds and greens in my shirt were accurate and vibrant. And the hairs in my beard were sharp and detailed.

There’s also an IR camera for Windows Hello facial login. If you’re concerned about privacy, you can always slide the physical privacy shutter over the camera lens.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 6, Snapdragon)

The ThinkPad T14s comes blissfully free of unwanted bloatware and has just a bare minimum number of utilities. Lenovo Commercial Vantage is the company’s major control panel software and it allows you to do everything from downloading updated drivers to configuring the power settings from one place. However, for many of the settings – Camera and Display settings for example – Commercial Vantage simply links you to the appropriate part of Windows 11’s Settings app. That’s probably for the best, because in most cases, you don’t need a proprietary settings panel in lieu of the one that’s built into the operating system.

However, Vantage does provide some extra settings such as the ability to configure whether the USB ports can still charge devices even when the computer is asleep or powered off. In addition to Vantage, there’s the Dolby Access app which lets you change sound profiles, choosing among Movie, Music Game or Dynamic settings. On the Start Menu, there’s also User Guide which is nothing more than a link to an online manual for the T14s, located at Lenovo.com.

It almost goes without saying that Microsoft has some Windows 11 preloaded apps on here such as Clipchamp and Spotify.

This is a Copilot+ PC, so Windows comes with a few extra local AI features you can’t get on older PCs, but will soon come to on Ryzen AI-powered and Intel Lunar Lake-powered laptops. These include Cocreate, a feature of Windows Paint that draws AI images locally and Windows Studio Effects, which allow you to get background blur and a few other webcam special effects. There’s also Live captions with real-time translation and, in the near future, Recall, which will allow you to query all your past screen activity to remember things you’ve done.

Because the T14s has an Arm processor, there are a few Windows programs, including Adobe After Effects, Google Drive for Desktop and many games that won’t run on it. And there are many other apps such as Discord and Audacity that will run but only in emulation mode, which makes them slower. A site called windowsonarm.org tracks which apps are and are not compatible with Arm and it’s clear that most of the key productivity programs do work on Arm. So, while it’s possible you could find an app that won’t work, most knowledge workers will find that their most-used apps, including Microsoft Office, Chrome browser and Visual Studio, all run well.

Lenovo backs the ThinkPad T14s with a standard one year warranty. However, you can pay extra to extend the warranty up to five years and add extras such as accidental damage protection.

Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon) Configurations

When we started this review a few weeks ago, the starting configuration of the T14s was available for less than $1,300 on Lenovo.com, but since then, the prices have gone up. Now, Lenovo.com only has a “build your own” option which starts at a whopping $1,969 and, if you want to spend less, you’ll need to buy from a third-party site such as B&H.

Currently priced at $1,666.56 (when bought via B&H Photo), our review configuration of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s (Gen 6, Snapdragon) came with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 1920 x 1200, non-touch display.

On Lenovo.com, there’s only a custom configuration option. The lowest configuration, which goes for $1,969, still has the same Snapdragon CPU, 1920 x 1200 display and 32GB of RAM, but just 256GB of storage.

If you custom configure your system, you can move up to 64GB of RAM, go with a 512GB of 1TB SSD and choose a 2.8K OLED panel that promises to reproduce 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. We recommend sticking with the 1920 x 1200 panel, if you want the best battery life.

Bottom Line

There’s a lot to love about the ThinkPad T14s (Snapdragon, Gen 6). It has incredible battery life, which is useful when you have a 2.72-pound system and want to spend a long time away from power outlets while you get things done. And, with this system, you will get a lot done. It has the awesome ThinkPad keyboard we’ve come to expect from Lenovo, it has all the ports you might want and a screen that’s bright enough to help you work near a window with sunlight streaming in.

The ThinkPad T14s has solid performance and the promise of even more help when local AI workloads become even more useful and pervasive than the gimmicky Copilot+ features Windows has today. Its only serious drawbacks are its relatively high price) and the unlikely possibility that you’ll want to use a program that doesn’t run or run well on Arm processors. If you’re concerned about compatibility, consider waiting for the ThinkPad T14s with AMD Ryzen AI processor that will be out in a few weeks or the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13) that will be out in November. However, if you’re willing to get an Arm-powered laptop, the T14s (Gen 6) is a fantastic choice.

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Lenovo has started to roll out its business-focused ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 laptop, with promotional materials claiming the thin and light portable can deliver up to 29 hours of battery life. Of course, this is one of the new breed of Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered devices running Windows 11, but that headline battery stamina claim is still extraordinary. Marketing claims and reality don’t always go hand-in-hand, so a little skepticism about this device’s advertised battery run time might be wise until it has been independently reviewed.

Keeping our focus on the battery life of the new ThinkPad T14s for now, Lenovo’s 29-hour measurement is said to have been taken from a (local) video playback test. Such a use case might be valid for frequent travelers on long flights without access to power outlets who prefer to pack their offline entertainment. The built-in battery capacity of 58Wh is nothing unusual for a thin and light, even one that is just 1.24kg in weight and 16.9mm thick, like this Lenovo.

The beating heart of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s is a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor with 12 Oryon CPU cores built upon the Arm architecture. Other early details reveal that Lenovo has a dual-fan cooling system here. While we expect one to concentrate its cooling efforts on the Snapdragon, it would be interesting to know what, if any, additional heat center inspired the extra fan.

This ThinkPad T14s is built for business, so it comes with a better selection of ports than many consumer laptops. Users should also expect something more hard-wearing than an affordable consumer portable.

Of course, there is a cost for the pro-spec and build quality. At the China eCommerce outlets, where this model popped up first, pricing starts at roughly the equivalent of $1,700 for the spec shown in the table above.

Lenovo's new ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 Workstation laptop is officially the world's first laptop to feature Micron's bleeding edge LPCAMM2 memory modules. LPCAMM2 is a new memory type based on CAMM2 that's 64% smaller than DDR5 SO-DIMMs, and 58% more power efficient thanks to the use of LPDDR5X memory. It also makes it possible to upgrade your laptop's memory, unlike traditional LPDDR5X solutions.

The ThinkPad P1 is Lenovo's latest iteration of its ThinkPad branded prosumer laptops. The Gen 7 variant is the only model in the P1 lineup sporting Micron's LPCAMM2 memory, with a maximum supported capacity of 64GB. While that's somewhat inferior to SO-DIMM options that can reach higher capacities, with LPCAMM2 the Gen 7 version is the only ThinkPad laptop that has access to LPDDR5X modules operating at 7467 MT/s. The official CAMM2 standard can handle up to 128GB, so the Gen 7's maximum memory capacity could change in the future.

The ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 uses a 16-inch chassis with a 16:10 aspect ratio OLED display, powered by an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H Meteor Lake CPU. Graphical horsepower comes in the form of Intel integrated graphics and discrete Nvidia GPU options, the latter of which ranges up to the RTX 3000 Ada prosumer laptop GPU.

Micron's LPCAMM2 supports the all-new CAMM2 JEDEC memory standard for laptop and desktop computers. As previously mentioned, the new standard uses a radically different form factor compared to traditional SO-DIMM memory. This serves two purposes. One is that it enables CAMM2-based memory types to use substantially less real estate. The second is that you can replace the LPCAMM2 module with a higher capacity option, unlike traditional LPDDR5X solutions.

LPCAMM2 utilizes LPDDR5X memory rated at 7,500 MT/s, providing 1.3X more bandwidth than standard JEDEC DDR5 SO-DIMM memory. A single module uses the entire 128-bit memory bus width of the CPU memory controller, meaning a single LPCAMM2 functions as a dual-channel solution. That means only one module is required to reach maximum memory performance.

The new memory format originated from the proprietary CAMM standard that Dell invented. JEDEC later adopted it under the name CAMM2, making it a worldwide memory standard. Since then, Samsung and Micron have built their own CAMM2 concoctions under varying names like LPCAMM2. ('Normal' CAMM2 solutions don't use lower power LPDDR5X memory.)

It's not surprising that big notebook makers like Lenovo are adopting the new CAMM2 standard. CAMM2's substantially smaller profile, higher bandwidth, and upgrade potential make it the perfect successor to the SO-DIMM and LPDDR solutions that have dominated the compact computing market for decades.

The Rolls Royce of productivity laptops, Lenovo’s X1 Carbon combines a lightweight build, an industry-leading keyboard, strong battery life, and all the ports that most people need. The X1 Carbon (Gen 12) makes some noteworthy improvements over its predecessors, shrinking the laptop’s dimensions and peeling about 0.08 pounds off its weight while upgrading to an Intel Core Ultra processor, its first consumer chip to feature a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to help with AI. 

In our tests, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) offered solid performance and the fantastic keyboard experience we expect from Lenovo. And, with Meteor Lake on board, it handled local AI tasks we threw at it with aplomb. Unfortunately, the battery life – at least with the 2880 x 1800 OLED panel on our review unit – was subpar. And the price, which starts at $2,263 for a model with just 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, is really high in comparison to competitive products, including the still-available X1 Carbon (Gen 11). However, if the price drops or you don’t mind paying a high price for the latest and greatest components, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is a great choice for portable productivity.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Designed to compete with the best ultrabooks on the market, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) features the traditional Thinkpad aesthetic, complete with a boxy, raven-black chassis that’s accented by a few drips of bright red in the logo, the status light, and the TrackPoint pointing stick. Some folks find this shape and colorway overly conservative, but for many others, it’s iconic.

The Carbon has long been Lenovo’s flagship ThinkPad, combining sleek aesthetics with a slim, lightweight chassis that still finds room for a generous screen and plenty of ports. With the 12th Gen Carbon, the company has managed to shave a few tenths of an inch off of the laptop’s dimensions, without shrinking the 14-inch screen this line has always had or compromising usability.

The bezel is incredibly thin, but there is a small protrusion above the screen in the form of the Communications bar, which houses the webcam, IR sensor, and privacy shutter. It juts out from the lip of the lid so you can use it to flip open the laptop.

Like its predecessors, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is made out of a combination of carbon fiber and magnesium with some plastic and a little aluminum under the surface. It’s incredibly lightweight, but also very durable as it passes 12 military-grade certifications (MIL-STD 810H). Stress tests include the ability to survive extreme temperatures, high altitudes, vibrations, mechanical shocks, humidity, sand, and dust, and even exposure to fungus. The X1 Carbon (Gen 12) also uses a lot of recycled materials, including a C cover that’s made from 90 percent recycled magnesium and a D cover that’s made from 55 percent recycled aluminum. 

This model measures 12.31 x 8.45 x 0.59 inches (312.8 x 214.75 x 14.96 mm), which is 0.09 inches narrower and a noticeable 0.35 inches shorter than its predecessor. This notably makes the palm rest just a little shorter, but I found that it was still more than an adequate size to hold my wrists in place. These dimensions are also a bit more compact than the Asus ZenBook 14 OLED  (12.30 x 8.67 x 0.59 inches) and HP Spectre x360 14 (12.35 x 8.68 x 0.67 inches).

At just 2.42 pounds, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) is also 0.06 pounds lighter than its predecessor, 0.4 pounds lighter than the ZenBook 14 OLED, and 0.8 pounds lighter than the HP Spectre x360. Despite its lightweight and narrow dimensions, the X1 Carbon packs two USB Type-A ports, a full-size HDMI port, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports for charging and data. The power button is now on the right side rather than above the keyboard so, if you like to use the laptop docked, you can power it on without opening the lid.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) Specs

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

With its Core Ultra 7 155H CPU, 32GB of RAM and 1TB SSD, our configuration of the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) handled everything we threw at it, from simple web surfing to generating music using local AI capabilities. 

On Geekbench 6, a synthetic test that measures overall processing performance, the X1 Carbon achieved a single-core score of 2,285 and a multi-core score of 11,638. That’s a little less than Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (2,448 / 12,908) and the HP Spectre x360 14 (2,353 / 12,370), both of which have the same Core Ultra 7 155H CPU as Lenovo’s laptop. The MacBook Air 15 and its M3 processor had  higher single and multi-core scores of 3,093 and 12,205..

The X1 Carbon took a modest 7 minutes and 25 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p using Handbrake. That time is slightly faster than the HP Spectre x360 (7:30). However, the ZenBook 14 OLED (6:17) was much quicker, despite having the same CPU, and the MacBook Air finished in a quick 6:30. Last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) and its Core i7-1355U processor pulled in last at 9:08.

The X1 Carbon’s 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD completed our file transfer test, in which we copy 25GB of files at a rate of 1,512 MBps. That’s faster than the HP Spectre x360 (1,362 MBps), the MacBook Air 15 (1,167 MBps) and the ZenBook 14 (1,279 MBps). The X1 Carbon (Gen 11) was slightly faster at 1,703 MBps.

To see how the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) performs under stress, we ran Cinebench R23 twenty times. Performance was very consistent, averaging 10,634 and sitting in the high 10,000s and low 11,000s on most runs, except runs 3 and 4 where it dropped a bit.

We also ran a few AI workloads on the X1 Carbon in order to see what you can expect if you want to do local inference. To make sure these numbers were typical, we compared the results to another laptop with the same Core 7 Ultra 155H, the Acer Swift Go 14, which we also had in our lab at the time. The devices were pretty much neck and neck with each beating the other on different tests. 

With Intel’s OpenVINO plugin for Audacity installed, the Swift Go 14 took an average of 45.3 seconds to transcribe a 23-minute audio file using Whisper AI while the X1 Carbon completed the same task in an average of 53.9 seconds. The X1 Carbon came out ahead when we ran noise reduction, completing the task in an average of 783.9 seconds compared to 803.4 seconds on Acer’s laptop. For music generation, the times were a virtual tie at 56.8 seconds for the ThinkPad and 56.6 seconds for the Swift Go 14. 

I should note that, for all of the test numbers above, we set Audacity to use the integrated Intel Ark GPU rather than the NPU to do the processing. Though using the NPU saves power and frees up your other components, the GPU usually provides better performance. For example, the noise suppression test took 783.9 seconds on the GPU but 1031.7 seconds on the NPU. 

We also tested GIMP’s OpenVINO Stable Diffusion image generator on the X1 Carbon and found that it took just 16 seconds to output an image of a cat driving a car. We had difficulty getting the latest GIMP plugin to run on the Acer, but with an earlier version of the plugin, it also took 16 seconds as did the Core 5 Ultra 5 125H-powered IdeaPad Pro 5i, which we tested on this workload in December.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Our review configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) came with the highest-end display Lenovo offers: an OLED panel that’s 2880 x 1800 resolution, supports HDR and runs at 120 Hz (double the normal 60 Hz most non-gaming laptop screens offer). As we might expect, this screen offers vibrant, sharp images with great viewing angles, but its features are probably overkill for the productivity users this laptop is aimed at.

When I watched my favorite screen-testing nature video, a 4K Costa Rica jungle montage on YouTube, fine details like the scales on a snake or the leaves on trees were sharp and easy to distinguish. Greens such as the skin of a frog or the moss on the ground were particularly rich, but the red feathers on a parrot didn’t pop as much as I would want. 

However, once I enabled HDR mode and relaunched my browser with the same video, which is available in HDR, the feathers were much more vibrant. However, with HDR on, any non-HDR content, including the Windows desktop, looks dull so I don’t recommend you enable it unless you plan on watching a long HDR video.

The panel surface is glossy but doesn’t reflect back as much light as many other glossy screens I’ve tested. Still, when I held it in front of a window on a sunny day, I could see strong reflections of the room around me.

According to our colorimeter, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s OLED panel can reproduce a solid 82.1%of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 116% of the narrower sRGB gamut. That’s within a few points of its OLED-powered competitors such as the Asus Zenbook 14 OLED and HP Spectre x360, along with the MacBook Air 15-inch M3. Last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon and its LED screen managed a lesser, 69.8% of the DCI-P3 gamut and just 99% of sRGB.

The screen reached 389 nits of brightness in our tests, which bests the ZenBook, HP Spectre x360, and last year’s ThinkPad, but falls nearly 100 nits short of the MacBook Air 15.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Trackpoint on Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Like other ThinkPads, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has a first-class keyboard with snappy tactile feedback, deep travel (1.5 mm), and gently curved keys. Using this keyboard on the 10fastfingers typing test, I scored a very strong 104 words per minute. near the upper end of my typical range. I could type on this thing all day and still feel comfortable and energized hitting those keys.

Lenovo has made a few changes over prior-generation X1 Carbon keyboards. The company has swapped the positions of the Fn key and the CTRL key so that the CTRL key is in the lower left corner as it is on most PC keyboards, and the Fn is to its right. That’s a quality-of-life improvement since the old way of having the Fn to the far left is confusing when you switch back and forth with an external keyboard (or with other laptops). 

The new X1 Carbon also has elevated, tactile bumps on a few keys: Enter, Fn, down arrow, F2, F3, Insert, F, and G, the last two of which have been common on prior models. These bumps are designed to help people with visual impairments feel their way around, but they can also help touch typists avoid looking down.

Like other ThinkPads, the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has both a TrackPoint pointing stick and a touchpad. Sitting between the G and H keys, the TrackPoint provides the most accurate navigation you can get on a laptop (in my view) and you can use it to move the pointer around without even lifting your hands off of the home row. 

While this little red nub goes back decades, the X1 Carbon adds a new capability to it that previously was only available on the ThinkPad Z Series. If you double tap on the TrackPoint, it brings up the Quick Menu where you can adjust the camera brightness, change microphone settings, enable voice typing, adjust the battery charging threshold, change the audio output device, and more. I’d much rather be able to assign a macro or hotkey to the TrackPoint; hopefully, Lenovo will add more customization options in the future.

If you don’t like the TrackPoint, there’s the 2.9 x 4.9-inch glass touchpad, which feels really smooth but not at all slippery. It’s also a bit larger than the 4.3 x 2.2-inch touchpad on the previous model, though that was plenty large too. As I expected, the touchpad offered smooth, accurate navigation around the desktop and it responded seamlessly to multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom, two-finger scrolling, and three-finger swipes.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)’s built-in audio system won’t compete with the best PC speakers, but it provides decent output that’s both loud and distortion-free. When I played AC/DC’s "Back in Black" at full volume, the guitar and drums were not tinny, but were not overly rich and layered either. 

Normally, I like to hear a clear separation of sound where some instruments appear to be coming from one side of the computer and others from the opposite side. In this case, the drums and vocals did seem to be coming from a little bit to the left while the guitars were on the right, but since the speakers are both beneath the keyboard, it seemed like the instruments weren’t that far away from each other.

In the Lenovo Commercial  Vantage software, I was able to choose from several Dolby Access audio profiles: Voice, Music, Movies, Games, and Dynamic. I found that the song was loudest and richest when I enabled Dynamic rather than Music. At maximum volume, the output was able to fill my living room and be heard clearly in the adjacent dining room.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Like other ThinkPad X1 Carbons, the Gen 12 model allows you to upgrade its M.2 2280 SSD and nothing else. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard and the Wi-Fi card isn’t readily accessible.

To get to the inside of the computer, I loosened the four captive Philip’s head screws and the bottom panel popped off easily. Underneath, the SSD sits under a metal heat shield which is secured with two screws. I didn’t bother taking it out for testing purposes, but it would be easy to unscrew that shield and remove the SSD. Popping the bottom panel back on was a pain as it took several attempts to get all four sides to snap into place so I could tighten the screws again.

Battery Life on Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Our review configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) lasted a modest 9 hours and 14 minutes on our battery test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi with the screen at 150 nits of brightness. That’s four and a half hours shorter than the prior model, last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11), five hours behind the MacBook Air 15 and three hours short of the Asus ZenBook 14 OLED. It even pulls up nearly two hours behind the HP Spectre x360.

It’s quite possible that the 2880 x 1800, 120 Hz OLED panel on our review unit is to blame for the increased power consumption (though we configured it to run at 60 Hz). Lenovo also offers the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) with a 1920 x 1200, 60 Hz LED screen so it’s likely that a configuration with the lower-res panel would last longer on a charge.

When we tested last year’s model, which endured for an impressive 13 hours and 45 minutes, it had both a 1920 x 1200 display and an Intel Core i7 U series processor, which has a 15-watt TDP (lower than the Core Ultra 7 155’s 28-watt TDP). Both models use 57 WHr batteries.

If endurance is a priority to you, definitely buy this laptop with the 1920 x 1200 screen.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) stayed relatively cool throughout my regular use of the laptop. It never seemed too warm to the touch, which is important for a laptop you’re likely to use on your lap sometimes. 

However, after running our Cinebench R23 stress test for 15 minutes, the middle of the keyboard was a little toasty, registering 114.5 degrees Fahrenheit while the middle bottom clocked in at 118.5 degrees. The touchpad stayed cool at just 86.5 degrees. To be fair, even when I touched the keys during this test, they felt warm but not burning hot.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon features a 1080p webcam, which provided sharp and relatively colorful images in our testing. Images I took of myself under the harsh, yellowish overhead lighting of my office were sharp and fairly color-accurate, though a little washed out due to the lighting.

However, once I turned on the preloaded Lenovo View software and enabled its Video Enhancement feature, I was able to turn up the light, color, and intensity sliders, making the image much more colorful.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12)

Like other ThinkPads, the X1 Carbon comes preloaded with Lenovo’s Commercial Vantage application. This utility helps you keep the device drivers and BIOS up-to-date while giving you access to custom settings for the speakers, microphone and webcam. This is also the app where you set whether the USB port stays on for charging when the computer is off, what the F12 key does and whether the computer turns itself on when you open the lid.

The company has also preinstalled Lenovo View, a utility that uses your webcam to perform various functions, some of which use image recognition. The tool has a privacy feature that alerts you if someone is coming up behind you and gives you the chance to blur your screen so they don’t see what you're doing. The Wellness mode is basically a nag that detects if you are slouching by using the camera to see your posture; It also reminds you every so often to give your eyes a break. Lenovo View also has the ability to put your camera image on top of screen share presentations you’re giving and it gives you some color sliders to adjust your camera image.

There are also just a few of the standard pieces of crapware that Microsoft preloads in Windows 11, including icons for Spotify, Grammarly, LinkedIn, and Camo Studio, a freemium camera app with more settings than the standard Windows camera program.

Lenovo backs the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) with a standard one-year warranty on parts and labor. You can also pay extra to extend that timeline up to five years, add premiere support, or even go for accidental damage protection.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) Configurations

From the time it officially went on sale in December until the date of this publication, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has been available in very limited configurations and with extraordinarily high prices. We have to think that, as the company offloads more of its prior-gen models and ramps up production, the amount of Gen 12 choices will increase and their prices will drop. But, as of now, the choices are limited and very pricey, at least in the U.S.

On Lenovo.com, the main place to buy the laptop in the U.S. there are six configurations that range in price from $2,263 to $3,047. All of them have 1920 x 1200 displays in touch or non-touch varieties, not the OLED, 2880 x 1800 panel on our review configuration. Our configuration, which has the 2880 x 1800 screen, a Core Ultra 7 155U CPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, isn’t available right now, but was around $2,800 when it was on sale a couple of months ago. However, we recommend the 1920 x 1200 panel, because it would probably use less power and provide longer battery life.

The least expensive configuration goes for $2,263 and has a Core Ultra 5 125U CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. To get 32GB of RAM and 1TB, which we recommend, you need to buy the $3,039.20 model which has a Core Ultra 7 165U CPU and a 1920 x 1200 touch screen.

Bottom Line

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) has a lot to like: a lightweight yet durable design, an industry-leading typing and navigation experience, a sharp webcam, and plenty of ports. The Intel Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” processor sets you up for a future where more of your AI processing, from background blurs on video conferences to image generation and chatbotting, is processed locally. 

But either because of the processor, which has a higher TDP (28 watts, 20 watts as configured) than the 15-watt U series CPU we tested on the 11th Gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon, or because of the 120 Hz OLED panel, the battery life on the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) was not great in our tests. It’s likely you’d get more endurance with the 1920 x 1200 screen, but we can’t say how much. 

And the price for the X1 Carbon (Gen 12) at this time is really, really high for what you get. Normally, after a few months on the market, the price of new ThinkPads comes down to earth, but you can’t even touch a base model with subpar specs for less than $2,200 or get one with specs I'd want for less than $3,000. 

Meanwhile, last year’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) is still for sale in a wider variety of configurations with prices starting at just $1,439 and one with 32GB of RAM for $1,710. It’s not as powerful and it’s a few tenths of an inch larger, but the Gen 11 model offers most of what you’d like about the new model for a lot less money.

If you don’t want the durability and first-class typing experience you get with a ThinkPad, the Asus Zenbook OLED 14 or HP Spectre x360 both have longer battery life, cost hundreds or even $1,000 less, and use the same Core Ultra processors. 

However, if you want the very best X1 Carbon performance and design you can get and you’re willing to pay a hefty premium for it, the Gen 12 delivers both now.

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Lenovo on Friday denied accusations of its ties with the Chinese government and that its PCs could be used for espionage. The comment follows a letter that members of the House Select Committee sent to the chief executive of Navy Exchange, a retail store for U.S. service members and veterans. The committee requested that Naval Exchange stop selling Lenovo PCs, citing the company's ties with the Chinese government and past cybersecurity incidents. The letter was signed by Mike Gallagher (R), a congressman from Wisconsin. 

"The assertions regarding Lenovo cited in Chairman Gallagher's letter are based on past claims that were inaccurate, unsubstantiated or resolved years ago," a statement by Lenovo reads. 

No Ties with Government, No Control from Legend Holdings

The House Select Committee accused Lenovo of notable associations with the Chinese government.  

"The exchange should not be selling Lenovo products to U.S. service members, let alone incentivizing such purchases with tax-free, discounted prices," the letter reads, reports Military Times.  

The letter asserted that Lenovo is not only closely linked with influential bodies like the People's Liberation Army and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but its primary shareholder, Legend Holdings, is also intertwined with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This network of associations brings forward potential espionage risks.

"Lenovo is not affiliated with the People's Liberation Army in any way, is not invested in or controlled by the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party, and does not participate in or have links to Chinese state-run cyberespionage campaigns," the company's spokesperson said. 

While Legend Holdings is a shareholder of Lenovo that owns a 36% stake, it only controls two out of 12 board seats and has no control over the company. Furthermore, Lenovo is a publicly traded company that adheres to global corporate governance requirements.

"Lenovo operates independently, with no disproportionate Legend representation," a recent report by Fitch Ratings reads. "There are no related-party transactions, management overlap or operational integration. External monitoring and corporate governance requirements prohibit any Legend interference. Legend has some influence but no control over Lenovo."

Spyware?

Lenovo has been implicated in situations where it was said to have embedded VisualDiscovery 'shopping assistant' program developed by Superfish, which was later considered spyware and probable BIOS backdoors on its devices, the congressman asserts. 

"[Lenovo's] links to state-run cyberespionage campaigns are well documented, and it is believed to have been complicit in installing Superfish spyware and potentially a BIOS backdoor on a number of its computer products," the letter reads. "We are concerned that [Chinese] actors could gain access to service members' sensitive personal information and exploit this access to compromise U.S. national security."

Meanwhile, Lenovo was not the only company to install such programs on its PCs.

Global Company

Although based in Beijing, China, Lenovo has 6,000 employees in the U.S. and thousands worldwide. After buying IBM's PC business in 2005, the company passed numerous U.S. security reviews by CFIUS and met all audit standards. Furthermore, the company has supplied PCs and other devices to various U.S. government agencies, so it believes it had passed various security checks.

"Lenovo is a global company dual-headquartered in Beijing and Morrisville, NC, and employs approximately 6,000 people in the United States," the statement by Lenovo claims. "Since 2005, when it purchased IBM's PC division, Lenovo has successfully completed five national security reviews by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and has fully complied with post-review audits and oversight requirements. We have been a trusted vendor to multiple U.S. government agencies over many years, and our products deliver excellent value, performance and reliability."

Japanese computer accessories company Far East Gadgets launched its so-called Typesticks earlier this month (h/t PC Watch). Typesticks are key-spaced platforms made from hard plastic and silicon. The strategically positioned standoffs on the underside of Typesticks are supposed to work with any laptop keyboard using "a key gap of 2.5 mm or more, and a key height of 2 mm or less."

Have you ever wished you could use a mechanical keyboard with your laptop? Well, you can simply plug in your favorite keyboard, and use it, but this would usually mean pushing back your laptop to fit your favorite text input device on the desk in front of it. By placing some Typesticks over your laptop keyboard, you can again type in the screen-to-user position intended by the device designer. With some configurations, the laptop touchpad will remain easily accessible.

Official Typesticks images show a compact mechanical keyboard perched directly atop of a laptop keyboard, affording a superior typing experience. If you choose your Typesticks positioning carefully you can even use the height adjustment feet on your plug-in keyboard for enhanced ergonomics.

The Typesticks designers appear to enjoy using Apple MacBook laptops with the cutely compact HHKB (Happy Hacking Keyboard). However, other laptops have been tested and verified as working with the Typesticks, namely:

• Lenovo ThinkPad series laptops inc X28
• Alienware X17 gaming laptop
• iPad Pro 12.9" M2 & Magic Keyboard
• VAIO Pro PG laptop
• MacBook Pro M1 16 inch
• MacBook Pro 14" 2021
• MacBook Pro 13" 2020
• MacBook Air 13" 2020
• MacBook Air 15" 2023

The above list certainly isn't exhaustive, instead it seems like these may be the laptops the keyboard accessory maker and his colleagues had available for testing.

Likewise, the Typesticks work with a wide range of keyboards you might use. Remember, you can vary Typestick placements to run in line with the rake-adjusting feet on the keyboard base. As well as the HHKB, discrete keyboards tested and verified include the Keychron K2 Pro、NuPhy Air 75, and iPad Magic Keyboard.

Typesticks are compact and portable weighing just 15g. Pairs stick together in transit due to built-in magnets and are about the same size as a USB memory stick or pack of gum (actual size: 72.5 × 23 × 9 mm), to easily fit in a pocket of your laptop tote.

One of the drawbacks of the Typesticks, mentioned in the official product pages, is that an elevated keyboard could obscure the lower part of your computer screen, depending on various factors. Another drawback to some readers will be purchasing products from Japan, and the price is 2,480 yen ($17) plus shipping etc.

Lastly, buyers are warned not to close their clamshell laptops with the third party keyboard and or Typesticks still in place.

DIYers Will DIY

Computer DIYers with access to the best 3D printers, CNC or best laser cutters might find it pretty easy to make their own custom Typesticks. This could be a good option if the official Typesticks are incompatible with your particular laptop, or importing seems too much effort.

The worst rivals for any chip designer and PC maker are not its direct competitors, but rather devices that their potential customers already own. Therefore, to make those customers buy something new, they need to advance their products at a rapid pace so that a new PC would offer radically better experience than a three-years-old computer. This is apparently what Intel and Lenovo are doing in their joint co-engineering lab in Shanghai. 

Intel and Lenovo's Advanced System Innovation Lab serves as a breeding ground where engineers from both companies combine their skills to build next-generation laptops that provide strong performance, elegance, features, and user experience, reports DigiTimes.

Lenovo and Intel have a long history of working together on multiple innovative products, including ThinkPad X-series as well as ThinkPad X Fold series. To build such systems, Intel and Lenovo not only need to overcome hardware-related challenges such as performance, power management, and thermals, but also software-related issues. In addition, Intel's dedicated teams work closely with Lenovo in other co-engineering labs located in Zizhu and Pudong

"We share a long and illustrious history of deep engineering collaboration with Lenovo," said Zheng Jiong (ZJ), senior director of client customer engineering for Intel China's client computing group (CCG). "We work together very well and are thankful for the innovation support Lenovo has given us through joint labs like these." 

A notable achievement of the Advanced System Innovation Lab in Shanghai is development of an OLED display driver that can run two OLED screens instead of one, which opens doors to a number of potentially interesting use cases.  

"This work was critical to the development of our platform," said Zhijian Mo, director of platform design and development in Lenovo's intelligent devices group. 

Furthermore, both companies joined forces with DRAM makers to enhance LPDDR5 memory data transfer rates.

While Lenovo remains a key partner, Intel also teams up with other global PC OEMs and software vendors. Their collective goal is to break technological barriers, identify core issues, and engineer enhanced PC solutions. Several advancements in CPU, power, thermal management, and other PC parts have emerged from this cooperative approach.

Looking ahead, as work on the Meteor Lake platform nears completion, plans for the Lunar Lake platform are already in motion and expected to be ready in 2024. To make Lunar Lake-based PCs radically better than systems in use today, the two companies are again collaborating across multiple fronts, but this is probably something the two companies would prefer not to discuss in detail for now. 

"It is a very special project that involves detailed co-engineering efforts between both our teams," said Mo.

Lenovo was brave enough to debut the first Windows foldable screen PCs, but its follow-up has been "coming soon" for longer than seems reasonable. We reviewed the original Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold (13.3-inch) back in Dec 2020, but the new and improved 16.3-inch model we had hands-on time with in September 2022 has never been released. However, one of the unreleased Lenovo prototypes has now appeared in an eBay listing. This "Ultra RARE Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16" Unreleased Prototype 16+256GB Foldable," is currently listed at $1,999 (Buy It Now or Best Offer) plus applicable shipping from Beijing, China.

Lenovo's revamped Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold addressed many of the shortcomings raised in our review of the smaller device. It was immediately clear that the larger 16.3-inch folding screen was better suited to use in laptop mode, and replacing the original Intel Lakefield chip with Alder Lake options was a welcome upgrade. However, we didn't have enough time during the hands-on to assess whether other original model weaknesses like software bugs, and if battery life had been ironed out.

WC-William on eBay provided quite a thorough description of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Prototype for sale. The specs he shared showed the model in his possession is pretty much the same as our hands-on system, but the CPU / RAM / SSD config is near the lower limits for this device. In other words, Lenovo's official spec shows that this machine is supposed to be configurable better than this listing: 12th Gen Intel Core i7 ES model, 16 GB of DDR5, and 256 GB SSD.

As a prototype, this machine might have been passed around, poked, and prodded a lot, so there is some wear present. For example, the listing mentions two screen flaws: a noticeable black dot (group of stuck pixels?), and some irregular screen shading on part of the display panel. Also, the webcam doesn't open, but that is expected as a driver issue. The seller asserts that the ThinkPad's flaws "does not really impact everyday use." To sweeten the deal, it is claimed that the $1,999 asking price is "about $1200 below the released price," and a matching unreleased stylus, which would retail at $100, is included in the sale. 

One last warning is given to potential buyers, asking them not to tinker with the driver, BIOS, or system updates as changes might upset the prototype's current state of functionality. No returns will be accepted, says the seller.

Now we are more than halfway through 2023, and rival 17-inch foldable devices have been available for some time, it is feasible that the ThinkPad X1 Fold (16.3-inch) might never be released in the form outlined above. Anyone looking for a cutting-edge portable upgrade today, especially based on Intel processors, will probably be keeping their powder dry for news of the exciting mobile refreshes that are frequently leaking.

The Toshiba X300 is a budget desktop hard drive that’s most compelling at capacities over 8TB, offering extra storage without needing an enterprise or NAS label. Unfortunately, its performance is lackluster despite its 7200-RPM speed, plenty of cache, and versatile Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) technology. The price per terabyte at higher capacities is also relatively high, so the drives are close to the cost of the pricey 14TB Seagate IronWolf and 14TB WD Red Plus. Aside from peak write speed, those two NAS drives are generally superior to the X300.

There are definitely superior options on our list of best hard drives if you only need 8TB or less in an HDD. The WD Blue is good for those on a budget, while the Seagate FireCuda offers strong performance and a good warranty. If you need a drive for NAS, particularly if you want a five-year warranty, there are better options with the Seagate IronWolf Pro and WD Red Pro. The Red Plus is also a quieter, more efficient alternative. However, if you're focused on a drive designed specifically for desktop PCs, the Seagate BarraCuda Pro excels in everything over the X300 but is significantly more expensive. That leaves the X300 as being best if you need a specific amount of capacity in a single drive and can compromise on general performance.

Specifications

The current X300 lineup has capacities of up to 18TB, and cache up to 512MB. Our older 14TB X300 only has 256MB of cache, but it still uses CMR tech and spins at 7200 RPM. Like the WD Blue and Seagate BarraCuda, the X300 is only warrantied for two years, but the X300 has higher capacity options.

Excluding enterprise and NAS drives in the >8TB space, one possible competitor is the Seagate BarraCuda Pro, but that drive comes with a full five-year warranty. However, the 14TB X300 at $245.99 is significantly cheaper than the $330 14TB BarraCuda Pro. If we include NAS, we’re looking at the three-year WD Red Plus at about the same price, but that drive is optimized for running in a different environment.

Software and Accessories

Toshiba’s software support is bare bones, but it does exist. Looking up your specific model on Toshiba’s website will yield a link to the downloadable Toshiba Storage Diagnostic Tool to inspect the health of your drive. 

A Closer Look

The X300 is exceptionally plain, aside from the blue PCB. There are not many HDD manufacturers still in business - just compare the number of brands to SSDs! However, Toshiba’s drives fill some gaps that may cater to you. The X300 has characteristics similar to the entry-level WD Blue but has a higher spindle speed with higher capacity options. It’s not a NAS or enterprise drive, so it is best described as being for high-end desktops or workstations. 

Here we can see that the drive adheres to the standard 3.5" form factor and comes with the ubiquitous 6 Gb/s SATA connector. 

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Comparison Products

The 14TB Toshiba X300 faces our suite of 8TB hard drives, including the WD Blue, the older HGST UltraStar He8, the Seagate IronWolf Pro 8TB, the Seagate FireCuda, and the Seagate BarraCuda. Larger 20TB drives include the WD Red Pro, the Seagate Exos X20, the Seagate IronWolf Pro, and the Seagate SkyHawk AI. We also threw in the 14TB Seagate IronWolf Pro and the 12TB WD Red Plus. 

Trace Testing - 3DMark Storage Benchmark

Yes, gaming isn't the preferred use case for this class of hard drives, but we include these tests for perspective. Built for gamers, 3DMark’s Storage Benchmark focuses on real-world gaming performance. Each round in this benchmark stresses storage based on gaming activities, including loading games, saving progress, installing game files, and recording gameplay video streams.

The X300’s 3DMark performance is simply abysmal, as it trails the rest of the test pool in every metric. It's clear that this drive isn't geared for low-latency access of any sort — not even by HDD standards. 

Trace Testing – PCMark 10 Storage Benchmark

PCMark 10 is a trace-based benchmark that uses a wide-ranging set of real-world traces from popular applications and everyday tasks to measure the performance of storage devices.

Given the dismal performance in the previous benchmark, it comes as no surprise that the drives' PCMark 10 performance is likewise terrible.

Transfer Rates – DiskBench

We use the DiskBench storage benchmarking tool to test file transfer performance with a custom, 50GB dataset. We copy 31,227 files of various types, such as pictures, PDFs, and videos to a new folder and then follow-up with a reading test of a newly-written 6.5GB zip file.

Things are more cheery with DiskBench, especially during the read-centric portion of the workload. However, file copies are slow, with the X300 delivering performance akin to the smaller 5400-RPM Blue. This drive would be okay for infrequent writes, more so than the SMR-equipped BarraCuda, but it’s no match for other 7200-RPM drives. 

Synthetic Testing - ATTO / CrystalDiskMark

ATTO and CrystalDiskMark (CDM) are free and easy-to-use storage benchmarking tools that storage vendors commonly use to assign performance specifications to their products. Both of these tools give us insight into how each device handles different file sizes.

The X300's performance in sequential workloads is satisfactory in ATTO and Crystal Disk Mark. That said, performance in random workloads is disappointing, but this drive is more likely to be used for larger, sequential transfers.

Sustained Write Performance

Official write specifications are only part of the performance picture. Most HDDs implement a write cache which is a fast area of volatile memory such as DRAM.  Sustained write speeds directly hit the platters and tend to be consistent. There are exceptions to both of these statements as there are SSHDs (flash-containing hybrid HDDs), OptiNAND drives, and SMR drives that deviate from the traditional configuration. We use Iometer to detect the maximum sustained write speed of the HDD.

The X300's sustained sequential write performance is generally good, but the drive suffers from inconsistency. The X300 is clearly faster than the smaller drives but suffers from more noticeable dips as the drive writes data to the platters. As such, this would not be the best choice for a NAS.

Power Consumption

We use the Quarch HD Programmable Power Module to gain a deeper understanding of power characteristics. Idle power consumption is an important aspect to consider, especially if you're looking for a laptop upgrade as even the best ultrabooks can have mediocre storage.

Some drives can consume watts of power at idle while better-suited ones sip just milliwatts. Average workload power consumption and max consumption are two other aspects of power consumption, but performance-per-watt is more important. A drive might consume more power during any given workload, but accomplishing a task faster allows the drive to drop into an idle state more quickly, ultimately saving energy.

The X300 is not particularly efficient, especially given its capacity. However, it is satisfactory for desktop PCs.

Test Bench and Testing Notes

Conclusion

The Toshiba X300 is a difficult drive to recommend, given its relatively weak performance and its premium pricing at higher capacities. It has plenty of challengers at lower capacities, but it mostly faces enterprise and NAS drives at capacities exceeding 8TB (except the BarraCuda Pro — which notably costs a lot more per terabyte). However, if you happen to be a desktop user who needs a lot of storage in a single drive and can tolerate lackluster performance, the X300 could be a good option.

Although the X300’s overall performance is quite poor, it has high transfer rates thanks to its 7200-RPM spindle speed and CMR technology. This translates to relatively good read performance and higher peak write performance, although write consistency leaves much to be desired.

Selecting a drive like the IronWolf or Red Plus would make sense as they have an extra year on their warranties, are priced in the same ballpark, and generally perform as well or better than the X300 in most areas. The X300 has higher steady-state write performance, especially over the Red Plus, which may be why it’s marketed towards professional use, such as content creation and production workflows.

The Toshiba X300 is another case of a niche HDD that's good for one job in specific capacities. Still, we wouldn't recommend it beyond that, especially given the wide assortment of competent alternatives that offer far more balanced performance profiles. 

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New Zealand-based cyber security experts at CyberCX have detailed and demonstrated an alarmingly simple way to consistently access older BIOS-locked laptops. In the linked blog post, and video demo, an exec at the firm detailed how to short some EEPROM chip pins with a simple screwdriver to access a fully-unlocked BIOS. Then all it took was a quick poke around the BIOS settings screen to disable any BIOS password altogether.

Before we go further, it is worth pointing out that CyberCX's BIOS password bypass demonstration was done on several Lenovo laptops that it had retired from service. The blog shows that the easily reproducible bypass is viable on the Lenovo ThinkPad L440 (launched Q4 2013) and the Lenovo ThinkPad X230 (launched Q3 2012). Other laptop and desktop models and brands that have a separate EEPROM chip where passwords are stored may be similarly vulnerable.

Some of you will know that there are quite a lot of good used laptops sold for spares as they are practically disabled from re-use due to a BIOS lock in place. Individual owners or organizations may have neglected to document these passwords, forgotten them, or whatever - but the systems, which are also usually stripped of their best hard drive and/or SSDs, aren't as valuable on the used market as they could be. CyberCX pondered over its old IT equipment that had been password locked and wondered about trying to gain full access to the hardware again to use it as spares or testing machines.

From reading various documentation and research articles, CyberCX knew that it needed to follow the following process on its BIOS-locked Lenovo laptops:

• Locate the correct EEPROM chip.
• Locate the SCL and SDA pins.
• Short the SCL and SDA pins at the right time.

Checking likely looking chips on the mainboard and looking up series numbers eventually lead to being able to target the correct EEPROM. In the case of the ThinkPad L440, the chip is marked L08-1 X (this may not always be the case).

An embedded video in the CyberCX blog post shows just how easy this 'hack' is to do. Shorting the L08-1 X chip pins requires something as simple as a screwdriver tip being held between two of the chip legs. Then, once you enter the BIOS, you should find that all configuration options are open to be changed. There is said to be some timing needed, but the timing isn't so tight, so there is some latitude. You can watch the video for a bit of 'technique.'

CyberCX includes some quite in-depth analysis of how its BIOS hack works and explains that you can't just short the EEPROM chips straight away as you turn the machine on (hence the need for timing).

Some readers may be wondering about their own laptops or BIOS-locked machines they have seen on eBay and so on. CyberCX says that some modern machines with the BIOS and EEPROM packages in one Surface Mount Device (SMD) would be more difficult to hack in this way, requiring an "off-chip attack." The cyber security firm also says that some motherboard and system makers do indeed already use an integrated SMD. Those particularly worried about their data, rather than their system, should implement "full disk encryption [to] prevent an attacker from obtaining data from the laptop’s drive," says the security outfit.

CyberCX hints it will continue the above research. Perhaps it will look into being able to read the BIOS password in plaintext from the EEPROM, or check the viability of its screwdriver hack across more machines.

Several of my colleagues use multiple monitors at home (I would if I had more space!). On the go, they feel constrained. Maybe for them, the best ultrabook would have more displays. That's where the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i ($1,999.99 as tested) comes in. It has a standard laptop shape, but instead of a keyboard and deck, there's another screen. With an included stand, that means you can have two displays on the go.

The Yoga Book 9i comes with a whole slew of accessories, from a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to a folio stand and a stylus, letting you make the Yoga Book 9i work the way you need it to. But to get dual screens running on a laptop, which can be held in a numbers of different ways, Lenovo had to do some work on top of Windows 11.

That means that while the Yoga Book 9i is flexible (and with twice as many screens as most laptops), there's also a steep learning curve to learn how to use its plethora of features.

Design of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i is a surprise even before you open it. Its shell is a beautiful shade of blue that Lenovo calls "Tidal Teal," and it even pierced the heart of this reviewer, who buys 99% of his tech in gray or black. It's a really beautiful shade that wowed everyone I showed it too. See? There's room for color in laptops after all.

When it's closed, the Yoga Book resembles a run-of-the-mill notebook.  The aluminum construction has shiny, rounded edges like the regular Yoga 9i, which I think looks pretty spiffy. But when you lift the lid, that's where the fun begins: there's no keyboard. Instead, there's a pair of 13.3-inch OLED displays, allowing for dual horizontal or vertical displays.

The bezels around the screens are quite thin, though the "top" screen does have a thicker one to fit the webcam. Unlike foldables like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold and Asus Zenbook 17 Fold, however, these are two separate screens, made distinct with a hinge (which doubles as a soundbar) in between.

That hinge allows the dual screens to work like a typical 2-in-1 laptop, folding all the way back into a tablet (which turns off one of the screens) or into tent mode, with a screen on each  side.

The two halves of the laptop aren't equal in thickness, when using the two screens at a desk, one is a few millimeters closer to you than the other. In practice it's not a big deal, but I'm not going to pretend I didn't notice.

When holding the Yoga Book like a laptop, the left side has as a single Thunderbolt 4 port, while the right side has two more TB4 ports, an e-camera privacy switch and the power button. Lenovo is the latest attacker in the war against the 3.5 mm headphone jack. I suppose, with the mouse and keyboard paired over Bluetooth, Lenovo assumes one more item wouldn't be a big deal.

At 11.78 x 8.03 x 0.63 inches and 3.15 pounds, the Yoga Book 9i is a bit on the heavy side, especially for a tablet. I didn't find it natural to hold Lenovo's foldable like a book. But it's still small enough to be portable and put in a bag.

Apple's MacBook Air with M2 is 2.7 pounds and 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches, while Lenovo's closest traditional convertible in name, the Lenovo Yoga 9i, is 3.09 pounds and 12.52 x 9.05 x 0.6 inches. Asus' take on a foldable, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED with a single folding screen, is 3.31 pounds before accessories and measures 14.9 x 11.32 x 0.51 inches when folded.

The Yoga Book 9i comes with a menagerie of accessories, which, in a way, make the Yoga Book 9i feel more like a desktop. To support the Yoga in dual-screen mode at your desk, there's a Folio stand that folds origami style to hold the laptop at an upwards angle, allowing you to use the laptop like a pair of desktop monitors. There's also a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for that desktop feel, along with a stylus.

When you're not using the peripherals, the keyboard can be wrapped into a package with the Folio stand and the stylus, though the mouse will be left on its own. This is about as neat as I can see it being, though I wish this bundle would attach magnetically to the laptop. Either way, it definitely takes a bit more time and preparation than simply folding a laptop closed and sticking it in a bag.

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Lenovo's dual-screen PC is running off of an Intel Core i7-1355U, 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400, and a  512GB PCIe Gen 4 SSD.

For simple tasks, like web browsing, writing and editing documents and spreadsheets and even basic coding, this is more than enough. If you want slightly higher clocks, Lenovo uses Intel's P-series processors in the regular Yoga 9i.

On Geekbench 5, the Yoga Book 9i notched a single-core score of 1,813 and a multi-core score of 7,765. That's faster than the other foldable on this list, the single-screened Asus Zenbook Fold 17 OLED, which uses last year's Intel Core i7-1250U. On single-core, it was close to the Lenovo Yoga 9i (Intel Core i7-1360P) at 1,827 points, but the regular Yoga 9i's multi-core score of 9,954 was the highest on the list. The MacBook Air's M2 chip also beat out the Yoga Book 9i in both single-core and multi-core scores (1,932/8.919).

Lenovo's SSD in the Yoga Book 9i transferred 25GB of files at a a rate of 1,296.15 MBps, beaten only by its other SSD (in the regular 9i) at 1,669.29 MBps.

The Yoga Book 9i was the fastest in the pool on Handbrake, transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in 9 minutes and 19 seconds. The MacBook Air left the rest of the crowd in the dust at 7:52, and the P-Series Yoga 9i was actually slightly slower here at 9:45.

To push the Yoga Book 9i to its limits, we ran our stress test, looping Cinebench R23 for 20 runs. The laptop started with a score of 8,099.95 and then, as the computer heated up, steadied out in the mid-7,000's.  Notably, at run 16, there was a sharp drop to 6,362.64 before recovering, suggesting some throttling.

The Intel Core i7-1355U's two performance cores ran at an average of 3.01 GHz during the stress test, while the eight efficiency cores averaged 2.25 GHz. The CPU package's average temperature was 75.79 degrees Celsius (168.42 degrees Fahrenheit).

Displays on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Yeah, there are two screens.

Each of the 13.3-inch, 2880 x 1800 OLED screens are beautiful. They really look great, together and on their own.

That's despite the fact that they didn't always top our m measurements. The top screen covered 136.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, while the bottom hit 136.5% (to my eyes, they look identical). The regular Yoga 9i beat those at 142.1%, with the Zenbook Fold OLED coming in third and the non-OLED MacBook Air falling behind.

The Yoga 9i was plenty bright in my use, but the measurements suggest it could do better. The top screen measured 335 nits on our light meter while the bottom reached 344 nits. Again, the Yoga 9i was a bit brighter (353 nits) while the MacBook Air was the most luminous at 489 nits.

After using the laptop for a bit, it didn't surprise me that the trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse looked excellent, with gorgeous reds and blues in the many Spider-Man costumes, and bright and vivid motion even in darker chase scenes in the rain.

Of course, with two screens, you get a bit more flexibility, but also some complications. For instance, you can change the brightness on both screens independently, but Windows doesn't allow for this on its  own. Lenovo's solution works, but is clunky. When you hit the key on the Bluetooth keyboard to change it, two more sliders pop up that you adjust with your mouse or touch.

My preference was to keep the two screens oriented vertically, which showed more text in writing, Slack windows, articles I was reading and on social media. Some might prefer a more traditional horizontal alignment with two screens stacked on top of each other. There is a gesture to make applications take up both screens, which works OK, but I found the soundbar in the middle to be distracting.

The only other major use for using both screens simultaneously is in a few games. Asphalt 9, Modern Combat 5 and Dungeon Hunter 5 (all free in the Microsoft store, albeit with in-app purchase options), use the top screen for the main game and the bottom screen for a small map, alongside some controls. It's like a really clunky Nintendo DS with a tiny library. In the case of Asphalt 9 and Dungeon Hunter 5, the touch controls and maps felt tacked on.

As far as Windows 11 is concerned, the top screen is the main one, which is where you'll find a full taskbar.

Keyboard, Touchpad, Mouse, & Stylus on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Perhaps the most complicated part of the Yoga Book 9i is getting used to its wide variety of input methods. Sure, there's two touch screens, but there's a keyboard and mouse in the box, as well as virtual inputs and an included stylus.

Your options will depend heavily on which of the many postures you use your Yoga Book in. I spent most of my time with the Yoga Book 9i on my desk with the screens in a vertical orientation, using the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Neither is anything fancy; the mouse, the Lenovo 600 Bluetooth Silent Mouse, is a simple, plastic device powered by a AA battery and can pair to two computers at once, which is nice. The keyboard is color-matched with the Yoga Book and charges with the included USB-C adapter that comes with the laptop.

This keyboard is OK for travel, but won't replace a desktop keyboard. The keys are shallow, and when you use it on a desk, there's no palm rest like on a laptop. (Some keyboard enthusiast will tell you that you shouldn't need a wrist rest anyway). It's a bit noisy when you type on the shallow keys, but I still managed to hit 125 words per minute on monkeytype with a 2% error rate.

Lenovo's keyboard makes a bit more sense when it's attached to the Yoga Book as a laptop. It attaches magnetically to the bottom screen, giving you a physical keyboard where there wasn't one before. If you attach it to the top half of that screen, a virtual touchpad pops up, including left and right buttons. (You can customize whether you use a borderless trackpad or limit it to one area.

Windows gestures work on the trackpad, though performing those gestures on a screen rather than a touchpad does feel a bit off. The screen has more friction than most touchpads. If you decide you'd rather use a mouse, you can put the keyboard on the bottom half of the screen (though you won't have a wrist rest area), which shows widgets on the screen. It defaults to weather and news pulling the type of junk you find in the Windows 11 news widget. Alternatively, you can keep a small amount of screen above the keyboard.

If you don't want to carry the keyboard around at all, you can activate the virtual keyboard and mouse by tapping eight fingers on the bottom screen. I wouldn't use this keyboard outside of small searches, but it works better than I expected, and I like that you can adjust the tactile sensation (just don't turn on the sounds; they're annoying). I tried the same typing test as the physical keyboard just for fun, and hit 41 words per minute but with a 67% accuracy rate while touch typing.

If you just need a touchpad, you can press three fingers on the bottom screen, which brings up a resizable window you can use to drag the mouse around. (This only works on the bottom screen, a lesson I had to try several times to learn.)

If all of these shortcuts the type and click seem complicated, well, they are. They were, however, some of the easiest ones for me to remember, as I used them the most in my time with the Yoga Book.

In a way, perhaps the stylus is the most straightforward option: you write on either screen and it works. The Digital Pen 3 has a replaceable AAAA battery (too bad it doesn't recharge over USB-C) and offers 4,096 degrees of pressure sensitivity.

Lenovo does have some applications for quick note-taking, like the drawing in from the bottom right-hand corner of the bottom screen to open its Smart Note program, or even enabling notes on the lock screen, though I had issues getting the latter to work 100% of the time.

The stylus has two barrel buttons, which you can customize in the Lenovo Pen Settings app.

Learning Curve on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Just because the Yoga Book 9i runs Windows 11 doesn't mean it's as simple as using any other Windows PC. There's a fair share of customizations that Lenovo has used here, and they highlight the somewhat steep learning curve in getting used to how to work this thing.

The big piece of software you'll want to get familiar with is Yoga Book 9 User Center, which you can summon from the Start Menu or F12 on the Bluetooth keyboard. This app has two purposes: to teach you how to use the device, but also to hold all of the settings you can't get in Windows.

Despite spending a couple of weeks with the Yoga Book 9i, I can assure you that I haven't mastered it. There are a few features, deep down, that I'm sure I have totally forgotten about, despite reading every demo instruction at least once. But I've got the main ones down, even if some of them are awkward.

I can regularly summon the virtual keyboard (8- finger tap, four on each hand), or trackpad (three finger tap). I can make a window span both screens (five finger tap with the feature enabled first). Heck, I'm even getting used to the fact that it offers mid-screen suggestions to "flick" windows from one display to the other.

But have I totally mastered the "Focus Click," to tap an app icon in the taskbar to move the app window? Not quite. Do I know how to open Smart Notes with the stylus by dragging? Yes. Can I always get it working on the lock screen? Only after I enabled Windows Hello first to ensure the screen was unlocked.

The new software adds plenty of new functionality, and builds on what Microsoft made with Snap Layouts. But it takes a fair bit of time to get used to this device, both in how to use it and how you should use it.

Audio on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

The Yoga Book 9i's four speakers (two 2-watt tweeters and a pair of 2W woofers) could use a bit of tuning. Luckily, there's an app for that.

I used the Yoga Book to listen to TALK's "Run Away to Mars," which is a song composed primarily of guitars and vocals. Initially, the soundbar surprised me with flat sound, that didn't have depth in the vocal ranges and muddled the acoustics.

A quick trip to the Dolby Access app changed that. Switching to Dynamic mode, which makes changes based on what you're listening to, was my favorite option. There are music sub-options, like "detailed" (the next best option), "balanced", and "warm", but I would recommend most people move to Dynamic. That gave the singer's vocals more depth, focusing on his raspy breathing and better layered the multiple guitar tracks. Some of these audio options are available in Lenovo Vantage, but I recommend checking out Access for the full suite.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

While the battery and SSD on the Yoga Book 9i are technically removable, we have to mark this machine as effectively unrepairable without a Lenovo technician. That's partially because, as noted in the maintenance manual, that the construction involves tape that "cannot be reused."  There are five types of tape used throughout the Yoga Book 9i, which you likely will need a repair tech to replace adequately.

Hopefully, in the next version, Lenovo can build its notebook without specialized adhesives.

Battery Life on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

Considering the Yoga Book 9i has two OLED screens, I'm pleasantly surprised how long it lasted on our battery test. While browsing the web, streaming videos, and running simple graphics tests, the Yoga Book 9i ran for 9 hours and 18 minutes. When shutting one screen off, that jumped to 12:13 (this would occur naturally in tablet mode, where one screen is disabled).

That's longer than the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, which ran for just 7:56. But both the regular Yoga 9i (10:38) and MacBook Air (a much longer 14:06) showed that single-screen laptops still last the longest.

Heat on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

We take heat measurements while running our Cinebench R23 stress test in order to see how hot systems get under load. From our thermal camera, we were able to see that the actual computing components are all in the base of the laptop (which is the case on basically every traditional clamshell and convertible 2-in-1).

The hottest point on the bottom of the laptop, near the exhaust, measured 43.7 degrees Celsius (110.66 degrees Fahrenheit). Since the keyboard isn't physically attached to the laptop, it doesn't heat up.

Webcam on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

The 5MP webcam on the Yoga Book 9i is decent. It captures sharp, detailed images, and it even did a decent job when I tried it with harsh backlighting, capturing the blue of my shirt and eyes and not entirely blowing out.

If there's an issue with if the webcam on the Yoga Book, it's that it isn't as flexible as the laptop. When positioned as a normal notebook, the camera is exactly where you would expect it to be. But you might not always have the Yoga Book on a stand with both screens facing horizontally. When I used the screens vertically, it set the camera off to the left side. This makes your video appear vertically, as if you're using a phone to call in to a meeting, and you have to move your whole body to fit in the frame.

That positioning was also an issue when I used the IR camera to log in with Windows Hello facial recognition. Again, there was no problem when opened like a traditional laptop, or two screens stacked on top of each other, but with the two vertical screens the webcam often didn't see my face in its entirety; I had to move my head to unlock the PC.

For those who want more privacy there's an e-shutter privacy switch to shut the webcam off. I'd prefer a physical cover, but this does the job.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

There's a fair bit of software preinstalled on the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i. Some of this is by necessity, as Windows 11 can't handle everything you'd want to do with two screens on its own. But still, some of it is bloatware.

Besides User Center, mentioned above, the main piece of software is Vantage, a one-stop shop for warranty status, power and audio settings, and, unfortunately, an increasing amount of ads for McAfee and Amazon Music Unlimited. (Speaking of which, a free trial of McAfee is also preinstalled on the laptop).

Lenovo has its own notes app, Smart Note, and an accompanying reader, Smart Reader. Smart Note is a bit overly complicated for my liking, but it can be summoned quickly with the stylus by dragging it in from the corner of the bottom screen. While Smart Note lets you upload to OneNote, I kind of wish Microsoft and Lenovo just made OneNote ready for dual-screen devices.

Smart Reader is fine - I tried it with some multi-page PDFs, but I think that the Yoga is slightly too heavy to hold like a book. You can take notes on the page, but it's nothing extraordinary.

Lenovo has a few other apps, like Lenovo Now for setup, Hotkeys to remind you of  some of Lenovo's pre-made shortcuts (but doesn't let you make your own), and Pen Settings to customize your stylus. There are also a few Intel apps, like Unison to use your phone with the Yoga Book 9i. That's all on top of the Windows pre-installs, like Spotify, WhatsApp, TikTok, ESPN, Kindle, and Instagram.

Lenovo sells the Yoga Book 9i with a one-year warranty.

Configurations of the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

We tested the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i with an Intel Core i7-1355U, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, 512GB SSD and a bundle of accessories including the folio stand, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and a stylus. At Best Buy, this bundle is going for $1,999.99.

Lenovo's website lists a model that's almost identical, save for 1TB of storage. As of this writing, there is no pricing — just a mention that it will be "Available Soon."

Bottom Line

The Lenovo Yoga Book 9i tries to be a bit of everything. In many ways, it succeeds. It can be a laptop, it can serve as a dual-screen mini desktop, it can be a tablet. The two screens add a ton of flexibility to what you can do, but in teaching you everything that it's capable of, the Yoga Book becomes complex.

Lenovo's latest is at its best when it's in that desktop mode. You get a physical keyboard, a mouse, and two screens. Sure, it works as a laptop, but it's not as good as a dedicated laptop. To get the best of the Yoga Book, you have to be willing to compromise on the portable experience.

And while Lenovo admirably filled in gaps that Windows 11 has in supporting this new kind of laptop, it takes a lot of learning. There are a bunch of new gestures, optional features, and other systems to learn, which can be overwhelming; the app that describes it all becomes a sort of study bible.

 But the separated screens make more sense than the one foldable OLED panel like on the ThinkPad X1 Fold or Asus Zenbook Fold 17 OLED. It's way easier to organize different applications that way. Multi-taskers will surely appreciate it, but I think most people may be best off waiting until the early difficulties are ironed out. Hopefully some of the functionality is better built into Windows 11.

If the multiple screens are a draw, there's really nothing else like this, short of actually buying monitors. The laptop experience is a bit compromised, but if you typically have a desk, you can get the most of the Yoga Book 9i, which is the best foldable we've seen yet despite the learning curve.

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SID Display Week 2023 is taking place right now, and some of the biggest names in the display industry are showing off their latest products. Samsung Display is no stranger to this yearly event, and it unveiled several new technologies that could appear in future laptops, desktop monitors, televisions, and mobile devices. 

One of the most intriguing concepts shown is what Samsung Display calls Rollable Flex. As its name implies, it comprises a flexible OLED panel that can unfold to make the screen larger. The Rollable Flex measures just 1.93 inches long when completely stowed in a scroll-like form factor. However, when fully unfurled, it expands to 10 inches. We’ve seen similar designs from companies like Lenovo, which showed a concept ThinkPad laptop with a rollable display in October 2022.

Keeping with the flexible theme, Samsung Display is developing Flex Hybrid and Slidable Flex Solo form factors. The latter expands a tablet’s 13-inch display to a more spacious 17 inches. 

Of course, Samsung Display hasn’t forgotten about desktop users. It is looking to expand the availability of its QD-OLED technology to larger 49-inch monitors with a 32:9 aspect ratio. Quantum Dot technology improves OLED display performance by expanding the color gamut and increasing light output. 

This technology ships in the 34-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G8, Alienware AQ3434DWF, and Philips Evnia 34M2C8600. Those monitors all feature a 21:9 aspect ratio and a 3440 x 1440 resolution. The incoming 32:9 monitors will likely feature a 5120 x 1440 resolution and, like their 34-inch counterparts, are DisplayHDR 400 certified.

While the above products are geared towards a PC-centric audience, Samsung Display plans to bring a 240Hz smartphone panel to market. Of course, we’ve already seen gaming phones with 120Hz, 144Hz, and 165Hz displays, but 240Hz represents a new benchmark in this class. In addition, the Sensor OLED Display features both fingerprint and blood pressure sensors embedded directly into the display panel. Finally, there’s a new 77-inch QD-OLED TV for home theater enthusiasts with enough wall real estate to handle such a massive device. 

We should note that while these are some intriguing, forward-looking products, there’s no guarantee that all of them will make it to shipping products anytime soon. For example, the 49-inch QD-OLED panel is a near-certainty for release in a reasonable amount of time, but something like the Rollable Flex is likely years away from appearing in a production device.

Usually, when I see a laptop with discrete graphics, it has a bit of extra heft. That's not the case for the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 (tested at $1,199.99), which is thin and fairly light with its AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050.

The catch, perhaps, is that these parts aren't the fanciest, like what you typically find in some of the best ultrabooks. This Ryzen 7000-series CPU uses Zen 3+ cores, which aren't AMD's latest, and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 is an entry-level GPU from a generation ago. For simple tasks, performance holds up. For more intense, multi-core work, this may not be for you.

Lenovo has a wealth of ports, with both USB Type-C and Type-A on the sides of the device. The keyboard is bouncy and comfortable. But other parts, like the touchpad, feel a bit cheap.

If you need a discrete GPU in a slim form factor, just for a slight boost in graphics power, the Slim Pro 7 is worth considering. Otherwise, it's serviceable, though not necessarily exciting.

Design of the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 isn't making any statements. It's a dark gray aluminum rectangle with rounded corners, and Lenovo's name in teeny print on the lid. It's so plain, in fact, that it would be the perfect movie prop for a production company that couldn't get a licensing deal.

With the lid open, the 14.5-inch screen is surrounded by narrow bezels and a small bump on top to fit the cameras. The chiclet keys look a bit like those on a ThinkPad, but there's no pointing stick here (which is fine with me). 

Lenovo has fit the basic ports you need along the Slim Pro 7's sides. The left side has an HDMI port and two USB Type-C ports. One is USB 3.2 Gen 2, while the other is USB 4 with faster 40 Gbps speeds. They're not labeled, but the bottom one, furthest from the HDMI port, is the faster version of USB-C.

The right side has a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port for legacy peripherals, as well as a headphone jack. That's also where you'll find the power button and an e-shutter to disable the camera.

The Slim Pro 7 measures 12.81 x 8.92 x 0.61 inches thick, making it ever-so-slightly thicker than Lenovo's Yoga 9i Gen 8 (12.52 xs 9.06 x 0.6 inches. The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra is 14 x 9.86 x 0.64 inches, while the HP Dragonfly Pro is 12.39 x 8.78 x 0.72 inches.

In a similar fashion, the Slim Pro 7 is the second lightest of the group at 3.6 pounds, while the Yoga 9i is 3.09 pounds. The Galaxy Book 3 is 3.96 pounds, and the HP Dragonfly Pro is 3.53 pounds. 

Lenovo Slim Pro 7 Specifications

Productivity Performance

The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 has the distinction of being the first laptop with a Ryzen 7000 HS series processor to hit our labs. This processor, the AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS, uses eight Zen 3+ cores on a 6-nanometer process with a boost clock of up to 4.75 GHz. Lenovo has paired it here with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, a 512GB SSD and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, which is an entry-level GPU that's a generation old.

On Geekbench 5, the Slim Pro 7 achieved a single-core score of 1,527 and a multi-core score of 9,031. That's the second lowest single-core score of the group, which also included the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra (Core i7-13700H) and Lenovo Yoga 9i (Core i7-1360P); the HP Dragonfly Pro, with a Ryzen 7 7736U, was slightly behind. This chip was the weakest of the group on multi-core.

The Slim Pro 7 copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,594.91 MBps, handily beating the Dragonfly Pro. Lenovo's own Yoga 9i was a bit faster, while the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra was the fastest here.

The Ryzen chip took 6 minutes and 36 seconds to transcode a 4K file to 1080p, beating both the MacBook Air and Yoga 9i. But the Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, with an Intel H -series chip, took even less time, at 5:26.

On our Cinebench R23 stress test, in which we loop the benchmark 20 times, AMD's new chip started at a score of 12,291.669 and went up from there, spending most of its time in the high 12,900's, and occasionally breaking the 13,000 point barrier (the average score was 12,943.58).The Ryzen 7 7735HS averaged 3.88 GHz and a temperature of 88.1 degrees Celsius (190.58 degrees Fahrenheit).

Lenovo opted for a last-gen RTX 3050 on the Slim Pro 7. On 3DMark Time Spy, it achieved a score of 4,523. That's still better than the integrated graphics from Intel (1,916) and AMD (2,888) in the Yoga 9i and Dragonfly Pro, respectively. But the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, with an RTX 4050, had the highest score at 6,208. Granted, the 3050 Lenovo is using here is pretty tame, with a 63 W max graphics power and 990 MHz boost clock. That's far less power than the 4050 on the Galaxy Book is using, but it lets Lenovo fit it in a thin PC.

Display on the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

The 14.5-inch, 2560 x 1600 touchscreen display on the Slim Pro 7 is fine, but it's not amazing. It covers 118% of the sRGB color gamut and 83.7% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, but at 325 nits on our light meter, it's not as bright as the competition.

With the screen brightness all the way up, I didn't have any issues. I watched the 1440p trailer for Blue Beetle, the heroes' blue suit and similarly-hued special effects popped on screen, as did green palm trees in scenery throughout the trailer. A red-hued scene in which the character fights some bad guys didn't look as intense as on some other screens I've seen.

The screen comes close to the measurements from the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra and HP Dragonfly Pro when it comes to colors, but it wasn't as bright as those devices. The screen on the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 8 is an OLED screen, and it proved more colorful than the rest, though Apple's panel was the brightest.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

Lenovo's island-style keyboard looks and feels familiar. A sticker next to the touchpad promises 1.5 mm of travel, and I believe it. The keys have a bit of a bounce, and I never once felt myself bottoming out. I hit 120 words per minute on the monkeytype test with 97% accuracy. I could quibble that Lenovo's function keys, like a dedicated calculator or clipboard button, aren't as useful as media keys, but to each their own, I guess.

The touchpad is nice and wide, but it feels cheap. I had no issues with navigation or multi-touch gestures, but clicking is loud and sounds unpleasant. It makes the whole laptop feel less premium.

Audio on the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

The sound from the Lenovo Slim Pro 7's four top-firing speakers is adequate. If you, like me, occasionally like to listen to music without headphones to give your ears a rest, it'll do, though you may want to turn the volume up.

On the one hand, while listening to Linkin Park's "Fighting Myself," I had to boost the volume to 100% to fill the room. (On the bright side, there was barely any distortion). The rap and rock verses were equally vocal forward, with crisp, clear words. Those who prefer instrumentals may want to check out the Dolby Access app. Switching to the Dynamic preset, which changes based on what's playing, brought out more thundering drums and guitar.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

To open the Slim Pro 7, you'll need a Torx screwdriver (the official maintenance manual suggests a T5 head) to remove the six screws from the bottom of the laptop. There are two in the back that are longer than the four in the front, so be sure to keep yourself organized.

From there, you'll need to pry up the latches, first from the front, then the sides, and lift off the case. With a good pry tool, it's pretty simple. You'll see that the battery, Wi-Fi card and M.2 SSD are replaceable, but the RAM is unfortunately soldered down.

Depending on your market and model (Lenovo sells a similar laptop, the Slim Pro 7i, using Intel chips), you may have a full-length M.2 2280 SSD (like our review unit) or a shorter M.2 2242 with a bracket to hold it in place. Either way, you can remote it and replace it. The SSDs are covered in some mylar for heat protection.

Battery Life on the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

As far as systems with discrete GPUs go, the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 lasts a decent amount of time. The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 lasted 9 hours and 16 minutes on our battery test, which browses the web, streams videos and runs OpenGL graphics benchmarks while connected to Wi-Fi with the screen set to 150 nits.

That's longer than the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra, which also has a discrete GPU, at 9:03. The Lenovo Yoga 9i (10:38) and HP Dragonfly Pro (13:23), with integrated graphics, lasted longer.

Heat on the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

While I ran our Cinebench R23 stress test, I took skin temperatures to get an idea how the Slim 8 Pro feels to the touch under heavy load. The fans spin, but the system can still get slightly toasty.

At the center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, the Slim Pro 7 measured 43.1 degrees Celsius (109.58 degrees Fahrenheit).

On the bottom of the laptop, the hottest point reached 51.1 C (123.98 F).

Webcam on the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

The Slim Pro 7 has a 1080p webcam paired with an IR sensor. I'm happy to see 1080p cameras proliferating through the market. They're not always better, but extra resolution rarely hurts. The IR sensor allows you to log in to the laptop using Windows Hello facial recognition.

While video from the camera looked decent enough, stills taken from the camera were a bit blurry, focusing more on the background than my face. A nearby window was totally blown out (that's a challenging condition), and some of the colors were a bit warmer than in real life.

On the right side of the laptop, there's an "e-shutter" switch. This switch is effectively a high-tech way of covering up the webcam. It's not actually cutting power to the camera, but when you open software that uses it, it will act as if the lens is blocked. I personally prefer the built in sliders that cover the camera, as it's easier to see with a glance if the camera is covered or not (and psychologically, it just feels more protected).

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo Slim Pro 7

It used to be that Lenovo laptops came largely with its Vantage hub application and little else. Those days are gone.

Sure, Vantage still exists and it shows information about your hardware, serial number and lets you drill into a bunch of power and camera settings. It also now has articles built in. At one point while writing this review, there was a story about artificial intelligence and medicine which had no byline. Weird. Another provided "tips to keep kids safe in the digital age."

There are three other Lenovo branded apps on board. Lenovo Hotkeys, which exists solely to remind you of keyboard shortcuts to adjust system performance and the refresh rate (these are also included in the box), but doesn't let you set your own. One combination, the Smart Key, lets you pick software to launch. Lenovo Voice is used for voice commands and translation. It's a clunky app, and some of it requires payment to work, though that is hidden deep in the settings. Lenovo Welcome is meant for setup, but most of what you actually need from it can be found in Vantage.

Additionally, there's a trial of McAfee LiveSafe. McAfee has also made its way into the Edge bookmark bar, as has Lenovo and Lenovo support.

Like most Windows 11 machines, there are also links in the Start menu to the Microsoft store, including apps like Spotify, TikTok, WhatsApp, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN and Facebook Messenger.

Lenovo sells the Slim Pro 7 with a 1-year warranty.

Bottom Line

The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 is a thin laptop with a discrete GPU and a CPU fast enough for any single-core workload you want to throw at it. None of it is the latest and greatest tech, but it works, especially if you prioritize a slender design but still want a bit of oomph in the graphics department.

Look, if you want faster, more powerful graphics and performance, it exists in devices like the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra. But we tested that laptop at $2,399.99 — more than $1,000 over the Slim Pro 7 we checked out. So the Slim Pro 7 is also for customers seeking a discrete graphics card on a budget.

In some cases, it's premium, with a 2560 x 1600 display. But in other places, like the touchpad, it feels cheap.

Long story short, if you prefer a discrete GPU and are on a budget, this may do the job for you. But if you don't, consider competing ultraportables, like the Lenovo Yoga 9i,  for a bit of extra luxury.

MORE: How to Buy a Gaming Laptop

MORE: Best Gaming PCs

MORE: Best Ultrabooks and Premium Laptops

Hot on the heels of new ThinkPads and gaming laptops, Lenovo today announced even more devices designed for creatives in its Slim and Yoga lines.

Lenovo's top device here is the Slim Pro 9i, which is getting mini-LED display options in its 14.5-inch and 16-inch configurations. It will go up to a Core i9-13905H in both sizes. Discrete GPUs will range from and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070; the smaller version has an 80W TGP, while the larger laptop goes up to 100W.

The Slim Pro 9i has standard LCD and mini LED screen options. They share the same resolution (3072 x 1920 on the 14.5-incher and 3200 x 2000 on the 16-inch version), and they all have 120 Hz refresh rates with the exception of the 14.5-inch mini LED version, which is a faster 165 Hz. Lenovo calls all of these displays "PureSight Pro," despite the technology differences. The Slim Pro 9i will launch in May starting at $1,699.99 for the 14.5-incher and $1,799.99 for the 16-incher.

For those who prefer AMD systems, the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 is using Ryzen 7040 series chips, up to R7-7840HS, combined with either Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics (with up to 58 W TGP), or RTX 4050 (up to 55W TGP). It also features up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. It will debut in April starting at $1,199.99.

The Slim Pro 7 has three display options for its 14.5-inch screen. Two come with 2560 x 1600  resolutions at 90 Hz, but one is matte and the other is glass. The third option is also matte, but at a higher resolution of 3072 x 1920 and a faster 120 Hz.

Both the Slim Pro 7 and Slim Pro 9i come in the usual gray or a really cool "Tidal Teal," which in my brief hands-on time with the laptops, was interesting to the eye, but not distractingly so. It's still conservative enough for an office.

There is a non-pro Slim, the Lenovo Slim 7i, a 14-inch clamshell with up to an Intel Core i7-1360P, up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 1TB of storage. There are three choices of displays, including a 2880 x 1880, 120 Hz display or a 1920 x 1200 OLED at 60 Hz. It will start at $1,179.99.

On the Yoga side, there's an Intel-based Yoga 7i and an AMD-powered Yoga 7. The Intel version is using 13th Gen i5 and i7 chips with both P and U series options, while the AMD option uses Ryzen 5 and 7 7000U series chips.

The Yoga 7i goes up to 16GB of LPDDR5-5200 memory and up to 1TB of PCIe SSD Gen 4 storage. There are two screen sizes - 14-inch and 16-inch. The 14-inch option has two OLED configurations (2880 x 1800 and 1920 x 1200), or there's a 2240 x 1400 LCD. The Yoga 7 uses up to 64GB of LPDDR5 memory and up to 512GB SSD storage. Its only display option is a 16-inch, 1920 x 1200 LCD.

The Yoga 7i laptops will launch in April, starting at $799.99 for the 16-inch and $849.99 for the 14-inch. The Yoga 7 will launch in May starting at $799.99.

Lenovo today gave a first look at a whole bunch of new ThinkPads as part of its announcements for Mobile World congress. For the most part, these are spec refreshes, though some bring slight changes to their designs as well, including some new materials.

The changes are across Lenovo's AMD focused Z series, its ThinkPad X13 and 13 Yoga, new T and L-series refreshes and the ThinkPad E-series aimed at small businesses. 

The ThinkPad Z13 and Z16 Gen 2 are refreshes from last-year's AMD-powered machine. This year, they're coming with AMD Ryzen 7000-series processors (Lenovo hasn't said which specific ones as of this writing). The Z13 will use integrated Radeon graphics, while the Z16 will have the option for a discrete AMD Radeon 6550M. Both will go up to 64GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage. Both laptops will have an option for a 1920 x 1200, 16:10 screen; the 13-inch will go up to a 2880 x 1800 OLED panel, while the 16-inch tops out at a 3840 x 2400 OLED touchscreen.

With the Z-series, Lenovo is debuting a new "woven flax" material bonded to the recycled aluminum top cover. It will maintain a lot of the features that made it differ from traditional ThinkPads, such as a haptic touchpad and TrackPoint Quick Menu, and continue with a 1080p webcam and Wi-Fi 6E.

This generation's haptic touchpads are from a company called Sensel, which developed the touchpads in the ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga and ThinkPad X1 Fold. Sensel's tech wasn't in the previous-gen Z series, so we'll have to get some hands-on time to see if there's a noticeable difference.

The Z13 will start at $1,249 and ship in July, with the Z16 following in August, starting at $1,749.

On the X series — the ThinkPad X13 Gen 5 and ThinkPad X13 Yoga Gen 5, Lenovo claims that it is shrinking down bezels for a higher-screen-to-body ratio. The speakers are now top-firing, which should make for better audio (though that could mean they face away in some uses on the 2-in-1 Yoga) and there's an optional 5-megapixel camera with infrared. The clamshell version is also getting a 13.3-inch 2880 x 1800 OLED screen with Dolby Vision support.

The ThinkPad X13 Gen 4, a standard laptop, will have both 13th Gen Intel Core processors and AMD Ryzen 7000 series mobile processors. It will bring up to 32GB of LPDDR5 and up to 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage. The 13.3-inch display will range from a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display (with a configurable touch option) all the way up to a high-res OLED panel. The Yoga version will only use Intel CPUs, but have the same memory and storage options. The 13.3-inch options will top out at a 1920 x 1200 touchscreen. Both will start with an FHD webcam with privacy shutter; the 5MP with IR is an upgrade.

The X13 and X13 Yoga will both ship in May 2023, with prices for the clamshell beginning at $1,099 and the 2-in-1 starting at $1,379.

Lenovo's steadfast T series is getting what Lenovo is calling "incremental enhancements," including sustainable materials and the optional 5 MP camera. The ThinkPad T14 Gen 5, T16 Gen 2 and T14s Gen 4 will all have the option for a 2880 x 1880 OLED panel. All three of these devices will come with either 13th Gen Intel Core processors with vPro, or Ryzen 7000 chips. These laptops will launch in May 2023, with the T14s starting at $1,479, the T14 at $1,239 and the T16 at $1,269.

The lower-cost L-series will add a new blue-light display configuration option for the L13 Gen 5 and L13 Yoga Gen 5, while the L14 Gen 4 and L15 Gen 4 will have higher capacity storage options than before at 2TB. These will launch in April, with the L13 and L13 Yoga starting at $869 and $1,099, respectively, while both the L14 and L15 are expected to start at $869.

Lenovo is positioning its E-series towards small and medium-sized businesses, alongside the ThinkBook series. The ThinkPad E15 Gen 5 is getting a refresh alongside a new, larger ThinkPad E16. The E series is moving to 16:10 for the first time with both Intel and AMD processors. The E14 Gen 5 is planned to launch for $739 in May, while the E16 Gen 1 will start at $759.

Out of the box, Windows 11 is a resource-hungry operating system that gulps up tons of RAM and CPU cycles, leaving older or underpowered systems unable to run it. The official system requirements demand not only TPM security and secure boot, but also at least 4GB of RAM, a dual-core processor and a 64GB SSD.  But, with the release of Tiny11 Builder, you can make a lightweight Windows 11 install that gets around these requirements and runs well on PCs with limited memory and processing power. 

Tiny11, a custom image of Windows 11 from Twitter user NTDEV solves these issues by removing unnecessary libraries, apps and services so that the system can run with just 2GB of RAM, take up a mere 12GB of disk space and not check for any of the system requirements. However, up until now, to use Tiny11, you had to download the entire operating system from NTDEV's cloud storage drive, which meant you didn't have a choice of Windows 11 version and it was awkward downloading the whole OS from someone other than Microsoft.

Now, NTDEV has released Tiny11 Builder, a free tool that lets you turn the latest Windows 11 ISO (installer file) into one which installs a light version of the OS. In just a few simple steps, you can grab Windows 11 Home, Pro, Education, Enterprise and then use Tiny11 Builder to remove the cruft from it, before you even install. NTDEV says that, right now, only the latest builds 22621.1265 and 22621.525 are officially supported. However, this may remove some extraneous stuff from pre-release builds. 

I used Tiny11 Builder to create a stripped-down build of Windows 11 Home that I installed on both a Virtual Machine and a decade-old, sluggish ThinkPad X131e. The VM was blazing fast and the ThinkPad, which was so slow under Windows 10 that letters would appear seconds after I typed them, was actually usable. 

Below, I'll show you how to create your own lightweight Windows 11 ISO using Tiny11 Builder. If you have a Raspberry Pi, also see our tutorial on how to install Tiny11 on your Raspberry Pi.

How to Make a Lightweight Windows 11 Image with Tiny11

1. Download Tiny11 Builder from Github and unzip it to its own folder.

2. Download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft (or using UUP Dump). For now, only builds 22621.525 and 22621.1265 are officially supported. When I downloaded the ISO from Microsoft and when I created it using the media creation tool, my build number was 22621.525. For more details on getting an ISO, see our article on how to download a Windows 11 ISO.

3.  Mount the ISO. You can do this by right clicking on it and selecting Mount. 

File Explorer should open, showing you what drive letter now represents the ISO, which will act as if it were a physical drive.

4. Find your ISO's Windows build number (if you don't know for sure). You can do this by launching an elevated command prompt and entering dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile: [DRIVELETTER]:\sources\install.wim /index:1 where [DRIVELETTER] is replaced with the drive letter of your mounted ISO. If that doesn't work, dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:[DRIVELETTER]:\sources\install.esd /index:1. For example, if your ISO is mounted as drive letter F, the two commands to try would be these.

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:F:\sources\install.wim /index:1dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:F:\sources\install.esd /index:1

The reason you might have to try both is that the information is stored either in a file called install.wim or install.esd. In my case, install.wim worked with an ISO I had downloaded directly from Microsoft while install.esd worked when I used the Media Creation Tool to build my ISO.

When the command is successful, it will output a list of information about the ISO which includes the build number. Look for it under "version" and "ServicePack Build"

5. Launch tiny11 creator.bat or tiny11 creator 22621.525.bat as an administrator, depending on which build your ISO is.You can do this by right clicking on the icon and selecting “Run as administrator.”

6. Click “More info” and Run anyway if Windows Smart screen warns you about running the program.

Also, click Yes if warned by Windows User Account Control. A command prompt window appears.

7. Enter the drive letter the ISO is mounted to and hit Enter.  In our case, it was D. 

Depending on whether your ISO file contains just one version of Windows 11 or many, you may see a list of different Windows “images,” including Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Pro Education. 

8. Enter the image number for the Windows version you want and hit Enter. In our case, we hit “1” for Windows 11 Home. If there are no images listed, choose 1 for the default.

You’ll have to wait a few minutes while the software writes your ISO file. 

When the process is complete, you will have a file called tiny11.iso in the same folder as the Tiny11 Creator.

You can now “burn” this ISO file to a USB Flash drive so you can install Tiny 11 on a PC. Or you can use it to install Windows 11 on a virtual machine. If you don't know how to make a boot disk from an ISO file, see our story on how to do a clean install of Windows 11.

This Tiny11 version of Windows should install on any PC and will not hold you to any of the system requirements, including the TPM requirement, secure boot requirement and RAM requirement. More importantly, it will only use about 2GB of RAM out of the box. Obviously, as you add your own software, the system will use more resources.

Based on my experience, I can say that, while Tiny11 will run on a system with just 2GB of RAM, it does better on one that has at least 4GB. You'll want that headroom for any apps you're running within the OS.

Installing a Browser in Tiny11

It's important to note that Edge is not installed, though you may see a blank Edge icon on the desktop. So, if you want to install a web browser, you will need to either copy the installer from another PC, use Microsoft Store or use the winget command at the command line.  Entering winget install -e --id Google.Chrome will download and install Chrome.

What's Removed from Windows 11 in Tiny11?

According to NTDEV, the following apps and features are removed from Windows 11 in Tiny11. You can, of course, always add them back using the Windows Store or the Turn Windows Features On and Off menu in Control Panel.

• Clipchamp
• News
• Weather
• Xbox (Xbox identity provider is still there)
• GetHelp
• GetStarted
• Office Hub
• Solitaire
• PeopleApp
• PowerAutomate
• ToDo
• Alarms
• Mail and Calendar
• Feedback Hub
• Maps
• Sound Recorder
• Your Phone
• Media Player
• QuickAssist
• Internet Explorer
• LA57 support
• OCR for en-us
• Speech support
• TTS for en-us
• Media Player Legacy
• Tablet PC Math
• Wallpapers
• Edge
• OneDrive

Unfortunately Teams is not removed, but you can go into the Apps menu and uninstall it yourself.

Intrepid Thinkpad fan Karl Buchka replaced the internals of the 701C with the much more powerful Framework mainboard. The best official specs for this laptop rated it at a 486 DX4, not something that can cope with the demands of the 21st century. Unlike today's best laptops, the best laptops of the mid-1990s featured chunky cases, DSTN screens, and a slew of proprietary ports. But IBM was always eager to please its road warrior customers, and from this desire came the 701C. The Thinkpad 701C features a novel "butterfly" keyboard that slides out to reveal a larger typing area. 

Buchka's project has been ongoing for the past six months. The project begins with a broken IBM Thinkpad 701C, bought on a whim. Buchka decided to use the broken Thinkpad as a base on which to build something glorious and decided on the Framework hardware as a base. Currently, the project is fully working but in a "mock-up" state for testing. But as we can see in the pictures, Buchka has successfully booted Ubuntu.

The original spec of the 701C is laughable today. But in its heyday, it was a productivity monster. The butterfly keyboard gave writers a comfortable typing experience while folding down into a smaller package. So how does it square up to the brain transplant?

Buchka's project is much more than just throwing a Framework motherboard into the 701C's case. Buchka managed to squeeze the Framework mainboard into the back half of the case. In the front is the battery to power the laptop. The lower part of the case is a 3D printed draft, which could easily be printed on some of the best FDM 3D printers. For high quality and strength, the final case will be printed using MJF (Multi Jet Fusion). The hinge bracket is to be printed using DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering), which fuses layers of metallic powder using high-powered lasers.

It turns out that Apple's iPad 7 display is an almost perfect fit for the 701C's TFT screen. The iPad screen is adapted to use the eDP connector on the mainboard. The large 2160 x 1620 display is vast compared to the 701C's 640 x 480. Buchka notes that there is no space for Framework's expansion cards. USB-C dongles that sit flush with the Framework laptop and provide extra ports. Instead, they have chosen to expose two USB-C ports on the right side of the case. On the left, a custom USB-C port replicator exposes two USB-A ports. Buchka is still working on the CAD models for this part of the build.

The star of the show has to be the butterfly keyboard, and it continues to shine thanks to a Teensy 3.6 microcontroller that provides both keyboard and trackpoint as USB devices thanks to a customized QMK build. In the final build, the keyboard and trackpoint electronics will become a custom PCB, right now it is a self-confessed mess of wires.

This project is wonderful. We love the old Thinkpad aesthetic but crave the power of the latest CPUs. This project marries the two very well. More details can be found on Buchka's Framework community profile page. 

Lenovo's newest laptop has not one, but two full-size screens. At CES 2023, it announced the Yoga Book 9i, which it has billed as the "first full size dual screen OLED laptop." It’s reminiscent of (but bigger than) the Surface Neo, a dual-screen foldable that Microsoft announced but never produced.

Each of the Yoga Book's screens is a 13.3-inch, 2.8K screen with a 16:10 aspect ratio and Dolby Vision support, which Lenovo has dubbed "PureSight." It's powered by Intel's 13th Gen Core i7-U15 processors, with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and either 512GB or 1TB of PCie SSD Gen 4 storage.

But rather than using a single folding screen, like Lenovo's own ThinkPad X1 Fold, the Yoga Book 9i uses two panels, which fold together into a neat clamshell. This allows for plenty of standard convertible 2-in-1 functions, like tablet or tent mode. The screens can also be used one on top of the other, or side by side. The device is 11.78 x 8.03 x 0.64 inches and weighs 3.04 pounds. Like several of Lenovo's other Yoga flagships, there's a 360-degree rotating soundbar attached to the hinge.

Unlike the Neo, which was envisioned more like a tablet, the Lenovo has a bit of a laptop feel, due to the included folio stand that holds the screens up at an angle. (You could, of course, hold it like a regular laptop without a stand, with one screen on the bottom and one on the top.) The stand looks complicated, but we'll have to spend extended hands-on time with it to see if that's the case. It would be nice to see it built into the device, but I'm not sure it could be so svelte if that were the case.

There's also a detachable Bluetooth keyboard, which can be used separately from the device or attached to it in order to mimic a clamshell laptop, as well as a stylus. Windows 11's window management and snap tools should also help with the dual-screen layout.

Lenovo is highlighting the Yoga Book's ability to be used in offices and classrooms, using software to notetaking or giving presentations while looking at one screen and showing the other. You can switch between using the two screens separately or combining them into one display with a five-finger tap. You can use the three Thunderbolt 4 ports for plugging in accessories or other devices.

The device comes in a very eye-catching "tidal teal," and I'm a bit surprised not to see listings for a gray or silver version. That sure is one way to make a statement.

We've seen Lenovo's Yoga Book lineup use two-screens before, but typically, one of them would be an e-ink display. We've been seeing full-size dual-screen laptops teased since at least 2018, when Asus showed off a concept called Project Precog.

The Yoga Book 9i is planned to launch in June, starting at $2,099.99.

Some More Traditional Options

Lenovo is also announcing some more conventional 2-in-1 designs in the Yoga 9i,Yoga 6 and Slim 7.

The 9i and and Yoga 6 are refreshes of previous models. The 9i is getting 13th Gen Intel Core i7 P series chips, along with up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 1TB of PCIe SSD Gen 4 storage. There will be 4K (3840 x 2400) and 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED display options. The Yoga 6 will use AMD's Ryzen 7 7730U or Ryzen 5 7530U (these are Zen 3 chips), with up to 15GB LPDDR4x and up to 1TB of SSD storage. It will have a 13.3-inch 1920 x 1200 touch screen, and come in metal and fabric finishes. The Yoga 9i will start at $1,499.99 when it ships in April, while the Yoga 6 will begin at a cheaper $729.99 around the same time.

The Slim 7 is a newer device (known as the  Slim 6i outside of the U.S.), with a 14-inch, 16:10 screen at either 2880 x 1800, 2240 x 1400, or 1920 x 1200, and will be powered by the latest 13th Gen Intel Core processors in an all-aluminum chassis. It will start at $729.99 in April.

You can never have too many screens at your desk. I have four different 27-inch 4K monitors attached to my desktop at home and sometimes I wish I had even more. Unfortunately, if you have a laptop and you're looking to go with a quad-display setup, you don't have a lot of compelling choices as most docking stations top out at two monitors.

Announced today, Plugable's new TBT4-UDZ docking station supports up to four, 4K 60 Hz displays via its two DisplayPort and two HDMI outputs. On Macs with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, you can only use two monitors, a limitation of that platform.

The attractive, metal dock sits vertically or horizontally and connects to your laptop's Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 port via a single cable that can also provide up to 100W of charging. 

In addition to its video outputs, the TBT4-UDZ comes loaded with ports, including a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet connection, a single USB-C 10 Gbps port, three USB Type-A 10 Gbps ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports, a USB 2.0 TYpe-A port, a 3.5mm audio jack, an SD card reader and a microSD card reader. There's even a power button, something most docks don't have.

A couple of years ago, I tested Plugable's TBT3-UDZ, which is a predecessor to the TBT4-UDZ, but it supports only two monitors and operates over Thunderbolt 3. I was really impressed with the attractive design, strong performance and strong build quality of this prior model. With my ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th Gen), I had no problem connecting to two 4K monitors and playing video at 60 fps. 

The TBT4-UDZ is listed on Amazon right now and will start selling for $299 on January 17th. If you've got a laptop with Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 output and you want to use it with three or four displays, this could be a great choice.

HP’s Dragonfly family has been around for a few generations as a premium business laptop to stand toe-to-toe with the Dell XPS 13 range and Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 family. The company is currently on its third generation Dragonfly lineup, of which we’ve already reviewed the Elite Dragonfly G3. Today, we're looking at the Dragonfly Folio G3, which returns to the 2-in-1 convertible form factor first introduced in 2019.

Weighing in at 3.09 pounds, the Dragonfly Folio G3 is nearly a pound heavier than the more conventional Dragonfly G3. You might think that's the price you pay for the more complex hinge mechanism necessary for a 2-in-1 convertible, except the original 2019-era Dragonfly was also a convertible and just 2.2 pounds. For that extra weight, you get a taller 3:2 display, but it's not entirely clear where the extra heft comes from, considering the 53 Whr battery in the new Folio is also slightly less than the 56 Whr one we saw in the original fold-over Dragonfly back in 2019.

HP manages to pack in some pleasing features, like an 8-megapixel webcam, a magnetically-attached stylus, a comprehensive HP-branded software suite and a potent B&O-tuned audio system. On the other hand, there are some misses, like the smaller battery (compared to the Dragonfly G3) and the overly reflective glossy display.

For those looking for a high-end business-oriented convertible, the HP Dragonfly Folio G3 ticks many of the requisite boxes for consideration among the best ultraportable and premium laptops. However, be cognizant that stepping into the Dragonfly Folio G3 domain doesn’t come cheap. The convertible starts at just under $2,400, and our review unit nearly hit $2,800 when equipped with a Core i7-1265U processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and a 5G modem.

Design of the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

The magnesium chassis of the HP Dragonfly Folio G3 is sturdy with minimal flex. It has a high-quality finish in dark gray with just a hint of shimmering flakes embedded. That sparkly finish extends to the backlit keyboard. It's a full-size keyboard, but due to the trim dimensions of the device, it does not have a number pad. A large glass Microsoft Precision Touchpad is included. Dominating the show is a 3:2 display measuring 13.5 inches across with a WUXGA+ resolution of 1920 x 1280 and an 88.3% screen-to-body ratio.

The back of the display is covered in a synthetic leather material (polyurethane) with contrasting stitching and an embossed HP logo. It wraps around the display hinge and extends just under the bottom rear of the chassis. This choice of material gives the Dragonfly Folio G3 a premium feel and the appearance of a closed book when the lid is closed.

Given its trim dimensions (11.67 x 9.22 x 0.7 inches), there isn't much room for external connectivity. All you'll find on the Dragonfly Folio G3 are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one of which is used for charging the device with the included 65-watt USB-C power adapter. The only other physical port is a 3.5 mm audio jack.

If you want to use wired Ethernet or connect multiple peripherals to the Dragonfly Folio G3, you'll need to live the dongle life or invest in a good USB-C or Thunderbolt hub. There is a nano SIM slot on the left side of the chassis for WWAN connectivity. Our review unit came with an Intel 5G Solution 5000 modem, but a lesserr Intel XMM 7560 R+ LTE-Advanced Pro modem is also available.

The Dragonfly Folio G3 has three operating modes. It has a standard laptop mode, which is self-explanatory. A Media mode angles the display halfway down the deck, just below the keyboard and above the touchpad. This mode is useful for watching videos or other content while still having access to the touchpad for navigation. Finally, there's a Creative mode (tablet mode), where the display is slightly inclined above the keyboard and touchpad. In this mode, you can use the included Dragonfly Folio G3 Pen to take notes or sketch.

Since you have a sturdy base in all the modes, the Dragonfly Folio G3 makes a better lap partner than detachable tablets.

HP Dragonfly Folio G3 Specifications

Using the Various Operating Modes on the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

The "Standard" laptop-style mode is probably how most people will use the HP Dragonfly Folio G3. There's nothing out of the ordinary in this mode, as it operates just like a traditional laptop.

Things get interesting when you shift the display into "Media" mode. It took a little practice, but adjusting the screen requires placing your thumbs about two-thirds down on either side of the display and then bending it back. This exerts enough force to pry the display from its magnetized backplate. You can then move the display into position (there are two small rubber nubs to help you properly align the display). I found myself using this mode to watch YouTube videos and even caught up on a few episodes of “Star Wars: Andor.” The angle of the display proved ideal for consuming content, or perhaps giving a presentation if you don't have a bigger screen around.

The "Creative" mode lays the display down at a slight incline, which is conducive to writing and drawing. I had no trouble using Microsoft Whiteboard to sketch designs I had in mind for revamping our backyard, and the palm rejection worked as advertised.

Productivity Performance on the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

The HP Dragonfly Folio G3 review sample that we received features an Intel Core i7-1265U CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD. This configuration is identical to the Elite Dragonfly G3 laptop we reviewed back in September. This is a low-power U-Series processor, so HP doesn't have to be as aggressive with its cooling solution, which means lower noise levels for users (which we’ll talk about later).

Kicking things off with the Geekbench 5 synthetic benchmark, the Dragonfly Folio G3 traded blows with its more traditional Dragonfly G3 counterpart. The former scored 1,488 in the single-core benchmark, while the latter took the first-place spot with a score of 1,657. Things were reversed with the multi-core score, with the Dragonfly Folio G3 scoring 6,879 versus 6,501 for the Dragonfly G3 Folio. 

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 7) features an Intel Core i7-1260P processor and took second place in the single-core benchmark with a score of 1,644, while it ran away from the competition in multi-core performance with a score of 8,632. The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (Microsoft SQ3 SoC) brought up the rear with single-core and multi-core scores of 1,125 and 5,849, respectively.

Surprisingly, the Dragonfly Folio G3's SSD lagged far behind its Elite Dragonfly G3 counterpart in the file transfer test. The former mustered 674.5 MBps versus 1,157.23 MBps for the latter (both are 512GB PCIe SSDs). The ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 7) took second place at 955.09 MBps, while the Surface Pro 9 brought up the rear at 414.8 MBps.

Our Handbrake test, which involves transcoding a 4K video to 1080p, saw the ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 7) take top honors. It completed the test in 10 minutes and 35 seconds, compared to 11 minutes and 16 seconds for the Dragonfly Folio G3. The Dragonfly G3 finished the test in 13 minutes and 9 seconds, while the Surface Pro 9 came in at a smidge under 13 minutes.

Our stress test involves running the Cinebench R23 benchmark 20 times in a loop on the Dragonfly Folio G3. The HP machine scored 6,444 on the first run. Subsequent runs were lower, settling in at just under 5,700 for the rest of the stress test.

Our review sample features the Core i7-1265U with two performance cores and eight efficiency cores. During the Cinebench R23 stress test, the performance cores averaged 2.28 GHz, while the efficiency cores averaged 1.71 GHz. Our testing showed that the CPU package averaged 57 degrees Celsius. Surprisingly, during the stress test, the fans were barely audible. I had to hover my ear above the keyboard to make out the faint noise emanating from the spinning fans.

Display on the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

Although HP offers the Dragonfly Folio G3 with up to a 3000 x 2000 OLED display, our test unit came with a 1920 x 1280 touch panel. HP says the panel is rated for 400 nits, although it came up short in our testing.

The 3:2 aspect ratio still isn't typical among laptops, as 16:9 remains the dominant configuration. However, I appreciated the extra vertical real estate, especially when working on Word documents and Excel spreadsheets.

The Dragonfly Folio G3 covers 114 percent of the sRGB color space, putting it just ahead of its Dragonfly G3 sibling (113 percent). DCI-P3 coverage came in at 80.5 percent, putting it ahead of all competitors here.

But, the Dragonfly Folio G3 pulled up the rear in the measured brightness, coming in at 332 nits in our testing, versus HP's claim of 400 nits. That performance was lower than the Dragonfly G3 we recently tested (370 nits). The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 was the best of the pack, coming in at 439 nits.

My primary issue was the glossy display, which introduced unsightly reflections, even with the panel brightness maxed out. In my home office, where I have a lot of overhead LED lighting, reflections are a problem with darker content on the screen. Working on Word documents or entering data in Excel wasn't an issue. However, watching "Wednesday" on Netflix proved somewhat annoying as the reflections were distracting, particularly with the larger borders at the top and bottom of the content due to the 3:2 aspect ratio.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

The HP Dragonfly Folio G3 employs a keyboard nearly identical to the one found on the HP Dragonfly G3. Although the keyboard was a little cramped for my hands, the biggest issue I had to get used to was the half-height directional keys. It’s a necessary compromise for such a compact convertible, but I’m not fond of it.

While the Elite Dragonfly G3 we reviewed back in September had a fingerprint reader in place of the right control key, the Dragonfly Folio G3 ditches that biometric security method. A fingerprint reader isn’t even available as an option here. You’ll need to rely on the excellent webcam for facial recognition on the Dragonfly Folio G3.

I use keyhero.com as my go-to resource for testing typing accuracy with keyboards. There, I managed a score of 80.04 words per minute with an accuracy of 96.83 percent. That was below the 85 words per minute and 90 percent accuracy I achieved with the Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3’s larger keyboard.

The touchpad measures 4.75 x 3.12 inches and was large enough to navigate around Windows 11 easily. It features a glass surface and was a pleasure to use.

HP Dragonfly Folio G3 Stylus

A stylus is included in the box with the Folio G3, and it has a nice size and heft. It contains a tiny magnetic charging connector that extends when it nears the port on the right side of the Dragonfly Folio G3’s chassis. Once connected, the stylus can go from a 0 percent to 100 percent charge in roughly half an hour.

While the magnetic connection is strong enough to keep the stylus in place to charge, I often found myself knocking the stylus off its perch when moving the ultraportable around. I would have preferred a solution like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga, where the stylus hides in a silo inside the system when not in use (though that does leave you with a far smaller pen). With the Dragonfly Folio G3, you’re left with yet another easily-lost accessory.

The stylus has one flat edge to keep it from rolling off a flat surface. There are also two programmable buttons that can be customized using the HP Pen Control app.

HP Dragonfly Folio G3 Webcam

By now, I'm used to subpar webcams with a 720p resolution proliferating the laptop space. The pictures and video almost always come out muddy, with horrible color and poor low-light performance. However, the 8MP camera on the Dragonfly Folio G3 bucks that trend with excellent detail resolution, colors and overall exposure. Throw in a 100-degree field of view, and you have a capable webcam for video conferencing duties.

There's also an HP Privacy Camera feature that lets you quickly disable the camera using a dedicated key on the keyboard next to the power button. I would have preferred a simple physical sliding shutter (as seen on various Lenovo laptops and previous Dragonflys) to confirm that the webcam is disabled, but that's just a tiny nitpick.

I did, however, run into an issue occasionally where the webcam would stop recognizing my face to sign in to Windows 11 with Windows Hello. After attempting to scan my face for 15 to 20 seconds, it would eventually give up, saying that it couldn’t initialize the webcam, forcing me to sign in with a passcode. Rebooting the machine solved the problem. Hopefully this is a hiccup solved by software updates soon.

Audio on the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

The HP Dragonfly Folio G3 is equipped with a relatively stout audio system for a business-oriented device. It features quad speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen. Two speakers are mounted above the top keyboard row, while the remaining two fire down from the underside of the chassis.

The sound from the speakers was generally good; however, the audio profile will alter depending on the configuration mode of the Dragonfly Folio G3. For example, Media mode, where the display hovers at an angle above the keyboard, had a minor impact on audio output and quality. And configuring the device into full tablet mode drowns out the top-mounted speakers, leaving the bottom speakers to do the heavy lifting.

I spent time listening to an eclectic mix of music, including the haunting “Little Lies” by ODIE, “Me&Youphoria” by Royksopp, “Doncomatic” by Gorillaz, “The Living Daylights” by A-ha and “Underneath the Tree” by Kelly Clarkson to get into the upbeat Christmas spirit. I had no complaints with the audio quality or bass levels, as long as I stayed out of the tablet mode, which obviously muffled the top-firing speakers.

Upgradeability of the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

Opening the HP Dragonfly Folio G3 isn’t for the faint of heart. It involves removing a couple of stubborn plastic endcaps on the hinge, then two Philips screws, prying the faux leather cover’s multiple clips from the casing, and loosening five T5 Torx-head screws. Once that delicate ballet is complete, the entire bottom panel lifts off.

From there, you have access to the M.2 SSD and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module, both of which are replaceable. Unfortunately, the DDR5 memory is soldered onto the motherboard. In other words, you’ll want to ensure that the amount of preconfigured memory suits your needs for today and in the future before purchasing the Dragonfly Folio G3.

HP provides a handy video to guide customers through the opening process if they wish to perform hardware upgrades on their own. This is far more difficult to open than most laptops. If you don't have experience in opening these kinds of devices, you may want to consider professional repair services.

Battery Life of the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

Our battery life test encompasses web browsing, OpenGL tests and video streaming, while connected to Wi-Fi with display brightness set 150 nits. Under these conditions, the HP Dragonfly Folio G3 lasted nine hours and 33 minutes before it gave up. That result placed it ahead of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (9:01), but behind the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (11:50) and Dragonfly G3 (14:20).

Before you start scratching your head about the runtime disparity between the two HP machines, the Dragonfly G3 has a 68 WHr battery, while the Dragonfly Folio G3 comes with a smaller 53 WHr battery. Again, this makes us wonder why the Folio G3 weighs nearly a pound more than previous Dragonflys.

Heat on the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

Given the small stature of the HP Dragonfly Folio G3 and its extremely low noise levels, you’d be forgiven if you were a bit concerned about the chassis generating excess heat.

During our Cinebench R23 stress test, we measured the hottest point on the keyboard near the backspace and delete keys (which is directly above the right-side exhaust port) at 38.2 degrees Celsius (100.76 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperature was lower near the center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, at 35 C (95 F). The touchpad kept its cool at just 24.7 C (76.46 F), while the hottest portion of the bottom chassis measured 39.5 C (103.1 F).

Software and Warranty on the HP Dragonfly Folio G3

Like just about every Windows-based laptop that we test, there are the usual preinstalled third-party apps like Disney Plus and Spotify. However, there are a plethora of HP-branded apps installed on the machine.

Some of the preinstalled apps include HP Easy Clean, HP Wolf Security and numerous others. Many of them are quite handy, including Easy Clean, which temporarily disables the keyboard, touch screen and touchpad for two minutes so that you can clean them (although you could also just turn the laptop off). Wolf Security provides “endpoint security” with malware protection at the firmware/memory level and within Windows. HP Battery Manager lets you view vital battery statistics, including factory/current battery capacity and temperature, and gives you various settings to help maximize battery health and longevity.

The Dragonfly Folio G3 comes with a limited one-year warranty.

HP Dragonfly Folio G3 Configurations

A quick visit to HP.com reveals two preconfigured options for the Dragonfly Folio G3. The cheapest include an Intel Core i7-1255U processor, 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD for $2,379. Stepping up to the Core i7-1265U, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD bumps the price to $2,749, which represents our review unit.

HP also gives customers a build-to-order option, which starts at $3,373. When configured with a Core i7-1265U processor, 32GB of RAM, 3000 x 2000 OLED touch screen display, 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and Intel 5G broadband, the price jumps to an eye-popping $4,810.

Conclusion

The HP Dragonfly Folio G3 is a lightweight and versatile ultraportable with a lot of functionality and good overall performance. I had fun using the device in tablet mode, and the pen was easy to handle and charged conveniently using a magnetic docking mechanism.

While the Dragonfly Folio G3 won’t win many CPU-intensive benchmarks, the fact that it can perform these tasks while remaining virtually silent is a boon. Throw in the lightweight design premium (yes, that includes the faux-leather wrappings) and this is a compelling ultraportable for road warriors.

However, not everything is rosy with the Dragonfly Folio G3. Its battery life comes in well below its Dragonfly G3 counterpart (9:33 versus 14:20) due to its smaller battery (53 WHr versus 68 WHr). And while not exactly heavy at 3.09 pounds, it's definitely heftier than previous Dragonfly models, which have flitted around the 2.2-2.49-pound mark. At some point, as the weight goes up, the Dragonfly no longer fits with its iridescent, quad-winged insect namesake.

And while the Dragonfly G3 comes with a bevy of ports, including USB-A ports and HDMI 2.0, the Dragonfly Folio G3 only includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. You’ll need to plan accordingly when it comes to peripheral use or learn to live the dongle life while traveling.

But perhaps the biggest knock against the Dragonfly Folio G3 is its price. The machine starts at $2,379 in its base configuration with a Core i7-1255U, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. Our review unit with a Core i7-1265U, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and 5G wireless card rang in at $2,749. A similarly specced ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 7) costs around $1,700 on sale direct from Lenovo. That’s a huge price chasm that is hard to ignore.

At the end of the day, the Dragonfly Folio G3 is a sleekly-designed ultraportable that should be appealing to a large segment of on-the-go business users. However, its premium pricing and mid-range battery life puts it at a serious disadvantage to competitors that are just as competent.

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Lenovo announced updates to its ThinkPad X1 laptops and convertibles today, presumably featuring the mobile versions of Intel's 13th-generation Raptor Lake processors. The new laptops will ship in April, but that isn't the only thing Lenovo announced: The company also pulled the wraps off a couple of ThinkVision monitors -- including a massive 49-inch ultrawide unit that will dominate just about any desk. 

Expect to learn more about all of these products in early January at CES 2023.

Starting things off is the ThinkVision P32p-30, a 31.5-inch 4K monitor. The monitor sports an IPS panel with a 1000:1 contrast ratio, 6ms response time (4ms in Extreme Mode), 60Hz refresh rate, and a maximum brightness of 350 nits. The ThinkVision P32p-30 covers 100 percent of the sRGB and 95 percent of the DCI-P3 color spaces.

There aren't any surprises here, as the monitor features a three-sided "borderless design" and EyeSafe Certified 2.0 support. Like most ThinkVision monitors, connectivity options to enhance workers' productivity are plentiful, including support for the ThinkVision VoIP Modular Stack. It also incorporates two HDMI 2.0, one DisplayPort 1.4, two Thunderbolt 4, two USB 3.2 (Gen 1) Type-A, and an RJ45 port. Finally, the monitor is adjustable for tilt, swivel and height.

But the real showstopper is the ThinkVision P49w-30, which measures 49 inches diagonally and rocks a 5120 x 1440 resolution. While most IPS panels feature a contrast ratio ranging from 1000:1 to around 1300:1, the ThinkVision P49w-30 ups that figure to 2000:1.

This monitor has productivity on the mind, so you won't find ultra-low response times or high refresh rates here. Instead, you get the same 6ms/4ms response time and 60 Hz refresh rate of the smaller ThinkVision P32p-30. Maximum brightness is also identical at 350 nits, while DCI-P3 coverage inches up slightly to 98 percent (sRGB color space figures haven't been announced).

The ThinkVision P49w-30 ups the port count, bringing two HDMI 2.1, one DisplayPort 1.4, two Thunderbolt 4, four USB 3.2 (Gen 1) Type-A, one USB 3.2 (Gen 1) Type-C (with 15-watt charging support), and an RJ45 port. While the ThinkVision P32p-30 doesn't include speakers, the larger ThinkVision P49w-30 throws in dual 5-watt speakers.

According to Lenovo, the ThinkVision P32p-30 launches in April 2023, priced at $999, while the ThinkVision P49w-30 will bow in June 2023 for $1,699.

In an announcement ahead of CES 2023, Lenovo revealed updates to its ThinkPad X1 line of laptops — the X1 Carbon, X1 Nano and X1 Yoga — to "the latest" Intel Core processors. The new laptops are set to start shipping in April.

Presumably, this means Intel will start shipping new processors sometime between now and April. CES would make pretty good timing for that announcement, as the company's mobile line hasn't yet caught up to the 13th Gen desktop chips. We know for sure that whichever generation chip Lenovo is using, these laptops will go up to Intel Core i7 with vPro and will be Evo certified.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 will offer up to 64GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD storage. It will have a 14-inch display, up to 2880 x 1800 resolution, with HDR500 True Black certification. The design isn't changing at all from last year, with the same 315.6 x 222.5 x 15.36 mm (12.42 x 8.76 x 0.60 inches) footprint. The fold-over X1 Yoga Gen 8 will share the same RAM and storage specs, but its 14-inch screen will go up to a 3840 x 2400 OLED panel.

The smaller, lighter ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 3 stops at 16GB of LPDDR5 (though it allows the same 2TB of storage) with a 13-inch display going up to 2K (presumably 2160 x 1350, like the last model we reviewed).The weight on this one has crept up a bit to 2.13 pounds.

All of the laptops share the same selection of ports: two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a pair of USB 3.2 Type-A, HDMI 2.0b and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. They all also have camera shutters, support the Tile app for tracking, feature fingerprint readers, are MIL-STD810H tested and support Dolby Atmos.

What is different about these notebooks is that they will be made partially from recycled materials, unlike the previous generation of X1 Carbon, Nano and Yoga. For the X1 Carbon, this means recycled magnesium in the palm rest and aluminum on the bottom, while the X1 Nano is getting a 90% recycled magnesium hybrid on both the bottom and the palm rest. Lenovo hasn't specified if the Yoga’s chassis will have any specific components, though the packaging is now made from bamboo and sugarcane fiber.

The X1 Carbon Gen 11 will start from $1,729; the X1 Yoga Gen 8 will have a base price of $1,859; and the X1 Nano Gen 3 is set at an entry of $1,649, though Lenovo suggests these are all "expected" and may change.

Lenovo announced a series of other Think-branded items today as well, including two ThinkVision monitors with 4K Mini LED displays and a curved ultrawide display. 

Microsoft's Surface Pro 9 2-in-1 is now available with either an Arm or an Intel CPU. But the 15-inch Surface Laptop 5 clamshell is now all 12th Gen Intel, all the time, jettisoning the AMD-based option in the previous-gen Surface Laptop 4, which spent a long time on our Best Ultrabooks and Premium Laptops list. The shift to the latest mobile Intel silicon also brings support for Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 via the laptop's sole USB-C port for the first time.

But aside from a new light green sage color in the smaller 13.5-inch model (we’re testing the 15-inch model here), the Surface Laptop 5 is effectively the same device on the outside as the Surface Laptop 4 (and 2019’s Surface Laptop 3, for that matter). In many ways, that’s fine given that the all-aluminum, 0.58-inch, 3.4-pound shell still looks and feels great, like an edgier version of Apple’s MacBook Air, at least in our silver “platinum” review unit (black is the other option). The keyboard and 2496 x 1664 touchscreen are still good, although the 720p webcam is starting to feel very dated for a laptop that starts at $1,299 ($1,899 as tested). 

The real issue, though, is that without any real change on the outside, this latest Surface Laptop lives and dies on its performance and battery life. And as we’ll see later in testing, the Intel i7-1265U in our review unit doesn’t exactly excite, especially given a similarly configured (and identically designed) AMD-powered Surface Laptop 4 got better battery life in our testing and is still available for hundreds less.

Design of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

While there’s nothing new about the Surface Laptop 5’s design, that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a lot to like. The angular aluminum shell, available in either black or platinum (silver), looks great and feels solid. And the device is pleasingly free of branding or other visual clutter, save for the mirrored Windows logo on the lid.

At 13.4 x 9.6 x 0.58 inches and 3.4 pounds, the Surface Laptop 5 is still slim and portable. Dell’s XPS 15 is thicker and heavier, at 0.73 inches and 4.31 pounds, although it makes room for dedicated graphics. 

But if portability is your main concern, smaller laptops might be the way to go. HP’s 13.5-inch Elite Dragonfly is just 2.2 pounds and 0.64 inches thick (and also more expensive, starting around $2,000). The ThinkPad X1 Carbon offers an enticing middle ground with a 14-inch screen and a 2.48-pound heft (nearly a pound less than the Surface Laptop), while costing $235 less than our Microsoft review unit, or $1,564.

Port speed has at least improved with the Surface Laptop 5, but the port count hasn’t. Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 is now on board, which means you can connect up to two 4K/60 Hz displays (provided you bring your own dock). But it exists in the laptop’s sole USB-C port on the left edge, where you’ll also find a USB 3.1 Type-A port and a headphone jack.

The right edge, as ever, is barren aside from Microsoft’s proprietary Surface Connect port for charging (or docking via a Surface Dock). We get the whole minimal vibe that Microsoft is clearly aiming for, but most of the competition offers more connectivity. The Dell XPS 13 Plus may have notoriously ditched the headphone jack, but at least it has two TB4 ports.

One other area where the Surface Laptop 5 design is showing its age is in the half-inch bezels around the display. The 15-inch screen itself, which we’ll be testing and talking about later, is still quite good. But everything you’ll be looking at on that screen will be framed by substantial black bars.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

Our $1,899 review model of the Surface Laptop 5 shipped with Intel’s Core i7-1265U processor, which features two performance cores that top out at 4.8 Ghz, and eight efficiency cores that max out at 3.6 Ghz. This is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD.

Starting off with the CPU-focused Geekbench 5 test, the Surface Laptop 5 just manages to edge out the Surface Laptop 4 in the single-core test, but gets beaten by its predecessor in the multi-core benchmark. The ThinkPad and XPS laptops both feature higher-wattage CPUs (a 28-watt Core i7-1260P in the ThinkPad and a 45W Core i7-12700H in the XPS), so it’s not surprising that they lead. But note the smaller Dragonfly G3 (which has the same Core i7-1265U as our Surface Laptop 5). It manages to easily outpace the Surface Laptop 5 on the single-core test, while nearly keeping pace on the multi-core match.

Shifting to our file transfer test, the Surface Laptop 5 copied 25GB of files at 532.52 MBps. That’s admittedly better than the pokey 372.49 MBps we saw when testing the Surface Laptop 4, but everything else here is more than twice as fast, and the Dell was over three times speedier in our test.

Last up in our Handbrake test transcoding test, where we crunch a standard 4K test file down to 1080p, the Surface Laptop 5 finished in 8 minutes and 53 seconds, again lagging behind the Surface Laptop 4 (8:21). The much more powerful Dell took an easy win here (that one also has a discrete GPU), finishing in less than 6 minutes. But the ThinkPad and Dragonfly both took well over 10 minutes, indicating their smaller frames aren’t built for speedy long-term performance. 

We stress-tested the Surface Laptop 5 and its Intel Core i7-1265U processor by running Cinebench R23 20 times in a loop. The laptop started out strong at 7,894 and didn’t drop too much in the second round, hitting 7,711. But then it began a steep descent into the low/mid 5,000s, eventually falling to 4,924 before recovering slightly and settling back into the 5,500 range for its last few runs.

While you can see the substantial performance dropoff in the chart above, it’s worth noting that throughout this testing time (and just generally in my time using the laptop), fan noise was either entirely non-existent or nearly too low to hear. During the heaviest stresses, I could detect a low whir, but only when I bent down and put my ear about a foot from the laptop.

Clearly, Microsoft has tuned the Surface Laptop 5 to be silent rather than deliver the most performance possible from the CPU. During our tests, the CPU’s pair of performance cores ran at an average of 2.31 GH, and the efficiency cores ran at an average of 1.86; and the processor temp averaged 60.1 degrees Celsius.

Display on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

One thing I like about Microsoft’s Surface Laptops as a whole is the commitment to the touchscreen, a feature that exists across all models. This may not be a must-have feature on a clamshell laptop, but I first bought a touchscreen laptop sometime in 2012 (running Windows 8!), and I always somewhat miss the feature when it isn’t present. Here, as ever, it works well, although there is some wobble in the hinge if you’re a heavy tapper.

The 15-inch Surface Laptop 5 again sports a 2496 x 1664-resolution panel, which produces 101% of the sRGB spectrum and 71.6% of the larger DCI-P3 color space in our testing. When I watched the trailer for “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania,” the image looked bright and the reds and blues of the Quantum Realm popped. Near the end of the trailer, I particularly liked the way the details of Jonathan Majors’ face and his blue suit stood out against the dark, blurred background.

The Surface Laptop 5’s panel offered up 384 nits of average tested brightness, which is higher than the 334 nits we saw on the previous-gen Surface Laptop 4, and slightly brighter than the Dragonfly and XPS laptops. But the ThinkPad X1 Carbon was the brightness leader, breaking 400 nits.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Microsoft doesn’t claim to have made any changes to the input devices on the Surface Laptop 5, and that’s perfectly fine because they’re generally excellent. Sure, the keys are fairly flat, and the 1.3 mm of travel isn’t exactly luxurious. But the spacing feels roomy and there’s a nice level of tactility to the keys without much in the way of typing noise. While I still much prefer my desktop mechanical keyboards, I could happily live with this keyboard on the go or at home. The only way to get something substantially better on a slim laptop is to opt for one of the thicker Lenovo Thinkpads.

With its Windows Precision drivers and roomy but not huge 4.5 x 3-inch surface, the touchpad on the Surface Laptop 5 is also very good. Multi-finger gestures and general navigation worked for me without a hitch or complaint. There’s room for a bigger touchpad here, and some might prefer haptics over a physical click, but I’m not sure either would add much to the cursor control experience. What’s here is already much better than you’ll find on most laptops.

Audio on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

It’s hard to say without the Surface Laptop 4 sitting in front of me to compare, but it feels like Microsoft cut some costs with the Surface Laptop 5’s speakers. I wouldn’t quite classify them as bad, but our systems editor Andrew Freedman said the speakers on the Surface Laptop 4 got loud, with a comfortable listening volume of around 60-70%. Listening to my favorite test track on the Surface Laptop 5 (Buck-Tick’s “Nightmare”), I found I could crank the volume all the way up without things sounding uncomfortably loud–although there was some noticeable tinniness, with the high-end sounding pronounced and a bit shrill. This gets better if you drop the volume below 90%, but then there just isn’t that much sound coming from the speakers. And there’s no software here for tweaking the EQ.

What I can say is the speakers on the smaller HP Elite Dragonfly G3 are much better. When I listened to the two laptops with the same track side by side, the Dragonfly at 50% was about as loud as the Surface Laptop 5 turned all the way up. Cranked all the way, up the HP laptop was much louder, without the sharp high-end issues I could hear in the Microsoft laptop. Granted, the HP is a more expensive device, but it’s also much smaller and lighter. In short, while the speakers on previous Surface Laptops may have been quite good, I’d say the sound output of the Surface Laptop 5 is just OK. You’ll probably want headphones or a Bluetooth speaker.

Upgradeability of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

As nothing has substantially changed with the Surface Laptop 5’s physical design, the SSD is replaceable inside the laptop. But as ever, Microsoft says this should only be done by “skilled technicians following Microsoft instructions.” As in previous iterations, the company uses short M.2 2230 drives, which are much smaller and generally more expensive than standard 2280 drives.

Regardless, accessing the internals at all involves removing the laptop’s four glued-down rubber feet. Since we don’t expect anything else to be replaceable other than the SSD, we decided against prying off pieces of our loaner unit that aren’t designed to go back together simply, like screws and metal plates.

Battery Life on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

Despite packing the same 47 Whr battery capacity as the AMD-powered Surface Laptop 4, the latest Intel-powered model just doesn’t last as long in our battery test, which sets screen brightness at 150 nits while browsing the web, streaming video and OpenGL tests while connected via Wi-Fi.Despite packing the same 47 Whr battery capacity as the AMD-powered Surface Laptop 4, the latest Intel-powered model just doesn’t last as long in our battery test, which sets screen brightness at 150 nits while browsing the web, streaming video and OpenGL tests while connected via Wi-Fi.Despite packing the same 47 Whr battery capacity as the AMD-powered Surface Laptop 4, the latest Intel-powered model just doesn’t last as long in our battery test, which sets screen brightness at 150 nits while browsing the web, streaming video and OpenGL tests while connected via Wi-Fi.

The Surface Laptop 5’s unplugged runtime of 9 hours and 2 minutes on our test is still good, but the Surface Laptop 4 (which is still available for hundreds less than the Surface Laptop 5), lasted over three hours longer (12:04) on the same test. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon brought up the rear here, thanks in large part to its higher-wattage P-Series CPU. But the smaller HP Dragonfly G3 is the clear longevity leader of this group, lasting 14 hours and 20 minutes in our battery test. Yes, the HP has a smaller 13.5-inch display, but it also weighs over a pound less than the Surface laptop.

The Surface Laptop 5’s unplugged runtime of 9 hours and 2 minutes on our test is still good, but the Surface Laptop 4 (which is still available for hundreds less than the Surface Laptop 5), lasted over three hours longer (12:04) on the same test. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon brought up the rear here, thanks in large part to its higher-wattage P-Series CPU. But the smaller HP Dragonfly G3 is the clear longevity leader of this group, lasting 14 hours and 20 minutes in our battery test. Yes, the HP has a smaller 13.5-inch display, but it also weighs over a pound less than the Surface laptop.

Heat on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

To see how hot the Intel-powered Surface Laptop 5 can get under stress, we took skin temperature measurements of the system during our Cinebench R23 test.

At the center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, the Surface Laptop 5 measured a warm 105.5 degrees Fahrenheit (40.83 degrees Celsius). The touchpad topped out at a cooler 91.7 degrees Fahrenheit (33.17 degrees Celsius). And as usual, the bottom of the laptop was the warmest, hitting 114.4 degrees Fahrenheit (45.78 degrees Celsius) at the bottom rear, to the left of the Microsoft logo. While these temps aren’t the coolest we’ve seen on slim laptops (the Lenovo Thinkpad Z16 was cooler overall), they weren’t so high as to be uncomfortable when using the laptop.

Webcam on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

The best I can say about the Surface Laptop 5’s 720p webcam is that it is pretty good – for a 720p webcam. 

In natural or bright office lighting, my face looked reasonably well-defined and the colors of my shirt and the fake floral arrangement behind me when I tested it were mostly accurate. But in medium to low light, my face looked very dark and increasingly grainy. And even in the best sunlit conditions, the details in my beard and hair were lost to the camera’s low resolution. In short, if your webcam needs are low-res and basic, and your lighting is good, you can get by with the webcam in the Surface Laptop 5. But if you care about detail or want any fancy features, you should consider something from our best webcams list instead. 

Actually, there’s another good thing to be said about this laptop’s webcam: It includes an IR sensor for logging via Windows Hello facial recognition, and that feature worked as flawlessly and at least as fast here than with any (or at least most) of the laptops I’ve tested in the past. So long as my face was in frame when I lifted the laptop’s lid, I found myself logged in and onto the Windows 11 desktop so fast that I mostly forgot the camera was doing anything at all.

Software and Warranty on the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

Microsoft continues to let its operating system shine (or at least function free of clutter) by not installing much in the way of extra software on its Surface devices. The primary extra is the Surface app. This lets you configure how the Surface Pen (sold separately) works on the screen and check warranty status and system specs.

The Start menu is also a bit cluttered out of the box, with shortcuts to the Disney app, Kindle, Spotify, TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp, alongside Microsoft’s own Xbox and Office teasers. While this sounds like a lot, what’s here overall is less than you’ll find pre-installed on the majority of Windows PCs these days.

Configurations of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

While the smaller 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 5 has several configuration and color options (as well as the optional Alcantara fabric on the keyboard deck), your choices are much more limited if you opt for the 15-inch Surface Laptop 5. It’s available in black or silver, with no fabric keyboard cover option. 

Microsoft sent us a Surface Laptop 5 review unit with a Core i7-1265U CPU, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and a 512GB SSD. This CPU is actually only offered in the Surface Laptop 5 for Business line, and is priced at $1,899. But the same configuration in the consumer model, except with a Core i7-1255U CPU, sells for $1,799. The difference between those two CPUs? The 1265U has a 100 MHz higher Turbo frequency for both the two performance cores and the eight efficiency cores. That’s a two-percent change in maximum clock speed. So I wouldn’t recommend spending the extra $100 for the model we received, unless you also need Windows 11 Pro, which seems to be the only other difference between the consumer and business models. The consumer models ship with the standard version of Windows 11.

The consumer configurations of the Surface Laptop 5 all ship with the Intel Core i7-1255U CPU, starting at $1,299 with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. There is also a model that doubles the storage to 512GB, changes nothing else, but costs $1,499. Yes, that’s a $200 difference for an extra 256GB of storage. The model that’s closest to the business model we tested (i7, with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD) sits at $1,799. 

The top-end model sells for $2,399 with the same i7 CPU, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. That maxed-out model is only available in black, while the entry model is only offered in silver. It would be great to see 2TB of storage available as an option, but that’s likely a limitation of the short 2230 SSDs that Microsoft uses across most of its devices. And real talk: the company clearly wants you to pay for and use its OneDrive cloud storage rather than save your files locally, anyway.

Bottom Line

The 15-inch Surface Laptop 5’s design is still mostly great, although it could use more ports and is starting to feel stale. Its keyboard and screen still offer up an experience that’s well above average. The problem is, you can get all of that good stuff with the previous-generation Surface Laptop 4 for hundreds of dollars less (at least for now), while also bringing a few hours extra of battery life in our tests. And productivity performance with the new 12th Gen Core i7 CPU isn’t always better than the AMD-powered Surface Laptop 4, either.

So unless you love the Surface Laptop design and need Thunderbolt 4 (which comes via the laptop’s single USB-C port), the Surface Laptop 4 is a much better buy–at least as long as it lasts. Microsoft seemed to be hiding it on its own site when I was wrapping up this review. But I was able to configure the laptop with 16GB and a 512GB SSD for $1,399, or $500 less than our review configuration of the new Surface Laptop 5. Considering the newer laptop's similar to lesser performance and shorter battery life in our tests, it’s kind of hard to argue the new model is a big upgrade over the previous model.
If you’re after something with a bigger screen, Lenovo’s ThinkPad Z16 got 4.5 hours more battery life in our tests and starts at around $1,550. That’s with a Ryzen 5, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD, or you could step up to a Ryzen 7, a 1TB SSD and dedicated 6500M graphics for about $86 more than our Surface Laptop 5 ($1,985.40). 

If you want something smaller and lighter, HP’s 13.5-inch Elite Dragonfly G3 sells for $1,962 with an Alder Lake i7, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That laptop also gets over four more hours of battery life in our testing, while weighing 1.2 pounds less than the Surface Laptop 5. The Surface Laptop 5 is still a sleek and solid device, but Microsoft clearly needs to bring something new to the table next year.

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There will probably always be a place for boxy business notebooks (many have landed on our list of the best ultrabooks), but it's time for some freshening up. With its brushed aluminum chassis, a bump for a modern, high resolution camera and haptic touchpad, the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 gives some much-needed modernity to the ThinkPad line. 

The ThinkPad Z16 is an all-AMD machine, which we tested with a Ryzen 7 Pro 6850H, as well as the latest in AMD's integrated graphics (discrete graphics are available, but were not in the model we reviewed). It costs $2,249 as tested.

The bright display and long battery life are cherries on top, but ThinkPads are still business laptops, which still mean business prices. The Z16 costs a pretty penny, and some competitors undercut it on price.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

My father has used ThinkPads since they were made by IBM. The Z16 looks like none of them. It's a refreshing change, keeping the spirit of the ThinkPad ethos but making a laptop that is modern, if not exciting.

The Z16 is a matte gunmetal gray on the aluminum chassis' lid, with the ThinkPad logo stamped on the top left corner and Lenovo's in the bottom right. A small, shiny oval-shaped bump near the top is a statement piece (and also holds the cameras).

Lifting the lid is a huge transition. Inside, the chassis is black, while the sides of the laptop are brushed aluminum that contrasts from the rest of the design. The whole thing is part computer, part luxury watch.

The 16-inch screen has thin bezels on all sides, with a bump up top (the same silver oval from the back) to fit a 1080p webcam and IR camera for Windows Hello.

Lenovo's red TrackPoint nub punctuates the black deck and keyboard with a bit of red. The touchpad doesn't have extra buttons for use with the TrackPoint; those are built into the top of the haptic touchpad (more on that later).

At 4.3 pounds and 13.95 x 9.35 x 0.63 inches, the ThinkPad Z16 is quite close in size to the Dell XPS 15 (9520), which weighs 4.51 pounds and is 13.56 x 9.07 x 0.73 inches. The HP Elite Dragonfly G3 is significantly lighter at 2.2 pounds and is a similar 0.64 inches thick, while Lenovo's own 14-inch ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) is 2.48 pounds and 0.6 inches thick.

Like the MacBook Pro and Dell XPS 15, Lenovo has abandoned USB Type-A here. The left side of the laptop has a pair of USB Type-C ports (3.2 Gen 2 for charging and USB-C 4) as well as a full-sized SD card reader. The right side has a Kensington lock slot, another USB-C 4 port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Just like on the XPS, there's room for more here, and I wish Lenovo would take advantage of the real estate.

While only the USB 3.2 Gen 2 port has a picture of a plug next to it, all three of the Type-C ports will allow you to charge. That being said, you might as well leave the faster ports open for data transfer.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the ThinkPad Z16

The mix of an  AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850H, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB storage drive proved to be a potent combination in our ThinkPad Z16 review configuration, though one competitor managed to give it a serious fight.

On Geekbench 5, an overall performance test based heavily on the CPU, the ThinkPad Z16 achieved a single-core score of 1,536 and a multi-core score of 9,018. It lost only to the Dell XPS 15 (9520) with a Core i7-12700H, which had a significantly higher multi-core score of 11,258. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Core i7-1260P) and HP Elite Dragonfly G3 (Core i6-1265U) did better at single-core performance, but weren't as good for multi-core tasks.

The Z16 copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,423.02 MBps, falling just behind the X1 Carbon. The Dell XPS 15 also took this round at 1,637.22 MBps.

We use Handbrake to transcode a 4K video to 1080p using test laptops. The ThinkPad Z16 came in at 6:37, while the XPS 15 took the crown at 5:42. The HP Elite Dragonfly's U-series chip came in at 13:09.

We stress tested the Z16 and its Ryzen Pro processor by running Cinebench R23 for 20 loops. The ThinkPad was largely consistent in the high 12,000's, with the exception of its first run and a weird dip down to the 10,000's on the third run. During the Cinebench test, the CPU ran at an average of 3.84 GHz and measured 94.95 degrees Celsius.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

The ThinkPad Z16 has a 16-inch display with a 16:10 aspect ratio. Our review unit is non-touch with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, but it also offers a touch option and an OLED, 3840 x 2400 configuration on the high end.

I found that for writing documents and using spreadsheets, the ThinkPad Z16 is plenty bright. If you wanna kick back with it and watch TV, you may wish the 1920 x 1200 display got a bit more luminous. When I checked out the trailer for Shazam: Fury of the Gods, a daylight shot of the Shazam family gathering on a bridge had vivid colors, with each of their distinct costumes standing out against the cement and steel. In a darker scene in some sort of temple later in the trailer, the purple, gray and green outfits were a bit harder to make out.

The ThinkPad measured 81.2% of DCI-P3 color gamut and 115% of the sRGB gamut — and again, without the OLED display. It was behind the Dell XPS 15, which we did test with OLED, but just by a few percentage points, and just barely above the HP Elite Dragonfly. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon came in the rear.

The Z16 measured 432 nits of brightness on our light meter, coming only  behind the other ThinkPad (the Carbon) at 496 nits.

Keyboard, Touchpad and TrackPoint on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

Lenovo's keyboard isn't the best I've used, but it's still pretty decent. My main complaint is that it doesn't have much in the way of feedback (similar to our thoughts on the Z13), though its 1.35 mm travel seemed deep enough to my fingers. On the monkeytype typing test, I reached 127 words per minute with 99% accuracy, so it's hard to complain too much.

The touchpad uses haptic feedback and is one big piece of glass. I really love this decision, as it makes for a smooth navigating experience and lets you click anywhere — even at the top. If you want to adjust the feedback, you can do so easily enough in Windows settings.

But I use the touchpad as my main means of interacting with a laptop. Another Tom's Hardware editor with a specific affinity for the TrackPoint wasn't much of a fan of the glass trackpad. That's because Lenovo has done away with the click buttons that you use to click with the nub. Now, it's built into the top of the trackpad, which is admittedly less tactile.

That being said, I'm of the opinion that you can get used to it, and the nub, if you're a fan of it, hasn't changed much at all otherwise. Perhaps the big difference is that you can now push on the nub to open a context menu to make changes to camera brightness and contrast, different microphone modes, activate system mute and, ironically, turn off the part of the trackpad that acts as buttons to work with the nub.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

The ThinkPad Z16's top-firing speakers are decent, but they won't blow your socks off. They're totally fine for voice calls, but if you like to listen to music to get in your headspace, they're just OK. I tapped my foot along to Caamp's "All the Debts I Owe," and the Z16 had clear, layered vocals and a twangy guitar. The drums, however, were quiet and lost in the mix.

There are some audio settings buried in the Lenovo Commercial Vantage app. It defaults to music mode,but I had the most luck on the dynamic setting. There's also an option to let the computer adjust based on the apps you have playing audio. I recommend checking it out under Device > Device Settings > Audio > Audio Smart Settings.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

There are five captive Phillips head screws on the bottom of the Z16's aluminum chassis. That means you don't need to remove them — just loosen them — which makes the screws effectively impossible to lose. I found that using a pry tool from the back of the machine made quick work of getting the base off.

Despite having more space than the smaller ThinkPad Z13, there isn't any more to upgrade. The battery and SSD are replaceable (the SSD is beneath a copper heat shield, held down by two more Phillips head screws), but the Wi-Fi card and RAM are soldered to the motherboard.

There is another PCIe slot, but it's not for your SSD. The maintenance manual indicates that that's where the WAN card would go if you had a configuration with wireless support. Since there aren't any antennae cables here (and our laptop doesn't have a SIM card slot), this is just empty space.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

The ThinkPad Z16 lasted an incredibly long 14 hours and 36 minutes on our battery test, suggesting many people won't need to worry about schlepping a charger around with it (at least, in the unit without a GPU). Our battery test involves laptops browsing the web, streaming video and running graphics tests in the browser, all with the display pegged to 150 nits and connected to Wi-Fi.

The HP Elite dragonfly G3 came close at 14:20, but the XPS 15  (9520) was the next highest at 9:43, a pretty big drop.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

To see how hot the AMD-powered ThinkPad Z16 can get under stress, we took skin temperature measurements during our Cinebench R23 gauntlet.

At the center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, the Z16 measured 100.58 degrees Fahrenheit (38.1 degrees Celsius). The touchpad was a cooler 84.74 F (29.3 C).

On the bottom of the notebook, the hottest point measured 101.12 F (38.4 C), which isn't too bad.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

The hump on top of the ThinkPad Z16's lid houses the 1080p webcam (along with an IR camera for facial recognition in Windows Hello and the microphones). I'm glad to see a high resolution webcam. Not only should all business notebooks have one at this point — all notebooks over $1,000 should, period.

In good lighting, the picture was decent enough, catching the stitching in my sleeves and all the hairs in my head. In darker scenarios, there was a bit of grain. In Lenovo Vantage, there are settings to use AI to brighten your image and make other changes, though you may want to be careful with it, as it seems to suck battery life. It's off when unplugged by default, but you can turn it on.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16

There's very little software on the ThinkPad Z16 out of the box. That's the way things should be.

The big application is Lenovo Commercial Vantage, a hub app that shows how much RAM and storage are being used, warranty status and lets you change power and audio settings, among many other options.

There's also Lenovo View, which the company describes as an "Imaging Processing Framework that enhances camera quality." An app called "Clean Your Device" temporarily disables the mouse and keyboard for a set duration of time while you wipe down your laptop.

Of course, there's some bloat built into Windows 11, like Spotify, Disney+, TikTok, Adobe Express and Facebook.

Our review unit of the ThinkPad Z16, sold through CDW, comes with a three-year warranty. On Lenovo's website, you start with a one-year warranty and can increase the duration for an additional fee.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 Configurations

We tested the Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 with an AMD Ryzen Pro 6850H, Radeon 680M graphics, 512GB of SSD storage, 16GB of RAM, a 1920 x 1200 display and three year warranty, which runs for $2,249.99.

On Lenovo's website, it is exclusively (as of this writing, anyway), selling the Z16 with the AMD Radeon RX 6500M discrete GPU with 4GB of VRAM. This allows for AMD SmartShift, and may be worthwhile for those who are editing photos or videos for business, or who may be using it for entry level gaming in their spare time.

The cheapest config on Lenovo's site is $1,975.35 with a Ryzen 5 Pro 6650H and that GPU, but the same display, memory and storage. The top-end model is $2,800 and combines our top-end CPU and that RX 6500M GPU, along with 2TB of storage, 32GB of RAM and a 3840 x 2400 OLED touch screen.

Bottom Line

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 is a modern take on the ThinkPad, with a sleek, luxury design that still maintains a serious level of professionalism.

In our testing, we found the display to be bright and colorful, and that the battery could last way more than a workday under the right conditions. AMD's chips are powerful, too, though not the top tier that we tested.

If you're willing to go with a bit more of a dated design and Intel chips, the Dell XPS 15 (9520) may save you some money. As of this writing, a similarly configured XPS 15 starts at $1,549, albeit with a Core i5 instead of a Core i7. To get the Core i7, you also have to add at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, which will get you up to $1,899, still a few hundred less than the ThinkPad and with better graphics.

The Z16 paints a future of the ThinkPad that modernizes the flagship business laptop, but you have to be willing to pay enterprise prices to get it.

Make sure to check our Lenovo promo codes for a discount.

It seems that every device needs a flexible screen these days At Lenovo Tech World 22, a number of rollable screen technology devices were showcased at the virtual event. As well as the predictable rollable screen smartphones, which have become pretty familiar at tech shows, we were intrigued to see this screen-expanding technology applied to a laptop. An unnamed ThinkPad laptop with vertically extending screen was highlighted by President of Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group, Luca Rossi, in the video embedded below.

No tech specs, nor even a name, were shared for Lenovo's concept rollable laptop, but Rossi said that the possibilities presented by a rollable laptop are “compelling.” He asserted that the new type of clamshell laptop will “bring multitasking, browsing, and mobility applications to another level.”

If you are keen for some tech specs for the Lenovo ThinkPad with rollable screen, we notice that the fully unfurled demo device looks uncannily like the ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022, revealed at the start of September. Sure, the screen extends using a completely different mechanism, but the end result looks almost identical – fully opened vs fully extended. The second generation ThinkPad X1 fold provided a vertically tall display with a 16.3-inch diagonal at 2024 x 2460 pixels tall. Despite this sizably display, the folded laptop was similar in footprint to a 12-inch device.

At this early stage we can’t say the rollable ThinkPad from Tech World 22 will have the same screen specs / dimensions. Moreover, lots of other things could change before this becomes a shipping consumer product – if it gets to that stage. 

Lenovo Yoga Paper

We caught a glimpse of another interesting Lenovo product in the pipeline yesterday, when Lenovo's consumer marketing director posted some images of the ‘Lenovo Yoga Paper’ on his Weibo social media page, via CN Beta. The images show a working device with e-Ink display and graspable edge with stylus garage. It is another device where we don’t have (m)any specs to ponder over, for now.

Acer is turning its premiere ultraportable into a bit of a business laptop. The company has debuted the Swift Edge, a 16-inch notebook using AMD Ryzen processors, up the the Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U (though also some non-Pro chips).

The laptop also features a 16:10 OLED display, which Asus claims offers 500 nits of peak brightness.

The processors available include the AMD Ryzen 5 6600U, Ryzen 6 Pro 6650U, Ryzen 7 6800U and Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U. Acer is also using the Microsoft Pluton security profile, which is shipped on by default.

Those chips will be paired with up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of PCIe storage, though Acer says exact specs and availability will differ based on the region where the laptop is sold.

But at 2.58 pounds (1.17 kg) and a 14.94 x 9.54 x 0.55-inch footprint, Acer's biggest claim here is that the system is large enough for work but light enough to be portable. The system has two USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 ports (up to 20 Gbps), two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port and a 3.5 mm headphone jack, which is more connectivity than many ultraportables these days. 

Acer is entering a crowded market of laptops meant to allow for working from anywhere, including stalwarts in both the business and consumer spaces like Lenovo and HP with laptop lines like the ThinkPad and Elite Dragonfly. Like those, the Swift Edge seems to skew a bit more towards enterprise with the Ryzen Pro chips and Pluton processors. The laptop is shipping this October in North America, starting at  $1,499.99. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it will start at €1,499, while in China it will begin at RMB 7,999.

We're two decades into the 21st century, a time where many of us were expecting to have flying cars or apartments on the moon. Instead, tech companies are still selling floppy disks and brand new PCs with an untenable 8GB of RAM. By all means, grab a 3.5-inch, 1.44 MB floppy disk if you still need one. But, for Woz’s sake, don’t get a PC with less than 16GB of memory, unless you plan to buy more RAM and install it yourself.

We’ve reached the point in computing history where you can’t competently run Windows and browse the Internet with less than 16GB on board. On my desktop PC running Windows 10, it takes just 8 Chrome tabs, Slack and Spotify running to cross the 8GB threshold. My regular use case of four dozen tabs takes me up to around 15GB, without running any games or productivity apps. Even with nothing but background services running, I’m using 5.5GB.

Even playing one game will take you past the 8GB limit many $1,000 gaming PCs have. Senior Editor Sarah Jacobsson Purewal shared a screenshot (see how to take screenshots in Windows) of her task manager where Elden Ring is eating 4.4GB of RAM and Steam is gobbling another 354MB. Once you exceed your computer’s physical RAM, the OS will compensate by swapping data in and out of your paging file, significantly harming performance.

Despite the fact that modern Windows PCs really need 16GB of RAM and the cost of adding more RAM is minimal, major PC vendors continue offering systems with a mere 8GB. And we’re not talking about kids’ Chromebooks or $199 cheapo laptops with Pentium CPUs! High-powered $900 gaming laptops and $1,300 ultrabooks also come with just 8GB. By the way, another 8GB of laptop RAM would cost you $25 on Amazon, so it must cost OEMs, who get to pay wholesale, a fraction of that to get this right. 

Imagine that your mouth is watering and you’re dying for a Big Mac dinner. You pull up to the McDonald’s Drive-through and see a sign that says “Big Mac, starting at $5.99.” So you order the burger, but, when you pull it out of the bag, you’re surprised to see that it only has one beef patty, one slice of pickle, no cheese, no Big Mac Sauce and no sesame seeds on the bun. You then find out that a “real” Big Mac with the taste you’d expect costs $9.99. McDonald’s wouldn’t sully its name by offering a sub-par experience that would make Grimace blush. Only PC OEMs would do such a thing. 

Dell currently sells a config of its flagship XPS 13 laptop with 8GB for a whopping $1,249, while Lenovo’s entry-level ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) is $1,319 with 8GB. These two laptops are meant to compete with the best Ultrabooks on the market, and they do when you buy configurations that come with a decent amount of memory. What’s worse in the case of Ultrabooks like these is that the RAM is soldered to the motherboard so there’s no way to upgrade. 

Many gaming laptops (including some of the best gaming laptops under $1,500) and desktops also come with just 8GB of RAM, but the good news there is that you can almost always upgrade the memory on your own, a cost you should build into your budget and plan to do right away. For example, Walmart has an MSI GF63 gaming laptop for $599. For that price, you have to settle for lesser specs like a GTX 1650, 256GB SSD and, yes, 8GB of RAM. But you can open it up and swap the RAM for 2 x 8GB DIMMs, which will make your wallet about $50 lighter, but consider that part of the price. (While you’re in there you should also install a roomier SSD, but that’s the subject of another story.)

We’d rather that companies like MSI just make 16GB the minimum standard and raise price as necessary, but as a consumer, you can make 16GB your minimum. Don’t even consider buying a computer with 8GB of RAM that can’t be upgraded. And, if you do see a great deal on an 8GB system, make sure you can also get the RAM and bring it up to 16GB. 

If you already have a PC with 4, 8 or even 16GB of memory, adding more RAM is one of the best sub-$100 upgrades you can make. Just check the service manual for your PC or motherboard or visit Crucial’s Advisor to find out the exact type of RAM you need.

Most of the best gaming laptops have 15 to 17-inch screens, but Acer’s 14-inch Predator Triton 300 SE ($1,949 as tested, starts at $1,599) is a convincing argument that they can be made smaller. The Core i9-12900H processor and 6GB Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card in our review unit let it punch well above its weight — no low-wattage CPU or RTX 3050 here. It’s all wrapped in an attractive aluminum build, and our model goes above and beyond with a gorgeous OLED screen. It’s not cheap, but few gaming laptops blend portability and performance so well.

Design of the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Acer sells both 14- and 16-inch versions of the Predator Triton 300 SE. The 14-inch version under review here is distinguishable by its dark gray hue as opposed to bright silver color on the larger version. The aluminum chassis – plastic would be out of place on a laptop this expensive – resists flex nicely even though the metal isn’t thick.

At 12.34 x 8.9 x 0.79 inches (313.4 x 226.1 x 19.9 mm, WDH), the Predator Triton 300 SE isn’t as trim as a non-gaming 14-inch ultraportable, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but mostly sticks to the size of its 14-inch, 16:10 aspect ratio screen. To nitpick, I’d like to see slightly thinner display bezels. The laptop weighs 3.75 pounds (1.7kg).

By comparison, the Asus TUF Gaming F15, which has a 15.6-inch screen, is 13.94 x 9.88 x 0.78 inches (354 x 250 x 19.81 mm) and 4.41 pounds (2 kg). The 16-inch Lenovo Legion 5i Pro is still larger and heavier at 14.17 x 10.4 x 1.05 inches (359.9 x 264.4 x 26.6 mm) and 5.49 pounds (2.49 kg). That’s also true of the Acer Predator Helios 300, which is 14.15 x 10.88 x 0.9 inches (359.4 x 276.4 by 22.9 mm) and 5.73 pounds (2.6 kg).

The Predator sticks to traditional straight lines instead of trying anything exotic. Minus the excessive stickers on the palm rest, it almost looks professional. Acer toned down the Predator branding to tiny badges on the lid and palm rest. There is no external lighting besides the keyboard backlighting.

The amount of physical connectivity satisfies; The left edge has a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port and Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C). There’s also a Kensington-style lock slot, which is always important on a laptop likely to see public travel or college use.

Meanwhile, the right edge is where you can find a universal audio jack (headphone/microphone), another Type-A port and an HDMI 2.1 video output. There’s no media card reader here like there is on the 16-inch Predator Triton 300 SE.

Nothing is on the front edge and only cooling vents adorn the rear.

The Predator Triton 300 SE has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 courtesy of a Killer AX1675i networking card. It lacks Ethernet, but Thunderbolt 4 opens tons of possibilities, including docking stations.  But this laptop requires more power than Thunderbolt 4 can provide; its 180-watt power connector connects along the left edge.

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Specs

Gaming and Graphics on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Our Acer Predator Triton 300 SE review unit is model TP314-52S-95GB, sporting an Intel Core i9-12900H processor, 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. The latter is rated for a middling 95 watts; Nvidia’s specifications indicate laptop makers can set it for as few as 60 watts. Its 1,282MHz boost clock is the minimum, though.

I had no trouble playing through Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 2,880 x1,800 at the highest detail preset and Nvidia RTX DLSS set to balanced, with a frame rate between 67 and 90 frames per second. Every scene looked brilliant on the OLED screen, especially the night missions.

On Grand Theft Auto V (very high settings), the Predator Triton 300 SE trailed the field, averaging just 74 fps at 1080p. The Asus TUF Gaming F15 managed 90 fps, suggesting how much more performance the GeForce RTX 3060 can muster when tuned to 140 watts. The Acer Predator Helios 300 and the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro are even more powerful, with their 150-watt GeForce RTX 3070 Ti graphics cards. The Predator Triton 300 SE’s 34 fps average at native screen resolution is also low, albeit still technically playable.

The Shadow of the Tomb Raider (highest settings) benchmark tells a similar story; the Predator Triton 300 SE averaged 68 fps at 1080p but half that (34 fps) at native screen resolution. The 1440p/1600p numbers from the Predator Helios 300 and the Legion 5i Pro are much better, just over the magic 60 fps mark. Enabling RTX DLSS (which we don’t do for testing) would help frame rates a lot as my casual playthrough suggested.

The Predator Triton 300 SE looked slightly better in Far Cry 6 (ultra settings), where it averaged a smooth 63 fps at 1080p and a low but playable 39 fps at native. Naturally, the others continued performing better, but remember that the Predator Triton 300 SE is a small 14-inch laptop in a field of 15- to 16-inchers.

The Borderlands 3 (badass settings) benchmark also shows the Predator Triton 300 SE just keeping its head above water at native screen resolution, averaging 34fps. Its 60fps average at 1080p is better, but the other laptops achieved at least that at 1440p/1600p.

Lastly, the Predator Triton 300 SE made its worst showing in Red Dead Redemption 2 (medium settings), producing 50 fps at 1080p and diving to an unplayable 27 fps at native screen resolution. This game is notoriously difficult to run, however, and it’s important to remember the Predator Triton 300 SE is a small laptop for portable gaming.

The benchmarks take but a few minutes to run, and in real-world gaming, you’d be playing for far longer than that. That’s why we stress-test gaming laptops by looping the Metro Exodus benchmark on RTX settings 15 times, simulating about half an hour of gameplay. 

During the test, the Predator’s Core i9-12900H averaged a healthy 4.14 GHz on the performance cores and 3.52 GHz on the efficiency cores. The CPU package temperature averaged 77.43 degrees Celsius. The GeForce RTX 3060’s core clock averaged 1,167MHz, not too far below its 1,282MHz rated maximum boost clock, and had an average temperature of 65.12 degrees Celsius.

Productivity Performance on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Our Predator Triton 300 SE has an Intel Core i9-12900H processor, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and Windows 11 Home.

In Geekbench 5, an overall performance test focused on the CPU, the Predator Triton 300 SE earned a top score of 1,879 in the single-core test, ahead of the TUF Gaming F15’s 1,781 and the Legion 5i Pro’s last-place showing of 1,595. Both those laptops use a Core i7-12700H processor which has the same core count and configuration as the Core i9-12900H, but slightly lower clocks. The Predator Triton 300 SE also did well in multi-core, scoring 14,064 and outpacing the next-fastest Legion 5i Pro (13,008) and the underperforming Predator Helios 300 (10,164), which also uses a Core i7-12700H.

In a reversal, the Predator Triton 300 SE’s time of 5 minutes and 3 seconds landed it last place in our Handbrake video transcoding test. The TUF Gaming F15 was the second slowest, at 4 minutes and 49 seconds, and the Legion 5i Pro the fastest at 4 minutes and 29 seconds.

The Predator Triton 300 SE redeemed itself in our final test, a 25GB file copy, where it averaged 1,536 MBps against the next-best Legion 5i Pro’s 925.46 MBps. The TUF Gaming F15 came in last, at 607.64 MBps.

Display on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

The OLED screen on the Predator Triton 300 SE under review is a real stunner. If you’ve marvelled at high-end OLED TVs in an electronics store, this will give you the same feeling on a smaller scale. Our tools revealed it covers an excellent 193% of the sRGB gamut and 136.4% of DCI-P3.

The display can seem brighter than our 280-nit measurement suggests because of OLED’s infinite contrast ratio. During a night scene in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I actually squinted when a sudden explosion had me running for cover.

The screen’s 2880 x 1800 screen resolution is called WQXGA+ or, sometimes, 3K. Its 90 Hz refresh rate isn’t high for a gaming laptop (we routinely see 165 Hz or better) but is still higher than the standard 60 Hz. A higher refresh rate isn’t needed, in any case; our gaming benchmarks showed the GeForce RTX 3060 is at the limit of its capabilities at this resolution.

The only real problem with this screen is the excess glare from its mirror-sheen surface. I found myself constantly adjusting the display angle in well-lit rooms and especially outdoors to avoid reflections. The surface also tends to attract excess dust.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Typing on the Predator Triton 300 SE is a forgettable experience. The keyboard is perfectly functional, with mostly full-size keys (including the arrow cluster, though it isn’t separated out), but minimal key travel means minimal feedback. That said, I sailed through the MonkeyType typing test at 102 words per minute with 99% accuracy and got a similar 102 wpm in 10FastFingers.

The keyboard has a shortcut column down its right side. The top key is the power button, followed by keys to launch the PredatorSense app, mute the microphone, and toggle volume up and down. Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down are only available as Fn-key combos.

The keyboard backlight is split into three vertical zones, not per-key as on higher-end gaming laptops. Each zone can be any color (RGB) and can be individually turned off. There are three brightness levels. Lighting patterns like breathing can also be set, though they apply to the entire keyboard and not by zone. The Acer PredatorSense app (more on it later) allows all this configuration but you can still toggle the brightness or turn the lighting off using Fn + F4.

The Predator’s touchpad is slightly small for its 14-inch screen but it’s usable; my fingers easily glided across its surface. It has no dedicated mouse buttons; simply press or tap the surface to click. The little square at top left is the fingerprint reader, which looks like it could get in the way but didn't in my experience, as they are in an area my fingers rarely went. The fingerprint reader is a notable inclusion; gaming laptops often leave it out.

Audio on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Laptops typically have unremarkable speakers, and the Predator Triton 300 SE follows that rule. Its twin speakers face downward from behind the vertical grilles along the bottom corners.

The sound is just loud enough to entertain one person in a quiet room. Drum hits in Phil Collins’ Don’t Lose My Number sounded sharp but had no bass to back them up. Tuning audio settings in the DTS:X app helps; there are presets for gaming, music, movies and an automatic mode, and it also has a graphic equalizer. 

The speakers are better suited to games. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was surprisingly immersive with DTS:X set to gaming, though none of the explosions I set off registered on the bass scale. (Gamers looking for the best audio experience should use one of the best gaming headsets.)

Upgradeability of the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

The only easily serviceable components in the Predator Triton 300 SE are its storage drive, wireless card and battery. You’ll need a tiny Torx screwdriver to remove the nine screws securing its bottom access panel. (Philips-head screwdrivers will not work.) At least all the screws are the same, so you don’t have to remember their original locations.

Removing the screws is the simple part; prying the panel free is a pain. I started on the left edge with a plastic trim tool and slowly made my way around to the front and right edges. The force I had to use made me wonder if I had forgotten to remove a screw or two. Popping the rear edge free was the hardest part, and it felt like I had snapped something. (Fortunately, nothing broke.) Be sure to use a tool (a credit card isn’t strong enough) and go slow.

The storage drive is an M.2 Type-2280 format using the PCI Express 4.0 bus. The 1TB drive in our unit wasn’t covered by a heatsink. Next to it is the M.2 Type-2230 wireless card, with two antenna leads.

What about the RAM? It’s unfortunately soldered and impossible to upgrade, so buy a laptop with the amount of RAM you'll want in the long run.

Battery Life on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

Our battery test involves web surfing, video streaming and OpenGL testing at 150 nits of brightness. The Predator Triton 300 SE lasted an adequate if not impressive 5 hours and 43 minutes; traditional 14-inch laptops usually last a lot longer, but they don’t have the Predator’s gaming-grade hardware. Only the Predator Helios 300 had a shorter runtime (5:02). The TUF Gaming F15 took the top spot (7:35).

Heat on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE

During our Metro Exodus stress test, the Predator Triton 300 SE had a maximum keyboard temperature of 114.98 degrees Fahrenheit (46.1 degrees Celsius) between the G and H keys, which is bearable. The other surfaces were cooler, the touchpad registering only 85.8 F (29.9  C).

The hotspot on the bottom of the laptop was 127.22  F (52.9 C).

Webcam on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE (TP314-52S-95GB)

Though Acer equipped the Predator Triton 300 SE with a 1080p webcam instead of the usual 720p fare, the picture is still on the blurry side and doesn’t handle highlights or low light well. The cam also lacks a privacy shutter. You’ll need an external webcam to look your best.

Software and Warranty on the Acer Predator Triton 300 SE (TP314-52S-95GB)

There’s a fair amount of preloaded software on the Predator Triton 300 SE. 

The most important app is PredatorSense. It handles keyboard settings as I noted earlier, but more importantly lets you access performance-related settings and monitoring tools. 

Enabling Turbo mode is the most exciting; it allows the graphics card to boost higher and gives the CPU extra cooling by forcing the fans to maximum speed. It’s effective; in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (highest settings, 2,880x1,800, RTX DLSS set to balanced), I saw 73  fps at default but 81 fps with Turbo enabled, an impressive jump for pressing a button. The fan noise is prohibitive, though, so I can’t see using this feature unless a game really needs a 10-20% performance boost and you had closed or noise-cancelling headphones.

PredatorSense also integrates with games, and can automatically set keyboard backlighting, performance boost, and sound settings depending on the game you’re playing. The only challenging part is navigating to the game’s executable file.

The Acer Care Center app has basic system information and utilities, such as a drive cleaner. It also automatically checks for system driver and firmware updates. It notifies you of critical updates, but you can turn that off.

As for warranty, Acer backs the Predator Triton 300 SE with just one year of coverage; Predator laptops used to have two-year warranties. I prefer one year of coverage for every $1,000 spent, but one year is the industry standard.

Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Configurations

The $1,949 Predator Triton 300 SE we reviewed is model TP314-52S-95GB. It has a 14-inch OLED screen with a 2880 x 1800 resolution, an Intel Core i9-12900H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics, a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD, and 32GB of LPDDR5 memory.

The only other model I found for sale in the US was the $1,599 Best Buy model PT314-52S-747P, which steps down to a slightly lower-clocked Core i7-12700H processor, half the storage (512GB) and memory (16GB), and switches out the OLED screen for a 165Hz 1920 x 1200 IPS screen. Its lower screen resolution makes a better option for most gamers, but you’re stuck with 16GB of non-upgradeable RAM.

The 16-inch model, starting at $1,699, can be found from B&H and Acer directly.

Bottom Line

The 14-inch Acer Predator Triton 300 SE expertly blends portability and performance. It can play any of today’s games, and its productivity is on par with that of larger machines, thanks to its full-wattage Intel Core H-class processor. It even offers built-in overclocking in the PredatorSense app.

The OLED screen on our review model is gorgeous but not the best choice for gaming. Its 2880 x 1800 resolution proved too high for the GeForce RTX 3060, at least at the visual-quality settings we use for benchmarks. Most gamers will be better off with the Best Buy model PT314-52S-747P, which has a more manageable 1920 x 1200 resolution and a higher, 165 Hz refresh rate. Nonetheless, the OLED screen is unbeatable for cinematic gaming provided you’re willing to accept less than top visual-quality settings playing at native resolution (In some games, not all) or are using the Triton as a creative tool.

For more performance, Lenovo’s Legion 5i Pro offers a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 screen in the $1,999 model we reviewed, though it’s a larger machine, nearly two pounds heavier than the Predator Triton 300 SE. The 15.6-inch Asus TUF Gaming F15 is another larger but better performer, utilizing a higher-wattage GeForce RTX 3060 than the Predator, and it’s less expensive ($1,499 as we reviewed it, albeit with 16GB of RAM.) 

Other highlights for the Predator Triton 300 SE are its snazzy aluminum build, three-zone RGB keyboard backlighting, ample connectivity (including Thunderbolt 4), and good cooling. On the downside, its keyboard doesn’t feel engaging, its 1080p webcam isn’t special, and its memory can’t be upgraded, but those are nitpicks in the larger picture. All told, the 14-inch Predator Triton 300 SE does a commendable job delivering usable gaming performance in a small form factor.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon line has a decade-long tradition of delivering industry-leading business laptops that usually sit among the best ultrabooks for productivity. Starting at $1,319 ($1,564 as configured), the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) continues this legacy with a fantastic keyboard, a bright and colorful display and solid performance all wrapped up in a lightweight package with strong build quality. It even throws in a sharp, 1080p webcam for good measure.

However, in attempting to upgrade the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s performance for Gen 10, Lenovo has significantly harmed its battery life. The company primarily sells the Carbon with Intel’s 28-watt P-series processors rather than the 15-watt U-series CPUs it used in prior gen products. The result is a laptop that lasted less than 9 hours on our battery test, which is several hours less than both competitors and last year’s X1 Carbon. If you’re willing to compromise on endurance, however, the X1 Carbon (Gen 10) is a strong choice that will make you more productive.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The raven black, boxy, angular chassis of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon hasn’t changed in quite a while so if you’ve seen a prior model, you may not notice any differences. But Lenovo’s ThinkPad aesthetic is like the design of a Rolls Royce or a Jaguar — a classic look that doesn’t need to be reinvented with each product generation. As always, the black chassis has just a few splashes of vibrant red, in the form of the X1 Carbon logo, the illuminated red “i” in ThinkPad which shows the power/sleep status and the TrackPoint pointing stick which lives in the middle of the keyboard. If you want an extra dose of style, you can opt for a lid with a cross-hatch, carbon-fiber pattern.

With a starting weight of just 2.48 pounds (1.12 kg) , the ThinkPad X1 Carbon remains one of the lightest 14-inch laptops on the market and is even svelter than 13-inch competitors such as the MacBook Air (2.7 pounds), and Lenovo’s own ThinkPad Z13 (2.78 pounds). Asus’s ZenBook S 13 is just 0.05 pounds lighter, but HP’s Elite Dragonfly is a feathery 2.2 pounds.

The X1 Carbon is a mere 12.43 x 8.76 inches (width x ddpth) and just 0.60 inches thick. Considering the thinness, Lenovo does a great job of fitting in all the major ports you need, including two USB Type-A ports, a full-size HDMI connector and dual Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C connections. HP’s 0.64-inch thick Dragonfly packs in a single Type-A port, only thanks to a drop-jaw hinge and other competitors such as the 0.59-inch thick ZenBook, the 0.44-inch thick MacBook and the 0.55-inch thick ThinkPad Z13 don’t have any Type-A ports at all.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) Specs

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

Our review configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon came configured with an Intel  Core i7-1260P CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. With these kinds of specs, it almost goes without saying that everyday tasks such as web browsing, watching videos and editing documents are smooth and seamless. With 16GB of RAM, you can do a lot of multitasking too.

However, Lenovo made a polarizing choice with the processor. While prior Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbons used 15-watt U-series CPUs to save power, this X1 Carbon comes with a 28-watt, P-series processor that has had its TDP configured down to 20 watts. The 12-core processor, which has four performance cores and eight efficiency cores, promises better performance while using just a little more power, but, on our tests, the X1 Carbon didn’t always outpace competitors with 15-watt processors and its battery life (more on that later) is much lower. 

On Geekbench 5.4, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall processing prowess, the X1 Carbon returned a single-core score of 1,644 and a multi-core mark of 8,159. That puts it squarely in the middle of the pack amongst its competitors. The MacBook Air and its M2 processor scored 1,932 and 8,919 while Lenovo’s ThinkPad Z13 and its AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U processor, which has eight full-powered cores, delivered a higher multi-core score of 8,768 paired with a lower single-core mark of 1,501. The ZenBook S 13 OLED, which has a Ryzen 7 6800U, scored 1,517 and 7,606 while the Core i7-1265U-powered HP Elite Dragonfly G3 effectively tied the ThinkPad X1 Carbon in single-core, hitting 1,647 while falling behind in multi-core with 6,501.

The 512GB PCIe SSD was pretty speedy, copying 25GB of files at a rate of 1,461.5 MBps. That’s ahead of the MacBook Air (958.9 MBps), the ThinkPad Z13 (930.4 MBps) and the HP Elite Dragonfly (1,157.2 MBps). Only the Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED (1,543.9 MBps) was slightly ahead.

The X1 Carbon (Gen 10) took 12 minutes and 33 seconds to transcode a 4K video into 1080p. That’s a lot slower than any of its non-Intel-powered competitors as the ThinkPad Z13 (7:09), MacBook Air (7:52) and Zenbook S 13 OLED (8:15) were much quicker. However, the Dragonfly (13:09) took a little longer to finish.

To see how well the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) performs over time, we launched Cinebench R23 for 20 consecutive runs. After starting at a high score of 8,078, the laptop settled into the 6,400 to 6,800 range with an overall average of 6,633. 

During the test, the 1270P’s four performance cores averaged 2.08 GHz while the eight efficiency cores ran at 1.57 GHz. The CPU package temperature averaged 83.4 degrees Celsius. The processor, with its 20-watt TDP, had an average draw of 19.87 watts.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) is available with a variety of 16:10 aspect ratio panels, with resolutions ranging from 1920 x 1200 up to 3840 x 2400. Our review configuration sported a 1920 x 1200 touch screen which provided bright, sharp images with wide viewing angles and solid color reproduction.

The 16:10 aspect ratio is great for surfing the web or editing documents, because it provides 11 percent more vertical screen real estate than a typical, 16:9 display. That could mean an extra paragraph of text before you need to scroll. However, there will be slightly larger black bars on the top and bottom when you watch movies, all of which have a 16:9 aspect ratio.

When I watched a 1080p trailer for the Netflix show "Wednesday," fine details like the main character’s eye brows or the stripes on a girl’s school uniform were sharp and detailed. Colors like the red of school lockers or the blue of pool water seemed particularly vibrant. And images were easy to see – with barely any washout – at a full 90 degrees to the left or right.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s display registered a luminous 406 nits on our light meter, which is brighter than the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 (370 nits) and the Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED (321 nits). The ThinkPad Z13 is a little brighter at 429 nits while the MacBook Air reaches all the way to 489 nits.

According to our colorimeter, the panel can reproduce a full 106 percent of the sRGB color gamut, but a modest 75.2 percent of the wider, DCI-P3 gamut. Those numbers are pretty good overall and about on-par with the ThinkPad Z13 (107 / 75.8 percent) and MacBook Air (107 / 75.9 percent). The HP Elite Dragonfly (80.2 /113) was a tad better, but the Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED (126 / 89. 3 percent) blew all of the competitors away, thanks to its OLED panel.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

Likely because of its high-powered P-series Intel processor, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 10th Gen has much worse battery life than its competitors and than the prior generation. On our battery test, which involves web surfing and video streaming at 150 nits of brightness, Lenovo’s laptop lasted a mere 8 hours and 48 minutes. That might not sound bad when taken in isolation, but consider that the Gen X1 Carbon (Gen 9) we tested last year — which had the same 1920 x 1200 resolution display but a 15-watt U series processor — endured for 15 hours and 39 minutes. If your daily use is more intensive than our test (you run at full brightness for example) you could find yourself needing to plug in well before the work day is done.

All of the X1 Carbon’s current competitors lasted quite a bit longer on our test. The Intel Core i7-1265U-powered HP Elite Dragonfly G3, AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U-enabled ThinkPad Z13 and M2-sporting MacBook Air all endured for around 14 hours while the Ryzen 7 6800U-enabled ZenBook S 13 quit after 11 hours.

Though it was unavailable originally, Lenovo recently added the option to configure your ThinkPad X1 Carbon with a 15-watt, Intel U-series CPU. We haven’t tested a unit with this processor so we can’t vouch for its battery life, but we expect that it would last significantly longer on a charge.

Keyboard, TrackPoint and Touchpad on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The X1 Carbon (Gen 10) has the kind snappy, responsive keyboard that ThinkPads are famous for, but with a slight twist. The keycaps still have the slightly concave surface that makes feeling one’s way around so easy, but they have been squared a bit for what Lenovo says are “cleaner lines.” I liked typing on the more rounded keys of the last-gen model a little better, but these still have plenty of travel and feedback. The soft-touch material on the palm rest kept my wrists feeling comfortable as I clacked my way to 97 words-per-minute and a 4 percent error rate – a typical score for me – on the 10fastfingers typing test.

Like pretty much every ThinkPad, the X1 Carbon (Gen 10) has two different pointing devices: a glass touchpad and a TrackPoint pointing stick. As always, the TrackPoint allowed me to navigate around the desktop with great precision and without ever having to lift my hands off of the home row. If, like me, you appreciate the time and unnecessary movement you save by using a pointing stick, you’ll really appreciate this laptop.

However, if you don’t like the little red nub, you can ignore it and use the 4.3 x 2.3-inch glass touchpad. In my tests, it also provided very accurate movements and responded flawlessly to all the multitouch gestures I tried, including three-finger swipe and pinch-to-zoom. I really appreciated the smooth surface, which gave me just enough friction to keep my finger from sliding around.

Audio on on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The four-speaker audio system is accurate and loud, though not overly rich. When I listened to AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” the guitars, vocals and drums were all clear, with minimal distortion and just a slight hint of tinniness. However, I didn’t detect much separation of sound as all the instruments sounded like they were coming from one place.

At maximum volume, the sound was loud enough to fill a medium-sized room. So, if you’re planning to use the X1 Carbon (Gen 10) for a conference call or a demo with other people sitting around you, they should all be able to hear it.

Lenovo’s Commercial Vantage utility allows you to choose among different audio profiles, including Music, Voice and Movie. I found that the music output was actually clearest and most accurate in Dynamic mode, which chooses the best profile for you. The Music mode seemed a little muffled.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

You can upgrade the M.2 2080 SSD on the ThinkPad X1 (Gen 10) but not the RAM, which is soldered to the motherboard. To get to the SSD, I needed to remove the bottom cover which has five captive, philips head screws. Unfortunately, after they were loosened, it was really difficult to pry the cover off, even with a spudger.

Once I got the back cover off, I found the SSD underneath a copper heatsink, with one screw holding it in place. There’s also a WWAN slot for the optional 5G module, but there were no antenna wires on our unit, suggesting that, even if you bought a card, you wouldn’t be able to use it. Putting the cover back on was nearly as difficult as taking it off so I don’t recommend doing an upgrade unless you really need a higher-capacity SSD than the laptop came with.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) has air in-take holes under the keys to help keep the system’s thermals under control and, indeed, the skin temperature stayed cool during our testing. When balancing the laptop on my lap and typing on it, the system never felt warm.

While running our Cinebench stress test, the keyboard measured 92.5 degrees Fahrenheit (33.2 degrees Celsius) while the touchpad was chilly 80.4 F (26.9 C). The warmest area was the back bottom near the vents, which hit 108.1 F (42.3 C), but you likely wouldn’t be touching that area.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) features a 1080p webcam, a nice step up from the 720p cameras we saw on prior-gen ThinkPads and still see on most laptops. While it might not be quite as good as the best webcams you can plug in, the X1 Carbon’s sensor is really good. When I shot a selfie in indoor light, colors like the blue in my shirt and the turquoise in my glasses looked quite accurate. The image was sharp enough that the individual hairs on my beard were easy to make out. In low-light most details of my face were clear and, in a pitch-black room, my features were still visible. For when you don't want to be seen, Lenovo includes a security shutter to cover the camera.

Lenovo offers the ThinkPad X1 Carbon with optional infrared camera for face recognition. The company also touts a computer-vision based feature that can lock the computer when you move away from it and unlock it when you come back. Unfortunately, we were unable to test the computer vision, because our review unit didn’t have the IR cameras.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10)

Lenovo packs the ThinkPad X1 Carbon with very few preloads. Lenovo Commercial Vantage, the main utility, allows you to exert fine control over all the key aspects of the system, including the audio, the camera and the power profile while also helping you update the drivers and watch the battery health.

Lenovo Quick Clean disables the built-in keyboard for a configurable amount of time (ex: 2 minutes, 5 minutes) so you can wipe it down.

Lenovo View offers video enhancements that promise to improve the webcam output. Dolby Access provides another way to switch among sound profiles.

Windows 11 comes with a small pile of crapware, including Disney Plus Spotify. Clipchamp video editor, Adobe Express, TikTok and Amazon Prime Video all have icons in the start menu, which cause the programs to download and install the first time you click them.

Lenovo backs the X1 Carbon with a standard one year warranty on parts and labor but offers the ability to extend that term up to five years and add extras such as on-site service and accidental damage protection at a cost.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) Configurations

Like other ThinkPads, the X1 Carbon (Gen 10) is available in a wide variety of configurations and can even be configured-to-order if you purchase it from Lenovo.com. Our $1,564 review configuration came with an Intel Core i7-1260P CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 1920 x 1200 touch screen. The $1,319 base model has a Core i5-1240P CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 1920 x 1200, non-touch display.

If you configure-to-order, you can choose among screens ranging from a 1920 x 1200 non-touch panel to a 2880 x 1800 OLED display to a 3840 x 2400 touch screen that promises to cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

There are a variety of Core i5 and Core i7 P-series processors and there are also two configurations with a Core i5-1235U CPU. If you care about battery life, go for the U series processor.

You can have 8, 16 or 32GB of DDR5 RAM, but if you want the 32GB capacity, you’ll need to choose one of the more expensive Core i7 processors. You can also opt for up to a 2TB NVMe SSD.

If you want an integrated 4G or 5G modem, you can spend $200 to $300 extra for that add-on. You also have a choice of a regular webcam, one with IR face detection or one with computer vision capabilities that are supposed to unlock the PC when you’re detected in front of it.

If you are purchasing direct from the company's website, this up-to-date list of current Lenovo coupons may provide savings.

Bottom Line

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) has almost all of the goodies you need to be productive whether you’re sitting on the couch or in coach. It has a brilliant display, a keyboard that makes typing a joy, a helpful navigation combo, all the ports you need and a really strong webcam. With its lightweight chassis and soft-touch surfaces, the X1 Carbon just feels perfect on the lap.

But something is missing. You don’t buy a 2.5-pound laptop like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon to keep it plugged in most of the time and the 8 to 9 hours of battery life we got on our test could turn into 6 or 7 hours if you pump the brightness up higher than we do. When competitors are lasting for 14 hours on the same test, the Carbon’s short endurance stands out in a bad way. The modest performance bump you get with the higher-wattage, P-series processor just isn’t worth it. Perhaps, a configuration with a U-series CPU would bring the endurance closer to the 15 hours last year’s model got, but we haven’t tested with that processor, which just became available.

If you’re looking for a business laptop that offers fantastic battery life and a beautiful screen in an even lighter package, consider HP’s Elite Dragonfly G3. If you like Lenovo’s keyboards and aesthetics, the ThinkPad Z13 is a strong contender that lasts all-day on a charge. However, if you want a great productivity experience and don’t need to be unplugged for a long trip, the X1 Carbon is for you.

Remember business travel? That used to be a thing. And by all measures, it's becoming more common again, which makes for great timing on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s' part.

The ThinkPad X13s ($1,085.40 to start, $1,385.40 as tested), is the first ThinkPad to boast an Arm processor — specifically, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. That's part of the key to perhaps the laptop's primary strength: significant battery life. Tie that together with 5G network support (our review unit came with an AT&T SIM card) and you have a great road warrior.

Well, maybe not a warrior. More of a road helper. Windows 11 adds a ton to the Arm ecosystem, providing support for 64-bit app emulation, but some applications still don't work. And while year-over-year performance for the 8cx is solid, Qualcomm hasn't yet caught up to the Intels and Apples of the world, which we often find in the best ultrabooks.

But for those who primarily use simple software that they know will work and care more about battery life and connectivity than anything else, there's finally a reason to check out a Windows on Arm device, as long as you can make a few trade-offs.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

With the ThinkPad X13s, Lenovo is walking a line between the past and the future. Traditionally, ThinkPads have been black and boxy, with a single ThinkPad logo in the corner of the lid. But some newer designs, like the AMD-based Z13, have challenged the assumption of what a ThinkPad can look like, with rounded corners, a rounded lip to squeeze in cameras and microphones, fewer ports and different materials.

This laptop falls somewhere in between. With rounded corners and a slight reverse-notch above the display for cameras and microphones, the X13s has some of those newer design elements. Rather than the deep raven black color we associate with most ThinkPads, the X13s is “thunder black,” which looks more like dark gray, but otherwise its recycled magnesium chassis feels familiar.

Lifting the lid reveals almost all traditional ThinkPad stylings. There's a ThinkPad logo on the deck, and the red TrackPoint nub sits at the center of the keyboard. The 13.3-inch display has noticeable but unobtrusive bezels.

Ports here are minimal, which is increasingly common among thin, light notebooks. The left side has two USB Type-C ports, while the right side is home to a 3.5 mm headphone jack, SIM card slot and a Kensington lock slot. I would have liked to see Lenovo put a USB-C port on each side of the laptop; Then I could charge from either side and ensure accessories always fit.

Snapdragon-based laptops, like the ThinkPad, need to be thin and light. Sure, there are plenty of Intel laptops with LTE or 5G support, but Qualcomm doubles down on the message. Lenovo has met that goal with a laptop that's just 2.35 pounds and 11.76 x 8.13 x 0.53 inches. I carried it by one hand to a local park on a nice day to get some outdoor work in.

That's lighter than the Apple MacBook Air, another Arm-based laptop, which is 2.7 pounds (and made of aluminum), and a bit thinner at 11.96 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (it's larger in other dimensions). The HP Elite Folio, an Arm laptop we reviewed last year and are including here to compare year-over-year, was 2.92 pounds and 11.85 x 9.03 inches. The Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, a comparatively priced laptop using Intel U-series processors, is 3.46 pounds and 12.36 x 8.95 x 0.7 inches, but is also a convertible 2-in-1.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Specifications

Windows 11 on Arm: 64-bit Emulation is Here

The ThinkPad X13s is Lenovo's first ThinkPad-branded laptop to use an Arm processor (but not its first ever — the company dipped its toes in with the Flex 5G in 2020. Perhaps it was waiting for Windows to be ready.

Windows 11 is in a better position to handle Arm chips than Windows 10 ever was. Windows 11 on Arm supports x64 emulation, opening loads of software to the platform that didn't work in Windows 10. (This support was being tested in Windows 10, but it was ultimately abandoned and only included in Windows 11.) Microsoft recently released Arm64EC for developers to build native apps or transition x64 apps more easily, so hopefully more Arm-native software comes soon.

Right now, it's a mixed bag. There are apps that run natively on Arm for Windows, including the Edge and Firefox browsers, Adobe Photoshop, VLC, Netflix, 7-Zip, Handbrake and Zoom.

Still, some applications don't yet work. Dropbox, for instance, famously hasn't worked with previous Windows on Arm devices. In my testing, that's still the case. You'll have to go to the Microsoft Store to download Dropbox for S Mode, which doesn't store files locally on your device. There is still a very real chance that specialized software you need won't work as expected.

Additionally, a lot of the old rules still apply: Games and app using versions of OpenGL beyond version 3.3 or that have anti-cheat drivers that aren't developed around Windows 11 on Arm won't work, and lots of third-party antivirus applications won't work (On the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, there's no free trial of McAfee Live Safe, but there's a bookmarklet for it in Edge that the company added. Coincidence?).

Arm on Windows is better than it's been, but it still needs work to get anywhere near the success Apple has had on its Arm-based Apple Silicon with macOS.

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

We tested the ThinkPad X13s with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. What's different about our testing on the X13s compared to previous Windows on Arm laptops is that Windows 11 allows emulation of 64-bit apps.

That allowed us to run Handbrake and our Cinebench R23 stress test, which we couldn't do before. That being said, performance through emulation can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the apps work. On the other, you're testing the emulation, not the hardware itself. Still, it gives you an idea of the performance you'll get, and if you're emulating software, that usually means taking a hit.

On Geekbench 5, our go-to overall performance test for laptops, the ThinkPad X13s achieved a single-core score of 1,125 and a multi-core score of 5,891. That's a big difference over the HP Elite Folio, which ran a previous-generation Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2, with a single-core score of 792 and multi-core score of 3,115. The Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (Intel Core i7-1255U) and MacBook Air (Apple M2) were still significantly faster.

Lenovo's laptop copied 25GB of files at a rate of 550.95 MBps, falling behind the Folio (666.5 MBps) and the MacBook Air (958.85 MBps). The Dell Inspiron's 404.86 MBps speed was the worst of the bunch.

Previously, we couldn't run Handbrake on Windows on Arm systems. Now, there's an Arm native version (you could emulate an x86 version, but you shouldn't do that!). It took the X13s 18 minutes and 21 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. That's still far behind the Inspiron with Core i7 (9:49) and the MacBook Air (7:52). 

Now that Windows 11 can run 64-bit apps through emulation, we could also run our Cinebench R23 stress test, in which we run the rendering 20 times. (Like Handbrake, we couldn't run this on the HP Elite Folio last year.) Of course, because Cinebench R23 is not an Arm-native app, it means we're stress testing the emulation just as much as the 8cx Gen 3 itself. This took over two hours to run.

The ThinkPad started the test at 3,470.97 before dropping to 1,548.65, the lowest score on the test. After that, it seemed to bounce a bit between the 1,700s and 1,800s. What we couldn't get, however, were clock speeds and CPU temperatures, which weren't logged by HWInfo (also an x64 app, and emulated).

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

The screen on the ThinkPad X13s is colorful, but not the brightest. When I watched the trailer for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" the blues in the oceans of Atlantis were lively, as were the orange fires creeping up the darkened walls of the Wakandan throne room. However, I did feel the need to turn the brightness all the way up.

According to our tools, Lenovo's panel covers 117% of the sRGB color gamut and 82.9% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. That's the highest of the bunch, with the MacBook Air at 107%/75.9%, the Elite Folio at 100%/70.7% and the Inspiron at 61%/43.5%.

But the ThinkPad X13s measured 300 nits of brightness, falling behind the Elite Folio (390 nits) and MacBook Air (489 nits). The Inspiron, at 251 nits, came in last here.

Keyboard, Touchpad and TrackPoint on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

The ThinkPad X13's keyboard may be familiar to longtime fans of the brand, with its scalloped keys and room for a number of buttons that are eschewed on many laptops, like Home, End, Delete, Page Up and Page Down. A fingerprint reader is baked into the power button.

The keyboard is comfortable enough, and I sped along at 120 words per minute on the Monkeytype typing test. I did feel, however, that it didn't offer the tactile feedback I've seen on many premium ThinkPads in the past, and at least one colleague who tried the laptop found it felt a bit flat.

I do appreciate that Lenovo got creative with the layout. The arrow keys are in an inverted T (which I always appreciate), to fit page up and page down buttons on either side of the up arrow. Some of those keys are a bit small, as are the function keys, but for those who need a dedicated key for just about everything, I think they'll get over it. (One exception: how many people need a dedicated print screen key as big as Alt and Control?

The touchpad is 2.3 x 4.5 inches, which is just big enough. It's wide, but it's a bit short for my taste. Lenovo has opted to include dedicated buttons for use with the TrackPointPoint just above the keyboard, but I wish it instead used the full 2.8-inch height for the trackpad to make using gestures a bit more comfortable. (TrackPoint lovers, like our editor-in-chief, will staunchly disagree with me here, but Lenovo opted for a hybrid approach on the ThinkPad Z13).

TrackPoint isn't exactly my jam, but for those who prefer to move the mouse without taking their hands off the home row, it gets the job done. The short answer is that it works. I found that it required more pressure than I liked out of the box, but that's easily adjustable in settings.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

The pair of top-firing speakers on the ThinkPad X13s get nice and loud, but they're nothing special. They were good enough for me to jam out to the groovy string instruments, shaking tambourines, the vocals and occasional shouting in the Grass Roots' "Let's Live For Today" (which serves as the catchy theme song to "Pachinko" on Apple TV Plus). There is basically no low-end though, so you lose out on the effects of bass and percussion.

There's not much in the way of audio software on the X13s. Commercial Vantage's settings are largely for the microphone, which makes sense if you're on a call but not for jamming out while you fill out spreadsheets.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

Before opening the ThinkPad X13s, take out the SIM tray and SIM card, if you have one. There are six captive Phillips head screws on the bottom of the X13s. When you loosen them, the lid pops up slightly, and some quick use of a pry tool takes it the rest of the way off.

About half of the available internal space is taken up by the battery. The right side of the space is covered by paper for heat protection. Flipping it up reveals that there are two heatpipes: one that covers the CPU, and another, held down by two small Phillips head screws, that covers the 5G card and an M.2 2242 SSD. That 5G card has thermal pads on it, so if you replace it, besure to carefully reapply them or add new ones.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

Whether in the office or on the road, you should be able to last a full workday on the X13s. On our battery test, it ran for 15 hours and 2 minutes while streaming video, browsing the web and running OpenGL tests while connected to Wi-Fi with the screen set at 150 nits. With cellular also enabled, that dropped to 13:39.

That’s not quite the 28 hours that Lenovo boasts “up to” on its website, but it’s pretty impressive in the real world. The X13s easily beat the x86-based Dell Inspiron (7:52) and even surpassed the MacBook Air (14:06). But the HP Elite Folio with a last-gen Qualcomm processor won out (16:21).

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

One of the benefits of the ThinkPad X13s is that the Arm design allows it to run fanless, which means it's dead silent. For light workloads, which is what the ThinkPad X13s was designed for, it stayed cool in my usage. But we also ran our standard Cinebench stress test and took skin temperature measurements, which showed how hot this fanless system can get if you really, truly push it.

During the stress test, the center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, measured 38.8 degrees Celsius (101.84 F). The touchpad, at 30.1 C (86.18 F) was much cooler. The hottest point on the bottom of the laptop measured 46.7 C (116.06 F).

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

Lenovo put a 5MP camera on the ThinkPad X13s, which should be a standard for business laptops. Gotta look your best on those conference calls. This fits because Lenovo has added a bump, which it called the "Communications Bar" on the AMD-based Z13, which has plenty of room for both that and an infrared sensor to log in with Windows Hello.

The results are quite good. Are they as good as you’d get from one of the best external webcams ? No — what is? But I could make out the individual hairs on my head and in my beard, as well as the petals in some flowers just off screen. My brown shirt was color accurate against my beige walls.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

The ThinkPad X13s comes mostly free of bloatware on Lenovo's part. It includes just one major utility, Lenovo Commercial Vantage, which provides quick access to your serial number and warranty options, as well as checking for updates. This doubles up a bit on some Windows features, but overall I think it's worth keeping around if you need support.

That's not to say Windows 11 doesn't still have applications (or shortcuts to install them) in the start menu. Those include Disney Plus, SPotify, Adobe Express, Amazon Prime Video and Twitter.

Lenovo sells the ThinkPad X13s with a one-year warranty, which can be extended for up to five years for an additional fee.

Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Configurations

Our review configuration of the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s had a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor with integrated Qualcomm Adreno 690 graphics. The laptop also sported 16GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage, as well as a 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1200 non-touch  display and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X55 5G modem for a total of $1,385.40.

The base model is  $1,085.40, but features some notable differences. For one, it has Windows 11 Home rather than Pro. The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 and Adreno graphics are still there, but with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Unlike with our review unit, there's no infrared camera (the fingerprint reader remains), there's no 5G support.

There are fancier options than what we reviewed, too. A configuration that's $1,439.40 as of this writing bumps up to 32GB of RAM and adds touchscreen functionality, though doesn't have 5G support. The top-end, $1,571.40 configuration is back to 16GB of RAM, but has 1TB of storage and a touchscreen, as well as 5G.

Those are just the preconfigured model. Lenovo lets you configure your own, so you could combine all of the highest specs and go even higher.

Bottom Line

It might not be saying all that much, but the ThinkPad X13s is the best Windows-based Arm laptop I've reviewed so far. Admittedly, much of that comes from all of the software compatibility that Windows 11 adds, but the fact that it has long battery life, a solid webcam and a lightweight design doesn't hurt.

You can add a 5G modem to Intel or AMD laptops. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10), with Intel's 12th Gen P-series processors, for instance, allows it as a pricey upgrade. So does the ThinkPad X1 Nano, another thin ThinkPad that's light on ports but high on portability. But the Arm processor allows for a silent, long-lasting design that makes more sense with 5G.

Apple is still squeezing more power — and compatibility out of Arm with its in-house chips, but it doesn't offer 5G support on its Macs yet, including the very lightweight MacBook Air. So when Lenovo makes a lightweight design with 5G support that will last you a long time on the road, it's worth taking notice if you're largely using a web browser or software that you know is compatible. Those who don't have that assurance yet might want to stick to traditional x86 machines a bit longer and hotspot to their phones.

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 ($1,355.40 to start, $1,851.85 as configured) isn’t the ThinkPad you remember. Lenovo's black, boxy design is iconic (and often shows up on our list of the best ultrabooks). But after 30 years of ThinkPads, Lenovo is mixing things up with the new Z-series, utilizing minimal ports, vegan leather and AMD chips.  

There are lots of little upgrades as well. An updated touchpad gets haptic feedback, and a “communications bar” houses a 1080p camera with IR functionality and dual microphones. It all sticks to the ThinkPad ethos, but feels more modern.

Although all the new inclusions may surprise diehard ThinkPad fans, many of the design choices are incredibly slick, adding functionality while making the  Z13 incredibly attractive.However, the AMD Ryzen Pro chip inside didn't always offer stellar performance in our tests.

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 has a minimalist design made with 95% recycled aluminum and, in our review unit, vegan leather from recycled water bottles. (This isn't Lenovo's first rodeo with leather, though it has switched to a faux material here, which is optional.) 

The design is sleek and attractive. The lightweight chassis utilizes a bronze brushed metal finish made with recycled metal, The vegan leather lid is only available for one Z13 configuration, which is the one we tested; Otherwise, you get a gray aluminum lid. Although the vegan leather seems durable and adds to the overall premium feel of the device, at the time of this writing, it costs $45 extra. The lid sports ThinkPad branding on the bottom-right corner next to its classic dotted "i." The bottom of the laptop has three feet, with two down-firing speakers on the edges. Unfortunately, the metal finish allows for many smudges and fingerprints on the bottom–which might be the best argument for paying a little extra for fake leather. 

The raised communications bar, which houses the webcam and dual microphone, protrudes enough above the screen to work as a handle to lift the laptop open. Once revealed, you'll see that the inclusion of the raised bar allowed Lenovo to decrease the bezel around the rest of the Z13’s display.

The deck houses an edge-to-edge keyboard with two-level backlighting and a classic red TrackPoint between the G,H and B keys. There is also a spacious all-glass touchpad that uses haptic feedback to respond to your clicks. The Z13 doesn't have dedicated buttons for TrackPoint users above the touchpad the way many previous ThinkPads have. Nub aficionados will have to use a spot on the top of the haptic touchpad.

There is a USB 4 Type-C port on each side of the laptop, which lets you charge easily and keeps peripherals from bumping up against each other. The right side also has a 3.5 mm headphone jack. This is not a ton of ports for a business notebook, but it's on trend with what's happening in the ultraportable space.

The ThinkPad Z13’s new minimalist design is light and compact compared to similar notebooks. The Z13 is 11.59 x 7.86 x 0.55 inches and 2.78 pounds. Lenovo’s flagship Intel business laptop, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10), has a 12.43 x 8.76 x 0.60-inch footprint at 2.48 pounds, making it slightly lighter than the Z13. The Dell XPS 13 Plus comes in at 11.63 x 7.84 x 0.60 inches and 2.77 pounds, while the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED measures 11.68 x 8.29 x 0.59 inches and 2.43 pounds.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

We tested the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 with an AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U, an eight-core, 16-thread processor with a 2.7-GHz boost clock and a 4.7-GHz base clock. Lenovo does offer an exclusive U-series processor from AMD called the Ryzen 7 Pro 6860Z, also with eight cores and 16 threads, but an ever-so-slightly higher 4.73-GHz max boost. The Z13 we reviewed also sported 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 512 GB SSD.

On Geekbench 5, an overall performance benchmark with heavy CPU focus, the ThinkPad Z13 notched a single-core score of 1,501 and a multi-core score of 8,768. In some cases, it lost out to Intel-based notebooks using 12th Gen P-series processors.

Lenovo’s flagship business laptop, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) with its Intel Core i7-1260P had a 1,644 single-core score and an 8,159 multi-core score, winning in the former but coming behind in the latter. The Dell XPS 13 Plus (Intel Core i7-1280P) had the best performance overall, with 1,797 single-core and 10,621 multi-core scores. The Asus ZenBook S 13 OLED’s Ryzen 7 6800U showed similar performance to the Z13, albeit with a slightly weaker multi-core score.

The Z13 was also the slowest to duplicate 25GB of test files, at a rate of 930.38MBps. It didn’t hold a candle to other competitors, all of which were roughly in the same ballpark of 1,500 MBps, with the Zenbook S 13 edging out as the fastest.

On our Handbrake test, we have laptops transcode a video from 4K to 1080p. The Z13 performed this task in 7 minutes and 9 seconds, the fastest of the bunch. The X1 Carbon (Gen 10) took the longest at 12:33, while the XPS 13 Plus completed the task in 8:26 and Zenbook finished in 8:15.

To see how productivity notebooks handle long computing tasks, we run the Cinebench R23 benchmark 20 times in a row. The Z13 started at 6,985.69, somewhat oddly hopped up to 7,840.55, and then dropped down and settled in the high 6,000 range. For comparison, the Dell settled around the low 6,000's while the Zenbook stayed in the low 9,300's.

During the Cinebench R23 runs, the CPU operated at an average of 2.3 GHz, with an average temperature of 69 degrees Celsius (156.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

The display on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 is 13.3-inches, with a 1920 x 1200 resolution in our configuration, 60 Hz refresh rate and a 16:10 aspect ratio. When I watched Goodfellas on the Z13, I was shocked by how impressive the picture quality was. Even though our review unit didn't have an OLED panel like some other Z13 configurations, during the opening scene, the reds from a car’s backlight were vibrant, and the polished old-school vehicles during the following opening montage shined especially brightly.

The display has very slim bezels around the screen. With a 16:10 aspect ratio, there’s some extra real estate for productivity because the screen is taller than the common 16:9 ratio.

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13’s panel covers 75.8% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 107% of the sRGB gamut. The Dell XPS 13 Plus and Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED surpassed the Z13 in both color gamut measurements, and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) had roughly the same measurements as the Z13. However, the Z13 has the brightest display of the bunch with 428.6 nits on our light meter. The X1 fell behind it with 405.6 nits, followed by the XPS 13 Plus at 366 nits and the Zenbook with 321 nits.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

The keyboard on the ThinkPad Z13 is completely usable, but I wish it had a bit more feedback. It's spaced out well, but the keys, while offering plenty of travel, have only a slight thump when you press down. I expect a bit more tactility from a ThinkPad keyboard. When I tested my typing skills on 10fastfingers, I scored 61 words per minute (wpm) with a 97.12% accuracy. That’s in the ballpark of the 60-wpm score I usually get typing on laptops.

Lenovo includes its classic TrackPoint pointing system at the center of the keyboard and a well-placed fingerprint reader next to the arrow keys (which works well). If you double tap the red dot, the TrackPoint QuickMenu launches, which allows you to adjust the microphone, dictate or mute on the fly, a feature you don’t find on other ThinkPads Unlike with other ThinkPads, there are no discrete TrackPoint buttons. You have to tap the top of the touchpad, which itself is haptic with no physical button press.

The touchpad on the Z13 felt great. Lenovo calls it a Haptic ForcePad. The all-glass surface eliminates dead zones, making it possible to click anywhere on the touchpad, even up near the top. The feature, alongside its sensitivity, can be toggled or adjusted in Windows Settings and the TrackPoint Menu. At a spacious 4.7 x 2.6 inches, I could execute gestures and track the cursor with ease. This was one of the more memorable touchpad experiences I’ve had reviewing or using laptops.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

The audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 is surprisingly fantastic; the two down-firing speakers on the bottom are powerful. While watching Goodfellas, I was pleased by how clearly I could hear De Niro, Pesci, and Liotta’s conversation as they were burying a body. After the latter closed the trunk of the car and “Rags To Riches” started playing, the sound quality was akin to what I expect from a TV.

When I listened to music on Spotify, the Z13’s speakers performed well with the included Dolby Atmos software. Without it though, things didn’t sound as good.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

There are five Torx screws along the edges of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13. After unscrewing them, I needed a pry tool to pop the lid off. Once I opened it, I noticed that the laptop's battery was accessible, as was its networking card. The sole SSD slot is behind a copper heat shield, and is only compatible with a short 2450 M.2 SSD. The RAM is soldered into the motherboard.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 has extraordinary battery life. During our battery benchmark, which continually browses the web, streams video, and runs OpenGL test over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the Z13 lasted 13 hours and 58 minutes.

The Zenboook S 13 OLED, another Ryzen 6000-based machine, was the closest to rivaling the Z13 at 11:02. The XPS 13 Plus and ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 10) lasted 7:34 and 8:48, respectively. Although not as strong as last year's ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 9) and its 15-and-a-half-hour battery life, the Z13 is pretty close. And although the Z13 can last just about the whole day, the 65W power brick takes up little space during travel.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

The ThinkPad Z13 got a bit toasty during our stress testing. When we ran Cinebench R23 , the keyboard ended up being the hottest point on the machine.

As usual, the touchpad was the coolest at 95.9 degrees Fahrenheit, but the temperature between the G and H keys was 122.9 degrees Fahrenheit and was hot to the touch. The underside, usually the hottest part of a laptop, was a few degrees lower than the keyboard, at 118.22 degrees Fahrenheit.

On the bright side, the system stays pretty cool when not under load. After we streamed a video for 15 minutes, the middle of the keyboard measured 91.5 degrees Fahrenheit, the touchpad hit just 83 degrees and the bottom measured 95.5 degrees.

Inside, there’s a vapor chamber thermal solution co-developed by AMD that’s meant to keep the unit cool and sustain performance under heavy operations, but there’s clearly room for improvement. If you’re doing heavy work on the Z13, it’d be best to set it on a desk.

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

The webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 leaves a bit to be desired, even though it’s a generous 1080p. The Z13 has a “communications bar” on top of the display that houses dual-array microphones and a large sensor FHD camera, with IR functionality for facial recognition. The webcam clearly made out my Batman poster and all its lettering in the background, but I didn't appear as detailed in the foreground.

There was very little detail in my hair or face, and the image didn’t accurately capture my skin tone.

With that said, like most laptops, the webcam doesn't match the abilities of cameras on our best webcam list. However, it does feature facial recognition for Windows Hello and has an e-shutter on the F9 key to turn it off instantly.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 is very light on preinstalled software, including the usual Windows apps we see. Commercial Vantage offers easy access to your warranty information and serial number, and Lenovo Pen lets you customize settings if you use a stylus.

Lenovo View lets users adjust light, color, and intensity to improve video quality, but it doesn’t really improve things much. Glance by Mirametrix uses the Z13’s IR sensors to change the camera’s height, provide wellness checks based on posture, and offer various video conferencing features.

There were only a few preloads from Microsoft on our unit, including Disney Plus, Spotify, and Netflix.

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 comes with a 1-year onsite warranty, but it can be extended for an added cost.

Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 Configurations

Our configuration of the Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 came with a Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD. It also has a 13.3-inch display with a 1920 x 1200 resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate and a 16:10 aspect ratio. Ours also had the vegan leather top cover, putting the price at $1,851.85.

The ThinkPad Z13 starts at $1,355.40 with a Ryzen 5 Pro 6650U, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and a non-touch screen, as well as the aluminum top cover.

Lenovo's most expensive pre-configured unit has the Ryzen 7 Pro 6860Z, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD and a 2880 x 1800 OLED touchscreen for $2,267.85. This version also doesn't have the vegan leather top cover, which appears to be tied to certain configurations.

Lenovo's prices on its website do seem to rotate often due to sales, so it's possible prices will shift a bit from what we saw. 

Bottom Line

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 is an attractive new business laptop with a minimalist design and the option for exclusive AMD Ryzen hardware. Although we didn’t have the OLED version to test, the edge-to-edge 16:10 display is still impressive. It also has a new comfortable touchpad with haptic functionality and fantastic battery life that will last an entire work day.

The ThinkPad Z13 does get a bit toasty, and mixed performance keeps this from being the best ThinkPad on the block. But this is a decent first outing for a new generation of ThinkPad from Lenovo, and hopefully these new design choices continue through to future models.

If you want long battery life and are willing to give up top-notch performance to get there, the Z13 is worth seriously considering, especially if you like its good looks. Those who want more power or a bit more traditional should stick closer to the X1 Carbon, though you'll give up some battery life if you go that route.

HP's Elite Dragonfly first flitted onto the premium business convertible laptop scene in 2019, as an impressive, attractive competitor to the likes of Lenovo's ThinkPad and Dell's XPS 13. After last year's Dragonfly Max added a higher-priced 5G-capable option (without a whole lot of substantive extras) HP is back with its third-gen Elite Dragonfly G3. This latest Dragonfly ditches the convertible fold-over hinge of previous models, in favor of a more traditional clamshell design and a nice productivity-friendly 3:2 display that's bright enough to use in most environments at 50% without it feeling too dim.  

The Dragonfly G3 starts at just 2.19 pounds, while still feeling rigid and road ready. And despite its slim 0.64-inch profile, HP manages to squeeze in more useful ports than the competition, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports (one on each side), a USB Type-A port with a drop-down hinge and even full-size HDMI. Its keyboard is also quite satisfying for a super-slim ultraportable. And there's a five-megapixel webcam housed above the display, so your colleagues can get a better look at you doing remote meetings — for better and worse.

If you're after a no-compromises ultralight business notebook and don't care for convertibles, the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 is about as good as it gets, making it a strong contender for our best ultraportables and premium laptops list. But with a starting price of just under $2,000 ($2,686 as tested with a Core i7-1265U CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD), there are a few very good alternatives that cost quite a bit less.

Design of the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

HP Sent us its latest Dragonfly in its "slate blue" colorway, which is a bit more toned-down hue than previous models, appearing gray in some photos and lighting conditions. But in direct sunlight, it's still a pretty blue that helps it stand out in the premium laptop stack. For those who want to blend in a bit more, it will also be available in "natural silver." Personally, I strongly prefer the subtle blue here.

The magnesium and aluminum frame feels solid despite the slim and light design, and the blue finish adds some flash to what is otherwise an attractive but plain exterior—this is a business laptop, after all. HP's modern, mirrored logo adorns the lid, with DRAGONFLY written in silver below the left corner of the keyboard, as well as on the back edge of the hinge where it can only be seen when the laptop is closed. Bang & Olufsen branding sits above the dedicated power button in the (still tiny) function row. And — spoilers — the audio sounds great for an ultraportable. More on that later.

This is a traditional clamshell rather than the fold-over 2-in-1 of previous Dragonfly iterations, which will no doubt annoy some users who want to do everything from one device. But in these days of cheap Android tablets and premium iPads, I don't really miss the fold-over design — especially since the laptop still opens a full 180 degrees.

I like the rounded edges (HP calls them pillow corners) that make the laptop easier to open and more comfortable to carry from my desk to a meeting room — or from my home office to the kitchen so I can keep up with Slack while I pour some cold brew.

In this age where premium laptops seem far too eager to eschew connectivity in favor of light weight and sleek lines (we're side-eying you, Dell), HP proves with the Dragonfly G3 that you can indeed have both.

The port layout here is very impressive for a slim and light laptop. The right edge houses a lock slot, Thunderbolt 4/USB Type-C, that so-useful USB-A port inside a drop-down hinge and a headphone jack.

The left edge packs another Thunderbolt 4/USB-C port (either can be used for charging, a nice convenience for travelers) a SIM tray and a full-size HDMI 2.0 port for presentations  —or just plugging into a TV at the hotel to binge Netflix's excellent "Sandman series. Note that 5G data is supported in our review model, but the company didn't send along a SIM, so we stuck to using the laptop via Wi-Fi.

HP Elite Dragonfly G3 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

Our review configuration of the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 came equipped with an Intel Core i7-1265U CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB SSD. The U-series CPU is an interesting choice when competitors like the Dell XPS 13 Plus and Lenovo's Yoga 9i Gen 7 are opting for higher-power Intel P series CPUs. We'll see shortly how that lands when it comes to performance, but I will say that the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 is extremely quiet. In all but the most hushed environments, you'll likely forget it has fans at all. But there are two fans and a heatpipe in the laptop keeping thermals in check.

On Geekbench 5, an overall performance test with an emphasis on the CPU, the Dragonfly posted a single-core score of 1,647 and a multi-core score of 6,501. That's pretty close to the competition on the single core test, but the Dell XPS 13 and its P-series CPU did noticeably better, with a score of 1,797, and everything else in our comparison group did better than the HP on the multi-core test, with the Dell again coming in first with a score of 10,621.

On our Handbrake test, in which we task laptops to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, the Dragonfly took 13 minutes and 9 seconds. That was more than a half minute behind the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (12:33) and well behind everything else. This time it was the AMD-powered ThinkPad Z13 that finished first, in just 7 minutes and 9 seconds.

HP's ultraportable transferred our 25GB of test files at a rate of 1,157.23 MBps. That's reasonably speedy for an office productivity laptop, and easily better than the ThinkPad Z13's 930.38 MBps on the same test. But both the X1 Carbon and XPS 13 Plus did better here, getting close to or above 1,500 MBps.

To stress test the Dragonfly G3, we ran the demanding Cinebench R23 benchmark 20 times on a loop. The laptop started off with a score of 5,237, before dropping to 4,717 and then spending most of its runs in the 4,800 range. About 2/3 of the way through the test, there were a couple of spikes back up to around 5,200 before dropping back down to the 4,800s. 

The Core i7-1265U's two performance cores ran at an average of 2.11 GHz, while the eight efficiency cores averaged 1.53 GHz. The CPU package measured an average of 70.47 degrees Celsius.

Display on the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

HP offers the 13.5-inch, 3:2 display on the Dragonfly G3 in two different resolutions and four configurations, whether you want touch, the company's Sure View active privacy filter, or OLED (with a higher 3000 x 2000 resolution). HP sent our review unit with a 1920 x 1280 non-touch panel that's rated to 400 nits of brightness.

Anecdotally, it looks great, getting bright enough that I could leave it at 50% brightness unless I was sitting in direct sunlight. And there was plenty of color and dark detail as I watched the 11th episode of The Sandman on Netflix. But with its taller 3:2 aspect ratio, it's in productivity tasks that this display really shows its advantage, keeping more cells on the screen in programs like Excel. This means less scrolling when I was working out the averages in our Cinebench stress testing (see the productivity section, above).

HP's 1920 x 1280 panel covers 113% of the sRGB color gamut and 80.2% of the larger DCI-P3 space. That makes it slightly better at color reproduction than both ThinkPads here, but the Dell XPS 13 is the overall winner on that front, delivering a better 84.2% of DCI-P3.

The Dell display, however, was the dimmest of this (admittedly bright) bunch, delivering 366 nits in our testing. The Dragonfly did a bit better, landing just shy of 370 nits. But both Lenovo panels topped 400 nits. Still, these screens are all quite good for laptop displays and their brightness is close enough that you'd likely need more than just your eyes to rank them from brightest to dimmest.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

As far as two-pound ultraportables go, the keyboard on HP's Elite Dragonfly G3 is very good. The keys are flat, but well-spaced and big enough not to hinder typing — for the most part. The up/down arrow keys are half-height and squished between the left/right keys. And the function row up top is still tiny. The latter isn't a huge deal, but there is obviously more space on the keyboard deck for taller keys, which puts a slight ding in the whole ultra-premium, no compromises vibe.

The company has obviously put some thought into that top row, though. The F12 key is customizable, while the key to the right activates a physical shutter for the webcam. And one key over from that is a dedicated power button, just to the left of the delete key in the right corner. In case you're worried about the power button placement, I never accidentally put the laptop to sleep while typing. The power button is stiffer than the rest of the keys, and a quick press like you might make while typing isn't registered by the laptop anyway. So the power button is fairly fumble-proof.

There's also a fingerprint reader built into a key above the right corner of the touchpad (basically taking the place of the right control key) that you can use to log into Windows (or you can use the webcam and its IR sensors for facial recognition).

The oddest layout adjustment here is that the insert key gets relegated to the F10 key. That's a strange place for that key, but since at least 9 times out of 10 I hit that key accidentally in its typical location, I don't mind having to hunt for it on the rare occasion that I want the cursor to gobble up the text in front of it. Obviously, if you use the insert key a lot, this will be a bigger annoyance for you.

The touchpad is similarly great — and much bigger this time (4.7 x 3.2 inches), thanks to the room afforded by the taller 3:2 display. The chamfered silver border adds a bit of classy design flourish. The glass surface is just the right amount of slick, and I never noticed any issues with precise cursor control or multi-finger Windows 11 gestures. There's also an NFC tag built into the touchpad for authentication (or whatever else people use NFC in a laptop for).

Audio on the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

I don't usually expect much from business laptop speakers, so the four speakers here gave me a pleasant shock. There are two top-firing tweeters above the keyboard and a pair of front/bottom-firing woofers under the bottom-front edge of the laptop. This quartet pumps out a surprising amount of volume, with little to no distortion and actually some decent low-end bass. Whether I was listening to my favorite test track, Buck-Tick's bombastic "Nightmare," Carpenter Brut's synthwave "Widow Maker," or the background score of the animated "Dream of a Thousand Cats" story in the 11th episode of "Sandman," the audio was impressive, with enough volume that I mostly left the laptop at 50%. I've tested plenty of much bigger, much pricier gaming laptops that are worse in the sound department.

Upgradeability of the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

Getting into the bottom off of the Dragonfly G3 requires loosening just four captive Torx screws — which is a nice touch for the IT people who are likely to be servicing the laptop. But as is usually the case these days with slim laptops like this, there isn't much you can upgrade. The M.2 SSD can be swapped out for something else, as can the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card. But the RAM is soldered to the board, so be sure to get as much as you need when configuring the laptop before buying.

Battery Life of the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

The one key area where the HP Elite Dragonfly's performance stood out was on our battery test, in which we have laptops browse the web, stream video over Wi-Fi and run OpenGL tests, all with the screen set to 150 nits of brightness.

The Dragonfly G3 lasted 14 hours and 20 minutes on our test, 22 minutes longer than the impressive showing from Lenovo's AMD-based ThinkPad Z13 (13:58), and nearly twice as long as Dell's XPS 13 Plus (7:34). Dell's laptop may be a more powerful performer when you need it. But for most basic office tasks, it's hard to argue with "good enough" performance and nearly seven extra hours of unplugged work time. This is a very impressive result for a laptop so slim and light.

Heat on the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

Another worry when laptops get really slim is heat output. And while the Dragonfly isn't the coolest operator under stress, it shouldn't get too warm to handle even under lengthy workloads. During our CPU-taxing Cinebench stress test, we measured the laptop's surface temperatures.

The warmest part of the keyboard (around the H and J keys) topped out at 105.3 degrees Fahrenheit (39.44 degrees Celsius), while the touchpad remained comparatively cool at 94.8 degrees Fahrenheit (34.89 degrees Celsius). The bottom of the laptop got a bit warmer, topping out at 106.4 degrees Fahrenheit (41.33 degrees Celsius) near the rear center of the laptop.

While these temperatures aren't the lowest we've seen, they aren't warm enough to keep you from wanting to use the laptop in your lap. It's also worth pointing out again that, even during this long CPU-heavy stress test, the Dragonfly remained so quiet that I had to pick it up and shove the rear vents a few inches from my ear before I could hear the fans.

Webcam on the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

Just like the previous-gen Dragonfly Max, HP has equipped the G3 with a 5MP (2560 x 1920 max resolution) webcam. And while the image sensor here isn't quite as good as some of the best webcams, it's leaps and bounds ahead of most laptops, which are still stuck with 720p cameras. But image quality is as much about the accuracy of the pixels as it is about the amount, and what HP delivers on that front with the Dragonfly G3 is also quite good.

In my home office with hazy afternoon light from a window off to the side, the webcam accurately depicted the green, blue and red of my shirt, as well as the varying shades of the acacia wood of my work/photography bench. It was even clear that my bread was made up of individual hairs, rather than the brownish blob I'm used to seeing with most sub-1080p webcams.

Software and Warranty on the HP Elite Dragonfly G3

There is very little pre-installed third-party software or shortcuts on the HP Elite Dragonfly G3. In fact, all I could find of that in the laptop's Windows 11 Pro OS was a link to a one-month trial of various Adobe apps. 

That being said, there are a staggering amount of HP-branded programs on the laptop—I counted 21. There's MyHP, which lets you program what happens when you press the customizable F12 key and adjust the webcam. HP Auto Lock & Awake lets you adjust the settings of the proximity sensor so that the laptop will lock and unlock itself depending on whether or not you're in front of it. This is an interesting feature, although you can accomplish the same thing just by closing the laptop's lid. 

There's also HP Wolf Security, which lives both in and outside the operating system, offering both traditional malware mitigation and protection at the firmware and memory level.

While I won't list every app, in short the Dragonfly G3 is basically bereft of third-party bloat and packed with HP-specific apps which add substance and features, even if the sheer number of them can feel overwhelming to the non-technical office acolyte.

HP Elite Dragonfly G3 Configurations

HP sells the Elite Dragonfly G3 in a large number of configurations, as well as offering a configure to order option at HP.com. But as we wrote this, stock on some of the pre-config models was pretty spotty. Our review unit, with its Intel Core i7-1265U CPU, 16GB of DDR5, 512GB PCIe SSD and 13.5-inch, 1920 x 1280 non-touch display is supposed to sell for $2,686 — only it wasn't in stock anywhere, and for several days it was tough to find a similar option. But while wrapping up the review, I found a model at Staples with the same CPU, RAM and SSD, plus a touchscreen, for $2,583. Oddly, the Staples model ships with Windows 10 Pro rather than the Windows 11 Pro of our review unit. Some will probably see that as a bonus.

The Dragonfly G3 starts at roughly $2,000 (on sale for $1,952 at HP.com when I wrote this) with a Core i5-1235U, and the same 16GB of RAM, 512GB of RAM and non-touch display as our review unit (which makes it a much better value at about $700 less for just a stepped-down CPU (with the same number and arrangement of cores no less, just a lower base and max boost frequency), although you do lose wireless broadband on that model, as well.

Maxed out with a Core i7-1265U vPro-enabled CPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a SureView-enabled (privacy-focused) display and 5G capabilities, the Dragonfly G3 was priced at $2,971.50 when I wrote this. That said, this may be a limited sale because we definitely saw configurations priced higher than that during the process of working on this review. And HP lists the original price of the maxed out configuration at $4,245.

Conclusion

With a port layout that's better than almost any other ultraportable, excellent battery life (our testing showed over 14 hours), a bright and colorful productivity friendly 3:2 display, plus a great keyboard, webcam and speakers, HP's latest Dragonfly G3laptop easily earns its Elite branding. This is one of the best portability and productivity focused laptops available anywhere.

While its performance on CPU-taxing tasks isn't quite as speedy as the competition, it's still plenty snappy and powerful for mainstream productivity work. And it's obvious that HP tuned the Dragonfly G3 for silence. Even under long, heavy workloads it was difficult to hear the fan at all unless I picked the laptop up, turned it around and aimed the vents directly at my ear. For most business users, that's a better benefit than getting slightly better performance in video encoding or 3D rendering tasks that you aren't likely to tackle often, or at all.

All the well-earned praise aside, however, there's no arguing that the Elite Dragonfly G3 is also priced higher than its competition. Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 starts at just $1,374. And with a more powerful i7-1260P CPU and the same 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage as our $2,686 Dragonfly G3, the ThinkPad is 'just' $1,721. 

Dell's latest XPS 13 laptop, meanwhile, sells for just $1,359 with a Core i7-1250U processor and 16GB of DDR5 and a 512GB SSD. That's not much more than half the price of our similarly configured Dragonfly G3, though you'll lose out on several of the HP's nice extras with the Dell and have to live with just two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports.

In short, the HP Elite Dragonfly G3 once again flits to the top of the premium business laptop peak, while looking prettier and offering better connectivity than the competition. But if cost is at all a consideration, there are appealing and much more affordable options just a step or two down the mountain.

Lenovo, the first major PC company to make a folding Windows PCs with the 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold back in 2020, is back for a second try. This time, it's going bigger, with a 16.3-inch display for a better experience in laptop mode, as well as a more powerful processor than Intel's Lakefield.

The new foldable, also called the ThinkPad X1 Fold (without the usual "Gen 2" Lenovo typically uses for successor devices) has a complete redesign. Gone is the leather folio that bent around like a book cover (and which Asus imitated with the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED). Instead, the foldable closes completely flat, making for a sleeker and slimmer design, with an aluminum frame and woven covers made from recycled plastic.

The 16.3-inch screen is a notable increase from the previous X1 Fold, but smaller than what Asus has on its 17.3-inch foldable. The panel has a 2024 x 2560 resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio, and Lenovo has moved to a new supplier in Sharp (the 13.3-inch screen was made by LG, while Asus is using BOE). In laptop mode, Lenovo says you'll get a 12-inch screen, but it hasn't specified resolution.

While the previous X1 Fold had a kickstand built in, this new fold doesn't have one built in at all. Instead, the stand will be an accessory that's sold separately, like the keyboard and stylus.

The Bluetooth keyboard is getting a revamp, too. This bigger keyboard has room for a TrackPoint nub, and also includes a fingerprint reader and a haptic touchpad. This one won't charge while attached magnetically, and will need to be plugged in through a USB Type-C port. Because there is no gap in the new X1 Fold, the keyboard and stand connect magnetically to the bottom of the device so you can carry them as one package. When I held a demo unit, it felt a bit more awkward than having the keyboard inside, but I could see getting used to it. The keyboard and stand held on well.

The new X1 Fold is 13.6 x 10.87 x 0.34 inches when unfolded and 10.87 x 6.9 x 0.68 inches when closed. The system on its own is just 2.82 pounds, but bumps up to 4.19 pounds with the stand and keyboard attached.

The 16-inch Fold will offer all of the same modes of usage as its predecessor, including as a very large tablet, a display (with the Bluetooth keyboard detached), a laptop (with the keyboard covering half the screen), or held as a book. I found Asus' 17-inch foldable to be a bit unwieldy in the hands, so we'll see if the slightly-smaller Lenovo option is a better mix between laptop and tablet.

Like the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, Lenovo is using real laptop processors: Intel's 12th Gen Core i5 and Core i7 U series chips at 13W, running fanless. It's a big upgrade from the "Lakefield" designs the 13.3-incher used, which was low-power but without much performance. Lenovo is defaulting to a 48 WHr battery in the base model, but some configurations will also include a second, 16 WHr battery for more endurance (Windows shows it all as one battery, but a bit of digging in settings can show you both of them.)

The ThinkPad X1 Fold will ship in November starting at $2,499 without the stand or keyboard. It’s unclear how much those accessories will add to the price.

Lenovo's moving to put a display on your face. As companies like Meta, Apple and others are reportedly looking into smart glasses, the Lenovo Glasses T1 are meant to give you a large, private viewing experience for phones and laptops by acting as a second display. Whether consumers will want to play mobile games, stream movies or extend their PC’s desktops onto glasses is an open question.

The Glasses T1 look like sunglasses. They're a bit bulkier, of course and you can't miss the USB Type-C cable attached to them. Lenovo will include swappable nose clips, and the temple arms are adjustable. There's also a frame to attach prescription lenses, though you'll have to find an optician to cut lenses in the right shape.

Lenovo says that the Glasses T1 will work with USB-C devices running Windows, Android, and macOS, as well as iOS devices, though iPhones and iPads with Lightning connectors will need Lenovo's HDMI to Glasses Adapter accessory and Apple's Lightning Digital AV Adapter. On a spec sheet, Lenovo specifically claims that compatible devices include the Moto Edge S, iPhone 12 and 13, Samsung Galaxy S 21, and Lenovo ThinkPad, ThinkBook, Yoga and Legion PCs have been tested to work. Note that the USB-C port must be one that outputs video.

The Glasses have Micro OLED display tech showing at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 per eye. There are also built-in speakers.

Android phones will work differently depending on the companies that manufacture them. Motorola Smartphones will use the Ready For desktop experience, while Samsung's phones will show up with Dex.

I got to try an early build of the Glasses T1, which left me with mixed feelings. WIth the glasses attached to a Motorola phone, I could play some games or play movies on lenses that appeared bigger, but without much demo material on the device, it was hard to get a feel for it.

On a Windows laptop, it made slightly more sense. Windows detects the Glasses T1 as a second monitor, and you can use a button on the Glasses to "lock" the screen in one location so you can turn your head away from it. In theory, I could see someone using these if they were working on a train or a coffee shop on some sort of classified document; no one else could see what they're working on. But on that early unit, it was tough to see the top edges of the screen, and some text was really small. I think it would require a lot of fine tuning with resolution and scaling to make this work.

Unlike Lenovo's ThinkReality glasses for enterprise users, there's no computing taking place on the glasses. (The ThinkReality A3 could make multiple augmented reality monitors appear at once on Windows devices.) That also means that there is no hand tracking or other flourishes. Everything is controlled by the device you plug the glasses into, which means that you can’t walk too far away from the keyboard or put the phone down (not that the wire would let you).

The Lenovo Glasses T1 will launch in late 2022 in China (under the moniker Lenovo Yoga Glasses) and will follow in "other select markets" in 2023. No pricing has been announced, and a press release says it won't come until the wearable goes on sale. One Lenovo rep ballparked that this consumer wearable display could go for as much as $600, but that it's yet to be finalized.  

Samsung has been releasing phones with foldable screens with a regular cadence, but laptop manufacturers have been taking their time with the technology. It's been two years since I last reviewed a foldable PC. The Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED ($3,499.99, shipping in Q4) is just the second to pass through our labs, but it hopes to make a big splash with sheer size.

Asus' foldable, when fully unfurled, has a 17.3-inch OLED display, and it can also be used as a 12.5-inch laptop PC with the included keyboard. Where Lenovo went small with its debut folding computer, the ThinkPad X1 Fold, Asus has upsized.

That makes for a better experience in laptop mode, and the OLED panel makes for an impressive display with the keyboard separated.

But the Zenbook 17 Fold also feels like a really big ThinkPad X1 Fold. The design is almost the same, just with a more exciting coat of paint and a growth spurt. That's not enough to bring foldable computers into the mainstream (or our list of the best ultrabooks), especially with such a large price tag, but I can see how foldable convertibles could be legitimately useful.

Design of the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED is just the second foldable laptop we've seen come through our review lab, and even two years after Lenovo shipped the ThinkPad X1 Fold, there's still a sense of incredulity that a laptop can just fold in half. Sure, Samsung's phones have been doing it regularly, but I think size plays a role here; that's where Asus makes its big play. The Zenbook 17 Fold is significantly larger than the 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold.

Asus' foldable ships flat and folds closed. When folded, the Zenbook 17 Fold is like a really chunky hardcover. There's a gap in between where the screen doesn't fold completely flush (you can, however, fit the included keyboard in that space). The chassis is comprised of black magnesium alloy, except for a portion of the front that has an Asus Zenbook logo on blue glass that reflects light in an interesting–albeit kind of distracting–way. It will certainly catch your eye. A greenish-gray faux leather cover wraps around the laptop's ‘spine,’ sliding as the system unfolds. This is very much how Lenovo designed the ThinkPad X1 Fold back in 2020, and I wish Asus did something more novel here, two years later.

On the very back, there's a vertical bar of faux leather, and the bottom half pops out into a kickstand, though it only works when the device is displayed in portrait mode. For landscape use, Asus includes a piece of cardboard to attach to the packaging; It's a janky work-around that I could really only use in one place. Does Asus expect people who buy this to bring the packaging everywhere?

The folding screen allows for several different use cases. There is, of course, the 17.3-inch monster tablet, which I found to be too big for handheld use, though it works while laying flat. (You could also, in theory, hold it like a book. Like a tablet, I found the Zenbook a bit unwieldy in this position in my hands.) 

Asus seems to be pushing the Zenbook primarily as a mix of laptop and portable desktop. The 17.3-inch foldable OLED panel allows for a large laptop mode with Windows 11's virtual keyboard, or a 12.5-inch, 3:2 laptop when you attach the included magnetic Zenbook keyboard to the lower half of the screen. This was a major complaint with the ThinkPad X1 Fold: The smaller 13.3-inch display folded into an even smaller laptop. Here, the laptop size is more reasonable.

I still think this feels far more clunky than a regular laptop, but there is a degree of magic in taking the keyboard off, pulling out the kickstand, and then having a 17.3-inch monitor to use when you get to an office, coffee shop or airport. The bezels don't feel incredibly thick around the full 17.3-inch screen, but when used as a 12.5-inch notebook, they're noticeable and feel distinctly early 2000's.

Asus' website claims that the Zenbook's hinges are tested for 30,000 folds. On its latest foldable phones, Samsung is promising 200,000 folds, which the company suggests is 100 folds a day for five years. If that's the case, 30,000 should still be plenty for the Zenbook, as laptops are rarely abused the way phones are. Still, it would be comforting for a laptop at this price to offer more. Perhaps it's the size or weight or the laptop that means fewer folds? This sure is bigger than a smartphone.

The Zenbook Fold is 3.31 pounds (the keyboard adds an extra 0.66 pounds). Unfolded, it's 14.9 x 11.32 x 0.5 inches. While folded it's a more compact 11.32 x 7.45 x 34.5 x 1.36 inches that you can fit into a bag.

Unsurprisingly, it's bigger and heavier than the ThinkPad X1 Fold, which was 2.2 pounds and measured 11.79 x 9.29 x 0.45 inches unfolded and 9.29 x 6.23 x 1.09 inches folded. That machine had a smaller screen.

The Fold is a heavier than standard notebooks. The HP Spectre x360 13.5, a 2-in-1 convertible, is 3.01 pounds and measures 11.73 x 8.68 x 0.67 inches. The Apple MacBook Air, a clamshell, is lighter at 2.7 pounds and is 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches, making it slimmer than any dimension of the Zenbook. Asus' foldable feels heavy when you use it as a laptop.

There are a bare minimum of ports along the Zenbook's sides. Assuming you have the laptop in portrait mode unfolded, there's a headphone jack and a Thunderbolt 4 port up top, as well as the power button.  The left side has a volume rocker and another Thunderbolt 4 port. (If you rotate the device into a laptop, the side with volume rocker moves to the top while the headphone jack and power button move to the right). Asus includes a USB Type-C to Type-A adapter in the box for older peripherals or storage.

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

As a foldable PC, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED has a lot to prove. It's using an Intel Core i7-1250U, along with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD. 

The first ever Windows foldable, the ThinkPad X1 Fold, released in 2020, used Intel's Lakefield processor, the Intel Core i5-L16G7. It may not be the fairest comparison here, but we're including it to see the leap foldables can make when using a chip meant for laptops, rather than something specifically designed to be low-power. Our other competitors are the HP Spectre x360 13.5, a convertible that uses a similar Intel Core i7-1255U, and Apple's MacBook Air with M2.

On Geekbench 5, an overall performance benchmark that leans heavily on the CPU, the Zenbook earned a single-core score of 1,705 and a multi-core score of 7,098. The HP Spectre x360 did similarly, with a single-core score of 1,668 and a multi-core score of 7,243, while the MacBook Air came out on top at 1,932 and 8,919.

This shows what using a U-series Intel chip does for the Zenbook. When the ThinkPad X1 Fold hit 868 a single-core score and notched 1,802 in multi-core, that was low even in 2020. The U-series chip can hang with a full-sized convertible.

Asus topped our file transfer test by copying 4.97GB of files at a rate of 1,480.3 MBps, beating the Spectre (1,363.29 MBps) and the MacBook Air (958.85 MBps). Faster drives have proliferated since the launch of the X1 Fold, which looks clunky in comparison now.

The one area where you could argue that the Zenbook faltered was on our Handbrake video transcoding test, where it took the foldable 14 minutes and 16 seconds to convert a 4K video to 1080p. The Spectre (10:33) and MacBook Air (7:52) were both faster, Apple's machine significantly so.

When the X1 Fold launched, its Handbrake time of 33:42 was slow, and that's when laptops often clocked times around 18 minutes. We've got a major increase on the Fold, but this is still where the typical design (and I'd imagine in the Spectre's case, the cooling), still helps.

We stress test laptops by running 20 loops of Cinebench R23, an intense workload, especially for most consumer-grade devices. The Zenbook 17 Fold started at a score of 6,384.19 and then dropped to 4,607.57. Afterwards, the next runs stabilized in the high 4,100's and low 4,200's.

During the Cinebench runs, the CPU's two performance cores ran at an average of 1.88 GHz and the eight efficiency cores ran at 1.3 GHz. The CPU package measured at an average of 59.64 degrees Celsius.

Display on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

You can't have a 17-inch foldable OLED laptop without sticking the landing on the display. Asus has, to a degree, but there are clear improvements to be made. This display was made by BOE (a Chinese manufacturing company, not your local board of education).

For one, the screen is beautiful. When unfolded, the 17.3-inch OLED panel is bright and gorgeous. It's really nice to have this quality and quantity of screen on such a portable device. There is a crease down the middle, and while you can feel it with your finger, it's tough to see unless you get extremely close.

When you convert the Zenbook into a laptop, you get a 12.5-inch 1920 x 1280, 3:2 display on each side of the fold. With the magnetic keyboard, there's just one screen, and Windows 11 moves the task bar appropriately to accommodate it.

There's a bit of give to the Zenbook's display, which makes sense. It's flexible, after all. But  Asus has a note in the fine print of the laptop's product page that gives me a bit of pause: "When using the device, please avoid using stylus or shap items to touch the display, as they might damage the display." Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Fold, two years ago, worked with a stylus; Lenovo even sold one. I do think the effect of having a huge tablet flops a bit when you have to worry about using a stylus. I hope Asus can harden the surface of the screen in future iterations.

I asked Asus about this comment. The company wrote that "[a]ll folding screens are made from plastic, not glass, which is more sensitive to scratches and damage. Capacitive styluses (those with a rubber balloon tip) work fine and won’t damage the panel. But to avoid any confusion as to what stylus is ok and what isn’t, we prefer to play safe and officially note we don’t support any stylus."

For what it's worth, I tried using a soft-tipped stylus on our review unit and it worked, but using a free one that I got from the New York City board of elections doesn't mesh with what quality hardware could offer. You do, however, feel the components under the screen with it, even if you're being gentle.

I watched one of our test films, Tears of Steel, on the Fold. It's a 4K file, so it wasn't supported at full resolution, but I expected that the open source movie's wide range of color would wow me. I wasn't wrong. Green and pink neon holograms in a lab popped on black walls, and a sniper looking off of a bridge at sunrise had a slight orange tinge to his skin.

The Zenbook's foldable touchscreen covers 153% of the sRGB color gamut and 108.5% of the more challenging DCI-P3 space. That's a slight improvement on the ThinkPad's smaller 13.3-inch screen from 2020. The HP Spectre x360 13.5's OLED screen covered 87.7% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 124% of sRGB. Apple's Retina screen doesn't use OLED, and brought up the rear – at least when it comes to color.

At 323 nits of brightness on our light meter, the Zenbook 17 Fold beat the ThinkPad but came behind both the Spectre (355 nits) and the MacBook Air (a whopping 489 nits).

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

The Zenbook 17 Fold comes with a Bluetooth keyboard with trackpad that looks like it was pulled off of a regular laptop. It can attach to the foldable's bezel with magnets to make it feel like, well, a typical laptop. The keys are all decently sized, and nothing seems like it was totally jammed in, with the exception of the tilde key, though it wouldn't be the first time I saw that on a small notebook.

Asus claims that its keys offer 1.4 mm of travel with a 0.2-mm dish. When attached to the bottom half of the screen with magnets, the keyboard makes serious clacky noises when you type. I found it to work well enough, and I hit 118 words per minute on the monkeytype typing test. The keyboard does feel a bit elevated, but I could ultimately get used to it.

I liked using the keyboard on the device more than on my desk; it's very flat. It seems silly to use a laptop keyboard with what's effectively an all-in-one PC at your desk. I was much happier attaching other Bluetooth keyboards or my wired Keychron Q1. But if you're on the go, it's an option that works well enough.

Most laptops don't have Bluetooth keyboards. Asus has Bluetooth hotkeys to switch between multiple devices. So you could, if you wanted, also use this keyboard for your phone, for instance, or with a smart TV while sitting on your couch.

The trackpad is 2.5 x 4.1 inches, which I found to be just big enough for me. I prefer them bigger, but I really don't know where a bigger trackpad would actually gift. It's wide enough for even four-finger gestures in Windows 11, and it's nice and smooth to the touch. With the touchpad, I occasionally had issues where the cursor lagged behind my finger, seemingly due to Bluetooth issues, which didn't happen to the keyboard.

Unlike the ThinkPad X1 Fold from 2020, the Zenbook's keyboard doesn't charge wirelessly when connected to the device. There's a USB Type-C port on the keyboard's right side, next to the power switch, for charging.   It's not backlit, which might be an issue for those who don't touch type . Asus claims that it lasts up to 24 hours on a charge.

Audio on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

The speakers are an area that could use a bit of work. They get plenty of loud and easily filled up my New York City apartment with Fivio Foreign's "City of Gods."

But volume isn't everything. With out-of-the-box settings, I thought the audio was flat, with drums and synths melding into the vocals. I found that, in the Dolby Access software, I preferred the "Detailed" music setting, which distinguished the characteristics of the music. The bass, however, still wasn’t great, which is, unfortunately, par for the course on small devices.

Upgradeability on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

Asus' design here means that users effectively can't get in. While the RAM is soldered down, Asus told me that the SSD can be changed. Asus said that getting in could damage the bezels, so users should utilize its service program to change the SSD if necessary.

Battery Life on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

While the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED can fold up to fit in your bag, you'll want to bring a charger with you. Asus' foldable lasted for seven hours and 56 minutes on our test, which browses websites, streams video and runs OpenGL tests in the browser, all while connected to Wi-Fi and with the screen at 150 nits of brightness. It turns out a 17-inch OLED screen needs a lot of juice.

Traditional laptops with larger batteries did better here. The HP Spectre x360 13.5 ran for 10 hours and 12 minutes, while Apple's MacBook Air endured for 14:06.

Still, battery life is an upgrade over the original ThinkPad X1 Fold from 2020, which ran for 6:03 on Intel's Lakefield platform, though that was smaller with less room for a battery.

Heat on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

We took surface temperatures while running our Cinebench R23 stress test. Our tests focused on the back of the device while unfolded.

The hottest point was on the rear of the left side of the foldable — effectively the front cover when it's closed, or the ‘lid’ of the laptop. The hottest point measured 43.3 degrees Celsius (109.94 degrees Fahrenheit).

This is not a problem when it's in laptop mode or even in display mode. But if you hold it, it's a bit toasty. The other side of the foldable was cool to the touch at 31.3 degrees Celsius (88.34 degrees Fahrenheit).

The keyboard doesn't get affected by the heat from the computer's components, because it's a totally separate device.

Webcam on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

With the majority of the laptops I review, my problem is with the quality of the camera. Here, it's with the placement.

If you have the Zenbook 17 Fold in front of you in display mode, with the kickstand out, the camera is on the left side of the bezel. This puts you off center and looks up at you; It's not flattering at all. Ideally, some software could help with this, similar to what Apple has done on the iPad and HP has done on some laptops. (On the bright side, Windows Hello still worked in this orientation),

When you move the Fold into laptop mode, you get a much more flattering image. It's straight on, and with the right lighting, you can get decent colors (though perhaps a bit more subtle than in real life) and enough detail to look good enough on a call. But the sensor is now sideways, so your image will be in portrait mode and you'll look like you're calling in from your phone.

Me? I'd rather look like I don't know which way to hold my phone and be centered on the camera, but it's not ideal. Maybe the next generation of foldables needs two sets of webcams.

Windows 11 and Foldables

When Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Fold shipped in 2020, it came with Windows 10, and had been meant for Windows 10X, a touch-forward version of the operating system. That got shelved, and Windows 10 never felt right on a foldable.

The Zenbook 17 Fold has the benefit of coming pre-loaded with Windows 11, which feels much better on this kind of hardware. While it's still not fully touch-oriented, Windows 11 works much better with a finger or stylus than Windows 10 ever did. 

But the change with the biggest effect comes in Windows 11's snap layouts. Being able to quickly move applications to different sides or corners of the desktop makes a touch-based, foldable design far more flexible (no pun intended) to use. Asus doesn't need to layer its own software on the device for it to work. It does ship with Asus software though.

Software and Warranty on the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

Asus' suite of software consists of MyAsus, ScreenXpert and GlideX.

MyAsus is the most important of the three: It even gets a dedicated key (F12) on the keyboard. It's a massive catch-all app that checks system updates, lets you change the fan profile and make changes to everything from OLED pixel shifting (to prevent burn-in) and different color profiles. It also is stuffed with extras from partners, like trials of McAfee Live Safe and Dropbox. Yuck.

Interestingly, MyAsus has some security features that only work when the Zenbook is in laptop mode, including locking your laptop when you walk away, waking upon your return, and dimming your screen when you look away from the PC. It's unclear why Asus wouldn't provide these features in every mode, unless it has something to do with the fact that the webcam is always centered in laptop mode, which would be more accurate than in a desktop, which always has you jutted to the side.

ScreenXpert is a widget that lives on the side of the display. I find it to be of little use, as the best part — being able to quickly rearrange applications in order on screen, is built into Windows 11.

GlideX lets you use a tablet as a second screen or run mobile apps on Windows. Its features are limited unless you pay for a pro subscription (though a card with my review unit suggests that owners will get a longer trial in the box).

Asus includes a trial of McAfee LiveSafe, which also has a bookmark in the Edge browser. Beyond that, there are two more website bookmarks to pages on Asus's site to download more software. It's a bit much and cheapens the experience on this very expensive device.

Asus sells the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED with a one-year warranty.

Bottom Line

I really see where Asus was going here. The Zenbook 17 Fold OLED portends a future where instead of laptops, we all carry large foldable screens that we collapse into our backpacks. You could go to a coffee shop and open up to a big, high-resolution display without taking up the whole table. On a tray on a plane, it could be a 12.5-inch laptop. It's a computer that's literally pliable to your needs.

Asus has proven that a bigger screen makes sense here, as opposed to the 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold back in 2020, which was too small to be a good laptop. But with an extremely similar design to the X1 Fold otherwise, Asus hasn't done much to move the foldable PC forward. In fact, Windows 11 is just as big a leap forward for the foldable as the hardware. This is the most portable 17-inch PC I've ever seen, but it's also expensive, on the heavy side, and Asus is warning against a stylus on what's effectively a gigantic tablet. The Zenbook 17 Fold seems durable enough for everyday use, but we'll have to wait and see how well it holds up. For those who need something new, there are still plenty of great laptops out there. For those who want something flexible, one of our favorite laptops is the HP Spectre x360 13.5, which has its own OLED screen and can be used as a convertible tablet. As of this writing, the closest available Spectre x250 configuration to Asus’ foldable is $1,739.99, which is still far more affordable than this foldable.

Foldable PCs, effectively serving as a portable all-in-one that can fit in a typical laptop bag, may be the future of computing (or, more likely, one more popular form factor in that near future). Asus has found a better size for the flexible computer, but now it has to advance the design and make it cheaper. A $3,500 package should be durable, premium and should have no compromises. But with foldables in their infancy, there are compromises. That makes the Zenbook 17 Fold a niche device.

Linux support with webcams has reportedly become a major issue in regards to 12th Gen Alder Lake laptops right now, as showcased by a recent Phoronix article. Linux kernel maintainer, Greh Kroah-Hartman, says causal users should steer clear of Alder Lake laptops using Linux if they want to make video calls on their machines. Issues surrounding mainline kernel support for webcams have made webcam support almost nonexistent.

Hartman says - ironically, that Linux support with Alder Lake has been really good. But for some reason, webcams are the only exception. The lack of mainline kernel support has forced manufacturers to create proprietary drivers for their webcams.

The primary example of this is the new MIPI IPU6 webcams found in Alder Lake laptops like the Dell XPS 13 and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The Linux driver supporting IPU6 is completely proprietary and only supports specific kernel versions of Linux. That makes Linux kernel updates impossible, unless you want bricked webcam functionality.

This is just one example of limited Linux webcam support, with Hartman himself commenting that you shouldn't "...buy these notebooks if the vendor isn't willing to get their drivers upstreamed properly."

The main issue is that IPU6 drivers don't make use of the Video 4 Linux 2 interface, which is a common API used by webcams drivers for Linux. Instead, the IPU6 drivers rely on a different API, since the camera is more complex compared to other solutions, and vendors don't want to share any of their imaging algorithms with the public.

Thankfully, Phoronix says there is a plan for upstreaming Intel's IPU6 driver to the CAM kernel API, which appears to be a new open-source webcam API for Linux. But that work is still far and away out, with a timeline of at least a year of development - if not two years.

Basically, it appears that most of the 12th Gen laptop models sport this new MIPI IPU6 webcam, and as a result, can suffer from Linux compatibility issues due to mediocre support via proprietary drivers. 

If you manage to find an Alder Lake laptop with a different webcam, there's a good chance it won't have these issues. You could always attach one of the best external webcams and it will probably have Linux support. Or, alternatively, you could have Windows as your host OS and run Linux in a virtual environment instead

Lenovo's first foldable, the ThinkPad X1 Fold, felt very much like an early product. But it seems that the company isn't giving up on it, and may be making some changes.

On Tuesday, Lenovo posted a teaser video on its ThinkPad Twitter and YouTube accounts entitled 'What will we unfold next' that unambiguously implies that a new ThinkPad X1 Fold is incoming. The new machine seems to feature a large foldable AMOLED monitor, but with thinner bezels. The video also shows a new version of the detachable keyboard TrackPoint nub this time around. The machine will likely switch to Intel's hybrid 12th Generation Core 'Alder Lake' processor, though we can only wonder which exact chips it is going to use.

In addition to its foldable design courtesy of foldable AMOLED screen with rather thin bezels, the key improvement of the new ThinkPad X1 Fold will be its platform. Intel's Lakefield CPUs barely provided enough performance for business users, but Alder Lake will certainly address this issue.

Meanwhile, Lenovo's video clearly depicts Intel's Evo and vPro logotypes in the end of the sequence, so expect the new notebook to comply with Intel's requirements for Evo-badged machines as far as responsiveness and performance are concerned. Furthermore, vPro implies on business/corporate focus of the system, so expect it to support all the latest security and management features that Intel has to offer.

Among the key questions about Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 (or whatever Lenovo calls it) hybrid notebook is of course when it is set to become available and how much the manufacturer plans to charge for it. Given the fact that companies do not tend to pre-announce new products months before launch, we would expect the new foldable laptop from Lenovo to arrive sooner rather than later, perhaps, so sometime in August or September. As for the price, that part is hard to guess considering the fact that Lenovo will likely offer more CPU, memory, and storage options with its ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 than with its previous-generation model.

According to a new report by Phoronix, some of Lenovo's new AMD Ryzen 6000 laptops paired with Microsoft's Pluton security chip will not boot any other operating system besides Windows by default. Linux security expert Matthew Garrett initially discovered the issue in his blog post when he tried booting Linux from a USB thumb drive on his Z13 ThinkPad.

The main issue with Lenovo's security measure is that it provides no additional security benefits by locking out other operating systems. In addition, these new laptops, by default, do not trust bootloaders signed with Microsoft 3rd party UEFI CA keys to maintain higher security, which Garrett is useless.

Garrett points out that the primary security measure that is beneficial in Lenovo's laptops is related to the TPM and the security data it holds. When a new non-Windows OS is loaded onto the system which supports Secure Boot and TPM, keys from the previous OS get wiped away due to the 3rd party CA, making them useless for attackers to grab off the system. Because of this, there is no reason to lock out non-Windows operating systems since any critical data is wiped and replaced.

Thankfully this issue won't be a serious problem for most users since most of the world does run Windows operating systems. But this could be a very problematic issue for the few diehards who use Linux. There's a chance this operating system lock can be changed within the BIOS, but this has not been confirmed.

To clarify, this issue is specific to Lenovo and does not incorporate a flaw in Microsoft's new Pluton security processor. Pluton is a new co-processor offering additional security to a system's TPM or Trusted Platform Module by emulating a TPM module virtually on the CPU. Without Pluton, attackers can physically hijack the TPM's communication bus to grab sensitive keys and information.

Workers need more flexibility than ever. Some are working from home, some are in the office and others are switching between both. The idea of a 2-in-1 laptop is to offer that same flexibility. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 is Lenovo's latest stab at making the best ultrabook for enterprise, including a garaged stylus to take quick notes in meetings.

At $2,343.48 as tested (around $1,700 to start), the ThinkPad X1 Yoga, like many business laptops, is pricey. Of course, pricing for businesses is never straightforward, individuals who want one will have to pay a premium for the ThinkPad name and durability.

For that price, you get a convertible laptop running on an 12th Gen Intel Core processor, along with a bright screen and solid battery life. And, thankfully, a 1080p webcam for all of those Zoom meetings. 

Design of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

To the degree that the ThinkPad design is iconic, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 is instantly recognizable. Our review unit came in "storm gray" rather than the traditional ThinkPad black, but the logo with the glowing dotted i on the aluminum lid gives it away. Our lid got minor scratches somewhere in the review process. 

The laptop has a 16:10 display, which shows a bit more vertical space than a 16:9 screen, and taller is always better for touch in tablet mode. (I'm still of the opinion that a 3:2 screen makes the best convertible experience).It's surrounded by thin bezels on three sides; the one on top is a bit bigger, seemingly to fit the 1080p webcam. It's a trade-off I'll accept, though I wish the slight outward notch also had an IR camera in there to log in with facial recognition.

There is a fingerprint reader, however, that’s built into the power button. It worked for me reliability during my testing, though there was initially a bit of adhesive left over from a sticker informing you that the button does dual-duty. Once that wiped off things were all good.

The deck is the same gray color, though not aluminum. It's punctuated by the red TrackPoint nub in the center of the keyboard, which lets some power users do everything they need without taking their hands off of the home road. The touchpad has discrete physical mouse buttons for TrackPad users above the standard touchpad. Me, I just use the touchpad like most people do. . (My apologies to our editor-in-chief, our resident nub enthusiast.)

The laptops' 360-degree hinge means, like other convertibles, the PC can be folded back into a tablet, or be stood up in a tent or a stand mode. 

Considering its 14-inch screen size, the X1 Yoga has a solid selection of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports (you'll use one to charge the system) on the left side. That flank also features a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A port and HDMI out to connect it to a monitor. The right side has a headphone jack, another USB-A port (this one is always-on for charging other devices), a Kensington lock slot and the garage for the included stylus. 

The X1 Yoga measures 12.37 x 8.75 x 0.61 inches and weighs 3.04 pounds. That's not too different from what Lenovo includes in its premium consumer offering, the Lenovo Yoga 9i Gen 7, which measures 12.52 x 9.06 x 0.6 inches and weighs 3.09 pounds. Another small notebook we've recently tested, the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED, which is a standard clamshell, is 12.3 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches with a smaller, 13-inch screen, and weighs three pounds flat.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 Specifications

Productivity Performance on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 

We tested the ThinkPad X1 Yoga with an Intel Core i7-1260P, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It offered mixed, but largely admirable performance in our tests.

The X1 Yoga showed off the most on Geekbench 5, an overall performance test with an emphasis on the CPU. With a single-core score of 1,615 and a multi-core score of 8,632, it beat the Asus Zenbook S 13 OLED, with an AMD Ryzen 7 6800U,  in both types of performance. The Lenovo Yoga 9i, with the same Core i7-1260P as the Yoga, scored slightly higher on single-core performance but lower than both the ThinkPad and Zenbook on multi-core. All of the newer laptops beat last year's X1 Yoga Gen 6 with a Core i7-1165G7, but that's how year-over-year chip updates should work!

Lenovo's business laptop copied 25GB of test files at a rate of 955.09 MBps. While that's an improvement over the Gen 6, it's far slower than what we saw on the consumer Yoga 9i or the Asus Zenbook.

On our Handbrake test, in which we have laptops transcode a 4K video to 1080p, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 completed the task in 10 minutes and 35 seconds. As in Geekbench, the ThinkPad outperformed its consumer cousin, but here the AMD-based Asus was a powerhouse, finishing the job in 8:15.

Finally, we ran our Cinebench R23 stress test. On productivity laptops, we run Cinebench R23 for twenty cycles in a row, a workload that pushes ultrabooks to their limits for a significant duration. The ThinkPad started strong with a score over 8,500, but that dropped pretty quickly until the system settled to a score around 6,100.

During that stress test, the ThinkPad's performance cores ran at 1.84 GHz and the efficiency cores averaged 1.61 GHz. Logs from HWInfo suggest that there was fairly consistent thermal throttling throughout the test.

Display on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 has a 14-inch, 16:10 display that’s available with a variety of resolutions. We tested it with a 1920 x 1200 resolution. 

The screen is adequate enough. For spreadsheets and Word docs, it's perfectly fine. If you're using it for graphic design, you may want to consider something a bit nicer. When I took a break from my work to use the ThinkPad to check out the trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, both the titular hero and her well-known cousin were both their famous green hues, and returning villainous character Emil Blonsky had a red jumpsuit that popped in a gray jail cell. It wasn't otherwise notable, but it did the job.

Lenovo's display covers 79.3% of the DCI-P3 gamut and 112% of the sRGB color space. That's an improvement over last year’s model, but not quite as good as the OLED display on the Asus Zenbook S 13. Speaking of OLED, the panel on the Lenovo Yoga 9i was far better, registering 140.1% and 198% respectively.

But at least it's bright. The ThinkPad measured an average of 356 nits of brightness, on par with the Yoga 9i and ahead of the Zenbook.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Stylus on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

Lenovo's ThinkPad keyboards have a legacy of snappy, responsive chiclets. But the ThinkPad X1 Yoga's keyboard is just OK. The keys have the classic scallop shape and 1.5 mm of travel. But as I took a Monkeytype test, reaching 113 words per minute, I felt that they were mushier than I would like. 

The center of the keyboard is punctuated with a bright red dot: the TrackPoint nub, which lets you move the mouse without taking your hands off the keyboard. If that's how you prefer to navigate your PC, more power to you, it works fine. There are three dedicated mouse buttons above the touchpad for use with the nub.

But I prefer to use a trackpad. Lenovo's is 4.3 inches wide, but not particularly tall. I had just enough room to perform sweeping three and four-finger gestures in Windows 11, but I would prefer something roomier. The TrackPoint's buttons take up a fair bit of space, but that's the choice Lenovo made here.

The included stylus is garaged on the right side of the laptop. It's not as meaty as a full-sized stylus, but I think this thin pen is the best option for a business notebook. It's there when you need it, all the time, and it's good enough for jotting down quick notes. The garage also means that it's being recharged all the time, and I never had an issue with it running out of battery.

Perhaps my only issue with the stylus is that I accidentally hit the programmable barrel buttons a few times. I admittedly hold all pens a bit weirdly, but I don't think it's out of the question that others could accidentally trigger the eraser function.

Audio on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

Lenovo equipped its ThinkPad X1 Yoga with four speakers, a mix of woofers and tweeters. Speakers matter on business notebooks now more than ever — people may listen to music without headphones if they work from home.

When I played Yellowcard's "Lights and Sounds," on the ThinkPad, it pumped plenty of volume through my apartment. You could comfortably listen around 60% with plenty of room to go. 

The Dolby Atmos speaker system was decent, with clear vocals, snappy drums and a great middle ground on the guitars. But as with many ultraportable notebooks there was barely any bass to be heard on the lower-end. The Dolby Access app has a few different equalizers if you want to make changes, but none of them made huge differences in my day-to-day testing.

Upgradeability of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

Getting into the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 for upgrades or repair is mercifully easy. Before you get to taking anything apart, though, be sure to take out the stylus (and SIM card, if yours includes one. Ours did not.) The bottom cover is held in by five captive Philips head screws. You won't need to worry about losing any screws; just loosen them and pry the base off.

There's not too much inside to easily upgrade or repair. The SSD is the big replaceable piece. It's under a copper heatsink that can be removed easily enough. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard

While the battery is removable, It's definitely not a standard part. There's a gap in it to fit the stylus into the holding garage. If you need to replace it, you'll likely need to get an official part from Lenovo.

Battery Life on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

Based on our testing, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 can last just over a workday without being plugged in. It ran for an average 9 hours and 1 minute on our battery test, which constantly streams video, browses the web and runs graphics tests while connected to Wi-Fi and with the display set to 150 nits of brightness.

The consumer-focused Yoga 9i beat it at 8:08, but it has an OLED screen. The Asus Zenbook was in a similar region at 8:15. None of them lasted as long as last year's X1 Yoga, which ran for just shy of 14 hours.

When we asked Lenovo about the discrepancy, the company disputed the numbers. In its own testing (using a version of our proprietary battery test,) representatives said it saw battery life around 12 hours. It's possible that any reduction in battery life is due to the higher, 28W P-series processors rather than last year's U-series parts. We conducted the test multiple times across two units.

Heat on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

Even when we ran our Cinebench stress test, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga's touch points were largely cool and comfortable.

The center of the keyboard, between the G and H keys, measured 38.4 degrees Celsius (101.12 degrees Fahrenheit), while the touchpad was a cooler 31.8 degrees Celsius (89.24 degrees Fahrenheit).

The hottest point on the bottom of the laptop measured 48.9 degrees Celsius (120.02 degrees Fahrenheit).

Webcam on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

The X1 Yoga Gen 7 has a 1080p webcam, which is as it should be, especially for business notebooks. Even in a part of my apartment where there was a bit too much light coming in, I looked good in high resolution. Even in the harsh lighting, it caught tons of detail in my skin and hair, and my blue eyes and gray shirt appeared fairly accurate.

Higher resolution doesn't always correlate to better image quality, but it's available, and if you want to appear in high resolution, anywhere, it's on a business call.

Software and Warranty on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7

Generally, one of the benefits of a business laptop is that it doesn't come with too much junk on it. Lenovo has a few pieces of software on the laptop.

Lenovo Commercial Vantage is just that: a version of its Vantage software skinned for businesses. It shows device and warranty information as well as lets you adjust battery, sound and performance settings.  A separate  piece of software, Lenovo Pen Settings, lets you change what the two barrel buttons on the stylus do, as well as check the stylus' battery life.

I was surprised to see that our unit came with Lenovo Quick Clean, which seems destined for use in medical scenarios. It's software that temporarily locks keyboard and mouse input for a set time between one and ten minutes so that you can clean your laptop without clicking or typing errant keystrokes. On the one hand, you can do the same thing with the power button, but I'm lazy enough that I could actually see myself use it to clear out some crumbs.

There's also an app for changing camera settings.  It's called Lenovo View, and lets you change three values: light, "intensity" (seemingly shadows) and color.  By default, it only works when plugged in, and warns that it can reduce battery life if you let it run on battery power. 

The other software included on the ThinkPad largely comes with Windows 11, and includes Disney Plus, TikTok, Amazon Prime Video and Spotify.

Lenovo sells the ThinkPad X1 Yoga with a one-year warranty, though like most business laptops, you can extend it for an extra cost. Ours came with a three-year warranty, according to Commercial Vantage.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 Configurations

Our $2,343.38 review configuration of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 came with an Intel Core i7-1260P, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, a 14-inch, 1920 x 1200 touchscreen and Windows 11 Pro. It's being sold through a number of retailers, including B&H Photo and CDW. 

Lenovo's website has a number of configurations, including a base model with a Core i5-1240P, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and Windows Home starting at $1,589.40.

If you customize it, you can get it up to almost $3,000. Lenovo offers options for up to a Core i7-1270P, up to 32GB of RAM, Up to 1TB of PCIe Gen 4 SSD storage, and the option for a 3840 x 2400 OLED touchscreen, mobile broadband and an enhanced FHD webcam with "computer vision." 

Pricing for business laptops is always a bit tricky. Corporations buying in bulk don't pay the sticker price, and they often fluctuate on manufacturer sites, so be on the lookout for sales.

Bottom Line

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 7) doesn’t provide a humongous change from its predecessors or even other 2-in-1s. It's what it says on the tin: a decently powerful, Intel-based system with a bright display, lots of ports, and lots of ports.

If you're an individual looking to buy a ThinkPad, I'd recommend keeping an eye out for sales throughout the year. This ThinkPad gets pricey (they all do), but there are typically price cuts if you're patient.  

Those who don't particularly care about the ThinkPad nub, design or durability may want to consider Lenovo's own Yoga 9i, a gorgeous 14-inch ultraportable. It has a 3:2 OLED display and longer battery life, though it's also pricey. As of this writing, it starts at $999.99, it goes far higher, up to $1,759.99 with the same CPU, RAM and a bigger 1TB SSD. It doesn't, however, have a garaged stylus.

But ThinkPad has its reputation for a reason. If you're willing to pay the business premium, the X1 Yoga will be as flexible about work as you need to be. 

AMD and Qualcomm are teaming up to make the Wi-Fi in your business laptop faster. Today, the two companies announced that they're working to bring Qualcomm FastConnect to PCs with AMD Ryzen processors, beginning on enterprise notebooks using the Ryzen Pro 6000 series chips and Qualcomm FastConnect 6900.

This will bring Wi-Fi 6 and 6E to some business notebooks, though they would hardly be the first. But AMD and Qualcomm claim that by also bringing Microsoft in on the collab, laptops including the HP EliteBook 805 series and Lenovo ThinkPad Z series will take advantage of wireless options built into Windows 11. 

Specifically, those laptops will use Windows 11 Wi-Fi Dual Station, which Qualcomm has pushed before for gaming. (In fact, back when that was announced in October 2021, AMD corporate vice president Jason Banta said the company was planning to bring the tech to business laptops. Some promises do come true!)  This will allow laptops to use multiple Wi-Fi bands simultaneously for reduced latency, stronger connections, and, the companies claim, better video conferencing. And because these notebooks can use the 6GHz wireless band, they shouldn't have to fight for a connection with older network devices.

AMD is also pushing its AMD Manageability Processor for Ryzen Pro 6000 PCs for remote management. (However, laptop manufacturers will have to enable this for each notebook, so just because a laptop uses those chips doesn't mean it will have the feature.)

“Out-of-band Wi-Fi remote management is an important tool for enterprise IT managers to diagnose and fix issues, even when the operating system is not running,” Banta said in a press release. “AMD Ryzen PRO 6000 Series processors with Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 enable next-generation business laptops to have the processing and connectivity tools needed to perform in modern environments, offering professional-strength remote manageability for users in the new, hybrid workplace."

The Lenovo ThinkPad Z series and HP EliteBook 805 laptops were announced at CES, and we expect to see them sometime this year. 

AMD is preparing for a new swath of business notebooks. The company today announced its new Ryzen Pro 6000 series processors, which use Zen 3+ cores and integrated RDNA 2 graphics. The company is also keeping some older Ryzen Pro 5000 chips around.

There are six Ryzen Pro 6000 H-series chips, ranging from the six-core/12-thread Ryzen 6 Pro 6650H and 6650HS up to the Ryzen 9 Pro 6950H and 6950HS. There are two U-series processors, the Ryzen 5 Pro 6650U and the Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U.

To demonstrate performance, AMD provided information about its U-series processors. It claims that at 15W, the 6850U offers 1.1x the CPU performance of the last-gen 5850U, while at 28W, it delivers a 1.3x increase. On the GPU side, it's a 1.5x and 2.1x increase, respectively.

AMD also compared its chips with Intel, putting a Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 with a Ryzen 7 Pro 6860Z (an exclusive chip for that system, not listed in the chart above), 32GB of LPPDR5-6400 RAM and a 1TB SSD against a ThinkPad X1 Carbon with a Core i7-1260P, 16GB of LPDDR5-5500 RAM and a 1TB SSD. There, AMD claims approximately 25% faster multi-thread performance in Cinebench R23, roughly 50% better scores in Passmark 10, as well as faster graphics in 3DMark Time Spy. Single-core Cinebench scores were worse than the Intel chip. In a test that ran a Teams video call while also using the UL Procyon Office productivity benchmarks, AMD claimed it was up to 17% faster. 

AMD is making bombastic battery life claims, and suggests the Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U can run video playback for 29 hours in an unnamed laptop with a Ryzen 7 Pro 6850U processor with the display set to 150 nits. AMD claims an HP EliteBook 865 G9 with a 6850U and a 76 WHr battery ran for over 26 hours on the MobileMark 2018 battery life test.

These chips will be in laptops like the upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad Z13 and Z16, which will have an exclusive Ryzen 7 Pro 6860Z, as well as the upcoming HP EliteBook G9 which will come in 13, 14 and 16-inch sizes. The company announced that another ThinkBook and ThinkPads from Lenovo and ProBooks and EliteBooks from HP will also carry the new Ryzen 6000 and 5000 series chips. Other laptop manufacturers will also have options this year, I'm told, but no specific models were announced.

Those systems are expected to start launching sometime in Q2 of 2022.

Lenovo is making platform updates to the ThinkPad X13 and X13 Yoga Gen 3, as well as the budget-oriented L series. The new business notebooks will launch throughout the spring and into the summer. 

Among the X series, The convertible 2-in-1, the X3 Yoga, will only come in an Intel version, while the clamshell, the X13 Gen 3, will have both 12th Gen Intel Core and AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 options. The other major difference, besides the form factor, is that while both have nano-SIM card slots for 4G LTE, the clamshell also allows for sub-6 5G with an eSIM.

Both of the laptops have WQXGA displays, meaning they have 16:10 aspect ratios with resolutions of 2560 x 1600. Both also support Dolby Vision and feature low blue light technology to prevent tired eyes at night.

The design of the X-series doesn't appear to be much different thanin previous years, though Lenovo says the trackpad is 15% larger, which won't matter much to TrackPoint lovers, but may be helpful for the rest of us. 

The budget-focused L series consists of the ThinkPad L14 and L15 Gen 3, now featuring smaller bezels in thinner and lighter designs, as well as the ThinkPad L13 and L13 Yoga Gen 3, which are making moves to 16:10displays. While the X series won't ship until June, the L series machines will start shipping in April and May. They'll start at $859 for the ThinkPad L13 Gen 3 i.

The L series goes up to Intel's 12th Gen Core i7 chips, but rather than Ryzen Pro 6000, will be shipping with Ryzen Pro 5000.

Across the devices, IR cameras to log in with Windows Hello are optional, although I feel like the 1080p option should be a must on business notebooks these days (and a darn good add-on on consumer devices, too).

Including both the Intel and AMD versions (the former marked with an "i" in the model name if an AMD version exists), Lenovo will be shipping 11 new business models over the next three months, which should provide plenty of options as many workers head back to the office. 

What do you get when you have a Lenovo gaming laptop that’s too underpowered to join its Legion (lineup of machines)? “Ideapad Gaming,” apparently. The IdeaPad line is usually seen as a somewhat budget-oriented approach to the ThinkPad, but it’s actually played host to a secondary gaming sub-brand since at least Intel’s 9th generation of processors was around. But now that Intel’s 12th generation mobile chips are here, Ideapad Gaming is getting a refresh, including a new look. These are still budget machines, apparently so much so that they can’t quite reach official Legion status, but now they’re much more in tune with the rest of Lenovo’s gaming devices. 

Lenovo’s sticking with the “Ideapad Gaming 3” name for this refresh, although there are separate Intel and AMD models with slight differences. Intel versions, for instance, have a “3i” moniker and have slightly higher specs at the cost of higher price tags. There are also two different sizes available, so you can choose between a 15 inch and 16 inch machine.

The size of your laptop won’t affect any specs aside from the display, although it will determine your machine’s color. While the 15 inch laptops have both gray and white options, the 16 inch ones only come in gray.

The two key additions here are an upgrade to the latest generation of processors (12th Gen Core for Intel and Ryzen 6000 series for AMD) and RTX graphics cards. This will be the Ideapad’s first time with RTX GPUs, although the options here max out at the RTX 3050 Ti for AMD and RTX 3060 for Intel.

Aside from those upgrades, the 16-inch version of this laptop also boasts a 16:10 screen, while the 15 inch one sticks to the tried-and-true 16:9 aspect ratio. For productivity, we tend to prefer 16:10, although it’s arguable how useful it is on a gaming laptop. Regardless of size, most Ideapad Gaming 3 models come with up to a WQHD resolution. The one exception is the AMD model of the 15- inch Gaming 3, which maxes out at an FHD resolution.

Of course, there’s also a new look here that mimics what you’ll find on a Legion gaming laptop. Most notably, the screen sits slightly forward from the laptop’s backside.

With that in mind, it’s probably best to think of these laptops as “Legion Lite” machines, regardless of what Lenovo tells you. They won’t be able to compete with the proper Legion brand, but they sit well above anything Ideapad Gaming has released before. 

If you’re in the market for low-end RTX GPUs and are still being shut out by the low stock in the desktop scene, these laptops will be a good place to look when they release from April to June of this year, with prices ranging from $929 to $1,439.

When we say "all-day" battery life, we're usually talking about a laptop that lasts more than 8 hours, but what if there were a system that could run longer than 24 hours? Today, alongside some ThinkPad T-series and X1 Extreme laptops, Lenovo announced the ThinkPad X13s, an ultraportable that promises 28 hours of endurance thanks to its low-power Arm processor.

Available in May with a starting price of $1,099 in the U.S., the 2.35-pound, 13-inch laptop is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor that operates at a power-sipping 9w TDP and has built-in support for 5G and 4G cellular connectivity. The laptop will be available at AT&T and Verizon later in the year.

Windows laptops powered by Arm processors, specifically Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs, are nothing new. In years past, we've reviewed several models which touted long battery life and integrated cellular connectivity but came up short in terms of performance. Lenovo even got in on the game with its disappointing Flex 5G, but this is the first ThinkPad to use an Arm processor and the company told us that the performance is equivalent to that of a Core i5 processor.

We had a chance to see the ThinkPad X13s in person and it has the standard features of a ThinkPad, including a fantastically-tactile keyboard and a TrackPoint pointing stick. However, the color of the “Thunder Black” chassis is a little less black and more grayish than a regular ThinkPad, though it is a nice soft-touch material. The change in color may be because it's made from 90 percent recycled magnesium. Despite the materials, the laptop is made to pass the same series of MIL-STD durability tests as other ThinkPads.

One of the key challenges of any Arm-powered laptop is compatibility with apps that were compiled for x86. Windows 11, which will come preloaded on the ThinkPad X13s, is the first to allow Arm processors to run 64-bit, x86 apps. The jury is still out on how well those apps will perform, given the chip would need to go into emulation mode. 

On the bright side, there will be a number of native apps that are guaranteed to work. Lenovo, Qualcomm and Microsoft are partnering with software vendors to certify that their apps run on Arm via the MIcrosoft App Asure program. Lenovo cited Microsoft 365, Zoom and Sophos as apps that will have native support.

The ThinkPad X13s will be available with three screen options, all of which have 1920 x 1200 resolutions but vary based on brightness and touch capability. It will have up to a 1TB PCIe SSD and up to 32GB of LPDDR4x RAM. It will have a 5-MP webcam and an IR camera. Like some other recent ThinkPads, it will also have Computer Vision for enhanced human presence detection. 

The ThinkPad X13s will support Wi-Fi 6 / 6E, 5G sub6 and 5G mmWave, though the cellular options may depend on the market. The laptop will have two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports (10 Gbps).

Whether the battery life and 5G connectivity make the ThinkPad X13s worth the potential trade-offs in performance and app selection remains to be seen. One of the best ultrabooks right now, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 9) that we reviewed in 2021 lasted for more than 15 hours on our battery test and it uses a standard Intel x86 processor.  

 New ThinkPad X1 Extreme With RTX 3080 Ti 

Back at CES 2022 in January, Lenovo introduced the latest version of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but left announcements of other ThinkPad refreshes for later. Later is now as the company is showing its latest mobile workstation, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5.

As you would expect, the latest ThinkPad X1 Extreme has the newest 12th-Gen Intel H-series CPUs. It also has the latest Nvidia GPU options, ranging from an RTX 3050 Ti all the way up to an RTX 3080 Ti. Completing the trifecta of latest-gen internal components, the laptop uses up to 64GB of DDR5, 4800 MHz RAM. A new liquid metal thermal paste and vapor chamber promise enhanced cooling that Lenovo claims will boost performance up to 10 percent (presumably over a system that didn't have those solutions).

The 4.14-pound, 0.78-inch ThinkPad X1 Extreme has four options for its 16-inch, 16:10 display, ranging from a 1920 x 1200 panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate to a  3840 x 2400 panel that promises 600 nits of brightness, HDR400 and 100 percent coverage of the Adobe RGB color gamut. The 165 Hz panel option is new for 2022. If you combine that with any of the decent graphics card options with this screen, you could use this business laptop for serious gaming. 

If you need a lot of storage for your laptop, the X1 Extreme can deliver on that front, as it has two M.2 PCIe Gen 4 slots that can provide up to 8TB in total. You can also connect it to high-speed external storage, using one of its two Thunderbolt 4 ports. It also has two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports, HDMI 2.1 out, 3.5mm audio and a full-size SD card slot. You can connect it to your network wirelessly via Wi-Fi 6E or optional 5G.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 will be available in June with a starting price of $2049.

 Refreshed ThinkPad T-Series Laptops 

Lenovo is also releasing three new ThinkPad T-Series laptops, specifically updated versions of the 14-inch ThinkPad T14 and T14s, along with a new 16-inch ThinkPad T16. All three laptops will have 16:10 displays and be available with a choice of Intel 12th Gen processors or AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 series CPUs.

The lightest and slimmest of the series, the ThinkPad T14s starts at 2.7 pounds with an Intel CPU inside, but a slightly-heavier 2.84 pounds when powered by AMD. The AMD version is just 0.62 inches thick while the Intel model is a similar 0.65 inches thick. Both models have a range of screen choices, with a base resolution of 1920 x 1200, but only the AMD units can go up to 3840 x 2400 while the Intel one caps out at 2880 x 1800. The AMD-powered T14s has a single USB 4 port for high-speed transfers while the Intel model has dual Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The slightly-heavier and thicker ThinkPad T14 will start at less than 3 pounds and will be 0.7 inches thick. It will have two battery options, a lighter-weight 39.3 Whr battery and a heavier 52.5 Whr unit for extended longevity. The screen options are similar to those on the ThinkPad T14s, though both the Intel and AMD versions of the T14 will have a 3840 x 2400 resolution option.

Interestingly, the Intel version of the ThinkPad T14 will have optional RTX 2050 graphics, so there's the possibility of running some apps that use ray tracing on it. The Intel version will have two Thunderbolt 4 ports, but the AMD's ports cap out at USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps). Both models support Wi-Fi 6E.

The ThinkPad T16 is the replacement for the company's T15, 15-inch ThinkPad T-Series. It sports a 16-inch display that goes up to 3840 x 2400 resolution with a starting weight of 3.72 pounds for the AMD version, a bit less than the 3.9-pound Intel model. 

As with the T14, the ThinkPad T16's Intel-powered model will have optional RTX 2050 graphics. Both models will have a choice of 52.5 Whr or 85 Whr batteries.

The Intel versions of the ThinkPad T16 and T14 will be available starting in April with starting prices of $1,419 and $1399 respectively. In May, the AMD-powered ThinkPad T14s will ship with a starting price of $1399. Finally, June will see the launch of the Intel-powered T14s, the AMD-powered T16 and the AMD-powered T14 with starting prices of $1,529, $1,299 and $,1299 respectively.