I Tested Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 2-in-1: Great Build and Battery Life but the Display Disappoints

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Version has a transparent viewers in thoughts, and it serves that viewers fairly properly, assuming you’ve got the money to spring for it. This convertible ultraportable is geared toward enterprise customers who desire a compact and well-put-together productiveness machine. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 fills this area of interest admirably, offering aggressive efficiency and lengthy battery life in a sturdy, slim aluminum chassis, together with the comfort and flexibility of a two-in-one. 

As a lot as I like its mixture of robust construct high quality, efficiency and battery life, there’s one facet of the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 that forestalls a stronger advice: the show. My assessment mannequin featured the baseline show possibility, which is an uninspiring IPS panel that lacks shade accuracy and brightness whereas topping out at a disappointing 1,920×1,200-pixel decision. Lenovo presents a 2.8K OLED improve possibility, nevertheless it solely provides to the already elevated value. 

When you think about that the value of my eval unit is already near $2,000 — and that is with a large Lenovo low cost already factored in — I think you will agree with me that an OLED show ought to already be included. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Version nonetheless prices lower than Lenovo’s flagship ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition, which lacks two-in-one performance. Should you do not want what you are promoting laptop computer to double as a pill, then take a look at the HP EliteBook Ultra G1i that features a 2.8K OLED and may be discovered for lower than the value of my ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 at its repeatedly discounted value of $1,799.

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The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Version represents the very high finish of Lenovo’s enterprise laptop computer lineup, by way of each specs and efficiency. The mannequin we acquired for assessment included an Intel Core Extremely 7 258V processor, supported by a beneficiant allotment of 32GB of speedy LPDDR5X-8533 RAM. As you’d count on from a compact enterprise pocket book, there is no discrete GPU; the Gen 10 Aura Version as a substitute depends on built-in Arc 140V graphics with predictable outcomes. With the disappointing14-inch, 1,920×1,200 show, this configuration retails for $1,886 on Lenovo’s site. 

That show is the principle Achilles’ heel of this machine, however loads of my complaints would possible be remedied by changing it with an OLED. Lenovo presents a 2.8K OLED, however upgrading to it from my SKU would run an extra $215, elevating the value to a stiff $2,102. 

An analogous config of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Version begins at £2,070 in the UK and AU$2,825 in Australia. 

ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 efficiency

The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Version stacks up properly towards equally configured productiveness laptops and two-in-ones, however as our benchmark charts reveal, it isn’t going to impress. Its rating on our Geekbench 6 multi-core check, as an example, was second to final in its class and its single-core rating was third to final. Which will sound unhealthy on its face, nevertheless it’s mitigated by the margins: there aren’t enormous variations between the highest and backside scores for the machines we examined on this class.

In actual world utilization, it feels snappy sufficient, undeterred by aggressive multitasking or a staggering variety of browser tabs. It will not run trendy triple-A video games at blistering body charges, however for older or much less demanding video games, and even some newer titles at decrease settings, it is competent sufficient.

The one criticisms are once more associated to the show. There’s an unlucky blur and even mild artifacting when switching between or rearranging home windows, or in motion sequences in video games. Generally, you get the impression that the panel is not in a position to sustain with the {hardware} to which it is connected.

On the brilliant facet, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 confirmed robust battery endurance, lasting for almost 18 hours in our YouTube streaming battery drain check. It’s going to present all of the juice you want for a protracted commute and a full day on the workplace or preserve you firm on even the longest flights. It additionally runs cool. Even below the heaviest load, I by no means detected an extreme quantity of warmth, besides in excessive circumstances across the vents.

Unexciting however sturdy design

Whereas it isn’t notably eye-catching, the sturdy aluminum body seems good-looking sufficient in silver, and I preferred small touches just like the crimson energy indicator mild changing the “i” in ThinkPad on the lid. Different small touches, just like the interesting font on the X1 and the standout silver stripe on the deal with (the bottom of the digicam notch) add as much as an understated, interesting package deal. I additionally recognize how slim the bezels surrounding the show are, and the truth that they’re behind the glass somewhat than enclosing it. However I shortly discovered that the silver chassis picks up fingerprints very readily; it was smudged up almost the second I took it out of the field.

Whereas there are lighter two-in-ones, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 remains to be a simple journey companion. It weighs lower than 3 kilos and is properly below an inch thick, tapering from 0.64 inches at its again edge to only 0.31 to inches in entrance. It’s going to disappear neatly right into a backpack or courier bag, and the compact and light-weight design makes it straightforward to make use of in pill mode after you flip the display screen round a full 360 levels.

The keyboard can be a spotlight. With 1.5mm of journey, it is nice to kind on, regardless of the rubbery chiclet design. Additionally it is completely replete with mousing choices. Whereas the touchpad is a little more slender than I would desire, it contains each contact and mechanical clicks. And since it is a ThinkPad, it additionally provides the little crimson nub in the course of the keyboard together with devoted mouse buttons for it above the touchpad for left, center and proper clicks.

The design and enter gadgets are of premium high quality, however the show is the place your complete package deal falls down. It is dim, not appropriate for work exterior or in vibrant environments even at most brightness, and the colour copy is poor. The 1,920×1,200 decision seems muddy even on the compact, 14-inch display screen, and it tops out at a pedestrian 60Hz refresh fee. The two.8K OLED show with a variable refresh fee as much as 120Hz will assuredly current a greater image, nevertheless it provides one other $215 to the already excessive value of the system.

The audio system have been surprisingly efficient, by comparability. Watching movies or listening to music, I used to be impressed by the vary of each bass and treble (taking into account that these are laptop computer audio system and I wasn’t anticipating studio-grade audio). Even at excessive quantity, the sound high quality and readability remained excessive. There’s additionally an infrared FHD webcam to allow Home windows Hey sign-in choices and a devoted fingerprint reader.

Outdoors of the options constructed into Home windows, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 features a handful of proprietary Lenovo AI options and different software program below the Aura Version banner, with out (refreshingly) making them a central pillar of the machine’s advertising and marketing. There’s the choice to allow Wellness Mode, as an example, which is able to remind you each 20 minutes to relaxation your eyes, an Consideration Mode that disables notifications and limits entry to distracting apps or websites and Collaboration Mode, which tweaks and improves video and audio high quality throughout calls.

Is the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Version price shopping for?

The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Version can greatest be described as workmanlike. It would not stand out in anybody space however supplies a strong mixture of design, efficiency and battery life. However even on a regular basis individuals deserve a greater show.

I would counsel getting the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 provided that you possibly can splurge for the OLED improve. Should you do not want two-in-one performance in your subsequent enterprise laptop computer, then Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Version supplies comparable configuration choices, together with an OLED possibility, however in a a lot lighter design. And HP’s EliteBook Extremely G1i is CNET’s present choose for best business laptop for its compelling mixture of design, options and efficiency that you would be able to normally discover on sale — with an OLED show — for lower than $2,000.