Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review

They haven't yet translated into a huge commercial success, or manifested themselves into the business world, but the allure of the Ultrabook has influenced the design of modern laptops, from budget family machines to high-end business beasts.

Chunky bland laptops are on the way out, and even the most corporate laptops are getting a stylish makeover.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is the latest incarnation of Lenovo's flagship business laptop, and the classic black chassis has been given an Ultrabook twist. It's super-slim and measures just 19mm (0.75 inches), easing inside the thickness restrictions governed my Intel for what can be dubbed an Ultrabook.

The business laptop market is becoming increasingly competitive, but the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is one of the few dedicated business Ultrabooks to hit the market.

While its competitors, such as the Toshiba Satellite Z930, Sony Vaio T13, HP Folio 13 or even the Apple MacBook Air have delivered long-lasting power and sleek, lightweight builds, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon earns its place at the boardroom table by adding all of the high-end business features you'd expect from a ThinkPad.

Features such as RapidCharge, long battery life, fingerprint readers and data encryption are all typical of business laptops, which is why a consumer-targeted laptop such as the MacBook Air isn't used widely by corporate users.

This goes some way to explaining the colossal price tag commanded by the Lenovo X1 Carbon, and at £1,229.99/AU$1,989/US$1,499 it needs to perform.

So let's invite the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon into the boardroom, and find out if it's hired or fired.

Specification

While the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a rare dedicated business Ultrabook, on the grand scale of modern laptops, it packs a mediocre spec.

Inside you'll find an Intel Core i5 3427U processor clocked at 1.8GHz - one of the low-power Intel chips that is part of the Ultrabook scheme. It's a mid-range chip in the Intel lineup, which is disappointing at this price tag.

However, while the clock speed might sound low, it can turbo to 2.7GHz when under heavy load, so there's plenty of power on hand.

To back that up, there's a whopping 8GB of RAM, which helps to keep programs responsive, and a 256GB SSD drive. This is one of the few components included on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon that could be truly described as a bargain. Not only is there enough space for stacks of files, media and programs, the SSD is the secret behind the lightening-quick boot times and responsive feel when using the system.

Of course, all this is available in any consumer Ultrabook, but the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is built for business, so there are tonnes of specialist features.

The first is the build quality. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon gets its name from the built-in carbon fibre 'roll cage' and lid, which keeps the chassis light, yet extremely resilient. At 1.3kg (2.9lbs) it's up there with the lightest laptops, yet doesn't sacrifice any comfort or usability.

The design is thin and sleek, with a soft textured feel that is luxurious to the touch, which must be a first for a business laptop.

The keyboard is well spaced and makes the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon the most comfortable laptop for long typing sessions since the Apple MacBook Pro.

The only complaint is the position of the PgUp and PgDn keys, which are annoyingly positioned around the tiny arrow buttons, and we often skipped down our document by accident, when trying to make a quick adjustment to the cursor.

The trackpad is huge, accurate, and offers physical buttons above and a touch-sensitive area in the traditional location below, as well as a range of multi-touch options for scrolling and zooming.

The only complaint is that it feels a little loose, and the mouse pointer sometimes jumped as we clicked slightly between the button and trackpad zones by accident.

If there's one black mark in the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon's record it's the screen. The 14-inch display has a resolution of 1600 x 900 with a matt finish that does an excellent job in direct sunlight.

It's also blindingly bright, which again counteracts reflective conditions, but you do run the risk of snow-blindness if you work with it on maximum nit.

However, the high resolution doesn't result in exceptional clarity, and we found the pixels were noticeable, especially at high brightness. This caused a faint shadowing around images and objects, which puts extra strain on the eyes. It doesn't match the likes of the Apple MacBook Air for quality.

Inside there's RapidCharge technology, which meant we could return the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon from dead to 100% in around 45 minutes, which is extremely useful when your only contact with a power socket is while grabbing a coffee in Starbucks.

Being so thin makes connectivity a mixed bag, and for many business users, this could turn out to be a major concern.

There are two USB 3.0 ports - one of which can be used to charge USB devices while powered off - and a DisplayPort, for connecting to external displays using an adaptor. However, noticeable exceptions are Ethernet - again an adaptor has to be purchased - and standard display connections such as HDMI or VGA.

In terms of security, there's a fingerprint reader for accessing accounts and BIOS level and TPM security, for added peace of mind if your machine was stolen.

What's more, there's an excellent three year warranty offered, which makes the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon a long-term business partner.