Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 review – it’s ultra-light and the battery life is outstanding
Verdict
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 is a fantastic business device. The design is clean and the build quality features premium materials. The input devices are comfortable for work – the keyboard isn’t scoring hot when the CPU is under stress because of the inlet keycaps. They offer long key travel and good feedback. The touchpad is smooth and accurate.
The performance seems good for a laptop with a 15W U-series CPU. Our device is configured with the Core i7-1355U. The CPU can maintain high clocks and power limits during short and medium-long tasks. In this scenario, the 97°C temperature isn’t that pleasant. The frequencies and the thermals in long loads are normal.
We are quite positively surprised by the base 1200p 16:10 IPS display (CSOT MNE007JA1-1 (LEN403A)). It has wide viewing angles, a very good contrast ratio of 1640:1, and a 98% sRGB color coverage. The panel is color-accurate, especially with the aid of our “gaming and Web design” profile. The base score is 1.5 (which isn’t bad at all) but thanks to our optimizations, the average dE value is enhanced to 0.8! So, you can use the display for professional color and video editing for long hours, because of the lack of PWM usage.
The comfort under load is good. The fans are almost quiet under serious CPU load and they are completely turned off in idle or in light loads until the processor reaches 50°C temperature. The port selection is up to date with its two Thunderbolt connectors and a SIM card tray for optional LTE or 5G connectivity. As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, our notebook is Intel Evo certified (which is an option) and we are happy with our choice because the battery life is fantastic! The 57Wh capacity is enough for 25 hours of Web browsing or 20 hours of video playback on a single charge. Still, if you pick a laptop with the optional 2.8K OLED display and a 28W CPU, you can expect a shorter autonomous life.
To achieve such a low weight, some sacrifices were made. One of them is the soldered memory. Since the maximum capacity is a 64GB of LPDDR5x-6000MHz RAM it’s not a huge problem. Unfortunately, the single Gen 4 M.2 slot is a con. The other one is the price. Our machine isn’t full of extras and it has the default display and a 15W CPU but the end-price isn’t low at all. The cost of the maxed-out configurations is a bit scary. At least the base security extras are nice so you don’t have to pay more for a fingerprint reader and Web camera with a privacy shutter.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 is a snappy super light device that brings good performance to the table alongside fine comfort under load, and a color-accurate PWM-free display.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-11th-gen-2023/
Pros
- Good comfort under load
- 98% sRGB coverage and accurate color representation with our profile (CSOT MNE007JA1-1 (LEN403A))
- Wide viewing angles, high contrast ratio, and 16:10 aspect ratio (CSOT MNE007JA1-1 (LEN403A))
- PWM-free (CSOT MNE007JA1-1 (LEN403A))
- Two Thunderbolt 4 connectors (both can be used for charging)
- Wi-Fi 6E support plus optional IR face recognition, fingerprint reader, and 5G support (option)
- Up to 64GB of LPDDR5x-6000MHz
- The two fans aren’t spinning until the CPU reaches 50°C
- Inlet keycaps
- Comfortable input devices
- Ultra-low weight combined with a thin profile
- Premium build quality
- Good P and E core clocks under load given the dimensions
Cons
- High CPU temperature in short and medium-long stress
- Memory is soldered to the motherboard
- High price
Author: Nikolay Palaozov
Author: eng. Kroum NikolovHead of Engineering at LaptopMedia.com, inventor and innovator with 40+ years of experience in electronics and high technology.
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